As an extension to Mamatha Subbaiah’s article on Happiness, we came across a very apt contribution written a while ago at the time of COVID. We hear of many instances where good samaritans like Richa @Lets Celebrate Fitness do these amazing deeds, that the vast government machinery is unable to deliver. The answer is obvious – these acts come from within – where people/institutions believe in the old idiom that “it is in the giving that you get”. No political overtones nor acts that fall in the category of “self-aggrandisement”. Kodavaame – perhaps!!
Readers are invited to share such stories that CLN would be delighted to showcase in the Online Edition. – CLN Newsdesk.
On Tuesday evening, someone brought a 4 year old girl to the Vashi police station in Navi Mumbai. She was lost and separated from her parents. Luckily for the girl, Richa Baadkar was at the police station for some other work. Richa is part of a group of enterprising social workers in Navi Mumbai who call themselves the Let’s Celebrate Fitness group (LCF) @Lets Celebrate Fitness.
This group of fitness enthusiasts found their calling during the pandemic. They made it their mission to go out into the slums of Navi Mumbai to distribute food, clothes and other essential items to the residents. The municipal officials and police supported their efforts and this allowed Richa and her friends to be able to be on the road and move around freely even during the most extreme lockdown periods. The group’s philanthropic efforts became well known within Navi Mumbai and they started getting financial and logistical support from members of the community.
Back to Tuesday evening – the policemen at the Vashi police station knew Richa very well because of all the work that she has been doing with the residents of the slums and asked her to take a look at the child. The child grabbed Richa’s leg and would not let go. She kept saying that this is the lady who gave her cake. Richa realized that this child must have been one of the thousands of children who she must have given food packets during the pandemic.
So for the next 6 hours, Richa and her friends drove around all of Navi Mumbai trying to find the child’s parents. Their knowledge of the slums in the area helped them. But nonetheless, it took them a long time to finally located the parents at 2AM. The parents were grateful to get their child back. The little girl had wandered off and it turns out had walked over ten kilometers on a busy highway. It is a miracle that she survived that journey and as taken to the police station by a Good Samaritan.
No words can express the gratitude we all feel towards Richa and the members of @Lets Celebrate Fitness . During the pandemic they have helped thousands of people with food, clothing, amenities and help in finding jobs. I am blown away that there are people like Richa and her friends who do this day in and day out, which enabled her to save this child. Blown away that it comes down to valiant acts of the Richas of the world to do what the system (society and government) ought to be doing. Blown away at how a support system coalesces around people like Richa – of the good hearted folks in the municipal corporation who support her, the cops who recognize her efforts, and the folks who provide financial and logistical support.
If these remarkable, yet regular citizens can do these amazing deeds, why is that the vast government machinery is unable to do more?? While it feels great to hear these things, it also fills one with anger and despair. God bless people like Richa and her friends from @Lets Celebrate Fitness. More power to them!!!
We need more Richas’ in this world – including in our own beloved Kodagu. We are upto our gills with every form of self-indulgent Nammes ; but seldom do we find coverage on “acts of kindness” that touches all echelons of the society we live in.
There is the Coorg Education Fund, KESST, Kodava Deenabandhu Charitable Trust and the many Kodava Samajas. These are institutions – we need more “individuals” to show empathy and act with genuine concern – not the frequent display of this gate donated by so-and-so!
Admiration for the sheer humanity displayed by ordinary citizens who stepped up during the darkest days of the pandemic. Feeding the hungry, clothing the forgotten and even reuniting a lost child with her family.
This peice celebrated kindness and rightly so. But it also unintentionally exposes a deeper failure a system that reacts slowly while humanity reacts instantly. Stories like these should not only inspire applause, but also provide accountability. Because while we salute the Richas of the world, we must also ask why are they being forced to fill the gaps that should not exist in the first place?