Date:05/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/05/stories/2007060515280200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Spreading the message of love

J. Malarvizhi

ALL SMILES: Vidyaakar shares a light moment with children at Udhavum Karangal, the welfare organisation that he runs for the destitute, at its premises in Thiruverkadu on Sunday. — Photo: V. Ganesan

CHENNAI: Young employees of a BPO and an IIT professor were among the visitors to the Udhavum Karangal premises in Thiruverkadu on Sunday.

The occasion was `Paraspara', an event that brought together sponsors of the children's needs with the child they support at the welfare organisation.

Rukmini and Kishore were part of the group from Citigroup Global Services to interact with Aadhira and Nandakumar, the children supported by contributions from the individuals in the company for the past three years.

Aadhira, a ninth standard student, confides that she wants to become a doctor. "Contributions collected from over a hundred people have enabled us to support these children," said Rukmini.

Udhavum Karangal's story began over 25 years ago, when Vidyaakar, a social worker fresh out of college, took an abandoned baby under his wing. Now, the institution has over 1,800 residents, including the mentally unwell, the dying, the HIV positive and homeless children.

Full-fledged school

It also runs a full-fledged school with more than 1,500 students from outside the institution and 400 children from Udhavum Karangal. Around 140 boys from the organisation have completed their studies and are working and some 35 girls have been married, Mr. Vidyaakar said.

Nithya Kalyani, who entered Udhavum Karangal when she was a year old, is now 23 and teaching at Jeevan, the school for mentally challenged children run by the organisation.

`Papa' is the affectionate name the children call Mr. Vidyaakar by. "Since Papa has done so much for us, I decided to do social work and teach here," she said, recalling that her sister, who also grew up here, was married recently.

Dilip Veeraraghavan, a visually challenged professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, has been associated with Udhavum Karangal for over two decades now, as has Mallika Ravinder.

Both are on the governing body of the institution.

"This is one of the few institutes that take in virtually any destitute person and provides them with care," said Mr. Veeraraghavan. Udhavum Karangal can be contacted at 2621 6321 or 2621 6421.