In Chapter 1, the development of political, cultural, instructional communication along with language, literature, dance and music, architecture, crafts have been traced from prehistoric times to the Indus Valley civilization (2500 B.C.); then the Vedic and Upanisadic period (1600 B.C.-600 B.C.) through the beginning of the historic period (600 B.C.-200 A.D.) to the classical period (320-750 A.D.). The first stage saw the dawn of communication activity in India; the second and the third stages reflected the full morning glory and noon day splendor. The next period between 750-1000 A.D. mark the shadows of the decline of indigenous Indian communication while dusk sets in with the next stage (1000-1300 A.D.) then follows the darkness of the long night (1300-1525 A.D.) and which continues to envelop it in 1526-1707A.D. and 1707-1818A.D. With the Modern period from 1818-1947 A.D. communication in India took several turnings amalgamating within itself the various Westem influences of communication, as all the modern media of communication had been established in India.
In Chapter 2, the intellectual entrepreneurship of thinkers like Gautama, Kanada, Kapila, Patanjali, Vatsyayana and Badarayana established the different schools of Philosophy: Nyaya, Vaisesika, Sankhya, Yoga, Purva and Uttara Mimamsa in the ancient Period. In the modern period, Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhwa established the Advaita, Visistadvaita and Dvaita schools of philosophy. It is against this background that a philosophy of communication of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, who occupied the Oxford Chair of Philosophy, is described.
In Chapter 3. "Hinduism, Sex and STD is analyzed as it started with Dr. Sowmini, MMC, Head of the Department of STD asking the curious question as to why India alone produced the Kama-Sutra and started Sundar K. on her first research journey in the very first year of her academic career.
In Chapter 4 a critical analysis is attempted of health for the individual and society as health is the chief basis for the development of the ethical, economic, artistic and spiritual sides of man. Health is also of importance to society because it often loses valuable man-power due to the ill-health of its citizens. A joint venture of the Indian Society for Training and Development with the Planning Commission catalyzed this exercise.
In Chapter 5, the Indian Society of Health Administrators and International Hospital Federation (London) brought experts together to provide a game plan to achieve the Alma Ata goal of Primary Health Care for All by 2000 A.D.A plan has been devised using management tools of coordination, integration and adaptation in different levels of health organizations.
In Chapter 6 the health of high risk groups: women, children and elderly are studied with sensitivity. statistics and empathy. Not being able to get powerful lobbyists or power groups to speak for them academicians, social workers and researchers have to speak for these vulnerable groups.
Chapter 7 uses cartoons and humor to bring out the difficulties of studying and applying principles of health management. While personnel, marketing, finance and even human resource management have a lot of takers, health management has very few takers in management schools and even lesser avenues of recruitment or employment in India. In U.K and U.S.A, Health Management is a flourishing area of study and employment.
Chapter 8 outlines in great details through dialogues, exercises, games and methods the different tools and techniques of communication that an Ayurvedic, Siddha or any other indigenous medical practitioner has to equip themselves with in order to compete in the crowded marketplace of medical practice. EXIM Bank and Ayurvedic colleges and institutes in Tamil Nadu and Coimbatore participated in these communication workshops.
Chapter 9 is yet another attempt to level the playing field for Indigenous medical practitioners by providing modern tools and techniques of Health Management and Health Communication.
Chapter 10 also analyzed the National Health Policy from the State perspective and involved several NGO's and sent their findings to the State Department of Health.
Dr. Sundari Krishnamurthy was presented this award on her retirement, at the College Day function in 2008 after completing thirty two years of service. She was reappointed by the Management as Emeritus Professor till 2012 and then as Director of Stella Maris Centre for Networking and Communication till 2019. She was a devoted, dedicated and loyal teacher. She turned down several lucrative offers of jobs in the banking and corporate sector in 1975, the International Year for Women; these offers were made to her, as she was an 'honors' student, winning a First Class from matriculation (school) through pre-university (junior college), to an under-graduate degree and then postgraduate, M.Phil and finally Ph.D.
Friendly, approachable and hard working, her students appreciated her student-centric teaching and especially the field trips which connected the class room to the community and excursions, which became exposure trips to the rich diversity in India. A meticulous administrator with diplomatic networking capacity, aided her in the diverse positions she held in her long tenure: N.S.S. Program Officer, Dean of Student Affairs, Academic Dean, Head of U.G. Department of Sociology and Head of P.G. Department of Public Relations. She was awarded the Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence by CIES of IIE. Washington DC to devise and teach a course on "Asian Humanities at Hillsborough Community College, Florida, USA.
M. Hiriyanna, the famous Professor in Philosophy of Mysore University and contemporary of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, in his discussion of values or purusartha's had said that "man's reach exceeds his grasp". That is, humanity reaches out to attain a set of goals, as for example, sufficient food, clothing and shelter for the immediate members of his family. He/she seeks avenues of employment or other means to obtain these and when they are fulfilled, seeks to anchor his/her livelihood so that these basic needs are secured, i.e., obtainable when needed. It is only then, that mankind seeks to fulfill higher order needs like using one's talents, for seeking fulfillment, satisfaction and peer recognition and rewards from society. So goals keep receding as they are reached and replaced by new ones and this is the main feature to make life a process filled with promise and expectation.
Having obtained an M.Phil. and Ph.D. in the first decade of my career, starting from 1975 and enrolling in professional associations like the Madras Psychology Society, Madras Philosophy Society, Indian Society for Training and Development (ISTD), Indian Society for Health Administrators (ISHA), International Federation of Hospitals (IFH, London) and International Communication Association (ICA), I felt that my teaching in Stella Maris College (Autonomous)-S.M.C., grounded me in enough pedagogy. which was balanced by research in the field and data gathered from hospitals and organizations gave my students enough insight into the real world through case studies.
I have known Sundari Krishnamurthy from July 1978, when she joined the Department of Psychology, University of Madras as a Research Scholar, being nominated by Stella Maris College to qualify for Ph.D., under the University Grants Commission's Faculty Improvement Program (5 Lakhs Scheme). During her tenure from 1978-1981 as a full-time scholar and from 1981-1984 as a part-time researcher, I found her highly motivated, self-driven, hard working, friendly, approachable and able to achieve her clear goals within a time frame. Her systematic and scientific approach to gathering information and facts raised the bar of research among the researchers in the department.
"Communication" then and now, has been largely identified with "mass communication" because of its ubiquitous presence in disseminating news, highlighting events, active promotion of goods and services, visibility through advertising and connecting the world in real time. That, there are other forms of communication, like interpersonal and group communication, organizational and cultural communication, health and political communication, as also information systems were largely ignored by the general public and became the reserve of academia and research institutes. All the above areas of communication have specific motivation, to bring about a desirable change in the minds of individuals in organizations.
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