Nandri Awards evening !
The awardees began arriving from morning onwards, excited, Saravana Babu and Kavita with the ROSE team, it was Kavitha's first train journey. Saravanababu was looking forward to the visit yo the Maruthamalai temple.
Sundararaman Ayya sprightly at 84 along with Sita amma arrived on dot at 11 AM. Leneesh arrived accompanied by his wife Ashita and son Anarnath. Rinas and Pavitra started along with their friends and colleagues, Usha arrived with her husband Jayakumar and brother Unnikrishnan, both prominent figures in the environmental space in Kerala.
Ranjana Singhal owner of On the Go restaurant at Race Course, Coimbatore had graciously agreed to be the hosting partner. With the banner and posters, water bottles, the large screen to team the videos OTG was ready to receive the awardees and guests.Bio Basics team, all the managers, dressed for the occasion, busy in the morning showing the facility to the farmer awardees, were ready to greet, seat the guests with their lists and the Nandri stickers.
Sashi along with team Pi had the videos (a surprise for the awardees) ready on their laptop. The guests arrived eager to meet, hear and honour the awardees.
Shobana Kumar, poet and friend took over. Shobana took us through the evening with her evocative words and snippets from Tamil poetry.
The awardees and audience watched the five minute clips in turn emotional, smiling, pensive, some choking, some tearing up, some applauding. It was an emotional ride. The audience was humbled by the work of the awardees. Gratitude was the order of the day - Nandri. Every awardee was given a standing ovation, along with their certificates and cheques. The audience listened keenly to hear what they had to say.
A cash grant of Rs.50,000 each for the veteran farmer and organic farming Champion. A cash grant of Rs.25,000 each for the other 4 award categories. The funds raised through donations from friends, families, customers, well wishers.
Congratulations, photos, conversations, hugs and handshakes - the evening was all love, laughter, tears, grace and gratitude .
Nandri, Nandri, Nandri
