It was 11th December 2013, a Thursday morning 4.30AM and normally a quite platform number 11 of the Chennai Central railway station was buzz with activity of a peculiar type. At one end there was decorated stand with banners while the other end a group of young volunteers were receiving children of different kind. While at other places lots of packets were getting unloaded. In the center more than 1000 children were sitting quietly in the platform along with their guides.

The train arrived at 5AM. It was a train with a difference. There were special stickers put up and some volunteers were affixing some more. On getting the clearance from them the children started moving to the compartments as they knew in advance where they have to go. And here was a great surprise. These were 

blind, deaf and dumb, physically challenged and small children from Chennai, Salem, Namakkal, Cuddalore, Tirunelveli, Ramanathapuram and had come for the special darshan of Lord Balaji by a special chartered train organized by Friends of Tribals Society (FTS) Chennai. FTS Chennai had involved local organizations like RAJAT, RYA Metro and RYA Metrostar to execute the logistics of safe handling of this mammoth activity. At 5.30AM sharp the social welfare and mid day nutritious meals minister of Government of Tamilnadu Smt Valarmati arrived and was pleasantly surprised to see the magnitude of the arrangement. 

She met the children, organizers and wished them success. She also flagged off the train along with Sri krishnan, GM, IOB at 6AM. After the train moved from the platform, the compartment coordinators took over the charge to take care of the children and ensured everyone got a proper seat, breakfast, water bottles, snacks and biscuits. In some compartments Antakshari was going on. In some tattoo or mehendi or astrologers were interacting with children. The media students of MOP Vaishanv college for women, Chennai were interacting with children and taking their photographs and interviews.

At 10.15AM the train reached Renungunta railway station where volunteers were waiting to receive them with 35 buses to carry them to Tirumala. As every child has been briefed which bus to board the group shifted smoothly to buses and reached Tirumala at around 11.45AM. After assembling at Tirumala all proceeded for Annaprasadam and assembled near main gate of the temple where special permission was accorded to the group for Darshan of Lord Balaji. The whole Tirupati Temple was filled with children wearing YELLOW SHIRTS AND VOLUNTEERS WEARING WHITE Tshirts and having an exclusive Darshan of Lord and received HIS blessings.

After the Darshan while a group was busy arranging Laddus the other was arranging the boarding buses for return journey. The buses started for their return journey to Renungunta where the chartered train was waiting for the journey back home.

The group sat in their allotted places, took freshly cooked food, shared experiences and received the return gifts during the return journey. The train reached Chennai around 11.30PM with all safe and all blessed. Many of the group went home the same day, around 200 stayed back and went to their destination the next day. The arrangement for their night stay was also organized for this purpose.

This whole exercise was done as a part of public awareness activity relating to the silver jubilee celebrations of FTS. This unique activity was the brainchild of the Project Coordinator Sri Ravikant Choudhry. This not only resulted in awareness of the FTS and its activities during this silver jubilee year but also generated funds to run nearly 400 EKAL Vidyalayas!

On 15th of December the Sunday, a thanks giving program “Miracle on wheels” was organized to thank the sponsors, volunteers and donors of FTS Chennai by showing the famous program of Ability Unlimited, Delhi on wheel chairs.

A cultural program ‘Bharath Maa Thujhe Pranam’ was organized by Bharath Lok Siksha Parishad (BLSP), North Delhi Chapter, at Siri Auditorium on 15 Dec 2013. This program was directed by Shri Suresh Shukla based on patriotic theme created an awareness of Ekal Abhiyan.

Chapter President Shri Deepak Jain shared his experience on Vanyatra and said that every one attached with this Abhiyan have put all their effort to bring ‘vanvasi’ and ‘girivasi’ children to join them with the main stream of nation.

Chief Guest Shri Basant Bansal of M3M group, Shri Roup Bansal, special guest Shri Nand Kishore Agrawal of Crystal Group, Trustee Shri Naresh Kumar, Shri Vimal Mandeya and Shri Sathyanarayan Bandu lit the lamp. Chairman Shri Ghanshyam Goyal spoke on Ekal and its services. Trustee Shri Naresh Kumar in his concluding speech said that it is a social necessity to support groups like Ekal Abhiyan.

