LATE MS MINA KUMAR, A REMARKABLE FRIEND OF FFEI 

Ms Mina Kumar was a great friend of Friends for Education International (FFEI) since 2006 when she read an article on Ambedkar Scholarships (precursor to FFEI) and its founder Benjamin P Kaila. Since then, she has contributed a substantial amount to FFEI.

She was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in 2016. Before passing she wrote a will donating all her assets (including an apartment in Manhattan downtown) to FFEI. Her generosity helped FFEI to become a substantial non-profit overnight.

FFEI forever remembers her for the trust she had in FFEI.

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Here is what FFEI’s founder wrote about her upon her untimely death.

Ms Mina Kumar first contacted me in 2006 when she read an article about the work I have been doing since 2003 through Ambedkar Scholarships. Then we became friends and started corresponding on matters we both like, Dr Ambedkar, Periyar, caste, Dalits especially Dalit women, importance of education, reservations, brahinism, books etc At first I didn’t know that she was brahmin from Tamilnadu- I never asked and she never told me. Due to progressive thoughts, I presumed she was definitely a brahmin. I was a very vocal critic of Brahmanism and Hinduism on online platforms then and how much damage had been done to India, especially to Dalits due to these thoughts. Born as Dalit and raised in a Dalit ghetto in a small village in Andhra Pradesh, I know what caste discrimination since my childhood on account of my birth. My grandparents were first converted to Chrisitanity and got educated to become teachers and thereby ending the cycle of abject poverty anf indignity (atleast in thought tough experienced discrimination equally like orther Dalits). I have no reservations about criticizing Brahminism or Hinduism, the most exploitative systems that a man ever created to subjugate others by controlling the minds of the people (including its victims) for centuries using theories like karma, rebirth etc. We discussed all these with complete honesty. We used to have long conversations on these topics at least once a week till she got diagnosed with cancer around 2012.

Though we were friends for more than a decade, we never met in person. In fact, I didn’t know how she looked as she was a very private person. Her photo was never shared with me nor I had asked for it. But, she knew everything about me as my activities are shared publicly online. Still, she used to confide with me everything about her life without reservation. A number of times I expressed my desire to see her when she was sick with cancer. But, she refused to meet me if I go there to see her. So, I had no opportunity to meet her in person. Though she was a very private person, I knew a lot of things about her- that she lost her mom as an infant, her father was rich in money but not in heart, she studied in Malaysia boarding school, she came to the US and now a citizen, she was involved in many humanitarian works in New York city, she hobbies were reading, art collection, and travelling, and much more intimate information. I never asked her about her marital status (as Indians are more obsessed with such things) nor did she tell me. I knew she had some relatives in the US and she didn’t want to have any contact with them. Such was the strange relationship between her and I when she was alive.

I saw her photo for the first time when it was sent to me by her friend, Ms Anusha Ralasingam, after Mina’s death. Anusha Rasalingam is a lawyer in New York and I remember Mina mentioning her name a number of times to me in our conversations. Mina named Anusha as executioner of the will and gave my contacts to her. It was through her I came to know about Mina’s death and about her will. I very much remember when I got the call. I was in San Jose then and walking during my lunch hour. Though I knew she had been undergoing chemotherapy, I didn’t anticipate the end as she was regularly talking to me giving updates about her condition. In fact, we started talking more now as I told her I am available anytime for her if she wants to talk to me. She would call me from her bed while waiting for chemotherapy. I was devastated. I wanted to fly immediately to see her body. But, Ansha told me that her body was donated to a hospital in her will and cannot be available for viewing. I was devastated more with that news. 

When Anusha told me about her will, I was completely in disbelief. I knew she liked my work. I thought she may give a little bit of her money to FFEI along with other organizations she was in touch with. In fact, she had already donated a substantial amount and didn’t expect her generosity of writing a will donating everything to FFEI.

I went to New York in March 2016 to celebrate her life with her friends in New York. That was the time I visited her apartment and saw her belongings. It was a very emotional moment for me to see them in her absence.. I found a few photos and some books marked for me to collect. One of the books she preserved for me was an old cartoon book on Dr Ambedkar. We had a nice remembrance meeting for her among her friends.

We donated most of her movable stuff. Expensive cloths where donated to Dalit Women Fight, India. We sold the home in 2017 and got a substantial amount from the sale. Anusha helped FFEI to get the money with least expenses and FFEI finally got the money in 2019 after clearing all the debt and hospital expenses.

With her generous donation, FFEI has grown from a small non profit to a substantial one. FFEI is in the process of expanding its operations in more areas where it can impact the lives of the marginalized, especially through education.

Transforming communities – one life at a time is our motto. We are committed to do it through the philosophy espoused by our emancipator Dr B R Ambedkar taking inspiration from his life.

Jai Bhim!!!