It was the day after Diwali 2020, Taylors road saw a new resident, but, this resident was not moving into a house, this new addition was going to live in the streets, the pavement of this road. He chose a place close to a tea shop opposite the Salesian Institute of Graphic Arts. No, he was not clever to be able to make this choice, it was just so.
Mani knew he had a home in TB Chathram, maybe he did not know how to get there? He seems to have been living with his 2 sons. The local tea shop man says that he was bought here and left behind. Abandoned….. what a very strong word….
How would any of us feel, if we were abandoned, left to fend for ourselves, when we are old, unable to take care, feeble, hungry, in poor health. Helplessness is not a happy place to be…..
One morning I was returning from my walk and
found him on the road, his pants were wet and he was cold. He was just outside the tea shop. I have him enough money for food for the day and then I noticed his trousers and realised he had wet himself. When he saw my eyes going towards his feet he smiled shyly and asked me for a pair of trousers. I asked him to wait in the same place and that I would bring him some. And, if I did not return in some time he was to come to my home. I gave him directions.
I started walking home, a few steps and I realised that he was following me. He had left the cup of tea on the road and set off behind me. I told him to wait and that I would be back.
An hour later, the skies opened up and down came the rain, heavy rain. A dark, gloomy, wet day. My thoughts shifted to immediate issues at hand. A while later I took my car and went out searching for Mani, I could not find him. I returned with the hope that he had found shelter in this heavy rain.
Next morning, I did not find Mani, I asked at the teas shopand Muthu told me that he had not seen Mani since yesterday. I once again confirmed that he had been abandoned and had no support.
I contacted Arnish Community Service Director of Rotary Club of Chennai Kilpauk, sent him a photograph of Mani and gave him the location. Within the hour a rescue team was looking for Mani. They did find him, but he refused to go. He said that he had a house and will be going back.
My next task was to walk around and inquire if Mani really had no support and receive confirmation that he was in fact a destitute and it would be good to find a home for him.
I sought help of the police who checked and convinced him to go. That evening he was rescued from the streets and taken to an old aged home.
This morning I stopped at the tea shop to thank Muthu for his support and asked who had been helping Mani the last few months. Muthu and others points me to a small shop down the nature lane adjoining the tea shop and pointed me to a petty shop. They said the woman who ran the shop was Mani's benefactor, she would bring him food and clothes. Mani needed lots of clothes, he had no control of his bladder.
At the petty shop I saw a man, her husband Srinivasan, sitting and reading a newspaper and asked him for the owner of the shop. He said that it was his wife and called her.
Dhanasekhari, is a small made woman with av veryvery large heart. Without expecting anything in return she had been taking care of Mani. Giving him food, clothing and the hope that there was someone to take care of him.
It was relatively easy for me to give many a little money and then to stage for him to be taken to a home. Dhanasekhari had looked after him, and would have continued to do so if need be.
When I wanted to take her pictures she refused, she says that she did not want any publicity nor any recognition and that she was happy to have helped. I did manage to take her picture...
This world needs more people like her. This world needs to learn from her, recognise her.
She leaves behind deep foot prints and I hope others follow.
