‘Blessed To Serve’, an inspirational autobiography of Philanthropist Shantilal Muttha

‘Blessed To Serve’ – an inspirational autobiography of Shantilal Muttha, co-authored by Sudha Menon, was launched on 5th September 2015, at the prestigious 3rd Pune International Literary Festival, held at YASHADA.

Also present at the launch were Dr. K.H. Sancheti, Krishnakumar Goyal and several other dignitaries and guests.

The launch event saw an interesting conversation between Muttha and Menon, giving an insight into the mind of a man who undertook a singular journey to effect social change. A dynamic social entrepreneur who dedicated his life to the causes that drive him, Muttha has made his mark in the areas of education, social engineering and disaster management.

‘Blessed To Serve’ is the amazing journey of Shantilal Muttha, who was born an impoverished village boy, but went on to become a successful entrepreneur so that he could earn the resources that would enable him to devote himself completely to social development. Muttha’s story is unique. He is neither a politician nor one in the making. His only interest is to change lives, and he has committed his life to make that happen.

“My early life adventures and experiences taught me many things, instilled many qualities in me that have stood me in good stead all these years. Risk-taking, experimenting with new things, and getting involved in things that others would never dream of venturing into, became second nature to me”, said Muttha, who is the Founder and Chairman of Shantilal Muttha Foundation and Bhartiya Jain Sanghatana.

Very few of his peers have reached the pinnacle of success in a short time and changed gears the way he did from a highly reputed and successful businessman to becoming a social change agent. What is also remarkable is the courage of his convictions.

It is this spirit of commitment that has also propelled Muttha to work towards integrating value education into the existing education system in government schools. He firmly believes that children are the future of this country, and to raise them to be honest, upright citizens with a sense of the fair, the good, the correct and the just is crucial.

Says Sudha Menon, “When I first met him, I considered my work with him as simply another project, but over the next few months, as I worked closely with him, I developed a sneaking admiration for the man, his selflessness, his attention to every detail, his refusal to let circumstances pull him down, and his overriding positivity”.

‘Blessed To Serve’ is truly a transformational experience that will change one’s approach towards life and our fellow beings.The 272 pages book is priced at Rs.295 and is available at all Crossword stores in India.

SHANTILAL MUTTHA

Shantilal Gulabchand Muttha is the Founder and Chairman of ShantilalMuttha Foundation. A dynamic social entrepreneur with a difference, he has made his mark in the areas of education, social engineering and disaster management. Founder and the former National President of the BJS (Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana). Very few of his peers have reached the pinnacle of success in a short time and changed gears the way he did from a highly reputed and successful businessman to becoming a social change agent. What is also remarkable is the courage of his convictions.

His deep yearning for social change began at a very young age, when he was at an orphanage cum boarding school, admitted there by his father as he had lost his mother when he was an infant. The orphanage cum boarding school depended upon the benevolence of rich Marwadi families, who would in turn enlist the young boys as helpers at big family weddings. He was appalled seeing the gross opulence, extravagance and exploitation. He made a steely resolve to somehow change it.

A certain restlessness and a yearning took him to Pune, where he pursued his graduation and sharpened his management and business skills by taking up small jobs. He still had not lost his deep rooted desire or social change. However, knowing that any social engineering requires financial resources and scalability, he put his social work plans on the back burner and ventured into real estate to make money to fund the social work. He was clear that he would be financially self-sufficient. Within a short time, at the age of 31 he became a leading real estate entrepreneur. He had reached his milestone and stepped down, magnanimously handing over a successful business to set up BJS (Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana).

A new and exciting journey had started.

Sudha Menon is an author, a columnist and a writing coach. She is the author of three non-fiction books, Leading Ladies: Women Who Inspire India, Legacy: Letters to their daughters from eminent Indian men and women and Gifted: inspirational stories of people with disabilities.

Her books have been translated into Marathi and Hindi and are available in bookstores as Waarsa (Marathi), Viraasat (Hindi) and AaghadicheMahilaNetrutva (Marathi).

After putting in over 20 years as a journalist at The Independent ( Bennet Coleman), The Hindu Business Line (Kasturi& Sons Lt) and Mint ( HT Media), she decided to follow her other dream of writing a book. Her first book, Leading Ladies: Women Who Inspire India, (42Bookz Galaxy) on the inspiring journeys of some of the country’s most admired and accomplished women, was launched in end 2010.

In early 2012 she launched her next book, Legacy, (Random House India) a collection of letters to their daughters from eminent Indian men and women. The book provided a rare insight into the minds of these leaders who set aside their public images to reveal to their daughters the lessons that they learnt along their own journeys and the values that they adopted to ead a responsible and fulfilled life.

Sudha’s next book, Gifted: Inspiring stories of people with disabilities (Random House), was co-written with V.R.Ferose and launched in mid-2014. “Listening to their stories of struggle and their eventual triumph over the most insurmountable challenges, was a transformative experience. I will never again presume that people with disabilities are incapable of doing the things that “normally-abled” people can do. There is much we can learn from the lives of those with disabilities,”

Sudha is also the founder of ‘Get Writing! , a writing workshop that helps people kick start their writing journey and ‘Writing In the Park’, an initiative that she started to get people to spend time in the outdoors, writing in public parks and gardens.

Last year she started ‘Telling Our Stories’, a voluntary initiative where she works with senior citizens in Pune to help them write their stories and thus capture the legacy that they will leave for posterity.

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