Toll collections

Devotees from Krishnagiri District have asked that stern action be taken on persons involved in illegal vehicle toll collections, the day of Karthigai Deepam festival.

Every year, crowds of people from various parts of the country throng Tiruvannamalai on the eve of Deepam festival, to be celebrated today, December 3rd.

It was estimated that around 100,000 from Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and Salem Districts attended Deepam Festival last year. All of whom have to pass through Krishnagiri, Bargur, Uthangarai and Chengam to reach Tiruvannamalai.

Devotees from Krishnagiri complained that unscrupulous people collect illegal toll from vehicles entering Tiruvannamalai from Krishnagiri District every year. Unauthorised people stop private vehicles anywhere between Chengam and Tiruvannamalai and collect Rs.50/- to Rs.150/- (U.S.$1.20-$3.50) per vehicle. Sometimes, they also collect money from vehicles parked at the entrance of Tiruvannamalai without issuing proper receipts.

It was understood that these offenders manage to collect around Rs 20 Lakhs (U.S.$45,000) by this illegal collection every year. Devotees from Krishnagiri District have contacted Municipal representatives of Tiruvannamalai District in this connection and have asked them to prevent illegal toll collections from vehicles this day Sunday (December 3rd).

Juggernaut

On an earlier post on this Blog:
http://arunachalagrace.blogspot.com/2006/11/deepam-calendar.html
all the processional events at Arunachala during Deepam were listed. The major procession of the Juggernaut carrying representations of the five deities and pulled by devotees around the perimeter roads of Arunachaleswarar Temple (a feat which can take upward of 12 hours) always takes place on the 7th day of Deepam Festival. This is the grandest and most fervent procession of the entire festival.

The first night of the lighting of the flame actually takes place on the 10th day of Deepam and stays alight for between 8-10 days. However the Festival itself lasts for 13 days. Of these the first 3 days occur in Durgai Amman Temple and the remaining ten days in Arunachaleswarar Temple. Each day denotes different functions and ceremonies at either the Durga Temple, the Arunachaleswarar Temple or in the streets surrounding them.

The Deepam festival follows the moon calendar so each year the date is different however it always falls when the star Krittika is in conjunction with the Moon in the month of Karthika (November-December). To find out the dates of upcoming Poornimas (full moons) and Deepams through to the year 2009, please check the following link:
http://www.arunachalasamudra.org/fullmoon.html

The seventh day of this year's Deepam fell on November 30th and down below are photographs showing you some of the devotion, fervour and fun of what is considered the grandest procession of the Deepam Festival.

Tiruvannamalai wakes early ready for the grand event.

Its cool and moist early morning in this damp wet season.

Here the giant car, the Juggernaut majestically and slowly is being pulled with iron chains by hundreds of devotees.

A young local lad blows on his conch and joins the sounds of cheers, music and the calls of the crowd all converging around the giant float carrying representations of five deities around the huge perimeter of the 26 acre Temple.

Here is a wheel of the giant float. Young men push levers underneath its wheels whenever the Juggernaut grinds to a halt. Once the lever is in position men and boys jump gleefully on the lever to impel the float forward.

On the left side of the Juggernaut the iron chains towing the vehicle are pulled by ladies and on the right side, by men. To be involved in the procession of the five deities on the Juggernaut is regarded as a great blessings by all locals.

People are waiving from roofs, jammed on balconies and tucked away at any vantage point they can find to watch the majestic, slow progress of the giant vehicle through the main streets of Tiruvannamalai around the perimeter of the Arunachaleswarar Temple. This journey of circumbulation can in fact take up to 12 hours.

Another view of the giant float which is populated with swarms of men and lads.

One of our worthies trying to keep law and order in the chaos of the Festival. There is not too much in the way of crime to worry about, the concern is more about trying to keep some kind of flow and movement going on in the City. This year over 6,000 police have been drafted from surrounding areas to come into Tiruvannamalai during the Festival to secure the comfort and safety of devotees.

The journey is now almost complete and the Juggernaut is nearly home in its permanent garage outside the Arunachaleswarar Temple.

