She is only 33. But her circle of friends includes four dozen people who are more than double her age. “I have a great time with them, they are so much more worldly and wise,” she says.
“It is a human experience listening to their untold stories,” she says of the 44 senior citizens abandoned by their families. She provides them shelter, food and clothing, a service she has been rendering for a decade.
“I cannot imagine children ill-treating their parents,” says the girl whose parents have almost disowned her for the work she does. Yet this fierce daughter considers herself to be the son of the family battling the odds on her own and embodying ‘victory’ -- the meaning of her name, “Vijaya”. But she calls herself “Bharathi” because she feels the need to fulfil her duty as a responsible citizen.
It all started a decade ago when she found her friend’s mother in dire condition. “She lived near my office and I often visited her after my friend got married and shifted to Virudhunagar,” says Bharathi. Once, after returning from a long tour, Bharathi found the lady alone and immobile, without food and water. Her alcoholic son was missing. “I felt she was waiting for me,” she recalls.
Bharathi cleaned her up, hired an auto and brought her to her home only to earn the wrath of her parents. Subsequently, several old age homes in the city turned her away citing lack of space. The situation forced her to seek police help. Though her friend’s mother did not survive but the incident rattled Bharathi, only 18 then.
“My parents never try to understand me but it doesn’t bother me,” says the gutsy girl. Interested in writing, Bharathi started freelancing for various local publications early on and set up an advertising agency soon after graduation. She shared her income with her parents and saved a part of it. Her savings came in handy when she founded the Tamil Nadu Cultural Academy Trust and started a mobile service for the elderly.
There were several good-hearted people working individually or with NGOs doing the rounds of city roads and reaching out to the old, needy and destitute. “I either followed them or tagged along,” says Bharathi. “If they gave food, I provided clothes, if a person had both then I gave them a hair cut.”
It went on like this for three years with her college friends joining her on and off on the mission as she consolidated her agency’s work. By 2002, Bharathi set up a home for the aged with the help of a good samaritan. A local businessman impressed with her grit and determination provided her the space to run the home in Pykara.
“He did not take any money from me because he wanted to use the house for a good purpose,” says Bharathi. “There are still lots of good people in this world,” she smiles.”
Her decision to continue the service and remain single further angered her parents. But young Bharathi doggedly pursues her passion, often picking up old people from the pavement. “The older people like being held, loved and watched over. All they need is a life of respect,” she says.
In her Home at present there are 32 women and 12 men, all in their fifties, sixties and seventies who love Bharathi as their friend, daughter, grand daughter and guide. Many of them also came to her either through common friends, recommendations or emergency calls from strangers. The love she gives to each of them is profound and unconditional.
“Till you do it, you cannot understand what service is,” says Bharathi who still suffers growing pains. A brave and bold girl that she is, she never fears anything but only feels the pain. “There have been occasions when I have not been able to accommodate an aged person in my Home due to lack of space and facility. That upsets me.”
But her ‘extended family’ never gets to know of her anxiety. Food, money and clothes keep trickling in from occasional donors and she fills in the balance as and when required from the earnings of her agency that is into making of ad films, digital flex sign boards, banners and wall paintings to product launches, road shows and event management.
Bharathi aspires to become a film director one day. “Whenever that happens, it will be a woman-oriented film,” she says, “but right now taking care of the elderly is my priority.”
( Making a difference is a fortnightly column about ordinary people and events that leave an extraordinary impact on us. E-mail soma.basu@thehindu.co.in to tell her about someone you know who is making a difference)
