Random acts of kindness in Babaleshwar

It was a dream to connect themselves with their native place. It was a will to convert this dream into a reality to develop the place where they spent their childhood. And, it was a motto of selfless service that added meaning to the dream and the will.

The dream, the will and the motto brought these conscious people from Babaleshwar in Vijayapura district together. What connected them was the objective of contributing to the development of their village.

Over the years, a considerable amount of Babaleshwar residents have migrated to Bengaluru. Education drew some to the capital city while a few others landed in search of employment opportunities.

Back in 2015, Neelkanth Yadwad, a software engineer, hit on an idea of bringing Babaleshwar natives settled in Bengaluru under one platform.

Babaleshwar’s light

After the initial hiccups, he collected data of about 80% of Babaleshwar people settled in Bengaluru. Backed by like-minded people, he formed a group called Babaleshwar Belaku (Babaleshwar’s Light).

The name Babaleshwar Belaku has an interesting tale behind it. Several decades ago, there lived a saint at Babaleshwar named Shanthaveera Swami. He loved all human beings beyond barriers of caste, colour, creed, religion, region, faith and sect.

Due to his generosity and all-embracing nature, Babaleshwar residents revered him as Babaleshwarada Bhagyanidhi (Babaleshwar’s treasure) and Babaleshwarada Belaku (Babaleshwar’s Light).

After organising some initiatives successfully, the members registered their group as a trust, making Mahadeva Shivacharya Swami, the successor of Shanthaveera Swami, as the honorary president. The trust has 80 members, both young and old.

Outcomes of the initiatives of the trust were encouraging. “We didn’t even know the professions that Babaleshwar people were into. We didn’t even have the number of local people settled in Bengaluru. Our consistent efforts paid off and today we have a clear idea,” points out Yadwad.

The objective to form the trust was not to organise entertainment events. The members of the trust were driven by the commitment to contribute something from Bengaluru that could help develop their village.

“Our objectives are simple and workable. We want to create environmental awareness and contribute to education, besides guiding youths. The purpose of the trust is to extend a helping hand to the poor and weaker sections. We organise cultural programmes to provide platforms to budding talents,” says Gururaj Roogi, secretary of the trust.

He adds, “The primary intention of the trust is to do something meaningful to our village.”

The trust members meet on the first Sunday of every month. They hold detailed discussions about plans for the development of Babaleshwar. They finalise an action plan and execute it, Ashok Oji, the vice-president of the trust, explains.

The trust has donated computers to a local school, besides commissioning a purified drinking water unit. They felicitated 39 soldiers from Babaleshwar. “Until the felicitation, no one from Babaleshwar knew about them,” he adds.

Considering the contributions of teachers to social welfare, the trust members recently honoured over 100 teachers.

The trust has planted saplings in Bengaluru as well, besides donating food to elderly persons at orphanages. It also conducts sessions to guide, counsel and train unemployed youths.