The seventh day of Deepam Festival is over for another year. And after the huge crowds and excitment of the procession of the giant float, the Temple and City sleeps.

Sri Nannagaru's Visit

As is his usual custom Sri Nannagaru arrived at Arunachala today for his annual Deepam visit. We expect him to remain until about December 5th. Sri Nannagaru hails from a small place called Jinnuru near Bhimavaram which is in the heart of the rural district in Andhra Pradesh.

Sri Nannagaru first came to Arunachala in 1957 at the age of 21 years, in answer to a dream with Sri Ramana Maharshi. As Bhagavan died in 1950, Sri Nannagaru never in fact actually met with Ramana, but took him as his Guru. Sri Nannagaru attributes his realisation to the grace of Arunachala-Ramana.

I expect to visit his Ashram tomorrow, so will report back with news then. In the meantime you may like to check out Swami's website at: www.srinannagaru.com

Temple Cars

The wooden wheels of the Tiruvannamalai Temple cars that carry the idols of Lord Murugan and Vinayakar have been replaced with iron wheels which were made at the cost of Rs.3.72 Lakh (US$8,335) by BHEL, Tiruchi. The cars of Annamalayar and Unnamulayammai have already been fixed with iron wheels.

Arunachaleswarar Temple has five cars which will be pulled around the four Mada Streets during the Festival. This year, devotees donated ten ornamental umbrellas to the Temple which will be carried with the Deities on their procession.

A Chennai based textile house has donated Rs.1 Lakh (US$2,240) of cloth to be used as covers for Temple cars.

Earthen Goblet

Earthen Goblet

[conversation between the poet and goblet]

O silent goblet! Red from head to heel,
How did you feel
When you were being twirled
Upon the Potter's wheel
Before the Potter gave you to the world?
I felt a conscious impulse in my clay
To break away
From the great Potter's hand
That burned so warm.
I felt a vast
Feeling of sorrow to be cast
Into my present form.

Before that fatal hour
That saw me captive on the Potter's wheel
And cast into this crimson goblet-sleep,
I used to feel
The fragrant friendship of a little flower
Whose root was in my bosom buried deep.
The Potter has drawn out the living breath of me.
And given me a form which is the death of me;
My past unshapely natural state was best,
With just one flower flaming through my breast.

[By Harindranath Chattopadhyaya]

Another Deepam

'Many are the occasions of inspiration throughout this festival, but the outstanding event is the lighting of the Light. One year my dog and I walked around to Unnamalai, the Temple dedicated to the feminine aspect of the Divine Principle.

Unnamalai Temple has a gorgeous stone-pillared mandapam or hall before the inner sanctum which is now newly painted and overflowing with pilgrims. And across the road, on the hillside, spreads a newly cleared 'Restawhile Park', a product of the recent upsurge in our attention to the Environment, with a huge modern iron umbrella above cement benches. The 'Restawhile Park' happens to offer a superlative view of the Lighting.

Underfoot is conspicuously sordid by this time so our walk to the Temple meandered around piles of garbage. We passed a balloon man with his happy crowd of prospective little buyers and then the nice clean boys selling 'Healthy Milk Drinks' right next to the stacked plastic bottles of unhealthy pop sellers.

Outside Unnamalai Temple a stall selling cheap audiotapes was blotting out existential consciousness entirely, yet the ceremonies in the Temple were going strong assisted by other loudspeakers: festival cacophony. Pilgrims were slapping their cheeks and bowing down in obeisance the way they do so sweetly. None of the local dogs were visible; we noticed this, my dog and I.

We sat for awhile under a tree next to a dear sadhu (with the name Ramana) in yellow, who spends all his livelong days sweeping the hill round roadway; he had merged with the tree and didn't look too enthusiastic. Across from me on the hillside sat an irascible sadhu, for once amused, and behind him a crassly painted modern iron umbrella sheltered the concrete benches which provide sadhus with such an excellent place to dry their cloths. Two sadhus were folding dry orange dhotis and behind them the great peak of Arunachala loomed resplendent in the fading light, waiting for the rising halo of full moon orb Light. How very momentous this always is.

