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  I joined the Infosys Foundation as a founder trustee. The foundation took up a number of philanthropic projects for the benefit of the poor in different states of India.

  I received many awards on various occasions. One of them was the Economic Times Award given to the Infosys Foundation. As a trustee I was invited to receive this award. At that time I remembered my guru. Now she was a student in the US. I told her, ‘At least for one day you must come for this award ceremony in Mumbai. If you had not woken me up at the right time, I would not have been receiving it today. I want you to be present.’

  I will remain indebted to Akshata forever for the way she made me change my life and the lesson she taught me.

  3

  Honesty Comes from the Heart

  One bright June morning three years ago, I was reading my Kannada newspaper as usual. It was the day the Secondary School Leaving Certificate results had been published. While columns of roll numbers filled the inside pages, the list of rank holders and their photographs took up almost the entire front page.

  I have a great fascination for rank holders. Rank is not merely an index of one’s intelligence, it also indicates the hard work and perseverance that students have put in to reach their goal. My background—I was brought up in a professor’s family—and my own experience as a teacher have led me to believe this.

  Of all the photographs in that morning’s newspaper, one boy’s snapshot caught my attention. I could not take my eyes off him. He was frail and pale, but there was an endearing sparkle in his eyes. I wanted to know more about him. I read that his name was Hanumanthappa and that he had secured the eighth rank. That was all the information I could gather.

  The next day, to my surprise, his photograph was published again, this time with an interview. With growing interest I learnt that Hanumanthappa was a coolie’s son, the oldest of five children. They belonged to a tribal group. He was unable to study further, he said in the interview, because he lived in a village and his father, the sole breadwinner, earned only Rs 40 a day.

  I felt sorry for this bright boy. Most of us send our children to tuitions and to coaching classes, we buy them reference books and guides, and provide the best possible facilities for them without considering the cost. But it was different for Hanumanthappa of Rampura. He had excelled in spite of being denied some of the basic necessities of life.

  While I was thinking about him with the newspaper still in my hands, I gazed at a mango tree in my neighbour’s compound. It looked its best with a fresh bark, tender green leaves glistening with dewdrops and mangoes that were about to ripen in a few days. Beyond the tree was a small potted plant that, I noticed, had remained almost the same ever since it had been potted. It was a calm morning. The air was cool and fresh. My thoughts were running free. The continuous whistle of our pressure cooker broke the silence, reminding me that half an hour had passed.

  Hanumanthappa’s postal address was provided in the interview. Without wasting much time, I took a postcard and wrote to him. I wrote only two lines, saying that I was interested in meeting him and asking whether he could come to Bangalore. Just then my father, ever a practical man, returned from his morning walk. He read the postcard and said, ‘Where will he have the money to come so far? If you want him to come here, send some money for his bus fare plus a little extra to buy himself a decent set of clothes.’

  So I added a third line to say that I would pay for his travel and some clothes. Within four days I received a similar postcard in reply. Two sentences: in the first he thanked me for the letter, in the second he expressed his willingness to come to Bangalore and meet me. Immediately, I sent him some money and details of my office address.

  When he finally arrived in our office, he looked like a frightened calf that had lost its way. It must have been his first trip to Bangalore. He was humble. He wore a clean shirt and trousers, and his hair was neatly parted and combed. The sparkle in his eyes was still there.

  I got straight to the point. ‘We are happy about your academic performance. Do you want to study further? We would like to sponsor you. This means we will pay your fees for any course of study you wish to take up—wherever it may be.’

  He did not answer.

  My senior colleague, who was in the office with me, interrupted with a smile, ‘Don’t go at the speed of bits and bytes. Let the boy understand what you are suggesting. He can give us his answer at the end of the day.’

  When Hanumanthappa was ready to return home, he said in a low and steady tone, ‘Madam, I want to pursue my studies at the Teachers’ Training College in Bellary. That is the one nearest to my village.’

  I agreed instantly but spoke to him a little more to find out whether there was any other course he preferred. I was trying to make it clear to him that we would pay the fees for any course he might choose. The boy, however, seemed to know exactly what he wanted.

  ‘How much money should I send you per month? Does the college have a hostel facility?’ I asked.

  He said he would get back to me after collecting the correct details. Two days later, he wrote to us in his beautiful handwriting that he would require approximately Rs 300 per month. He planned to take a room on rent and share it with a friend. The two boys would cook for themselves in order to keep their expenses down.

  I sent him Rs 1800 to cover his expenses for six months. He acknowledged my draft without delay and expressed his gratitude.

  Time passed. One day, I suddenly remembered that I had to pay Hanumanthappa for the next six months, so I sent him another draft for Rs 1800.

  This too was duly acknowledged, but I was surprised to find some currency notes in the envelope along with his letter. ‘Madam,’ he had written, ‘it is kind of you to have sent me money for the next six months. But I was not in Bellary for the last two months. One month, our college was closed for holidays and during the next month, there was a strike. So I stayed at home for those two months. My expenditure during these months was less than Rs 300 per month. Therefore, I am sending you the Rs 300 that I have not used for the last two months. Kindly accept this amount.’

  I was taken aback. Such poverty and yet such honesty. Hanumanthappa knew I expected no account of the money sent to him for his monthly expenses, yet he had made it a point to return the balance amount. Unbelievable but true!

  Experience has taught me that honesty is not the mark of any particular class nor is it related to education or wealth. It cannot be taught at any university. In most people, it springs naturally from the heart.

  I did not know how to react to this simple village boy’s honesty. I just prayed that God would continue to bestow the best on Hanumanthappa and his family.

  4

  The Red Rice Granary

  Every year, our country has to face natural disasters in some form. It may be an earthquake in Gujarat, floods in Orissa or a drought in Karnataka. In a poor country, these calamities cause havoc.

  In the course of my work, I have found that after such calamities, many people like to donate money or materials to relief funds. We assume that most donations come from rich people, but that is not true. On the contrary, people from the middle class and the lower middle class help more. Rarely do rich people participate wholeheartedly.

  A few years back, I was invited to a reputed company in Bangalore to deliver a lecture on corporate social responsibility. Giving a speech is easy. But I was not sure how many people in the audience would really understand the speech and change themselves.

  After my talk was over, I met many young girls and boys. It was an affluent company and the employees were well off and well dressed. They were all very emotional after the lecture.

  ‘Madam, we buy so many clothes every month. Can we donate our old clothes to those people who are affected by the earthquake? Can you coordinate and send these to them?’

  Some of them offered other things.

  ‘We have grown-up children, we would like to give their old toys and some vessels.’