Tiruchchirapalli or Tiruchy for short, is about 340 km (210 mi) south of Chennai in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It takes about seven hours to get there from Chennai (aka Madras) on a bus and an hour less if one takes a train. The center is located at Mannarpuram, a locality of Tiruchy, which is about 3 km from the main railway station; about a 15 minute ride in an autorickshaw (or auto). The center seems to be well known among the local people. The person who was sitting next to me in the train was a faculty at a leading engineering college at Tiruchy and recognized the center during our conversation and so did the autorickshaw driver.

The auto I was traveling in halted in front of the center gates at about ten minutes past two in the afternoon. There were two women standing near the gate in what appeared to be a watchman's post. Upon hearing the auto pull up they looked at me and started walking into the center towards a building. From the pace of their walk I couldn't have guessed that they were visually impaired. The center seemed to consist of two buildings housed within a compound wall. I recalled seeing some of the pictures of these buildings on the photographs before. I followed the two girls towards the left building. There were two other women at the entrance to this building, and one of them enquired about my visit. Upon telling them my details, the other, whom I later learned is Vimala, recognized my name and that of Asha, welcomed me to the center and asked me to step inside. I will talk about Vimala later. I walked into a small patio and then into a hallway. A room to the immediate left was lit and appeared to be busy. In this room I was introduced to an older woman perhaps in her late fifties. Mrs. Priya Theodore welcomed me to the center. Her face was also familiar from the pictures and video that Ashok had brought from his visit last year.

Previously I had called in on Monday afternoon (Jan 24th) and informed Mrs. Theodore about my visit the next day. I had planned this trip on a short notice and barely got a ticket on the train. The return, on the same day, had to be on a bus due to the train schedules. As a result I was at the center for only about two and a half hours. The center was on its annual Pongal extended holiday. So a lot of the girls had gone back to their homes. Mrs. Theodore had specially requested some of the girls to come on that day so that I could meet them. Some of them had taken half-a-day special leave from work and came to see me.

I was not the only visitor to the center that day. In the same room, seated in chairs and discussing were two women and a man to whom I was introduced. One of them was Shanthi, and the other two were a married couple from Delhi visiting the center to exchange views and to learn about the center. I briefly told them who I was and the purpose of my visit. The woman from Delhi spoke in good English and so did Shanthi. Both Shanthi and the other lady were both beautiful women clad in saris and from just looking at them one simply cannot tell that they are visually impaired. I am still not sure if the man, dressed in a pant and full-sleeve shirt, was visually impaired or not. After a few minutes, Mrs. Theodore offered me a tour of the center. Before we left the room, a dark young man sporting a mustache and a shirt neatly tucked into his trousers and wearing shoes walked in. Mrs. Theodore introduced him as a staff working at the center. He takes care of usual business at the center, handling finances etc.. He had apparently gone to the railway station to find me and give me a ride to the center. Not realizing this (I was not informed before about this) I had taken the auto.

Leaving the three to their discussion, I stepped back into the hall way and was led into a room directly across. This room was lit dimly by day light streaming in through some windows. There were rows of manual sewing machines - the kind where you use your legs to provide the sewing action. There were probably about six machines in that room. Mrs. Theodore explained that these were used to train the girls to cut and stitch clothes into appropriate shapes. The next room had a few manual machines to fold envelopes and stick them. This helps in improving hand coordination and confidence explained Mrs. Theodore. I was then led to a room that housed a large oven and beside it were trays with hemispherical shaped dough. An old hunch-back man clad in white shirt and 'vasty' was operating the oven to make fresh buns. The room had a nice aroma. Mrs. Theodore explained that the girls are trained in making buns using conventional stoves that used wood for fuel, the kind they usually use back at their village where they hail from. During our conversation the old man opened the oven to check on the buns. The orders for the buns came from several institutions in Tiruchy and had to be fulfilled even during the holiday period. When the center is not on holiday the girls made the buns as part of their training using wood-based stoves. Since the center was currently on holiday, and the orders still have to be met,  the large oven was used to make the buns. I was then led into the kitchen where the girls are trained in cooking. With kerosene and gas based stoves gainly popularity in rural India, the girls are trained to operate all the three types. Just above the kitchen counter-top was a shelf with all the essential ingredients, such as mustard, urad dal, neatly arranged in plastic-lid covered bottles - the girls are first trained in identifying these. Mustard and urad dal are the most common ingredients used in sauting almost all of the South Indian delicacies. I was then shown the dining-room, which was presently locked because of the holiday.