As dusk approached we sat down near to the sadhu, the irascible one now amused, to wait for the flame to appear. We could smell human shit there; we watched pilgrims daintily picking their barefoot way across the weeds hoping to avoid turds, to sit down nicely cross-legged and stare at the mountaintop.

Gradually the Restawhile Park's uncontaminated spaces filled with quiet orderly pilgrims. We had to wait about an hour; being westerners we couldn't help noticing that nobody was eating, smoking, talking or drinking. Some had lit incense. For thirty kilometers radius surrounding Arunachala at this time several million people were waiting suspenseful, staring up to the top of the hill as they always do . . . .'

Apeetha Arunagiri who used to be a long time resident of Arunachala is currently living in Australia. As Co-ordinator of the Arunachala Katthu Siva Plantation involved in extensive reafforestation here at Arunachala, Apeetha Arunagiri is responsible for generating funding for the work of the Organisation. In this respect her numerous essays on Arunachala, written over a period of 30 years are available to readers on a subscription basis. For more information please visit:

Introduction to other essays:

http://www.aksp.org/introduction/introduction.html

Her website can be accessed at:

www.hotkey.net.au/~apeetha

Roaming Elephants

A herd of four elephants damaged crops at Podur in Pennagaram forest area on Saturday. The group of elephants roamed the village early Saturday (November 24th) destroying crops of the cereal ragi. The villagers chased the pachyderms to the forest by frightening them with bursing crackers and fireworks. Officials of Pennagaram Range rushed to the area to assess damage but no loss of life was reported.

I used to regularly visit Sai Baba's elephant Sai Gita when I was staying at his Ashram in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh. I used to visit Sai Gita with bags of carrots, cauliflower and vegetables; just to give her a change from all those bananas which I believe she found rather boring.

I love elephants and personally find stories like the above, rather disturbing as their shrinking habitat is forever shrinking smaller and smaller. Anyhow I plan on collecting more news and updates about the current situation with elephants in the Tiruvannamalai District and as I get it, will report all elephant and animal news on this Blog.

Veterinary Clinic

The new Veterinary Clinic in Tiruvannamalai is expected to open either on the 7th or 14th of December. In the first year only sterilization operations on female dogs will be performed; later operations on male dogs will also be undertaken. The capacity of the Clinic will be limited to 75-100 operations a month and all female dogs will spend several days recuperating at the facility after their operation.

Different procedures will be undertaken at the Veterinary Hospital but primarily it will used to manage the animal population of the Tiruvannamalai area by offering (often free) neutering operations to cats and dogs.

This venture is regarded as the 'Tiruvannamalai Project' of the Karuna Animal Shelter of Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh. Karuna Animal Shelter will be sending one of their own trained veterinary doctors to Tiruvannamalai to oversee operations. A veterinary doctor from Holland will be arriving shortly at Tiruvannamalai to take up a position at the Clinic.

So far the costs involved in setting up this facility have come to Rs.8.5 Lakhs (U.S.$19,000) for building and renovation work and Rs.2.5 Lakhs (U.S.$5,600) for equipment. The operating costs of the Clinic are expected to work out at Rs.100,000 (U.S.$2,250) a month; Rs.65,000 (U.S.$1,500) in real terms [taking into account a Rs.35,000 (U.S.$790) p.m. subsidy the Clinic will be receiving].

Government Hospital

A short circuit at the Government Hospital on Friday night (November 24th) forced patients in the Maternity Ward to run for safety when an electric junction box caught fire due to a short circuit. Seeing this, in-patients ran out of the hospital thereby triggering panic among patients in other wards, who also ran out of the Hospital.

Fire service personnel rushed to the spot and extinguished the fire.

It sounds a pretty miserable night the poor patients had of it. Its bad enough to be stuck in hospital but it gets even worse when it starts burning down! The electric juntion box must have been burning and smoking quite dreadfully to panic the patients enough to force them to actually run outside!