Ekal Pariwar Diwali Milan was organized by Bharat Lok Siksha Parishad (BLSP) on Sunday, 10 November 2013 at the auditorium of Guru Govind Singh College, Pitampura, Delhi. The program was inaugurated by Shri Subhash Aggarwal and Shri Sat Narayan Bandhu, the Honorable Trustees of BLSP by doing ‘Deep Prajwalan’ followed by the Ekal Geet presented by Smt Sonal Rasiwasia, the President of Mahila Samiti of the Parishad and all those present.

Shri G D Goel, Chairman , BLSP presented his views on peace and humanity, supporting with a brief history of ‘Albert Nobel’ that how the institution of Nobel Prize was established. Shri Pankaj Jeswani and his group presented cultural program based on ‘National Integration’ and displaying colorful Indian culture of different Indian States together on one platform including the famous “Dandia Raas.” All those present in the auditorium participated in this Dandia. Prizes were given to the top three performers.

Ekal Youth Team introduced themselves to the Guests and also performed the ‘Nukkad Natak,’ a touching play and an eye opener through the status of world of the girl child, promising yet gloomy and hopeful picture, a meaningful performance with a message to discourage ‘Selective Human Breeding’ which is rampant as India represents one of the world’s most adverse child sex ratio figures.
The concluding item was a soul stirring musical solo by a teenager Ms Shruti Agarwal.

Arogya Foundation of India, initiated a pilot project on Managing Anemia / Malnutrition & Training Village Health Volunteers (Arogya Sevika) for treating primary health problems through Home Remedies.

The pilot project is proposed in 120 Ekal Vidyalaya Villages of Ooty Anchal (Nilgiris district and part of Coimbatore district of Tamilnadu) and the Ekal Schools of Ooty Anchal is supported by Coimbatore Chapter of Friends of Tribals Society.

Smt S Hemamalini shall be the Project Coordinator and one housewife from each village will be identified and trained residentially for five days as Grama Arogya Sevika at the Training Centre in Coimbatore. The training will make Arogya Sevika capable of identifying primary health problems and Home Remedies to treat the villagers. Arogya Sevika receives a certificate after the training. These Arogya Sevikas shall identify the women / girls with Anemia for Intervention. Total beneficiaries are expected to be 2400 women. They will also educate the village women on Home Remedies and using the locally available resources for better health care. Monthly ‘Deepa Pooja’ will provide them opportunity to get together. Entire process will be documented scientifically and the final report will be submitted. The period for pilot project will be 12 months. Ashoka India (http://india.ashoka.org), an organization working for supporting innovative ventures is interested in the knowledge part of this project. Their consultants help in documentation of the project. Dr C Satheesh Kumar, an Ayurveda Physician will be the Director of the centre and he will guide the entire program. The AVP training academy (www.avpayurveda.com) of Padmashri P R Krishnakumar will extend full cooperation and support to the entire program.

The two days Workshop on Tool Kit for the entire program was organized on 23 and 24 November in the Arogya Foundation Training Centre at Coimbatore. 20 delegates participated in the Workshop. The delegates include Ayurveda doctors, experts in herbal related subjects and field workers. The Workshop suggested the framework on the syllabus to be followed for the five days training program. Few volunteers have accepted the responsibility of working on the syllabus to be published as a book. This Expert Committee and the team will guide the entire pilot project.

First five days Residential Camp for the Arogya Sevikas was conducted from 25th to 29th of November in the Arogya Foundation Training Centre in Coimbatore. Arogya Sevikas from ten villages participated in the camp.

Two Camps per month with 10 participants in each camp will be organized.

20 women in the age group of 15 to 25 years will be treated for Anemia and the response will be documented.

Tool Kit which include books for the Arogya Sevika and guidance for Anemia / Malnutrition will be published along with the improvement recorded during the intervention.

 

Smt.M.Kalyani worked in the Ekal movement for 10 years as fulltimer. She left it consequent on her appointment in the Kerala Government Service. It was her dream to adopt an Ekal Vidyalaya. She realised her dream when she handed over an amount of Rs.16,000 to Shri.S.Muralidharan, President, Ekal Education and Charitable Society (EECS), on 8 Dec 2013. EECS whole heartedly congratulated Smt.M.Kalyani for her dedication and affection towards the organization and its services.