Tamil Nadu: An 80-year-old gentleman, wearing white ironed Khadi shirt and Dhoti with a walking stick, used to travel in a crowded city bus despite being the owner of 380 acres of land.
An old man who always denied the seats offered by youngsters while travelling in the city bus, saying, "Don't judge me by my age. I am not an old man, I often use a stick while travelling but my spirit holds me so tight that it does not let me feel that I am old."
Well, calling him old is just like insulting him. So, this 80-year-old young gentleman is GS Lakshmanan Iyer. Born in 1918, he was a hardcore follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
Iyer, who owned properties worth thousands of crores of in and around Gobichettipalayam, had selflessly donated all of it to Dalit communities for village development, schools, colleges, co-operative societies, hostels, ITI’s and for industries.
He was the first municipality chairman in Tamil Nadu who abolished cleaning of human faecal waste by fellow human beings.
Being born into a Brahmin family, he was an ardent follower of Gandhi and went to see him once. Gandhi, on hearing his name, very simply asked him to work with and for Dalits. And Lakshmanan Iyer did the same on coming back to his native place.
The only purpose of his life was to serve people and society. His work had brought tremendous betterment in the lives of so many people. But sadly, only 20 to 25 people were present at his funeral.
There was specifically one girl who cried the most at his funeral and went with him till the burial grounds. This girl belonging to a Dalit community was educated by Lakshmanan Iyer and today happens to be a doctor.
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