bangalore she used to sit on the last bench of court halls writing poetry her struggle to provide the basic amenities for slum dwellers saw her waiting in court halls for long hoursfor padma awardee anita reddy winning them over was not easy though today her untiring efforts have brought a smile on the faces of thousands of slum dwellers after her stint in the us for three years she returned to bangalore with her husband and stepped into lakshmipuram slum i went there alone and faced a belligerent group of men i was not shocked as i anticipated the hostility i shared with them my views to provide better housing for them at the same place there was opposition throughout but after many visits to the slum i gained their confidence and they too got their doubts cleared work began in 1978 she saysher work includes promotion of various model rehousing projects for slum dwellers establishing a number of preschool and activity centres for their children forming women and youth groups for creating awareness and responsibilities towards selfhelp and community health encouraging adolescent girls towards becoming selfreliant promoting vocational programmes and selfemployment generating schemesi work for the urban poor and rural population who have been marginalized in terms of facilities and privileges the haves get without difficulty she says the seeds of social service were sown by her father industrialist dwarakanath reddy once he made her accompany a physically challenged girl vijayalakshmi for treatment to chennai though she was crippled her courage was amazing and i learnt a lot just spending a couple of weeks with her my father later sent me to mumbai just to know how life in a big city was its my father who gave me confidence strength and a goal in everything i have done so far she says she was 15 years old when she visited her native village pulicherla in chittoor district of andhra pradesh during school vacation i worked with the andhra pradesh governments health camps conducted in the villages then her reading of the bhagwad gita on mother theresas selfless service jiddu krishnamurthys views of life and gandhijis preaching have shaped her she says but her journey was not all smooth i have faced many legal battles there was a case against me alleging that i was trying to grab slum dwellers land i was pregnant with my third child then and i was advised to take complete bed rest till delivery but because of this case i had to go against the doctors wishes and run around it was the slum dwellers who supported me then we won the case she recallslokayukta justice santosh hegde who was then a senior advocate gave me courage and all legal support she addsshe started an ngo association voluntary action and services avas in 1980 avas remodels houses in slums builds public toilets ensures basic education facilities jeevanotsaha is one of the activities where the children come back to the activity centre after