Trichy:

There are myriad ways to procure funds for a social cause and one method that is not commonly heard of is polishing footwear of others. A 32-year-old man from Thiruvallurdistrict did exactly that on Trichy roads on Saturday to gather funds to help destitute students.

S Selvakumar claims he does the lowly job not to garner attention, but to create awareness among public on the need to come forward to help poor people. And he has been doing that across the state to garner funds for providing education to poor students. Selvakumar, an assistant professor in a private college in Thiruvallur district came to Trichy on Saturday as part of his tour across Tamil Nadu.

For almost a decade, Selvakumar is providing free education to 170 poor students, mostly orphans, at a primary school he runs in Parianallur in Thiruvallur district. He has to resort to the unique way of fund mobilisation as he does not charge any fee from the students. As he refuses to take charitable donations to fund his educational activities, he spends his free time to take up any work like catering service, cleaning, motivational talk and even shoe shining to earn money to run the school.

“I don’t think that any such work would belittle me. Considering the welfare of destitute students, I am ready to do any work to earn money for their education. However, I would not force my family to involve in social service. They would act according to their wish. Besides me, there are eight women teachers working for a meagre salary of Rs 2,000 per month for this cause,” says Selvakumar, who has a three-year-old son Lingeshwaran.

Does shoe shining earn sufficient money for a worthy, expensive cause? On Saturday, Selvakumar could polish only 25 pairs of footwear in Trichy without collecting any fixed charge for his work.

The self-effacing man doesn’t mind a little media coverage if it helps promote the cause he champions. By flashing my activity through media, it would create a spark in others to involve in social service. But I don’t want to gain publicity.”

Selvakumar claims he was honoured by Tamil Nadu  and Puducherry governments for his services to the education.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Madurai / by R Gokul, TNN / March 31st, 2013