Rotary honours Unsung Heroes of Chennai


Auto Driver, Teacher and Traffic Cop felicitated 

India 24 September 2016: The Rotary Club of Madras East (RCME) honoured 3 unsung heroes of Chennai, in a recently held function at Alwarpet. The 3 awardees were Mr Anna Durai, Auto Driver, who is known by his customers for his innovation & hospitality, Mr. Harigaran, a Teacher who has devoted his life to educate slum kids and Mr. M. Kumar, Traffic Cop, known for his sincerity & devotedness in work. Rtn. PDG R Raja Ramakrishnan, the Chief Guest did the honours. 

Rotary honours Unsung Heroes of Chennai

Rtn. K Ananth, President, RCME said, “RRUSH – RCME Recognizing Unsung Heroes – as the name suggests, the underlying principle of these Awards was most heroes who work for the betterment of the Society are well recognized public figures. We thought that there is also a need to identify those “heroes amongst the common people”, who equally deserves the honour. Their contribution to our community remains mostly unknown, so we thought of spreading the idea of unfolding the inspiring stories behind these men, to a larger audience and also to motivate them to continue on their chosen path. This year, RCME has chosen these 3 extraordinary men who have made a difference to people’s life through their paradigm shift in thought and action.”

He added, “The awardees Mr. Anna Durai, Mr. Harigaran and Mr. Kumar are self-made individuals who have faced life’s toughest challenges daily at the base level of our society’s strata, but keep stretching beyond their comfort zone, have put service above self. Their inspiring life story is a source of motivation to our community. Their sacrifice, humility, valour, skill and endurance comes from their motivation to accomplish a mission. This is the one thing that they see as a reason to do what they are doing.” 

About the Awardees: 

Mr. Anna Durai

Profession - Auto Driving

Exceeding Customer Expectations 

How far does one go to satisfy a customer? Well, Auto Annadurai takes customer satisfaction to a whole new level by the way he has transformed an auto ride into a mindboggling experience. From newspapers, Internet TV, iPAD to credit card swiping machine, name it and he has it in his auto. One by one, in his search to add more value to the customer's travel time in his auto, he has built quite a haven inside his auto. He has given two TEDx talks and few corporate seminars across India. His story is something that we must all know about, as a management lesson in valuing your customer to the core of our business and as a lifetime lesson in loving the job that we do. He is seen riding his auto in the OMR and do go for a ride in real, totally worth it. 


Mr. R. Harigaran

Profession – Teaching 

School for Change


“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”, said Nelson Mandela and Harigaran proved that right. Out of sheer passion to change the lives of the kids living in his seaside neighborhood in North Madras who didn’t have much of a worldly connect, he started taking life skill classes to them for free. Little did he know on how far it would go. It’s been 8 years and it is more than an evening tuition today, it is a school for change where kids come and get to discover the purpose of their lives. “SCHOOL FOR CHANGE” is an inspiring story of the power of Education, and how it turned around the lives of the kids when they fell in love with real education. Since 2008 Harigaran continues to empower the local kids with a rational connect to the bigger picture in life. So far 600 students have been educated with a holistic education.  They move out and continue to create positive ripples in the society as responsible citizens. He now dreams to build a unique school that imparts value based education.  

  
Mr. M Kumar

Profession - Traffic Cop

His Energy is faster than Traffic 

With all the heat, pollution, standing, waiting, the sight of a traffic signal often worries us. But not when this TRAFFIC SUPER COP is around. Meet Mr.Kumar, the traffic policeman of Chennai who is famous for all the amazing reasons. In his 22 years of service, he has maintained zero accidents at his traffic signals.  He goes the extra mile in doing his job to ensure we obey traffic signals. At each red light, he treats all the vehicles that stop in his signal, as his true customers. His energetic hand gestures, crazy moves, singing, smiling and connecting with his customers while he manages the traffic ensures people love him. His shift at times start at 6AM and goes till late evening once the traffic subsides. But there’s more than what we see, that makes him a super cop as he rules the road with love and laughter. From Senior citizens to small children, adore him when he is on duty. He goes the extra mile in guiding strangers who are new to the city seeking directions. He is a genuine example to all of us for how one should love his job and do it with utmost sincerity. Let it rain or shine, he stands at the signal allotted to him on a war time basis and does his duty to ensure we reach our destination on time.

The awardees - Mr. Harigaran, Mr Anna Durai & Mr. M. Kumar are seen along with Rtn. Ananth, President, RCME, Rtn. PDG R Raja Ramakrishnan and other Rotarians.