KOCHI: Five kilometres away from Aluva at Thottumugham is a centre catering to the needs of women and girls. The centre, operated by Sree 1Narayana Sevika Samajam, also known as Sree Narayana Giri, stands as a safe haven for women and girls from financially poor families and destitute people. And on Saturday, the Samajam will inaugurate a dormitory facility at Thottumugham.
Registered in 1964, the Samajam had very big dreams and visions. “The vision is to bring comfort to the helpless. The members garnered this thought of service from the teachings of Sree Narayana Guru,” says Shirly Chandran, president of the Samajam.
Eighty-three-year-old Shirly has a very interesting tale about the organisation. She used to accompany Parvathy Ayyappan, wife of Sahodaran Ayyappan, to meet people and collect contributions for the centre.
“We depended upon personal contributions. Even today, the situation is the same. This dormitory has also been built with the help of CSR funds of various companies,” she says.
According to her, there is a story behind the establishment of the Sevika Samajam at Thottumugham. “Sree Narayana Guru used to meditate at the hillock near the centre. The Guru told Sahodaran Ayyappan that serving mankind was equivalent to serving God. These words took root in Sahodaran Ayyappan’s heart, and from it germinated the thought of establishing the Samajam,” Shirly says.
The rock on top of the hillock is now conserved as the Guru Mandiram. “Many people had offered to give us a bust of the Guru for the temple. However, what can be better than the rock that served as the place of meditation for the Guru?”
She says the land where the hillock is situated belonged to a person who had been sentenced to jail.
“After his release, he repented and decided to give the land to the Guru and become his disciple. The Guru called him Valmiki for this act of his,” Shirly recalls.
The first thing that the Samajam did was to build a school in this village. It was difficult to convince the parents to send their children to school. “These children were being forced into begging. Se had to pay `2 per child to get them to come to the school. It was the start of a silent transformation in the village. We have come up with a lot of activities to supplement our monetary needs. Our most successful entrepreneurial venture is the ‘Kitchen’. We prepare traditional sadya and have been getting a lot of orders.”