Meet the vivacious and graceful Dr. Sowmiya Anbumani who hails from a political background. She was born and brought up in Chennai to M. Krishnaswamy, an eminent lawyer, former Tamil Nadu state Congress president and a former MP. Her mother K.V. Chitra was a sociologist and the daughter of a veteran politician.
She schooled at Hindu Senior Secondary School in Triplicane and later at Adarsh Vidyalaya. She pursued her bachelor’s degree in Sociology at Stella Maris College and followed it up with a Master’s degree in Sociology from the University of Madras. Sowmiya was always interested in getting a doctorate degree and after a long break, she resumed her education and obtained a PhD in Sociology and Environmental Sciences from the Madurai Kamaraj University in 2019.
She is married to Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, a Rajya Sabha MP and former Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare and they have three pretty daughters. Two of them are married and the third daughter is pursuing her college education.
Being a bright student, Sowmiya bagged many prizes for general proficiency both in school and college. As she was a good orator, she participated in many inter collegiate debates and oratorical competitions and won many prizes too.
She has been at the helm of Pasumai Thayagam, an NGO and has been its President since 2005. This NGO was started by her father-in-law Dr. S. Ramadoss, the founder of the PMK ( Pattali Makkal Katchi).
Sowmiya is the editor of the magazine named Pasumai Thayagam Sutru Choozal which is a monthly environmental magazine in Tamil since 2002 and also an advisor for Makkal TV since 2006.
Her love for Tamil inspired her to produce audio CDs on Tamil literary works viz Silapadhikaram, Manimegalai, Mukkudar Pallu, Seera Puraanam, Paanjali Sabadham etc.
As a dedicated environmental activist, Sowmiya has conducted meetings regarding water resources and experts from Delhi were invited to attend these meetings and voice their opinions.
She credits her mother-in-law Saraswathy Ramadoss for being very supportive. When Sowmiya obtained her doctorate degree in 2019, her mother was no more and it was her mother-in-law who called for celebrations and took immense pride in all her achievements.
She refers to her father-in-law as Ayya and is grateful to him for all the opportunities given to her that enabled her to put her education and talents to optimum use.
Her better half encouraged her in all her endeavours and also to travel across the globe and attend various international summits like the Earth Summit held in 2002 in Johannesburg in South Africa, the United Nations Conferences on Women held in 2006 and 2018 in New York, USA, the Climate Change Summit held in 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark and the Better Air Quality Conference held in Hong Kong in 2012.
Sowmiya stays fit by hitting the gym whenever she is in town. She has a personal trainer too. Being a devout person, she starts her day with a puja. A temple visit is also on the cards every day.
When time permits, she ferries her grandchildren to school and also makes it a point to attend the weddings of the party members.
Sowmiya is a real foodie and she and her entire family love to try out different cuisines especially when they are on foreign sojourns. She enjoys Chinese food the most.
She loves to unwind by watching shows on TV. She calls herself a Netflix person and both she and her husband watch crime thrillers, documentaries etc together as they both share the same interests.
In the words of Diane Mariechild ‘’A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.’’
Juliana Sridhar is a lawyer and columnist
