My Association with Bala Mandir and What Made Me Compose a Poem on Manjumma

My journey with Bala  Mandir began in 1996 when my mother, Vedamma, held the role of General Secretary, following Manjumma’s tenure. I have paid a few visits to Bala Mandir at that time and got to know of Manjumma and what she had done for the children of Bala Mandir . But it was only when I joined and spent a few years as a Council member that the full impact of the contribution made by Manjumma fully dawned on me.  Over the years, my involvement evolved, starting with Vidyalaya and later extending to Bala Mandir Research Foundation. Ms Maya appointed me as an Executive Council Member in 2000. Ms Maya also got me involved with all the parenting programmes by making me the Resource Person of the Parenting programmes. 

This marked the start of my deep engagement with parenting programmes, partnership initiatives, and enhancing our training programmes with various activities, songs, and videos, all while connecting with parents in the community. The Hospital Block, with the young babies, always held a special place in my heart, and I made it a priority to spend time there with the young ones.

It was on one of those occasions that I wrote this poem and sent it promptly to Dr. Anandalakshmy. Her response was spontaneous and I was happy about the short poem. Having been satisfied, I put it away in my file only to open it a few days back while the thought of starting a blog came up. Since we are talking so much of Manjumma and her contribution I thought this is the ideal time to share it with the Bala Mandir community.