Dear Friends,

Like every year, this year also saw too manypeople applying for admission in Sevalaya’s schooland hostel. As the school has shown 100% results,there was no question about the quality ofeducation. Added to this, there is no fee to bepaid, school will provide uniforms, books, notebooks, pens, pencil, etc. all free of cost. No doubtsuch schools will attract many. But our job wasto ensure that we select the poorest of the poorso that the free education goes to the really needypeople. We had many well to do peopleapproaching us, even offering to pay fee. But wehad to gently send them back, as serving themis not part of our job. Sevalaya’s doors are openonly to those, who cannot pay any fee. We hadmany people coming to us with political influence.As Sevalaya does not get any government grant,it was very easy for us to say no to such people.We also had cases referred by some of ourdonors. As we had space only in Balwadi (classzero) and plus one, (11th standard) we had tosay no to many people. Wherever we couldaccommodate, we have taken in people, if theywere poor and deserving. Hope our donors willunderstand. As we provide everything free, thereis a cost to each admission we make. Unless weare sure that we will be able bear this cost for therest of the year, we will be making a mistake if wetake in lot of students, just because donors orpolitical leaders referred them.

The candidates were asked to fill-in an applicationform (mostly our staff helped them to fill, as theparents or guardians were illiterates), one of ourstaff members visited their house to personallyverify the details, and then they were asked toappear for an interview with the trustees and theheadmaster. In the interview we checked the

poverty level only in case of Balwadi admissionsand poverty and merit in case of plus oneadmission. Most of the parents were agriculturalcoolies or in some cases there was only singleparent alive, without any definite job. There wasone case, where the grandmother was takingcare of the child; her son has deserted the familyafter the death of his wife. She has no clue whereher son lives, but the grandson had become herresponsibility. She was very old and said that shelives just on some money given by villagers andsometimes by her daughters, who themselveswere poor. I immediately offered her a place inour old age home. But she politely refused. Thereason- “in case my daughters come home tosee me, I must have a house to receive them. Ican’t deprive my daughters the privilege of visitingmother’s home, once in a while”. Another ladycame and straight fell at my feet. I was tooembarrassed. She said that her husband died ina hit and run road accident and she has nobreadwinner in her family anymore. Her daughterwas studying in a different school, where she hadto pay for her education. If Sevalaya does notgive her admission, her daughter will have todiscontinue the studies at a very young age. Wehad many such cases, and we were able admitmost of them. Many students who applied forplus one class, had scored 80% or above, fromsuch low income or in some cases, no incomegroups. But for Sevalaya, they would havediscontinued studies after 10th standard.

I only feel that we should have much moreresources available to Sevalaya, so that we neednot turn back even one deserving case.

Thanks & Regards

Murali

July - 2004

2 Sevalaya’s News Letter

Study Circle Meetings

Date : 12/06/2004Book : Mahakavi BharathiyarAuthor : Va. RaSpeaker : V.MuralidharanVenue : Sevalaya CampusDate : 19/06/2004Book : Buddha & AmbedkarAuthor : T.RajagopalanSpeaker : T.NagarajanVenue : Sevalaya CampusDate : 26/06/2004Book : Unforgettable PersonsAuthor : P.S.AcharyaSpeaker : K.J.GeethaVenue : Sevalaya Administrative office

Events

On 13/06/2004, Chellammal Bharathi Guest Housewas inaugurated at Sevalaya campus. The buildingwas sponsored by Yoga vereinigung Rajagopalan e.V.,of Germany. Sevalaya has been receiving volunteersfrom overseas who stay in the campus for a fewmonths and volunteer their services. This guesthousewas constructed to provide accommodation to suchvolunteers.The life of Chellammal, the wife of Mahakavi Bharathiyaris one of great sacrifice. Being the wife of one of thegreatest poets and visionaries whose focus was oncreating awareness among the fellow countrymenthrough his fiery poems, who had a spiritual thirst andwho was a powerful personality with many dimensions,

