PANCHAAMRITAM 8

ONE

K.P.MANIVANNAN, 76, set aside 5 percent of his salary all through his 30 years of service in the State Transport department. Interest and all, it added up to Rs. 5.4 lakhs. He instituted a charitable trust with that amount to award scholarships to needy students of the school where he studied in Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu, Bharat. When he was studying in the fourth standard, his name was struck off the rolls as his family was too poor to pay the fees in those days. He managed to complete his school education and became a commerce graduate with the help of kind-hearted persons. Now his family is well off. His son Malarvannan works as a computer engineer in the US and he has married off his daughter Kanmani. Anyhow, Manivannan did not forget the hardship of his childhood and so, at least 60 students of his alma mater receive the help they need most, courtesy Manivannan’s thoughtful action.

(Based on a DINAMANI report by Prema Narayanan on December 4, 2002).

TWO

While the latest urban scare is the quality of bottled drinking water, a village in Gujarat has put it all behind. Once a sizeable market for branded water, Ena village in Bardoli Taluk, now enjoys pure drinking water, thanks to a reverse-osmosis plant, at a mere 20 paise per litre. Ena, with a sizeable NRI population, boasts of many more such benefits provided by those who have made it big abroad. It all started in Ena seven years ago with NRI visitors preferring to get mineral water from Surat. One visiting NRI suggested that a plant could be set up in the village and villagers could use the water for nominal charges. Says Pravinbhai M Patel, general secretary of the Ena Gram Vikas Samiti, which manages the plant and other development works: ''The plant was built at a cost of Rs 3.5 lakh seven years ago, with Ramanbhai Patel, who runs a chain of motels in the US, donating the whole sum. We charge a nominal 20 paise per litre.'' The village of 5,000 gets 1,200 litres of water treated every day.

(From an article by Tanushree Chakraborty in INDIAN EXPRESS, Feb. 24, 2003).

THREE

T.N.MUTHUKUMARASWAMY has been working as an accountant in the State Treasury department for 36 years. On retirement, he has donated Rs.10 lakhs from out of his retirement benefits towards construction of a school building in the government school in Lakshmipuram, Chrompet, a suburb of Chennai. All along his service period, Muthukumaraswamy has been distributing text books and note books free to students of the Municipal school close to his residence. He had few personal needs as he led a frugal life throughout. Tamilnadu state government honoured him in appreciation of his services to the cause of education at the secretariat in Chennai on February 25, 2003.

(Based on a report in DINAMANI of February 26, 2003).

FOUR

Let us listen to Lord Navneet Dholakia, Member, House of Lords, Britain: “On 21 October 1997, I was elected to the House of Lords, the upper house in the British parliament. When I reached the House of Lords, a friend of mine, an Englishman, said, ‘Please give your bag to me, I shall carry it’. I handed him the bag. Observing a smile on my face, he asked ‘why are you smiling?’ ‘Not because you have lessened the load by carrying the bag, but because I feel particularly happy today’, I told him and continued, ‘our forefathers used to carry the bags of you people 250 years back. Now, you are carrying the load for me. Today, we all have become equals’.” Shri. Dholakia was recently in Bharat to receive the honour at the Pravasi Bharatiya (NRI) conclave in Delhi. “I value this honour as far more than the Order of British Empire that the Queen of Britain has awarded to me. I am proud to be a British citizen, but the pride of being a Bharatiya is far greater,” the Lord further observed after receiving the honour.

(Coutesy: RASHTRA DEV, a Hindi fortnightly of Dehradun, Uttaranchal, Bharat; dated February 15, 2003).

FIVE

Location 1: A late night tea stall in Sector 13 of the Lignite mines town of Neyveli, Tamilnadu, Bharat. The Scene: Shri. M.Balashanmukhanandam, a resident of Sector 25 tries to give Rs. 500 to the owner of the tea stall Shri. Adimoolam. The latter refuses to accept the money and the former refuses to give up. Location 2: Police Station in Sector 8. The scene: Balashanmukhanandam gives away to Adimoolam a few stainless steel utensils for use in the tea stall and a Kuthuvilakku (holy lamp) in the presence of DSP Shri. Murugayya and the Neyveli town secretary of DMK Shri.G.Ramakrishnan. It is Saturday afternoon of February 15, 2003. Flashback: On January 25, Balashanmukhanandam withdraws Rs.10,000 from the Canara Bank branch situated in Sector 6. On his way back home, he misses the handbag containing the amount. Adimoolam finds it, locates Balashanmukhanandam and hands over the bag to him but refuses to accept gift. (It seems the ‘sense of gratitude’ and ‘appreciation of honesty’ of one have won the battle over ‘honesty’ and ‘integrity in the face of poverty’ of the other!)

(Based on a DINAMANI report of Februay 17, 2003).

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