On December 25, 2013, the mango town of Salem witnessed a huge gathering of vanavasi brothers and sisters joyfully reciting vanavasi songs to the accompaniment of traditional vanavasi drums and flutes. It was on the occasion of the double function to mark the centenary of Bala Saheb Deshpande Ji, the founder of Bharatiya Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram and the 150th jayanthi celebration of Swami Vivekananda. Sri K C Kannan Sah Sarkaryavah of RSS, Sundara Lakshmanan of Rashtriya Seva Bharati were among the speakers on the occasion.
