POWER

Philanthrophy
Heartwarming stories on the virtues of giving

By Huzaifa Khorakiwala and Mudar Patherya

Friends,
We have heard of ‘giving back’.
In philanthropic terms, it means to give back
to people from whom we may have received
help, generosity or kindness.
There is another term we now need to
consider. Giving forward. Because ‘giving
forward’ goes one step ahead.
It means to extend help, generosity and
kindness to people who may not have done
anything for us or we may have never known.
This work – a collection of heartwarming
stories of giving – intends to inspire a
similar philosophy.
Don’t just read. Act.
Let us make the world a better place to be in.

Huzaifa Khorakiwala and Mudar Patherya

Editors
 A man spoke with the Lord about heaven
and hell.
The Lord spake: “I will show you hell” and entered a
room where people sat around a pot of stew.
Starving.
Each held a spoon with a handle longer than their own
arm that made it difficult to get the stew into their mouths.
“Now I will show you heaven,” the Lord spake. And off
they entered another room – the same pot of stew, a
group of people, the same long-handled spoons. But
here everyone was happy.
“Er, I don't understand,” said the man. “Miserable there
but happy here. How?”
The Lord smiled, “Simple, son. Here they learned to feed
each other.”

2 3
 What the legendary wealthy Brooke Astor
(died at 105 on 13 August 2007) enjoyed most
was giving money away. One day, her foundation
exhausted its resources. After having spent $195
million to support institutions, programmes and
public-benefit projects. Rather than complain,
Mrs. Astor did the opposite. She celebrated the
fact, and thereafter continued to contribute her
personal fortune.

4 5
 THE SECRET GIVER
America’s most secretive philanthropist uses a
plastic bag as a briefcase, drugstore reading glasses
and $15 plastic watch. Secretly transferred shares in the
company that he co-founded and ran to his offshore
foundation. Incorporated his charitable foundation in
Bermuda and attaching highly lawyered confidentiality
agreements and vows of secrecy to keep his funding a
secret. Concealed it from his business partner. Only
when the company was sold that his largesse – $1.6
billion – was revealed. Manages with one pair of shoes.
Prefers to eat the $10.95 chicken pot pie at Annie
Moore's tavern when in New York. “It has always been
hard for me to rationalize a 32,000-square-foot house or
someone driving me around in a six-door Cadillac. The
seats are the same in a cab. And you may live longer if
you walk,” he says. His name: Chuck Feeney.
His company: Duty Free Shoppers.

6 7
 THE POWER OF
TWO RUPEES
At the Brahma temple in Pushkar, there was a
serpentine queue for darshan. As my friend and I lit a
cigarette, a grey-haired, spectacled and wrinkled old
beggar woman asked us for a rupee to buy lunch. We
refused. Meanwhile, a friend called to ask us to hurry for
darshan. We crushed the cigarette with our shoes, I took
my son in my arms and asked my wife to follow. I
overheard: “These young men will burn more than a
rupee for their bad habit, but will never give a rupee to
a hungry person.” During darshan, the beggar’s remarks
resounded.
8 9
On my return, I found the woman standing near a shop.
I asked her where she was able to buy lunch for a rupee.
She replied, “At an alms house where they have
stipulated this as a token amount for each meal.”
I gave my son two rupees to give her. Before accepting,
she took my son's hand in her own, embraced him, ran
her fingers through his hair, prayed for his prosperity
and wept.
An hour later, when returning to the hotel, we found the
woman under a tree. Feeding a little girl in a dirty, torn
dress. I asked, “Amma, who is that girl?” She replied,
“This poor girl is new here and yet to learn how to beg.
She couldn't arrange a rupee today. So, I brought her
lunch out of the money you gave for dinner. Don't worry,
God will arrange for my dinner.”
I tossed the half-burnt cigarette. And quit smoking. No
'statutory warning' could have taught me the lesson that
the beggar woman did.
Source: Abridged from an article by Ashis Kumar in
The Times of India, 24.08.08
 T.V. MOHANDAS PAI...
...set up a library in the memory of Dewang MODESTY
Mehta (former NASSCOM president) who was
forgotten by most when he died.
BEGINS AT
... was one of the drivers of Akshaya Patra, which
provides a mid-day meal to nearly a million Indian
HOME

Source: Business Standard, 2.9.08

children every day across 5,000 schools in five states.

... set up a 30,000 sq. ft convention centre in the

Mangalore school where his father worked on a loom

... set up a computer centre in his school.

Source: Hindu Business Line,

27th July 2007 (TV Mohandas Pai
is Executive Director, Infosys)

Chairman and Managing Director AM Naik

revived and expanded his old school in Kharel and added a
hospital and other amenities largely financed by his personal
trusts that encashed some Rs 12 crore worth of L&T stock
options. He owns “Eight shirts, three suits and four ties. See
this tie? I wore it yesterday but no one will know, because I
will meet different people today.”

10 11
 SAVIOUR
Outside Abdus Sattar Edhi’s office in Karachi,
a metal crib has a sign: ‘Don’t kill your baby.’ And so does
every Edhi Foundation office in Pakistan. Crib and message.
So that a mother can leave an unwanted baby there without
divulging her identity. Of any caste or creed.
On the one hand, Edhi’s Karachi office receives 90 babies a
month, half of them alive. On the other, Edhi has given away
hundreds of brides at the foundation’s wedding facility
Edhi Foundation has over 600 ambulances in Pakistan.
The largest volunteer ambulance service in the world.
(Source: Guinness Book of World Records 1997).
12
Edhi aims to build a hospital across every 500 km in Pakistan.
Refuses donations from governments or formal religious
organisations. General Zia-ul-Haq and the Italian government
sent him generous donations, which he sent back.
In Karachi, Edhi Foundation runs eight hospitals (provides
free medical care), eye hospitals, diabetic centres, surgical
units, cancer hospital, mobile dispensaries and two blood
banks.
Saved some 20,000 abandoned babies. Trained some
40,000 nurses. Housed some 50,000 orphans.
Never taken a single day off work.
13
 Advances small sums of money - the average is just $3 –
to beggars
Turns borrowers towards petty trade
Inspires them to buy simple merchandise (sweets, cheap
toys, incense sticks, trinkets) that can be sold for a profit
Encourages income from the ‘selling division’ to exceed
income from the 'begging division'
Helps beggars re-discover pride and dignity
Members are not required to form any micro credit
group; and not obliged to attend weekly meetings
Treats members with the same respect and attention as
its regular members
Refrains from using the term ‘beggar’
Provides a guarantee to the shops that it will make
payments in case of defaults
Relies on the innate goodness of human beings
Money is never gifted to beggars, only loaned and must
be returned only from the proceeds of the ‘selling business’

HELPING PEOPLE FLY

Result: Struggling (Beggar) Members Programme has
touched 85,000 beggars; taken 800 out of begging.
Source: The Economic Times, 1.4.07

14 15
 An experience was telling. “We had just moved
home to a new town in Connecticut and there was
a flyer in the mailbox: ‘Cleaning the park this
Saturday, come in your junk clothes. Beer after.’
The mailbox would invariably be stuffed with

“PRACTICAL messages like this. Who had the time? But we had
just moved in and wanted to meet the neighbours.

