Make a telling difference through Education

Almost exactly at the middle of Karnataka lies a beautiful place called Ranebennur. The main source of income for the residents is agriculture, promptly supported by the free flowing Tungabhadra. A deviation from the highway takes us to an equally exotic venue named as Kadaramandalagi. BELAKU - a social service association in Bangalore, is actively involved in offering support to the Spandana school that exists in this location. Among a few other initiatives that they are part of, supporting kinds belonging to this school takes huge prominence. (More on it here - https://www.facebook.com/BelakuGroup)

We have been regular visitors to this school for over three years now, many times for their Annual day functions in the month of February. I look forward to these trips with fond eagerness. I don’t take too long to get along with children because 1) they are lively, energetic and can truthfully smile 2) they don’t really care how stupid you are, as long as you entertain them.

Though the school comprises of far too many children who have impressive qualities, one of them I really admire is BEERAPPA, a seventh standard student. He comes across as someone who is extremely confident about his own potential, who doesn’t know what fear is, who is scholarly in his academics, who is tremendously gifted in Sports and above all, who is extremely well-mannered. During our previous meeting, he requested me to pay a visit to his house, which I couldn’t honor for different reasons. This time I wanted to, so I asked him to take me along. He duly obliged.

I certainly didn’t anticipate Beerappa to be living in a bungalow. But what I saw, really shook me. Not trying to be boastful but looking to explain the reality, the entire area of his house can only be slightly bigger to my living room that is part of the moderate-sized two bedroom flat I reside in. This area has been carefully dissected into three parts - a hall, a study room which has a TV and a kitchen. I don’t remember seeing a fan in place. The ‘privacy’ we refer to is non-existent for them. He has his younger sister, Roopa, resembling exactly him, an younger brother, Father, Mother and Grand father living in the same house.

The little boy's courage to invite me to his house continues to be a surprise to me (though I surely am not the Prince of Wales). Not for a moment did he think about prestige. If I were him, I don’t really know if I would have, at that age at least (He will be around 12 years). His Mother was apologetic when she said that I will find the house to be too small for my liking. I was happy enough to shrug it off, to indicate that’s the last thing in my mind and that I was actually feeling proud being there. I really did. My inclination tends to be always towards the rags than towards the riches and therefore, I relished the 20 minutes I spent in their house. They forced me to complete my lunch with them, but I denied vehemently, with only one thing in mind. What I refused to eat is what would have remained for them to eat in the night or what could have been saved for the next day, in all honesty.

She made a quick cup of tea for me, which I couldn't force away. After tea, I wished his sister a very good future asking her to focus and study hard. She is such a pretty girl with a charming smile. I added, “Beerappa is a very smart kid, he speaks well, he studies well, he plays well and is sure to achieve so many things in the future”. His Mom smiled - I could see it being filled primarily with hope and with some amount of pride as well. All these with my terribly-broken-to-pieces Kannada, but they were good enough to understand. (I hope they did)

On the way back from his house, I told the boy that he should aspire to be a Doctor or anything that interests him so much. However painful it maybe, he needs to leave his town of birth to get some much needed exposure. I said, he should be constructing a bigger house to accommodate his people. He nodded optimistically in agreement to all my statements. Deep inside I thought, “Here is a kid on whose eyes I could see a real bright spark! Let me do all it takes to ensure he gets the best possible support for his studies and well-being”.

The list of brilliant individuals, who struggle to create opportunities for themselves due to financial constraints, does not start and end with Beerappa. There are scores of them, who when provided with the requisite support, can turn around the fortunes of their families. Wouldn’t that offer us a remarkable sense of accomplishment, if the assistance comes from each one of us? Let’s open our thoughts up and go on a hunt to identify hidden talent in the rural parts of our country. We will allow their potential to be buried unused otherwise.

For any reader who wishes to make contributions towards educational funds to the needy and are unable to identify reliable sources - please reach out to belakugroup@gmail.com, for more information. 

For the others who are already aware of social service associations but haven’t invested the time, effort and the money - Kindly get in touch with them today.

Let’s become more charitable, let’s donate, let’s spread more smiles. We have enough money after all. “Educate and Illuminate” said the motto of a famous school I was part of. The last few years have made me realize the true value of the statement. By Educating, we are well and truly illuminating a kid’s path along with his/her family’s hopes.

He who opens a school door, closes a prison - Victor Hugo