COIMBATORE: All throughout the journey of nearly 350 kilometres, right from his hometown in Tenkasi to Sulur in Coimbatore district, R Gunesh, who was preparing for TNPSC examinations in 2024, grappled with the fear of staying put more than failure. For his family, like those of many aspirants, multiple failures were an unaffordable luxury. A piece of information he had received from one of his relatives about a centre offering coaching free of cost in the town in the west of the state was his beacon of hope.
The coaching centre, which operated out of a private library, offered Gunesh the mentorship and training he needed. However, financially strapped and unable to afford a place to stay in Sulur, he was weeks away from turning back. Initha Thangavelu Kumar, the 58-year-old woman who runs the coaching centre, offered him accommodation at her house for nearly a year. “I’ll never forget the help,” said 25-year-old Gunesh, who now works as an official in the tribal welfare department in Chennai.
For five years, Initha, a civil engineer who worked as a coach for the Math Olympiad in Singapore, has been quietly lending a helping hand to such underprivileged students. When a group of married women sought her assistance in 2021 in preparing for competitive examinations, Initha repurposed the library established under the name of her late father — Su Ra Thangavelu, former Sulur panchayat president who was integral to the establishment of the first sewage treatment facility in the town in 2003 — into the coaching centre, offering aspirants free-of-cost study materials and mentorship. The centre has since expanded its activities to include free weekend classes and employment guidance, with several students clearing Group II examinations and the Teacher Eligibility Test.
“A tier-2 city like Sulur lacks such a facility to help students from underprivileged backgrounds,” said Initha. A similar concern for her hometown was what prompted her in 2012 to make a decision to leave decades of career and life abroad. The sewage treatment plant (STP), one that her father worked hard to establish, faced operational challenges due to a lack of funds. “I started raising awareness about protecting waterbodies, and later joined the Neer Nilaikal Pathukappu Arakattalai as a coordinator,” she said.
Working with the trust and the Rotary Club of Somanur, she made efforts to revive the STP by sourcing funds.
Today, the STP treats around seven lakh litres of sewage every day. The restoration of the treatment facility was the first of what would become a decade of projects carrying her father’s name forward. So far, Initha has contributed personally and sourced a total of Rs 2 crore, through Corporate Social Responsibility funds and her NRI connections, to fund nearly 25 community projects, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. These projects included fencing two lakes in Sulur to prevent illegal dumping of waste, installing additional solar power units to reduce the STP’s electricity costs, procuring equipment to improve sewage treatment operations, and modernising the town’s solid waste management system.
Initha is actively involved in planning a sewage treatment facility for Sulur Big Lake. In collaboration with the Worldwide Fund for Nature, she conducted afforestation, waterbody clean-up and beautification drives, and restoration programmes such as the creation of butterfly habitats around the lakes in Sulur. Initha heads the alumni association of the Sulur Government Girls Higher Secondary School. In 2015, through the All-Women Alumni Trust, she made efforts to bring together former students from different generations and raise a total of Rs 38 lakh for restoring the century-old school building. With Rs 12 lakh government assistance under the Namakku Naame Scheme, an auditorium-cum-library was established at the school. Initha has also made efforts to secure educational scholarships for many first-generation graduates and sports equipment for athletes in the town.
“I believe social service, paired with active community participation, can help drive profound change,” she said, adding that sustainable progress requires the collective effort of all members of society.