Raja lost his mother when he was just a child. As a 5 year old kid he had
to pull his leprosy-stricken father along the streets on a low wheeled hand-cart
begging for alms. But these were just the beginning of a miserable existence
for this poor little lad from Salem in Tamil Nadu. Soon he landed up in the
hands of a beggar mafia in Kerala. What was until then a life of poverty and
hunger now turned into a life of torture and silent endurance for this little
one.
Raja recollects: “There were 15 to 20 of us kids under this person, our
gang master Chinnaswamy who used to travel in a car. We would be sent out
begging to different locations, in small groups. At the end of the day each one
of us needed to hand over to Chinnaswamy the entire amount collected. Each one
of us was required to fetch more than Rs. 100 a day. Rs. 50 or less meant the
kid would be tied to a pillar and his thighs would be poked with a hot iron
rod. Plucking out nails and hair, poking the skin with burning cigarette butts
etc. were just some minor punishments meted out to us. I was threatened to fork
out at least Rs. 100 a day or be prepared to lose my father. One day when I
could bring in just around Rs. 50, my eyes were rubbed with chili powder and a
hot iron rod was brandished across my face. The tortures that I and some of the
kids out there had to suffer were terrible. There was just no way we could run
away and escape from his clutches since Chinnaswamy and his men always had an
eye on all our movements. One day when I was around 8 years of age, I gathered enough
courage to run away and escape once and for ever from the clutches of that horrible
mafia, though not knowing where to go next, not knowing what to do next.”
And, that was a run indeed for this little lad… a run into a new life, a
run into a world of love and joy, a run into a life of meaning, dignity and
success as never experienced or even dreamt of before. A kind hearted
bookseller had spotted this boy in Thrissur bus stand and had at once informed
Shri Jose Mavely a social worker running a rehabilitation home in Aluva for
street children. The boy was standing there heaving and weeping after having
completed the run of his life. There were several marks of torture on his
body. Once Shri Jose Mavely took hold of Raja, things began to change
dramatically for this boy, although it took him a long time to come out of the
trauma of the tragedies that he had suffered over the years. Shri Jose Mavely’s
NGO Janaseva Sisubhavan opened up a new world of family and friends, love and
peace, fun and games for this hitherto unfortunate lad. The NGO gave him
primary education for a year and later admitted him to a nearby school, NSS HSS
Parakkadavu, to provide him mainstream education.
Himself a sportsman, it didn’t take Shri Jose Mavely long to spot the
sporting talents of Raja. Encouraged and supported, soon Raja began to excel in
a variety of sports including basketball and football. He started winning
trophies and medals in several local and district level events. Shri Jose
Mavely saw the need to give his children including Raja proper training to
harness their full sporting potential and started the Janaseva Sports Academy
in 2008. The Academy brought several former national and state level players to
give coaching to the children. Thus Raja was fortunate enough to get coaching
from former football players Shri C. C. Jacob and Shri Soly Xavier. And,
promisingly enough, as a 14 year old, Raja made it to the Kerala State Sub
Junior Football Team.
The icing on the cake came for this football champ in 2013, when he was
just an eleventh standard student. The Central Bank of India offered him, along
with his friend Velmurugan, also a product of Janaseva, employment on the basis
of their talent in football. Today, he
works for Central Bank of India at its Angamaly Branch, plays football for his Bank,
stays in a rented house close by, rides his own bike and enjoys a life of independence,
content and self-dignity much to the envy of many other youngsters of his age,
but best of all, he hasn’t forgotten the roots that stood him in good stead. With
a sense of gratitude oozing out from his eyes, soaked in utter humility, he
speaks his heart out: “It is told that I was born in 1994. But I think that I
was really born the moment Jose Uncle (Shri Jose Mavely) took me into his arms.
If not for Jose Uncle, Janaseva Sisubhavan, my school, my football coaches,
there wouldn’t have been this Raja. I owe a lot to all of them. Yes, there is
still a long way for me to go and I wish to play as much as I can at various higher
levels. At the same time I understand that there are many more kids out there
like I was before who need to be taken care of. Janaseva is doing a great work
and I also want to support it in whatever little way I can. Tomorrow I may get
married and set up a family for myself, but that will not in any way reduce the
intensity of my bond with Janaseva. Janaseva is my home and family, and it
shall be so forever. Jose Uncle is nothing short of a parent, guru and God to
me.”
If the very legs that were beaten up and burned many a time while in
the clutches of the beggar mafia, kick started a glorious life of football on
the grounds of Janaseva, credit for it goes not only to Jose Uncle, Janaseva
and all others as Raja puts it, but also to his own talent, hard work,
determination and love of the sport.
