Click to play videoThiruverkadu (Tamil Nadu): Basavaraj was chained and tortured for 15 long years and had no one to understand the demons in his mind. This was 26 years ago.
However, now he has got a new lease in life, thanks to his personal guardian angel Vidyaakar.
Vidyaakar is a guardian angel to almost 2,000 others. He is the man behind the rehabilitation centre Udavum Karangal (helping hands), a social worker by obsession and a man who resolved that his bad childhood should never be experienced by any other.
"I come from a broken home. I ran away from Mysore at the age of 11 and came to Chennai where some people kindly helped me out and helped shape my future. Then one day, I saw an abandoned 11-month-old baby in a theatre. I took him in and that's how Udavum Karangal started," says Vidyaakar.
The people he helps come back to assist their "Pappa" in his work. And they work with street children, the mentally challenged, people with psychiatric disorders, women who've been abused and raped as well as the old and abandoned.
Udavum Karangal offers a helping hand not just to rebuild their lives but also to regain lost dignity.
Vidyaakar has built a school as well as a special learning center for the mentally challenged and the next step is a hospital for the needy all built solely on contributions from well-wishers.
"I want a society where there is no need for orphanages or organisations like Udavum Karangal," says he.
The 11-month old baby who pushed Vidyaakar towards his destiny is now a well-to-do employee of a furniture company in Bangalore. He hopes that all other children whom he helps will forge success stories with just a little help from their "Pappa".
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