The 'Home of Hope'

Sharing with you something that’s very close to my heart. An experience that has touched my soul….something that whispered again to my mind that ‘angels do exist’.

It was 2006 winter. Scrambling though the TOI on a lazy Saturday afternoon on lefthand corner of the second page was a small article that caught my attention. It was about an ex auto driver, who has now dedicated his life rescuing and rebuilding the lives of the destitute and dying people on the streets. He started by picking a couple of homeless sick people in his auto-rickshaw to his home where he used to cleaned them, give a bath and took care of them till they died in dignity . The numbers started increasing and the help rendered by his fellow auto drivers and some voluntary donors was not enough. In course of time, he gave up his work and with help of ‘The India Campus Crusade for Christ’ got half an acre of land and started his ‘Home of Hope’ which was then a 60 beded living space. A sudden urge caught me to meet this person and to be of some help to this brave soul.

I did a bit of homework. Shared the article and the story with my colleagues and close friends who generously donated 2 bags full of old clothes. Gathered a bit of my savings, bought chocolates and was all set to see the ‘Home of Hope’. My friend Rajesh volunteered to accompany me. On a Sunday afternoon we set on his bike towards ‘Doddagubbi Village’ on the outskirts; a place which was less knows to the localites, nor was found in the Bangalore maps. With couple of rounds in Lingarajapuram, we could luckily catch Raja on the phone who navigated us on the phone. Finally deep down on an abandoned land we found the ‘Home’. Raja was on his way to pick a destitute and said he will be back in a couple of hours. We had a mental picture of a typical old age home, where in old people either on wheelchairs or their beds, sitting chit chatting, would be happy to see us, we would distribute chocolates and have them share their feelings and have fun. But the scene was different. People lost in their world, lying here and there hardly moving, someone staring at you, someone wandering at a snail's pace in the field, a patient on the wheelchair looking at the flies on his wound barely having the strength to wade it off and so on.

Suddenly an old man rushed towards us, taking the bags; “I will help you”. Another young guy came greeting; “hello sister, hello brother…please come to the offiice”….He introduced himself as Ramesh the care taker. We were somewhat at ease; introduced ourselves and were in conversation with Ramesh and another man in the small room called ‘office’. We were amused to know that Ramesh, the humble sweet guy was once upon a time an aimless criminal. He was caught of stealing Rs15 lakhs from an MP. Post his term in jail, his family kind of discarded him and he was on roads. Somehow got in touch with Raja and now was diligently serving the sick which he said was his purpose of living now. “This is my temple sister, I would marry only if I get someone who is ready to serve the residents…I am here till my last breath” said Ramesh. There was an old table and a desktop computer on one side and a huge poster on the other side with some smiling faces of the patients. Looking at the poster inquisitively, before I could ask, Ramesh said “that small girl is Gracy. We found her in a public dustbin in an unconscious state when she was some months old. I saw her old picture…an extremely malnutritioned baby with some kind of excretion on one eye. I asked “Can I meet her” Ramesh smiling: “Oh yes! Kumar! Can you call Gracy?...she recently joined school” Then came a sweet shy 4 year old girl. One of her eyes had to be removed but she was as healthy as any kid of her age should be. Showing her the chocolate box, I asked her to called her friends to have the chocolates. Soon there were 4-5 kids in the room. We started watching a CD which was about some patients; the transformation from the inhuman condition on the streets to the descent healthy way of life they were leading now. Gracy and a girl Lisa were sitting on my lap enjoying the chocolate. Raja was shown taking off a dead finger of a patient in surgery knife. Me and Rajesh absorbing the bold scenes were praising Raja and suddenly one kid shouted : “See Aunty, deadbody!” Raja was shown carrying a patient for cremation in his arms. That gave me goosebumps. Then saw a familiar face on the video. A wailing beggar lying on the street with an infection on the toe and loads of maggots on it. OMG! we were amazed to see that it was Kumar, who greeted us initially, who took our bags and also called Gracy! He was shown doing gardening in the video. Ramesh: “You know, Kumar is getting married!” Rajesh: “But he doesn’t look that young…how old is he?” Ramesh laughing: “Well he is 40! but happy..” that lightened our mood a bit. Ramesh started showing us the home.

Gracy took the charge of distributing chocolates among the residents. Among the kids who started fighting for the left over chocolates, was a slightly mature, quite face trying to control them. She was Blessy, Raja’s eldest daughter. We started with the ladies section: 3 small rooms jammed with beds. It was nice to see some smiling faces, some shaking hands, some ‘Hello’s’…and then a beautiful fair grey haired lady dragging herself on the knees smiling: “Hello, I am Vijay Laxmi” Myself : “Hello Aunty, how are you…did you have food?..you speak good English” In a small conversation, holding back her tears she narrated how she was discarded by her well settled son and daughter in law after her limbs got paralyzed. Raja who was in Chennai on a tour saw her on the streets, helpless and brought her here. Controlling my emotions, I hugged her and said that we are like her son and daughter and will come here again to see her. Vijaylaxmi Smiling: “Thanks!....Raja is God to me.”

