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2

The Sanmar Group9, Cathedral Road, Chennai 600 086.

Tel: + 91 44 2811 8500Fax: + 91 44 2811 1902

Sanmar Holdings Ltd

AMP Sanmar Life Insurance Company Ltd

Sanmar Engineering Corporation LtdAsco (India) LtdBS&B Safety Systems (India) LtdFisher Sanmar LtdFlowserve Sanmar LtdSanmar Engineering Services LtdStrategic Weighing SystemsSanmar Foundries LtdSensortronics Sanmar LtdTyco Sanmar LtdXomox Sanmar Ltd

Chemplast Sanmar Ltd

Cabot Sanmar Ltd

Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Ltd

Bangalore Genei

Intec Polymers

ProCitius Research

Sanmar Shipping Ltd

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In this issue...

Matrix can be viewed at www.sanmargroup.comDesigned and edited by Kalamkriya Limited, 9, Cathedral Road, Chennai 600 086. Ph: + 91 44 2811 8051/ 52

For Private Circulation Only.

Sanmar strides towards zero discharge 5

Sanmar ethics are of the highest order:Interview with Adit Jain 8

Sanmar Speciality Chemicals LimitedBangalore Genei is now an ISO company 10

Warm send-off to M S Sekhar 11

World Environment Day observed at Berigai 12

Sanmar quizzers grow in number 13

Sanmar Engineering Corporation LimitedSEC means business at Kumarakom 15

Hard grind at idyllic spot

Tim Wade’s Indian summer 16

Farewell to Sanmar veterans 19

Sanmar Shipping Limited‘Majesty’ joins Sanmar fleet 20

Sanmar Serenade completes dry docking 21

Legends from the SouthS Satyamurti 22

Cover photograph: The placid backwaters of Kumarakom, the venue of the recentGrowth Conference organised by Sanmar Engineering Corporation.

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A v

iew

of t

he g

reen

bel

t at C

hem

plas

t Met

tur.

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The Sanmar Group, has over the years,made impressive strides in environmentprotection through a variety ofinitiatives. All its constituents haveconstantly upgraded their infrastructureto conform to stringent environmentprotection mandates and developed alarge area as a green belt around all theirmanufacturing facilities.

To take these measures to their logicalconclusion, all future investments in theSanmar Group are planned in such away that none of the group’smanufacturing facilities will extractground water for its operations. Eachof them will be based on the ‘zerodischarge’ concept.

Chemplast Sanmar

The group’s flagship companyChemplast has spent over Rs.50 crorein the last four years in all its facilitiestowards the achievement of improvedenvironment management.

At Mettur

Now, in line with the group’s objectiveof achieving zero discharge of treatedeffluents in all its manufacturingfacilities, Chemplast has embarked upona major environmental initiative at itsPVC and Caustic Soda plants at Mettur.Several innovative measures have beenlaunched at an estimated investment ofRs.20 crore.

Sanmar strides towardszero discharge

An aerial view of effluent treatment plant,Mettur.

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In its PVC Plant at Mettur, Chemplasthas already brought down the quantityof effluent discharge substantially fromabout 2485 kilo litres per day (KLD) to1375 KLD in the last four years throughvarious steps for the recycling of processwater and reduction of effluents atsource. Chemplast has now decided toreduce the treated effluent dischargefrom 1375 KLD to ‘Zero’ KLD.Towards this end, Chemplast hasrecently commissioned a reverse osmosis(RO) plant at an investment of Rs.1crore, which will treat about 300 KLDof effluent. To address the balanceeffluent discharge, it is proposed toestablish plant and equipment adopting

advanced RO technology at aninvestment of Rs.7 crore. The rejects atthis stage will be further treated in athermally efficient evaporator to be setup at an investment of Rs.3 crore. Therejects from the evaporator will be fedinto a crystalliser/ drier to be set up atan investment of Rs. 2 crore to evaporatethe water completely, leaving behind asmall quantity of solid salt which willbe disposed of in a secured land fill asper the guidelines of the CentralPollution Control Board.

