ISP Chennai Bureau
Palam Kalyanasundaram has been awarded as the man of the millennium and his achievement is spreading kindness and happiness.
A former librarian who got his job by virtue of his gold medalist education in library science and eventually also won Government of India’s Best Librarian Award, he is 82 today and Palam Kalyanasundaram of Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu is renowned across the world as a man with a golden heart. He has donated more than many crores of his hard earned money to the poor.
He is a standing witness to the fact that money does not win you celebrity status but your golden heart can make you a globally famous man. He teaches everyone that kindness will always be recognised, sooner or later as it brings cheer to many.
Money earned by Kalyanasundaram was not easy. He worked hard to earn money to give charity to the poor. He worked as a librarian for 30 years. Apart from working as a librarian, he has also worked as a waiter in a hotel with a deal of 2 meals a day and some salary, everything which he saved to donate. During his 35-year-long career at Kumarakuruparar Arts College at Srivaikuntam, he diligently and willingly donated his salary month after month towards charity and did odd jobs to meet his daily needs.
This amazing and inspiring man never married with the intention to serve the society by his kindness. He kept apart his monthly pension for needy orphans. After his retirement in 1998, he founded a social welfare organisation to act as a bridge between the needy and donors. Talking to a Tamil daily Palam Kalyanasundaram said that he was motivated and inspired by his mother to help the poor and needy after he lost his father at a tender age.
“One can get money in three possible ways. First, through earnings; secondly, through parents’ earnings, and thirdly, through money donated by someone. But there’s nothing more fulfilling than being able to donate money for charity out of your own earnings,” he said.
In recognition of his altruistic work, he was honoured as the Man of Millennium by an American association. Legendary Tamil actor Rajnikanth once described Palam Kalyanasundaram as a role model and then announced him as his adopted father to the audience. He was awarded a sum of Rs. 30 crores as a part of his contributions towards the benefit of orphans but he chose to donate the whole money to charity.
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