Sevalaya success story 5

As a child P Manickam (name changed) was brought to Swami Vivekananda Boys Home in May 2015, after being referred by District Child Protection Officer, M S Syed Rawoof. He enrolled in Sevalaya’s Mahakavi Bharathiyar Community College and was trained in A/C and refrigeration.

A Std IX drop-out and in conflict with law, P Manickam came from a broken home and his mother was the sole bread winner. When he came to Sevalaya he was an addict of paan and other tobacco products. It was difficult to handle his tantrums in the hostel, as he was finding it difficult to get rid of his habits. He would get into altercations with his roommates, and his personality was very different from other boys. Care was taken to ensure that his habits did not spread to other boys staying in the hostel; the matrons in the hostel monitored his well-being throughout the day. Regular counselling was given to him by a professional at the hostel, which thankfully made a great impact in his life. Constant monitoring and mentoring worked wonders for P Manickam, who was then sent for a one-month internship in Control Engineering, Guindy. After completing his internship, he was placed in a public sector undertaking, where he is now a trainee service engineer.

Sevalaya has turned Manickam’s life around for the better and we wish Manickam him all the best.

Sevalaya Success Story 4

Rare are people who come from impoverished families, yet always manage to find hope, gather strength, and overcome their difficult circumstances. In Sevalaya, we find many such children who have grown successfully and inspired others to do the same. One such person is R. Devi, a daughter of migrant construction labourers.

Joining the police force has been her dream ever since childhood. Devi came to Sevalaya School in Std. III; she was a quiet, determined and a hard-working girl with a flair for mathematics. She passed class X with 80%, scoring 100 in Mathematics. Devi went on to choose bio maths and passed Std XII securing 77%. Through Sevalaya she gained a scholarship in Murugappa polytechnic college and completed her diploma in Computer Science. This helped her get a job in a leading BPO. Furthermore, having a great passion for sports, Ms Devi has won several prizes. She never gave up on her dream of becoming a police officer, in fact this ambition became stronger every day. She filled the required forms from the Central Reserve Police Force and vigorously practiced for the physical fitness tests. She took the tests in 2011, however was unable to attain a merit seat. But she never gave up. Persistently, she tried again and finally got through in 2013. Once a shy girl, who struggled with communication, Devi can now speak three languages, Tamil, English and Hindi.

Sevalaya Success Story 3

Ashok Shankar was born in a poor agriculture coolie family in a village near Sevalaya. His parents didn’t have the means to send him to school and educate him. Without the timely intervention of Sevalaya, Ashok would have ended up as a child labourer. However, he took Std X and Std XII Board exams at Sevalaya School and scored very high marks. He achieved second position in the school in 12th grade, scoring 1098 out of 1200. His Maths teacher, who despite being sick, came to school and took classes so that his students didn’t suffer, inspired Ashook to be a dedicated student and aim high – thus he scored 199 out of 200 in Maths. This impressive score enabled him to get a place in Anna University on the merit list to study electronics and communication engineering.

Ashok was deeply moved by Swami Vivekananda’s teachings and started reading more about him in Sevalaya’s library. He understood the power of meditation and he says that helped him in developing a good memory.

He did well in Anna University, completing the course with good scores. He got his first job in Lionbridge technologies and started making small contributions to Sevalaya, while taking an active part in Alumni association. After a year, he got an offer from Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS). When he got his first salary, he donated the entire amount to Sevalaya. Part of his generous donation will support the education of children who are facing the same position he did. An inspiring example of what goes around comes around.

Sevalaya success story 2

G Kavitha, a Std XII student, was declared district champion with three gold medals – in 200 Metre sprint, Long jump and Triple jump. Previously she had been interested in sports, but she never realized her potential until the Sevalaya sports department and Physical Instructor spotted her talents. Subsequently, Sevalaya staff motivated Kavitha by encouraging her to follow a strict exercise regime, showing her videos of famous Indian and International sports stars and their achievements. Kavitha’s commitment to her training resulted in a succession of medals in 2016 – she won a medal for every event in which she competed. She was later declared the champion in her age category at the Sports Development Authority of Tamilnadu (SDAT) tournament in Thiruvallur. Now, Kavitha has set her eyes on a sub 24 second 200 metre race.
Apart from the training regimen of a minimum of two hours per day, Sevalaya provides her with nutritious food, and sports gear with spikes and jerseys. Coming from an underprivileged background has not limited Kavitha’s success, thanks to the complete backing of her parents and support from the training staff at Sevalaya.