Building Rules

An earlier post in this Blog was a tongue-in-check, humourous narrative entitled "Rules of the Road: Indian Style":

http://arunachalagrace.blogspot.com/2006/09/indian-rules.html

Meant in the same light hearted vein, below is a list of Buildings Rules and Regulations. This is particularly apt as Tiruvannamalai is currently in the throes of building fever. Everyday something new is going up. PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS A SATIRE NOT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY

Building Rules
Be advised that pursuant to 1st of November 2006, the following regulations are in effect:

112.3 All previous codes are herewith null and void.

112.4 All plans for buildings must be submitted within 10 (ten) years of completion of construction or before the building crumbles to dust, whichever comes first.

112.5 All buildings taller than two stories must have a lift shaft; HOWEVER, it is not required to actually put in a lift.

112.6 Maintenance fees are not to exceed 1% of the total purchase price of flats, except for NRIs, who may be charged 2.5%. In the case of foreign nationals, the sky's the limit.

112.7 Maintenance fees have no relation to maintenance. Maintenance is defined as anything the builder feels like doing, whenever he feels like doing it. Or not.

112.8 The builder shall be responsible for fixing all cracks and water leaks for a period of 6 (six) months hours after buyer moves in.

112.9 All plumbing fixtures must be guaranteed to leak after the first week of use.

113.0 Builders must supply electrical outlets on at least two walls in every room; HOWEVER, it is not required to actually have them connected to any wires.

113.1 All fans must have at least 5 (five) speed settings of which 2 (two) maximum function.

113.2 Whenever possible, light bulb outlets are to be placed so they will either (a) be so low as to be struck by the tenant's head during normal activities, or (b) so high as to be impossible to change even when standing on a chair.

113.3 At least half (half) of all slide bolts must be off-line.

113.4 Every wall must have a minimum of 2 (two) pointless holes in it.

113.5 Kitchen counter areas must be at a height appropriate for either a midget or an NBA basketball player.

113.6 Any kitchen with 2 (two) counter areas must have them be at least 1 (one) meter difference in height.

113.7 No kitchen shall be designed with space for a refrigerator.

113.8 Sinks, bathtubs, and bathroom floors must be angled so they will not drain completely.

113.9 No 2 (two) adjoining rooms shall have their floors at the same level.

114.0 Closets are illegal.

114.1 All paint materials must be diluted with water to a minimum 4:1 ratio to insure consistent streaking and easy viewing of subsequent mildewing.

114.2 Doorway measurements shall be based on the average height of a full-grown male in the 1500s.

114.3 Only unseasoned wood may be used on doors to insure warping during the first rains.

115.0 No building shall be erected further than 1 (one) meter from the neighbouring building. Any new structure which does not completely block the view of the adjacent structure shall be deemed in noncompliance with 115.0. "Completely block the view" is defined as cutting off air currents as well as light.

115.1 All new buildings must have at least 2 (two) underfed dogs on the premises to insure adequate barking, howling, and whining at night so no tenants get a sound sleep. Older buildings may keep 1 (one) dog.

115.2 All deliveries of heavy goods and construction materials to be done between the hours of 11:00 P.M. and 3:00 A.M. for same reason as 115.3

115.3 During times of drought and electric cutbacks, water and power cuts shall occur during 12:00 and 6:00 P.M., the hottest hours of the day, for maximum discomfort.

115.4 All watchmen and their families shall be paid the lowest possible salaries so as to make them vulnerable to enticements by dacoits attempting to ascertain when owners are away.

116.0 Updated Earthquake Safety Standards: Hereon, all new constructions must be able to withstand a tremor registering 2.5 on the Richter scale for 6 (six) seconds before crumbling into jagged hunks of masonry and crushing all inhabitants.

116.1 No building may be constructed on any property which the builder actually owns or has permission of the landowner to build on. This will allow that after years of costly lawsuits enriching local lawyers and judges, the building can be emptied and flats resold to a new group of gullible buyers.

117.0 Any tenant feeling the builder has not fulfilled his contractual commitments in a timely manner shall put their complaint in writing and then wait for a period not to exceed the life of the tenant by more than 25 (twenty-five) years.