The girls admitted to the center come from different villages, not only in and around Tiruchy, but as far away as Andhra Pradesh, the adjoining state north of Tamil Nadu. The girls go through a three year training period. About 24 girls finish this training every year. They learn almost all of the skills that the center has to offer such as sewing, weaving clothes, baskets and chairs, baking buns, printing, sticking and folding envelopes, computer training to name a few. During this training period the different capacities and inclinations of these girls are identified. Some girls are brought in my families who request a specific form of training. For example, a girl hailing from a family with a cloth-weaving history would be trained specifically on this skill. Those that are academically inclined are educated suitably to be inculcated into the formal education system.

The Indian education system, similar to the American system, consists of twelve standards (equivalent to grades in the US) - designated using roman numerals. A common public examination is offered in the VIII, X, and XII standards. Examination in the other standards are specific to each school. A person, who is not continuously and formally attending a school, to be recognized in this academic system, is required to take the common public exam at the three standards as private candidates, and upon clearing these exams is given the recognition. Academically inclined girls come in to the center with different educational backgrounds ranging from absolutely no schooling to some level of formal schooling, The latter are usually those who have lost their visual abilities a few years into their lives, as opposed to those who are blind from birth or those who lose their sight very early in their lives. Once these girls are identified as academically inclined, they are trained to take the public examination at the three standards. The first stage of taking the girl with no schooling to the level of VIII standard in a period much less than eight years is the toughest part acknowledged Mrs. Theodore. Teachers are hired to come to the center and teach the girls. Visually impaired students undergo a different learning process. Lessons from textbooks have to be read aloud to them. Parts of these lessons are recorded into tapes (cassettes) and given to them. Each girl is also given a tape reader, so that they can play it at their convenience. The required textbooks are often available in Braille form. But in the last few years the syllabus had been revised and there has been considerable difficulty in obtaining these new books in the Braille form. Mrs. Theodore sometimes sends some books to her relatives to be read aloud and recorded in tapes. Depending on the reading speeds of individuals the number of tapes needed will vary. One tape cassette will hold about 30-40 pages of material. The teachers come in two shifts and during exam times the teaching goes all through the night.

After passing the locked dining room, I followed Mrs. Theodore to the second building of the center. She explained that the girls are brought into second building after initial training in the first building. Here, we entered a large hall through a door at one end and which housed manual weaving machines. They were arranged in two rows. Ranging from those weaving straw mats (called "Pai") to regular cloth material, the girls get trained in what appears to a lay man as an exceedingly complex task to be performed even for one with a 20/20 eyesight. Beyond these rows of weaving machines was a large wooden table with patches of colors on it. Hand printing of clothes is done on this table. Complex colored patterns seen on our clothes are usually machine printed. Here the girls are trained on hand printing patterns using appropriate dies and dyes. Up against the wall even beyond this table was a countertop with a shelf. The shelf housed several wooden boxes and a lot of white chalk at one end. Mrs. Theodore explained that the girls are trained in arranging chalks to be packed in the wooden boxes. This improves their hand coordination while earning some money for each box packed. We then retraced our steps back towards the other end of the hall. Here the room takes a L-shaped turn and on the left side were arranged several manual type-writers, both regular ones and those for short-hand. To the right side was a glass-enclosed area with two computers with 15-inch CRT monitors. Here I was introduced to the computer trainer, a young girl wearing a chudidhar in her mid to late twenties with a noticeable squint in her eye. She explained that the girls are trained in basic word processing. A software with a name which she pronounced similar to "shaws" was used to aid in this. The software aids in simple tasks, by for example, audibly announcing the key that was just struck on the keyboard or by reading the text on a word file that was just opened. The mouse is a useless device for the blind.

