The Madhu model

Introductions

S.R. Madhu

A lifelong journalist and who has made the ­introduction of speakers an art, S.R. Madhu has at last come out with his first book. Titled Windows to the World, it contains a selection of his much talked about circulars on the speakers at the weekly meetings of the ­Rotary Club of Madras South (RCMS). He has been organi­sing these meetings for the last 18 years as the Club’s Program­me Committee Chairman and enticing members and their guests with the circular.

While Madhu is known for his introduction of speakers, I introduced Madhu to RCMS twenty years ago. I have had a ringside view of the tremendous time and effort he puts in to identify a good speaker, gets his or her biodata, talks to them about the topic to be covered, and does his own research on the topic before he prepares the circular. Since a copy of the particular circular also goes to each speaker, it is not uncommon for many speakers to start their talk with a note of thanks to Madhu for the introduction, but also complain in jest that Madhu has stolen that thunder by covering several points from their presentation in the circular.

cover of S.R. Madhu book

While many Rotary Clubs complain about their inability to get good speakers, Madhu believes that “there is no dearth of good speakers in Chennai. This is a happening metro, it’s an intellectual capital, a film capital, a music capital. It has businessmen, economists, entrepreneurs, scientists, lawyers, sportsmen, writers, singers, and dancers. It is a vibrant city politically, economically, socially. It has scores of achievers young and old. It has a little army of former IAS officers, plus thousands of youth with stars in their eyes and fire in the belly. Besides, most of Chennai-ites are loquacious and they love to talk”.

No wonder Madhu has been able to get excellent speakers week after week to address RCMS.

Madhu’s book was released at an Installation meeting of the Rotary Club of Madras South at which Natarajan Nagoji, a member of the RCMS was installed as the District Governor. Madhu credits Nagoji for motivating him to come out with the book. The book is an excellent reference work not only for Rotary and other Clubs who are looking for good speakers but is also in a way a mini-directory of ‘who’s who’ in Chennai.

To give you an idea about the contents of the circulars, here are a couple of excerpts from the book.
About Sandeep Narayan:

“Sandeep is as fluent and mellifluous a speaker as he is a singer. The American upbringing is obvious but the emotional content is Indian – nay Tamil! The Indian influence on San­deep was enriched last year when he married Radhe, a beautiful Bharata Natyam dancer and daughter of Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev. Story-telling, public speaking, music – Sandeep excels in all three. Good reason for you to dump other priorities on Tuesday and listen to Sandeep Narayan.”

About Dr. Anurdha Uberoi who gave a talk on Punjabis in Chennai:

‘And Punjabis? Vibrant, Boisterous. Loud. They work hard, play hard, sing with zest and dance with energy. They live life king-size. The women? Svelte, smart, slim (till they get married), milk and roses complexion, articulate.
They exude confidence and charm. Kush­want Singh put it better, Punjab is known for lusty men and busty women.

“Anuradha thinks that Chennai-ites are bit distant and reserved compared to the folks back at home. Make sure to give her a warm welcome.”

And about Srikala Varma who spoke on ‘Know Your Eyes’:

“You would not associate royalty with Ophthalmology. And not Bharata Natyam training either. But Srikala is no common princess. You will agree when you meet and listen to her.”

As N. Ram says in his Foreword, “the book is a continuing essay in the science and art of communication”.
Madhu started his career with the Times of India, Mumbai, in 1964. After spending 15 years in mainstream journalism with TOI and American diplomatic missions in Mumbai and Delhi, before he was deputy managing editor of their Span magazine, he switched over to development journalism when he joined the Bay of Bengal project of FAO (United ­Nations) that was head quartered in Chennai and dealt with ­fisheries. As the International Information Officer of the project he wrote, edited and ­produced scores of reports, books, brochures and video films.

It has taken over 50 years for Madhu to come out with his first book, “a book that gives an  idea of the abundance and ­variety of the talents active in Chennai, a book that is also a tribute to Chennai.” Now that  he has started, he has a couple of more books in the pipeline.

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