Once a Dishwasher, Now a Millionaire

A non-resident Indian (NRI) who has created waves by buying a former mining town in Canada was once so poor that he could not afford college education and washed dishes to survive.

Back in 1963, when Krishnan Suthanthiran wastaking care of his father's grocery store in Tamil Nadu, he was asked why he didn't go to college even after topping in his high school.

A friend replied: "His father is too poor to send him (to college)."

Now the founder-CEO of Best Medical, a US-based company supplying high-tech medical equipment, he credits his rise to the many well-meaning people who crossed his path 'at the right time, at the right place'.

Suthanthiran - today a millionaire busy transforming a ghost town he bought for USD 5.7 million - admitted he had found the reply 'a bit insulting'.

The father of one of his friends gave him Rs.300 and sent him to meet the college principal. Later, Suthanthiran, who left India when he was 15, started scholarships in the name of the man who helped him and helped to build a school in his hometown.

After he got admission in Carleton University in Canada, he washed dishes to make ends meet. He finally got a research assistantship and in the 1970s moved to the US, looking for a job.

He has also bought a TV company to make sure the tourism plan gets in-your-face publicity. He envisages not just buildings, houses, apartments, swimming pools, coastline and hills but also spas, skiing and water sports facilities.

"I made sacrifices. I didn't marry and have children. My work became my life. That's what is unusual but also unbelievable. I maintained a low profile and did not have much of a social life," Suthanthiran said.

Source: IANS