Bhagya

Jump to Comments

This post is dedicated to a special woman and a special initiative.

It’s easy to be an armchair critic (myself included in this category). But, I think it takes a special something to understand the problems of the world around you and try actively and steadfastly to change it. Bhagya, initiated by Renuka Jaykumar, is an attempt in that direction.

Koramangala has always had a unique demography – half an upmarket residential area (with some of the most beautiful houses and layouts in Bangalore) and half slum. This division has been further exacerbated by the IT boom.

With a house in Vivek Nagar, Renuka Aunty has lived at the periphery of this world, and the living conditions in these slums have always concerned her. So, Bhagya was born – not as an attempt at charity, but as an attempt to genuinely help these lower income families help themselves. It will work in Renuka Aunty’s immediate sphere of influence – Koramangala, Vivek Nagar, Egipura and Austin Town.

Bhagya will interview school/college drop outs from the slums and provide them with training in areas like computers (specifically DTP operation), hotel management, office administration. While providing these young men & women with training, Bhagya will also dialogue with businesses in the community to ensure that they have jobs after they complete their training. In special cases, it would help them set up businesses.

Their jobs will help these young people to give themselves and their families a better life.

The first class has stared in a room in Renuka Aunty’s house – with five computers and ten students who will be taught every evening by an instructor. All these students go through an interview process and must also pay a portion of the fee. Even if the amount is small, it ensures that each of them is committed to helping themselves.

Simultaneously, Bhagya also works to move young orphan girls out of the slum environment and into residential schools where they can make a better life for themselves. It has four such ‘adopted students’ so far.

In the long run, Bhagya would like to spearhead community colleges for slums.

So, 50 years down the line, if the slums of Koramangala & Egipura have upgraded, Renuka Aunty can take a bow for being among those who silently and consistently made the difference.

It’s true. Most people who complain about the state of the world of the world are also people who have  never attempted to change it.

Renuka Aunty’s work inspires me to remember that I can be a cribber or a doer. It’s a choice that I make everyday.

1 Comment

Filed under Bangalore