R ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, MARCH 29
When most of the parents pamper their children with pocket money or allowance, electronic gadgets like tablets and mobile phones even before they step into the corridors of education, noble parents teach their kids the value of giving to others as more important than ever. True to Saint Thiruvalluvar’s one of the couplets on charity, “Call that a gift to needy men thou dost dispense, All else is void of good, seeking for recompense”, a KG student from Villupuram has donated her savings for the cause of coronavirus-hit.
Spoorthy, a KG student, in Villupuram in Tamil Nadu, along with her parents S J Ragunathan, an auditor, and Shalini, a home-maker, was listening to the Prime Minister’s recent address to the nation on the deadly virus.
The child was so moved by the current situation caused by the spread of the virus that she made an instant announcement to contribute her savings to the Prime Minister’s fund.
Pleasantly surprised by the girl’s resolve, her father asked her what was the source of her contributions.
Without hesitation, Spoorthy now in a playschool said she had been saving the money given to her by her parents for the last two-and-a-half years in a small `hundi` (an earthen piggy bank).
She got her father’s permission to break the `hundi` and the parents counted the amount saved by the tiny-tot, which was around Rs 4,400.
The child felt that the amount is divided equally and contributed to the Relief Funds of Prime Minister and the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
The proud father Ragunathan on Sunday said that the girl made her announcement without hesitation that the fund be contributed to the relief works in the state and at the national level.
The child developed the habit to save since she was one year old out of the small amount she was getting regularly from him.
“The amount may be small but the intention is big,” the parents said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, in his recent address to the nation focussing on the serious nature of the spread of the coronavirus, announced the establishment of a fund to which people can make their contribution.
