Kindness in motion: Elderly B’luru couple donate microvan to govt school in Karnataka

Mangaluru: When a Bengaluru couple in their seventies stumbled upon a year-old TOI story about a Sullia teacher who drove a cramped minivan every day to ferry her students, they couldn't shake it off. That moment of quiet inspiration has now led Rajiv Talwar and his wife Chitra to donate a new four-row microvan to the small govt school in Kolchar — a gesture that is set to ease a daily struggle for both the teacher and her young passengers.Rajiv, an engineer from IIT Delhi with an MBA from IIM Calcutta, worked for five years in a tech company before starting his own firm with other professionals. He retired in 2022. Chitra, also an MBA, spent about 30 years working with large multinational corporations. Rajiv has also privately taught Mathematics to over 1,000 high-school students from the USA between 2001 and 2010.Rajiv told TOI: "I was deeply moved by the work the teacher was doing and managed to get in touch with the school only last week. The teacher said they needed a school van and some basic infrastructure. Along with friends, I was already supporting a school in Gujarat, and we decided to spend around Rs 10 lakh on the school in Kolchar for a vehicle and basic facilities for the LKG and UKG sections. We look forward to helping more such schools in the future."Kannada teacher Jalajakshi KD said efforts had been under way for a year to find sponsors for a school bus. "Though the TOI report was published in Sept 2024, I was surprised that Rajiv came across it now and reached out to us through the village accountant. We are happy that the vehicle is expected to arrive within a week," she said.The school currently runs four trips, with two trips one way. "In one trip, I drive the vehicle, and in the second trip, either the SDMC president, a teacher, or a parent drives, as the route extends up to the Kerala border, covering nearly 10km. We found it difficult to manage with the existing minivan as it was congested," she said.She added that Rajiv's willingness to check whether the school needed anything else was an unexpected encouragement. "It is my dream that the LKG and UKG classes of our school should be on a par with private schools in terms of classroom infrastructure, learning materials, and educational aids. I am happy that Rajiv agreed to support us. This is the first time a govt school in Sullia is getting a new microvan," she said.The school has 116 students.