Our V.I.P. Night at the Quality of Life Trust

May 19, 2008 · Filed under arunachala, india, quality of life trust, tiruvannamalai · Tagged arunachala, india, tiruvannamalai

With our abundance of good fortune recently, Richard and I find ourselves volunteering to help The Quality of Life Trust, a truly noble and touching effort by local villagers to do something good for their community.

Dhakshinamoorthy, the main guy, comes from this village, about 2 km. from Ramanashramam. He had no experience in running any business or project, but he wanted to help his neighbors. He befriended some Westerners coming through during tourist season, and they helped him establish this trust.

The first project of the trust is to build ecologically-responsible toilets for every household in the village that wants one. The second project is to organize feeding and care for the village elders who have been abandoned or neglected by their families.

Dhakshinamoorthy and Ramesh, his “second in command,” are politically savvy, and they organized a celebration and ribbon-cutting for the “inauguration” of first round of toilets that have been completed. They invited a few “dignitaries” from the local government.

The enterprising Dhakshinamoorthy runs Satya’s Cafe, a restaurant that boasts a wonderful mix of Western and Indian clientele. It’s located out Perampukkam Road, where a lot of Westerners live, especially in the “high season.” We live farther out on this road ourselves.

The photos above and below show Satya’s Cafe all decked out for the inauguration celebration.

Here I am in my new favorite sari. Right before the ceremony started, Dhakshinamoorthy’s wife, Lakshmi, along with her friend, pulled me into the kitchen and re-dressed me, since I still don’t know how to get this garment on with the requisite pleats and tucks.

This is Shevani, a Westerner and Tiru resident who has been instrumental in helping the Trust off the ground. Dhakshinamoorthy’s oldest son is sprinkling the guests with auspicious water as they arrive.

This is Poongalay, one of the women in the Trust’s “Elderly Project.” She is 80 years old.

Women get to a certain age and they stop wearing the blouse under their sari.

This is Natarajan, another member of the Elderly Project. He is 65 years old, one year older than Richard. Dhakshinamoorthy and Lakshmi found him near death in a field one day, brought him home, patched him up, and fed him. That started Dhakshinamoorthy’s quest to start a place for the elderly to eat and keep each other company. Of the six seniors in the program, Natarajan is the most social. Hangs around the cafe to see what’s happenin’.

These are some of the village kids who came with their mothers to the celebration.

It surprised Richard and me to learn that we were part of the V.I.P. slate. Here we are sitting with the main guest of honor, Ms. Anu George, a young woman whose title is “The Collector.” She has responsibility for managing affairs with the local villages. It was amazing that Dhakshinamoorthy and Ramesh managed to get her to this function. The Collector turned out to be really sharp, responsive to the projects, and she got teary-eyed when the Elderly Project was discussed.

Richard is lighting a wick on a ceremonial brass lamp. The Collector lit the next one, then me, then Vishni, another Westerner. She and Shevani were responsible for connecting Dhakshinamoorthy to the non-profit group that donated the initial funding for the toilet project.

At these functions with “important officials,” it is the custom to present them with a shawl of good quality cloth. The presenter puts the shawl around the shoulders of the recipient, who quickly takes it off. The more important the official, the more shawls they are presented with. The Collector was felicitated (that’s a word you see in the newspaper accounts of events like this.) with about 10 shawls. As she removed them she put them in back of her in the chair. By the end of the ceremony she was falling off her chair because she was sitting on a big pile of cloth.

In addition to presenting the “important officials” with shawls, the old people in the Elderly Project were given new clothes. Here is Poongalay with her new sari.

By the way, the entire ceremony was conducted in Tamil, so we have no idea what was said. The Collector did address a few comments to us in English. And then Ramesh asked Richard to speak to the group. No one translated what he said. But everyone could feel his sincerity.

Here’s Dhakshinamoorthy with his daughter Satya. (Yes, Satya of Satya’s Cafe fame.) She’s a smart-as-a-whip Daddy’s girl. She wouldn’t let me take her picture all evening. I finally got her.

Dhakshinamoorthy is really a hero. He has very little experience in business and very little education. But he had the desire to help, and this organization is growing up around him. There are immense challenges to keeping the Trust projects going, but Dhakshinamoorthy is handling the task valiantly.

With Ramesh and Lakshmi and the other QLT employees, he pulled off a huge coup by creating this successful village event.

Here are the villagers gathering after the “important officials” spoke. We’re on the way to the ribbon cutting for the newly completed toilets.

This is the fancy car that brought The Collector.

Here is The Collector standing with Ramesh as he shows her the completed Eco-San toilet.

This is an amazing invention for villages like this. It is a toilet that doesn’t use plumbing or a septic system, and instead creates rich, clean, usable compost.

They’re standing by one of the large “poop holes.” In the foreground, in shadow, is the small drain hole that collects urine and wash water. On the other side of the “pee hole,” not in this picture, is another “poop hole.” After you poop, you put a scoop of ashes on top. This prevents smells and helps the compost “cure.” Everyone has an abundant supply of ashes because everyone cooks on a wood fire outdoors.

You use one “poop hole” for 6 months, then seal it up and use the other. In another 6 months, you end up with clean, non-odorous compost to add to your crops. It is very high quality fertilizer. The pee gets mixed with the washing water and goes out a separate pipe into the garden that you have planted nearby. Plenty of nitrogen for the plants!

Here are two of the “dignitaries,” Richard and Shevani, cutting the ribbon on a finished toilet. “The Press” is capturing the event from behind.

Finally, the women in the village get a private place to do their business. The unit also has a separate bathing room. Everyone is really excited and proud that people in their village are finding ways to help themselves to improve the quality of their lives.

When it was my turn to cut the ribbon on one of the new toilets, I asked Poongalay to help me. She had never done anything like that before. In the photo above, Dhakshinamoorthy and I are helping her, with backup assistance from her grandson (?)

Poongalay bonded with me right away. This whole evening she was so excited that she kept following me through the village from one toilet inauguration to the next. She grabbed my hand and was chatting away, even though I had no idea what she was saying.

It’s dark now, and the last ribbon has been cut by the last “dignitary.” Everyone goes home with the feeling of accomplishment at helping alleviate a sanitation problem, giving villagers a safe and private place for their bathroom needs, instead of an open field. It was a good night, and there is pride in the grass-roots action that got this project off the ground.