Thus, zero discharge will be achievedwith an overall investment of Rs.13crore. After these steps are initiated,Chemplast will also embark uponachieving zero discharge of treatedeffluent of around 400 KLD from itsCaustic Soda Plant at Mettur at aninvestment of Rs.7 crore.

RO Plant maintenance

On completion of these schemes, thecompany will be obliged to incur arecurring revenue expenditure of Rs.3crore every year towards RO plantmaintenance and additional powercharges required to sustain the zerodischarge operation.

Chemplast’s PVC facility has alreadyreceived ISO 14001 certification andthis is expected to be followed soon bythe Chlorochemicals facility.

At Panruti

The effluents generated at the IndustrialAlcohol plant at Panruti are utilised tomake bio-compost. In this facility, thecompany has invested around Rs.9 crorein the last couple of years. Bio-compostis a high nutrient and used as organicmanure. On completion of the bio-compost project, the company filled thediscarded lagoons with earth andplanted cashew trees there. While thisenvironmental initiative has cost Rs.5crore, the bio-compost operation costsan additional Rs.1000 per kilolitre ofalcohol produced in the distillery.

Another view of effluent treatment plant,Mettur.

Biocomposting operation at Chemplast,Panruti.

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At Vedaranyam

The salt manufacturing facility atVedaranyam is an ecofriendly operation.The place is home to many rare speciesof birds as the formation and use ofsaltpans attract migratory shore birdsand other aquatic birds.

At Karaikal

At Chemplast’s plant manufacturingCaustic Soda/Chlorine at Karaikal in theUnion Territory of Pondicherry, thereis no process effluent water discharge,thus making it already a zero dischargeplant. Chemplast will shortlycommission a sea water desalinationplant, thereby reducing its dependenceon ground water.

Sanmar Speciality Chemicals

Sanmar Speciality Chemicals (SSCL)has two manufacturing facilities atBerigai, near Hosur and Alathur, nearChennai. These facilities are alsoapproaching the zero liquid dischargestatus.

At Berigai

At SSCL’s Performance Chemicals andPhytochemicals-Berigai facility, treated Birds at Vedaranyam, close to the Chemplast

salt works.

water of 50 KLD hitherto used for in-house gardening is now taken througha recently commissioned RO system.30 KLD is recovered and reused in theplant. The remaining 20 KLD isevaporated, using a multiple effectevaporator, and as a result no effluent isdischarged from the site.

This socially relevant initiative entailscapital expenditure worth Rs.5 croreand Rs.1 crore as recurring annualexpenses.

At Alathur

Similarly, at SSCL’s API facility atAlathur, where 40 KLD of water is used,plans are afoot to install an RO systemto recover 30 KLD of water. Theremaining 10 KLD of water is plannedto be evaporated by using multiple effectevaporator. Towards this end, SSCL hasso far invested Rs.3 crore as capitalexpenditure and will be incurring Rs.60lakh as the annual cost of maintainingthe system.

The Berigai and Alathur facilities areboth certified to ISO 14000, theinternationally recognized safety, healthand environment standard.

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Can you go back to the first time you cameinto contact with Sanmar?

It must have been six years ago, whenwe were marketing our CEO forum andI may have called upon Mr Sankar toinvite him to join the forum. Isubsequently invited him to come andspeak at a CEO meeting in Goa. Iremember the topic was “Running jointventures in India”.

Was there a chemistry between the two ofyou fairly instantly?

Mr Sankar was in a completely differentleague from me. I have always held himin high esteem.

How much did you enjoy the AwareProfessional training programme youconducted for the Sanmar Group?

We really enjoyed running it, and feltgrateful and rewarded when Sanmarextended it for a second year. Frankly,you run out of things to say over time,but the fact Sanmar extended it seemedto suggest those who attended theprogramme found value in it. As ithappened, that gave us the foundationfor another interesting idea. I am nownegotiating with business schools tooffer executive programmes both openenrolment programmes and companyprogrammes. Once that is tied up, we

may come back and ask Sanmar if theywould like to have another go.

