The world will see through his eyes the divine act of affection, love and care, the rich can always give the poor. Born to the most elite family of Kerala and living through the gold fields of tradition, lack of food and shelter was never a phenomenon of existence for him. Still, in his splendid days of business, Bobby Chemmannur has established his space as a social worker par excellence. The esoteric who spends most of his vacation time with the poor downtrodden and the homeless has set a wonderful example of a single man’s corporate social responsibility. For his empathy on the lives of the underprivileged, Bobby was crowned the prestigious Mother Teresa Award last year. With three poor stay homes in Kerala and nearly hundred inmates in them, Bobby has plans to open hundred poor stay homes across the country. According to him, there shouldn’t be any more starvation and any more homeless souls in the world.

The 150 year old jewellery group’s chairman has a marathon sports spirit in saving the lives of the poor and the orphans. ‘Constructing home for the poor or getting penurious spinsters married is all luxury. But then, there is no one to look after the poor who sleeps by the road or street’, says Bobby. ‘My only aim in life is to make sure that there is no more shelter less poor eating garbage, fighting with animals in the picadity’. He explains that love is the ultimate feeling.  An ardent follower of Mother Teresa, Bobby Chemmannur is the happiest person in this world, since when he read and learned the teachings of the great mother. He says, ‘true charities can text the real love’ and in the ultimate bliss of love, he found out the value of his life. A philosopher by way of his didactic ethics, often, Bobby has many a handful of followers who have started serving the poor or at least thinking of their upliftment in society.

Bobby has nearly 5000 employees all through his jewellery shops and maintains a 24 hour blood donation centre at all these centers. Apart from this, there is a free ambulance available at all his showrooms for the service of the poor. The Bobby chemmannur group has started 60 non banking financial companies (NBFC) across the villages of India. The company has plans to raise the number to 1000. Then, each Panchayath will have a representative to take care of the poor with proper food and the unprivileged children with proper education. Bobby who does all his charity with his own hard earned money refuses to accept donations from around. ‘The Chemmannur  Life Vision Charitable Trust is here to extend charity and not to accept charity’, says a poignant Bobby, remembering a 100 crore charity fund offer he received last year from abroad.

The chronicle unfold

Young Bobby was always unsatisfied. In high School, he refused to write the public exam for want of a scooter to ride to and fro and went on to riding one for the same. Later in College, he was obstinate to drive his own car. His fairly rich father was at cool with his adamancy. But, somewhere, the unsatisfied Bobby again went on to searching for a change. When friends cheered him to make more girl friends, he always tried hands at new. Tasting alcohol with friends was also a means of search for acidifying his saturation. From time to time, Bobby had this gut feeling of being unsatisfied; getting easily bored. Sports cars, high end vehicles like Hummer, a yacht, nothing could sustain the ultimate passion in him. It was at this time, he happened to read a book on Mother Teresa and soon his attitude started to change. From being happy to living happily, Bobby felt the transformation, her teachings evoked in him. He learned to love. He could realize the happiness in loving the poor. When he started finding the hunger in an abandoned man’s belly, an object of fondness, things started changing further. Life was all different. The sun changed. The Earth changed. The whole surrounding changed. The tree of life blossomed.

His desperate desire to exist as humane catechized his own past attributions. The concept of love was so deep in him that he started to street walk in search of the abandoned and homeless alike and took neat care of them. But, it didn’t last for long. In two years, the devil of dissatisfaction started writing his scriptures. Bobby was driven away from true love and service. Another tenure as a freak bird came to a permanent still halt few years later and now, for the last time he started to love the downtrodden and homeless. Without any mental hindrance or dejection, Bobby started taking care of the orphans again. The disgust and diffidence vanished. He threw away all the barricades he had unknowingly erected, with the help of serine love and compassion. Now he is an addict; an addict to service and love for the poor.

A serious sports lover who played football, volley ball and cricket in his School days, Bobby ran 10 km in the Calicut Marathon in last February with a message to spreading the words of love. His next marathon is in Mumbai covering 40 km and the propaganda is ‘shelter to every human’. He has plans to run a cross city in kerala, covering a district each in a week and transmitting the divine power of love.