The Beginning...
Why were we born?
What is the meaning of this life?
Is this real?
Is there some "magic key" that
will stop death? :-)
....these and similar questions were my
companions as I grew up. And I am sure, these questions are familiar to all of
us.... and it has been a rich spiritual quest so far trying to find the answers!,
but that is another story. However, it formed the background that brought in “Trust
Children”.
In India, where I grew up, I saw old
men, bent with age, and still carrying heavy loads, working hard in the hot sun
just to eke out a living.
I saw children in tattered clothes
walking barefoot in the hot sun.... what future did these children have?
I saw corrupt officials, who could have
done so much and yet had so little to give to the world!
What could "I" do?
These thoughts were the beginning of
"Trust Children" and the school "Gurukulam".
Right Education - I felt - was the
"equal platform" that we need to give all children. This is one
powerful tool that a child born in a poor family could use to overcome his/her
poverty.
Right Education - I felt - needed us to
educate the child in the "do's" and "dont's” of life, apart from
a sound academic curriculum. The child needs to also learn the right expression
of one's feelings like jealousy, anger, love etc.,
Right Education - I felt - needed to
give the child the inner and outer strength to live by the right percepts that
were being taught.
Education also needed to be in the
English medium, so that the child could pursue higher education. And we need to
support the child until he or she finishes a professional course or a
vocational course. This would be the "equal platform" from where the
child can hope to succeed in this world.
June 2004
At this point in life, I had been
teaching Karate, a martial art that I was passionate about, to a group of
fishermen at Panayur. They ranged from 4 year olds to 45 year old. The majority
of them were in their early 20s and were to play a major role in the Tsunami relief
work later that year. The families in the Panayur kuppam were easy going and
warm. I enjoyed visiting their homes.
After a class in Karate, I gathered all
my students and told them about the free school that I was going to start and
sent them to inform the families that needed help to come home the next
morning. The next morning saw a huge line of parents and 4 year olds queing
outside! I took in a batch of 34 students for LKG and UKG and “Gurukulam” was
born!
Mrs June, was our first teacher. The
children adored her and she gave them love and discipline in equal measure. Mrs Kadar
Bee was our first “student caretaker”.
The first day at school saw 33 children,
teachers Mrs June and Mrs Jeraine, 2 student caretakers along with some of my
karate students who had pitched in to help, in a rented 3 room apartment.
The first day also brought in a very touching
scene that is etched in my memory forever! We had decided to give a glass of
milk and cookies to all the children around mid morning. I had expected a good
bit of disorder with the children running around and the adults trying to feed
them. But, I saw pin drop silence, each child reaching out for his/her glass of
milk with both hands and carefully placing it on the desk. Dipping in their
cookies in the milk every child ate his wet cookie with complete concentration
and drank the last drop of milk! I was so touched! I vowed that I would do all
that I could to bring in right education to children like them.
The first few days were games and rhymes
until the children settled in! My team of volunteers from the karate class
continued to spend their time helping the children settle in. Selvam - who
later restarted his studies, supported by us, and is now an officer in the
Merchant Navy, Ramesh and Ali - who now drive their own cars for hire,
Saravanan – who learnt computers from us and turned out as our first Admin
Staff!
We still saw dozens of mothers coming to
school in the mornings hoping for admissions. And we had to turn them away as
we simply had no space. There was one mother who was persistent. She came every
morning without fail with her daugther in hand and a big smile. I had to tell
her every day that there were no drop outs and we had closed admissions. This
continued every day until the child decided to take matters in her own hands!
With a bigger smile than her mother, she ducked under me and ran straight to
the first desk inside the class room! And that is how Dharini joined our school!
She was our 34th student.
One
of the children who joined us had Down’s syndrome. Mrs Anuradha Shankaran,
Special Educator at Vidyasagar helped us care for her.
“Trust Children”was registered on the 29th
July 2004 as a Public Charity Trust.
School and Natalie Cornish
Nattie as she was fondly called, came to
Chennai to learn “Shorinji Kempo”, a martial art, from a close friend Sensei
Maxwell. Australian by birth, a citizen of this world at heart, she was taking
a sabbatical from teaching English in Japan. While visiting Gurukulam on her
first day in Chennai, she felt a calling to stay and help set up the academics
for the school.
Natalie Cornish stayed 3 months with us and has been part of the family ever since. Her dedication to teaching the students was
literally amazing. Nothing could stop her from reaching the school at 0830am
sharp and staying until the last student had left in the evening!
Sensei Maxwell and his team joined us on
weekends so that Nattie could have her Shorinji Kempo lessons. My karate
students joined in as well and it was a wonderful synergy of spirit.
Shorinji Kempo
Sensei Maxwell, alongwith Sensei
Nagamani and 2 others started teaching our children Kempo. That was the
beginning of the martial arts training that continues today as Karate under
Sensei Murali. All of the Kempo teachers travelled from the other end of
Chennai to help teach the children of Gurukulam!
Martial arts had given me a wealth of
inner strength which I hope our children at Gurukulam will find useful as they
grow into young adults.
Siri Gopal Kaur and Yoga Classes
Siri, from Germany, who runs her own
yoga school in Germany, gave our children their first yoga class! KYM
(Krishnamachari Yoga Mandiram) came in to teach our children yoga thereafter
and today our children have continued learning yoga under Sri Vajaravelu.
Sajitha, the artist
Sajitha, an artist who had won several
awards came to know of our school and volunteered her time. The children spent
many happy afternoons with crayons and water colours. Sajitha taught them to
use their imagination rather than to draw conventionally. She later had an
exhibition in Alliance France, Chennai, and dedicated a portion of the money
she raised to Gurukulam.
Medical checks
Dr Sheila screened all our children and did regular health check ups.
More memories of the first 6 months.....
 |
| Prayers before lunch..."Thank you God for the food we eat!" |
 |
| Learning through fun |
 |
| Nattie, June and Aneeta |
 |
| Our children's drawings in their Kindergarten! |
 |
| Siri's yoga classes |
 |
| Mrs June and Kadar Bee with the children enjoying the first Deepavali |
 |
| Sajitha's art classes |
 |
| At Alliance France with Nattie, Anu, Trisha, Ramesh, Sajitha, Maxwell, Nagamani where Sajitha raised money through her painting |
 |
| Mr K Ramaswami, founding Trustee with the children |
Shorinji Kempo classes!
 |
| Learning to meditate after martial arts! |
 |
| Of course...one needs to see through closed eyes too, while meditating :) |
 |
Finishing a good session of Kempo!
|