In Sanmar, we pride ourselves on ourintellectual capital. What has been yourexperience with Sanmar’s people?

The pride is completely justified. It wasfirstly brave of Mr Sankar,Mr Radhakrishnan and Ms Sarada Jaganto try us out. We are not a trainingcompany. As we run forums for CEOsand CFOs, we have a fair amount ofcontent and knowledge. But trainingexecutives requires different skill sets,and I thought it was rather farsightedof them to give the programme a trial.When we actually ran the programme,we found the entire company verychallenging. Everybody asked difficult,provocative questions. I had theopportunity to present two or threetimes, when I was put in the hot spot.

You have been in the Chemplast board fora while and are now in the GroupCorporate Board. How has the experiencebeen so far?

Very rewarding. I do sit in a few otherboards, like British Gas in India. I thinkthis is most exciting as it is a much biggercompany. The British Gas business inIndia is quite large, but it focuses on oneproduct. The issues and challenges here

Sanmar ethics are of thehighest order:Interview with Adit Jain

(Member, The Sanmar Group Corporate Board, and ManagingDirector, IMA India)

Adit Jain, Founder and Managing Director of IMA India also runs the India CEOForum and organises the Annual Economist Conferences Round Table with theGovernment of India. Widely regarded as a witty, articulate speaker on India’s politicsand economics, Jain brings an incisive mind to the table at the deliberations of TheSanmar Group Corporate Board. Here he shares some of his views on Sanmar andIndia at large with Matrix.

9

are quite different. The opportunity toparticipate in a discussion in a groupwith five important interests is from myperspective very useful.

What are your views on Sanmar’scommitment to corporate governance?

Of the highest standards. I am verypleased to say that following theAWARE leadership programme we ran,the company commissioned an ethicsand compliance manual and possiblyused one of the best guys in the countryto do it - Dipankar Gupta, a Professorat JNU. I think he was very impressed.

What is your area of focus in yourcontribution to the Group CorporateBoard?

I often ask myself what value I bring toanother company. I run a businessinformation company where we doconsultancy and advisory work forspecific clients. But most important, wehave CEO and CFO peer group forumswhich I chair and these two forumsconstitute 450 corporations operatingin India. The real benefit I extract fromthese forums is that I get to share theexperience of CEOs and CFOs acrossindustry segments on how they handletricky situations. These are frank, opendiscussions. In a sense I could bringvalue because I have exposure to a largenumber of corporations who pay us anannual retainer fee and with whom weinteract constantly. But as for mydomain knowledge, I am a political,economic and business analyst, dealingwith issues of the economy or thepolitical environment, to do withforecasting interest rates, exchange ratesand so on. I also believe I could addvalue in company related issues whichhave to do with price management andrisk management, as I have been throughsimilar situations for other clients,

though at Sanmar such an opportunityis yet to present itself.

What is your forecast for the near future —economically and politically—for India?

The economy seems to be in fine form.I think this year we will have about 6.5to 7% growth. This euphoria we arecurrently going through will changethough. Currently everybody is buyingeverything that’s being produced—motorcycles, washing machines etc. Ithink that is going to change. Mysuspicion is very soon or in the firstquarter, we will see a slight slowdown.In the next three to four years, theeconomic growth will vary between 6.5and 7.5% and this is a 60% probability.20% probability will be that the growthwould be higher than 7.5% and 20%probability that it could be lessthan 6.5%.

Politically, the current government willplod along. I don’t think its performancehas been outstanding, though it hasn’tdone too badly either. Manmohan Singhhas been able to keep his wobblycoalition going. He is credible. I have asuspicion that there might be somerumblings among partners like theDMK and the Left, as they come closerto the provincial elections in Bengal andTamil Nadu. The BJP ought to put upa show in terms of opposition, but ithasn’t done much. It is in such disarraynow. You need to have a strong, solidopposition to put the government onits toes.

