the following story I had written first appeared in the Positive News website and since then has appeared elsewhere. I wanted to post it here as I felt that what Venkatraman practices is so much in line with what majority of Indians believe and articulated beautifully in one of the scriptures as 'annam bahu kurvita tat vratam', meaning, 'creation and sharing of food in plenty is an austerity'.
perhaps in times when there was plentiful food for all, it was practised differently, in difficult times the same is practised in a different manner, Ramalinga Adigalar, a sage who lived in central tamilnadu, has famously told his followers that the only service they can do is to feed the needy (his period coincides with the colonial infused hungry times), so, several of his followers till date continue to keep as their life motto - to feed people, willing, voluntarily, in plenty and as a responsibility to humanity!
unfortunately, such acts are not considered when governments and others think of food security of the millions!
ram
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subsidizing quality food!
Venkatraman, Erode, Tamizhnadu - manages a small eatery close to a hospital in Erode town of Tamizhnadu. One day an attender to a patient walked in and asked foridlies for Rs.10/-, as he had no idlies, Venkatraman offered to give them dosa instead. The lady attender refused and left, saying that there were three of them attending to a patient and they may get more idlies to share than dosas between themselves as they could not afford more than Rs.10/- on their food.
Struck by the poverty of those who attend to the patients in the hospital and utilizing his proximity to the Government Hospital, Venkatraman came up with an idea, he started to offer 30 tokens for the attendants to the poor patients every day in the hospital. These people are supplied a meal for Rs.1/- (a normal meal even in the smallest of restaurants will cost Rs.20/- and in Venkatraman's eatery costs Rs.30/-) and the quantity of the meal will be sufficient to feed at least two. This he does everyday, saying that it is within his capacity to feed those 30 people in a notional cost (normally about 300 people visit his eatery, so that adds to about 10% of his visitors, he is subsidizing). This he has been doing it for the last four years. He also offers 20% discount on food prices to any physically challenged and blind person who visits his eatery.
How does he select his beneficiaries? 'We visit the wards, at times we know by the look of those who come to our place to buy food. We prefer to support the attendants of those families where the bread winner of the family is in hospital for a long duration and there is no active earning to support. Normally such poor families run out of their savings with the first week and run out of credit options, which is only the employer, within two weeks. If the bread winner has to take long to recover, then, they are most helpless even amongst the poor. The hospitals feed the patients, but, no one will feed the poor attender which will be the wife of the bread winner in most cases', he says. 'We also look for signs of wealth when we visit, if we notice lots of jewellery or mobile phones, we politely refuse and take back the token from them', he adds.
Does he get any outside support? 'Not much, but, sometimes, people give me Rs.100/- or 50/-, some people can't afford to support a full meal in orphanages or old age homes on their birthdays or some other such important days, for such people, it is easier to give whatever they can afford to us. We write their name in a board in our eatery to ensure that their donation is acknowledged', he says. He is not from any wealthy family, has wife and two daughters to support. He says he started this impulsively as consulting others would have lead to only confusing advise, 'I didn't start this with any support in mind, nor have registered any NGO for this. It is our duty to support the needy. My wife is fine with this and I believe in God and know that doing good to others can never lead us to any harm', he says.
His motto - 'if everyone in their area of work can help just a few under privileged in their own way, there will be no one begging in the streets, it is in our hands and independent of what vocation we are in'.
You can meet Venkatraman at - AMV Homely Mess, 78/100, Powerhouse Road, (near Nallasami Hospital), Erode - 1.
Source/Contact: J. Prabhakar, Coordinator, NDSO - Ennangalin Sangamam, a network of volunteers in Tamizhnadu
Param, is a pre-fix in Tamizh language that denotes anything superior, elevating.
Param / Positive News is printed about 90% in Tamizh and 10% English currently out of Chennai in Tamilnadu.
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