Son builds a Rs 5 crore memorial for his mother

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Dennis Selvan, TNN: TRICHY : He is no Shah Jahan but the memorial for his mother will be no less than a Taj Mahal of a mughal emperor, atleast as his eyes will behold it. Suresh Kumar, a businessman is the talk of his home town, Thuraiyur, as he supervises the construction of a grand 30,000 sq ft memorial in what must be one of the most expensive monuments to love in any part of the world.
You may call it a touch of madness, but there is as the bard said "a method in his madness". He is purposefully building the memorial at a notional cost of Rs five crore near a burial ground so that people would ponder over the true meaning of love and life, Kumar said. The memorial is equipped with a "seven star bathroom," for the convenience of people who come to bury their beloved nearby, and a hall that would be available free for any worthy community service.

A resident of Thuraiyur near Trichy, he pondered hard about how to enshrine his mother who passed away on Feburary 1, 2007. A Tamil proverb about the sacredness of mothers inspired him to spend a crore of rupees to make the point that mothers are priceless. But this memorial is to him worth much more, more like five crores of rupees to his mind. But money does not matter, it's the heart that does. He has already fixed February next for the consecration of the shrine, called in Tamil 'Kumbhabhisekham'.

For Kumar, the youngest of four sons born to the Chidambaram-Dhanapakkiam couple, his mother is the best human being in the entire globe, more valuable that all the treasures in the world.

He adheres to the tenets of another Tamil proverb that proclaims "Thaayikku pin thaaram" (mother above wife) and his wife Savithri is perfectly at ease with his splurging for the memory of his mother, though all the three older brothers are at variance with his extraordinary gesture.

Kumar admitted to TOI on Tuesday night that there was 10% selfishness in the whole activity of building a massive structure in memory of his mother who was 64 when she departed. In order to commemorate her 64 years of sojourn on this planet he has erected a 64 foot high stupa (pillar) within the 2.5 acres of land. The memorial would also house 64 portraits of his mother made of such things as broken pieces of bangles, matchstick, beads, and all fancy items. At the heart of the memorial would his mother's ashes mixed in the waters of all the Indian rivers, immersed under the ground at a depth of 64 feet beneath the bronze statue of his father Dhanapakkiyam. Sixty per cent of the deed is done out of pure love for his mother, and the rest is to make the villagers realize the importance of mother's unparalleled love.
Kumar who is a member of Lions Club has travelled across 12 countries and strongly believes that no son has done such a thing for his mother in the entire world. He would not want to discuss about the monetary aspects the structure, because "my love for my mother cannot measured in fiscal terms." But he takes pride in saying that it must be a "world record" and "I just want to leave behind traces of my matchless love for my mother on the sands of eternity." His wife Savithri said that there was opposition from some of the family members for such an "mindless extravaganza" but later they all relented after coming to understand the incomparable love of a son toward his mother.

Asked if it ever occurred to him that the money would have been worth spent had it been used for a worthy mundane cause like building an orphanage or a home for the aged in the relatively backward area, Kumar brushed aside people's rationale behind running orphanages or homes for the aged as being politically motivated and selfish in nature.


( Courtesy: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ )