A PRINCIPLED CITIZEN
Satinder P.S. Puri, a retired structural engineer in Cleveland, was unsuccessful in saving an 80-year-old school building from demolition, but not without giving it his best effort.
After his demonstrations and fasting didn’t work, the 70-year-old Sikh man went on a hunger strike to urge the city and school district to renovate, rather than tear down, the John Marshall High School building.
The 5’4” man lost 20 pounds during the three-week hunger strike. Puri wrote online that he ended the strike on Dec. 11 “by first blessing myself, as per instructions from my Irish wife, with holy water from Knock (Ireland), then sipping from a glass—a mix of 75 percent water, 20 percent vegetable juice, and five percent apple juice— as our very naughty seven cats looked at me with amazement!”
His valiant efforts to save the school building didn’t go unnoticed. “Mr. Puri is brave for standing up for something he believes,” wrote a commenter on the local newspaper’s website. Said another, “Mr. Puri is a principled, dedicated citizen of Cleveland.”
Enjoyed reading Khabar magazine? Subscribe to Khabar and get a full digital copy of this Indian-American community magazine.
