CHENNAI: Seven years after struggling on the streets with barely anything even to hide his body, 30-year-old Abrar Ahmed would have never dreamt of reuniting with his family in Uttar Pradesh.
The frail, naked man with disabilities, who was found crawling under the hot sun near Olympia Techpark in Ekkatuthangal, was rescued in June last by the organisation, Udavum Karangal, thanks to the initiative by a social worker with the organisation, P N Sundaresan.
Sundaresan said that Abrar had a history of having undergone psychiatry treatment. After regular counselling and interaction, he revealed details about his family that hails from a village near Hasimpur in Muzaffar Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh.
“As he was missing for nearly seven years, the family members thought he had died. Once the family got the news about him from us, his father and brother cried with joy. His brother Gulzar rushed to Chennai,” Sundaresan said.
Abrar has a big family with eight siblings, including six sisters, all of whom have been married. His parents are still alive and were affectionate towards him.
“He is said to have taken psychiatric treatment at Meerut and Delhi for one year. He was non-cooperative with the family members. He didn’t want to be a burden to the family and hence disappeared from his house in a state of depression,” said Sundaresan.
“These days even a physically normal person with mental illness is rejected by the society and even family members. We were heartened to see a person with physical disability and mental disturbance, who is completely dependent on caretakers, is wanted by the family with full affection and love. He was restored to his brother Gulzar,” added the social worker.
His organisation has developed a mobile application to reach out to destitute, psychiatric patients and senior citizens for whom there is none to care. Those who find any person in distress can access the app and direct them to the organisation.
The app, he added, would provide a platform for people, especially the tech-savvy youth, to do their bit for social service.
“There are a lot of people who are ready to help both physically and through financial contributions, but are still to find a way to do it. The app, Helper’s Choice, has been developed to encourage such people,” he said.
This app can be accessed internationally, but it has a limited scope for physical operation beyond rescuing patients and destitutes in areas where Udavum Karangal has functioning homes – Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruvannamalai.