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A Close Relative I am proud of

I am proud of my cousin Ananth Kumar (my paternal uncle's son). He went through a traumatic childhood (see my own experience detailed in several stories published in 2006 living with his eccentric and abusive father) and wandered through several stages before realizing his true purpose. For the last ten years or so, he has been running an unconventional school near Mysore and has changed the lives of many a children. He and his wife Padma have dedicated their lives to run this school which is free and admits kids who are dropouts, opportunity deprived, and essentially considered hopelessly uneducatable. Today, Ananth is attracting numerous volunteers and funding support from across the world because nobility of his purpose and purity of his mind.

Ananth is an idea machine. His school is called Kaliyuva Mane (Kannada for "the house for learning") and adopts the premise that the school is for children and not the other way around. The strength of this simple premise is hard to understand unless you visit his school and see the interaction between the kids and the volunteers.

His efforts are now bearing the fruit. He has already turned many kids who would have been a burden to society to contributors to society.

See the articile published in the latest Hindu newspaper
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/karnataka/article3429720.ece  
for the recent remarkable result in 2012 SSLC results.

Ananth is a true Gandhian and I am proud to call him my brother!

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