Chennai: For more than 30 years, Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum Education and Charitable Trust at Gill Nagar, in the city, has been helping underprivileged children with their education.
Started by Mahamani Krishna Das, an engineer and a homeopathy specialist, the trust was set up to help the little ones in a holistic manner.
“He worked in Dubai and we lived there till 1997. After he retired, we came to India and started the trust immediately. Initially, we had 10 children. By 2012, the number went up to over 100. We paid the school fees for all of them, says Shanthi, his wife who is in charge now, after Das’ death.
After school, all the students are given coaching and are taught Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavadam and other slokas.
“Earlier, my husband supported me and we were able to manage but after he left, it got difficult. I am 75 years now, so I restricted the number of children. It is currently set at 20,” she says.
“Everyday by 5.30 pm, the young ones come here from their schools. I teach them Bhagavadam for one hour. Then, they are taught Maths and English. They also do their homework here, with two of our members helping them,” she adds.
Fondly addressed as Mathaji, Shanthi is happy that many of her students are now doing well in life.
“I came here when I was in first standard about 20 years back. For us, our Mathaji and Prabhu are like another mother and father. They took care of us very well. Those days, we were taught typewriting which is helping me even today. I had a lot of friends and we had so much fun playing together,” reminisces Aishwarya, who is currently working in a private firm.