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A plot of land [3,300 sq. yds in area] near the Ghatkopar Railway Station was bought for the sum, with the help of a Government grant. Again the bank balance went to zero. No one was willing to lay the foundation stone for such an institute. 'Jai Ramji' [as Nandkishor was popularly known, for his usual greeting to all] himself was asked to do that: and in the name of God he did that.

He was again went on a fund collecting spree. This time he gathered seven donors, each committing Rs.3,000 [-- amount required for one class room], and the ground floor was ready. The then Chief Minister of Bombay Shri. B G Kher declared open the building and the first batch batch of 80 students moved into the new school by September of 1947.

Now came the period of risk. He went ahead with the construction of first floor without any capital -- purely on faith. The debit note rose to Rs.22,000. Again fate intervened. He collected a larger sum of Rs.31,000 from staging the famous play 'Deewar', presented by that kind hearted, popular actor Shri. Prithviraj Kapoor. Came Rs.44,000 from an unknown donor and the building had its second floor completed, barely within four years from the time the foundation stone was laid with no bank balance.

Here is a living example of that 'karmayogi' of the Gita -- a man who believes in doing his duty, leaving the rest to God. And God has never failed him. Yes, at times He severely tested this disciple of his but in the end He stood by him.

College takes shape:

Building of a school was not all that Jai Ramji had as mission in his life. No time for complacency. Like rare old men, his active life started after his retirement. On the mortgage of the school, he bought an adjoining plot costing Rs.64,000 for a college building. Bank balance?: a repetition of the past! But now he had the students and the teachers of the school to help him collect the funds. Rs.18,000 collected thus was enough to start the work. Slabs of all the three floors were ready. But there was no money for the walls and finishing. The test this time was the severest. Jai Ramji was mocked by street urchins. Construction work was at a standstill for almost two years.

But again in 1959, he started a one-rupee collection drive and gathered Rs.7,000. The school committee looking at his unswerving zeal, offered a loan of Rs.100,000 collected from amongst its members. The college was ready. It needed funds to be fit for affiliation to Bombay University. Even this dream materialised. In 1963, Shri R R Jhunjhunwala gave Rs.200,000 and the college starting functioning in that year.

A school of 1938 with 11 boys in a bare little room stands --after three decades -- as a towering witness to a humble man's dreams. It teaches 2,200 students in school and 2,700 in the college, from the primary to the post-graduate.



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