Registered NGO · Reg No 46/2019 BK–4 · Nolambur, Chennai
Sowing goodness, one child at a time.
Bodhi Charitable Trust is the social-impact arm of the Bodhi Paadasaalai group of institutions — working across Chennai on youth character-building, child-safety advocacy, and education access for the transgender community, since 2019.
About Us
Who We Are
Bodhi Charitable Trust is a registered NGO (Reg. No. 46/2019 BK–4), founded in January 2019 as part of the Bodhi Paadasaalai group of educational institutions in Nolambur, Chennai. Bodhi Paadasaalai has spent years coaching students from Class 1 through 12 across every board syllabus, alongside academies for spoken language, news reading, and IQ development.
The trust grew out of a simple realization: the hundreds of children who pass through our classrooms every year are also an opportunity — not just to build academic skill, but character, responsibility, and compassion for the world outside the classroom. That thinking, from our founding directors Mrs. Ananthi and Mr. David Bharath Kumar, is what the trust's programs are built around today.
Managing Trustees
The People Behind the Trust
Four trustees, four different backgrounds, one shared commitment to the communities we serve.
Mrs. Ananthi
Ananthi holds a Master's degree in Mathematics and brings more than 15 years of teaching experience to the trust — often called its iron lady. She's also an active social activist, having founded Vriksham, a women-led initiative under the Inner Wheel Club that has driven numerous community welfare projects across the city.
Dr. David Bharath Kumar
David holds a Master's degree in Marketing Administration and brings over 15 years of experience in event management. After working with several well-known event organizations, he went on to found his own venture, Elite Events and Expos, and now lends that same organizational energy to the trust's on-ground campaigns.
Mrs. Anitha Bharath Kumar
Anitha holds a Bachelor's degree in Physiotherapy and currently heads the Anna Nagar branch of Kolors Healthcare India Pvt. Ltd. A steady, active presence, she stands firmly behind every social initiative the trust undertakes and extends her full support to its work.
Dr. R. Manimaran
With a Doctorate in Mathematics and 32 years of teaching experience, Dr. Manimaran currently serves as a senior professor at SRM's Vadapalani campus. His long association with the Bodhi name has made him a natural advisor to the trust's newer efforts, and one of its steadiest pillars of support.
What We Do
Four Programs, One Goal
A generation that grows up capable, safe, and treated with dignity — whoever they are.
Youth Character Program · Est. 2019
Thulirgal
Tamil for "young sprouts" or "tender shoots" — named for what the program hopes to nurture: character, while it's still taking root.
Thulirgal was the trust's founding initiative, launched in January 2019 after our directors noticed an opportunity hiding in plain sight — hundreds of students already gathered under one roof for their academics. Why not use some of that time together to grow their character too?
We began with a troop of 100 children from the Nolambur area, grouped under senior student volunteers and coordinated by a dedicated youth leader active in the NCC and local civic work. Every Sunday evening, the group meets for sessions on road safety, terrace gardening, tree planting, storytelling, street cleaning, gender equality, and child-safety awareness — each followed by a hands-on activity that puts the lesson into practice. Parents have been some of our strongest supporters, telling us again and again how much the weekly sessions have shaped their children's sense of responsibility.
Child-Safety Advocacy
SACA — Stand Against Child Abuse
SACA grew out of grief and resolve. Cases like those of Hasini in Chennai, Rithanyasri in Coimbatore, and Rajeshwari in Salem — children whose lives were cut short by abuse — convinced our founders that awareness couldn't wait.
We brought together a team of like-minded voices, including social activist Sabarimala, to write and produce an anthem against child abuse, with playback singer Padma Shri Shankar Mahadevan lending his voice to the track. The song is currently in production for a full visual release. Our plan is to take the finished film into schools across Tamil Nadu, working alongside child-welfare police officers and public figures willing to stand with us, so awareness reaches the students who need it most.
Education Access · Transgender Community
Karkai Nandre
From the classical Tamil proverb "Pichai Puginum Karkai Nandre" — even if you must beg, it is worth being educated.
Karkai Nandre supports access to education for trans men and trans women who reach out to us, often at an early and difficult stage of their transition. We start with psychological support, to help them feel comfortable and confident about their changing sense of self, then connect them with a career-guidance counselor to identify a course of study suited to their goals and circumstances.
From there, we help them enroll in a recognized school or college and see their education through to completion. We believe education is what opens the door to a dignified, independent life — and, in time, a fair shot at employment, including within government institutions.
Community Welfare
Beyond Our Core Programs
Alongside Thulirgal, SACA, and Karkai Nandre, the trust runs a number of ongoing welfare efforts across Chennai.
Fee support and discounted admission for meritorious students in our own institution who couldn't otherwise afford it.
Regular blood donation camps held across the community.
Monthly financial and emotional support for underprivileged single-parent families.
Direct payment of school and college fees for students at risk of dropping out.
COVID-19 relief for Chennai's transgender community — ₹2 lakh raised to fund a month of groceries and essentials for around 60 people.
Two months of hygiene and dairy supplies donated to local orphanages and children's homes during the pandemic.
Our Focus
Where We're Headed
We believe education alone can reshape a society — so our central goal remains making the best possible support available to every child who needs it.
"What we sow, we reap." It's why our focus stays on children first: a generation raised with the right values builds a healthier, more selfless nation.
We're expanding our work with the transgender community — helping bring out talents that too often go unseen, and supporting a life as ordinary and dignified as anyone else's.
"Sowing the seeds of goodness in every child — the future pillars of our nation — to reap a harvest of togetherness, and build a better place for all of us to live."
— The Bodhi Charitable Trust Motto
Press & Publications
Articles & Magazine Features
A few of the clippings and publications that have covered the trust's work over the years.
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Clipping — 04Visit & Support
Find Us, or Help Us Grow
Our Office
Bodhi Charitable Trust
144 – LIG, Second Floor, 4th Main Road
Nolambur Phase 1, Chennai – 600037
Landmark: near DABC Ishwaryam Apartments & Nolambur Medplus Pharmacy