I first met Raji, when she visited our village a year after we moved here. She had contacted me on email, and informed that she would be visiting. Kodaganallur was her native village, and she had spent much of her annual vacations here at her grandfather’s home as a child. Her memories were fresh and she was very fond of recalling her times here.
She walked in, clad in an elegant silk sari, tall, slender and beautiful, with such a majestic presence, and instantly I felt the warmth. We got talking, exchanging our rather similar childhood memories of the village, the river and our fascination for it. Eventually, she took me to her ancestral house, told me about her grandfather who would start a story on the day she arrived, and build on it until she would leave, spinning a fascinating tale afresh every time.
Raji was keen to keep her ties with the village alive. She had heard of YOKE, and was wondering if there was something she could be involved in. She was also fully conscious that living so far away in the US, she might not be able to physically take on something, but she could provide funding support. Over the first visits, she told us to think of some project which she and her family could take charge of.
We had been toying with the idea of a “marathon” in our village, with a recurrent theme of unity and celebrating diversity and differences. After all, one of YOKE’s given dreams is for a happy village community where everyone cares and contributes. When I suggested this to Raji, she handed over a cheque for Rs. 50,000 right away and told us to go ahead.
The first marathon thus happened in the last week of December 2014, with just three weeks of planning. Raji had returned home by then, and could not participate. With 227 runners, we pulled off an event which got noticed and talked about.
We decided to make this an annual event, and Raji readily agreed. We decided to call it KARAM Yokathon in memory of her parents Smt Kamala and Sri Ramalingam. It would not strictly be a marathon (which should be 42.2km), Raji told us, and hence we made it our own long-distance running event, the Yokathon.
In those days, we were a fledgling organisation, slowly finding our feet. The Karam Yokathon event was by far the biggest project we handled. Raji and family continued to remain the largest funders every year, to this date. She brought her cousin Raj into the YOKE family. Raj and Raji led us to a corporate sponsor IRIS Software when our first CSR partner GSK could no longer fund us. We could continue with our activities with this assured support.
Raji was always careful with her words, never to say anything that might hurt another. She was very sensitive and accommodating of all my impulsiveness and hyper-energy.
Raji helped us build the blocks that made Karam Yokathon a looked-forward-to event by amateurs and professionals. She unconsciously helped hundreds of youth to gain self-confidence and self-worth. She was very keen to increase the prize money for Karam Yokathon year after year. She pushed us to increase participation from girls and women, and we had a major spurt this year, which should have pleased her. Giving her 100% to the event, she would always prefer to remain in the background, and it took us a lot of effort to get her on stage.
Raji consciously avoided talking about her health, and all we did was to pray to see her at the next Karam Yokathon. Ominously, a few months ago she spoke to me and said we could draw the event to a close, as her coming and participating was becoming increasingly difficult and improbable. We held on to our hope however, but it was not to be.
From holding YOKE’s hands through this decade to putting YOKE on firm feet and take on new challenges, to inspiring the team to strive for more and more, to being an epitome of dignity and empathy for us to emulate, Raji was truly a tall personality. Her footprint is on every part of this village, and as the classic poet Longfellow said:
Lives of great (wo)men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.
Raji left us footprints that will inspire, lead, and guide YOKE in every step we would take. Miss you Raji!
Chitra, with Vasudevan and the big YOKE family, Kodaganallur 627010