the lot of managing the day to day affairs of the familyfell on the shoulders of the young woman. The familywas in dire poverty. Bharathi, the poet had a steadystream of admirers and friends visiting him. Despitethe poverty, Chellammal managed to extend a warmwelcome, fed them and made the visitors feel at home.We felt that it was only apt that our guesthouse shouldbe named after such a hospitable person. All Bharathilovers appreciated this gesture. SageT.G.Narayanaswami, the practical philosopher,commended us for the choice of this name. Ms. LalithaBharathi, the grand daughter of the great poet alsoconveyed her happiness and blessings.The 16th Annual Day of Sevalaya was celebrated on 19/06/2004. Dr. R.Kausalya Devi, Managing Trustee,Gandhigram Trust presided over the function. Mr.S.K.Sahu, Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions)was our Chief Guest and released the 16th Annual Report.Ms. Savithri Vaithi, Chairperson, Vishranthi CharitableTrust received the first copy. Mr. Sriram Vaitheeswaranof Scope International, distributed textbooks to studentsof classes VI to X. MS. Sunithi Simon and Ms.Vaitheeswaran of TCS Maitree Chennai chapterdistributed free notebooks to the children. Cerificateswere distributed to those who completed the freesummer camp in computer training and the free tailoringtraining provided by Sevalaya.The children of Sevalayapresented a cultural programme. The visitors were allpraise for the services rendered by the institution.On 21/06/2004 the Thiruninravur Jain Sangh invitedour children and senior citizens for the 114th BirthDay Celebrations of their Guruji. They providedbreakfast. New sets of clothes were given to all the

Sevalaya’s News Letter 3

senior citizens. Uniform materials were provided tothe children on the occasion.Tata Consultancy Services, Sholinganallur hosted alunch for the X std Students (presently in +1) whosecured 100% results in the Public Examination in April2004 and the teachers at the TCS office complex atSholinganallur. Mr. A.Srinivasan, Delivery Centre Headof TCS Sholinganallur and other officials joined thechildren for lunch. The students enjoyed the sumptuouslunch and buffet was a novel experience for them. Thestudents were taken on a tour of the office complex.They saw the IBM Mainframe computer and the officialthere kindly explained to them in simple terms aboutits functioning. They also saw the various facilities inthe complex like the Gym, the volleyball court, thejogging track and the indoor games areas. Some ofthem were inspires by the sophisticated and hi techatmosphere that they expressed their desire to studywell and one day probably work there. They also sawa short film on the Tata business empire, how it touchesthe day-to-day life of a man right from making thealarm clock, which wakes him up in the morning to thesafe home protected by Tata AIG Insurance where hesleeps at night peacefully.On 24/06/2004, the Children’s Film Society of Indiascreened the award winning film “Kutti” for thechildren at our campus.External Interface:The Managing Trustee,V.Muralidharan was one of theChief guests of the functionorganized by poor Children’sEducation Fund, CVRDE, Avadi on06/06/2004.The Managing TrusteeV.Muralidharan and the Hony.Correspondent Ms. BhuvaneswariMuralidharan were among theChief Guests for the Annual DayCelebrations of Coastal and RuralDevelopment Trust, Kovalam.Training and Development:The orientation programme for staff

at the beginning of every academic year was conductedthis year from 01/06/2004 to 04/06/2004.V.Muralidharan spoke to the new staff about origin andhistory of Sevalaya. There were sessions on MahatmaGandhiji, Mahakavi Bharathiyar and SwamiVivekananda for the staff who joined Sevalaya thisyear. The sessions were conducted by Trustee Mr.K.Mohan., the Hony. correspondent, Ms. BhuvaneswariMuralidharan and the Hony. Coordinator Mr.T.S.Venkataramani. All the staff and trustees wereasked to fix three types of goals: personal goal fortheir self-improvement, goal for improving the unit theybelong to i.e hostel, school, office, goshala, craft centeretc., and overall goal for improvement of Sevalaya asa whole unit. The Annual Plan for Sevalaya was drawnup based on the inputs received from the students,staff, trustees, donors and well-wishers. The annualcalendar of events for Sevalaya was also drawn upduring the programme. The new staff were givenorientation on the self evaluation process followed atSevalaya where the staff evaluates their performanceon a monthly basis as against the goals they have setfor themselves. On 05/06/2004 the staff were takenon a picnic to Vellore and Kancheepuram.Mr. P.Selvam attended the Comprehensive Trainingfor Paper and Paper products at Small IndustriesService Institute (SISI) from 24/05/2004 to 28/05 /2004. The participants were given training on

making paper and paper products likepaper bags, covers, envelopes etc.They were also given training onmarketing the paper products. On thelast the trainees were taken on anIndustrial visit to Sri Kanchi Industriesand Kumarappa Seva Sangham.Hobby Club:Mr. Vijay Kriplani and Mr. Ramakrishnan,volunteers of Tamilnadu Science Forumvisited Sevalaya on 22/05/2004 andhelped the children form a Hobby Club.The children were helped to learn manybasic concepts of science andenginnering through assembling manyeducational toys sets and play materials.