PATRIOTISM IS
So, for purely selfish reasons, we went. There was
a group leader who gave out instructions,
pitchforks and gunny bags. On Monday morning,

WHAT WE NEED” when I reached the station to take the commuter

train to Manhattan, I saw the group leader of our
park clean-up operation. A banker like me. His
Ramesh Ramanathan was one of Citibank’s volunteering for the local community was

youngest ever Managing Directors in the
US, heading a $100 million business
across Europe at 33.
something he had created time for and took
seriously. I thought about my life in India – I had
not lifted a finger to volunteer for anything. I didn't
think it was expected of me…

“A few months after the diary entry, one of our

close friends who lived in Chicago stopped
over on her way back from Delhi. She had
terrible news: both her parents had been
diagnosed with terminal cancer and given barely a

16 17
 few months to live. She was devastated. And yet,
she was constrained because her husband had
just started an MBA, and she needed her job for
the paycheck, insurance, bills. She left on Friday.
“Swati and I spent the weekend talking about their
situation. We told ourselves, ‘What are we waiting
for? There are never going to be any signposts
saying `Important moment coming up, be
prepared to turn'. We just have 'to make the leap:'
All the trappings – the benefits, the insurance, the
business-class trips, the paid-for movers – felt like
traps.
“And so, on Monday morning, we quit. My bank
refused to accept the resignation, flew in someone
from New York to dissuade me. ‘Whom are you
joining, and how much are they paying you?’ he
asked (standard banking practice, jumping ship
18
for fat bonuses) I laughed, ‘No, I'm not leaving for
another bank. I'm leaving for another life.’
I finally left that Friday. I left our office at the Strand.
It was late. A London cabbie pulled up and leaves
swirled in a quiet ballet. ‘Late day at work?’ he
asked. ‘Nope, I just quit,’ I smiled. I felt like a
thousand balloons had been tied to me.”
Today, Ramanathan runs a governance project in
Bangalore through his NGO Janaagraha.
Objective: enhanced say of citizens in the
budgeted municipal spending in their area. The
result: 22 per cent of the budget was decided on
the basis of citizens' demands. His
pronouncement: “If we can allocate time for
democracy starting at our doorstep, we can
make a difference.”
Source: Rewritten from an article that appeared in
Outlook, January 2008
19
 After actor Nargis died from cancer in 1981,

INSPIRED BY
husband Sunil Dutt founded the Nargis Dutt Cancer
Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization committed

WIFE’S SUFFERING to improving medical care on the Indian subcontinent. This

Foundation supports the advanced training of physicians
in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, imports medical
equipment and assists those who cannot afford cancer
treatment. It supported India's first bone marrow transplant
at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai in 1984.

20 21
 AND LOVE FOR ALL
Artist Baldev Raj Panesar
lives in a small room at the YMCA in
Kolkata’s Wellington area. Retired in
1987 as deputy director of Indian
Statistical Institute in Baranagar. Gifted
land in Madhyamgram to an
old age home. Given proceeds
from his painting sales to institutes
(mathematics, statistics and computer),
ISI and YMCA (to repair the basketball
ground). Transformed the daughter of a
vegetable seller from South 24 Parganas
into the celebrated collage
artist Shakila.

22 23
 Inderjit Khurana teaches 400 destitute children
(age group 16-18) on 12 railway stations in
Orissa (Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Mirgandi,
Nirakarpur, Puri, Jajpur, Berhampore, Jagatpur,
Kendrapara, Kotia, Khurdah, Bhushandapur and
Chandanpur).
TAKING EDUCATION TO THE RAILWAY
PLATFORM
24
She has also set up a pre-school and high school called
Ruchika in Bhubaneswar. Starts her day at 7 am when
chhatu, the supplementary meal, draws students.
Teaches till 11 am. Students are taught till Class III, after
which they attend government schools. Won the World
Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child 2007, instituted
by Swedish Organisation Children's World.
Source: Business Standard, 19.01.07
25
 200 FT

100 FT
C
L E
50 FT A R
V I S Sankara Nethralaya has provided
quality healthcare for decades.
30 FT
Behind its success stands Dr SS Badrinath. He
I O N
founded Sankara Nethralaya in 1978 as a 16-
bed hospital with one operation theatre on the
campus of Vijaya Hospital, where he was a
consultant. Twenty nine years later, it has grown
to a super-speciality hospital for ophthalmic
15 FT
care, with 92 consultants. Around 1,500 patients
walk in and over 125 surgeries are performed
10 FT everyday. It has ventured to Assam, Bangalore,
Jalna and Kolkata through affiliates. About 50%
of its consultations and 40% of its surgeries
5 FT are done free of cost.

26 27
 GIVING CAUSE A LEG
The Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata
Samiti (founded in 1975 by retired IAS officer
D.R. Mehta) provides low-cost limbs and tools
to the physically challenged.
Besides providing the Jaipur foot and wheelchairs, the
Samiti caters to the needs of the handicapped by giving
them calipers and hearing aids also. The organisation
donated 20,000 limbs compared to 8,800 by an
international agency like the Red Cross. The Samiti’s
beneficiaries crossed a million mark.

28 29
 DIAMONDS ARE
NOT FOR EVER
Rohini Nilekani started an NGO Akshara
Foundation (provides pre-school education to
slum children) and chaired a non-profit
publishing house (Pratham) for children’s books.
When she earned Rs 100 crore from the Infosys American
Depository Receipt (ADR), she started a trust (Arghyam)
for water conservation. “I didn’t want to buy diamonds and
jets, so what would I have done with the money,” she
says. “It’s not that I don’t live well,” she says, waving her
hand across her luxurious drawing room. “But I believe in
limits,” she adds. She also believes that a huge economic
disparity between the rich and the poor is not healthy for
society. “Disparity can lead to discontentment. It’s very
important for the wealthy to give something back to
society,” Nilekani believes.

30 31
 T I R E M E N T M O NEY
RE U I L D A S C H OOL
HELPAGE INDIA’S

O B
GOES Th Biswas.
two-storey old-age home
at Chetla was donated by
. Hailed its member KSB Sanyal.
Jagadis of police
s u p e ri ntendent utta). Sa
w Worth a fortune. Given
Former d
eputy
(7 0 k m from Calc
kha li en drop away for free.
ia’s Hans a day. Th
from Nad ute 3 km
ildre n c o m m t ith his
w
village ch ottah plo
B o u g h t a five-c trict prim
ary
hool. to the dis
out of sc Do n a te d it .0 7
t money.