120.0 Any or all of these regulations may be changed without notice at anytime, for no apparent reason.

Arunachala Newsletter

Arunachala Grace News, December issue will be sent out to all subscribers inboxes this coming week. There are some fascinating articles this month; satellite mapping of Forest areas in Tamil Nadu, a noise pollution Writ relating to Arunachala pradakshina path currently in the Madras High Court, the legend of Karthigai Temple in Tamil Nadu, which is different to the Arunachala myth, an article by Dr. Manickam, our Arunachala herbologist, narratives, beautiful poems and lots of other fascinating Arunachala related news and information.

If you wish to become a subscriber to this free Newsletter check out the subscription area underneath the Email Logo on the left hand column of this Blog.

Please remember to adjust the spam filter on your email inbox to accept Arunachala Grace News.

Karthigai Deepam

Today, Friday, 24th November, the ten-day Karthigai Deepam festival started this morning with the hoisting of the flag on the golden mast of the Annamalaiyar Temple.

On November 30, the 7th day of Deepam, the grand car festival will take place with more than 100,000 people pilgrims expected to attend the function. It is anticipated that over a million people will visit Tiruvannamalai for Bharani Deepam (December 3rd) to view the lighting of the flame on top of Arunachala.

There will be many ongoing cultural and religious activities during the time of the festival including the annual cow fair.

Guru Guidance

Q: All books say that the guidance of a Guru is necessary.

Maharshi: The Guru will say only what I am saying now. He will not give you anything you have not already. It is impossible for any one to get what he has not got already. Even if he gets any such thing, it will go as it came. What comes will also go. What always is will alone remain. The Guru cannot give you anything new, which you have not already. Removal of the notion that we have not realised the Self is all that it is required. We are always the Self. Only, we don't realise it.

[Day by Day with Bhagavan]

Happy Story

I love happy stories and this is a very nice one. While I was visiting at the Arulmani Ashram complex I kept glancing over the street at a group of men hammering metal panels and thinking 'Only in India. On one side of the street an Ashram and on the other side, a metal working shop!'

I found out that the metal shop is owned by two brothers, Palani and Shanmurgan (both names for Lord Subrahmanian). Shanmurgan used to work at the brilliant local Shantimalai Organisation (here at Tiruvannamalai) for 7 years as a mechanic. While there he had a good business idea about making trailers, so 10 years back approached the founder of The Shantimalai Trust, Hugo Meier for financial assistance. Hugo Meier (who died about 2 years ago) gave Shanmurgan an interest free loan of Rs.400,000 (US$ 9,000) thus enabling him the opportunity to create his own success story the 'Ramana Engineering Works'.

15 men work at the metal shop and produce custom made trailers in three different sizes ranging in price from Rs.75,000-250,000.

Here is one man working in the tool shop on something to do with the trailer wheels.

And here is the finished produce; a nice bright and shiny trailer ready for hauling goods all over Tamil Nadu. Most of 'Ramana Engineering Works' customers come from Tiruvyurkoil, Vandavasi, Vellore, Polur and of course Tiruvannamalai. At the current time they are building about 4 trailers a month.

But what struck me about the engineering works, was how cheerful and happy everybody seemed to be. A very nice group. How wonderful that Hugo Meier's kindness had so many auspicious consquences.

India is a very difficult country for an ordinary person to do extra-ordinary things. Here one is born into one's caste and lives the live enjoined by being in that particular caste. To get away from that and thereby change the direction of your life takes a huge amount of will and grace because India is not an 'I can do' sort of place. What Shanmurgan has achieved may seem ridiculous to a Western person, but believe me when I say that for him to achieve what he has here in this small rural area in Tamil Nadu, is a true victory.

Our hero Shanmurgan standing underneath the sign of his shop displaying potraits of his benefactors.

Arulmani Ashram

Yesterday I went to Rangammal Hospital to pick up some papers and as it was such a pretty afternoon and I just wasn't in the mood to haggle with auto rickshaw drivers, decided to walk the 2kms home. It was actually quite lovely and instead of going via country lanes I walked by the side of NH-66 (Tiruvannamalai-Bangalore road) on my way home.

I stopped to take a photograph of Arunachala and noticed a new construction which I decided to check out. I learnt from the owner of the building that the Arulmani Ashram is being constructed at a total cost of 5 crore (U.S.$1,122,000. It will comprise a small Ganapati Temple, two meditation halls (one of which can accommodate 1,000 people), a dining hall with kitchen, 14 air-conditioned rooms, 13 deluxe rooms and a small garden. The person building this new complex is also responsible for the much visited Ramalinga Swami Temple on the hill round which was opened 14 years ago.

