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Radio broadcaster and producer, writer Indu Ramesh passes away

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Indu Ramesh was a longtime IAWRT member, beloved by those who met her and worked with her

The International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) extends our sympathies to the loved ones and friends of Indu Ramesh who we have come to know passed away due to COVID-19.

“I am so sad to report that IAWRT member Indu Ramesh has died of COVID-19. in hospital in Bangalore, India. She and I met at the IAWRT conference in Delhi in 1999. She was a retired producer for All-India Radio, an author, and a longtime contributor to WINGS. And a good, close friend. Here is a photo I took of her at her home in 2015. She is talking to her neighbour Smita Ramanathan, whom Indu trained to be an excellent radio producer, too,” shared Frieda Werden, co-founder of WINGS: Women’s International News Gathering Service and IAWRT member from Canada.

 

Indu was ten years old when the country got Independence. She remembered Independence Day and things that happened before that. After completing her school education in Kannada medium in government schools across small towns all over the princely state of Mysuru, she studied Sociology and English Literature in the Maharaja’s College, Mysuru.

 

Writing was her passion and her first article was published in a well-known Kannada newspaper when she was just fifteen. She wrote many articles and short stories in Kannada and English.

 

She worked for more than thirty years with All India radio, retiring as Station Director, Commercial Broadcasting Station (Vividh Bharati), Bengaluru.

 

Under her directorship, the station won Best Station award twice in a row. Retirement was said to have honed her passion for radio.

 

She also produced programs for international news agency WINGS. Her radio show for WINGS on tribal women, “Forest Women Dwelling In India won an honourable mention at an international media competition.

 

Indu was known to be passionate about traditional Indian food and feeding friends and family.

 

Nonee Walsh, IAWRT member from Australia, shared a book Indu wrote and launched in 2017. Nonee said of the book, “A cookbook for every house, with a lot of stories about our favourite food items and tips to take care while cooking, published by Geetha Book House, Mysuru.”

 

Indu also wrote a novel in English “Four Tales and A Lifetime.” In this book in Kannada, she wrote about her battle with Guillain Barre Syndrome titled ‘Mrutyorma Amrutangamaya,” and a biography on Lakshmiiji, the founder of Swami Vivekananda Yoga Annsandhana Samsthana.

 

 

 

Indu hosted Nonee and Frieda in Bangalore in 2015 and after Nonee got back home, her book club read the book based on Indu’s life and some of her friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In September 2019, the Mitra Tantra Archive of Personal Narratives and Oral Histories published 81 short videos (from 20 seconds to 3 minutes) of Indu where she shared details and stories of her life.

 

 

Indu’s family posted this on her death:

“When I die, make sure you post the news on Facebook so that my friends know about it,” she had said. So here it is…Indu Ramesh was grandmother, mother, mother-in-law, wife, sister and a dear dear friend to so many.  Radio person, author of several books, embroiderer, painter and maker of pickles, she was tech-savvy enough to communicate and shop online when she couldn’t go out on her own. She was an extremely good host and loved to feed people. She held strong opinions, and lately, did not hesitate to make them heard!  Most of all, she had a fighting spirit, overcoming challenges that would have flattened a lesser spirit.  Indu Bai Ramesh passed away at 9:54 am on 26th August 2020 after a battle with Covid.  We will miss her.
 

Indu turned 82 in July.

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