Gurdaspur Diary: A biopic on Gurdaspur's favourite philanthropist

The happiest people in life are the givers, not the receivers. Going by this adage, Dubai philanthropist SPS Oberoi can proudly stand in front of the mirror and ask, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the happiest of them all?” Obviously, the man does not need an answer. His recent charitable act of paying for charges to be incurred by government school children to get their blood groups identified has come in for immense praise from all quarters. He has set aside a budget of Rs 1 crore for the purpose. The Central Government has recently made it mandatory for all school kids to get their blood tests done. In the open market, each test costs Rs 50 to Rs 60. Oberoi took cognisance of the fact that 90 per cent of the kids studying in government schools belong to the lower strata of society. Thus, they are hard pressed to pay the charges. When half of Punjab was under the floods emanating from a swollen Beas and Sutlej rivers, the businessmen donated Rs 10 crore for the villagers to smoothen their nerves, and consequently get their lives back on track. During Covid, he had chartered four planes to bring back people stranded in various cities of the UAE to India. Three Gurdaspur girls had their passports snatched by their employers. They approached his office in Dubai. Prompt arrangements were made to fly them back to Amritsar. Five oxygen plants were also set up in four cities at a cost of Rs 8 crore.

Gurdaspur has a special place in the businessman’s heart. He is opening a pathological lab in the city which will conduct tests at highly subsidised rates. To dig deeper into the past, he is the same man who brought back 350 bodies of Punjabis who died in the UAE in recent years in accidents or because of illnesses. He also made sure their families were paid a monthly pension. When the virus struck, his name, number and address were lying on the desk of every DC and SSP in Punjab. They needed masks and sanitisers but did not have the resources to purchase them. These officers would send an SOS to Oberoi. He would then make sure these items were handed over in double-quick time. A man’s true wealth is the good that he does in this world to his fellows. Bollywood is showing keen interest in his philanthropy. A biopic has been planned in which a leading hero is playing Oberoi. Ritesh Shah is the screenwriter. He is the same man who has written dialogues for films like Kahaani, Pink, Airlift and Raid. Shah has spent a lot of time with Oberoi in India and Dubai trying to finalise the script. Oberoi, in fact, reminds you of Albert Einstein’s quote: Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.

From court rooms to ghazal writing

A Gurdaspur advocate, Ranbir Aakash, has a passion for writing ghazals. He recently released his second book, named Dastak, at a well attended function held at a local college. His first book was Ru-Ba-Ru which was published a few years ago. Both the books have been received well by critics. His latest book has 90 ghazals. When asked why he did not start writing earlier, he reminded all and sundry of George Eliot when he said, “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” Well said, author Aakash!

—Ravi Dhaliwal

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