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WINNIPEG, CANADA, May 24, 2005: A man who moved to Canada from India with just $8 in his pocket is now giving C$1 million (US$794,000) to the new Hindu temple and community center in Winnipeg. Raj Pandey came to Canada in the early 1960s to get his master’s degree on a scholarship at the University of Toronto. He’s now a mechanical design engineer with his own successful company. “When I came, everybody got $8 to travel, and that was all that was allowed by the government of India,” he says. While he has more than $8 in his pocket today, Pandey’s donation has put a big dent in his bank account. “Yesterday afternoon, I was a millionaire. I gave a million away; now I am back to normal like everyone else,” he says. “There’s no more money. Now you can take me for what I am: an ordinary person.” Pandey says he’s not a religious person, but he hopes his gift leads to a sharing of culture. “I see this as an opportunity where we can build something, where we can bring a lot of culture and knowledge and wisdom from the East, and hopefully we can give it to the other people – it does not have to be Hindus. Anybody who is willing to take it,” he says. “Hinduism is a philosophy which is very broad. It more teaches you how to live, be a good person, and on and on and on,” he says. The C$4 million Hindu center, which will be named after Pandey, is expected to open at the end of June in the South St. Vital area of Winnipeg. The center will also have a cultural center, sport center, classrooms, yoga center, and library. About 9,000 Hindus live in Winnipeg.

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