However, this was not always the case. Back in 2006, the DCP of Bengaluru City Police, Mr. Alok Kumar, had initiated a reformative program for crooks and criminals. He invited Mr.Nagaraj Gangolli, from the Art of Living to conduct the program, addressing the issue of stress and the root causes of crime. Considering that about five of the city’s police stations had cases registered against him, Praveen found himself chosen to be a part of this initiative, among 58 others persons.
“The police had slapped cases against me under several sections- section 390, 307 and others,” he says, rattling off the numbers with ease. “The crime rate is escalating steadily. Newspapers fill pages each day with the details of how chains were snatched by men on a bike, or how a pedestrian was beaten and robbed. Rarely do people ask, why? But Nagaraj Gangolli was one person who did. People are not born criminals.”, states Praveen.
With several cases against him, it was a disturbing time for Praveen. “You are disappointed with how life is unfurling, and it is not easy to see the disappointment of your parents,” he adds thoughtfully.
But how did it all begin? Praveen thinks it might have been a case of a boy from a small town befriending the wrong people.
In 2001, he came to Bengaluru to work with Henko- a detergent factory, as a supervisor. He began earning some money and finding his way on his own two feet.
“I was working with HAL in vigilance when two of my friends asked me help them with a robbery,” he reveals, “One of them was a policeman’s son and the other my landlords’. They wanted money. It is the age. You want to own things, you want to live life, you are reckless and dreaming.”
The sketch for the robbery thus drawn, Praveen soon found himself as the getaway man on his new Pulsar motorbike.
“The police caught me and I spent three months in jail. My mother was unwell when I came to Bengaluru and I had decided not to return to finish my studies. All this had left my parents distraught, but they came and posted my bail anyway,” says Praveen.
Thereafter, life in Bengaluru continued to spiral downwards. Until the year 2006 when Praveen met Mr. Nagaraj. On the first day of the program Praveen remembers dismissing the man, wondering what a soft, polite person like Mr. Nagaraj can do with people like himself. Even the police had been unable to trigger a change in them. Nonetheless, he did attend the reformative program by the Art of Living.
“The police would come and escort us to the class. It would be very embarrassing to be escorted by the police while the neighbors watched, so we went, waiting for it to be over,” Praveen recollects.
Six days into the program and Praveen noticed a change. “Nagaraj ji gave us the confidence that he is here for us,” he says, “It was not just a program where we were lectured. The program made me feel like I can do a lot with my life and that there is someone to look after my well being.”
He recalls how Nagaraj ji had assured them that they did not need to fall back into a life of crime.
“It is hard when there is a stigma against somebody,” says Praveen, “Once my name was in the list of rowdy-sheeters, I would invariably be rounded up by the police every now and then. There was once a riot in the city near my locality. The police took me to the lock up then.”
Praveen remembers calling Mr. Nagaraj for help at the time. “Mr. Nagaraj was always available, anytime- night or day,” he says, “He did not just say you can be better, but he gave us the chance to really be so.”
Mr. Nagaraj chose to repose his faith in these men, involving them in various social development activities. They would spend their time and energy in being productive and making a difference to others.
This is what brought Praveen to the villages of Karnataka for three years. Be it projects for toilet construction in Chikmangalore and Dharward districts, or working in Chigga village of Shringeri- a naxalite area to build a bridge for villagers who were cut off from the town by a bridgeless river. Praveen also worked to revive a lake in Lakshmipura, in Chikmangalore, and in the construction of homes in Bagalkot after the floods. In Bengaluru city, he worked in the slums and set up a sports club for its children.
Today, he is a trained teacher of The Art of Living and has so far conducted stress-elimination programs for over 1000 police officials, auto drivers, and prison inmates, among other people.
“It used to be a challenge to reach out to people. They are not willing to accept that what you are doing is of benefit to them. You may want to start a sports club to bring discipline in children and train them in something, but people may not like it. Even for something like bringing water to people, we find that their mindset can be a challenge. When we worked to raise the ground water level in Lakshmipura and revived a lake, four people in the village were very harsh with their criticism. They suspect that people work with ulterior motives, or sometimes are just too negative to encourage someone doing useful. But the rest of the village stood by us, and we were able to revive the lake,” says Praveen.
Now, as one of the core team members of the Vedavathi River Rejuvenation Project, Praveen has invested two years of his life mastering the skills needed for the execution of the project. He drives the implementation of the scientific plans, can pin-point where work needs to happen along the river basin and also manages the team that works on ground. In the next phase, he will be training others in implementation and supervision of the work.
“I got married a couple of years ago. My son’s name is Dhanush,” he says fondly. “My wife’s family is from Chikmangalore. Think, when this river will flow again, even my son will get to play in its waters,” he signs off, full of hope
