[Reader-list] Dalit Indian American donates $20m to native village

[Shivam Vij]

Indian American donates $20m to native village

IANS
Published: July 31, 2007, 23:12
http://www.gulfnews.com/world/India/10143367.html

New York: An Indian American, who made millions as a neurosurgeon and
lived a lavish life - once owning a Rolls-Royce - five Mercedes-Benzes
and an airplane has donated $20 million (Dh75.2 million) to his native
village in Kerala.

Dr Kumar Bahuleyan, 81, who was born to a Dalit familly in India,
decided to donate his personal fortune as a gratitude to his village,
to establish a neurosurgery hospital, a health clinic and a spa resort
in Chemmanakary, in Kottayam district of Kerala. "I was born with
nothing; I was educated by the people of that village, and this is
what I owe to them," Bahuleyan said in Buffalo where he has lived
since 1973.

"I'm in a state of nirvana, eternal nirvana," he said. "I have nothing
else to achieve in life. This was my goal, to help my people. I can
die any time, as a happy man." The urge to do something for his
village arose some 20 to 25 years ago, when Bahuleyan returned to
Chemmanakary and was struck by how little it had changed.