Grant and gratitude

BENGALURU: There are many ways to remember a departed loved one. For Thejesh GN, the best way to honour his mother’s legacy was by doing what she loved to do – help those in need. This made the city-based engineer start the Nagarathna Memorial Grant, which is in its fourth edition this year. Named after his late mother, this micro-grant offers monetary help of up to Rs 1 lakh to anyone who wishes to pursue a passion project.

“Growing up, my mother’s economical situation was not good and she received a lot of aid from her neighbours, which helped her complete her education. She passed on the same goodwill,” says Thejesh, who wanted to keep the practice going. “When she passed away five years ago, I knew I didn’t want to perform any rituals. I wanted to help people the way she did,” he says.

The grant involves a “no strings attached” offer, wherein applicants can request funds for any purpose they like. “The reason could be anything as long as it is meaningful to the person and others around. I shell out Rs 1 lakh from my own earnings. The number of grantees varies and then the amount gets divided,” says Thejesh. Last year, the sum was split between three beneficiaries: Ejana Trust for publication of a new book titled Putta Puttiya Parisarada Paatagalu; Sanchaya/ Sanchi for digitising of copyright-free Kannada books and uploading them to archive.org; and Janasuddi, which is a science podcast in Kannada.

While Thejesh prefers applications for open-source projects, it is not a mandatory prerequisite. “I don’t even ask any questions about how the money was used after I hand it over,” he says. So how does he ensure the authenticity of applications? “If someone lies about how they will use the money, that’s up to them. No one doubted my mother when they helped her out in her childhood. I just want to keep that good faith going,” he says.The last day to apply for the grant is March 14. For details, visit thejeshgn.com