About the Author
J. R. Sandadi
Hindu Community Leader | Interfaith Advocate | Entrepreneur | Author
J. R. Sandadi is a Hindu community leader, interfaith advocate, entrepreneur, and author. Born in Hyderabad, India, and raised with Hindu values that put education and good character first, he came to the United States in 1991 and has called Carmel, Indiana, home for twenty-five years.
He holds master's degrees in mathematics and management studies from BITS Pilani and a master's in industrial engineering from Louisiana Tech University. After 23 years at Unisys Corporation, J. R. left corporate life at the end of 2017 to give his time to sewa, or selfless service. He established Kubera Capital, his asset management company, and later founded Charaiveti Press, a publishing venture.
J. R. serves as Joint Executive Director of the Great Lakes Zone of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh USA (HSS), which covers Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan. HSS USA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to promoting the ideals of Hindu Dharma through education and service. He is also the Indiana chapter advisor for Sewa International USA, a humanitarian organization focused on service and disaster relief.
In Indiana, he is Board Chairman of the Center for Interfaith Cooperation (CIC), which works to increase religious literacy and bring people of different faiths together, including through its annual Festival of Faiths. He is a founding member and President of the Indiana Multifaith Network (IMN), a board member of the Carmel Interfaith Alliance, and serves on the Carmel Mayor's Advisory Commission on Human Relations.
Since 2018, he has volunteered with Brightlane Learning, tutoring Indianapolis students experiencing homelessness and serving on its IDEA committee. He has raised $25,000 for Brightlane through his running. In 2023, he received the Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Indiana Chapter, nominated by Brightlane's staff.
A long-distance runner, J. R. has completed ten marathons, including all six original Abbott World Marathon Majors (Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, New York, and Tokyo) as well as Big Sur and Carmel, and 20 half-marathons. He wrote about what those races taught him in “Six Life Principles from Running the World's Six Major Marathons.”
His debut memoir, The Eleventh Kilometer, tells the story of his father's journey from rural India and his own life in America.
Rooted in his Hindu upbringing, J. R. believes that meaningful interfaith engagement does not require people to set aside their religious identities. Rather, it invites them to remain grounded in their own traditions while learning from others, recognizing our shared humanity, and working together for the common good.
A Note from the Author
Why I wrote this book
Writing this memoir was an act of reliving — and reliving amplifies. What began as an exercise in putting memory to words became something I hadn't anticipated: deeply therapeutic. Some chapters were rough. Returning to certain moments meant sitting inside them again. Every difficult page was worth it.
I spent twenty-three years in corporate America. I ran six World Marathon Majors. I founded nonprofits, served on boards, chaired coalitions, and kept moving — the way you do when movement feels like the same thing as purpose.
This book is what happened when I stopped.
It began with my father. Not the man I knew, but the boy I never met — growing up in rural Telangana. Understanding that boy helped me understand the man I had become.
I write about faith, inheritance, loss, and the discipline of presence — not because I've mastered any of them, but because writing is how I find my way back.
The Eleventh Kilometer is my first book.