Inspire! - Bunch of youth and a tale of their work towards a noble cause

Story brought you by Srini and Sathya I have two requests for the readers which I would like you to consider are mutually exclusive. 1. What comes to your mind about the characteristic of a 25+ yr old unmarried youngster? Partying hard? leisure life? no responsibilities? Nope....you are just wrong like anyone else. 2. What about Tiruvannamalai? A holy place where one will get peace of mind not just everytime we visit the place but even if we think about the place for a minute. Wel..that is right...but think deep. During my recent visit to Tiruvannamalai on September 27th, 2015, I had the earnest privilege to meet this young guy Neelakandan, who is in his 25+, whose native is Tiruvannamalai itself. He is a graduate from Thiyagaraja college, Chennai. While he was at a crucial juncture to decide his career after education, he had two choices. Fight for a job which would pay modestly in the metro or chase his dream to service people. This guy took a bold decision to move back to Tiruvannamalai and have spent few days learning the dealership business for some of the leading cool drinks products and later running the dealership on his own now. Well, our first respect for him for being bold in deciding what he wants as his career all by himself. Neelakandan once read about a holy soul from chennai who was doing a great social service by collecting unclaimed orphan dead bodies from Govt hospital and did final rights in proper way. Neelakandan was so inspired about this article of noble gesture. He told to himself that he also wanted to do the same after the age of 40 considering the seriousness of this task and to get support from the family. Neelakandan being very spiritual and intimate towards Annamalaiyar does Girivalam almost on daily basis around Tiruvannamalai hills along with his friends. On one fine day, while he was doing Girivalam, he met group of social enthusiasts who were digging a grave and burying a dead body on the burial ground. Curious as he is, he went there and enquired about what is going on there. That is the place where he met Mr. Mohan who was doing the same cremation service which Neelakandan read about from one of the leading Tamil magazine. The fire and desire Neelakandan had to do the same from his age of 40 lighted up once again. He expressed his interest to Mr.Mohan to take active part in this holy service alongside the group for burying the orphaned dead souls in Tiruvannamalai. It seems Mr.Mohan wanted to test him to see if his interest is really genuine and long sustainable or not. He never invited him to join him in the noble caus for next few burial services. But Neelakandan did not leave him. He kept on calling him and expressed his sadness to see why he is not calling him for the service. Satisfied with his will to service, Mr.Mohan invited him and taught him all the formalities involved in collecting the orphan bodies and the procedure to cremate them. It is too sad to hear the reasons on how these orphaned dead bodies ends up in Tiruvannamalai. Most of them, at some point in their life were fed up with the daily repeatable chores of life and came to Tiruvannamalai to surrender at the feet of higher consciousness. Few were not mentally stable and were brought by their family members and left them in Tiruvannamalai without leaving any proof to trace them back to their family. Some of them came all the way from different places and committed suicide in Tiruvannamalai. The reasons are plenty. Neelakandan with utmost discipline learnt all the procedures and formalities and became one of the core member of the group. Mr.Mohan later handed over the complete responsibility of this activity to Neelakandan and moved to do the next big social service of restoring the damaged ancient Hindu temples across Tamilnadu. As of date, this crew have buried over 300+ dead bodies in Tiruvannamalai and counting. I saw some of the pictures of the dead souls which was very gory and fearful. Sometimes the Sadhus and orphans go deep into the forest and die there both of natural and other causes. People will not notice the dead bodies for days together before they are noticed by some passers-by. At that stage, the body will almost be in a completely decomposed state. It would be totally unfair if I leave other kind souls who are also taking part directly or indirectly in this service alongside Neelakandan. Selvam, Ramesh and one more person are professional Parai(drums) artists who will earn around 4000 to 5000 per performance. But they joined hands with Neelakandan to dig holes and assist in burying the orphaned dead bodies with as little money as they can get (around 300 or 400 or even for free). Neelakandan have never informed about his activities to his family fearing they might put a hurdle. To his surprise, his father came to know about his involvement through one of his local friend. He have not neither put any hurdle nor have asked about it to his son. A great salute to his gentle father who silently admire about his son's service mind but have not expressed it openly just like any other father :-) There are few other souls who are supporting Neelakandan financially to handle all burial/cremation expenses. Last but not least, Neelakandan is in love. The lady love was originally not happy about his involvement into these activities. But Neelakandan patiently explained to her the importance of doing what he is doing and now she is also in understanding and extending full support to him these days. Doubtlessly, one needs LOT of courage to do what Neelakandan is doing especially at the age of 25+. A big kudos to the team which is assisting him in all his endeavours. Will wrap up this article with a recap from what Tiruvalluvar has said in Aruludamai Athikaram which would be apt for this instance. Take a moment, think of a way to spread love, however small it is in whatever possible way. Have a great day!!!!!! P.S Note: Video interview with the people are listed below.