After retiring as an office superintendent from the Southern Railway in 2001, the first task N Subramanian undertook was to reach out to his old school at Kuruvimalai village in Tiruvannamalai district. “When I went there, the school looked just the way it was when I had left it, decades ago. I was heartbroken. What I am today is because of this school. I decided to do something for the children there,” he said. He took it as a mission and got in touch with his schoolmates and bought benches for his alma mater. He donated kits comprising Tirukkural, dictionary and atlas to students. According to him, Tirukkural will put children on the right path and the dictionary and the Atlas will improve their knowledge.
From then on he began to set aside a portion of his pension to buy these and more for children of government schools in villages like Vanakkambadi, Pelasur, Ramapalayam and Polur (all in North Arcot district). He has also helped schools to fix broken furniture, get them almirahs, benches and educational charts. Subramanian also reaches out to Corporation schools in the city. He has set up a corpus fund of Rs 12, 000 for three schools to maintain furniture and for related works. He has donated educational kits to the Adi Dravida Welfare School in Virugambakkam and some of the Chennai High Schools in Koyambedu, Arumbakkam and Virugambakkam.
Originally written for DTNext, read more at https://www.dtnext.in/News/City/2016/11/16101949/1021564/Pensioners-passion-helps-alma-mater-school-children.vpf