Sridhar was 18 months old when polio left both his legs and left hand paralysed. He had to drop out of school at the age of eight but that didn’t stop him from learning. The radio was his tutor. Listening to it and reading books, he taught himself.
Struck by polio, he reached out to help secure a future for poor school dropouts
Sridhar was 18 months old when polio left both his legs and left hand paralysed. He had to drop out of school at the age of eight but that didn’t stop him from learning. The radio was his tutor. Listening to it and reading books, he taught himself.
Sridhar’s life changed when his cousins gifted him a wheel chair. It brought him face to face with the grim reality. Recalls Sridhar: "Often I came across kids loitering around. They didn’t attend school as their families couldn’t afford it. I offered to help. And then it occurred to me that I could support kids like them."
Maithri was registered as a trust in 1991. Friends and relatives chipped in with funds. In the first year, they supported 20 children. Today, it has 120 benificiaries. Most of these children are from homes where the father is an alcoholic or has deserted the family and the mother the sole earning member.
A committee selects the deserving students. The criterion is simple: those coming from families whose income is less than Rs 3,000 per month. The child must have secured at least 75 per cent marks in the last academic year. Maithri funds 80 per cent of the educational expenses which include school or college fees, books and uniforms. The commitment of the parents is ensured by asking them to chip in with a 20 per cent contribution. A self-taught astrologer, Sridhar is consulted by many. Whatever he earns, is ploughed into Maithri. This plus donations from friends and well-wishers comes in handy.
Thus far, ten children supported by Maithri are engineers. Some have settled in the US and Middle East. "If no one had helped, they may have ended up as child labourers or got into anti-social activities," notes Sridhar. Indeed, it’s with a sense of pride that he introduces Shekar (name changed). The boy was brought to Sridhar when he was in class nine. His father was in no position to fund his education. Timely help saw him complete his schooling and pursue a diploma at the local polytechnic. Shekar worked in the Gulf for six years and is leaving for the US shortly on a new job. "I owe everything I am to Sridhar," he says. Others who came under the umbrella of Maithri includes a commerce graduate working in an international bank in Singapore and a girl working with ICICI Bank, Chennai.
For one inspired by Helen Keller and Beethoven, Sridhar seeks refuge in the words of the former who said, "The world is moved along not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker." Maithri is one such tiny push.
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