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Jun 8, 2007

"The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit." --Nelson Henderson

Small Farmer, Big Benefactor

Mahadeb Mondal dropped out of school in second grade to become a cowherd because in a poor family it was time to start earning. A generation later, the farm laborer, now 70 years old, had to watch his four sons do the same after primary school for the same reason that had dragged him out of the classroom. He would be filled with pity whenever he watched the children of his village in India study in the sole primary school operating under a temporary shade by the roadside. Early last month, he approached Sunil Konai, a village head, with the offer to donate a portion of his land for a school. Konai said the land gifted by Mondal would be worth about Rs. 100,000, a sum hard to fathom for someone earning Rs. 40 a day.