TK Chandramouli, 52, has so far raised donations of Rs 6 lakh.

BENGALURU: For 24 hours, he spoke non-stop even as he stood throughout. The recent Talkathon by city-based TK Chandramouli , 52, has so far raised donations of Rs 6 lakh, which will be used for poor deserving students through Vidhya Daan scholarship project of Rotary Indiranagar .

Chandramouli, who has acquired vast experience as toastmaster, trainer, theatre artiste, traveller, sportsperson, wine taster, Rotarian and storyteller, prepared for over nine months before taking up the challenge.

The talk began at 8am on Saturday (March 16) and concluded at 8am the next day at Rotary House of Service, Indiranagar. He spoke of his life's journey. Starting with self-introduction, he touched upon his family, school, college, friends and moved on to old Bengaluru, movies and theatres.

He spoke of the insights he gained during his travels to Russia, Alaska, Kenya , the Himalayas and the base camp there, trekking and bird watching. "I'm a handwriting analyst and a pranic healer. I explained about inspiration, spirituality and power of prayer," he said.

What inspired him to take up the talkathon was a conversation he had with a girl from a BPL family, who had applied for a Rotary scholarship in early 2018. "She had secured more than 95% marks in accounts. Her mother was a housemaid. That's when I thought about the talkathon," he said.

"We've identified 600 students and this may reach 1,000. The initiative aims to help the poor students get scholarship," said AK Sugunan, joint secretary and chairman, programme committee, Rotary Indiranagar.