Sevalaya Success Stories

Dr Narmatha Inbaraj is the first graduate from Sevalaya to become a doctor. She left Sevalaya in 2012 and gained her medical degree from Davao Medical School Foundation, Philippines in 2017. She wrote the FMG exam conducted by the Medical Council of India and waited to complete a year’s practical training before embarking on her dream career of being a doctor. This is a huge achievement considering her underprivileged background – her mother worked as a vegetable vendor, but always believed that her daughter would succeed as a doctor.

Narmatha, though bright, could not secure a medical seat after completing XII and instead went to the Philippines to study medicine. Stepping out from a village background to a different place where she could communicate only in English was a big challenge. “The exposure I got at Sevalaya and the participation in various extra-curricular activities helped me. Whenever I felt down, the words of Vivekananda instilled in my mind, through the years in school, helped me to regain confidence and overcome all obstacles”, she observed.

Before starting her practical training, she volunteered to teach biology to students of the Higher Secondary classes at Sevalaya and share her experiences. She also served at Sevalaya's Medical centre. Now she is doing 1 year internship in a reputed private hospital. 

World Elder’s Day Celebrations.

To start off the month of October it was World Elder’s Day, and on campus there was a big function to celebrate this. However, some of Sevalaya’s old age residents travelled to Chetpet for the International Day of the Old Person celebrations, organised by Helpage India. 25 organisations took part and there were several competitions organised for the elders to participate in. 

Ms Sashikala, Ms Krishnaveni, Ms Susheela and Ms Anusuya from Sevalaya, were all smiles as they showed off the prizes they had won. Group dances, couples’ dances and fancy-dress activities had been organised for them, and when these details were shared, many came forward to participate. The girls in the hostel helped them practice and the elders happily forgot their aches and pains as the excitement of the young girls swept them up in the dancing.  Mr Joseph John and Mrs Victoria took part in the couples dance, and Mr Venkatesan and Mr Ramanathan in the fancy-dress competition.

All who participated were in their sixties and seventies and make up and dresses had been thoroughly planned out and decided. On the morning of the celebrations, all woke up early to get ready with the help and excitement of the children. One of the hostel girls has been training in the community college as a beautician, so helped them get ready. Every participant was enthusiastic, and, in the end, they group dance walked away with third place. Loud cheers filled the room when Sevalaya’s name was called, making them very proud to be representing it. On their return, the participants were warmly welcomed home and happily shared their experiences, much to the joy of everyone.

Octogenarian donor of Sevalaya

85 years old N Lakshmi Narayanan, residing at Kanchipuram had been receiving mailers and newsletters from Sevalaya though he is not very sure how Sevalaya got his reference. Impressed by what he read he has been regularly contributing to Sevalaya and has till now contributed ` 8 lacs for creating Education endowments for sponsoring the education of 8 children in Sevalaya
permanently. 

“I am very impressed by the excellent charitable work rendered by Sevalaya. The economically poor and socially oppressed rural section of our society are taken care of Sevalaya in a very effective way." says the octogenarian who participated in the Montessori Day events last year. 
Son of a rice miller from Sirkali, Lakshminarayanan completed his M.A from Annamalai University, and project planning in the University of Bradford UK. He served in the Reserve bank of India for 7 years. Later he joined Central Leather Research Institute from where he retired. He had visited many countries like UK, USA, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Canada on an assignment of market
survey. 

He was once a very good volleyball and tennis player. He played Volleball for Annamalai University Team, He is very much interested in literature both English and Tamil. His hobbies are listening to
political debates and music. "I love to travel and have toured extensively both in India and abroad."
“I am 85 plus and feel contented that I performed moderately well in my rather long life as a human and enjoyed good food, travel, shelter, entertainment and above all being charitable.” says
Lakshminarayanan.

