Although his net worth has not been widely reported, his company, Sulabh International, made a profit of US$5 million in 2005, according to the UN report, which is a Bill Gates-level sum in an impoverished nation.
Much of that revenue presumably came from Sulabh’s numerous public pay toilets, which are also found in Ethiopia, Madagascar and Afghanistan; Pathak also runs a popular New Delhi toilet museum.
“I’m here because I think what he’s done is remarkable,” said Anjali Sud, 24, of Manhattan, who works for a magazine publishing company but volunteers at the UN in her spare time.
As she spoke, her sister Anisha Sud, 21, passed a pen to Pathak for an autograph.
Fawning, too, was Virender Yadav, 54, a New Delhi native who now lives in Richmond Hill, Queens, and whose arms were piled high with free brochures and books.
“This is very unusual,” Yadav said, adding, “I was very surprised” to learn that former scavengers would be in New York City.
“I am so glad they are bringing them up in the world,” he said.
The culture shock was not lost on the former scavengers, either, such as Usha Chaumar, 34, who wore bangles on her wrists and a glittering bindi on her forehead.
Like her fellow travelers, Chaumar comes from Alwar, a city in Gujarat state, and like the others, she was married young, at 14, though her husband is now dead.
“All my friends and relatives need to get better jobs,” she said through a Hindi interpreter, “so they can come into the mainstream.”
RSS