FOR FREE
h, 13.09
retiremen e : T h e Telegrap
Sou rc
ouncil. –
school c

SERVICE BEFORE S
ELF The Tata Memorial
Centre is not just India's best
cancer hospital. It is a global
V V S Laxman agreed to lead the Hyderabad franchise centre of excellence where
in the Indian Premier League in 2008. He put the team 70 per cent of patients get
interest before his own and gave away the icon status free primary car.
(which the franchise owners had demanded from the IPL
Governing Council) as he wanted Hyderabad to have a
larger budget for ‘buying’ players.
LARGE-HEARTED
32 33
 FROM PENNILESS
TO MILLIONAIRE Althea Gibson, the first black player to win
the US Open, died a bitter woman in 2003. But not a
penniless one, thanks to the efforts of her life-long friend,
the Briton Angela Buxton, with whom she won a
Wimbledon doubles title in 1956. “Because she was so
penniless until the last few years of her life, because she
was so ill, she phoned me one day to say she was going
to do herself in,” said Buxton. In 1995, Buxton spent
$1,500 of her own money to feed Gibson and pay her
rent before making an appeal on her behalf in the
magazine Tennis Week, highlighting her hardship. “She
was a millionaire by the time I'd finished. Money came in
from all over the world in different currencies. We spent
days just opening up the envelopes from people who
remembered her.”
Source: The Telegraph 27.08.07

34 35

Gave up wealth to serve is written in braille
GAVE UP WEALTH
TO SERVE
Baba Amte was born into a wealthy high-caste
family in Maharashtra. Educated to be a lawyer. Rebelled
against social discrimination. Ate with untouchables.
Gave up law and estate management to help society's
castoffs. Until death, along with his son, a physician,
Amte managed Anandwan, a 200-hectare complex. The
buildings – constructed by volunteers and residents –
house a 1,600-student college affiliated with Nagpur
University. A 300-student agricultural college. Schools for
the blind, deaf, dumb, physically handicapped and
leprosy-afflicted children. An orphanage. A home for
senior citizens and housing for 2,000 people. A general
hospital. Two community bio-gas plants. A bank. Post
office. Community centre. Gram Panchayat (local self-
government). Vocational centres (training in 16 crafts).
A 125 hectare farm. Of India's some four million leprosy
patients, well over 100,000 have been treated there.

36 37
 RAJINIKANTH AND
PHILANTHROPY
Converted his Raghavendra Marriage Hall to a charitable
trust to help the needy.
Shared his income from the film ‘Arunachalam’ with eight
other people from the film industry as profit shares .
Plans to construct a new hospital and a new school on a
piece of land near Chennai.
Distributed Rs 12 lakhs as relief to the family members of
the bereaved in the Coimbatore bomb blast
When his film Baba didn’t receive the expected returns,
he returned the money to distributors.
Rajinikanth donated 1 million rupees to the Sr Lankan
Tamil humanitarian aid during the protest and hunger
strike organized by the South Indian Film Artistes'
Association in support of Sr Lankan Tamils.

38 39
 SHAMELESS
EXPLOITATION.
COMMON GOOD.
Paul Newman and AE Hotchner.
Launched a business using homemade
salad dressing. Company was named
Newman's Own. All the proceeds of sales
after taxes were given to educational and
charitable organizations. Donated close to
$1 million in its first year. To date, has given
away approximately $150 million. Motto:
“Shameless exploitation in pursuit of the
common good”.

40 41
 Warren Buffett's commitment of $37 billion
to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation …
IS MEANT TO BE GIVEN AWAY Made the largest single commitment in the U.S.
philanthropic history
Doubled the size of the largest private foundation
in the world
Doubled the annual giving of the world’s largest
foundation
Created a massive precedent for the transfer of
wealth from private individuals to philanthropy
Created a precedent for spending huge sums of
money in the year they are given
Decried the preservation of private fortunes
through generations
Reaffirmed his belief in the ability of the
philanthropic world to take risks better than
corporations, and returns better than government
Symbolically passed the baton from his generation
to the next

42 43
 DROP BY DROP
The Stavropol Children’s Fund, a North
Caucasus Resource Centre client, has become
a household name among residents.
Its clear plastic collection containers, located all over town
including next to the Turkish burger joint’s cash register,
are a constant reminder that giving just a little can go a
long way. When a young local boy lost his leg in a horrific
train accident, the Children’s Fund and the local Red
Cross chapter scrambled to his rescue. The situation was
bleak – his family was poor and at the time state subsidies
covered only hospital and outpatient care, not prosthetic
limbs. But using their new fundraising expertise, the
44
Children’s Fund launched a targeted campaign and within
weeks had raised several thousand dollars towards a new
leg for the boy. What is unique is that the fundraising
efforts weren’t concentrated in the boy’s neighbourhood
and the money raised wasn’t from people who knew his
family. Rouble by rouble, complete strangers dropped
their scarce extra cash into collection boxes. Restaurant
owners donated their time, space and services to hold
charity dinners. Simply, everyone pitched in.
45
 A ‘THANK YOU’
THAT ECHOED
In 1993, Greg Mortenson attempted to climb K2
(world's second highest mountain) in the Karakoram
range of northern Pakistan. After more than 70 days, Greg
and three other climbers had their ascent interrupted by
the need to complete a 75-hour life-saving rescue of a fifth
climber. After getting lost during his descent, he became
weak and exhausted, and instead of arriving in Askole,
where his porters awaited, he came across Korphe, a
small village built on a shelf jutting out from a canyon. He
was greeted and taken in.
46
To repay the remote community, Mortenson promised to
build a school. Coincidentally, Mortenson was introduced
to Jean Hoerni – a Silicon Valley pioneer and dying from
leukemia – who donated the money to Mortenson. Both
co-founded the Central Asia Institute to build schools in
rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. The institute built over 78
schools in the remote areas of these countries.
The best-selling Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
and David Oliver Relin describes Mortenson's transition
from a mountain-climber to a humanitarian
47
 Make-A-Wish Foundation® originated in the
United States in 1980.
It grew from the dreams of a young boy Christopher
Greicius, who had leukaemia and wanted to be a
highway patrolman. Chris’s mother, along with the larger
community, moved heaven and earth to make his dream
come true. Chris was sworn in as the first and only
honorary Arizona Highway Patrolman in the state's
history. Inspired by Chris and enriched by being part of

TUMHARI AAKHRI the experience, his mother and some others who helped
his dream come true realized that there must be other

KHWAAISH KYA HAI?

children like Chris who could benefit from their wishes
being granted. Their inspiration was the beginning of the
Make-A-Wish Foundation®

48 49
 GOOD
SAMARITAN
Shabbir Soni lifts the dying from the
streets in Mumbai. In a soft, staccato voice, he
asks for precise directions, thanks the caller, leaves
what he is doing and gets into his car. Soon he is
snaking through the Mumbai traffic and must reach
as soon as he can. He takes the person to the
nearest Asha Daan centre. Five times a week, often
thrice a day. For years, Soni used a fleet of
ambulances to assist him. Now he uses his car
equipped with water, blankets and an air freshener.