International Women’s Day across all centres of Sevalaya

Though every day is Women’s day at Sevalaya, the International Women's Day on March 8th 2019 was celebrated with much enthusiasm.Prominent women achievers in the local communities were the Chief Guests in the respective centres. Competitions were conducted for the staff and students. Prizes were distributed to the winners on the occasion. Girl child education and women empowerment are among the focus areas of Sevalaya’s activities. 30 years ago, when Sevalaya started functioning,
child labour was rampant. It needed a lot of canvassing and counselling to the daily wage labourers to send their children to school, instead of making them work for wages. The resistance to send girl children to school was higher and Sevalaya had successfully addressed the concerns of the parents, especially safety issues for girl children. Now 50% of the total strength of the school at Kasuva centre are girls. Girls top the Board examinations year after year. The community colleges of Sevalaya offer
free courses in tailoring, beautician, basic computer applications, nursing and lab technician assistant for the poor women, with a view to imparting them some skill and help them get an employment.

400 students and parents participated in the celebrations at Kasuva centre. Sameena Mahmood, Associate Vice President, Mani Moorthy Operations Accounts Manager and Lakshmipathy Ramaiyan, Operations Accounts Manager
from R R Donnelley were the Chief Guests. A separate toilet compex for women sponsored by Amrutanjan Ltd was inaugurated on the occasion. Raja Sridhar, MD, Technocrat Ltd distributed
100 T shirts to students.

At the Ambattur community college, the Chief Guest Dr T V S Padmaja, Principal, Valliammal College for Women, shared her views on the importance of women in various roles in the family as well as in the society. 50 students and staff participated in the celebrations.

At Ravanasamudram, Tirunelveli R Prema, Retired Tamil Professor from Rani Anna College of Arts and Science was the Chief Guest for the Women’s Day celebrations in which 35 women participated.


Women's day at EY Delivery Global Services

Beautician course staff and students from Sevalaya visited EY Delivery Global Services and crafted nail art and mehandi designs to 100 ladies staff on 8th March 2019.

As a prelude to Women’s Day a 2 hour yoga session for 300 women including lady staff, female students of community college and girls of Std IX was conducted on 7th March 2019 at Kasuva Centre. V S Prakash of Atma Niranjan Yoga Vidyalaya led the session. He spoke about the importance practicing Yoga to develop

physical and mental strength.

F Esther Vincy, Asst.Professor and H.O.D Social work department from SDNB Vaishnava College for Women, was the Chief Guest at Sunguvarchatram centre. Esther Vincy spoke about goal setting and

achieving targets.

Mohan HR and Leo Christopher, Plant Manager, PPG Revocoat were the Chief Guests at the Women’s day celebrations held at Thirubuvanai center. The Chief Guest spoke on the role of women in the society, their responsibilities and how to be daring in tackling the activities against women. Students, staff and women about 35 in number took part in the function.

The Chief Guest at Utharamerur Centre, Dr.Uma Devi MBBS, DNB, OG, Block Medical Officer from Manampathy spoke to the audience about health and hygiene of women and how the health of
a woman impacts the family. 30 students and women from the neighbourhood participated in games like throwball,passing the ball and musical chair.

1800+ students, 200+ staff participate in Sports events

Various sports competitions were conducted from 14th February to 23rd February 2019, at Kasuva Centre, for 1800 students of Sevalaya’s Mahakavi Bharathiyar Higher Secondary School, Community Colleges and 200 staff. The week long event culminated in the Annual Sports Day on 23rd February 2019. For the high school students, events like 100 mts, 200 mts and 400 mts, long jump, shotput, discuss throw, Volleyball, basketball and indoor games like carrom and chess were conducted.
For the primary school children, games like backward running, kangaroo relay, lemon and spoon, throw ball and musical chairs were conducted. Distributing medals and certificates to the winners of the games the Chief Guest Dr P Nagarajan, Gold medalist in in High Jump, Founder of Prime Sports Academy and Superintendent of Central Excise, emphasized the importance of sports in a child’s life.
317 gold medals, 317 silver medals and 93 bronze medals were distributed to the winners of the various events. Kasuva community college won the Overall championship in the inter community college events and Vivekananda house won the overall championship in the school events. Standard Chartered Global Business Services (SCGBS) sponsored the events, sports equipments and the prizes for the sixth consecutive year. 25 volunteers from SCGBS helped in organising the Annual Sports Day function.

Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions Sponsors Pharmacy Building

The foundation stone for a new Pharmacy building at Kasuva Centre, sponsored by Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions was laid on 28th February 2019. Jonah Paransky, EVP and GeneralManager and Raju Vaidyanathan, Managing Director, ELM Solutions were the Chief Guests on the occasion. Jonah Paransky performed the Bhoomi Pooja and laid the foundation stone for the building to be constructed in a 200 sq. ft area. The pharmacy building will be an annexe to the Mahatma Gandhi Medical centre which provides quality health at free of cost to 40 villages around Kasuva. A team of Doctor and 2 nurses attend to nearly 150 patients every day. The centre also provides health care to the 2500 beneficiaries of Sevalaya.Medicines are also distributed free to the patients who come for consultation. With the increase in the number of patients there was a need for a separate pharmacy building for proper storage ofmedicines and distribution. 30 associates from Walter Kluwer ELM Solutions volunteered their services to paint the school compound wall adjacent to the library on that day.

“It gives me immense pride and happiness to be associated with Sevalaya through CSR programme.
The Bhoomi pooja for the Pharmacy building was very well organised by Team Sevalaya. the cultural programme presented by the students was a treat to watch. “
- Raju Vaidyanathan, Managing Director, ELM Solutions

"My 10 Years of Unemployment" - Sevalaya Murali

I am enjoying my ten years of unemployment! I quit my corporate job on 31st March, 2009 and now one decade is over, after I have started a full time volunteer work.  

I joined PSI Data systems in Bangalore, after I completed my Engineering in Indian Institute of science in 1984. My first appraisal was due at the end of my first year in service and the appraisal form had the usual question “What do you want to become after 5 years and 10 years?”.  I had answered “Nothing”. My boss was shocked to see this answer and called me and tried to explain the significance of this question. “You see, we want to know your aspirations so that your career growth can be planned properly”. I told him “My priorities in life are different.”    After three years in PSI, I moved to TCS and spent 22 years. In 2009, I completed 25 years in corporate life. My initial thinking was to work only for 25 years and leave the job and do only free charity work thereafter. Meanwhile in 1988 I had founded Sevalaya and the organization was also growing big and required my full time participation. To make the tax calculations easy, I had decided to quit on 31st March, 2009, being the financial year end. So I put in my papers in TCS, giving proper notice period and walked out of corporate life as planned.  My wife knew my plans, may be even before I knew it, so she was very supportive of my decision.

My father was shocked, he was almost in tears. “All your children are still students. There is no earning member in the family. How can you just throw away a good job like this? Who knows what type of expenses will come in future”. I tried to comfort him telling that I have made all calculations and saved enough in 25 years of IT job and so no need to worry about financial status.  Now after 10 years, I have had a comfortable living, my family didn’t suffer and we are all okay! I could have earned more and more money and may be created more wealth for my family, but at the cost of denying myself what I really wanted to do!  Time has proved that I did take the right decision. 

Having Mahakavi Bharathi, Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda as my bosses and seeing so many underprivileged get benefited gives its own joy and fulfillment. Yes, the work is tough, may be thankless job sometimes, but as long as I am happy with what I am doing, who cares!

When I walked out of my office on 31st March 2009 and got into my car, I told my driver “That’s it. I have resigned and we don’t have to come to this car park anymore. “ My driver quickly responded “From today, I don’t think there will be time to park the car. I may have to drive the car all over Tamil nadu, non-stop. “ Yes, his words have come true. In the last 10 years, Sevalaya has opened eight more branches in Thiruvallur, Kanchipuram, Pudhucherry, Thanjavur, Thirunelveli etc.    

The wheels keep rotating.