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Bangalore Genei, a division ofSanmar Speciality Chemicals(SSCL), is a leadingbiotechnology company thatmanufactures researchproducts for the scientificcommunity nationwide. Theproduct range includesrestriction and modifyingenzymes, DNA, DNA andprotein molecular weightmarkers, immunochemicalsand other related reagents. Inaddition to a wide range ofgenomic and proteomicresearch reagents and services,Genei also produceseducational kits and conductsworkshops for graduate andunder-graduate students.

For greater visibility andacceptance internationally,Genei decided to obtain ISO9001 accreditation for design,development, production,testing and marketing ofbiological research products.Thanks to support andguidance from several peopleat Sanmar, especiallyDr T Devanathan from SSCLBerigai, Genei is now an ISO9001:2000 company certifiedby RWTUV.

Bangalore Genei is now anISO company

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Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Limited

Warm send-off toM S Sekhar

A touching farewell was accorded toM S Sekhar (MSS), Managing Director,SSCL, on the eve of his retirement.

At a gathering in the Berigai factory heldon 30 March 2005, employees recalledtheir association with MSS over the yearsrelating interesting anecdotes involvinghis role in the Berigai business.

Later in the evening, the departmentalheads hosted a dinner for MSS inBangalore.

M S Sekhar made an entertaining speech.

Dr R Ramachandra greeting MSS as V R Venkatraman looks on.

The SSCL Berigai team with M S Sekhar.

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Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Limited

World Environment Dayobserved at Berigai

World Environment Day was observedon 6 June 2005 at PerformanceChemicals and Phytochemicals-Berigai.As per custom, the EnvironmentalPledge was administered to theemployees. Another pleasant dutyperformed was the planting of saplingsby the employees in the factory premiseson the occasion.

Dr R Ramachandra,Vice President - R&D,leads the way in treeplanting.

SSCL employees planting saplings.

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Sanmar quizzers grow innumber

Sanmensa, the informal quiz group atSanmar Corporate Headquarters,recently completed a year of successfulactivity. The enthusiasm exhibited by thegroup has been commendable. Eventhough some of the original membersof the group are no longer with us, newadditions have come in every month,inspired by the example of the officialSanmar team of Ramkumar Shankarand A H Kesari Prasad. May the tribeof Sanmar quizzers increase!

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15

Flashback 1998: The domestic marketfor engineering products was boomingon the back of refinery andpetrochemical project activity. SanmarEngineering Corporation’s (SEC)constituents were all doing very well.Reason enough for everyone to relax andrest on some well-earned laurels, right?Not really. That was the time when theSEC business heads got together atKodaikanal, a hill station in Tamil Nadu,south India, to brainstorm on ways tokeep the momentum going when theproject activity slowed down, as it wasbound to do. At that meeting were bornthe export thrust and the target to growexports to the same levels of domesticsales. Since then, SEC exports havegrown by over 30% on an annual basis.

Back to the present. SEC was riding onthe wave of its best year ever. Time nowto ease up a bit? Not really, for withgrowth comes the bigger challenge of

Sanmar Engineering Corporation Limited

SEC means business atKumarakomHard grind at idyllic spot

sustenance. It was time for anotherround of strategising and planning forthe future, a future in which the growthmomentum is sustained, at the least.With this in mind, the SECmanagement team met at Kumarakomin Kerala to plan the strategy and set thetargets for the next few years. Twogruelling all-day sessions later, the teamemerged with a clear vision of thechallenges ahead and the mountains toclimb. And of course, there was sometime for some fun. With batteries fullyrecharged, Team SEC is now fully intothe execution of the plans identified atKumarakom.

Brainstorming session in progress.

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India. A land of rich culture and ancienttradition. The birthplace of Buddha, theinspiration for the Mahabarata and theKama Sutra. And, as I discovered, themother of the three hour visa queue (inLondon).

