KOCHI: A simple act of kindness can make a wedding more memorable. Just ask Paravoor native Jairaj K S. To mark the marriage of his younger daughter Karthika, the former Public Works Department superintending engineer built a house for a homeless domestic help in his locality. He did this with the help of his wife Minimol S, a bank valuer.
Paravoor MLA V D Satheesan handed over the keys to the house to the beneficiary on June 10. Though Karthika’s marriage was held in December last year, the house could not be constructed at the time.
“When we heard about the woman’s plight, my wife and I decided to build her a house by saving some money kept aside for Karthika’s marriage. Despite owning a five-cent plot, the woman had not figured in any of the government housing schemes for unknown reasons,” Jairaj said.
The sexagenarian is not new to such humanitarian acts. During the marriage of his elder daughter Keerthana in 2015, Jairaj sponsored the marriage of five other girls.
“What is the point of organising extravagant weddings if it doesn’t make you happy? The decisions were taken by the family. My wife and I are followers of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s ‘Art of Living’ and those sessions inspired us to take up the initiatives,” said Jairaj.
Jairaj’s kindness was also on display during the 2018 flood when the family distributed essentials to many flood victims. “Our own house was completely inundated, but we managed to escape to safety,” he said. The couple is now thinking about adopting a few children in their locality.
“We know three kids in the area whose parents died a few years ago. We are already sponsoring their education and will take care of them for the rest of their lives,” he said.