For Free Circulation :Send your comments to : Sevalaya, #3, First Link Street, Karpagam Gardens, Adyar, Chennai - 600 020.

Phone : 24468202 / 24468205 E.mail : sevalaya@vsnl.com visit us at : www.sevalaya.org

Indian society had suffered from one very seriousblemish for centuries. It is the curse of‘untouchability’ we are talking of. As is wellknown,large sections of the Indian society werecalled as ‘untouchables’, and

were treated as such for centuries. They were atthe lowest rung of the caste hierarchy, and wereabused and ill-treated. None but the mostdegrading of occupations were open to them,and they were condemned to lives of extremepoverty. Many social reformers tried to changethe system, but most were helpless against theprejudices deep-rooted in the society.

Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi andMahakavi Subramania Bharati, our three guidinglights of Sevalaya, were among the reformers whoachieved very large measures of success in theirendeavors to eradicate the curse of‘untouchability’ from Indian society. All of themhad risen above the ideas of caste and creed;and they were particularly incensed against thecruelty of ‘untouchability’. It is due to the seedssown by them that the curse has largely vanishedfrom Indian society today.

An incident that happened in the early days afterhe had taken sannyasa, opened up SwamiVivekananda’s eyes to the ill treatment meted outto the ‘untouchables’. It was the year 1883, andSwamiji was then a penniless, wandering monk.One evening he was feeling very tired after walkingmiles and miles, when he saw a man smokingtobacco using what is called a chillum. It was amanner of smoking tobacco that was commonat that time. Smoke would be drawn through awater-filled jar, using a long hose with amouthpiece. Normally a group of people wouldsit around a chillum, and take turns drawing puffs,using the same mouthpiece. Swamiji wasaccustomed to smoking a chillum in his youngdays. In his tired condition at that time he felt likehaving a puff. He asked the smoker whether hecould have a puff. The man shrank back andblurted out, “Sir, I am a Bhangi (sweeper).Smoking my pipe would defile you”. Hearing thisSwamiji insisted on smoking the pipe, his purpose

now being more to remove the sense of inferiorityfrom the man’s mind than having a puff.

Swamij used to recall the incident whenever hetalked of  treatment of

the lower castes in India. Years later, when Swamijistarted the Ramakrishna Mission as a social serviceorganisation to serve the poor and needy, hemade service to the so-called ‘untouchables’ anessential part of the Mission’s activities

Mahatma Gandhi’s love and sympathy for the‘untouchables’ (whom he called ‘Harijans’,meaning God’s Children) is well known. He workeduntiringly for their upliftment. He took them asinmates of his ashrams, had the Hindu templesopened to them for worship, had schools openedto their children and had avenues of employmentin various trades and crafts opened to them.When attempts were made by the British rulersto separate Harijans from the main stream Hindusby having a separate electorate for them, Gandhijiwent on a fast, and was willing to face death thanto yield to the craftiness of the British. Men likeThakar Bapa, Vaidhyanatha Iyer , Acharya VinobaBhave were his lieutenants in his battle for theadvancement of Harijans. It is as a tribute toGandhiji that the Constitution of free Indiaspecifically bans the practice of untouchability.

For Subramania Bharati, removal of castedistinctions and advancement of the‘untouchables’ was as much a passion as was hispassion for freedom for India from foreign rule.Indeed he has equated the two in one of hispopular songs titled  “Vidudhalai ! Vidudhalai !!” meaning “Freedom !Freedom !!”. Singing offreedom for India in that song he specifically liststhe names of the Harijan castes and the namesof nomadic tribes, and says that it is freedom forthem that is the freedom of India. He goes on:

Poor by caste or slaves by caste

Of that we have none!

No men of inferior status reside

In this India of ours!!

ERADICATING  A  BLEMISH