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RBANM’s Educational Charities celebrated Founder’s Day on May 14 on the occasion of the birth anniversary of renowned philanthropist Dharmarathnakara Rai Bahadur Arcot Narrainsawmy Mudaliar.

Arvind Narrain, Secretary of the RBANM, spoke about the relevance of the Founder’s vision today, saying, “The Founder’s notion on wealth was for the benefit of society and the definition of philanthropy is the diffusion of knowledge, precisely what he did with his endeavours.” He elaborated on the institutions that the Founder established as a part of his efforts to eradicate caste and gender discrimination, like the free English school in the Cantonment area, and the Govindammal school for the free education of girls.

Gyanamurthy, currently part of Rotary International and an alumnus from 1950, shared an anecdote on how they were taught the meaning of charity in school. “We were each given a sweet and asked to share it with a downtrodden child if we wanted one for ourselves, but we ended up sharing both,” he recalled, learning that charity means to become poor after giving.

The event concluded with a musical rendition by folk artist and researcher Shilpa Mudbi. She presented her social take on the Yellamma folk story and informed the audience how the folk form has been able to create moments of community catharsis.

Faculty from various departments presented original poems in Tamil, Hindi, and English on the topics of Dalit resistance, womanhood, and social identity.

Representatives from over eight institutions marked their presence along with members of the board.