That desire was to make a contribution to his alma mater. He always had a grateful feeling that it was the education and training imparted by his school that had laid the foundation for his knowledge, culture and progress. He wanted to do something by way of repaying his debt to his school. But he didn't have any idea of what he could do.
A few years back, he went to his native place. At that time, he visited his school, met the headmaster of the school and introduced himself as an old student of that school. During the course of the conversation, the headmaster made an appeal to him.
That school was a government aided private school. The education was free till the 10th grade. But for the 11th and 12th grades, tuition fee was payable by the students. Though the fee was moderate, many students completing the 10th grade couldn't afford it, since they came from poor families. Consequently, many students dropped out after completing the 10th grade.
The headmaster said that if old students like Nagarajan made a donation, that sum could be held as a fixed deposit in the bank and scholarships could be offered to the poor students from the interest paid by the bank on the fixed deposit.
Nagarajan told him that he would contact is friends who were his classmates in the school and see what could be done.
After returning home, Nagarajan contacted his former school classmates with whom he was in touch and mooted the idea of creating a corpus by pooling the sums of money every one could contribute and using the interest from the corpus to provide scholarships to some of the deserving students studying in the school. But the response from his friends was lukewarm.
Nagarajan then considered the possibility of doing something on his own, but he was aware that he didn't have the means to carry out his wish. He even tried saving a small amount from his salary every month but found that it didn't amount to much.
Nagarajan's only son Sukumar completed his college education and got a job. A few months later, Nagarajan told Sukumar about his ambition.
"Daddy! I am in the early phase of my career. I won't be able to contribute anything sizeable" said Sukumar.
"I am not asking you to make any donation to the school. Now that you have a job, you can stand on your own legs. The provident fund amount I will get on my retirement will be enough for me and your mother to live the rest of our lives. In addition to the statutory provident fund, I have also been contributing to a voluntary provident fund. This fund has an accumulated balance of about five lakh rupees. I can withdraw this amount immediately. I propose to donate this sum to my alma mater. Are you okay with this?" asked Nagarajan.
"It is your savings, dad. You can make use of it any way you like. I don't want to tap into your savings. I will take care of you and my mother for the rest of your lives, even if you are not left with any savings"
"Whatever you are going to do, do it after careful consideration" said his wife Sulochana, cautiously.
Nagarajan immediately applied for withdrawal of his voluntary provident fund. He received the money after a few weeks.
Nagarajan called up the headmaster of the school and told him that he would be donating five lakh rupees to the school for providing scholarships to a few students.
The headmaster was elated. He told Nagarajan that using the interest received from this sum, the school would be able to offer scholarships to four students.
Nagarajan told him that he would take out a demand draft from the bank and send it to him the next day.
That night, Nagarajan developed a respiratory problem. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was given emergency treatment.
The next day, when Nagarajan's family members were allowed to speak to him, the first thing Nagarajan told Sukumar was about taking out a bank draft for five lakh rupees in favour of the school.
"Fine, daddy. We will do it after you come home after recovery" said Sukumar.
"Good deeds should not be postponed. I think I have already delayed taking action. Get my cheque book now. I will sign the cheque. Go to the bank, take out a demand draft and send it to the school by courier immediately" said Nagarajan.
"Okay, daddy."
That afternoon, Sukumar told Nagarajan that he had sent the demand draft to the school. On hearing it, Nagarajan sensed a feeling of relief. He felt as if his health had returned to normalcy.
That night, Nagarajan breathed his last, lying on the hospital bed.
Section 1
The Path of Virtue
Stressing the Power of Virtue
ponRungAl ponRAth thuNai.
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