The Art Of Giving Back

VVS Laxman and his wife Shailaja have decided to make this world a better place for deserving children in more ways than one

- Nandini R Penna

To call the former cricketer and currently a cricket commentator, Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman, better known as VVS Laxman, one of the greatest batsman of all time will not be an exaggeration. Though better known for his prowess on the cricket field, after his rather premature retirement, he is now looking beyond sports. This time, he is in the news for his philanthropic pursuits.

“I am a huge believer in giving back and helping out the community and the world. Think globally, act locally, I suppose,” says the champion, continuing, “I believe that the measure of a person’s life is the effect they have on others. I’m just so very lucky to be able to do what I do for a living, and giving back is a way for me to express my gratitude. I’m so lucky to be in a position to help people, and that’s appealing to me.” The VVS Laxman Foundation is his pet project these days. “Since the last two years, my wife Shailaja and I have been trying to help underprivileged kids, but we decided to make it more organised,” says Laxman. That is when the VVS Laxman Foundation came into being. “I feel it’s not just about giving back, or whether you’re successful or a celebrity or even how much money you have, it’s about your responsibility as an adult to help others. It was actually Shailaja’s brainchild,” he adds. The project underwent a lot of trial and error, before the couple came up with a very efficient system to single out the genuinely deserving students. His wife Shailaja adds, “Giving back is something that comes from the heart to me. It’s not that I do it because it’s the right thing: I do it because I want to do it.”