50 51
 THE AMAZING
DR. K. ANJI REDDY...
... spends more than half his time on
philanthropic activities.
... gives away the over Rs 2 crore per annum
he receives as salary from his job; has given
away almost all the remuneration he has
received.
... founded Dr Reddy’s Foundation in 1996;
its initiative called Livelihood Advancement
Business School has trained over 130,000
youngsters with skills suited for entry-level
jobs in sectors such as hospitality, ITES and
customer relations and has set a target of
transforming a million lives by 2010.
52
... was inspired by a sign in the bathroom of
Imperial Hotel in Tokyo: “This water is
perfectly potable.” The result was his holding
company invested $1 million in a pathogen-
free water company and revived it. Started by
providing 12-15 litres of pathogen-free water
for just Re 1 at the Krishna district of Andhra
Pradesh (WaterHealth is the technology
partner) and broad-based it to include
treatment of flouride, arsenic, pesticides and
chemicals in partnership with Tata Projects”.
... Reddy has committed to contribute 10 per
cent of a corpus of Rs 100 crore over 10
years to make L.V. Prasad Eye Institute self-
sustaining.
Source: Business Today, 23.03.08
53
 AN SMS COULD...
... save a life. If there's an urgent requirement
for blood, just send a text message to 9122 25676775.
The phone numbers and names of donors of the blood
group required will be messaged back to you in less than
10 minutes. The SMS accesses a database of 45,000
donors across the country, listed on
www.indianblooddonors.com. The service is the
brainchild of railway superintendent Khushroo Pocha,
who set it up with the help of his wife Fermin.
Source: The Hindustan Times, 3.4.08

54 55
 “When I visited Udayan, 19-year-old Ashu
shouted, ‘Dada! Dada!’ and ran over waving a piece of
paper. It was a diploma in mechanical engineering. I had
rescued this boy from a leper colony [in India] 12 years
ago. I had tears in my eyes. I thought: `If I'd done only this
in this world before appearing in front of the Lord, it would
be enough.'"
“Mother Teresa introduced me and my wife (also named
Dominique) to an Englishman (James Stevens, a wealthy
haberdasher) who [donated] all his financial resources to
opening a home in Barrackpore (West Bengal, India) to
rescue, cure, educate and train young leprosy patients.

AND WE
He called his home ‘Udayan’ (Resurrection). When I met
him, he had run out of money to support this island of
hope amid the most abject poverty. I handed over to him

THOUGHT the royalties I had brought from France, and told him,
"James, you will never close your home, Udayan."

LAPIERRE
Result: Udayan rescued and educated 10,000 leprosy-
affected children with heavy physical and cerebral

WAS ONLY
handicaps; cured one million tuberculosis patients; dug
500 tube wells; educated 2000 village women; extended
micro-credits to 10,000 families; provided medical

AN AUTHOR
supplies to 35 isolated islands of the Sunderbans.
Lapierre is better known as ‘Benefactor of the
Sunderbans’ to the local populace.

56 57
 Earlier in this century,
philanthropy often flowed
from the wills of dead
industrialists. In recent
decades, it's as likely to
have come from a very
alive business leader,
entertainer, artist or
sports star.
Michael Milken

Mother Teresa

58 59
 GREEN MILES If you
At M&M, ESOPs denote employee 'social', not want happiness for an hour,
take a nap.
'stock' options. Through ESOPs, every
employee in the Mahindra Group chooses a

If you
social cause, and then dedicates a certain
number of person hours to help the needy.

want happiness for a day,

go fishing.

If you
want happiness for a year,
Source: Businessworld, 26.05.08

inherit a fortune.

If you
want happiness for a lifetime,

help someb
ody.
- Chinese Proverb
60 61
 costs in Kathmandu. For a good reason: every
NRs.100 a patron pays at the world's highest bakery
goes to remove 100 kg of garbage from the Mt
Everest, tied to the ‘Cash for Trash’ project started by
Dawa in memory of Sir Edmund Hillary. Dawa's Eco
Everest Expedition 2008 brought down around a tonne

SAVING MOUNT
of everest garbage, and in the first half of 2009 was
almost six tonnes (garbage and helicopter debris).
Now he plans to bring in art students to recycle the

EVEREST WITH A PIE

refuse into sculptures. “I am going to go on doing this

Source: The Hindustan Times, 7.7.09

till there is no more garbage left on
Mt Everest,” Dawa promises.

Dawa Steven Sherpa. First climbed the

8,848-metre peak in 2007. Now runs the world's highest
bakery - the Base Camp Bakery - from a green tent at
the base camp of Mt Everest at a height of 5,330 m. A
trained baker dishes out cheese croissant, zucchini
bread, chocolate chip cookies, the day's special and
other delights. An apple pie at the Base Camp Bakery
costs Nepali Rs.350 (about $4.60), three times what it

62 63
 BACKWARD
FORWARD
Vijay Suwase. Dalit. School drop-out. Helper at
Forbes Marshall, the Pune-based process efficiency
and energy conservation company. And may have
continued this way. Until one day he was summoned and
told that the company would help him set up a machine
shop with lathes, equipment and tooling. At no cost. With
the prospect of regular machining jobs from Forbes
Marshall as long as he wanted. Suwase's monthly salary
was around Rs 3,000. Today, he generates an
annual turnover of Rs 8.4 lakh. “We also helped
64
him with registrations and other statutory requirements,”
says Farhad Forbes, Director, Forbes Marshall, the man
behind this act of faith. Whose quick caste audit revealed
only 5% of Forbes Marshall employees were dalits in a
country where scheduled castes and tribes constituted
24.4% of the population. The result: during campus-
recruitment drives, a conscious effort is made to scout
for, hire and hand-hold dalits. “Some may not be as
good as the best, but they possess this innate zeal to
forge ahead, to progress, and achieve what others
perhaps can't,” he explains. “In fact, far from being a
disability for us, I tell my peers in the industry, it has only
improved our competitiveness. Supplier diversity
represents a potent corporate tool. It's far more effective
in mainstreaming dalits.”
Source: Rewritten from an article that
appeared in Outlook Business by
Naren Karunakaran, 2.05.09
65
 45.99
THANKS,
GUV!
At least 300 children from
the pavements of Sealdah
have Governor Gopalkrishna
Gandhi to thank every time
they sit for a meal. He has
been sending vegetables and
fruits from his kitchen garden
every morning so that these
kids have enough to eat four
times a day. These children
have been rescued from the
streets and now live in Loreto
Sealdah as its ‘Rainbow
Children’.
Source: The Times of India, 5.04.09
66
PENNY IN
THE BOX
The lady who owns and
manages the bookshop
‘The Last Few’ in Minehead
(West Somerset) usually asks a
customer whether she could
put the penny change from the
purchased book into the
children’s hospice collection
box. “Yes, of course,” is the
inevitable reply. All prices in her
shop ended in 99p, so every
sale she made presented the
opportunity for the customer to
donate a penny into the
children’s hospice box.
Source: Rob Hopcott,
philanthropy.hopcott.net. 10
December 2007
67
 Around one out of every 10 of India's 2.5-3 million long-haul
truckers is infected with HIV. Clearly, Sanjay Gandhi
Transport Nagar (SGTN) – Asia's largest transport hub – is
endangered (Source: World Bank). The sprawling township is
also the place where Apollo Tyres, one of India's largest tyre
manufacturers, first sowed the seeds of its corporate social
responsibility programme in 2000. Interestingly, 65 per cent
of Apollo's revenues come from the trucking community, 55-
57 per cent of which are from single owner-driven trucks.
Apollo Tyres provided its premises to the British Department
for International Development (DFID) for a pilot project. When
DFID moved on, it decided to rope in CARE India to create
awareness and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in SGTN.

