Vidyakar
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Vidyakar
The Mother Teresa of Chennai's NSK Nagar
CHENNAI, July 6: Nearly quarter of a century of selfless service for destitutes and diseased, he is called the Mother Teresa of NSK Nagar here. 54-year-old Vidyakar, a post-graduate in social work, had run away from his home in Mysore and ended up setting up a non-profit social service organisation and founder of 'Udavum Karangal' (Helping Hands) which takes care of 1,000 people, mostly women and children, orphans and mentally challenged.
"Right from the beginning, I was interested in social work," he says. On reaching Chennai, Vidyakar came under the care of a good samaritan who provided for his education and inculcated in him values like caring for the needy. This was what instilled in him a desire for starting an organisation to take care of destitutes.
"Udavum Karangal was set up in 1983 at NSK Nagar here. Today, we have five centres in Chennai and two in Coimbatore," he says.
The organisation had outstation units in Mumbai, Pondicherry and Tirupur. "But we wound these up owing to practical and technical difficulties," he says. They did not have a proper centre in Mumbai. "We were basically engaged in community programmes in the Red light area of Kamathipura, working among the HIV positive people," he says.
The Government offered land for setting up a centre at a place on the way to Pune. "But I did not want to segregate or isolate HIV positive people (from society). So, inmates there were shifted to the centres in Chennai." There are 1,820 inmates, including children, in all the centres. Dedicated volunteers network the activities, he says.
The inmates range from orphaned children some as young as one-month old, mentally challenged, differently-abled children and the aged. The registered non-governmental, non-religious and non-profit social service organisation has centres in Tiruverkadu, Maduravoyal, Velappanchavadi, Adyar and T Nagar (in Chennai) and two centres at Coimbatore. Says Shuba, a residential volunteer at the Tiruverkadu centre. "This is the biggest centre in Chennai. We take care of about 1000 inmates, mostly women and children and the metally challenged."
Shubha and her parents stay at the centre overseeing the activities. She was a BPO employee before joining 'Udavaum Karangal' in 2004. "I happened to visit the centre and from then on, I wanted to do something for the underprivileged. What better way than serving them here?" she says. Vidyakar makes it a point to visit each and every centre frequently. To the inmates, he is 'Pappa' Vidyakar.
"I'm aware of the pangs of growing up, especially when one is abandoned to his/her fate. I come from a difficult background. So, I give them all the love and affection", he says.
"We take care of the education of the children," says Murali, another volunteer who has been working for the organisation for eight years and is in charge of the Velappanchavadi centre where there are about 110 inmates, mostly aged people and mentally retarded children.
The organisation provides psychiatric treatment for the mentally challenged. Doctors also visit the centre.
Local people support the organisation's activities.
"Be it a case of an abandoned baby or a mentally challenged woman wandering in the streets, just a phone call to the Udavum Karangal will bring immediate response," says a shop-keeper near NSK Nagar.
"We do not seek Government aid. We survive only on private donations," says Vidyakar.
Asked if he planned to expand the activities, he said as of now they do not have such plans. "We are concentrating on the centres here and improving amenities further."
So with his band of dedicated volunteers, Vidyakar strives to make life meaningful for the abandoned. (PTI)
