Lalitha

Meet Lalitha, with her husband Babu and two lively sons Deepak and Shree. Just back from a beach vacation, Lalitha dressed in a soft silk saree, beams with pride at her perfect family. Babu is the Building Manager in an upscale residential complex. The boys study at a good English medium school. They owe it all to the 4S Foundation. Smiling shyly she tells us her story, “I never had a family of my own. My earliest memory is of the State orphanage where the local police dropped me off when I was just one. I lived there till I was 18. Then I moved to the State home for destitute women, a depressing place filled with women who came from abusive backgrounds and terrible circumstances. I thought I would spend the rest of my life there.” Overcome with emotion, her voice breaking and her eyes becoming misty with tears, she continues, “I prefer to blot out those bleak memories because life really began for me when Ms Nalini Nanjundayya arrived from 4S Foundation, reached out and inducted me into her home management classes. I learned how to make beds, set tables and cook. I was then placed with a kind family where I worked for four years. One day a local vegetable vendor introduced me to Babu. We liked each other. He took me to meet his family and proposed to me. Both Nalini and my employer Ayesha were delighted that I had found a suitable life partner. It’s now been 10 years since the 4S Foundation celebrated our wedding at the Arya Samaj. Nalini and Ayesha put together my trousseau, invited guests over and created an unforgettable day for me. It was a brand new chapter in my life, and now looking at my wonderful family, I can say I have come a long way since that sad orphan girl, who never knew her biological parents.”

The young face of the Lalitha Subbarao Nanjundayya Memorial Trust, Niska is a dynamic well-travelled advertising professional with a post graduate degree from London, UK. She grew up with the social ethics that her parents and grandparents believed in and even as a young child, used to accompany her mother to the various 4S Foundation projects. As gen next of Lalitha Subbarao Nanjundayya Memorial Trust with a forward thinking global perspective, she is looking to expand the reach of the Foundation into new areas. She feels especially passionately about new-age projects like alternative energy for villages, eco friendly industries and sustainability programmes.

A very successful corporate Image Consultant, who lived in Africa and the Middle East. A personal tragedy, the loss of her surgeon husband, forced her to step out of her secure comfort zone and become a financially independent woman, capable of providing her three children with a secure future. A dynamic Rotarian and Founder Director of The Lalitha Subbarao Nanjundayya Memorial Trust, her goal is to enable young women to fend for themselves and become productive members of society. In a world where so many urgent social problems need tackling, she believes that pooling resources, partnering with like-minded, influential individuals and involving them in social change projects is really the smart way forward.

Subbarao, a highly successful corporate head, also wore many different hats over the course of his illustrious life and career. He was many things to many people. Influential CEO of a multinational company, caring husband and father, Sai baba devotee, composer of popular hymns and bhajans, author of a devotional book and co founder of the 4S Foundation which was later renamed Lalitha Subbarao Nanjundayya Memorial Trust. He passed away in the mid-2000’s but the work he started in collaboration with his wife and daughter lives on.

Lalitha Subbarao is the inspiration behind the Lalitha Subbarao Nanjundayya Memorial Trust. Armed with a strong social conscience and a broad based global education (Masters from Ohio State University, USA) plus a deep desire to help disadvantaged women, her dream is now being realized through the efforts of the Lalitha Subbarao Nanjundayya Memorial Trust. Lalitha was a woman of substance who worked quietly and steadily towards the betterment of those around her. Besides being a role model to her children, she authored and published two books–Nanu Mattu America in Kannada (America and I) describing her student life there in the mid 1950’s and a comprehensive book – Festivals of India. She rightly believed that women must be educated, empowered and financially independent. An educated wife and mother would in turn be a strong positive influence in the family and society at large, just as she was. Her legacy is carried on by the Lalitha Subbarao Nanjundayya Memorial Trust.