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 Inspired
by the ideals and life of Mahatma Gandhiji,
Mahakavi Bharathiyar and Swami Vivekananda,
the three great sons of India, Mr. V.Muralidharan,
along with his friends formed the Charitable
Trust Sevalaya and started the institution.
Initially a home for poor, orphan and
destitute children started functioning
on May 29th 1988. The aim of the institution
is to provide better opportunities to
them by fulfilling their basic needs of
food, clothing and shelter and also providing
value based education and medical care.
This would enable them to develop their
potentials to the fullest extent possible
and blossom, thus contribute towards a
better society. Otherwise such children
may become victims of anti social elements
and they may themselves become one such
element and disrupt peace in the society.
From a humble beginning, in a rented house
in Sivanvoil village in the year 1988,
Sevalaya service center now functions
from its own campus in nearly 7 acres
of land at Kasuva Village near Thiruninravur
(40 Kms west of Chennai).
More
from Muralitharan, the founder of Sevalaya:
a
We are reading
lot of news about Sevalaya. We are also
getting regular communications from you.
Can you elucidate for the benefit of our
readers what exactly is happening there?
A village transformation is happening.
19 years ago, when
Sevalaya entered Kasuva village, there
was no school. None of the poor children
were going to school and they and their
parents were happy to work in agricultural
fields and brick kilns for a small ‘coolie’.
Today there are 1000 children getting
free education, 37 of Sevalaya’s products
are in colleges, fully supported by Sevalaya,
some of the children have completed higher
education and have become software engineers
and bank officers. Apart from this, we
are also running an orphanage, an old
age home, a goshala, a small medical center,
a craft education center, a library and
various other programs and seminars for
the benefit of village youth and women.
a
You say Bharathi
, Gandhi and Vivekananda are your inspirers.
Can you tell us particularly what are
the ideals and messages of these leaders
that inspire you?
Right from my school days I was fortunate
enough to read a little bit from Bharathi,
Gandhi and Vivekananda. "Educating
one poor child is a billion times holier
than constructing 1000 annadhana salas,
10,000 temples" was the message from
Bharathi; “God comes in the form of Roti
for an hungry man” was the message from
Vivekananda. “ India lives in its villages”
was the message from Gandhi. Sevalaya,
getting inspiration from these messages,
is running a free school for 1000 poor,
destitute and orphan children, running
a free hostel for orphan children, grandpas
and grandmas providing food for the hungry
and concentrating on village development
activities through education, health and
self employment opportunities.
a
What triggered the idea of starting an
institution like this, and when?
When I was a school boy of 11 years, I
happened to borrow Bharathi’s poems from
one of my classmate’s father. He was very
reluctant to part with the book, as books
given on loan never comes back, but I
promised to return the book within one
day and took the book. I did that because
the following day was a school holiday
and I thought I can read the book. But
when I reached home, I understood that
the school holiday is because it was a
‘Saraswathi pooja’ day and my grand father
asked me to place all the books in the
pooja and no reading is allowed on that
day. Somehow I managed to hide this one
book from my grand father and gave him
all my school books. I started reading
the book, as my grand father started doing
the pooja. I was just a 11 year old boy,
I understood that no way I will be able
to read the book of 400 pages cover to
cover and hence decided to read it at
random. So I opened a page in random and
started reading. The page started from
a middle of a poem and surprisingly, it
was about Saraswathi pooja. It just described
what my grand father was doing and said
it is NOT the way to do Sarawathi pooja.
Just murmuring some ‘mantras’, stacking
all the books, offering sandal and flowers
is not Saraswathi pooja. Find a town where
there is no school and burn it down, was
the command from Bharathi. It really means
start schools where there are no schools.
Also Bharathi is very clear in mentioning
that these schools should be run free
for the benefit of the poor. This is the
real Sarawathi pooja. This poem had a
lasting impression on my mind and I decided
that I will do the Saraswathi pooja the
Bharathi way. This was the first seed
of Sevalaya.
a
There is an idea prevalent that anything
given free loses its value. What is your
experience?
In Sevalaya everything is free. We don’t
charge anything as fee in the school,
we give two sets of uniforms, one dress
for Diwali, all books, pen, pencil etc.,
everything is given free to 1000 children.
We don’t charge anything in the old age
home too. At the same time, we teach our
children values, so that they understand
what they are getting and they start feeling
that they must give back to the society,
when they grow. The very fact that Sevalaya’s
school is the only school in Thiruvallur
district, among Tamil medium schools,
which has got 100% results in the past
5 consecutive years, shows that what is
given free, has not lost its value.
a
Your school has secured 100% results consistently.
How do you think that has been possible?
Our teachers don’t work just for the salary
alone. If that was the case, there are
places where they can get better pay.
They are all working with total focus
on giving a better life for poor children.
They want to strive hard and make sure
every child understands the lessons, every
child is motivated to put in the effort
required. When such focused action is
there towards a higher goal, 100% result
becomes a by-product.
a
You say all these
activities are carried on without any
government support. This is something
incredible. Can you explain us the secret
as to how you manage this?