From
Muralidharan
Founder & Managing Trustee
Sevalaya
21-March-2019

Wedding Bells at Sevalaya :-)

Dear Friends,

Abirami, when she was around five year old last both her parents in quick succession. She and her elder brother were left under Sevalaya care, by the villagers and some distant relatives. From then on she grew up as a cheerful person, forgetting her past. We could see she was very good in fine arts. She picked up drawing and painting skills very well. She was good in singing and dancing too. So Sevalaya decided to help her excel in fine arts line.

After her 12th grade in school, it was decided to put her in Fine Arts College and educate her in the filed she is good at. She wanted to take up drawing as her carrier but came to me and asked “Is this going to be very expensive? How will you manage?”. I told her that need not be her concern, and Sevalaya as an organization will somehow manage to get funds and educate children in the area they want to excel and have shown interest. So she joined a professional course in Fine Arts College in city. She had to get ready very early, catch a bus to the railway station and then a train to come into city and then reach the college. Many occasions, the breakfast will not be ready by that time. We had told her to eat out on such days, but poor girl will hesitate to spend money and will go hungry and attend the college. “This is public money, we have to be very careful” will be her answer, when I ask her why she is skipping breakfast.

After she completed the four year professional course, we offered her a job in Sevalaya School as drawing teacher. She was very happy to work in the same school where she studied, where she lived all her life.

When she was in college, she met Prabhakaran, who was doing music. He was specializing in key board. As they used to travel in the same train every day, they got closer and fell in love. Few months ago, Abirami told me able this. Then we had to make the enquiries about the boy, his family background etc. We went and met his parents and broke the news. The boy’s parents also came to Sevalaya to see the “home” of the girl. The discussions went on and finally it has been decided to have the marriage function on 8th May, 2019, in Sevalaya Kasuva village campus.

We have conducted such marriages in the past. The donor community helped us in meeting the wedding expenses and also presented lot of gifts to the new couple so that they can start their life. In Indian custom, there is big list of things to be done for wedding – what parents should do, what brothers should do, sisters should do, aunts, uncles, etc – yes, big list of relatives and bigger list of gifts! In this case, it will be all Sevalaya and its donor community – we have to play the role of parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts etc. Hope all of you are ready to contribute.

Inviting you to the wedding of Abirami, daughter of Sevalaya, on 8th May, 2019, at Sevalaya Kasuva campus, Thiruninravur, Thiruvallur dist. Please come and join the wedding celebrations.

With Love

Muralidharan V

Founder & Managing Trustee,

Sevalaya

Gandhiji’s prison life-2

General Smuts, who had agreed to repeal the Black Act if the Asiatics would voluntarily register themselves, went back on his words. While the voluntary registrations were validated, the original act was still in the books, so that those who did not register voluntarily before the cut-off date and the later entrants were subject to the obnoxious Act. The Indians intensified the agitation. Those who voluntarily registered gathered and made a bonfire of about 2000 certificates. Those who were outside Transvaal entered the state without permit. Both the resident Indians and those who entered without certificates started hawking goods without permits, which was a violation of law. They were arrested and sent to jail for periods ranging from two to three months with rigorous labour and fine. Those who courted arrest included prominent businessmen.

Gandhiji pleaded with General Smuts that while many in the rank and file of passive resisters were suffering imprisonment, he himself who was the chief instigator was still at large. He asked,” Is it courageous to leave me alone and harass the poor Indians?”

On September 29, 1908, Gandhiji was arrested with 15 others. On October 15 he was fined 25 Pounds or to undergo imprisonment for two months with hard labour. Gandhiji said he would not pay the fine and would go to jail. The Judge remarked, “I very much regret to see Mohandas Gandhi, an officer of this court and of Supreme Court in the present position. Gandhi may feel otherwise looking at the situation in the light that he is suffering for his country. But I can view it only from the other point of view”

The charge against Gandhiji was he was not able to produce the certificate (having consigned it to flames) and was not prepared to affix fingerprints as a mark of identification.

He was sent to Volkrust prison and given the job as a sweeper and also to work digging the earth. He sent a message to the passive resisters lodged in different prisons,” Keep absolutely firm to the end. Suffering is our remedy. Victory is certain.”

