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Brown in America

Bahuleyan - The Boss

By: Santosh :+: Under: Brown in America, Culture, Desi Ishtyle
On: ⋅ July 31, 2007 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment
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This is the premise for the story of the movie Sivaji - The Boss: Poor desi guy goes to the US, strikes it big and returns home to do good for the poor. As much as I did not like other aspects of this movie, there was a feel-good factor for this movie, one cannot deny.

Doctor turns philanthropist
img: via Vyaparinet.com

Similarly, there is a feel good factor to what Dr. Kumar Bahuleyan is achieving. Dr. Kumar Bahuleyan, a neurosurgeon by profession, residing in the US and originally from Chemmanakary in Kerala donated (hold onto your seat belts) $20 million dollars to his native village.

The reason?

The urge to do something for his village arose some 20 to 25 years ago, when Bahuleyan returned to Chemmanakary and was struck by how little it had changed.

If $20 million dollars (around Rs. 780 million) seems like a lot wait till you get to feel-good part of the story.

Dr. Bahuleyan was born and raised in poverty and struggled to get an education.

Young Bahuleyan was one of the two survivors in a family of five; three of his siblings died in their childhood. Fighting disease and hunger every step of the way, Bahuleyan struggled to get an education.

When he finally did complete his training as a neurosurgeon, red tape prevented him from gaining due employment. Frustrated he ended up in the US.

Three years later he discovered ” the Kerala Government did not have a place for me; my post had been filled by a freshman”. He, a qualified neurosurgeon, had to sit at home twiddling his thumbs waiting for bureaucratic red tape to work around his case. His patience wore thin and a disgusted Bahuleyan fled to Ontario, Canada, seeking employment. He eventually ended up in Buffalo, USA, where for the first time in his life he achieved economic security.

He struck it big, earned big bucks, lived a pimpin’ lifestyle, bling bling and all - at one stage he owned a Rolls-Royce, five Mercedez-Benzes and an airplane. No, he did not appear in any hip-hop videos. Even he admits, he went overboard with the money.

My secretary said to me, ‘Dr. Bahuleyan, you’re making too much money.’ I had never had any money. So I went berserk with money.”

Was it the secretaries words, was it just an “aha” moment, we don’t know. But he decided to give back to the village where he grew up.

Bahuleyan started by establishing a non-profit organization.

The Bahuleyan Charitable Foundation began with a health survey to pick a target area. It chose an area comprising 17 sq. miles with a population of 66,356. The foundation plunged into a latrine construction programme in this area where 5009 of the 18,362 houses did not have latrines.

Then he established a clinic, built roads and finally, a hospital.

In 1993 the foundation built a small clinic in the village to treat pregnant women and children. Demand was so high in spite of poor accessibility (there were no roads leading to the clinic), that the centre was soon upgraded and moved to Vaikom town. The foundation also spent Rs 50 lakh to construct a 6 km road to the main highway and subsidiary roads to link the clinic.
The Vaikom wing of The Indo-American Hospital opened in 1995 with 30 beds. ” It was named to highlight the fact that it is built with the money I earned in the U.S. and to acknowledge the American tax payer’s contribution,” explained the doctor.

Finally, in an effort to make these projects financially viable, he built a neuro center in the little town of Chemmanakary in Kerala.

“I started this whole project out of my sentiments, with no planning,” said Bahuleyan. “However I realized I had to do something revenue generating to make it viable.”
A project consultant was roped in and he suggested the idea of building a super specialty hospital to attract paying patients. “We decided to have a neuro centre in Chemmanakary and opened with the most modern equipment in November 1996.”

Sounds an awful lot like the plot of the movie Sivaji - The Boss sans the chewing gum, song-dance routine and the fights.

Here is why this gentleman is a role model for all. Besides the fact that he rose from poverty in rural India to become a multi-millionaire in the U.S. and is helping the poor, Dr. Bahuleyan personifies what charity is all about - the individual helping other individuals and the community. Dr. Bahuleyan is a multi-millionaire and he could’ve easily bribed some government officials and politicians for building roads and hospitals in his native village. It is but human nature that you are more conscientious of spending your hard-earned money as opposed to someone else’. Instead of insisting that the government spend other people’s hard-earned money, i.e. taxes, on improving his native village, he did it with his own. Zimbly awesome, Dr. Bahuleyan.

The Bahuleyan story strike a chord with me. Living in the US you come across all kinds of desis. On a personal basis, I’ve met several desis who are or would like to give back to their native land in some capacity. Do you know of any such individuals who have made or are making an impact in their native lands? We would love to hear from our readers.

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