By Dr. R. Balasubramaniam
A question that I’ve been repeatedly asked is why I chose Heggadadevanakote (H.D. Kote) taluk to begin my social development work in 1987. Very few know that I did not choose H.D. Kote, but that it was chosen for me by two extraordinary bureaucrats. One was Nanjunda Rao, a retired special Deputy Commissioner (DC) and the other was V. P. Baligar, the then DC of Mysuru. They had heard about me and my intentions and met me in the Government Medical College where I was still a student. Baligar took me in his official car to H.D. Kote and we walked to several tribal colonies before he offered to help me set up base there. But for his proactive gesture, I am not sure whether SVYM would have started working there.
