COIMBATORE: People often abandon their loved ones on roads or bus stations, leaving them at the mercy of the unknown. It could be someone’s mother who has just lost her memory, perhaps, an old man suffering from dementia, or a child in dire need of palliative care. In most cases, they end up begging for food for days on end before turning up as an unidentified body in the police records.
In Coimbatore, P Mahendiran refuses to leave them to face the unkind world. Aged 45 and driven by compassion, Mahendiran, the founder of Eera Nenjam — an NGO and old-age home responsible for taking care of the needy and the homeless — barely lets time leak out of his watch. Nor does he leave a single aid-seeking call unattended.
When did the idea of extending a helping hand sparkle upon him? “There was an incident that happened in my life that awakened me to view the world from a broader perspective…” narrates Mahendiran, the man behind over 1,000 successful humanitarian deeds across the city.
The NGO founder goes on to share the experience that brought him closer to his humanitarian visions. “Once my mother and my elder sister, Amutha were travelling in an autorickshaw when the latter experienced a seizure, and she was tossed into a ditch from the moving three-wheeler. The driver applied brakes immediately and went to rescue Amutha. Afterwards, he dropped both of them. That was a humanitarian gesture that I’ll never forget. Our whole family will forever be grateful to that Samaritan…” Mahendiran says. From then, he began taking up such initiatives in full swing.
For over a decade, Mahendiran went on to rescue over 1,000 people from the streets, which includes pregnant women, and the mentally ill. He provides a safe sanctuary for them at a shelter home owned by the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation at RS Puram. Some were admitted at hospitals as well. That is not the end of the story, for he even converses with the patients to help them deal with their problems and provide a dose of homely comfort.
Mahendiran, who studied at an ITI has, so far, reunited over 400 people with their family, including a 15-year-old visually-challenged girl from Karnataka who, while boarding a train to Coimbatore, lost touch with her native place. “I am proud that I have been able to take care of 70 people — mostly elderly women — at the old-age home. It is possible only because of the support of my team,” Mahendiran says, before pouring well-wishes to the sponsors for providing food and other essential items to the inmates. It takes `1 lakh a month to run the home, he adds.
Mahendiran even brings college students for interactive sessions with the inmates. Turns out that it is not just daily chores and watering plants alone at Eera Nenjam after all.