Care for uncared

EVERY MORNING
27-year-old N Krishnan, a former five-star chef and now, founder of Akshaya's Helping in HELP Trust, leaves his home in Madurai, Tamil Nadu and drives around the city. He is accompanied by two assistants and a driver in his Maruti Omni van, stacked with packets of food and drinking water bottles. For the next two or three hours, Krishnan and his team of dedicated volunteers drive for nearly 140km in and around the city, feeding close to 400 destitute and mentally ill people, left to live on the street, uncared for. They are not beggars. These people are mostly old people who have been abandoned by their families or forcibly thrown out of their homes because they are seen as an unwanted burden. They have no one to call their own or to care for them. Many even go for days without food. “I try my best to ensure that doesn't happen,” reveals Krishnan.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
In June 2002, Krishnan was a bright, young chef ,a gold medalist in catering technology working with Taj Residency, Bangalore, who had just been shortlisted to go to Switzerland to take care of the Taj Group. A quick trip back home to meet his parents in Madurai changed everything. Riding around on his motorcycle one day, he stopped to watch an old homeless man under a bridge. “He was eating something furiously. I drew close and saw that it was his own waste! I was stunned by the sheer desperation of the situation,” said Krishnan. “I bought the hungry man idlis (rice cake) from a roadside stall near by. He quietly ate it and held my hand for a long time. For the next few days, all I could see and think about was his hunger-ravaged face.”

A week later, Krishnan quit his job at the hotel and returned home for good, convinced that he was meant for something else. “Had the old man been vocal in his gratitude or thanked me profusely, I would probably have gone my way and never looked back. It was his silent, lingering glance that really affected me,” said Krishnan.

RECEIPE FOR SERVICE
Krishnan began by feeding 40 people in and around his home, using his savings to pay for the supplies. At first, he used to ride around on his motorcycle. In 2003, a well-wisher donated a Maruti Omni van to him. So, now he uses it as transport. And while he used to personally cook the food before, now he has help. Akshaya's menu promises modest but tasty south India vegetarian food; for breakfast- idlis, sambar, pongal, kichadi, vegetable uppma, vada, bonda, dosa and variety of chutneys, for lunch- vegetable biryani, sambar rice, lemon rice, curd rice, tamarind rice with variety of pickles and different type of raithas and for dinner- chappathi, parotta, masla dosa, poori with kurmas. Besides, on special occasions it is different types of sweets, butter milk and a variety of fresh juices. “We spend Rs13,000 everyday on feeding people. I usually find these people sitting under bridges, road sides or on railway platforms,” says Krishnan.

“Akshaya Trust has survived and even succeeded thanks to some generous donations by big-hearted individuals and business corporations. I truly believe that if any cause is good enough, it will sustain through goodwill and we are proof. Akshaya Trust has almost received Rs80 to 90 lakhs in public donations to date,” said Krishnan.

INGREIDANTS FOR A DREAM
Krishnan's ultimate goal is to build a shelter for the homeless and mentally ill in Madurai. “We have purchased a 20,000sq ft property in the outskirts of the city where we will build the home. I think just feeding these poor people is not enough,” he said. Already 17 people were rehabilitated and now they are living on their own like normal people. The last rites for nearly 197 people have been performed by Krishnan. The construction of the home has already started and work is in full swing. Krishnan said he wanted to complete it by 2010 end, so that, he can bring all the people under one roof and they can be taken care of.