NRI spent a lifetime earning millions before it’s too late.

UAE, June 10, 2005
By Nilima Pathak

NRI Nanak Kohli has spent a lifetime earning millions and now he would like to spend them for a good cause before it’s too late. An Indian millionaire, Nanak Kohli has set up ‘fast-track’ charity.

He could certainly give a lesson or two to people interested in making money the right way, but then he could also set an example for the rich and famous on how to spend some of that well-earned money on a social cause.

NRI Nanak Kohli on a visit to one of his balwadis.

The man who left India to make his millions has returned to spend some of it on the uplift of the poor.

Making megabucks no longer gives him happiness – spending it for a good cause does.

“I soon realised that I did not need all the money that I was making. I was looking for a deeper meaning to life.”

Not keen on donating his millions to charity only to sit back with a salved conscience, Kohli initially decided to sponsor the studies of a few graduates of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) hoping that they would bring glory to his home country, India.

But a conversation with writer and historian Khushwant Singh changed his plans.

“He suggested that if I really was so keen on repaying India for all that the country had given me, I should provide for the education of girls in the country’s remote areas. Singh felt that graduates from elite institutes would seek greener pastures in foreign lands and might not plough back their expertise for the benefit of their home country,” elaborates Kohli.

Welfare in the fast lane

Kohli found Singh’s suggestions undismissable. So he set up the Sundar Amar Sheel Charitable Trust in memory of his parents.

One day, Kohli visited a balwadi (a preschool childcare centre) run by Lajpat Bhawan, an organisation in New Delhi that was set up in memory of noted Indian freedom fighter Lala
Lajpat Rai.

“I lost my heart there,” says Kohli. “The sight of happy children playing, eating and studying together was totally satisfying.”

NRI Kohli wanted to do something on that scale and mentioned it to Krishna Satyanand, the director of the organisation, who urged him to take it easy and think deeply before committing to a cause. However, Kohli had made up his mind.

“At my age, I feel I have no time to take it easy. And with my mission of creating at least 100 balwadis, I thought time was definitely not on my side.”

Kohli appointed Dhananjay Tingal, a well-known social worker in Delhi, as project director.

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Along with an assistant supervisor, he surveyed several villages around Delhi and in January last year, the first balwadi was ready.

Within three months 24 balwadis were set up, and by the end of the year, there were 50 in operation.

Projecting hope

Nikita, one of the 50 children in a balwadi located in a slum in Mehramnagar in Delhi, is testimony to the change that education can bring.

Confident, carefree and unmindful of her surroundings, this four-and-a-half year-old, in her own small way is attempting to transform the lives of several of her ilk.

Dressed in clean uniforms, the children are happy chanting nursery rhymes and the alphabet along with Nikita, who is leading the class for the day.

At another venue, a slum at Brar Square near Naraina, a group of 40 children aged between 3 and 5 are relishing a hot meal of rice and lentils.

At all balwadis, classes are from 9 am to 12.30 pm. Classes over, children are provided with a home-cooked wholesome meal.

Apart from providing nutrition, the meal also ensures that children are encouraged to attend schools and there are no dropouts.

Free lunch to preschool kids apart, the trust also provides uniforms, books and stationery.

“Our efforts will pay off when more and more parents realise the need to educate their children,” says Maya, a teacher, who has studied up to Class 10 and is a resident of one of the slums close to the balwadi in Naraina.

She hopes that more such balwadis will open in the area so that children will get a shot at a brighter future.

“Children who till recently were whiling away their time on the streets, now come to study, proudly dressed in their uniforms.”

“The difference in their attitude is clearly visible when some even bring their friends along to be enrolled in the balwadi,” says Komal, another teacher.

They view education quite seriously – something that has never happened before in these areas, she adds.

Master’s plan

“To me, education is a way to bring these children out of their impoverished environment and make them conscious of the world around them," she says.

“For example, I have noticed that now they address their elders with respect ... which they did not do earlier. It gives me great satisfaction when I see them study, sing and dance together.”

Kohli lives with his family – wife Pammi, two sons and a daughter – in a large mansion in McLean, Virginia, US, three months of the year (the rest of the time he spends in India).

“My business is such that it does not need [me to be present there all the time] and I am able to handle things on the phone."

NRI Kohli has a fleet of cars, including a custom-built Rolls Royce, which has led people to nickname him ‘Mr Rolls Royce’.

