CHENNAI: Art reflects reality’ may not have been the first thought to strike us when murals of exuberant and thriving children sprung up on the giant building walls in Kannagi Nagar. The marginalised residents in one of Chennai’s largest resettlement colonies were still pulling out all the stops to eke out a living and educate their children in the ever-growing metropolis. However, the scenes of over 200 children sitting attentively for free tuition at a training centre here, might make us accept that the art on the building walls may well have foreshadowed reality.
Residents say all credit for the inception of ‘Mudhal Thalaimurai’ centre goes to assistant film director E Marisamy. As someone who has tasted penury from a young age, the 45-year-old left no stone unturned when it came to the training centre’s construction. From false ceilings to swanky lights, the centre has it all. The building was conceived and constructed last year with the help of Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board MD M Govinda Rao and Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu using CSR funds. Kannagi Nagar’s own college students now turn up at night to take free tuition classes for the kids. Most of these children are first-generation students and carry the dreams of their families.
“The children here are talented and bright. But, because of our living conditions here, they grow up believing they are not deserving of swanky corporate-type spaces,” Marisamy said. For Saranya S, a BSc Mathematics student at Madras Christian College, the finest hours of the day begin after 6 pm. She returns home and hurries to the ‘Mudhal Thalaimurai’ centre where young ones wait for her eagerly. Saranya is among the 10 college-going students who split math, social sciences, biology, and computer science subjects for the tuition.
“This is something I want to do for Kannagi Nagar. The kids’ school scores are on the rise, besides we too learn so much from these sprightly children. What’s more endearing is that even elderly people, who either dropped out or never got a chance to attend schools, are taught the basics in separate sessions here,” Saranya said.
A few months ago, when relentless rain was pounding the region one evening, the volunteers at the centre stood looking fixedly at the streets wondering if any kid would turn up that day. After a while, an umbrella appeared through the cloudburst. The 60-year-old Pappamma walked up to the volunteers and asked, “Has the class begun already?”
Pappamma learned to read and write from the training centre. She can now read routes on buses and even check her bank balance without anyone’s help. The training centre will also see 120 women upgrading their skillsets from next week.
Training on riding autorickshaws, embroidering blouses and beautician practice will be provided at the centre during the day time. The children here had not borne witness to the Tsunami that ravaged their families’ lives and forced them to resettle in Kannagi Nagar, but they are very much a part of the sea change the ‘Mudhal Thalaimurai’ centre is engineering here.