26th February 2006, Saturday
A Saturday like any other. Except that I set off with a few other acquaintances to visit Saragooru on the banks of river Kapila for a stopover. Around 50 kms from Mysore, this nondescript village is a unlikely place for anything unusual, until you start exploring her. 21 years ago a group of young Doctors from Mysore began working for the community of kurubas (tribals) in this area who were displaced by the big dam project. Dr.Balasubramaniam, the thought behind the movement, was inspired by the ideals of Vivekandnanda and Gandhi. Two decades hence, Vivekananda Youth Movement as they call it is a silent revolution in around 12 districts of Karnataka. They provide primary and secondary health care, ayurvedic and allopathic, education, leadership trainings, community healthcare, HIV/AIDS control programmes, housing, training, research, consultancy and all.
We had been to the hospitals, the school and met with people from the haadi’s (tribal villages) and also with Dr.Balasubramaniam. We also saw the back waters of Kabini.
The whole experience was very inspiring and empowering. It did a lot in cleansing away the disempowering thoughts from our minds and it also provided us renewed hope in the amelioration of the socio economics of our world.
The school we visited is in bandipur forests which is around 26 kms from Saragooru. You will not imagine such a resourceful school so far from the towns. Being with children was such a lovely experience. I met this guy called Ramesh, a district topper who wants to be a scientist and two more boys who want to be software engineers. We had lunch with children.
A memorable getaway indeed. http://svym.net/
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