Powerful politicians and unsung donors

 Almost everyone would have known about INFOSYS. Touted as one of the best company in India to start and develop a career. Everyone would have heard about the head Narayana Murthy.  But how many of us know his better half who is equally famous as him.

Yes, I am telling about Sudha Murthy. Murthy is a prolific fiction author in Kannada and English. She has published several books, mainly through Penguin, that espouse her philosophical views on charity, hospitality and self-realization through fictional narratives.  The book How I Taught My Grandmother to Read & Other Stories has been translated into 15 languages including Hindi, Marathi and Assamese. 

Other notable books by her

·        Wise and Otherwise

·        Old Man and his God

·        The Magic Drum and Other Favorite Stories

·        Gently Falls the Bakula.

Her book Wise and otherwise is a book of non-fiction, fifty stories showing the myriad shades of human nature. This article is about one of the story in the book.

It started this way

The Infosys Foundation built an annex to an existing government hospital in one of the states they work. The inaugural function was held in the hospital premises. The chief minister was the health minister of the state. Sudha Murthy had requested the function coordinator to arrange it in the morning because she didn’t like the idea of travelling alone by road at night. But the coordinator could not oblige. A morning function was not convenient for the chief guest, so the inauguration was fixed for seven in the evening.

Powerful politicians

The minister arrived an hour late and the people rushed to touch his feet. There were plenty of speeches describing how efficient the minister was, how great his leadership was and how fond he was of his fellow man. In all those speeches, there was not mention of donor identity or the hospital. It was about the minister and his efficient government. The minister then rose to inaugurate the building. He said he cared for his people immensely. He wanted this annex to this hospital because he was concerned about his people’s health. He said that he was still not happy because the hospital required still more facilities. He turned towards Mrs. Murthy and said, “Madam, we expect fans, beds, cupboards, linen and drinking water facility. I am sure you people will be able to provide these. I assure you that our people will make the best use of it."

The health minister has no way contributed time, money or resources for building this annex. He was not even aware that it was being built. But he saw to it that he was honored and praised as a hero. He was garlanded the most.

Was it just politics or was it just moral corruption!!

Unsung donors

The author felt quite depressed about the whole evening. She reminded herself that the ultimate aim of her work was not to please ministers, politicians, rich people or people in power. Their efforts were aimed at improving the lots of suffering people.

An old lady in tattered clothes came up to me and said, “Amma, someone told me that your company has built this building. We are very grateful to you. Many people like us never get admission in the main hospital because of lack of space. But you have given us a common space, with no special wards. For people like us, common halls are better”.

She said she was a flower vendor and cannot afford a shawl or a sari. But she can give the string of jasmine flowers with love and affection. She prayed to god that many people like the author should be born in our country.

That string of jasmine was more precious than all the shawls and fruit baskets.

The minister event taught me that sometimes we fall for outer appearances that we don’t recognize the unsung hero who was responsible for that initiative.

The unsung donors incident tells us that there are still people in the world who appreciate the unsung heroes and encourage them to do more for the welfare of the country. They don’t have money to show their gratitude but their simple words can do wonders for people.