Dr Rm Alagappa Chettiar Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

It is rare to find any where a man
Who is eager to part with his money.
It is rare also to find any man
Who wants to earn in order to part with.
Dr. RM Alagappa Chettiar
Of Chettinad is such one, who had lived
In the early twentieth century,
With a limited life of forty eight years.

His reputation as a great donor
Cannot be excelled by any person
But only by his own reputation
As an astute industrial magnet.
He established colleges in his place
Where and when there were none in existence,
Not as a source for making huge money
But as a means to educate the common.

He donated to universities,
And brought a Central Research Institute
To his place against the adversaries,
Offering vast land and lavish money.
He rubbed his shoulder with Jawhar Lal,
Made company with C P Ramswamy,
And R K Shanmugam chetti and got
Love of Lakshmana swami Mudhaliar.

An intellectual, an entrepreneur,
An eminent personality
And an unparallel philanthropist
He had been in his short period of life.
That he had lost his parents at young age,
That his daughter lost his mother at her two
And that he lost his health to skin disease
Did not deter him in his endeavours.

As a student of his, I bow to him
With all humility and devotion.
But for his vision, the pupils like us
Could not have come what we are today.
29.03.2017
Ref: A book Dr RM Alagappa Chettiar: The life and legacy of a visionary by K Vairavan, email kv@uwm.edu