In many ways, my visa experienceproved to be a perfect initiation into thestoic patience which is required ofbatsmen and bowlers alike on the slowturning, dry and dusty Indian cricketpitches. Or it would have been perfect,had I remembered to secure my visabefore arriving at Heathrow for myscheduled flight to Chennai to watch theSecond Test between Australia andIndia. On my many previous businesstrips to India, visas had been a matterof routine for the corporate machine.And so, after I was ever so graciouslyturned away from the check-in counter,in true captain of industry style I lookedaround for someone to blame for thiscock up. Not a single candidatepresented himself.

After I grumpily made my way home,Ruth, my wife, had me carry on withsome of the tasks associated with havingrecently moved house (one of the reasonsfor my trip to India). This includedhanging a mirror in one of ourdaughters’ bedrooms. I suspect this washer none too subtle judgment on whereI might want to look for the attributionof blame over the visa incident.

The visa expedition

Suitably chastened, I re-booked flightsfor the next night, and the next morning

I nervously made my way to IndiaHouse, on Aldwych in London, tonegotiate the visa process. Expecting theworst, I wasn’t disappointed. Forty fiveminutes to queue for a queue number(outside, in the rain, naturally), 90minutes before being summoned tomake my humble petition, and another45 minutes while the formalities werecompleted on my passport (it is a rathernice stamp it must be said). Whateverhappened to the fraternal bonds whichshould exist between sisterCommonwealth colonies? I harboureda sneaking suspicion that Australia’scrushing win the week before in the FirstTest in Bangalore added at least an hourto my Passport Office pilgrimage.

Still, I was an indecently happy manwhen I clambered aboard my flight toColombo and Chennai that night. Thiswas a genuine frolic, an unambiguousindulgence. I was flying to Chennai toenjoy Test Match cricket at theinvitation of a former business partner,who was also a friend sharing a similarreligious devotion to cricket.

Madras vs. Chennai

Madras (let’s call it Madras – it has a farmore resonant ring than the unlovely‘Chennai’, and locals seem remarkablyunperturbed about what you call theirhome town) owes its early developmentto the British, who started trading herein 1639. It is not quite in the top tier ofIndian cities, made up of Delhi, Bombayand Calcutta. Nor does it seem to bepart of the emerging pack of thrusting

Tim Wade’s Indian summer(Excerpts from the diary of an old Sanmar friend)

(Tim Wade, Managing Director, AMP International, at the time of the launching ofthe joint venture AMP Sanmar, continues to be a friend of the group. A cricket fanaticnow based in England, Wade reminisces in delightful prose here.)

“India. A land of

rich culture and

ancient tradition.

The birthplace of

Buddha, the

inspiration for the

Mahabarata and

the Kama Sutra.

And, as I

discovered, the

mother of the

three hour visa

queue (in

London).”

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metropolises like Bangalore andHyderabad. Madras’ chief claim to fameis as a major port on the Bay of Bengalwith best access to Asian sea routes. Itssecond claim is as host of one of the onlytwo tied Tests in cricket history.Incidentally, it shares this latterdistinction with Brisbane, another citywhich seems to be searching for a clearermodern day identity in the shadow ofmore clamorous sister cities.

Madras is frenetic, noisy, dirty, friendly,industrious and endlessly watchable.And that’s before you even leave theairport. The traffic is of courseemblematic of the city. Never movingfaster than 30 kilometres an hour, butnever becoming totally jammed, thetraffic somehow seems to work –floating on a non-stop sea of almostuniformly superfluous tooting. Lanemarkings on the road are clearlyregarded as colonial era hangovers, tobe totally ignored.

Shashi Tharoor famously describes Indianot as an underdeveloped country, butrather – in view of its ancient heritage –as a highly developed country in anadvanced state of decay. It was great tobe on the way back.