Result: By 2004, Apollo Tyres had taken over the project at

SGTN. Between November 2003 and December 2007, the
centre detected over 2,000 cases of STD. The programme
received a US$72,000 (Rs 29 lakh) grant by the International
Finance Corporation (IFC) in 2005.

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

Source: Adapted from the Business World article
by Sumati Nagrath, 26.05.08

68 69
 Operates on children under 12 free-of-charge;
has conducted 5,000 operations on children in a
16-year career covering 13,000 operations.
Has aligned the RTIICS (Kolkata), Narayana
Hrudayalaya (Bangalore), Hewlett-Packard, ISRO
and seven north-eastern states into a non-
profitable telemedicine network to diagnose,
advice, treat and follow-up remote location
patients; the network’s 39 telemedicine centres
have treated over 16,400 patients in India,
Malaysia, Mauritius and Pakistan entirely free in a
mere three years.
Provides concessions up to 70% on medical or
surgical packages based on the socio-economic
background of the patient.

WOULD YOU BELIEVE

Introduced a unique ‘Yeshashwini’ insurance
scheme for 1.5 million farmers in Karnataka

THIS ABOUT
through which they are eligible to free surgery
across 72 hospitals in Karnataka in exchange for a
mere Rs 5 per month (to be replicated in

DR. DEVI SHETTY? Mukundapur, Kolkata).

[Source: Kamaal Kolkata]

70 71
 MATSUSHITA AND
Happiness written in Japanese calligraphy
PHILANTHROPY
Matsushita’s biggest philanthropy was the Japan Prize.
Established in 1983, the award “is intended to honour
scientists, of whatever nationality, whose research has made
a substantial contribution to the attainment of a greater
degree of prosperity for mankind.” Aimed at applied
scientific research that is of direct benefit to humanity, the
prize carries a monetary value today of about $500,000.
The Japan Prize is pure Matsushita. It is grand in scope. And
it is named after Japan, not its benefactor. His philanthropies
accelerated as he aged. From 1963 to 1967, he gave away
$360,000. During the next five years, the funding increased
to $13.9 million. From ’73 to ’77 he donated over $21 million.
During the next ten years, the gifts grew to $78 million. In ’88
and ’89, his charities totalled $276 million.
This theme can be seen in virtually all the giving. He donated
money to incentivise socially relevant achievements, not to
save people from all hardships. Gifts to protect the weak
and vulnerable were noble. But money that would
encourage people to grow, even if that involved hardships,
was his preference.

Source: Matsushita Leadership by John P. Kotter

72 73
 Mother Teresa started her first home for lepers in

Calcutta and promptly the local municipal

councillor objected. Because the location was near his home, against her venture.

he turned the Calcutta Municipal Corporation Mother Teresa was nothing if not a fighter.

BLESSING IN So instead of a fixed centre, she promoted the concept

of a mobile dispensary.

DISGUISE She told her adversary: ‘Bless you, councillor, you have

increased our efficiency a hundred times.’ The result

is that there are almost 500 mobile dispensaries now run

by the Missionaries of Charity and a colony for

lepers at Shantinagar on land provided by the

West Bengal Government.

74 75
 After Mother India became a super hit,
producer Mehboob had an interesting problem. The need
to protect worker interests in unpredictable showbiz; the
need to make a legal payout without being taxed. His
assistant Ishwar emerged with some radical advice: “You
must retrench your entire staff. Now, to retrench legally
you must allocate fifteen days’ salary per month the
worker has been in your service. That is, if a worker has
been with you for ten years he must be given five month’s
salary plus one more month’s salary as Notice Pay and
another one month’s salary as Leave Pay.” So Mehboob
hosted a lavish dinner for the staff. Retrenched every
single member. Made an emotional speech. Had most in
tears. Then gave an additional month’s salary as bonus.
And promptly hired them back the following morning!

MOTHER INDIA
76 77

THE BIRTH
OF STANFORD
In 1876, former California Governor Leland
Stanford purchased 650 acres of Rancho San
Francisquito for a country home and began the
development of his famous Palo Alto Stock
Farm.
78
He and Jane had one son, who died of typhoid fever in
1884 when the family was travelling in Italy. Leland Jr.
was just 15. Legend has it that the grieving couple said
to one another after their son's death, “the children of
California shall be our children,” and they quickly set
about to find a lasting way to memorialize their beloved
son.
The Stanfords visited several great universities of the East
to gather ideas. From the outset they made some
untraditional choices: the university would be
coeducational, in a time when most were all-male; non-
denominational, when most were associated with a
religious organization; and avowedly practical, producing
“cultured and useful citizens” when most were concerned
only with the former. The 8,000-acre Stanford is unusual
among great universities in having seven schools on one
campus: Humanities and Sciences, Law, Medicine,
Business, Earth Sciences, Engineering and Education.
79
 FOR THE SAKE
OF THE HOPELESS
Robert Frederick Zenon ‘Bob’ Geldof is an Irish
singer, songwriter, author and political activist.
In 1984, Geldof saw a news report about starving
children in Ethiopia. He and Midge Ure of Ultravox wrote
‘Do They Know It's Christmas?' in order to raise funds.
The song was recorded by various artists under the name
of Band Aid. Eventually the song raised over £8 million.
Geldof discovered that African nations were in dire peril
because of the high repayments on loans. For every
pound donated in aid, ten times as much would have
to be repaid. It became obvious that one song was not
enough. So on 13 July 1985, Geldof and Ure organized
Live Aid, a huge event staged simultaneously at the
Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kennedy
Stadium in Philadelphia. One of the most monumental
stage shows in history (with Phil
Collins flying Concorde so that
he could play at Wembley and
Philadelphia on the same day).
Live Aid raised over £150
million for famine relief. Geldof
was knighted at age 34 for his
efforts.

80 81
PROPHET OF
STREET CHILDREN The man’s motto: “It is possible for
ordinary people to do extraordinary
things if the motivation is right.”

