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 Vaishnavi Jayakumar moved to Chennai from Calcutta when she was in Class IX. She grew up like many other girls, went to a good school, and went on to do a Bachelor's degree in English Literature. While in College, she met Vandana
Gopikumar, who was a year her senior. The two girls were drawn to each other by common interests and a sincere desire to do something worthwhile. Vandana went on to do a Masters degree in Medical & Psychiatric Social work. Vaishnavi was still in her final year of college then, and very involved in extra curricular activities. The two girls still kept in touch, and Vandana would visit Vaishnavi on campus whenever she could. After one such visit, as she was leaving, Vandana's attention was suddenly caught by a woman who was scantily clad, running up and down the crowded street, screaming. Passers by either ignored her, or deliberately avoided her, with a look of fear and disgust. But no one was doing anything to stop her. The traffic was heavy, and she was in danger of being caught in an accident. The young Vandana ran into the college, requested the Principal to help, and also sent word to
Vaishnavi. The Principal and the National Social Service wing of the college soon got busy. They managed to find some clothes to wrap around the woman, calmed her down, and began calling up various institutions in the city to find out whether any one of them would accommodate her. It took them an hour to locate an institution that was willing to take in the unfortunate woman.
 By then, Vaishnavi joined
Vandana, to take the woman to the institution in an auto-rickshaw. When they got there, they made sure the woman was comfortably housed, and came away with a sense of satisfaction, that they had helped to make at least one life a little more comfortable. However, two weeks later when Vandana called at the Home, she found the woman had run away, and no one seemed to know where she had gone. The two girls were outraged. They were young, and full of the fire at their age. They felt the institution had been negligent, and felt an anger that was not quite justified. Thereafter,
Vandana, in the course of her curriculum, would visit several institutions. Often, she would get Vaishnavi to accompany her. The two girls enjoyed the work, and helped in every way possible, learning the running of these places from the inside. But each time, they found that they were very critical of all the little things that they felt could be done better. (Today they admit that it is very easy to find fault when you are a casual, one-time visitor!) Soon they were realising that although there were many 'homes' in and around the city, the demand was much greater than could be met.
 Gradually, they began wondering whether they should not begin one of their own. The idea was born from a combination of reasons. Firstly, having seen so many such places, the girls felt they had some good ideas that could be incorporated to make the residents more comfortable. Secondly, the staff and volunteers everywhere seemed to be overworked because of the number of cases being referred to them. There seemed to be a need for many more shelters for the mentally disadvantaged, abandoned people particularly women. It took both the girls quite some time to come to a decision. They were keenly aware that it was a very big step to take, and there was no going back. Neither of them had much experience. They were both very young to take on what seemed like a very big venture. But the seed of the idea, once sown, grew in their minds, and took shape. Finally, the decision was made. There was a lot of paperwork to be done, government permissions to be acquired, lot of running from one office to the other. All this with practically no funds!
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