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Saga of selfless service
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The Chinmaya Mission project is indeed a boon to the villagers in and around Tamaraipakkam. It has a medical centre, a home for senior citizens, a temple, a prayer hall and a school.
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GANDHIJI ONCE said that India lives in its villages. It is perhaps recognising this truth that Swami Chinmayananda, founder of the Chinmaya Mission, started the Tamaraipakkam project. The Tamaraipakkam project offers a comprehensive range of services that address the medical, spiritual and community needs of the villagers of Tamaraipakkam and provides them with an opportunity to interface with city folks.
The village of Tamaraipakkam, about 35 km from Chennai (on the Tiruvallore Red Hills Road) is home to the Anant Medical Centre, the Pitha Maha Sadan Complex, a unique Sarveshwara temple and prayer hall, the Geeta Satsangh Hall and the Hari Hara school for village children between the ages three and five.
The Anant Medical Centre, named after a devotee of Swami Chinmayananda, was started in 1987 in a small way under a banyan tree. Around 20 patients were seen each Sunday by two doctors. Later with Saraswathi Anant donating the entire amount for building a hospital, in memory of her husband Anant, the project received a shot in the arm.
Today, the centre operates at a spacious building (from Friday to Monday) with emergency, examination and waiting rooms and counters for dispensing medicines. About 700 patients from over 50 villages (Tamaraipakkam, Velliyur, Vengal, Avadi , Periyapalayam, Thinnanur , Paganmedu and Magarel among others) are examined and treated every week . A nominal fee of Rs. 2 is charged for per patient.
A panel of 12 senior specialists offer their services. Specialities include paediatrics, general medicine, gynaecology, diabetes and ophthalmology. Special camps are conducted for hypertensives , diabetics, asthmatics and those with orthopaedic problems. Quarterly eye camps are also held.
Immunisation for children at the paediatric clinic, antenatal care for pregnant women, treatment of medical emergencies and ambulance services for the villages are the other value additions.
Says the resident doctor, "All the doctors coming here are very dedicated. Nobody gets a salary." Chinmaya Mission members and Chinmaya Youth Volunteers help out in various ways such as registering the patients, cleaning the place and dispensing medicines.
One of the volunteers feels his time is spent most usefully. "I have acquired tremendous patience, problem-solving skills, learnt spoken English and gained a lot of experience. My weekends here are spent better than it would have been otherwise. Most people who come here are illiterate. They are under-nourished as they eat gruel and, worse, they squander their earnings on liquor."
Patient Murugesh who has been coming to the centre for the last 10 years says he has chronic asthma. "I can't afford to miss the weekly clinic, especially in winter." Funded mainly by the mission and donations from the public, there are plans to raise a corpus so that the interest can be used to meet the expenditure on medicines.
The Chinmaya Mission welcomes support from the public who can either join the panel of doctors or serve as volunteers, contribute to the corpus fund or donate medicines, medical equipment, ambulances or help by sponsoring schemes that have been worked out to support patients.
The imposing Sarveshwara Prayer Centre that also forms part of the Tamaraipakkam project was inaugurated on October 14, 1989.
The Sarveshwara temple is different by virtue of its very ambience and architecture. A dazzling, diamond-crusted Spatika Linga mounted on a special glass case is the main attraction in the sanctum. Abhishekam is performed on the Spatika Linga only once a year on Maha Sivarathri while the daily puja is performed on a small granite Linga.
The sanctum is tastefully designed and the high-domed hall is truly awesome. Devotees claim that the place reverberates when chanting is on. In the Geeta Satsangh Hall, there is a well-ventilated, circular prayer hall on the ground floor where discourses for the senior citizens are organised.
The Pitha Maha Sadan complex which consists of several kutias (cottages) ready for occupation by senior citizens is another unique feature .
The kutias are two-in-one units with a common verandah, a bedroom, bath-area, a kitchenette and an alcove. Over 100 kutias are due to come up in this community village.
One of the kutia residents - a genial, elderly lady who has bought her little home says: "My daughter is married and my sons are abroad. The village people are very nice. My grandson first visited the place and checked it out. Since I have always wanted to be independent and live in a calm quiet place - I decided to move in. I never get bored here; in fact, I don't have enough time to read."
As one prepares for the drive back to the city, the words of Swami Chinmayananda ("the highest prayer in this world is service, the greatest devotion is loving the people around us") keep ringing in one's ears.
SUDHA UMASHANKER
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