Puducherry's Alice gifts hundreds of downtrodden kids share of wonderland
PUDUCHERRY: The agony in the cries is being felt much beyond the ‘dark alleys’ in Puducherry’s suburbs. Curious, and with a heart-thumping with anxiety, Alice Thomas turns, and rushes towards the direction where the disturbing cry is emanating from. She stops all of a sudden, stunned. The unimaginable is happening right in front of her eyes: A boy of 10 years of age is writhing in pain, as his merciless parents are beating him up black and blue for not bringing home enough money to buy food and booze.
The sight could have been an everyday affair for the impoverished neighbourhood where kids are into drug abuse, pimping and black-marketing, but for the 21-year-old Alice, it was a turning point. She decided to take care of the boy by providing him with food, shelter and education. A few days later, the 10-year-old brought two of his friends who were in a similar plight as his to Alice’s abode.
That was the beginning.
Alice did not have to think twice before deciding to dedicate her life to the upliftment of downtrodden children by launching ‘Udhavi Karangal’, an NGO, in 1991 and renting out a premise on MG Road for a boys’ home. When the number of children swelled, she shifted to Third Cross in Rainbow Nagar and then to her own land.
Just three years into setting up the NGO, she purchased a parcel of land at Nonankuppam for the home. A few years later, in 2001, Alice set up a girls’ home and subsequently, a girls’ observation home in TN Palayam in 2017. Her contribution also includes a residential home for gypsy children at Periya Kattupalayam in Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu.
Now, three decades after taking the initial step, Alice is the proud mother to over hundred children who were either street children or kids of migrant labourers or orphans or victims of sexual abuse.
Adding colour to what she terms as her achievement, Alice’s kids are now in a wonderland, busy earning a living by doing various jobs ranging from auto-rickshaw drivers to teachers to nurses to executives in multinational companies. The list goes on.
Ganesh, a techie with an IT company in Chennai, says he feels his as well as his mother’s lives would have gone to the dogs had they not met the “godmother”. With no money in hand and nowhere to go after his parents’ separation when he was still in the womb of his mother who was working as a housemaid, the two saw themselves coming to Puducherry from Chennai to live on the streets. After the woman met Alice, she entrusted her son with her, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Ramesh’s story is also no different. From a traumatised child who witnessed his father murdering his mother, Ramesh is now a graduate in Catering Technology from Pondicherry Institute of Hospitality Crafts and is earning a hefty sum as a salary, working with a renowned hotel chain in Coimbatore. Thanks to the helping hand extended by the woman who brought a sea change in his life, he has married off his younger sister and is currently staying with his grandmother.
Another boy of the Home, Tamilselvan, an orphan, is the headmaster of a private school. “Around 50 of my children are well-placed, and seven are in top posts in multi-national companies. A girl from Malaikuruvan tribal community has completed B.Sc Nursing and is with a hospital in Tindivanam. Another two tribal girls are pursuing M.Sc in Computer Science,” Alice says with pride gleaming in her eyes.
“I am aiming at total rehabilitation. My prime objective is to ensure basic education and then channelise their talents to mainstream or vocational education as per their aptitude, and ultimately getting them settled in life,” she points out.
Ask her, she would say admitting kids to the home is not a cakewalk as at first, she has to convince the parents, who are fully dependent on the children for drugs and liquor. “Then comes the most difficult part. Even after admitting the kids, they would run away from the home to watch movies or eat food at marriage halls,” she says.
The 10-year-old boy who was brutally beaten up by his parents has now become an autorickshaw driver and a father to a hockey player undergoing training at Sports Authority of India. Meanwhile, one of his two friends is a tile mason, whose daughter is pursuing a B. Sc Nursing course.
Looking at the girl who is getting ready for college, Alice is much relaxed and composed. “God has sent me for this special mission. When I see these kids studying, I feel very excited. I feel I am doing something nice. Otherwise, life would have been miserable for them,” she adds.
All-round development
Children, along with studies, learn music, dance, martial arts like silambam, play games, make crafts out of waste, participate in quiz and public speaking and several other activities of their choice
*Names of kids changed