C. Leela, Peyankuzhy, Kanyakumari District. : I had been to the north Peyankuzhy Kendra. Here, they regularly conduct meetings in the presence of parents, villagers and the village chief. During this meeting they proposed to construct a compound wall for our Balawadi premises. After the meeting, I left and visited the premises after about a week and to my astonishment the compound wall was completely constructed. They had also provided the school with ceiling fan for the students. The children were very happy and told me that I can take classes for longer time from now on as there will be no mosquitoes and would get only cool breeze. I profusely thank the villagers for their king gesture.
R. Reginal, Thenkamputhur, KK Dist: We regularly celebrate Vivekananda Jayanthi during the month of March every year at our Balawadi School. During the month of March a student by name Rohind’s mother enquired about the celebration for which I replied that it would be done next month. She immediately promised that she would like to distribute gifts to all our students during the same. I felt very happy and relieved as we need not go for looking for a sponsor for the gifts.
T. Subathira, Mangavilai : We have a student by name Amrita in our Mangavilai Balawadi. She is my sister’s daughter. She was never obedient and would never eat without making a fuss, but was very studious in the academics. She is afraid only of Ms. Sridevi, another teacher of our school and would eat only if her name is mentioned.
One day, while at home, Amrita’s little brother was troubling his mother for eating lunch. On seeing this, Amrita went up to him and said, “have your lunch without troubling amma or else, I will call Sridevi miss and she would thrash you with a cane, if she comes”. He too became obedient and had his food without creating further trouble. On noticing this incident we were all thrilled and were happy to note her attached and observation of the Balawadi School.
S. Sridevi, Mangavilai : At our Balawadi School, we have two brothers as students. Their parents stay elsewhere but had left them at their grandparents’ house near our school to pursue their studies/ at the grandparents place there is no fan in their house. But still these kids stay with the grandparent and attend the school regularly. This proves the love and the care they get at our Balawadi School. I feel very happy to note this and the confidence they have in our curriculum.
S.J. Siva Sakthi, Thikkurichi : R. Reju is a differently-abled student studying is our Balawadi School for some time. Now he is far better in his academics. When his parents came to me the other day and said that Reju is very good in reciting the English alphabets and is very social with all of us, I felt very happy and proud to be associated with Vivekananda Kendra.
R. Vanaja, Vallan Kumaran Villai : My husband’s brother’s son, aged about 22 years expired recently. As he passed away at a very tender age all relatives like his uncles, aunts, sisters, father, mother, brothers, cousins etc came to condole the death. But seeing all this, I felt very depressed and my heart became very heavy. As I had lost my parents and do not have any brothers or sisters, I was imagining, what would happen if the same situation occurred to me. I do not have any relative to share my sufferings in this world.
At this juncture, T. Padmavathi teacher of our Kendra came to console me. I felt as if my own mother was in her. Then followed Thangam akka, Arumaithambi sir etc after coming to know of this incident and had rushed to my house. Only then did I realise that I am not alone and I too have a family in the Kendra and they will surely come to my rescue whenever needed.
I profusely thank the management of the Kendra for giving me an opportunity to serve the fellow human and bringing me into their family-fold.
V. Senthil Kumari, Nulluvilai : One day, I along with another teacher, went for a door to door campaign, in this village, for admission of more students for our Kendra school. There, we went into a house and requested the lady there to put her child in our school. She refused and said, ‘we would be putting our child in the school were our neighbour’s children are studying. They are very smart and studious. They chant slokas and also sing bhajans very well. Hence we want our child also to be at par with them’. Then we told the lady that we are from the same school you are talking about and she was astonished and felt happy for it. She assured us that she will put her child in our school and also recommend to all her know people about the values of this school and request them to admit their children in our school.
S. Sridevi, Mangavilai : Normally all the children of our Balawadi say “Vanakkam” before entering the class room. Most of the time one particular child would enter absent-mindedly and would sit in his place. When asked, he would immediately go the entrance, stand there; say ‘Vanakkam’ and then would enter the class, again. On seeing this most of the time, I felt proud to note that these Kendra schools imbibes our culture and discipline to the students at this early stage of their lives.
