BENGALURU: With the winter just beginning to set in and a sudden chill creeping through the nights, a group of friends in the city is making a tiny effort to alleviate the misery of the homeless on the streets. Their idea: distribution of woollen blankets to ensure some warmth to those lying on footpaths on the streets or huddled inside gunny bags.
Informally calling themselves as ‘Manav Seva Friends’, this seven-member group comprising of young men all below 35 years, went around many areas on their bikes on October 22 and handed over 50 blankets. They repeated their mission on the night of October 28, but with 120 blankets this time.
“We are all middle-class individuals. We have fixed a target of `500 or `1,000 for each member to be collected from close relatives only. Using that, we bought blankets at a wholesale shop at Ramachandrapura,” says Rakesh Chandaliya, who runs a small garment shop near Tin Factory.
They started from Tin Factory and then visited Halasuru, Commercial Street, Shivaji Nagar, Vidhana Soudha, K R Market and stopped at Rajajeshwari Nagar arch. “We went around between 11pm and 4.30am to identify the deserving. Only the desperately needy are given the blankets,” he says. Apart from Chandaliya, Nilesh Mehta, Sandeep Chajjeed, Manoj Bohra, Rakshit Bohra, Kamal Kataria and Vishal Gadwani constitute the group.
On the reason behind this gesture, Chandaliya said the idea struck him last year when they were all chatting about the birthday treats to be given by two friends, Nilesh Mehta (of the group) and Naveen Jain on their birthdays in December last year. “We were discussing lunch for family and friends when I suggested that we could use the `2,000 or `3,000 on something more worthwhile, like helping the needy. Everyone agreed immediately,” he said. Instead of the lunch, the group went around distributing 27 blankets to mark the duo’s 27th birthday.
The recipients of the blankets feel truly overwhelmed with joy when they receive it. Mehta recalls the response of a family sleeping on Commercial Street last week. A couple with their young boy, may be around 4 years, was shivering in the cold, he said. “When I wrapped a blanket around the boy and he looked happy, his father literally fell at my feet. Most of the homeless are very happy and thank us profusely. This really inspires us,” Mehta recalls.
When the blankets got exhausted last week and a 51st homeless person was found, Chandaliya wanted to help him too and ended up removing his jacket and draping him in it. The group has already procured another 80 blankets for the next Saturday night (November 4) and is trying to add more.
‘Want this mission replicated across India’
The group is clear that they do not want financial contributions or volunteers to continue their work. “We have uploaded the video of us distributing blankets on Facebook as well as YouTube recently. The response from people has been overwhelming,” informs Chandaliya.
“If those inspired by our work can emulate it by forming such small groups in their areas and help the homeless in their surroundings, then a very large number will be benefited,” he says. “Our dream is to see that this concept reaches all villages in the country,” Chandaliya adds. Even if funds come their way, the group would not be in a position to reach out to a larger number and prefers to remain as a small team, he added.