By Azmathulla Shariff
Bengaluru, July 23, 2020: An NGO launched by a group young people in Bengaluru four years ago has been feeding those coming for treatment to the southern Indian city.
“Our mission is to please the Almighty and we believe this is a kind of worship,” says Syed Gulab, founder director of Roti Charity Trust that has so far fed more than 500,000 people over the years.
The trust is based at downtown Jayanagar, a hub for specialty hospitals.
Gulab says hundreds of people from various parts of India flock to Jayanagar daily for treatment in these hospitals — Kidwai Institute of Oncology for cancer, NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences) for mental illness, and Rajiv Gandhi Hospital for orthopedic ailments.
The place also has Institute of Medical Sciences, Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health and National Institute of Tuberculosis.
Gulab says he was inspired by the Hyderabad-based Sani Welfare Foundation that has been feeding homeless beggars, ragpickers and laborers since 2012. It was founded by Syed Osman Azhar Maqsusi after a chance encounter with a homeless woman crying under a flyover eight years ago.
Maqsusi arranged food for her and decided to do everything within his limited means to remove the hunger of as many people as possible.
The foundation now runs daily food programs with NGOs like Gulab’s trust in places such as Guwahati in Assam, Raichur in Karnataka and Tandur in Telegana.
Gulab says he has not taken a holiday since feeding program began.
Initially, he and his friends fed the hungry on Fridays and Sundays. But soon served food daily and majority of their beneficiaries are those accompanying patients from faraway places.
“We notice people experiencing a great relief after they have their food,” Gulab told Matters India.
Volunteers start at 2 pm serving food to nearly 300 people. Gulab is supported by his friends Mohammed Imtiyaz, Akram Pasha and other volunteers working in tandem.
As their white colored Maruti Omni arrives at the spot, people queue up to receive cooked meal. Usually, they serve hot white rice and ‘daal’ (lentils).
Volunteers can be seen distributing plates and water to those in the queue.
Gulab says some philanthropists support them paying the cook’s salary, rent for the storeroom and kitchen, van and routine maintenance.
He says they had faced some initial glitches, but overcame with the help of others. Venkat Aiyar of Swabhiman Charitable Trust of Neelsandara now supply some 500 ‘Idlis’ daily to serve breakfast at 6:30 am, a routine started a year ago.
“Aiyar’s support has come as major moral support and boon for us,” Gulab said. One Imtiyaz supplies bottled drinking water to all who come for food.
Gulab says hundreds of thousands of people come to the city from farflung areas for treatment. “However, no one cares for them. We stepped after realizing a dire need of volunteers to help these people,” he explained.
Their work increased after imposed a lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic on March 25. They do no serve cooked food on plates, but distribute food packets.
One of the persons helped by Gulab’s trust is Babita Patra from Odisha camping at a hospital with her mother. She is all praises for the youngsters who feed them regularly for the past two months.
Likewise, Krishan Kumar Pal who has come from Jharkhand for his daughter’s treatment says, “We are in Bangalore for nearly a month. We have exhausted our money even to buy food. We are being fed with timely food by these young people. May God shower his blessings on them,” Pal added.