Imagine an 80 year old man with a thin frame, who wakes up every single day drawing mental plans of what he is going to do to advance the work and mission of 70 humanitarian organisations which are spread all over the country and to whom he has devoted last couple of decades as a volunteer. He attends his office everyday only to busy himself in correspondence with these organisations, enquiring of their new projects, seeking and receiving the progress reports and outcomes of the ongoing ones, and sending appeals and reports to the donors on their behalf. At least once a week he has a day full of engagements at various corporate offices, where he visits as a canvasser for these organisations and spreads the word about their work which varies from schools for tribal children in Meghalaya, farmers’ confederation in Andhra, to women’s skilling centres in the underbelly of Howrah – often unbeknownst to the founders and functionaries of these organisations, let alone thousands of beneficiaries in these organisations whose lives are being influenced by this man’s labours. He has built a platform, an open network of donors, volunteers, and anyone who has the inclination of contributing in any which way to causes (which are essentially humanitarian, apolitical, and non-religious) having hundreds of enthusiastic participants, which includes leading executives of top companies, prominent fund managers, to young professionals and volunteers who give a significant part of their time in serving these causes. Like how an early investor or Venture Capitalist would sight a wonderful investment opportunity having potential to grow in scale, he too looks for such dedicated individual founders, and has enabled them to grow in scale and impact.
His office is stacked with heaps of files of his correspondence for last 2 decades which he has diligently undertaken in old style dictation to his Secretary who sits beside him typing on a computer. This correspondence is with his countless ‘nephews and nieces’ (who are founders and other functionaries of these organizations) and to whom he is their beloved Uncle, and with hundreds of individuals who have now become benefactors to these scores of organisations, with him acting as a bridge between the two. As is the case with Uncle Moon, every organization thinks they are the most dear and special to their Uncle with a deep personal bond, for that is the feeling conveyed by him to everyone who comes in touch with him. From their latest triumphant feat to a sudden misfortune, there is hardly anything unshared by these organisations with this man. In the occasional hour of distress these organizations face, he tries his best to do whatever he can – a concrete help and solution where that can be given; or else, at least a piece of sagely counsel, which acts as a tonic to uplift their sagging spirit.
This man, Ramesh Kacholia – the subject of this piece, is a rare type of individual, and an inspiration to all who have known him. Only those privileged to have been close to him know how this man operates; how behind his seemingly ordinary frame lays an extraordinary human being from whom human greatness shines forth in fullest measure.
Initiation into Philanthropy and ‘Caring Friends’
Born in a Marwari family of modest means in Akola (Maharashtra), Ramesh Kacholia, had his education among hardships and rose only through his merit, finally coming to Bombay for higher education, receiving his Masters and a degree in Law. He then joined the Birla Group (then single united conglomerate under the direction of the formidable GD Birla). When he was in early forties, a chance visit to Maharogi Seva Samiti (MSS), founded by the legendary humanitarian worker and institution- builder Murlidhar Devidas Amte (famously referred to as Baba Amte), triggered in him a strong inspiration, and more importantly an enduring conviction, that even a little help could open up immense possibilities through which those whose lives are in distress could be helped. He went back to Bombay and started canvassing about the singular contribution and impact MSS was making. In years to follow (which saw him rise to become a Vice-President at one of the Birla companies) he wrote letters (it was much before the advent of the internet) to people who he thought could support MSS’s work. He encouraged them to visit this institution and personally escorted them to Chandrapur. Baba was so fond of him that he referred to him as his Manas-putra (spiritual son).
A great man that Baba Amte was, saw the younger man’s potential and sincere zeal, impressing upon his mind that there were many other social initiatives scattered here and there, silently carrying forward their transformative work, and that he should see how he could help some of them too. This gave a bigger mission to Ramesh. As this coincided with his retirement he expanded the fold of the organizations he engaged with and formed a group of friends, who as per their own capacities, began to give time to this work of ‘canvassing and connecting’ among philanthropically-inclined people in Mumbai. From 2003 they began to organise get-togethers in which they would invite dedicated social workers from far-off places all over the country to showcase their work before interested people in Mumbai, who, it was hoped would be inspired to lend a helping hand. This work got a strong leg-up in 2005 when Mr Kacholia met a youngman, then in his early forties, who became so inspired of his work that he resolved to become a co-bearer of this mission. He was Nimesh Sumati Shah, whose brilliance and sharp analytical abilities acquired through rigourus experience in stock markets, became an asset, as this group began to act as a bridge to more than a dozen organizations working in varying domains and having varying scales (which Nimeshbhai, in his Dalal Street style, referred to as small-caps to large- caps). This group of friends, which was on ever-expanding trajectory, needed a naming. It was then, around 2008, the name ‘Caring Friends’ was chosen.
