Influential Figures

Kalyanasundaram’s Journey: From Librarian to a Beacon of Humanity

While many people in our society always want to become a newsmaker and thereby become a celebrity overnight by hardly doing anything as such, sometimes they tend to do anything to acclaim that celebrity status. But the exception is also seen sometimes, but of course, it is very rare; doing something selflessly is a very uncommon thing to be seen nowadays. But this man Kalyanasundaram is denoted as the ‘Man of Millennium’ and exceptionally a selfless man who gave everything for the needy people and is truly a man of honor who proved that humanity is something which exists today in this brutal world.

This man runs a charitable trust, organizing funds for every problem faced by needy people. It can be for education, some critical treatment, marriages of daughters and during many more crises. Despite donating his entire property, he also donated his body to society so that the organs could save someone’s life after his death. This kind of a person who doesn’t care about his publicity and is only concerned about the welfare of the needy people and seeing them happy gains all the pleasure of his life and thinks that he is successful in his mission towards building a better society.

His Background and Journey

Kalayanasundaram was born and spent his childhood and adulthood at Melakaruvelangulam village in Tamil Nadu. In his village, there were only thirty houses at that time, and there was no road, electricity, or even a minor shop. Till ten years of his age, he studied with the light of a kerosene lamp and candle, he lost his father at a very young age, and his mother taught him the value of life and serving people experiencing poverty. He is a gold medallist in library science and holds a master’s degree in literature and history a highly educated person who worked as a librarian for thirty years. During this time, every month, he donated his entire salary for the welfare of needy people, and to fulfill his requirement, he worked as a waiter in a hotel. After retirement, he donated his entire retirement amount, around ten lakh rupees, and his monthly pension to those needy people. He is the first person in the entire world to do something as this nobody has ever had done this kind of sacrifice in their life, and he is the first person to donate entirely everything he possesses, but any publicity never tempted him, and he even hid his name if anyone wants to popularize it. He even sold his ancestral property and donated that amount to those needy people.

Kalyansundaram’s social work focused on our society’s needy children for forty-five years. In 1998, after he retired from his service, he decided to expand his work, and then his organization Paalam was born to do something more for those deprived people of our society. He says that he is a bachelor, so his needs are minimal, which can be managed by doing some odd jobs as a laundry boy or as a waiter in a hotel. He never wants to own anything and finds pleasure in giving away everything he has, and it is very unusual for a person to do something like this.

His Work and Paalam

His organization Paalam, where he donated the entire amount of his retirement, Paalam works to create links to donors and receivers not only to donate money but whatever they need for those people. This organization works for different kinds of social activity programs for deprived people like making some help for the education of needy children, giving proper medical facilities, arranging blood donation camps and also sending blood samples to those hospitals during emergencies, organizing rehabilitation centers for the elderly, mentally sick and frustrated, unemployed people, he also arranges fund during the natural calamities like earthquake, flood and other natural disasters and he also gives free counseling for the needy, and for rendering so many services alone, he is better known as Paalm Kalyanasundaram. When he goes to people and asks for some funds, his appearance shows that he is not a simple fundraiser but someone different who thinks differently.

He received several awards and recognition from India and abroad for his selfless work and charity. In his professional field, he was chosen as one of the topmost librarians in the world, and that is why the Union Government of India recognized him as ‘The Best Librarian in India’, he was recognized as the noblest man in the world by the International Biographical Centre at Cambridge also the UNO acclaimed his an Outstanding Man of the twentieth century, and an American organization recognized him as the ‘Man of The Millennium’ and from there he received a gifted amount of rupees thirty Crore which he also donated in his organization. Despite winning so many awards and recognition for his selfless love and dedication towards the poor and needy class of our society, he has much less popularity among the masses. Kalyanasundaram is a man of substance who showed the world the original meaning of simple living and high thinking. He works on Mahatma Gandhi’s principles and doesn’t care whether the world notices him, but he wants to go ahead with his mission. He is someone who is the best example and definition of humanity. Celebrity actor Rajnikanth declared Kalyansundaram as his father as the good work of this person touched his heart so much he took critically ill Kalayanasundaram to hospital and financed his treatment there for 15 days and after his discharge the superstar and his wife Latha requested Kalyanasundaram to stay with them forever, but he refused because he felt locked up there and also said that many more people are there in the society who needs him, and so he can’t stay there with them.

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