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| Murugan Theruvorum, Kochi www. theruvorum.org |
When Murugan Theruvorum received the 2011 award for child welfare from the President of India, he was the youngest recipient who, nevertheless had rescued about 5000 destitute from the streets during 15 years of social service.
He too was the son of the streets, when bereft of his father, his mother shifted to a slum in Kochi. To him who used to fight with other claimants for the leftovers from hotel and bakery, good fortune appeared in the guise of Brother Mavurus, who took him to the Don Bosco Sneha Bhavan.
Care and love at the Bhavan helped him to acquire vocational, linguistic and behavioral skills. After 8 years, he again faced the world: as mason and newspaper boy, as dishwasher and vegetable vendor…
Again the helping hand of Brother Mavurus came to his aid. He built a single room house on his own and purchased an old autorickshaw. During day time he became the support for street children and at night he earned his livelihood by plying autorickshaw. His own home was the rehabilitation centre for his ministrations.
Another turning point in his life occurred when he went to the Cochin College for an awareness programme. Indu, a girl with many doubts at the session, soon found a place in his heart. And in 2010, this MBA graduate became his wife at a simple wedding. The couple’s first action was to seek the blessings of Justice V.R.Krishna Iyer.
He remembers how once the drug peddlers and goodas had smashed his autorickshaw. The provocation was that he had rescued the children who were being used as instruments by them. However, he had refused to name the goondas for some of them were his contemporaries in the street some time ago. It was by pawning Indu’s ring that the auto could be made road-worthy. Later, an organization from Bahrain presented him a brand new autorickshaw.
Apart from the President’s award, he is the recipient of Earth Foundation award, Sarvodayam Kurien award, Rotary International award etc.
Courtesy: Madhu Thripperunthura (text), Mathrubhumi, May 11, 2014
