For nearly six years under Dabeerpura flyover, in the eponymous locality of Hyderabad’s Old City, a red carpet is laid out every day for the hungry and homeless. Plates are arranged and food from a makeshift kitchen is brought here. It is then that Azhar Maqsoosi, the man behind the ‘Hunger Has No Religion’ campaign begins to serve food to them as if they were his own.
On Saturday, the campaign entered 2,163rd day. Sitting in his modest one-room shop, the pensive 38 year old recounts the genesis of the campaign. “My father passed away when I was four years old. My mother raised me and my five siblings with much difficulty and there were days when we went hungry. Soon I realised what hunger was and that’s when I decided to fight it,” he says.
While the campaign had its humble beginning in the city, Mr. Maqsoosi says it has now spread to other States such as Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and now, Assam. His Facebook page keeps his followers informed of the daily developments.
Speaking in the straightforward Dakhni idiom, Mr. Maqsoosi says the campaign was built on goodwill. The support of volunteers and collaboration from other organisations has taken it forward. “The dastarkhwaan at Dabeerpura and at Gandhi Hospital – which has entered the 896th day – is a daily affair. In Assam, it is weekly which is in its 30th week now. We have also partnered with an NGO in Bengaluru which is seeing its 505th day near Siddipura police station,” he says. Dastarkhwaan in Urdu means a table cloth or great spread – apt for Maqsoosi’s generosity. The typical meal is a simple fare of plain rice and Hyderabadi khatti daal . Sometimes, there’s zeera rice and occasionally bottle gourd gets added to the daal , just enough to satiate a person’s hunger. About 60 kilos of rice goes into feeding the hungry souls every day.
Mr. Maqsoosi’s work has attracted even the attention of Bollywood star Salman Khan. Last month, he was invited for an interaction with the actor. “The Being Human Clothing representatives informed me that I have been nominated to meet the actor. When I met Salman Khan, I told him how my wife and I began serving home-cooked food to the homeless in 2012 and today we serve food to around 300 people in Hyderabad alone. He appreciated our work,” he says.
Fund-raising has not been a problem for Mr. Maqsoosi except in the initial days. When people realised his genuine work, kindred spirits flocked to help. “My friends on social media have helped me a lot. They have always come forward for the cause. It’s only about the cause and nothing else. They understand that irrespective of faith, hunger is real. No person should sleep on an empty stomach,” he says.