Australian collapse

Transiting in Colombo on the first dayof the Test, I was pleased to see that theAustralians were comfortably placed at180-2 just before tea time. All theacrimony of missing my earlier flightevaporated instantly. Arriving inMadras, I raced through Customs (afterLondon visas, the space time continuumhad made quantum relative shifts, youmust understand) only to find thatAustralia had collapsed to be all out for235. Anil Kumble snared 7 wickets. Isettled disconsolately into my hotelroom to be drenched by the saturationmedia coverage. My rather more chipperhost asked mischievously if I hadchecked for earlier flights home.

At one am, the next morning in Madras,British Summer Time was urging mybody to get out of bed and get on withmy life. I filled in the hours by catchingup with local news. ‘The Hindu’ is thepaper of record in Madras, and I wasreminded of what an intelligentreadership it must attract and foster. Justone example that morning involved aneditorial lauding the arcane Nobel Prizewinning work of two Americaneconomists attempting to reconcilebusiness cycles with efficient markettheory. I’m not making this up. As theeconomic theory in question relied inpart on an individual’s predisposition tomaximise leisure time, I was feeling evenbetter about my jaunt to India.

Chepauk Stadium is like nothing I haveseen. It holds 40,000 endlessly noisysupporters (who had engaged in theirfirst Mexican wave within 20 minutesof the start of play). The ground is hugeand beautifully maintained, but thenoise and activity tend to magnify theoppressiveness of the heat whichenvelopes players and supporters alike.It has major stands which circle theboundary line and add to the notunfriendly feeling of claustrophobia.

Day 4 of the Test

It is difficult to imagine the heat whichsuffocates Chepauk on Day 4. While theair temperature is a mere 33 degreesCelsius, it reaches 43 degrees on theheavily sheltered field, and must be closeto 50 degrees under the batsmen’shelmets. Drinks breaks come every 40minutes, and herald the arrival at thewicket of two chairs and an umbrellafor the batsman to relax on and under(what would Fred Trueman have said?).You half expected a sitar player toemerge for the players entertainment.

(More of the diary will follow in a laterissue of Matrix).

“Australia had

collapsed to be all

out for 235. Anil

Kumble snared 7

wickets. I settled

disconsolately into

my hotel room to

be drenched by

the saturation

media coverage.

My rather more

chipper host

asked

mischievously if I

had checked for

earlier flights

home.”

17

18

M S

Sek

har

K S

hank

ar

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Farewell to Sanmarveterans

On 1 April 2005, the top management team of Sanmar gave a warm send-off to two oftheir distinguished colleagues. M S Sekhar, Managing Director, Sanmar SpecialityChemicals, was retiring after 27 years of dedicated service in the group, and K Shankar,Chief Executive, Sanmar Shipping, was calling it a day after a decade of outstandingwork for Sanmar. At a pleasant dinner, the two stalwarts recalled their happy associationwith the group and N Sankar, Chairman, paid glowing tributes to their contributions,while relating a couple of humorous anecdotes.

Asset to any shipping company

N Sankar on K Shankar

K Shankar has been with us for ten yearsnow. How time has flown! He has beena key member of the close knit shippingteam Chakrapani brought to Sanmar.When he came to us, I had been warnedabout Shankar being very tough.Working with him, I found him veryeasy and straightforward, a person whospoke his mind. He is committed,knowledgeable and outspoken. He willbe an asset to any shipping company,and I am sorry we are not large enoughto continue to keep him with us, as weneed to accommodate the excellentpeople we have below him.

Loyal, committed, professional

N Sankar on M S Sekhar

Sekhar has been a friend and seniormanagement colleague for27 years. He was the first realprofessional in the group.

Sekhar took us through a lot of newareas like tax planning. He helpedmodernize our accounting andfinancial thinking. He is a real goodcorporate citizen, and a truefriend. He mixes professionalismwith old style values like loyaltyand commitment. We’ll definitelymiss him. The Chairman, N Sankar (left), and

M S Sekhar (right) listen to K Shankar’sfarewell speech.

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The chemical tanker Sanmar Majesty acquired on 27 May 2005 at Chiba, Japan.

