Sri's Musings from Bangalore

….it was, that we partook of one Saturday afternoon. Piping hot and spicy it was – a simple lunch but somewhat wholesome too.

Note: I had sent this to my "friend's circle" on Mar 2nd, 2007 after my first visit to Matru School for the Blind in Yelahanka Satellite town.

Dear friends and family,

I want to share with you some of my emotions after our first visit to “Matru School for the Blind”.

I was filled with a sense of gratitude for all that I have that those 40-odd children do not. But, they seemed to be leading their lives as merrily as they can. They showed no sense of remorse or self-pity. Ms. Muktha, founder of the Residential School, has succeeded in inculcating in them, the sense of self-love, self-sufficiency, self-respect and a “can-do” attitude in all of them, despite their huge handicap – absolutely no vision!

As I mentioned to you in an earlier narrative, I had helped raise some money required for a heart surgery for one 8-year old orphan blind boy of the school. My appeal to a few friends was for Rs. 25K (~$500) but we exceeded that goal, in fact doubled it and rasied Rs. 41K!! One of the donors was visiting Bangalore and she was keen to see the place. So, I went along with her and her two daughters. My husband came along and my friend who lives in Yelahanka, who told me about the org. escorted us there. I was abosolutely impressed and greatly moved by the organization and the wonderful home that Muktha has created in Yelahanka, a growing satellite town to Bangalore, the IT Hub of India.

We partook of their lunch, it was a very simple meal – freshly cooked and piping hot.
A meal of soy and rice mixed up, horse gram curry as a side dish and some “rasam”. There were no fresh vegetables that day. They also gave us papads and ladoos (would be served for snack for the children). It was a memorial celebration for someone (was written on the notice board). I guessed they had donated those ladoos, which we had for dessert.

The children are served 3 square meals a day – freshly prepared and healthy too I hear.
They all sit on the floor and eat. It’s a very clean dining room.

In fact the whole facility is spotlessly clean. My friend told me that the children themselves maintain the facility. The floors, walls, toilets are very well maintained. No dust. It was truly impressive. The dormitory is large – no cots – only mats and pillows stacked away and laid out on the floor to sleep on at bedtime.

The building is constructed with compressed bricks and provides a sort of natural air-conditioning within. It is very airy. The halls are spacious and since there is no clutter of furniture, it looks really sprawling. I heard that the building cost some Rs. 75 lakhs and Asha Foundation of Chicago contribute 1/3 of this amount towards the building!

We visited all the classrooms. Very small sized classes, with teacher-student ratios of 1:5. They all get personal attention. But, the teachers themselves are all blind. One of the teachers used to travel far away to JP Nagar area (where we live) – some 30 km or so each day for college. She stood first among all students – including regular people! What a feat, indeed!!

We noticed that the teachers and students are more than bi-lingual. They speak fluent Kannada and immaculate English. I guess they know more languages too – and brail of course!

A young boy, Srinivas, in 2nd grade I think, stumped us with his speech on Hellen Keller and another one he was going to give at a function at ISRO (Indian Satellite Research Org.) – all about space (and the final frontier). This same little kid, is also very good and excited about working on the computer (see pic). He walked right out of his classroom and into the commuter room and quickly typed out a “Welcome to Matru” on the computer. A bystander would never have guessed he lacked “vision” as we know it.

Another thing about the classroom – it’s very very clean – no clutter of papers or projects or posters… it would not make sense or be of use to those children or teachers, would it?

All in all, it was a weekend well spent. I felt at peace with myself, encouraged and motivated by the folks over there. I walked away with a deep urge to contribute my mite and effort towards this cause….

-Sri