Anant Anantaraman: Rebuilding a Life by Building a School

High up on a mountain road in Yercaud in the state of Tamil Nadu in India sits the Bhawani Anantaraman Memorial School, which promises a quality education to children regardless of their financial situation. The school was established by Dr. Anant Anantaraman in the wake of the 1985 Air India bombing, which killed his beloved family.

“The whole school was founded as a result of a personal tragedy,” Anantaraman recounts, “My wife [Bhawani] and two daughters [Aruna and Rupa], both of them were very talented violinists — they were ... in [Canada's] National Arts Centre Junior Orchestra. They were traveling to India to visit family, but I couldn't come because I had teaching duties at the university.” Anantaraman was a research scientist and professor in Ottawa, Canada.

Dr. Anantaraman

The staff and students of Bhawani Anantaraman Memorial School

After losing his wife and children to the 1985 Air India bombing, Anantaraman spent time searching for some kind of identity — and for a reason to live. “The whole thing happened and as a result of that, my life was totally destroyed. In that process, I had to find a reason for my own living and there was no purpose at all at that point. I had to look around and be able to help the world in whatever way I can.”

The answer, Anantaraman eventually realized, was to start a school, which was founded in 1999. “It started with about seven children, but it immediately became obvious to me the need for a larger space. I found a property and then chartered the school. Now after ten years, the school has grown considerably.... We have about 100 children here. Everything is free, the teaching is free and the teaching is very high level. We provide them free lunch and a nutritious snack during morning recess.”

To fund his school, Anantaraman has cast a wide net for resources. “I have the [Bhawani Anantaraman Memorial Foundation] in Ottawa and I get a lot of help from the university and local schools in Ottawa. Many of the books in the library are donated by schools in Ottawa. I get a lot of scientific equipment from the university, as well. Thanks to Canada we've got a really good science laboratory, computer laboratory and teaching resources.”

But starting a school was not without its pitfalls. “The hardest part was trying to fight the bureaucracy here. There are a lot of difficulties. I had to really convince the community that my intentions are really to provide this kind of an education for those who can't afford to go to private schools. Most of the public schools here are not really achieving what we are supposed to achieve. My intention was to provide them the best quality education they could get for free. The most challenging thing was to fight the bureaucracy, fight the local community and make them part of the program and to get the parents involved and make sure that [they know] free education does not mean it's an orphanage because they have that concept as well. All these things are problems, particularly the neglect of the children in many families. [It's important] to instill in them that education is the core of everything. Without education you can't achieve anything. It's a continuing fight. I had to find the classrooms for the children and the state government demands that there are certain things that you have to do, so in order to have a good school, I have to satisfy all these conditions and on top of that, I have to make sure we have good staff.”

An English class in session

Dr. Anantaraman with the staff and students

Although Anantaraman has found an outlet for his grief, he carefully notes that it was a highly individual process, and others coping with grief must look for their own ways of coping. “I'm a spiritual person. In other words, there is some force behind our mundane existence. I get some sort of strength from those kinds of thoughts. The first few years were extremely difficult, in fact I could have committed suicide, but I got over all those kinds of things by fighting and going back to my spiritual [beliefs] and asking myself, "What is it that you are going to achieve by killing yourself?" The friends that I had were so wonderful, they were taking care of me. With all this help and support I had in Ottawa, I was able to start the foundation and the school and so on. In that sense, my spiritual strength certainly helped me to achieve all these things. Now I see that there's a reason for all these things. In this case, maybe God wanted me to take a different path in life. Maybe God wanted me to take care of more children. My family has now become very big because of all the children. I look at it that way. So now I am quite ... what should I say? ... happy with the children that are around me and the way they treat me and the love and affection, it's really an experience. That's my life. I don't expect anything from them but that they perform well, do well and make the world a better place.”

Anantaraman welcomes involvement from readers or others with interest. “They can contact me. They can go to the Web. One of the things that they can do is to come here and maybe spend a month or whatever time they have and participate in the program. Money is one thing, yes. But I need more than anything else, the moral support that people can give, which is absolutely essential to carry on this kind of day-to-day challenge. People can come at their own time and see the realities of life and participate in the program and see the wonderful joy.”

For more info, check out: http://www.bamf.uottawa.ca/index.html

Elaine G. Flores is a New York-based writer and editor, who specializes in covering beauty, style and entertainment.