Sanmar Shipping Limited

‘Majesty’ joins Sanmarfleet

Sanmar Shipping bought a 1996Japanese built, double hull, fullystainless steel chemical tanker of 10,314deadweight on 27 May 2005 at Chiba,Japan. With this purchase, SanmarShipping has now diversified into thechemicals shipping business, sensingopportunities in a segment which isbeginning to see the crest of a wave afteryears of dormant trading. The timingof the purchase of a modern vessel at acompetitive price is seen by the industry

as a significant move when most playersare focussing attention on traditionalsegments like bulk carriers and crude orproducts tankers. The vessel earliercalled Cristal and now renamed SanmarMajesty, is capable of carrying bothorganic and inorganic chemicals andvegetable oils. The vessel has taken herfirst parcels out of Yokohama, Japan,soon after delivery and is bound forIndia, with three grades, Acrylonitrile,Cumene and Iso Propyl Alcohol (IPA).

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Sanmar Serenade, a 45,696 deadweightJapanese built Clean Petroleum Productscarrier of 1992 vintage, is a double hullvessel acquired by Sanmar Shipping inJanuary 2003. Having just completedher scheduled drydocking under Sanmarownership and repairs in Dubai in May2005, she is back to trading in theTORM pool.

Sanmar Serenade drydocking at Dubai: On theblocks fully painted (right) and out at anchorage

after all repairs are carried out.

Sanmar Serenadecompletes dry docking

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S Satyamurti (1887-1943) was one of thetowering intellectuals from the south whoenhanced the image of the Indian freedommovement with their fiery oratory, totaldedication to the cause, and ability tomeet the Englishman on equal terms.

A loyal soldier of Gandhiji’s army of non-violent freedom fighters, Satyamurti wasnevertheless unafraid to express dissenteven if it meant criticizing the Mahatma.(He once said that Gandhi was“unexcelled as a saint, leader andprophet, but when it came to dealingwith day-to-day human questions, hehad not been rewarded with resultswhich perhaps lesser men might haveachieved.” According to him, India’shistory might have been different hadPatel, Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasadand Maulana Azad had accompanied theMahatma to the Round TableConference at London).

Born to middle class parents on 19 August1887 at Tirumayam in the former princelystate of Pudukkottai, Satyamurti was abright student throughout his school years.After passing the Intermediate examinationat the Maharaja’s College at Pudukkottai,he came to Madras where he completedB A History at the Christian College. Hethen joined the Madras Law College andduly obtained his BL degree. As a lawyer,he worked as a junior of V V SrinivasaIyengar and S Srinivasa Iyengar, a formerpresident of the Indian National Congress.

No doubt inspired by his senior,Satyamurti joined the freedommovement and responding to Gandhiji’scall to the youth of India to sacrifice theircareers for the country. Soon his‘eloquence, dignity and integrity’ cameto be noticed by such luminaries asBal Gangadhar Tilak and the

Legends from the SouthS Satyamurti

Rt. Hon. V S Srinivasa Sastri. Whenfollowing the Jallianwalabagh massacrein April 1919, the Congress sent adelegation to the Joint parliamentaryCommittee of the UK on the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, 32-year-oldSatyamurti was chosen its secretary.Satyamurti went to England again in1925 as a member of the Swarajya Party(a party within the Congress led byChittaranjan Das and Motilal Nehru)at the invitation of the IndependentLabour Party.

Rigorous imprisonmentDefying the prohibitory orders of theBritish government during the non-cooperation movement of 1930 and1932, Satyamurti was sentenced onboth occasions to rigorousimprisonment.

Elected to the Central Assembly in1934, was one of the most celebratedparliamentarians of his time. He wasfeared in the Assembly by the officialbloc for his awkward supplementaries,and he was even nicknamed“Supplemurti” by Sir James Grigg,Finance Member. According to TheHindu, Satyamurti made a fine art ofthe supplementary question. In his ownwords, “I should like to say as anotorious culprit in that respect that theattempt of the Opposition in puttingquestions is not only to elicitinformation but to put the Governmentin the wrong and to raise a laugh at theirexpense in the House if possible and inthe country certainly.” Sir F E James, abitter opponent inside the assembly andbosom friend outside it, describedSatyamurti thus: “Like the Niagara, hewas torrential, deafening and unceasing;but unlike the Niagara, he had neverbeen known to freeze in silence.”

