My name is Ramesh. I hail from a family of agricultural daily wage labourers. My family has five members; Pattaththal, my mother, Kuppudaiyar, my father and two siblings, a twin brother and
an elder sister.
We belong to Attur taluk of Salem district, Tamil Nadu. I hold a graduate degree in Mathematics. As I was preparing for my chartered accountancy exams, a life changing incident occurred.
A girl that I had helped a long while ago, brought back some acquaintances of hers, seeking financial help for them to study as well. I did not have it in me to turn them away as I realized my refusal would render their dreams futile. So, I started seeking help for them from people I knew. In the course of this work, my dream of becoming a chartered accountant was put on hold, partly due to financial constraints at home. Now, in Mugavari I have found my vocation.
My younger brother and me were twins, while my sister was 12 years older than us. Initially, my brother and me were named ‘Rama’ and ‘Lakshmana’, after the brother in the epic ‘Ramayana’.
It was extremely difficult to differentiate between the both of us. The mole on my right hand was the saving grace for most people who wanted to tell us apart.
We were born into penury, as my father had sold off the land we owned in order help my maternal uncle with his education but being unable to buy it back, had moved to Chennai to work as construction workers. So, my brother and me were mostly left to the care of our grandparents and saw very little of our parents in our early days. It was during this time that my sister took us for enrollment into school and ended up mentioning my name as Ramesh instead of Rama, and the name has stuck ever since.
Being identical twins was a source of great problem for our class teacher, so she decided to send one of us to second standard while the other would stay in the first standard. Since my brother wanted to go to the higher class, I agreed to stay behind. This led the people close to us to say that I had an inherent nature to compromise and adjust. However, years later, on an important occasion, when our family could only support one of our education expenses, my brother graciously stepped down stating “You study, I will work to earn”.
I was an average student in school. We had to walk five kilometers daily, had no good clothes to wear. We were not allowed into the science laboratories without good footwear for which we used to borrow from our friends. When my brother was in 12th class and I was in 11th, we had only one set of uniform. So, I used to wait for him to finish his exams in the morning and come back to give the uniform set to me so I could go write my exams in the afternoon.
I attended my first day in college wearing a shirt lent to me by Rajendran anna and pants given to me by my friend Pandurangan. My parents were not aware of this for close to 20 days. On finding out, my father brought me some new sets of clothes with the money he earned working as a stone quarry worker. I passed out of college with the ‘Best student’ title and as the college topper.
However, right when I was getting my awards, bad news came in the form of me failing in one subject. There was no instant retotaling provision as there is today. So, I had to wait for a few months after applying for the revision. During this period, I could not accept the post-graduation seats offered to me by many leading universities. However, the most hurtful incidents were the mocking and jeers I had to endure from the people around me.
During this time, my sister’s heart problem had also taken a turn for the worse and her medical expenses put a strain on the family’s finances. Amidst these problems, my revised mark had come back as 76 replacing the initially acquired mark of 26. Ironically, 76 was also the number of days I spent beside my sister in the hospital during the course of her treatment until she eventually succumbed to the disease.
It was during this 76 day stay, that I realized that a few patients get higher priority as they come with recommendations from VIPs. If someone from our family was a VIP or a doctor, my sister could have been saved.
When I was pursuing my CA, there was a girl who was an acquaintance of our family’s, who had scored excellent marks in her 10th standard but was unable to pursue higher education due to her family’s financial status. So, I helped her enroll into a private school. During the course of this, I made a casual remark stating if she continued scoring well, I’d make her a doctor. She went on to score 1136 in her 12th standard exams.
My casual remark has slipped my mind by them. So, when she came to see me with her marksheet in her hand, I suggested she try to go for teacher training. Hearing this, she remined my gently that I had promised to make a doctor out of her. Her words landed on me like a tight slap to my face. I took upon me to not let her down even though my remark had been said in jest. I realized that my words had motivated to study and score well and her sincere efforts would not go to waste. Added to this, my sister’s death added fuel to the desire to help someone become a doctor.
My natural tendency to help others was something that I acquired from my parents. In our small village, when there were fights between families, my mother had the tendency to intervene and encouraged people to sort out their differences in a peaceful manner. This tendency of hers was always bad mouthed by the others but she did not care about that. All she wanted was for everybody to live in a calm and happy way. Similarly, my father sold our property to educate my uncle into becoming the first graduate of our village. However, our uncle never looked back on us after that but my father never took offense to this and said educating him was enough. So, the people who have surrounded me since my early days have molded me into becoming the kind of person I am today.
We used to receive in a rented house at Dhandeeswaram in Velachery, where many students used to come to Mugavari as the last hope. However, I had a lot of difficulty finding sponsors for all of them. We were unable to pay the house rent too, due to lack of money. Adding on to these troubles, there were many economic troubles back at home too, and since I had no earnings or savings of my own, I was unable to help out. During the peak of all these troubles, I confessed to a Mugavari student, Mr. Vetrivel, about my uncertain thoughts regarding continuing this foundation.
Listening to this, he reasoned that while there were many chartered accountants, only I had the perfect attitude for charitable work and that many number of students would benefit from my work here. He pleaded with me not discard Mugavari and I thankfully accepted his reasoning.
Vetrivel not only advised me into going on the right path but also went on to take on many initiatives for the betterment of the foundation. In fact, Mr. Vetrivel and Mr. Boopathy Raja, another student, are the two eyes of Mugavari foundation.
