Personal testimonies and case histories

Country: INDIA
Name: Maya Prithiviraj
Date of birth: 1965
Home: Thiruvanandapuram, Kerala
Organisation: Kurukshetra, T.S. No.770, East Third Street,
RMS Apartment, Pudukkottai 622 001, Tamil Nadu, India.
EMail: kurukshetra999@yahoo.com

 

I was born to a middle class family in Thiruvandapuram, Kerala. My father was working as a director at Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi which promotes micro enterprises among the rural poor. My mother was a housewife and I had two brothers and three sisters.

When I finished at secondary school I was sent to SEARCH, one of the pioneer training institutions for development workers in Bangalor, South India. I spent one year there and learnt the basis for development, the reasons for poverty and need for upliftment of the poor and women. During this course I met Mr Prithivirajan and we both wanted to become life partners. However, on completion I had to go back to my parents and Prithivirajan got a placement at KUDUMBAM, one of the non-government organisations based at Keeranur working among marginal farmers in the Pudukottai District. I got a placement at SPACE at Kodaikanal.

 

Prithivirajan arranged a placement for me at KUDUMBAM. We decided we wanted to marry and I obtained my father's consent. My husband then became an Editor with the R.T. Rajan, RUSHA project at Vellore. I stayed with KUDUMBAM for the next four years where the chief functionary, Mr Oswald Quintal and his wife Mrs Johnsi were quite supportive to me. My husband and I both lived on the site but my husband changed jobs again to work with RECO (Rural Education for Community Organisation), a grass roots organisation formed by a team of youth working in coastal areas. I then joined him there and for the first time we had our own dwelling although we shared meals with our colleagues. We lived there until 1989. In 1988 my husband started an organisation named KURUKSHETRA and started working with poor people near Chinnaiyachatram.

In 1989 he established the BharathEnvironment Seva Team based at Pudukottai and started addressing the environmental concerns of farmers. He set up the AVVAI Farm at Chinnaiyachatram in 1990. That same year a fire destroyed the farm buildings causing us much hardship. He helped many people, including Mrs Amutha Jayaram, Mr Adhiyaman, Mrs Kanaka, Mr Jeevandandam, Mr Palanichami and Mr Francis from among the communities to become development workers, and now they are all heading organisations helping farmers in the district. I supported my husband but my role in development became marginalised.

In 1992 we had a lovely son who we named Krishna Bharath and he is now studying sixth standard. In 1994 my husband facilitated the formation of an NGO network named ROOTS. In 1998 he died of a heart attack.
I rejoined KURUKSHETRA to continue the work he had started and with the help of women colleagues and friends started working among farmers, women and children in 10 villages in the Pudukottai District