Love and kindness are also contagious

Thiruvananthapuram: If there is something spreading faster than Covid-19, that would be nothing other than compassion. A good number of people who received support from unexpected corners at the time of crisis, especially during the devastating floods, are now returning the favour to those affected by the Covid-19 crisis and lockdown.
A native of Kadungalloor in Aluva, Sundesh Kumar faced the biggest crisis of his life in 2018 when he lost everything to floods.Two years later, Sundesh is now busy distributing free breakfast to poor families in the area.
Group of technology companies, which raised funds through a musical event ‘Revival’ to support people affected by the floods had contributed a commercial grinder and a steamer to Sundesh, which helped him start everything from scratch. He was among the 72 beneficiaries of the charity drive launched by GTech, with the support of Palakkad-based Padma Charitable Trust.
“I got a helping hand when I was hit by a crisis. Now I am doing a small bit which I could afford by contributing 10 packets of breakfast. It is distributed to the poor in the locality, among whom is a lonely mentally-challenged person. A contribution to the meal distribution of Sevabharathi and police too is being made regularly,” he said.
Similar is the case of A Mariajaya, who came from Thoothukudi to Kadungalloor to eke out a living by tailoring in 2018. Within two months, she lost everything to the floods. She was given three sewing machines by GTech. “Now we are back to life. So, when this crisis came, we made masks and contributed to the panchayat, poor children in the area and to various other groups,” said Mariajaya, who along with her husband Arumugham is running a tailoring unit.
In Thiruvananthapuram, city mayor’s office got a call on Thursday from Kaithamukku native Ganeshan, who expressed his desire to contribute to corporation’s community kitchen. He asked someone to collect the amount as he was unwell. When mayor K Sreekumar reached his house, Ganeshan, a Parkinson’s patient, donated Rs 1,000 from his welfare pension to the community kitchen. It was another way of paying back for Ganeshan who was able to conduct a major surgery at Sree Chitra hospital in 2012 with government’s financial aid.
Incidentally, it is not just a chain reaction of goodness. Some who faced bitter experiences in the past are continuing with humanitarian efforts this time too. Omanakuttan, known as ‘Saghavu Omanakuttan’, is one of them. Omanakuttan, who was harassed for collecting fund from camps during flood was able to prove his innocence later. However, that didn’t hold him back this time. Omanakuttan said that he contributed vegetables produced this time to the community kitchen of K K Kumaran Palliative Care, Kanjikuzhy in Cherthala. “When the entire state is suffering, I could not think about any profits,” he said.