If Mother Teresa was the ‘Saint of the Gutters’ then

Dr Samir Chaudhuri could well finish as the ‘Prophet of Street
Children.’ Just consider:
• He is said to have confessed to a colleague that "I get the
awful feeling that I haven’t put my life to sufficient use", then
went ahead to give up a successful practice of paediatrics for
full-time public service.
• He sourced health drink ingredients and re-engineered them
into packets at a fraction of the tinned cost.
• He made it mandatory for mothers to stay with their
malnourished children in the hospital across the tenure of their
treatment, catalyzing recovery. Absolutely pioneering.
• He replaced the traditional nurse’s dress with the simple
sari, enhancing woman-to-woman trust.
• He created a customized accounting system, sent periodic
reports and pictures to donors, invited focused contributions
(birth weight for instance), spun CINI Asha into a separate
NGO focusing exclusively on urban street children, recruited
innovatively (complement of illiterates and PhDs), inspired a
culture of organizational urgency, transferred himself out of
Kolkata to Europe to enhance a 24x7 reachability to donors
and then delegated so aggressively that CINI today runs
without his direct presence 11 months a year.
Result: From a target group of around 3,000 to almost half a
million, from a few committed members to a nationwide family
of 400 employees, from a few thousand rupees to an annual
budget of over $ 3,500,000. 83
 How about no income
tax at all on people
over 65? People would
continue working,
“give
remain healthier, not
be an economic and
social drain on until
society. Then the
elderly would also
have more disposable it
income to help
charitable activities. hurts
Mother Teresa
”
John Templeton

84 85

By the time I left for London, in early
March 1979 to join the main Board of Unilever, all
the buildings were occupied and the number of
occupants had multiplied. Mother Teresa had a
simple technique for persuading me. She would
say, “Why not give us the other godown as the
place is being filled and I am praying for more
accommodation. I may even put a medallion with
the Virgin into the godown!’ Of course, we did not
need much persuasion because everyone could
see the wonderful work being done and, in any
case, the godowns were vacant.
I did worry about the future budget for Asha
Daan, more so when I left for London in March
1979. However, I felt we had to secure some
source of income in order to keep this institution
going. So when a block of shares in a privately
held company became available I decided to
have it bought for transfer into a trust for Asha
Daan. In my new job in London, I earned a much
better salary and had enough money to spare for
this investment. Creating a trust for Asha Daan
86
was one of my thanksgivings for my promotion to
the Unilever Board which was totally unexpected
and unprecedented at that time. We took legal
advice and decided to set up a trust. As is usual,
such procedures in India take some time.
Therefore, in the interim period, while the trust
was being set up, we arranged for the shares to
be nominally registered in my wife’s name, and to
have a committee of three of my former HLL
colleagues to follow up on the formation of the
trust – with them acting as trustees, and to ensure
that the income from the investment went to Asha
Daan.
On my next visit to India, I told Mother Teresa
what I had done to help Asha Daan on a
permanent basis. We were sitting together in the
chapel at Asha Daan. She said she could not
accept it because it was against her beliefs to
accept an assured source of income. ‘Like the
poor, we, as sisters, have to beg for our needs
and the needs of our homes. We have to pay to
God every day and depend on His mercy to
provide us through people. If we have any
assured income we will not beg and pray. It will
reduce our total dependence on God. So I cannot
accept the gift.”
Source: To Challenge & To Change by T. Thomas
87
 There are several schools for under-privileged
children. How is Parikrama different?
Our rapid English programme works very well. Children
who first come to us speaking just Kannada or Tamil,
Telugu or Urdu, learn to answer in English in just three
months. The superior educational processes in the
school facilitated a 98% attendance, less than 1% drop-
out rate, and 90% attendance in our Parent–Teacher
Meetings. When we worked with 12 Bangalore

PROFESSIONALISM
Mahanagara Palike schools, our after-school tutorial
programme helped raise the pass percentage from 9% to
31%!

AND PHILANTHROPY Interview with Shukla Bose who runs NGO Parikrama in
Bangalore

88 89
 Q: What is your USP?
A: We believe Parikrma is the first NGO to be run as a
successful business model. We apply corporate best
practices in our day-to-day work, along with age-old
human values. Our goals, projections and objectives are
set out clearly. We measure our performance against
standards we have set for ourselves. We believe in
branding our company, and we believe in having
professionals to do that job. We raise funds and scout for
donors not just for education and community
development, but also for important areas like
documentation, public relations, image and the future of
the company.
90
Q: Some of your management best practices?
A: We have third party audit of all our systems. Our
programmes are all process-driven. We follow simple
values like punctuality, professionalism in all our dealings
– like attending to a missed telephone call within 24
hours for instance – and we give performance bonus to
our teachers. The teachers are highly motivated
professionals who draw salaries as good as most good
schools have to offer. We like this quote of Victor Hugo:
“With every school door you open, you close a prison
door.” Parikrma’s tag line is ‘Making hope work’, and it
takes just half-a-day to change the world, if everyone
pitches in to work.
Source: indianngos.com
91
 DONATE A BOOK, When Andrew Carnegie was a young man,
he neighboured Colonel James Anderson, a rich man,

CHANGE A LIFE
who allowed any working boy to use his personal library
for free. Carnegie never forgot. So when he retired, he
gave his wealth to towns and cities to build more than
2,000 public libraries and $125 million to Carnegie
Corporation to aid colleges and schools. By 1911,
Carnegie had given away 90 percent of his fortune. His
guidelines for ‘Scientific Philanthropy’:

Don't spoil your heirs: Carnegie believed inherited

wealth spoiled the heirs. “I should as soon leave to my
son a curse as the almighty dollar.”

Give with warm hands: Carnegie wrote that “Men who

leave vast sums [in their wills] may fairly be thought men
who would not have left it at all had they been able to
take it with them.”

Help those willing to help themselves: “It were better

for mankind that the millions of the rich were thrown into
the sea than so spent as to encourage the slothful, the
drunken, the unworthy.”

92 93
 NO CHILD'S PLAY.
A BANK RUN BY
AND FOR STREET
CHILDREN
The cashier counts the currency notes carefully,
makes an entry in the passbook and hands it over to the
waiting customer through a tiny window. But this is no
ordinary bank - as both the cashier and consumer are
actually street children.
The Bal Vikas Bank, or Children's Development Bank
(CDB), is a unique initiative by a Delhi-based NGO,
Butterflies, whose primary aim is to inculcate a sense of
saving money in street children, who otherwise end up
wasting whatever little they have on gambling or drugs.
The Children's Development Bank is run by and for
94
children and brings them on the path of education since
one can't be expected to maintain ledgers and
passbooks without being literate. Trained by volunteers of
the HSBC bank, the young officials of CDB, mostly in the
age group of 12-14 behave professionally. The members
are either rag pickers or work in tea shops and dhabas.
Since its inception, CDB has grown from 20 members to
1,700 in Delhi. Rakesh Kumar (12) and a runaway from
Bihar, is a manager of the bank's Nizamuddin branch.
Sharp at 6.30 in the evening, when the bank opens after
the children return from “work”, Kumar walks in. Dressed
in a chocolate brown pair of trousers, a white printed shirt
and hair neatly combed back, he enters his cubicle
painted bright yellow and pink.
Soon a number of young customers queue up in front of
the cashier's window with their earnings of the day,
anything between Rs.20 and Rs.50. Members get a 3.5
percent interest return on their savings; even they are
eligible to get loans following scrutiny. The membership
of CDB comes to an end when a child turns 18.
It is unanimously decided that kids selling pornographic
material or indulging in stealing, pick-pocketing and
substance abuse will not be given bank membership.
95
 PLAYING THE
At his family’s Hindoostan Mills, Vijay
Merchant established a welfare centre.
Twice a week, he was available to anyone between