I was then led into an adjoining room which looked like a visitors room with a seating sofa on one side. Opposite this stood a wooden lined glass covered shelf. Mrs. Theodore proudly showed me the several awards that she and the center have won for their services. We then sat down on the sofa. The young man brought me several folders which had information about the girls who were specifically trained for formal education. One of the folders had a hand-written page along with a photo about each girl, her background, and what stage of academia they are in. Another folder had a copy of all the communication, email or otherwise, between Asha-Atlanta and the center. I was also shown the VIII standard mark sheets, supplied by the government education board, of the girls who took the exam recently. All but one had passed. Mrs. Theodore mentioned the difficulty of keeping trained staff at the center. Unable to offer attractive salaries, staff members leave once they get better jobs. She appealed to me to consider funding at least some of the staff members. I mentioned to her that as long as she can show strong links of the staff to support education, Asha will consider funding. Mrs. Theodore may turn in another proposal regarding this. I was also shown the center's bank account transactions. We all heard a car or van pull into the center. The young man announced the arrival of one Radha. Mrs. Theodore then explained that Radha was the one who had obtained her PhD and is now a faculty at a college.

Soon two women walked into that visitors room we were in. One was Shanthi whom I had already met. The other a lady in her mid-to-late thirties, with large eyes, and who introduced herself as Radha. Both of them set on the sofa. We started a conversation about their lives at the center and how they benefited from it. Radha had finished her X standard when she lost her eyesight. She had come to the center only with the hope of learning some trade skills so that she can seek her survival independent of others. Mrs. Theodore, who by the way is called Amma by all the girls (Amma means mother in the local language Tamil), upon reviewing her excellent academic skills through her grade sheets, had encouraged her to pursue her schooling. Radha managed to finish her XII standard. After much pleading with the local college principal, Amma was able to obtain a college seat for Radha. For the first time a visually impaired student was admitted for college. Radha soon excelled in her studies and stood first in class. She soon joined for graduate studies and then went in for her PhD. Her thesis dealt with rehabilitation for the blind in India. She traveled to several parts of India and collected data on this topic. She now teaches in college near Tiruchy. Radha is married to a man with normal vision and they have a girl named Varshini. Varshinin and her father had also come along with Radha and I met all of them. Shanthi has also worked on her graduate studies. She has studied extensively on the topic of insurance. She is also married and has a boy name Darshan.

During our conversation, both would look towards me and talk. Someone looking from far away would never notice that I was conversing with two visually impaired women. We soon conversed on the topic of what difficulties the blind face while obtaining a formal education. For one, they are given the same amount of time to finish an exam, as any other student. The questions are read to them aloud by a scribe who then writes down the answers dictated by the girl. The scribes are often unqualified, impatient with the girls, and may not write down all the answers dictated. Often the wrong scribes are assigned - a Tamil language teacher scribing mathematics for example. I can hardly imagine dictating algebraic expressions and having them correctly written down by somebody else. The other difficulty is the use of tapes, recording down relevant text and having to rely upon someone else for this. Searching the tapes for the relevant sections and sorting through tapes can also be difficult. Technological developments such as CDs, DVDs, and ipods with Gigabyte storage capacities can be immensely useful here. Cost is the only issue; since each person will then need an ipod or a CD-walkman. Maybe we could ask Apple to donate a few!

I also gave them a brief idea about Asha for Education and how we operate as volunteers and raise funds through fund-raising events. They were not aware about our operations and were surprised to learn that we as volunteers are raising money to benefit them. They were immensely thankful to us.

We then moved back to the first room I had visited. I requested for a group photograph. Before the photograph session, I sat down with Vimala and chatted with her. I was served some snacks to eat and a cup of tea. She had finished her B.Com (bachelor's in commerce) and in the course of her M.Com she had lost her eye sight. She stayed at home for almost four years before deciding that she cannot waste her life. She then heard of the center and has joined as staff to help Amma. I also met Preethi, the daughter of another visually impaired woman who has been trained at the center. Preethi studies in the IX standard and is apparently very good at it; her education is partly funded by Amma. Amma has also appealed to consider funding to help the education of the children of the blind girls trained at the center.

I then took a group photograph of all them.

It was almost 4:30pm by the time I left. The couple from Delhi had to be dropped off at their hotel and I took a ride in their car to the bus-stand.

I am fairly satisfied that the money Asha-Atrlanta is providing is being used towards the education of the girls.