Monday, 16 April 2012

HELPING THE NEEDY AND POOR – A RARE SPECIE?


A large number of people suffer due to poverty and illness and their number is increasing day by day. However, the number of people  who is ready to help the poor and needy is quite negligible. Philanthropists like Sri Kochouseph Chittilappally and our superstar Mohanlal are two such exceptions who help many people who are in dire need of succor. Mohanlal has been doing this in a secret manner  without giving any publicity, we come to know about Kochouseph Chittilappaly’s help to the poor through the media. In one of the TV shows I heard the Malayalam film actress of yesteryear Usha Rani, wife of late Sankaran Nair, the famous Malayalam film  director,  disclosing that after the death of her husband they had rendered penniless and it was Mohanlal who came to their rescue and helped her son to pursue higher studies by taking MBA. She had also disclosed that Mohanlal had told both her and her son not to tell anybody about his help. There is another category of people who provide a little help here and there for the sake of publicity. Some rich people donate money magnanimously to temples or churches merely for publicity. But when it comes to helping the poor and needy, they turn a blind eye towards it.

To my knowledge, there is another person like Mohanlal hailing from my wife’s place viz., TV Puram in Vaikom taluk of Kerala who had helped and is continuing to help many needy and poor people financially in a secret manner disliking publicity. His name is Prabhakaran Nair. I take the liberty of disclosing his name even though it will be  against his wish. He belongs to an affluent and ancient family of TV Puram called Thekkedath House. He has got business interests  in Gulf  as well as Kerala. Incidentally, he happens to be one of the Directors of Lake Shore Hospital, Ernakulam, Kerala.The amount paid by him to each of the poor and needy people is not meager but a considerable one. None of the persons who sought his help had to return empty-handed. When he was staying at his home, scores of people who have come even from far-flung areas flocking to meet him for financial help was a common sight.  He has been helping many poor students to pursue their studies. .He is also helping many a poor student to pursue their studies and come up in life. However, there were some instances of undeserved people taking advantage of his kindness to the poor and receiving money from him by misleading. He has now shifted his residence to Ernakulam.  However, whenever he happens to be at T.V.Puram on the occasion of  any functions like marriage etc., people still approach him for financial help and he continues to oblige.

Enthralled at his generous attitude towards the poor and needy, once I acknowledged  my appreciation to him to which he has reacted with a smile and told me  that it is not a big  thing to do. Some people try to belittle his magnanimity saying that he has already amassed lot of wealth and that is why he is helping the poor and needy. But the fact remains that even though there are plenty of rich people only a minuscule minority of them has got the mind to help the poor and needy.  

And it is that quality which makes people like Prabhakaran Nair hailing  from T.V.Puram, Kochouseph Chittilappally  and Superstar Mohanlal quite different from other rich people.
***






No comments:

Post a Comment