‘Caring Friends’ (CF, in short), which has never been registered as an entity, has always kept itself as an open house. One did not have to become a member by any formal process, there was no President, no office-bearers, all monetary donations and grants went directly to the organizations. As long as you were caring, you could be a part of ‘Caring Friends’. One need not necessarily have to be a donor to engage with CF, there are a number of volunteers who bring specialised skill-sets and contribute in a variety of ways. In short, CF has been completely informal but highly impactful.
It has been an article of faith with Mr Kacholia that he has never recommended any organization until and unless he himself has substantially donated to it. His son Ashish, a private investor, is one of the biggest individual donors in Caring Friends. As the number of organisations brought to attention increased, the work became divided between him and Nimeshbhai and a few other close volunteers or older experienced NGO associates, who would make pre-onboarding visits to the new organizations and follow up with periodic visits to keep themselves updated with developments on ground. The singularly impressive characteristic of all these CF volunteers is that they would also approach and engage as a friend and never at all with any airs of being on the funding side. There have been quarterly get- togethers in Mumbai, where generally one (or at most two) organizations are invited for interactions. Waiting to listen to them is a group of more than a hundred interested philanthropists, potential donors, representatives from family trusts and foundations, and CSR executives of top companies. To top it all CF has an Annual Meet for 3 days where at least 25 organizations are invited, and provides a nice setting for more relaxed interactions and intensive deliberations among organisations, donors, and volunteers. Many new ideas and new synergies have cropped up as a result of these Annual meets. Indeed, a very distinguishing feature of CF has been the way it brings together so many organizations and helps them forge new bonds and friendships having the potential to last a lifetime. There are not too many examples of formal donor agencies even trying to attempt this among their supported organisations. One cannot but think that it is largely due to the personality and silent influence of Uncle himself, who everyone sees as a guardian-figure in their respective missions, which has engendered a special bond among themselves too.
What is required to move the needle at ‘Caring Friends’ is the ‘dedication quotient’ of the founder / founding team. Uncle and Nimeshbhai, sum up the CF philosophy as ‘investing in founders than projects’. There are many examples where it was the faith reposed and vision given by Uncle that a founder truly became awakened to what he or she can do. Some such ventures have scaled up as much as a thousandfold after Uncle took them in his fold. Samaritan Help Mission in Howrah, which was started as a tuition centre for slum kids by a spirited librarian and his friends and having a budget of Rs 40 thousand 15 years back, is now running 4 big schools, and reaching out to more than 5 thousand children with an annual budget of more than Rs 5 Cr. Same has been the case with Adhyayana where Uncle spotted a highly gifted science teacher and encouraged him to set up innovative experiment- based learning methods which have benefited teachers across thousands of schools in various states of the country in last 15 years. Even these founders had not imagined what all was possible for them to achieve!
In last 15 years Caring Friends has raised and sent more than Rs 200 Crores to a large number of organisations without any employed professional assistance or overheads, and without having any formal organisational paraphernalia.
With time in several key initiatives that CF undertook, it played the role of an assembler of diverse institutional capabilities towards creating solutions to some major problems. Perhaps the best illustration of this has been the role they played in ameliorating the condition of farmers in distress in the drought prone areas of Vidarbha and Marathwada in last 5 years, where they worked through a pool of organizations, each bringing to the table its unique competency, and helping forge solutions which could address the problems at a good scale. In these areas CF helped accelerate efficiency of Government programs like MGNREGA and at the same time in collaboration with State Government and local organisations worked towards large-scale water-body de-silting and regeneration.
Also, remarkable has been Uncle’s influence in shaping the personal philanthropy of countless individuals. There are quite a few individuals who after coming in contact with him now donate a significant percent of their annual income to social causes, a change which they largely attribute to his mentorship and the exposure they got into the social sector through ‘Caring Friends’. Much before one ever heard of the Gates-Buffet Giving Pledge, Uncle had made it his mission to inspire people into tasting the joy of giving.
