Bengaluru: In 2012, the 1962 batch of Mount Carmel College decided to get together to celebrate their golden jubilee year. That gave rise to MCC's full-fledged alumni association, which is bringing violin maestro L. Subramaniam and his entire family together in concert for the first time ever.
“In 2012, I sat in the MCC office and rummaged through piles of records,” said Sheela Bolar, Principal, Innisfree School, who is one of the core members of the association. “After that, the college decided to put something concrete together.” The event will raise funds for Chitta Dhama, a centre for mentally challenged persons and destitutes, located in HD Kote, Mysuru.
After a good deal of looking through old registers, eight people, each representing a decade of graduates from MCC came together to form the association. Giving back to society was a unanimous choice, but the social sector is fairly saturated. “We started off by supporting education for girls, a lot of young women drop out of college because they can’t afford to study,” Bolar explained. “We donated about Rs 4.5 lakh, to support three girls.”
That’s when they came across Chitta Dhama, which was started by a group of doctors in Mysuru. “A team of psychiatrists in Bengaluru travel to Mysuru every other weekend to provide treatment and counselling to the inmates, most of whom are destitute,” said Bolar. “When I suggested doing something for the organisation, which has no funds even to buy food for the people it rehabilitates or to pay its staff, everyone jumped at the idea.”
Bolar’s association with the L Subramanian family goes back a long way - all three of the children, Ambi, Bindu and Narayan passed out from Innisfree School. “I requested all of them to perform together, even Narayan, who is a doctor. He’s a good singer, but he rarely performs. I asked him to do one song for us and he agreed! This is the first time the whole family will perform together.”