I always believe that Sevalaya is managed
by Bharathi, Gandhi & Vivekananda.
Myself, other trustees and the staff are
all lucky enough to get a chance to be
the servants of these three great people.
So if there is any management secret,
you need to ask those three people. I
am just carrying out the orders.
a
What do you think is your achievement
so far
When Sevalaya school started, we had to
go from hut to hut and spend a lot of
time with the villagers, trying to impress
upon them why they should send their children
to school. Today, if we can add 150 children
in a year, we get 500 applications. Most
of these people are from the poorest of
the poor category and they have seen how
Sevalaya has helped children to get free
education and how lives have changed for
such kids. This awareness of what education
can bring for a generation, is the achievement
of Sevalaya.
a
What are the
efforts Sevalaya has taken to inculcate
and integrate values in the educational
system?
As the institution is founded on the principles
of Gandhi, Bharathi and Vivekananda, we
try to teach our children the very same
values. We have designed our own syllabus,
called ‘BGV syllabus’. This covers the
life and teachings of the three great
men – we have lessons for each class,
based on their age and understanding.
This is our value education. In fact when
'TCS-Education world' called for papers
on innovation in education – out of 25,000
schools participating from all over India,
Sevalaya won the award for ‘Innovation
in value education’.
a
What, if any, are the perceptible changes
that the organization has made in the
community?
In nearly 15 villages near Sevalaya, there
is no child labor now, as all the children
are in Sevalaya’s school. Due to our consistent
campaign, consumption of alcohol has come
down. Using hazardous industrial waste
oil in the nearby brick kilns has completely
stopped. As there are nearly 10 colleges
from city conduct their 10 day NSS camps
every year, there are always nearly 50
to 60 youth engaged in community service,
which ensures that there is always volunteerism
in the air. In fact we have attracted
even an American university to conduct
their camp in Kasuva village and also
many students from many parts of the world
are always there at Sevalaya engaging
in various service activities.
a
How do the people in the community co-operate
with you?
When we posed this question to the villagers,
the immediate reaction from them was that
they have no money to spare. Then we clarified
that co-operation need not be always in
terms of money. We suggested that they
can come and spend one hour every week
and help us in any activity they can.
They happily agreed and many villagers
come and help us in kitchen, in the agricultural
fields, etc. In fact a set of villagers
who are construction laborers, constructed
a platform around the neem trees, in front
of the school, totally free of cost. This
would have otherwise cost us Rs 60,000.
a
What are your
ambitions for the future?
When Sevalaya was a elementary school,
students used to drop out after 5th grade.
Then we upgraded to high school so that
there is free education available till
10th grade. So after 10th grade, these
students dropped out. Then we upgraded
to higher secondary school and started
funding bright students to take up college
education. Now there are 37 students who
are in colleges, funded by Sevalaya, couple
of them in engineering colleges. This
number is going to go up every year. The
kind of money we have to spend on higher
education is increasing every year. May
be it will be cost effective to run our
own university! Also we can make the education
more rural based, at the same time job
oriented. So that is our next plan – to
run a free university, open only to poor,
destitute and orphan children.
a
Ambitious
plans. We wish you success. But, it is
generally observed that after an inspiring
leader fired with passion ceases to function,
the organizations become almost defunct
or at best like any other run of the mill
ones. What are your plans for “succession”
if you do not mind the expression?
I had an occasion to visit the Ramakrishna
Mutt head quarters, Belur mutt, near Kolkatta.
I was asked the same question by one of
the swamijis there, after coming to know
of all the services rendered by Sevalaya.
I told the Swami that Sevalaya is Swami
Vivekananda’s work. As He has sent me
to run the show now, it is His job to
send the next person to take over from
me. “Succession planning” must be done
by the masters, not the servants.
a
You are in a
responsible position in Tata Consultancy
Services. Sevalaya responsibilities are
also by no means less exacting. How do
you balance these activities?
Very simple. I either spend time on TCS
activities or Sevalaya activities. There
is no time for anything else. I have seen
many people, spending time on gossip,
reading unwanted magazines, watching useless
programs on the television etc. So I am
protected from all these! As Sevalaya
is a recognized CSR activity of TCS and
TCSers, TCS and TCS customers help Sevalaya,
it is a win win mix. I travel all over
the globe on TCS work and during weekends
I meet people in new countries and talk
to them about Sevalaya. Recently TCS won
an award in UK for supporting Sevalaya.
On many weekends, I attend to TCS telecons
with customers, sitting at Sevalaya. Today
with the improvement in technology, I
can work from home or from Sevalaya and
still give the same level of service to
TCS customers.
a
Is there any
murmur in the home-front complaining of
neglecting the family. How do you tackle
this?
Some of my friends, who have been coming
to Sevalaya regularly, will suddenly stop
coming. After a gap, when I met them ask
them what was going on, they will say
that they got married and therefore it
will be difficult to spend any time for
other activities. I used to tell them
that, they should be able to spend double
the time now for the society, theirs and
their spouses. Fortunately in my case,
I am able to spend triple the time, as
my wife and my father in-law are both
fully involved in Sevalaya.
****
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