His Labour of love
The author of this piece has had the privilege to see Uncle live and work from close quarters for 15 years. Uncle has followed rigorous work schedules on a daily basis and has never taken a vacation for last 2 decades. He is extremely disciplined in his routine and follows a regimen of brisk walking in the morning. He rarely uses an elevator and his easy taking to flights of stairs even up to 8 floors puts youngsters accompanying him to occasional embarrassment. After his walk, ablutions, prayer and meditation, he uses rest of the morning hours to make phone calls to various NGO founders, getting briefed of the developments at their ends and also apprising them of any funding opportunities he has got for them – on Sundays and public holidays in particular he spends a major part of the day doing calls, particularly with donor friends. He is at his office around noon and finds the prints of his received mail ready on his desk by his Secretary. He studies them, makes notes and highlights important parts, and is ready for long hours of his own dictation. A question with which the author, who has sat beside Uncle oftentimes during these dictations, has unsuccessfully grappled till now, is whether Uncle’s efficiency would have been much more had he been computer savvy himself! Between these dictations he takes a short break every now and then when he participates in an occasional joke with his longtime business associate Mr Gopal Mehta – 15 years his junior- who calls him ‘Bhaiya’ with deep affectionate regard, and with whom he shares this office. It is an extraordinary site to see these two men working on two adjacent desks – one talking to clients about exports, deals, litigations, and the other giving dictations or calling donor friends and talking of farmers in distress or malnourished children. Both the works go on, completely smoothly, undisturbed by the other. Mr Mehta, has extracted a promise from Uncle, that the latter will continue to work out of the same office and not choose any other location. He feels that the very presence of Uncle in the same room brings an air of soothing assurance and positivity to him and his colleagues which acts as strength in their own work. Uncle remains at the office usually till around 8pm, an hour after the Secretary has left. He uses the time in his 30 minute drives from and back to home either in short rest, meditation, or a phone call with an associate. He takes a very light dinner – very often just a glass of chhachh (buttermilk) and retires by 10.
As mentioned earlier, Uncle usually takes one full day in the week for visits to offices of old CF friends downtown or across the city’s suburbs and for meeting new people with whom he has been introduced. He carefully plans and optimises the schedule for this ‘field day’, and as a result very often the meetings get so tightly packed that even lunch is sometimes substituted by bananas taken in transit between one office to another. The author, who has had many occasions to accompany Uncle on such day-long engagements, can recall many such days when 7 or 8 meetings were done in space of as many hours with bananas for a meal! Towards the last appointment the author (forty years Uncle’s junior in age) was so exhausted that he requested Uncle to go alone while he chose to wait for him in the car and catch some rest (and hoping to grab a snack).
Over the years Uncle realised that founders and leading functionaries of NGOs across the country should make visits to Mumbai and spend some time in engaging with donor spaces. But he found that most could not because of lack of contacts in the city and, at a even more basic level, lack of logistical support. Uncle set up a spare flat in the same building he stays in Andheri as a hosting house for social sector practioners visiting Mumbai. He even helped schedule their meeting appointments and very often had his own vehicle take them across the city to their meeting destinations, even when he took an auto to his office. The visitor staying in this apartment is woken up by Uncle’s arrival early morning and finds him ready with bagful of fruits and snacks to get the day started. After a tiring day of engagements when the visitor returns late at night he finds milk, fresh water and other edibles neatly placed by Uncle in his room.
Uncle is a master at maintaining relationships and keeps in regular touch through mails and phone calls (very often not work-related), sending inspiring stories, and presenting books. He spends a good portion of each conversation enquiring of the health and well-being of the other person (whether a big donor or a humble NGO worker) with utmost sincerity and not as a mere courtesy or pleasantry-exchange; indeed, one thing anyone who knows him can vouch for is that there is nothing mannered in his demeanour. He is fond of gifting books and has presented a favourite book of his to more than 3000 friends in last 7-8 years.
It is not that Uncle in course of this journey has not received a hard blow once in a while. An organization and a founder he had huge hopes from, and had worked hard for years raising funds for, turned out to be a sour apple. But one thing Uncle completely steers clear of is harbouring any negative emotion, whether of hurt or bitterness. He never said a word about this experience which could have dampened the spirit of many, and not let this affect his trust or spirit in his other relationships. On donor side too, there have been instances where some people who simply did not have the capacity to rise above ordinary worldly thinking, and not been able to comprehend why does he do all that he does, were shallow in their behaviour towards him. But he has taken all such experiences in his stride, remaining single-minded in his mission.
This year Uncle has completed 80. He still works with the spirit and stamina of his youth and says that the last two decades, the period of his humanitarian work, have been the most fulfilling time of his life. A simple truth which he says is deeply impressed upon him is the oft-heard line that ‘at the hour of departure we all will go empty-handed’ and he makes a point to be ever-mindful of the fact that the hour of departure can come anytime to anyone. He also keeps saying that there are countless people who were more enterprising, more intelligent and talented than others like him who eventually became much more privileged in life. So to share that good fortune with others is only a befitting way to express gratitude and an acknowledgment of the truth that one’s fortune, to a considerable extent, is an outcome of forces and factors in which one had no role. He also reminds himself everyday that in this infinite universe of which even our galaxy and planet are like specks of dust, there is hardly any reason to attribute any special weight to our own existence. It is feelings like these out of which has come out Mr Kacholia’s dedicated labour of love which has made lives of hundreds of thousands better and made them rise to a higher level of human potential.