As part of the fellowship, we were required to visit a change-maker in the neighbourhood, so Susa and I decided to visit Premaanjali, a home for underprivileged children in J.P. Nagar, Bangalore.

Premaanjali was founded in 1988 by the Premaanjali trust led by Mr. Balakrishna Hegde. They moved to their current premises in J.P. Nagar in 1991. My family shifted into the same locality a few houses down the road in 1992, and we’ve been in contact ever since. As kids we used to collect old newspapers and give it to them, and at the end of the year give them our school uniforms and clothes.

This was my first visit here since I’d left home for college six years ago. The home had been expanded, rooms added; there was a new staircase leading to the first floor. But the feel was the same. There were girls now, instead of the boys who used to be there earlier , and they all said ‘Namaste’. Susa and I were invited for dinner more than once on each of our visits there.

We spoke to Siddha, one of the boys who’d grown up in Premanjali. He had finished his LLB a year ago, and had decided to get involved with the trust, saying ‘there’s no use pointing fingers from outside’. He’s preparing for the UPSC exams, side by side, and wants to join the IAS. He told us about other children who’d grown up with him. Uday had done a diploma and was now working in Honeywell. Raghu and Varun had completed their engineering and were working with IBM and Acme, respectively.

The children are a mix of orphans, rag-pickers children, street children, and the differently abled. Before the children join the home they undergo a thorough evaluation by a committee, which includes, among others, a doctor, psychologist and counselor. They visit the homes of the children, and the committee decides whether they will take the child into the home. Once admitted, all the child’s needs are taken care of – a loving home, food and shelter, schooling and health, and other children to grow up with.

Siddha didn’t dwell too much on the struggles Premaanjali had been through over the years, but I doubt it would have been easy. There was adequate support from the trust, and that helped them get throught a lot of tough times.

In 1999 they were able to buy the property, allowing them to build on the existing structure. There was another round of renovations in 2002, where the first floor was expanded.

In 2007 they merged with the Hindu Seva Prathisthana. The HSP already had 4 homes under their care and the move resulted in an integrated management, allowing greater co-ordination and wider scope of activities. Premaanjali was made into a home for girls, and currently looks after 20 girls.  

Apart from the Home, they also have Antardushti, a centre for educating the visually disable which uses JOS, a specially designed reading software. They have 80 people using the centre from junior school to post graduation. It was quite impressive, with around 10 computers, and people being able to access the computers at their convenience, and at any time in the day.  

  Their website is premaanjali.org