India, May 18 -- My first acquaintance with VD Satheesan came in 2018, when Kerala witnessed one of the worst floods in its recorded history - a calamity so devastating that many compared it to the Great Flood described in the Book of Genesis. Rivers burst their banks, homes vanished under muddy waters, roads disappeared, and schools became relief camps or ruins.

At that time, I was serving as the Chief Executive of Deepalaya, an NGO founded in 1979 by seven Malayalees in Delhi. Though Deepalaya's work was spread across North India, my heart told me that we should do something meaningful for Kerala in its hour of suffering. Since education had always been our core concern, I felt the best tribute we could pay to the flood-hit people was...