India trip 2004
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FEBRUARY 05, 2004, RAMANATHAPURAM, TAMIZH NADU
District Rehabilitation Center (for the Mentally Retarded and the Physically Handicapped)
Vijaya Kumar is a dynamic young District Collector. With his encouragement and blessings, a registered trust formed for this purpose, has opened eight such training centers. This particular one, is headed by Mr.Subramanimam.
It is impossible not to be moved to tears when you come to this place. The challenge is unbelievable and the dedication of the staff even more so. I was emotionally choked and virtually wet eyed the entire time.
In this humble room, young men and women with serious disadvantages are helped emotionally, physically and otherwise. They make Sambrani (dhoop), agarbatti, paper cups, telephone mats and such. There is also a modestly equipped Therapy center for therapy for disabled. I saw a young therapist working with a very young girl. A very moving experience!
I asked Mr. Subramanaian what were the reasons for the mental retardation (not the physical). I think his answers are worth noting. He cited malnutrition as the first, and close marriages(cousins/ mothers' brother) as the other.
Mr. Pathy who lives in Madurai, offered to take me to Madurai in his car to catch the same train I would have caught from Ramanathapuram. Mr. Pathy is an interesting and persuasive man and I succumbed. It was the right decision. I learnt a lot from Mr. Pathy.
But while driving to Madurai, what MR. Subramaniam had said kept ringing in my head- malnutrition and close marriage...Food security without nutritional security is meaningless. When we talk of food buffer stock and food security do we also mean nutritional security? Meter gauge to Coimbatore...paarkalaam (we shall see in Tamil)
above and from P.O.Jeyabalakrishnan DRDA (below) Senthil & Sundar look on.(below)
Physical therapy (below) Papercup Production (below)
I boarded the train in Madurai at midnight. It arrived in Coimbatore at 5:45 am sharp. I waited till the crowd cleared and started walking towards the exit, knowing I would recognize Senthil Kumar Arumugam, [email protected], my main contact in CBE and a founding (and very active) member of Sindhanai Sirpigal (http://www.sslindia.org) a public trust that has been working for rural upliftment in the Vavipalayam area for a few years now.
I spotted Senthil and his new bride Bhuvana and we introduced ourselves (though honestly it seemed unnecessary.) It was still early and we walked over to a lodge, half way between the station and the Collector's office where we had business later- we hoped.
Sundarmoorthy (he and two others had joined me in Pune on that leg of the journey) is the co-founder of SSL and his wife Sudha is the elected President of the Vavi panchayat. Both were also on the way into CBE from Vavi to the District Collector' Office where we had business later- we hoped.
The business we hoped to conclude was the signing of a contract between the Vavi Panchayat and infraSys for providing 10 solar streetlights for one of the hamlets whose streets are presently unlit at night. The "we hoped" part had to do with the Project Officer of the District Rural Development Agency ( DRDA) being in town, available in the office and willing to see us, etc.
I have been corresponding with PO Jeyabalakrishnan for some time on this subject and had written to him about my visit and that I wanted to conclude this business when I was there. To cut a long story short... not only was he in town, he had time to see us and we concluded all required paperwork and took photographs and were ready to leave for Vavi for the night.
PROJECT: 10 street light - solar. Value Rs 200,000.
infraSys' investment Rs 1,00,000. GoTN matched with Rs 1,00,000.
The Technical salesperson for TATA-BP, the preferred supplier of the streetlights was also available next day to visit Vavi and determine the exact locations for the lights. We left CBE by bus that evening after words of encouragement for future projects from the PO. NEXT TOP