SENIOR’S ROLE
eleven and one am. If Vijay found a blind person
competent to sell cloth door-to-door, he provided
discounted fabric worth Rs. 100, from the sale of which
the person could earn Rs. 19. He'd help the disabled
person sell items such as bananas, handkerchiefs,
sweets, joss sticks or paan with initial investment from the
trust. If the person did not have seed capital, the mill
advanced the cloth free.
On one occasion, the sheriff of Bombay asked Vijay to
shelter a girl of 18. Vijay first said, ‘No, I’ll give money but
not shelter’ but changed his mind. The girl began to help
at his Health Centre where she (Hindu) fell in love with a
Muslim. When Vijay wanted to arrange her marriage at his
factory, he was advised against it. ‘If I cannot do so, then
my whole philosophy of life has failed,’ he said and went
ahead regardless. Vijay signed as the girl’s father.
When Odhavji, one of his blind mill workers, proposed to
marry visually handicapped Mani, he arranged the
wedding. Organized the marriage feast. Distributed gifts.
Helped the couple set up home. Often dropped in for a
meal. Became godfather to their daughter.
‘My philosophy,’ said Vijay, ‘is learnt from cricket: the
better batsman takes care of the weaker one, if your side
is to win.’

96 97
98
PRINCETON has made an enormous difference in my life,
and I am delighted to be able to express my gratitude in
such a tangible way. The generosity of earlier generations
of donors made it possible for me to attend Princeton as a
young student from Hong Kong, and I have always wanted
to do all I could to assure that students in the future from
the United States and around the world will have the same
kinds of opportunities I had to learn from faculty members
who are leaders in their fields at a university that remains
second to none in its commitment to teaching.
Gordon Wu (on his $100 million donation to Princeton University)

Ted Turner
I had.To be
As I started
getting rich,

period, I gave

out of the race

it away. I knew I

to be the richest
all this money?’

away half of what

I going to do with
Over a three year

shook as I signed

man in the world.

'What the hell am

honest, my hands
I started thinking,

was taking myself

99
 PHILANTHROPY.
EVEN WHEN IT
HURTS In 1930, the Aga Khan Trophy was offered
for the first Indian to fly solo from India to
England or vice versa. J.R.D. competed,
taking off from Karachi to London.
When he landed at Aboukir Bay in Egypt, he found
Aspy Engineer, the other contender, flying from
London to Karachi, was stranded in the desert
airfield for want of a spark plug! J.R.D. sportingly
parted with his spare one and they continued their
journey in opposite directions. Aspy beat him by a
couple of hours. ‘I am glad he won,’ said J.R.D.,
‘because it helped him get into the Royal Indian Air
Force.’ Later, Aspy was to be the second Indian to
be the chief of the Indian Air Force.

100 101
 CHARITY FROM
Said Nani Palkhivala: “My father, Ardeshir,
taught me compassion and kindness for the
less privileged. I was not more than two years old. I

CHILDHOOD was about to help myself to a bowl of almonds when my

father reminded me of the poor orphan who lived next
door. I was so moved by his words that I immediately
handed over the entire bowl to the boy. That incident has
made a deep impression on me since.” Nani gave
several crores to charity and it is unlikely that he kept an
account. His last cheque: Rs. 2 crore. ‘I want to give
away money in my lifetime. What is the use of
bequeathing it because you are unable to take it away?’
Source: A Touch of Greatness by R. M. Lala

102 103
 WALKING SAINT
Vinoba ‘walking saint’ Bhave was Gandhiji’s
favourite disciple. Vinoba’s landmark contribution: he
inspired the godliness that made wealthy landowners give
their land away to the disenfranchised. This land donation
mission (Bhoodan) began in 1950 in Andhra Pradesh.
There was widespread violence in Telengana. Vinoba
visited Pochampalli of 3,000 landless people and 40
Harijan families. He asked Harijans what would alleviate
104
their plight. Singular answer: ‘Land’. He asked: ‘How
much?’ Someone replied, ‘Eighty acres.’ That evening,
Vinoba addressed the wealthy of the village: ‘I visited
some poor brothers of yours who have no food to eat nor
any land to till. They are dying for no fault of theirs. Could
some of you be willing to share your riches and save
them?’ He sought with his eyes. And finally rested on
landlord Ramachandra Reddy. Ramachandra asked:
‘How much?’ Vinoba: ‘100 acres’. Ramachandra wrote out
the deed, signed it and thus was started the Bhoodan
movement, which between 1951 and 1970 collected 4.2
million acres from about a million donors, which were
eventually distributed to the landless. More than the
combined state governments of India.
105
 PHILANTHROPIC
AUTORICKSHAW
DRIVER
This auto rickshaw was different. Magazines.
TV. First-aid box. Radio. Fire extinguisher.
Wall clock. Calendar. Pictures and symbols of different
faiths. Pictures of 26/11 heroes. This auto rickshaw driver
was also different. Lost his job when the company shut
down. Drove 14 hours a day. Goes to an old age
women’s home in Andheri once a week or whenever he
has some extra income. Donates tooth brushes,
toothpastes, soap, hair oil. Painted message below the
meter read: “25 per cent discount on metered fare for the
handicapped. Free rides for blind passengers up to Rs
50.” Name: Sandeep Bachhe. Auto rickshaw MH-02-Z-
8508.

- Contributed by Suvendu Roy

106 107
 “I'm driven by the that children are
dying. Why can't we move faster or make
interventions available quickly?”

“Earlier, I gave 20% of my time to the

Foundation and the rest to . Now,
I give 20% of my time to Microsoft and the rest
to the Foundation.”

“In my and Melinda's case we decided it would

be better for our children if we the
money as opposed to largely giving it to them.”

“All billionaires should give away the vast

majority of their fortunes.”

“Great wealth should from the richest to the

poorest.”

BILL GATES ON
PHILANTHROPY
108 109
 Bombay’s patron philanthropic saint is
Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy.
Spent Rs. 1,45,403 to set up Sir J. J. Dharamshala on
Bellasis Road (where the old and destitute still receive free
food, clothing, shelter and medicines), the first free home
for the elderly in Asia.
Founded J. J. Hospital and Grant Medical College.
Instituted Rs. 18,000 for Sir J.J. Books, Prizes and Medals
Fund to encourage medical students.
Opened Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy Obstretics Institution
for poor women.
Spent Rs. 155,800 to build the Mahim Causeway.
Created 126 notable public charities (including the
Sir J. J. School of Arts, the Sir J. J. School of Architecture,
and Sir J. J. School of Commercial Art).

