Kerala floods: Dubai-based 12-year-old Indian girl donates gold birthday cake to relief fund

Dubai - The father had gifted each of the triplets a cake made of gold on their 12th birthday.

A 12-year-old school girl, moved by the recent devastation in Kerala, donated a birthday cake made of 22-carat gold towards the Kerala chief minister's relief fund.

Pranathi Vivek, a student of Delhi Private School, handed over the 500gm hand-crafted gold cake, costing approximately Dhs 100,000 to the relief fun mid-last week. The cake was hand-made by jewellers at Malabar Gold, and her father Vivek Kallidil, businessman and managing director of Pravathi Building Contracting gifted Pranathi and her sisters a cake each for their birthday. "I gifted a gold cake to each daughter for their 12th birthday. Varnika, Dyuthi, and Pranathi were all given a cake each. The girls are triplets," explained Kallidil.

Nearly 400 people have died, and thousands remained stranded by the worst flooding in the Indian state of Kerala in a century. According to Kallidil, Pranathi was deeply moved by the way people suffered during the Kerala floods.
Speaking to Khaleej Times from their hometown in Payyannur in Kerala, Kallidil said, "She (Pranathi) saw that the rest of our family and I were exhausted and upset with what was happening in Kerala. The staff in our office were collecting essential supplies as relief material."

The Kannur-native added, "Pranathi came forward and said she wants to donate some clothes and shoes. I agreed and asked her to select some materials that she wants to give away. She disappeared into her room and after much thought, returned with her cake and said she wants to donate this instead." 

Anoop Parnssery, the branch manager of Malabar Gold Al Barsha, said, "A month went into the creation of the cakes. Our designers hand-crafted the delicate- looking cake." The flowers on top of the cake were imported from Turkey, and the cake engravings were all handmade. Inscriptions on the cake are hand-written as well. 

However, the 12-year-old Pranathi said, "I donated the cake because I felt the cake did not have much value sitting on a shelf. However, its value increased only when I realised it could wipe the tears of a few thousand people." 

Moreover, Pranathi was moved by a member of staff at her dad's office. "One of my dad's office employee's family was stuck on the roof of their home without connectivity, food, shelter, or even an umbrella. She was standing on the roof with her two-year-old kid. I was apprehensive about the family as it must've been horrifying for them," added Pranathi.

Kalladil said Pranathi had been involved with other charity work as well. "When we were in Kanchi Kamakodi Trust Hospital in Chennai earlier this year, she saw a 15-year-old child struggling for hospital consultation charges and asked us to pay. We helped with the surgery of the child that cost around Rs 3 lakh," he added.

Kalladil says he wants his daughter to grow up to be a balanced individual. "Pranathi has shown interest in business as well as architecture. But I believe children today need to trailblaze in all aspects of their life, including sports, personal and financial independence. "Most importantly, they need to learn to give to those in need as much as they can."

The officials at Malabar Gold added they would buy the cake from Kalladil and donate the cash amount towards the Kerala CM relief fund.

dhanusha@khaleetimes.rom

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