Committed To Social Causes

Shri N. Hariharan retired from the Central Government of India as a Class 1 officer in and Assistant Official Liquidator after 25 years of service in 1979, and then spent the following three decades working in private sector as Company Secretary of large corporations, finally retiring as the Company Secretary at The Indian Express in 2008, to dedicate the rest of his life toward this ambitious project to better the lives of elders. Shri N. Hariharan worked until his last days (July 2022) for the betterment of the elder homes, raising funds, networking with others. He was himself a major donor to the organization.

He was introduced to Mr. N. Hariharan, Founder of Vanaprastha Ashram by one of our Chartered Accountant friends Mr. Rajesh Vakil and subsequently joined Vanaprastha Ashram. He had helped in collection donations to VA from various corporates including ICICI Bank, Punjab National Bank, TATAs etc., just to name a few.

He was instrumental in acquiring the land in Sringeri for the construction of Bharathi Seva Sadan and getting the Ashram inaugurated by then Sankaracharya of Sringeri Mutt Bharathi Teertha Mahaswamigal in the year 2001 after the foundation stone was done in the year 2000 by Mahaswamigal himself. He was very tall in personality & very active through-out his life and had a very positive mindset like never said NO to any good thing. He practiced yoga religiously until his passing at age 99. He was like a pillar of strength to Vanaprastha Ashram especially to the late ED N.Hariharan. Mr. M.S. Pai was a linguist used speak many Indian languages including Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil as well as Japanese!

Mr. R. Hariharan is a 74 yo senior, a selfless hard worker with great patience devoted to the cause and supporter of many good initiatives.
He faces his challenges radiantly. His salient talents include, timely involvement, networking with people, and initiating contacts to get things done.
In his plain words Hariharan accepts that God has blessed him in seeking his values and time participating in an institution like Vanprastha Ashram.
Hariharan is deeply impressed with the Vanaprastha Ashram Elderly Home at Sringeri, Karnataka and the kind of charity work done for the needy as well as the various support provided. He believes that the fun of meeting and taking forward the creative ideas from his fellow members has made the whole learning of Senior Citizens’ activities a unique experience to cherish.
His core strength is in people management, love to do charity, support the association with whom he is associated.
Engaging oneself in such social activities, giving back to your community gives much peace and tranquility to the mind and drives away the mundane pressures and tensions.
He employs the nuances that he has picked up over a period of time to the full advantage along with his Management experience gained after his retirement as General Manager from Corporate TCS.
Currently affiliated with 2 NGOs.
– Involved in Charitable Institution ” Dharmishta Mithran ” at Mumbai – Retd. Director
– Involved in running and managing the Elderly Homes ” Vanaprastha Ashram – Sringeri ” – where he is the Director in charge with an overall responsibility of the functioning of the Sringeri facility. This he does with gusto and dedication.
He is also a Trustee in the neighbourhood Ganesha temple and
associated with 2 Magazines with its Editorial Group.
Shri Hariharan firm belief : Transparency is the key to success!

Captain Raj Mohindra has been a director of Vanaprastha Ashram since 1996, having been a colleague and friend of the founder Mr. N. Hariharan.

He retired as captain in the Navy and was in charge of cargo movement during the Pakistan War. He was CEO of Indian Express and after retirement from Indian Express he founded the United world college of India at Pune and ever since the formation of this international college. Captain Mohindra commands to his credit a large number of schools that he has helped set up – from conceptualization to final commissioning. Captain-ji is currently in his late 80s and continues to stay involved in his community activities. Join me in wishing Captain-ji in his endeavors as the rest of the team seeks his blessings in moving forward with our ideas.

Narayan Mani was the A&R consultant for “Music Today” – a division of “India Today Group” and is presently the director of Udiwiz Private Limited which has the distinction of recording some of the finest classical musicians and also producing multi-language voiceovers. Shri Narayan Mani has been active in several non-profit NGO organizations and has integrated his music as part of his volunteer activities and plans to use his talent to bring in joy into the lives of seniors through musical and fundraising activities.

Rema is currently the only NRI member of the board, she lives in Austin TX in the USA. Rema is an engineer by profession and currently works for Advanced Micro Devices leading the efforts to root cause performance issues of server systems. Rema is also a music enthusiast and a veena player, she is one of the co-founders of Antarnaada, an organization with the vision of spreading Carnatic Music to the local community in Austin TX. She is a graduate of IIT Bombay (B’Tech in Mechanical Engineering) and holds a doctorate in Operations Research from The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Shri Obuli Padmasundaram Narasimhan is the dedicated official coordinator of Vanaprastha Ashram. Shri Narasimhan was introduced to Vanaprastha Ashram through the founder Late Shri N. Hariharan, who was his mentor. Shri Narasimhan has a post-graduate degree in computer science and has worked through multiple start-ups and BPOs, some of which he established alongside Late Shri. N. Hariharan. His long relationship with Late Shri Hariharan, not only made him an expert in company law, but also made him committed to the lives of senior citizens. He is committed to the cause of Vanaprastha Ashram and has also helped several seniors on a casual basis, not caring for his own time and comfort. He is also actively involved in helping children of sewage workers in the Navi Mumbai area with their education.