On October 27, Gandhiji was transferred to Johannesburg prison. He was lodged with dangerous criminals and had to keep awake throughout the night. He was released in the first week of December 1908, after the end of the term

In his moving letter to Kasturbai from prison he writes, “I have received West’s telegram about your illness. I feel heartbroken. But I cannot come to look after you. I have sacrificed all in Satyagraha struggle. I can come only if I pay the fine. And that is not to be done. You must not lose heart. You will certainly get well if you regulate your diet. Even it is my fate to lose you, I love you so much even if you are dead you will always be alive to me. You should depart with faith in God. Such death will be in accordance with the principle of Satyagraha.”

Gandhiji’s Prison Life -1

Transvaal Government in South Africa passed an Act on 21st March 1907. The Act required Asians to register themselves with the authorities, and many humiliating conditions were attached to the registration and production of the Registration Certificate. The Passive Resistance Association led by Gandhiji carried on an intensive non-violent struggle against this Act. The form of protest was to defy the legislation and refuse to register and undergo whatever punishment was inflicted. . Even after two extensions, only 500 out of the total of 13000 registered themselves. Irked by the lukewarm response, General Smuts decided that the leaders who instigated the resistance were to be arrested. Accordingly Gandhiji and several others were produced before the court on 28th December 1907. The magistrate ordered that they should leave the country within 48 hours. The time limit expired on 10th January 1908. They were produced in the court on the same day. Before the magistrate, Gandhiji submitted that resisters in Pretoria had been sentenced to three months’ imprisonment with hard labour and also were levied a hefty fine. He pleaded that as his own offence was much greater, he should be given a more severe punishment. But the magistrate chose to give him only two months’ simple imprisonment.

The clothes that were given to Gandhiji were very dirty. Gandhiji reconciled himself to wear them. The cell door was locked at 6:00PM. The door was not made of bars but was quite solid. There was a small aperture high up in the wall so that the feeling was that of having been locked up in a safe. In South Africa there were only two classes of convicts, namely whites and Blacks, i.e. the Negroes. , and the Indians were classed with Negroes. The next day it was informed that prisoners without hard labour were entitled to keep their own private clothing. Otherwise they would be given special clothing appropriate to their class. They opted to get clothing assigned to Negro prisoners not punished with hard labour. As such clothing was not available; the Satyagrahis opted to take the clothing assigned to hard labour Negro prisoners. The food allowed in the jail was not only not tasty but was indigestible. The prisoners were later allowed to cook their own food. Even though they were not called upon to join the physical exercises, they took part in the drill sessions. During the Jail term, Gandhiji read books by Carlyle, Johnson, Scott, Bacon, Ruskin and Tolstoy. He started translating books by Carlyle and Ruskin into Gujarati, but the task could not be fulfilled as he and his colleagues were released on 30th January 1909, as a result of an agreement reached with General Smuts.

How this agreement resulted in difficulties for Gandhiji. How General Smuts reneged on his words as a result of which Gandhiji hardened his stand and intensified his struggle is another matter which requires a separate study.

This was the first jail term of Gandhiji which lasted for 381 days.

Mystic-Saint Ramakrishna Paramahasa's 183rd birth anniversary - Sevalaya

When Gaja Cyclone battered our prestigious Granary Tanjore,  Sevalaya switfly jumped into action, by reaching the affected people and provided immediate relief. Simultanously  Team-Sevalaya assessed the damages in select areas.  We chose Orathanadu, where hut dwellers had lost their huts and belongings and became stranded.and decided to provide them houses in places of thatched roofing.  Sevalaya approached its Corporate Supporter M/s Financial Software Systems, who readily agreed to provide financial wherewithal for the initiative.  On 17th February 2019, Foundation Stone Laying function took place to give free housed to the affected.  The function was graced by His Holiness Deivathiru Thiruvadikudil Swamigal. The benefited are daily wage earners in agricultural fields in the area.

The other important event held was Divine Triumvarate's day at Sevalaya's Tanjore Centre.  Swamiji participated in this function also and gave his blessing note. In his brief address to the audience, he advised that we should strive hard to protect our great dharma.  All of us should follow Swamy Vivekananda in our lives. Importantly, prizes were distributed to the students participated in  the competition held on Swamy vivekanda's historical Chicago speech.

#sevalayasuccess #sevalaya