Men’s section was one big room with around 30 beds lined up, a nurse dressing a wound of a patient, two other patients watching the same without a word, and then a man sleeping on the floor with one hand cuffed with the bed. Ramesh: “He is a mental patient and violent on other patients at times..thats why we have cuffed him..but he would be fine. We had other patients too like him, but now they are sitting peacefully in this room, some in the garden.” To our question on how many AIDS patients were there in the Home, Ramesh: “We had six of them. Two died last week..we have two adults and two kids now”.

Blessy and other kids took us to the child section which was just above the men’s section adjacent to 2 rooms which was the residence of Raja and family. The little girls started showing me a broken lipstick and some dolls, while a boy started teaching Rajesh the tabla he plays. I was looking for Raja’s other 2 kids, Blessy “They have gone to my grand mothers house, they go there every Sunday..” Rajesh asked her why didn’t she accompany them; to which the 6 year old replies.. “Papa was not there and Mummy is also busy cooking, so I stayed back…we need someone to look after the patients too”. On asking what does she wants to become in future the brave one replies “I want to become like my father, help the poor and sick and take care of this Home” Highly amazed by Blessy’s courage and affection of other kids, we were planning to play cricket with them…that’s when Raja arrived in his van.

It dragged attention of each and every patient who were in some position to move as if everyone was waiting for him. The kids ran downstairs. Kumar, Ramesh and some were busy carrying the new patient. While they took him for wash, Raja coming towards us “Sorry sister I was late”. He took us to the office room. The experience of talking to this heroic personality was just too overwhelming. No one who has ever met this person can imagine that he was once an aimless rowdy who had taken to bad habits like stealing, drinking and gambling at a very young age. He had even run away from home and had lived on the streets for two years. He started driving auto-rickshaw for meeting his needs and one day his auto became the ‘Rakshana Rath’ (faith chariot) to pick the destitute from the streets. Hence he is popularly called ‘Auto Raja’.

We asked him how does he manage to carry those minor surgeries and dressing; on whether he studied medical, to which the humble man replies smiling: “I was a drop out at class 3 sister”…”no one gave me any training; its only Gods blessings on me…” Handing over the cash envelope we said: “You are a blessing to thousands of people Raja…the courage and dedication you show is beyond the capacity of educated people like us” Raja:” Thanks Brother, Thanks sister, its very kind of you”. Exchanging few more kudos I said “Between you have a wonderful brave daughter…” Raja laughing: “Oh Blessy…yeah she even fights and wants to do the dressing of the patients”. With this light note we were bidding goodbye to the residents, especially Vijaylaxmi, Ramesh, Blessy and other kids.

On the long drive back home, we barely spoke to each other. While Rajesh was almost dumbfounded and low looking at the ‘other face’ of the so called glamorous ‘silicon valley of India’; I was deeply touched and inspired by the courage and unbounded compassion of Raja and the conviction of people like Ramesh and Blessy towards the cause. The experience was like a devout food for the soul.

I was again at the Home after a couple of months with friends Purab, Priyanka, Jaya and Dheeraj. We managed to take some useful objects like bedsheets, phenol, slippers and some toys and sweets for the kids. Unfortunately Vijaylaxmi had passed away just a week before. The number of kids had doubled and soon the regrettable feeling of not seeing Vijaylaxmi was surpassed with the games and fun we had with them. Happy to share some pictures of my second visit.


Thanks a lot for going though this long article. I see vastness of God, his love and compassion in a small package - the humble Raja….For angelic heroes like him, the dreams of brave Blessys, for the dedication of people like Ramesh and for the peaceful soul of all Vijaylaxmis of our land, I pray and hope for a free and vibrant India. The current need for Home of Hope is huge sum of money to construct their new building. Don’t you think: Together we can and should make a difference?
For those who want to visit the home please see: http://www.newarkmission.org/ and
please feel free to contact me through this blog.

The missing block...

Somewhere in 1990’s when I was hardly 11 years old, I was strongly impressed with the spirit of a village girl named Kalyani. Every time, I saw her, I believed more in dreams, in hard work and determination and in power of the fairer sex. Her courage of taking the road ‘not taken’ and her conviction to sustain against all odds was just too inspiring.

Well she was not a movie celeb or any social leader but a TV actress of the soap – 'Udaan'. For those who faintly remember, Udaan was a story of a girl from a remote area, on how inspite of difficulties and societal barriers manages to make a mark or herself in the police force. With her hard work and sheer determination she becomes an ‘ASP’. Kavita Choudhary (Kalyani) was not only the lead role in the serial but was the writer of the same inspired by her older sister Kanchan Choudhary who went on to be appointed as Director General of Police of Uttaranchal, becoming the first Indian woman to head a state police force. It was one the first serial to showcase “women empowerment”.

