Domlur was more like a hill station those days with all that greenery.” Looking out into her garden from her spacious living-room, Lakshmi Mani, manager of the charitable wing of Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospitals, reminisces about the old Domlur, the place that she and her late husband zeroed in on as the ideal location to call home 22 years ago.
Changes
Today, the scenario has changed, she says. “But it is, nevertheless, a nice place to live and has retained that serenity in spite of it being located in the heart of the city.”
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After several years of working with a bank, Lakshmi realised she was “working just for the sake of it… And so, when the government came up with the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), I immediately applied for it. Initially, I was in two minds, and it was finally at my husband's insistence that I took up the job at the Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospitals (NHH).”
Content with work
Having been associated with NHH since its inception, the feisty grandmother of two says she has never been more content with her professional life. At the NHH, very poor children come with the hope that they will be treated.
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On an average, about 100 patients from low-income groups come to the hospital for cardiac treatment every month. “We try to raise funds, ranging between Rs. 40,000 and Rs. 60,000 (on an average) for each patient… And we find that many, many people come forward to help.”
Positive feedback
It is always rewarding to hear about her young patients' progress, she says.
“Recently, I was invited to the wedding of a girl named Varalashmi, who was cured of a heart ailment some nine years ago. It is a good feeling to know that they are doing well,” she says.
Today, Lakshmi enjoys her work so much that even if she has to travel 30 km from Domlur to her workplace, she says she looks forward to it.
“At the end of the day, it is a satisfying job.”