Immediately you enter the compound and at the front of the Arulmani Ashram is a small Ganapati Temple with a very nice statue of the much loved elephant headed God.

Inside I checked out various rooms under construction and met up with a family of a Dad and his two sons, who are working together as electricians at the Ashram complex.

These statues at one end of the dining hall (which will offer free food) are of very lavishly painted Lord Venkateshwara and his two consorts. Even though the Complex won't be completed for at least another 4-5 months, the supremely auspicious God (always want to keep him happy!) has already been nicely decorated to help charge up auspicious blessings and vibrations for the successful completion of the work.

There are lots of other statues awaiting their nice painting and finishing. Here is a statue of five faced Gayatri Ma. Its brilliant watching the artisans make these statues as they build the forms up bit-by-bit with cement. The Balaji statue flanked by the two Goddesses, Sri Devi and Bhu Devi, started up in the same way as the Gayatri statue. So once she gets painted, she also will look bright and shiny.

With all the pilgrims and overseas visitors coming to Arunachala, there is certainly a need for more facilities like the above. I will check on progress at the Arulmani Ashram soon.

Self Enquiry Retreat

Arunachala Retreat group from a previous year

Premananda is holding an intensive three week Arunachala Pilgrimage Retreat, focusing on Self Inquiry, from 31st Dec 2006 to 21st Jan 2007. For more information about the Retreat please check link:

http://johndavid.org/satsang_b/indiaretreat.php

The Retreat will be conducted at the peaceful Sri Nannagaru Ashram which is located a short distance from Ramana Ashram. During the Retreat there will be a tour of Ramana Ashram, visits to Skandashram and Virupaksha Caves and a visit to the Arunachaleswarar Temple. As well as guided giripradakshina on the inner Mountain Path, there will also be visits to the countryside and local villages.

Five day Bus trip visiting Indian Saints
Towards the end of the Retreat there will be a five day bus trip which will include: a visit to Thuli Baba at Anbin Kudil Ashram, joining Swami Dayananda at his Ashram outside Coimbatore, darshan with Satchitananda at Anandashram, Kanhangad, Kerala, a meeting with Sri Gangoli, a Vedic authority, a trip to the tapas cave of Nityananda and finally a visit to Ajja at his Ananda Kutira Ashram.

Information about Premananda
Premananda was born in 1944 in Wales. He grew up in England where he studied engineering and architecture.

In his twenties he worked and studied in Japan where he was introduced to his first master, Osho. His longing for Truth took him to Osho's ashram in Pune, India. On arrival he recognised the question that had always been present: 'Who am I?' For the next fifteen years he lived as an Osho sannyasin in India, America and England.

In 1992, two years after Osho's death, he found himself in Lucknow in the presence of the great Advaita Master Sri Harilal Poonja, known to his many devotees as Papaji. After three weeks with Papaji, identification with a separate 'I' dropped. Premananda stayed with his master for five years, running a guesthouse and the Sangha bookshop.

From Lucknow he moved to Australia where he began offering Satsang in 1998. Since 2003 he has been based in Germany and traveling widely in Europe, wherever he is invited. At present he lives in a residential Satsang Community in Germany.

This will be his sixth Arunachala Retreat at Nanagaru Ashram.

He is also a writer. His first book, Papaji, Amazing Grace is to be published in 2006. Arunachala Shiva, a book about Ramana Maharshi, and Blueprints for Awakening, interviews with Indian Masters, will be published in 2007.

As an artist, he has exhibited his paintings in India, Australia and Germany. His joy-filled abstract paintings are an expression of the playfulness at the core of his being. See www.johndavidart.org

Deepam is Light

A Hindu religious festival merges myth and sacred time with the ordinary temporal flow since 'reality' does not exist in India where even the passage of time is illusory.

