The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Clothes, entertainment and a lot of fun

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Monday, Jan 21, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Clothes, entertainment and a lot of fun

Ananth Krishnan

Anbumani Ramadoss has a word of praise for Foundation’s ‘Clothes Bank’ initiative

— Photo: M. Vedhan

CARING touch: Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss distributing clothes to children at the Rajasthan Cosmo Club’s 14th foundation day celebration in Chennai on Sunday.

CHENNAI: When a fake Rajnikanth draws more cheers than a real Union Minister, you know you are in the company of children.

And there were around 1,200 of them at the Music Academy early on Sunday morning, as the Rajasthan Cosmo Club Foundation (RCC) organised a clothes donation camp and an entertainment show for children from around 50 Corporation schools, NGOs and welfare institutions for physically challenged and economically disadvantaged children. The clothes were handed out by Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Anbumani Ramadoss, including newly stitched and custom-made school uniforms.

As much as the children appreciated the clothes, the RCC’s entertainment show was the main attraction. “The uniforms are nice, but Rajnikanth was better,” said T. Monica, from the Corporation Middle School on Thiruvengada Swami street. Her posse nodded in approval.

The acts included a four-legged clown, a man who seemed to be made of rubber as he single-handedly acted out a puppet show using his body to play two dwarves, and a Rajnikanth impersonator.

The last act, complete with the trademark hand movements (and even slow-motion walking!), sent the thousand children into a wild tizzy. Several encores were demanded, and the organisers had a little bit of trouble calming down the kids when it was time for the speeches.

An amused Dr. Ramadoss, suitably impressed by their high energy levels, asked, “What was it that you all had for breakfast this morning?”

Dr. Ramadoss also praised the RCC’s idea of running a ‘Clothes Bank’. The bank collects new clothes, processes and fixes up old ones and puts them together in family packets to address the needs of every family member. “This is the first time I have come across a clothes bank, and I think it is a great idea,” Dr. Ramadoss said. “Rajasthanis are a community of shrewd businessmen, but what they get in their left hand they give with their right. They are a very philanthropic community.”

He said four things “personally hurt” him as Union Minister about the state of health in the country — the infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate, declining sex ratio and undernutrition. “We need the support of organisations like this one to engage with State governments and address these problems,” he said.

Dr. Ramadoss ended his speech by asking the children what they wanted to become when they grew up. In the show of hands that followed, policemen got the most votes, followed by doctors and teachers.

Politicians came last.

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