SRIKAKULAM: Witnessing the difficulties the family of their 45-year-old school mate were in, his batchmates came forward to support the family after the Registered Medical Practitioner’s (RMP) sudden demise following a cardiac arrest in Mandasa village in September last year. With the death of Krishna Rao, his family members started experiencing financial and other forms of troubles. He was the sole breadwinner of the family. The children were studying in the local private high school, while his wife is a house maker.
The deceased’s Class 10 friends decided to pitch in to support the family in their hour of need. They started paying the family a monthly maintenance of `3,000 per month from October last year. Not only this, Krishna Rao’s friends also took the responsibility to bear the cost of his children’s education too.
“On seeing how Covid-19 has devastated the socio-economic conditions of people, we decided to extend all possible support (financial and otherwise) to our friends—those who studied Class 10 in Zilla Parishad High School at Mandasa,’’ Sistu Somanath, the voice of the 1990 batch said.
He recalled that they created a WhatsApp group about five years ago and were reunited with 50 of our “classmates” . “We meet once a year in Mandasa and recollect the old memories. We also decided to extend support to the needy within our friends group. We are paying a monthly maintenance similar to social security pension to Krishna Rao’s family. Every month, each of our friends provides the maintenance money to the family.
The cycle will be repeated until the family recovers from financial crisis. One of our friends has promised to bear the cost of Krishna Rao’s children’s education till they complete Class 10. This apart, we have also extended the financial aid of `2 lakh to one of our friends, who underwent amputation surgery,’’ Somanath said. “My husband died of cardiac arrest last year,” Laxmi, wife of the departed RMP, said. With tears in her eyes, she pointed out that his childhood friends have been extending all support to “my family by contributing a monthly amount in the form of pension.