“But,” he says, “I am not interested in vehicles any more. In fact, I have just bought a small car and will henceforth be travelling in that whenever I visit slums.”

The children’s enthusiasm in the balwadis has motivated Kohli to take his mission to the next level.

Since children can remain at a balwadi only till they are 5 years old (after which they go to a regular school), Kohli was worried that once the balwadi period was done with, they would drop out of the education system and return to loitering on the streets.

How many of them, he wondered, would be sent to study in government or public schools?

“I was told that according to a government directive, all Indian public schools need to reserve 20 per cent of the seats for underprivileged children. But none of the schools seem
to be following the rule. The excuse given is that students from such balwadis do not have the calibre to compete with children from public schools. I want to change this perception,” he says.

Grooming kids for higher studies

Kohli intends to prepare these children for pre-admission tests in major public schools of Delhi.

“Even if some of these children are successful in breaking the glass ceiling and are able to study along with children of the affluent, I would think I have succeeded in a big way,” says Kohli.

“The kind of inspiration it would provide to the other kids would be phenomenal,” he adds.

Budgetary considerations

Each balwadi has been allocated a budget of Rs55,000 (around Dh5,000) per annum.

For every 10 units, a part-time supervisor (who is a resident of the area) is appointed. He/she is paid a nominal amount for his/her services.

“I believe in keeping the cost on overheads and administration low. [This way] children remain the ultimate beneficiaries. We insist that all students pay a monthly fee of Rs15 (a little more than a dirham)."

“Initially, I was not in favour of charging any fee, but I was advised against it.’’ Once the parents are made to pay for their ward’s preschooling, they will have a sense of belonging at the balwadi, he says.

“They will have a claim over it. In some cases, if the parents are unable to afford the fee, the amount is waived,” Kohli says.

It is too early to say if his efforts have borne fruit but it is definitely a step in the right direction.

“I would like these children to have the courage to dream big and the will to realise their dreams. I know it is a tall order but it is a start,” he stresses.

A rickshaw puller’s hope

Laxmi, whose husband is a rickshaw puller, is proud of her son, Arun, who is considered the brightest among the local balwadi children.

“I have two other children studying in private schools but ever since Arun started going to the balwadi, I find that he has become more obedient and well-behaved,” she says. “He sometimes even gives me a few lessons of what he has learnt in school.”

Harsh realities

Despite his efforts, though, Kohli has his moments of despair. “I may feel elated that I am doing something constructive but, at the same time, I feel quite depressed. It’s an awful feeling – on the one hand, by sheer accident of birth, these slum children are deprived of all that life has to offer. On the other, my grandchildren, who haven’t done anything special [to deserve their fortunes], have been born into a wealthy family and hence enjoy the luxuries of life.”

Kohli hopes that more and more wealthy people like him would loosen their purse strings and help the less fortunate.

Cause and effect

He is upset that many well-heeled youngsters of today do not realise the value of money. He relates an incident to illustrate this, “The other day, my children bought me a suit worth Rs50,000 (Dh4,100). I was pained and immediately told them that [with that kind of money] I could run another balwadi. To which their justification was, ‘You can run as many balwadis you want, but you’ll still have money for [such kinds of] suits!’ So, it’s a tremendous imbalance and one feels so helpless not being able to instil the value for money in the younger generation. But then I was also like them when I was at their age," he consoles himself.

“Hopefully, when the lure of material wealth fades one day, they too would work for the welfare of the downtrodden.”

Heartened by the response that his experiment with balwadis has generated, Kohli has now decided to set up computer education centres in the rural areas of Punjab, in northern India.

“The objective is to help increase computer literacy among youth and among women in these areas to empower them and help them carve a niche for themselves in this technology-driven world.”

Kohli came up with the idea when he met girls from remote villages and realised that all they lacked was opportunity.

Such computer centres are now being set up in Ghauran, Landran and Mahdiyan villages, in Punjab.

Kohli’s idea is to have at least 100 computer training centres all over Punjab that will later become business centres and generate information technology-related jobs for the less-privileged girls.

But social work is not an easy job, he says by way of experience.

“It is now that I realise why many well-off people are reluctant to spend money on charity work. More often than not, the middlemen misuse finances ... There is always that fear of money being squandered. I feel it is easier to make money than spend it on a cause.”

For now, Kohli’s balwadis are his driving passion and the confidence and happiness of the children the reward.

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