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An active member of the MadrasUniversity Senate and Syndicate,Satyamurti championed numerousreforms in the field of education. Hisservice to the cause of education led himto play a major role in the creation ofAnnamalai University. A lover of musicand arts, he devoted his spare time tothe promotion of Carnatic music andthe revival of bharata natyam. Hebecame the Vice President of MadrasMusic Vilas Sabha, a prominent amateurtheatrical group.

Satyamurti Sagar

Elected Mayor of Madras in 1939, heworked tirelessly to make Madras “thecity beautiful” as he called it. Heinitiated the Poondi Reservoir scheme,and the reservoir is now called theSatyamurti Sagar. Participating in theindividual Satyagraha campaign in 1940in defiance of government order,Satyamurti delivered an anti-war speechand was imprisoned for eight months.He was arrested again two years laterwhile returning to Madras afterattending the Congress WorkingCommittee meeting in Bombay, wherethe historic Quit India resolution wasadopted. He passed away virtually aprisoner on March 28, 1943. It was adisappointing end to a glittering careeras Satyamurti did not live to see Indiafree. He had fought fiercely both insideand outside parliament.

In a tribute, The Hindu wrote: “Heachieved with effortless ease distinctionon many fronts and he will beremembered in the history of thenational movement as a great tribune ofthe people. He loved the good things oflife, but few of the rewards that theworld prizes came his way. He wouldhave been more than human if he hadnot felt these mischances as slights tohis worth. But he did not allow them tosour him; his outlook wasfundamentally too cheerful and healthy.Above all he was a born fighter to whomthe fight was the thing.”

Satyamurti was truly a man of culture. He was a lover of art. In the midst ofhis exacting public work, he found time to interest himself in the fine arts.He was one of the original founders of the Music Academy, Madras, withwhich, for the promotion of music and dance, he was actively connected tillthe end. He was a great lover of music and he encouraged and patronisedmusicians.

In one of his letters to his daughter Lakshmi, he says, “A love of fine arts is asure sign of culture”. In another letter to his daughter Lakshmi, he extols thevirtues and beauty of the arts of painting and sculptures which, he says, giveform to our conceptions of the Divine. In his public speeches, Satyamurtiused to say, “We shall win our way to Swaraj singing.” He had an equallygreat love for fine arts—dance, painting and sculpture. “ What has alwaysevoked the greatest admiration in me is the expression on the faces of theseso-called lifeless figures,” he says, referring to sculptures.

Satyamurti was endowed with linguistic proficiency in three languages, viz.,English, Tamil and Sanskrit. A keen student of Sanskrit, Satyamurti was oneof the pillars of the Sanskrit Academy in which he used to take active interest.He could speak in Sanskrit and his early training under his father had laidstrong foundations for the love for Sanskrit in him. Usually, no speech orlecture of his would be complete, either in the legislature or on the publicplatform, without an apt quotation in Sanskrit.

Next to Sanskrit, Satyamurti loved Tamil. In the twenties and early thirtieswhen the hallmark of a politician or a public man was his ability to speak influent English with affected English accent, Satyamurti used to speak in Tamilto large audiences. His Tamil was impeccable, eloquent, flowing and in simplestraight language, devoid of pedantry; and this appealed to the masses.

His English was equallyflawless and eloquent.In the MadrasLegislative Council andthe Central LegislativeAssembly, his speecheswere patterns ofperfection so far asthe language wasconcerned. He had nopatience with faultyEnglish and oftenhe twitted theGovernment benchesfor bad English andbad drafts.

(Excerpted from atribute by the Lok SabhaSecretariat, New Delhi.)

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