Arul Raj drives an auto-rickshaw which cusiously serves as a symbol for his social initiative. Just as the auto manoeuvres into the narrowest reaches of pencil-thin streets, this initiative seeks to reach the unreached — people who have made the street their home.
Arul Raj, founder of Karunai Ullangal(karunaiullangaltrust.org), places this social work within a broader category — “providing people on the streets with any help they might need”.
In workaday reality, it narrows down to a few sub-categories, with the major one being rescuing abandoned street-dwellers — largely, seniors — and ensconcing them in the safety of a shelter in Chennai, after attending to the formalities of that process.
It could either be a government-established night shelter, if the person fits certain criteria. Or, it could be a full-time care centre run by a voluntary organisation for those significantly broken in body and mind.
“I have the details of all the shelters at my finger-tips,” points out Arul Raj, adding that he gave up what was largely sedentary work to become an auto driver in 2017 — the year he established this NGO. The reasoning that steered that decision: “Being an autorickshaw driver would help me carry out rescues as part of my regular day at work”.
The pandemic has had him and his volunteer-force travel down additional ‘routes’ of service.
Says Sakthivel of Karunai Ullangal, “Earlier, on being informed about a possible rescue, we could launch into the process straightaway. There is now a COVID-19 test to be done, which is carried out at a government hospital. Now, results are known the same day. In the early part of the pandemic, a two-day turnaround time being the norm, after the test, the person would have to be left at the place he was found in, and then depening on the results, the next steps had to be planned.”
Sunday food packets
During the Sunday total lockdowns — which has been clamped in place now — there is the likelihood of many street-dwellers watching the day go by, with grumbles of protest from their unattended stomachs, points out Sakthivel.
“Some view the street as the permanent home, and would not want to be shifted to a shelter and rehabilitated, and they usually get by on earnings from menial ad hoc jobs or alms. On a lockdown-day, both do not come by. Besides, there would also be those stranded at bus stops and railway stations, with no hotel to go to, on a lockdown-day. They would need to be fed.”
Says Arul Raj, “Last Sunday, we provided 400 meals to people on the streets. For the Sunday to come, we have arranged for 370 people to be fed, but there is a need for 700 more packets. Our volunteers are spread across the city, and they identify people who have to be helped on such a day, and send in the details of how much has to be done.”
The pandemic is also challenging the group to reach out in ways they have not reached out before, says Arul Raj.
“There are regular reports of how people find it difficult to get ambulances. So, we are working towards getting an ambulance which would hopefully make a small difference.”
