HYDERABAD: At the age of five, he was found doing odd jobs in roadside stalls and was adopted by a social reformer. 20 years later, Malleshwar Rao runs a network called ‘Don’t Waste Food’ which feeds 2,000 persons daily and is 2008 Indian Youth Icon awardee. He has received 26 more such awards. His story is the quintessential rags to riches story, but here, his ‘riches’ are the blessings that he receives after filling a hungry stomach.“I do not want to break this chain of kindness. Someone was kind to me once. That is why I am giving it back,” he says.
‘Don’t Waste Food’ collects extra food from hotels and parties and feeds around 9,000 persons at a few places in the country, including 500-2000 in Hyderabad. The group has branches in New Delhi, Rohtak and Dehradun. In Hyderabad, the food is distributed among the kith and kin of patients who wait outside government hospitals like Gandhi Hospital, Osmania Hospital and Niloufer Hospital. The distribution is done during the night and the volunteers work often up to 2 am. Besides this, Malleshwar has also founded a group called ‘Friendly School’ that teaches around 4,000 slum children across 16 cities in India. In Hyderabad, the volunteers teach at a slum in Gachibowli.
Malleshwar, who hails from Nizamabad, was born into a family which did not have the financial means to support him. Social reformer Hemalatha Lavanam picked him up from the streets and provided him with an education in Samskar Ashram Vidyalayam, which she had co-founded with her husband. He studied under her tutelage till her death in 2008. Hemalatha had worked extensively to eradicate the Jogini system in Nizamabad, and Malleshwar too was inspired by that. He has talked about the struggles of the ‘Joginis’ at various platforms including international ones. For a living, Malleshwar works as a curator for TEDx Talks (Delhi).
“Till now, I have brought together around 1,800 persons to talk on the platform. Before that, I was working with Josh Talks.” So how does Malleshwar find volunteers to distribute the food? “I usually put up a post on our ‘Don’t Waste Food’ Facebook group, and people have mostly been forthcoming. During weekends, many IT employees volunteer. Sometimes, if I do not find anyone, I go alone. All the associated expenses for this endeavour is borne by me.”