Sarathy,
You may remember Mukundan had
mentioned about a school (Sri Vishwa Vidyalaya) near Vandalur, run by some
distant relatives of his. For the past many months I was thinking of getting
some more information about the school. Yesterday morning I asked Mukundan to
take me to the school, so that I could get an overview of the activities
there. We started at around 7.15 a.m., planning to return at around 10 a.m.
However we returned home around 12 noon. I had a satisfying experience.
The school, founded
by one Mr. Rajagopalan ( he is no more), is managed by his three daughters who
have dedicated themselves to this service, remaining spinsters. Actually they
are four sisters and the eldest sister is a teacher at Puttaparthy. These
people started the school, I am told, at the behest of Puttaparthy Sai Baba
who had said "Go to the villages and serve".
A friend had given his land where the
school building was built with the help of funds provided by him (his
retirement benefits - Rs. 5 to 6 lakhs). The school has now a strength about
700 students, from LKG to plus two classes. In the plus 2 class there are
about 18 students, I was informed. They are managing with some additional
thatched sheds and the open terrace covered with asbestos sheets. They are
building an additional block with four rooms. Mukundan's chittappa who is a
civil engineering contractor is helping in building the block for which they
are running short of funds. They propose to have the skeleton brick structure
without cement plastering with openings for windows (to be fixed later) and
start the classes there from June middle.
During my talk with the two elder
sisters I could sense their sincerity and eagerness to help and educate the
children in the neighbourhood, mostly from poor families. A batch of eight or
ten students who were there learning music (during the vacation) at that time,
recited some stotras and sang some bhajans before me and they did it well. I
was told that the students used to bag a number of prizes in interschool
competitions. The school people were giving them good encouragement and
support. Another of Mukundan's relatives comes there once a week to give some
music lessons.
I was requested if I could find some
sponsors for the education of a few poor students they had identified. They
had a list of about 12 students. (They said that they had short listed this
from a set of about 60). They had written a short profile under the name of
each student.
I give below a few samples:
K. Dharmaraj: Class XI: Good in
studies and other activities. Has twin brothers, K.Seetharaman and
K.Lakshmanan, studying in VII std. Parents are very poor brahmins. Livelihood
is earned by selling snack in the evening near Vandalur railway station.
Syed Mohammed: Class XI. Bright in
studies. Is the captain of the school's cricket team. Is a good orator. Good
at Gita chanting. Member of the band group. Has younger brother Kabeer in X
std and a younger sister Rahmat Nisha in VIII standard. Parents are willing to
continue in the same school. They deserve help.
S. Archana: Class VI: Good in
acadamics. Has an elder brother Nandakumar in VIII standard and a twin sister
Vandana in VI std. Father is a driver in a private travel agency with very low
income. Mother is helping the school in office work.
R. Deepa: Class VIII: Learning dance.
Good in academics. Has an elder sister R.Devi in X std. and a younger sister
Srividya in VII std. Parents are milk vendors and helpful in school.
N.Suresh: Class X: Good in studies. A
member of the band group. Active and helpful in all school work. Has a younger
sister N.Nandhini in VIII std and Priya in VI std. Father is working in
Vandalur Zoo. Very poor but wants to send his children to study only in this
school.
D. Rahul: Class VI: Very good in
studies. Participates in Gita recitation. Hails from a poor family. Has a
younger sister D.Shobana studying in III std. Livelihood earned by selling
packed chips.
The list goes on. I told them that I
have not got many friends, but would try to extend some help myself. I offered
to sponsor a couple of children, Archana and Rahul (I wanted them to indicate
their priority, in selecting these two) and gave them a cheque for Rs.8000. I
plan to give them some more fund. It has been my desire to divert some of the
money I get through IIPE on the education of poor children. I promised them
that I would give some guest lectures for the plus two students when I find it
convenient. I have also offered to provide study materials for mathematics.
They have got about eight PCs, mostly
old ones, a couple of 486s and a couple of pentiums 166. with BW monitors.
There are only two colour monitors. They require a minimum of 24 PCs to make
them eligible (according to Govt. standards) to conduct practical
examinations. They are taking the students to some nearby 'well to do' schools
for the practical examinations. I have asked Venkatesan to try to get two or
three colour monitors and also lend his services to the school, which he has
gladly agreed to do.
In this regard, see if you could do
something through your "Friends of yound minds" fourm. The very purpose of my
starting this letter (which has incidentally grown very lengthy) was to focus
on this particular matter of exploring the possibility of procuring some used
PCs. However I started giving you some background to this request. I am
convinced about the bona fides of the people running the school and am
enthusiastic to make some contribution ourselves. Only for this, I wanted to
go there personally and see for myself the things around there.
Actually I could not give you the
entire picture of the school and the people running it, as I could get during
my visit. This would suffice for the preliminary reading. If you feel it
worthwhile, you can circulate these informations among your close friends and
see if some assistance could be got. For our part, you, Kanna and Badhri could
participate in a small way for a good cause. (If I am permitted to be precise,
each one of you can send $100, which will sponsor the education of three
children). Part of my remuneration which I get from Dhanalakshmi Engineering
College, I shall earmark for this purpose.
Affectionately,
Appa
