Where the Small Ego's disappear in a Celebration of a Greater Cause

A gathering of people engaged in social work is often seen as a Ego ride for a few. Mutual back slapping and exchange of stories happens and at the end of the day, everyone goes home eager to see whether their names are there in the news report the next morning. Ennangalin Sangamam is a different kind of gathering. For the last four years, this group has brought people who work selflessly in the service of humanity together in a celebration of human volunteerism.

 

Ennangalin Sangamam translates as 'confluence of good thoughts', it is a network of voluntary agencies involved in good work in their own small ways. The members of this network are individual workers from different levels and stages in society, students, teachers, professors, mix freely with auto drivers, mechanics, labourers, village level workers and philanthropists. They all are connected by the unique thread that according to Swami Vivekananda represented the unique spirit of India, seva and tyaga.

 

The annual network meeting on the 4th Jan was held at Hindu College, Avadi near Chennai. The day saw a few lectures by dignitaries followed by group level interactions among members working on specific issues. Education, Awareness, Disability, Homes of different kinds, Rural development and Health were the areas under which the members grouped themselves and spoke about their own work and shared their ideas and concerns.

 

Later the plenery saw all the members gather and an award being given to one of the senior most social worker, Mr. Chandrasekhar of Vellore. A cash award as well as a certificate was given to him. The network has formalized itself this year and has newly launched a Trust by name NDSO. The details of the new organization was also announced as part of the programme. An annual directory containing the members listing was also released along with a website for the new organization (www.ndso.org)

 

Overall it was a celebration of volunteerism, in which there was mutual sharing of strength and inspiration. Where people shared their hopes and aspirations and in the process strengthened each other. 

The meeting saw an Industrialist Philanthropist from Coimbatore, a Scholar & IAS Officer from Income Tax Department, an innovative Swamiji from Kerala, and people from other states come to be and partake in this celebration.  This network has started to attract quite a bit of attention in the last couple of years, however, as long as it continues to sustain the spirit of celebration of true volunteerism, it may stay out of the ego-massaging and be a bright example as 'confluence of good thoughts'. 

 

The network is coordinated by Sri. J. Prabhakar along with Sri. Azhagar Ramanujam, Sri. Harihara Subramaniam, Sri. Govindarajan, Sri. Jagan, Sri. Muthiah Murugan and many others. There were representatives from over 25 districts who had participated in this meeting of over 250 members of this network.