As they had experience in service to the Tirumala temple, the volunteers first decided to clean local temples. The Ramanuja temple at Sri Perumbadur was the first. "It was an overwhelming experience," recalled Paramasivan.
Till date they have cleaned 375 temples all over Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
An interesting plan they have devised is to identify the corners of the temple based on the planetary positions and then keeping a board in the temples informing the devotees that those who are afflicted by a particular planet can clean that corner.
"Because of our belief in astrology, it really works," smiled Paramasivan.
Next on the SMILE agenda was to clean churches. They have been regularly cleaning the Velankanni Church in Chennai.
SMILE also organizes blood donation camps, free eye camps, free cataract surgery camps. The organisation has won the Governor's Award more than a couple of times for its blood donation camps. It has reading centres for visually challenged students too.
It was SMILE's no-donation, no-collection-of-money policy that aroused the curiosity of the Stanford University.
"They were curious to know how an NGO in a developing nation like India can function without collecting money. Those who came to Chennai participated in a few activities and then interviewed me. They also invited me to Stanford to share our experiences with the students of the sociology department," Paramasivan said.
Image: SMILE volunteers clean up a railway station
Also see: Great Speeches of Modern India: The crisis of civilisation
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