The retired teacher's family was in for a surprise when they received a call from the PMO
When 67-year-old Chandrakant Damodar Kulkarni wanted to contribute to a good cause, Prime Minister Narendra Modi objected.
In a way, what the retired drawing teacher wanted to do was to help the Prime Minister himself. After hearing Modi's August 15 address to the nation, he wrote to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) that he wished to contribute Rs 5,000 every month towards the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan scheme. In fact, he even sent a few cheques.
For Kulkarni, who retired as a drawing teacher from the St. Joseph Boys' High School in Khadki in February 2007, this was nothing new. Throughout his life, he has donated money to social causes. He has helped pilgrims, he has donated Rs 2,100 every month for a year to the Sassoon General Hospital in Pune and more.
But the cheques he sent to the PMO returned. Officials at the PMO told him that the Prime Minister did not feel it good to accept a pensioner's money. Kulkarni then informed the PMO that all his family members are independent, nobody is dependent upon him and insisted on donating money.
The PMO finally yielded and directed him to send money to the Swachh Bharat fund and not in the Prime Minister's name. What Kulkarni did next was to prepare 52 cheques from September 2015. The figure 52 has a little story to it. Modi has 52 more months to complete his five-year term and that's why Kulkarni decided to sign 52 leaves. And his total contribution added up to Rs 2.6 lakh.
On Saturday, at 10.30 am, when Kulkarni's son Mangalkumar attended a phone call, he was in for a big surprise. The caller at the other end was from the PMO and he told Mangalkumar that the Prime Minister wanted to meet his dad at Balewadi. Mangalkumar said that the family came to know about his dad's Modi connection only after a letter from the PMO reached home.
The family members were instructed to reach the Badminton hall, where a Smart Cities programme was being held.
Kulkarni and his family finally met Modi. When Modi called him Chandrakant-ji, he said he felt like an elder brother. Kulkarni had only two requests to the PM: improve the conditions at the Sassoon General Hospital and install a bio-gas plant, developed by Dr Suhas Mhapuskar, at Dehu Road, to help pilgrims.
Modi also made a young and naughty friend at the function – Kulkarni's grandson Aadi. When Modi asked the class V student whether he would help his grandfather, he replied in the negative. Modi pinched Aadi's ears and told him to give his grandfather a chocolate.
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