When the girl aspiring to be a doctor approached me for help, a film names ‘Ramana’ was running in the theatres. This film left a huge impact on me. I believed that the director of the movie, Mr. Murugadoss would help my cause and approached him for help. With his help, the girl got admitted into Chengalpattu Medical College. This became the talking point of our village. The girl with no absolutely no medical background pursuing her MBBS became the source of inspiration for many people to continue their education. So, more people started approaching me for education and its related matters.
As you can see, education was not a path that I consciously decided to thread on. It was a path that life cleared for me. Over the course of this journey, I too have started feeling deeply that education is the right cause because it brings about a broader outlook to a person’s viewpoint.
Offering help to others in need, living in harmony with nature are also examples of charitable work which requires no sacrifices or big efforts from the part of the doer but God has chosen this path for me as a way to express my natural desires in the education field. Hence, I answer in affirmative to the inner voice in me to make this field better.
Moreover, it is my firm belief that those who surpass great hurdles to achieve leadership and harbor within them an unbreakable spirit, good attitude and character can bring about monumental changes in this world. For this to happen, education will act as the guiding light. My work gives me hope that the right education can bring about huge social changes.
Those who criticize usually view my work through the lens tinted with their own wisdom and experiences. The jibes and taunts that my work attracts comes from a place of envy or helplessness. The way one receives criticism varies with each person’s outlook. So, I take it as something to be ignored as long as one is clear about their goals and the path forward. After all, history has taught us that the geniuses who dared to think differently then were stoned to death.
Although, it is not that criticism does not affect me at all. However, demoralizing comments have taught me that bigger the problem is, the bigger the solution will be. I believe that I reach newer dimensions in life only through problems.
My Guru is the person who has impacted my life the most. I always feel like he is holding my hand and walking me in life through every minute of every day. In February 2005, I started attended Isha classes. Although I barely experienced any change in me, I continued doing it until I reached the highest level of class called ‘Samyama’. At that point of time, I barely had any understanding of spirituality. I did Samyama again and this time around when the Sadhguru was graduating the students of the class I noticed something. As I was sitting in the front row, I saw Sadhguru wiping tears from his eyes repeatedly. For nearly an hour and a half, the tears would not stop flowing. This scene shook me to the core and I felt peace wash over me like a tidal wave. In this selfish world, there was no necessity for the Sadhguru to shed tears of joy for our wellbeing, and yet, he was. He wished only happiness and well being for us after the graduation. This unadulterated joy that is begotten from the happiness of others has become the undercurrent of all the future activities since then.
Similarly, I am not a voracious enough reader for a book to leave a life lasting impact on me. However, I do watch a lot of movies. This is yet another habit that I have acquired from my mother. When I was helping that girl study medicine, there was another film named ‘Samurai’ running in the local theatres. The heroine of the movie was a medical student and the would be fighting against corruption. When she pressurizes the hero to stand up against the corruption, he says he will not get involved unless a person close to him is involved. Eventually, the heroine dies, not before uttering the parting words, “I am your lover and I’m going to die. Now, go and take up the issue”. Movies like this along with movies like Ramana, Lagaan, Stalin inspired me and instilled a sense of purpose in me.
I cannot live up to her level but I try my best, even at the cost of torturing my body, to approach sponsors. I believe that if a student benefits from that and the subsequent education they beget, then it is a victory for me. This victory stirs a lot of confidence inside me. I have had to bear with demoralizing retorts and taunts, walk long distances, wait at doorsteps for hours together and meet people hundreds of time before I could get them to agree to sponsor a student.
These efforts from my side, have instilled in me a sense of self confidence which has culminated in the success of the foundation today. Although I have struggled with a few sponsors, many others have been extremely supportive and appreciative of my purpose.
Currently, there are over 200 students studying in Mugavari. What started out as a small step has culminated into this foundation today. I believe the reason for this is honesty, transparency and most importantly, gratitude. There is a ever growing list of people to whom I should remain thankful to namely, Film Director Murugadoss, Chennai Corporation Mayor Sadai Duraisamy, Chancellor of SRM University Dr. T. R. Pachamuthu, Managing Director of Surien Pharmaceuticals R. Krishnamurthy, Balaji Rubber Chairman Mr. Vaithyalingam.
Mugavari foundation is built on the foundation of gratitude. Accompanied with transparency and honesty, these virtues constitute everything that this foundation stands for.
My always said that if you plant a mango tree, don’t expect to eat its fruits in your lifetime. Taking guidance from this, my dream spans forward much into the future where I want to see generations of students being benefited.
The students who were a part of Mugavari are in good positions in life presently. A small contribution from them, could help multiple students like to study and reach great heights. This would set out a chain reaction which would continue to form ripples of gratitude and knowledge across generations. Today’s students should the students of tomorrow. Based on this idea, the Vanavil scheme was started. I am indebted to seven students of Mugavari who are behind Vanavil namely, Ragupathi, Boopathiraja, Vetrivel, Karthikeyan, Vinothkumar, Vigneshkumar and Durga. These students have given shape to my dreams. I hope today’s 7 will go on to become 70 and 700 of the future.
Initially named Ramar, I became Ramesh because of my sister. When I named the charitable institution as Mugavari, ‘Palam’ Kalyanasundaram sir was so pleased that he addressed me as Mugavari Ramesh for the first time. The name has stuck with me ever since.
As time goes, I hope the Ramesh falls away, and only Mugavari remains and continues to be the guiding light for thousands of students.
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