HEART AS BIG
Funded the bund to contain the raging Mulla and Mutha
rivers in Pune.

AS HIS WALLET
Built wells and tanks over Bombay, hospitals and schools
in Surat and Navsari, agiaries in Bombay and Pune.
Contributed Rs. 80,000 to a panjrapole for animals,
distributed money for feeding stray dogs, built water
troughs for cattle and horses.
Total estimated charities: more than Rs. 100 crore.

110 111
 HE WHO WAITS TO DO A GREAT DEAL OF
GOOD AT ONCE, WILL NEVER DO ANYTHING.

112 113

I am Mohan Lal Saini, a member of Coca-Cola’s team involved in the restoration of the
‘Sarai Bawari’. This 400-year-old well was damaged and unfit for any use. We undertook
the task of restoring it with the help of the local ‘Jal Rakshaks’. Today the Bawari not only
provides water sustainability to the local community, it is a proud reminder of the cultural
heritage of India. This is my drop of joy.
To know more about how we spread joy, log on to www.coca-colaindia.com
114
CAREER GURU
When his children were being tutored for the IIT
entrance exam, Additional Director General of Police
Abhayanand felt he needed to do something for bright
underprivileged students as well. He sought the help of
Anand, a mathematics teacher, who ran his own entrance
coaching institute. The result: Super 30 coaching classes
(attached to Anand's house in Mithapur, Patna).
From an initial 200 students, 30 were selected. Coached for
five months. Some 18 cleared the IIT entrance exam. So far,
122 Super 30 students have made it to the IITs. Anand bears
all expenses. Offers to lodge the poor students in his house
(90 per cent of the students come from poor families). The
coaching centre now has a strength of 600. Anand teaches
them three days a week for two-and-a-half hours.
Anand’s spark? Being humiliated by an RJD MP (de facto
education minister) when he sought financial help for higher
studies abroad. Vowed to remain unmarried and help at
least 10,000 students become engineers.
Source: Rewritten from an article that appeared in The Week,
17 June 2007
115
 LESS IS MORE
…a charitable organisation, like a religious one, gains a
great advantage when it has slightly less money than it
would like to have, and is at a disadvantage when it has
more than it really needs … It means that you have to
stop and think whether what you are planning to do is
really necessary, if it is necessary, is there a cheaper way
of doing the job? Can you take off your own coat and get
down to the job of painting, or digging the foundations or
making the curtains, instead of putting everything out to
contract? Can you go out and collect bricks from another,
and so on?
In consequence, the whole organisation acquires a new
dynamism, and a reputation for doing what it can for itself
instead of sitting back and asking for the moon, as is
thought to be the case with some charitable bodies. On a
much more profound level it also means that you are able
only to do what the providence of God allows you.
116
When you have the money to spare you can embark
upon all kinds of ventures of your own choosing, and it
could be that one of these will lead you off your true
course, perhaps leaving you stranded at the very
moment that a major challenge comes your way. When
you are hard up you can undertake only what you clearly
see is directed at you and you alone. Once you have the
right people, even if only two or three to begin with,
everything else including the money will follow. But not
necessarily the other way around.
Source: The Hidden World by Leonard Chesire
117
 THE TATA TRADITION
The tradition of Tata philanthropy goes back to
1892. Admission to the Indian Civil Service (ICS) had just
been opened to Indians by the British and Jamshedji
Tata was keen that Indians took advantage of it. He was
also eager that professionals, especially doctors, were
trained in England. At the time Indian women did not go
to male doctors and many of them died while giving birth.
Given this situation Jamshedji first gave grants to two
lady doctors to go abroad and specialize in gynaecology.
‘I can afford to give but I prefer to lend,’ he said. He gave
the money on condition that it was returned to him in due
course so that others could benefit from the same funds.
In the next hundred years the J. N. Tata Endowment for
the Higher Education of Indians was to give loans to over
2,000 students towards their studies abroad

Source: Beyond The Last Blue Mountain by R.M. Lala

118 119
 CHARITY
By Huzaifa Khorakiwala
Give to the poor,
A cure for many ailments, sure.
The suffering of the depressed,
Does not your heart get suppressed?
No food, no water,
O miser! With you what is the matter?
Give with your hand right,
Withholding from left the sight.
Flourish your livelihood,
With this deed so good.
With alms, purify your soul,
With raised palms, clarify your servile role.
When with poverty the poor die,
The rich God will try.
Then we will see who will cry!
From the wealth of the rich,
The poor have a right for their clothes to stitch.
When you give,
The happier you live,
Defend your faith with charity's help,
It will create in you a noble self.
What we get is a living,
A life is created by giving.

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 Don’t feel irritated when people ask of you,
Don’t you wish for God’s Blessings to be renewed fresh and new?
Service to man is service to God,
For your greed do you wish to face the iron rod?
Do you want to give the needy more pity?
They need help, not any sympathy so less worthy.
O God! How I wish forever to the poor I give!
To earn Thy Pleasure is what for I live.
Do you want to deny even a little?
How shameless you are, O belittle!
When you give, nothing becomes less,
Have you forgotten God's handsome bless!
Giving, kindness, charity enhance position,
Do not doubt this brilliant decision.
In all the way will be honey, honey, honey,
If in charity you give money, money, money.
Who said charity is only money?
A kind look, a kind word, a kind thought is sweeter than honey.
Charity is also good deeds and good conduct,
In the manners’ of nobility, many of your friends you must induct.
In generosity be safe, be sound,
The cycle of good always goes round.
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Remove from your brothers path hardships’ stone,
A hand of help will surely make your soul bright and shone.
On the path of knowledge and wisdom you give guidance,
Surely, this too is charity, faslehoods’ riddance.
Changing a receiver to a giver is indeed a charity truly great,
Teaching fishing and making independent is also charity’s
great trait.
In God's Way don't you want to give a loan?
Purifying in your body every bone.
From dust we came,
To dust, our call will come,
Is there any use of the storage of wealth's greedy sum?
If you want to shine brighter for your soul,
Then let charity be your goal.
O Lord! I wish to walk on benevolence’s path,
And purify my soul with alm’s bath.
A life of giving is the only life worth living,
Make these words in your heart alive and believing.
In charity, give of what you have the best,
Such giving is indeed handsomely blessed.
For the materialist also there is a rewarding way,
The more you give, the more you get is this not an
established say?
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 When God is the giver,
Aim for His Joy to get more from His quiver.
Sins are debit, charity is credit,
Favouring your balance bit by bit.
Sins reduce wealth,
With charity increase your subsistence’s health.
Justice is enhanced through redistibution,
Poverty performs alleviation.
For the mind, learning is charity,
For the blind, seeing is charity.
Descends God's Mercy on the benevolent,
How fresh you feel, no need for mint!
Charity is light,
A powerful might.
O God! Let me not lose of this sight.
Whether it is day or night,
Charity is right.
Let your palms not be tight,
By God, you will soar to a great height

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Donation Rs. 520

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