Irvine, California, United States
Mohnish Pabrai & Harina Kapoor, the founders and principal benefactors of The Dakshana Foundation (www.dakshana.org), recently won an auction on eBay to have lunch with Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett. With a final successful bid of $650,100, the lunch date with the legendary value investor was sealed. All the auction proceeds go to the Glide Foundation (www.glide.org), a non-profit group in San Francisco that helps serve poor and homeless people. Mohnish and Harina visited Glide with their daughters last December and were very impressed.
The lunch is to be held at the famed Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse in New York City. Mr. Pabrai will be attending the luncheon with his family. Also attending will be hedge fund manager Guy Spier and his wife. Mr. Pabrai commented, "I had been trying to win this lunch since 2003 and was outbid each time. This year, I joined forces with my good friend Guy Spier and we finally prevailed. We're elated! We're looking forward to a family meal with Uncle Warren."
In India, there is a concept of "guru dakshana." It means an offering to your teacher after you have finished your learning. Mr. Pabrai commented, "My guru is Mr. Buffett and I have only taken from him so far and have never given back. This lunch is the only meaningful way that I can give back to Mr. Buffett. The guru dakshana remains mostly unpaid, but I'm excited about having made a dent in the right direction. Having 2-3 hours of Mr. Buffett's undivided attention is priceless and I can hardly wait to break bread with the messiah. Our share of the lunch was paid by The Dakshana Foundation. It is the first major grant by Dakshana and I'm delighted that this first offering by Dakshana was directed towards repaying my guru dakshana."
The Dakshana Foundation's primary focus is on funding gifted, rural and impoverished kids to undergo 2 years of world-class coaching before taking the entrance test for admission to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
Source: Business Wire (Business Wire India)