Mountains to Cross: Finding Life's Purpose in Service

The rewards of turning a life of success into one of compassion in action are worth the risk.

From his early years, Dr. Abraham George knew that he wanted to serve. Growing up, he saw the deleterious consequences of the Indian caste system and how social injustice perpetuated poverty. To make a difference, he first had to make his mark: initially in the Indian military on a perilous mission in the Himalayas, then by earning graduate degrees in America and founding a lucrative business. At the height of his success, Dr. George knew it was time to shift focus and serve the impoverished people of India.

Mountains to Cross chronicles Dr. George's path to helping thousands of families escape intergenerational poverty and societal inequality. Among his philanthropic endeavors presented in Mountains to Cross, Shanti Bhavan, a residential school for children from poor families, stands out for its transformative impact on society. Many of its graduates have progressed to study in top universities, including Ivy League colleges, and work in multinational companies. They are positioned to give back to their families and lift up their communities. Dr. George offers this moving account of his relentless pursuit of social and economic justice to find purpose in his life through service and encourage others to act with compassion.

Dr. Abraham George began his career in the Indian army as an artillery officer stationed at the Se La mountain pass on the China-India border, the highest battleground in the Himalayas at that time. Following brief military service, he moved to the United States and earned two master's degrees and a PhD in business administration from New York University. For nearly twenty-five years, Dr. George pursued a successful entrepreneurial career before returning to India in 1995 to address deep-rooted discrimination and economic oppression faced by the country's social underclass.

Among the initiatives he embarked on in India are the Shanti Bhavan Residential School (www.shantibhavanchildren.org), to provide high-quality education to children from socially and economically deprived backgrounds, and the Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media (www.iijnm.org), a premier postgraduate institution aimed at fostering a free and independent press in India. Further, he set up Baldev Medical & Community Center to serve the health care needs of fifteen villages across Tamil Nadu and Karnataka States. His work in environmental health was pivotal in the removal of lead from gasoline across India in April 2000, a milestone achievement in public health.

Dr. George is the author of three books on international corporate finance and two on his social work in India. Over the years, he has served on prestigious boards such as Human Rights Watch and the International Center for Journalists and has been honored with several awards, including the Hind Rattan.