The current age television is jammed with 100 odd channels, with 1000 odd programs, but I seriously miss the “idiot” box that existed before the arrival of “cable” network. Even with the interrupting white screen – ‘Rukawat Ke Liye Khed Hai’, the entertainment quality of Doordarshan those days was not ‘dooor’ (far) from the interests of all age brackets. Think of the first detective serial ‘Karamchand’ (the carrot, Pankaj Kapoor and Kitty) or the mind boggling series of ‘Vyom Kesh Bakshi’ (smart and superb actor Rajat Kapoor adding iciing on the cake); the comedy rippers like ‘Dekh Bhai Dekh’ and ‘Zaban Samhal Ke’, meaningful, ‘close to real life’ dramas like ‘Humlog’, ‘Buniyaad’, ‘Nukkad’, ‘Yeh Zo Zindagi Hai’, ‘Gul Gulshan Gulfaam’, ‘Mungeri Lal Ke Haseen Sapne’; kids favourite shows like ‘Spiderman’ and ‘Vikram aur Betal’, youngsters pet ‘Fauji’, ‘Circus’ and ‘Indradhanus’…the mythologies – ‘Ramayan’ and ‘Mahabharat’; witty ones like ‘Chanakya’; knowledge busters like ‘Surabhi’. And of course my all time favourites – Mogli of ‘Jungle Book’ and Swami in ‘Malgudi Days’ (based on the short stories of RK Narayan).

Don’t you feel nostalgic even when you accidentally hear the fillers: ‘Ek Chidiya Anek Chidiya’? And who can forget the famous – ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’? Why? Well all these are associated with our sweet carefree childhood days; yes of course; but also because they contain something called ‘SUBSTANCE’ in them. They are so close to our heart, because of the ‘Value’; ‘the message’ they give in their own unique ways!

Where is today’s Television industry heading to? Not only Ekta Kapoors K-tastrophies, almost every channel is 50% flooded with the weeping bahus and the wicked sasu maas and nanands even sleeping with 1 kg make-up and 10kgs of jwellery. Again aren’t we over obsessed with the reality show concept? Yes they do give opportunities to fresh talents, but why each channel needs to copy the other and make our world so cliché? Is that all this 500000 year old rich diverse unique civilization portrays about? With this cut throat competition of increasing TRP’s what the channels are forgetting is some thing called ‘value’. When we can be so creative in our ads, why can’t we show meaningful stuffs catering to the majority of middle or lower class, the youngsters and more importantly kids - the budding stars of tomorrow. It’s high time that we start thinking out of the box and unwrap the true rising ‘Kalyani’s’ of today, the beautiful Himalayas and Gangas. Shows that instigate creativity and knowledge among kids, that which deals with the current age success stories and problems the country is facing. That which encourages youngsters towards entrepreneurship and also their societal responsibilities. I am sure we can never be deficient of refreshing novels or real life success stories to base the serials.

Again coming to media, I find the missing block with one and all. Don’t you think there is excess political reportage and too much space is devoted to the antics of the country's Bollywood and social elites, ignoring stories about an India in transition? Along with a bomb blast in a city, ‘Dhonis new hairstyle’ too becomes ‘breaking news’. Majority of the channels in the verge of competition are ‘sensationalizing’ the issues. What’s lagging is again some ‘substance’ and ‘responsible reporting’. Mr Abdul Kalam states in his website:

“Why is the media in India so negative?

Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production…number one in Remote sensing satellites..second largest producer of wheat and rice.

Look at Dr. H Sudarshan, he has transferred a tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news, failures, politics, murder, caste war, why why?”

I am not saying media has not done anything constructive. We have all witnessed its role in cases like Jessica Lal’s case. TOI with lead India and India Poised episodes has taken a lot of initiatives. Current age reporter Rajdeep Sardesai in recent media meet asks broadcasters to sharply distinguish between "what is in public interest and what is of public interest".

Well this is just the beginning. We have to go a long long way to catalyze the shrinking ‘meaningful journalism’.

Can we have at least one success story every day? Can we have a dedicated space for children – to encourage them write and think out of box, to encourage them read meaningful scientific and motivating stuff? Can we talk more about the unexplored mesmerizing tourist destinations, about the fading artifacts? Dedicated episodes and pages that makes each India proud and at same time more responsible towards things like cleanliness, energy saving and social activities. Can we have at least one tip each day to the rural voting mass on how to improvise their crops or improve the healthcare?

Apart from healthy politics, something radical which can move us from the ‘third world’ definition to a ‘power’ is ‘KNOWLEDGE CONNECTIVITY’ and ‘channelizing of the 'VALUE SYSTEM' to the lengths and breadth of the society’. The entertainment and media has a gigantic role to play in this movement.

India believes in its media; strongly associates even with the entertainment industry. With uniqueness and substance, it can make enormous impact in our lives and to the nation.
As per PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates, the country's media and entertainment market is expected to grow 18.5 per cent a year to reach $36 billion by 2012. It’s already one of the most lucrative industry vis-à-vis the world in terms of variety and size. Let’s pledge and pray to make it the BEST in the world by adding the fading block called ‘SUBSTANCE’.

Jai Hind!