Stories from the grassroots | Thoughts on development | Lessons on leadership
I would like to write about two people who mean a lot to me and worked quietly to make Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement what it is today. They are Vivek and Mamatha. Both came in at a time when we were hardly known, societal support was minimal and the resources that we had was inadequate.… Continue reading
Cooking and having lunch at VTCL with the first batch of 28 children in the ‘cow shed’ was great fun. A few of us would decide on the menu (which unfailingly was the ‘ragi balls’ and the ‘sambar’ day after day!),… Continue reading
It was on of those early days at Brahmagiri. We had just started a small school (if you can call a conglomeration of 28 children in a broken down cow shed that) a few months ago at Brahmagiri and Lalitha, a 10th standard passed ‘Kadukuruba’ tribal woman was the teacher.… Continue reading
We had a young man named Mohan who was sent by Swami Veetamohananda of the Ramakrishna Ashram, Ponnampet and I had assigned him the task of supervising the construction of the Kenchanahalli hospital. He was an energetic young man, completely committed to the construction activity.… Continue reading
In 1987, a local newspaper in Mysore had made a small article about me and Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement. A few days after this, as I was walking within the Medical College campus, someone told me that there was somebody looking for me at the Canteen.… Continue reading
It was nearly 15 days since we closed down the Chinnadagudihundi clinic. Our group had also grown from the initial 6 to nearly 15. More and more of my classmates were evincing interest in this new adventure of ours. Many ladies like Pushpalatha and Shashikala Joyce joined us.… Continue reading
Once I was traveling from Bangalore to Mysore by the KSRTC bus and happened to strike a conversation with the person sitting next to me. He was an employee in the sericulture department of the Government of Karnataka. During the course of the conversation, on realizing that I was a medical student, he started talking derogatorily of the medical profession.… Continue reading
It was nearly two weeks since the incident at Cheluvamba Hospital happened (refer to my previous post). I was becoming increasingly restless. There was such a strong urge to do something, but I was not sure what to do. I felt that I was not really in control of what was happening either to me or around me.… Continue reading
It was Nov 1984. I was posted as a 3rd year student to Dr Kaulgud’s unit for Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr Kaulgud was an extraordinary teacher and a human being par excellence. It was indeed a privilege to be with him in his unit.… Continue reading
As part of our medicine postings, we were posted to the Epidemic Diseases hospital, which was also known as the Isolation hospital. The buildings were old and decrepit and it was located near Bamboo bazaar in Mysore. It was April 1984 and none of us were excited being posted there.… Continue reading
I remember those days vividly. I had just passed my pre-clinical exams with distinction and had stood 3rd for the Mysore University. We had just entered our clinicals and I was posted to the Internal Medicine unit headed by Dr.Jadhav at K.R.Hospital,… Continue reading
Swami Achalanandaji
It was November 1985. There was so much excitement around. All the members of SVYM wanted to celebrate our first anniversary. We all decided to do so on the 1st of December itself. Coincidentally it was a Sunday and we students did not have to miss our classes.… Continue reading
Whenever I am invited to speak about SVYM and its activities, I am asked by many people what prompted me to start SVYM. What was the motivating force that led me to do so? Well, I feel that I need to share it.… Continue reading
It was around October 1989. The construction of the Kenchanahalli hospital had begun and was going on at a slow pace. Money was always in short supply and things were getting difficult. It was those times when one wondered whether we would get the required support to complete the project.… Continue reading
Friends from Dharwad visited us last week. They stayed at Kenchanahalli and spent a couple of days. During this time, they met Karunakar who was one of our true friends who went out of the way to help us 22 years ago.… Continue reading
