He's the Santa Claus of orphans, destitutes

bangalore: this independence day was indeed special for v.n.h. rau, a social worker who collects surplus unsold food from hotels and distributes them among orphans and destitute children. rau was given the independence day award for social service by governor ramadevi, who was touched by his work, featured in the times of india earlier. rau feels happy his work has been recognised and hopes it inspires others too."the governor told me she was very happy with what i was doing, specially at my age when i could have just led a relaxed and retired life doing nothing," beams a happy rau. "the governor called on more people to do this sort of thing. she was pleased that this scheme feeds hungry mouths on the one hand and prevents food from being wasted on the other." rau has been doing this for around nine months now and feeding about 500 children twice a day. he has two deep freezes to store food and a van to go around distributing it. while he is immensely pleased with the governor's recognition, to rau the biggest award is the smile of joy on the faces of children when his van arrives with the food. "the emotional satisfaction it gives is something only those who feel it can understand," he smiles. "the deaf and dumb use sign language to tell each other that the food has come and even the blind get to know as soon as we reach their institution. they mill around us and enjoy the food we bring for them." rau says the governor's recognition will "inspire others". he hopes more will join the bandwagon in feeding the thousands of hungry stomachs in the city. "many institutions for destitute children depend to a very large extent on public sympathy and at times have no food to give to children there. this sort of a regular and assured supply of food will be of great help to them." the rs 10,000 that came with the award has gone into his scheme. "i got it because of the scheme and i will use if for my scheme," he says simply. rau is trying to expand the scheme to more areas now. "with some help i can feed more across the city." rau is thus the santa who brings the joy of christmas to 500 tots everyday who would otherwise have gone hungry more often than not.