The Sukanya Chaatralaya (Student Hostel) donated during the 2013 AIM Gala by Mr. Shankar Subramani, the late Mrs. Sukanya Shankar and Bahravi Shankar was inaugurated at Tappinampettai (TN) on January 26, 2015. Mr. Shankar filed this report about it.
The place is in Tiruvaroor District, very near Pujya Swamiji’s birthplace Manjakkudi. It is in the midst of various schools and college run by the Swami Dayananda Trust. So Bhairavi and myself were thrilled that SUKANYA Chaatralaya is to be built here.
I got the date for inauguration from Srimathi Sheila Balaji and arrived at Manjakkudi morning of 26th with my friends, andf amily from Canada, Chennai, Mumbai, and Mangalore. We first met Pujya Swamiji in the morning and had his blessings. Then, at 5:00 PM, Swamiji arrived at the hostel and first opened the plaque and applied chandan and kumkum on the plaque and cut the ribbon to open the SUKANYA STUDENT HOSTEL; It was his sheer grace that inspite of his ill-health Swamiji came to inaugurate. Once formal opening was done, Mrs. Sheilaji led us through the hostel, explaining its topography. It has a prayer cum dining hall in the ground floor with kitchen and two additional rooms for visiting doctors and the Administrator. The Chaatralaya has boarding facilities for 50 Girls with numerous washrooms and bathrooms on the First floor. The built-up area is about 6000 sq ft. and there is a big playground behind. The construction is of high quality workmanship and it will be one of South India’s educational landmark.
Mrs Sheilaji spoke at length explaining the vision of Swamiji and AIM for SEVA’s efforts to make that vision a reality. This Chaatralaya is the 110th home under the AIM for SEVA banner. Swamiji spoke at length on the need for such homes to nurture every kid’s dream of accessible education. In a way this was also Sukanya’s dream of furthering the hands of Pujya Swamiji in his efforts to reach education to most needy sections of our society in rural India.
In my address to the gathering, I implored my numerous friends to give a helping hand to this humble task. Every small bit of donation helps in making this a reality. All the guests were giving a portion of warm milk, which is done with every House Warming ceremony done in south India as is the custom.
Mrs. Radha Sundaresan sang a devotional Carnatic song on DEVI. All gathered friends spoke fondly of late Smt. Sukanya Shankar who is the inspiration behind this Chaatralaya. The hostel is operational from June this year and the girls are studying at the nearby Swami Dayananda Schools nearby.