The sacred mountain Arunachala was worshipped long before the Vedic culture penetrated into the southern Indian peninsular millennia ago. In the south Lord Siva became the notion of significance and Arunachala became the embodiment of Lord Siva. Kailash Mountain of Tibet is his abode where he meditates, but Arunachala Mountain is Siva Himself.

It was in comparatively recent history that the Vedic Divine personalities evolved on the subcontinent; they up-staged the primeval pantheon of elemental divinities worshipped since time before mind: Fire, Water, Space, Air, Earth. Sacred places associated with these most ancient divinities lie in the South. Arunachala is The Fire Place.

However it is not Fire that is of primary significance but Light: an invisible column of light signifying the Enlightenment that those embodied in human form have the capacity to realize. Realisation confers freedom from the bondage of identity with form, both physical and mental. The light of the Deepam flame reminds us of this. Deepam means Light.

[By Apeetha Arunagiri]

The School

Tiruvannamalai is economically designated as a most backward District. There is no industry and a high percentage of the population is unemployed.

In 1992 at the request of the then District Collector, Rangammal Society opened a small school for profoundly hearing impaired children.

The area has a high percentage of speech and hearing impaired children. The reason often is because of consanguineal marriages (having the same ancestry or descent, i.e. marriage amongst close relatives).

The school currently has 200 residential pupils and 36 non-residential children. It is totally free of cost and includes food, board, study books etc for ages ranging between 3-22 years old. Rangammal Memorial Higher Secondary School for the Hearing Impaired has a high reputation for academic and cultural performances.

The children at the school are quite lovely. Very lively, intelligent, cheerful little babies. But it broke my heart to see such lovely kids wearing hearing aids.

While I was there I met two girls from the U.K. who have just finished their final school exams in England and have come to India for four months to work at Rangammal School. Both girls got their posts through Project GAP Activity Projects in the U.K.

In the LKG (Lower Kindergarten Grade) class, I met with Sarah from Dorset who is just 18 years old.

Next I visited the UKG (Upper Kindergarten Grade) class and saw Hannah from Kent who is also 18 years old and just finished school in the U.K.

The Visit

Started off from home by auto rickshaw stopping off for a quick petrol stop on the way to visiting Rangammal Rehabilitation Society. Must be that kind of day because everybody seems to be happy and smiling.

On the way I asked my driver to stop because I wanted to take some snaps of a pack of monkeys cleaning up waste bananas left on a delivery truck. They were having lots of fun chasing each other around the truck and also got to eat lots of nice ripe bananas. Just that kind of day!

The Rangammal Memorial Higher Secondary School for the Hearing Impaired (and all the other facilities in the six acred compound) is located off the Chennai Road about 6 kms south of the Big Temple and town. Arriving at the School one is greeted at the entrance by a beautiful statue of Mother Mary holding a young boy in a comforting embrace.

Visit to Rangammal

Some weeks ago I went to visit Sylvia Wright the Founder Director of Rangammal Memorial Rehabilitation Society at the Society's Hospital, the Ramana Maharshi Rangammal Hospital I was most impressed by the Society's level of dedication and service in the Tiruvannamalai District.

Very often the worthiest causes go unnoticed because the people in them are too busy 'serving' and don't have extra time to play politicals or go about promoting their work. I certainly plan giving their worthy Organisation lots of oxygen through my developing Arunachala information network, which currently comprises:

www.arunachalagrace.blogspot.com
www.arunachalasamudra.org
Arunachala Grace News: monthly ezine Newsletter
Authorship of: www.arunachalanews.com

The President of Rangammal Memorial Rehabilitation Society, Mr.N.Vijayan and I will work together to develop a dedicated section on the website www.arunachalasamudra.org on their Organisation and comprehensive information on The Rangammal Memorial Rehabilitation Society should be available through our Arunachala network within the next few months.

Their Society currently comprises the following:

Ramana Maharshi Rangammal Hospital
Rangammal Memorial Higher Secondary School for the Hearing Impaired
Vasavi Industrial School
Rangammal Memorial Teacher Training School for Hearing Impaired
Rangammal Memorial Day Care Centre for the Mentally Retarded and Cerebral Palsy
Outreach Community Programme
Village Clinics
RSVY Programme
Pension Scheme Programme