The other day when I hailed an autorickshaw for an assignment, I found the driver to be very polite. Neither did he refuse the short distance travel nor did he bargain over the rate. While riding he gave his visiting card carrying the name “Valluva Perunthagai” and a request to donate any extra food instead of wasting. The story unfolded instantly.
Reducing food waste is a pressing concern but not quite a new one. Neither is the concept of redistributing to those in need. It is the self-driven motivation of people like T.R.Vasudevan, who believe when you help others your own self-esteem increases. And the noble acts of kindness keep rolling on.
“It gives me eternal energy,” says the 31-year-old auto driver, who in the deafening silence of the night discovers the grim side of the Temple Town. In one round of 15 km from Teppakulam to Goripalayam Pallivasal, Railway junction, Periyar bus stand, and Thideer Nagar, he encounters homeless, old and abandoned, sick and mentally deranged men and women curled up in torn blankets who doze off in some corner of the streets unnoticed and on empty stomach.
When you find people past midnight willing to accept rice packets and eat it, you realise food is a luxury here, says Vasudevan, recalling his painful moments as a child. “My father was a loader and never took care of the family and my mother struggled to feed me and my uncle’s daughter who lived with us.” Obviously, there is a sense of purpose in what Vasudevan does. Though he collects food from all, but he has specifically tied up with Saurashtrian groups. And he has a reason for that. “Majority of the times, their food consists of variety rice which stay good for longer.”
Once the functions get over and hotels close their business for the day, Vasudevan starts receiving calls at 11 p.m. for collection. Depending on the quantity of food available, he either does it alone or takes along his neighbour and friend, Karthik with him for help. He carries aluminium foil boxes of different sizes and after tasting the food himself, he packs it on-the-spot. “It does not matter if the food collected yields 20 or 500 packets, I start my rounds by midnight,” he says.
If the food is in excess, he chooses areas like Goripalayam Pallivasal for distribution first. And if left with extra food packets after his rounds, he gives them away to load men on tricycles, the petrol bunk boys, the ATM or other security staff, who work through the night, coolies and drivers at the railway station and even the corporation staff who come for the cleaning work after midnight.
The soul is healed feeding a hungry,” says Vasudevan, who focuses on giving food to the one who wants it. “I always ask first and then hand over the food packet because I know many people are doing similar service in the city,” he points out, adding, “instead of leaving the food by the side of any half asleep homeless person, I check with each personally and feed whoever is hungry.” He says he is shocked to find so many people starving and often for the poor their pride prevents them from begging.
The food mostly he collects consists of lemon, tamarind, tomato, sambar or curd rice and he always turns the food around in three to six hours for the safety of those eating it. “People, who helplessly and silently bear hunger pangs, can and do not mind eating these items even at 2 a.m.” he says. They eat with a lot of happiness without complaining or demanding. And his reward is the gratifying smiles he receives before going home at the break of dawn to catch a few hours of sleep and resuming his auto driver’s duty from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
For the many shelterless, Vasudevan’s auto -- decorated with couplets from Thirukkural, Thiruvasagam and Subramania Bharati’s poems – represents the crucial dinner they get. It all began four years ago when Vasudevan quit his job as an ambulance driver and bought the autorickshaw. One day he picked up a passenger from Modern Restaurant carrying pongal in big containers. “The passenger said he was going to distribute it among the slum dwellers in Sammattipuram and I got the idea of food distribution from him.”
Luckily for him, three of my subsequent customers were local caterers and he tied up with them initially before his network grew. “I am blessed if I am able to feed a few people,” says Vasudevan, who now dreams of building a small hotel where he will assemble all donated food and distribute it free to anybody who walks in to eat.
“Giving does not make anyone poor,” he says, “But it remains a saying unless you experience it.”
(This column features human inspiring stories from Madurai and surroundings. E-mail soma.basu@thehindu.co.in to tell her about people you know who are silently working to make a difference in your respective areas)
