One day early morning when I was in a deep sleep on my bed, suddenly I received a call from one of my school friend Kumudasri.
Kumuda: "Ajay come fast to secunderabad station along with some money & blanket if you have ? its very urgent ! "
Me: Got shocked and jumped out of my bed after hearing that & asked her whats wrong happened ?
Kumuda: In a very distrubed environment she replied something to me which I didnt get clearly.
Me: replied "ok ok I was on my way will see you soon "
And kept my mobile back to my pocket & ran out of my home (Not even brushed my teeth) with some saved money of mine & kick started my bike and accelerated it to the maximum speed to reach her faster as I was bit worried about her call & also unable to guess exactly whats wrong happened at their end, but only thing I can figure out is that something she badly need a help at that time.
After reaching secuderabad I called her & asked where is she ? then she replied we are on the way & directed me to some land mark to come there. As said I reached that place first and wating for them to come. Couple of a minutes later one auto ricshaw came to me and in that I found Kumuda along with my another school friend Asha and one more stranger along with them who is nearly 80years old skinny & weak looking women sitting inside an auto. I was still in a big confusion to figure out what was happened then I approched them and get the information which goes like below according to them....
Ashu & Kumuda are on their way to shopping in Nampally that day. As they were waiting for their local train in Nampally station they found this old lady who seems to be very much week with a bleeding blood on her hand came to them & showing some slip and asking what was written in it. First of all they felt bad about her situation then they tried to communicate with her but unable to do effectively because the reason is that old lady cant speak & understand our language she knows only 3 languages those are Tamil,Malayalam & Tulu which were not well know to majority of the people in our state (Andhra pradesh). I dont know how they find out but they came to know that her name is Vanajakshi, she is staying in that railway platform from last 3days without having any food and also got hurt on her hand by falling down. After knowing that my both friends really feel like helping her at anycost & looked out for some help as so many gathered around them but no one put their step forward to take the responsibility of Vanajakshi. Then I am proud to say that my both frnds took an initiation to help her at any cost even being a girls.... and they did it by taking the responsibility of that old lady on their shoulders. All the way they carry her from Nampally to Secuderabad with out anyones help. So now its my time to give them a helping hand and be a part of their good work to the society.
Now whats the next step ? We decided to get her a treatment for her bleeding hand first so, we took her to the Gandhi hospital and provided her the basic treatment with the help of our one more frnd Ms.Deepthi who is doing her medicine in the same hospital at that time. Luckily we came to know that there are few nurses & doctors who can speak Malayam in the hospital, great to know that as we are struggling alot to know about her details. We requested one Malayalam Doctor to get the information from her, then Vanajakshi told some shocking things to that doctor....
Vanajakshi is a widow & came from a good family background & has a well educated son working in Post office hyderabad (She's unable to say in which branch he works & the address where she used to stay) as the son & his family dont like her to stay with them as she is no more useful to them, that rediculous son thrown her in the railway platform by giving only Rs10/- currency, and asked her to leave to their village & stay with his younger brothers place by catching the train without even buying a ticket & guiding her how to go .....what a man he is ? after that he simply left that place by saying her that I will come back & never came back from last 3days as said , this poor lady who dont know what to do is simply waiting for her son in the same platform from last 3 days hoping that he will come back & take her home. But nothing like that happened, luckily got seen by my friends atlast otherwise she would have die with out even getting food.
The women I was talking about is the below one.
Vanajakshi having Tea Offered By Me :)
So whats next ? ? ?
We cannot leave her in this condition & wash our hands, we have to do something good for her atleast keep her in a safe place where she can lead rest of her life happily atleast without any troubles. So 3 of us think a while & decided to take her to the police station as this is a very sensitive issue for us we decided to go legally as a responsible citizens. Then we take her to the nearest Police station and explained the complete story to the S.I (sub inspector) he appreciated us but unable to do any help as he simply escaped by saying that its a critical issue to be handled by my seniour officer but right now he is outside dont even know when he comes. Then we suggested him atleast join her on any old age home on behalf of them but no use he's trying to escape. Then I took a mobile number of him for further contact purpose as a proof of we approched the Police station regarding her case.
Then we decided to join her in any old age home by ourselves atleast for a temporary basis, so we took her to the nearest old age home and approached the administration for the joining details, sadly they are not agreed to join her in their center even after upon our request... then one sister came (may be god sent her for us ?) from inside and spoke with Vanajakshi in her language & came to know about her situation and feel like helping us. Then she guided us to another place called "Mother Therisa Charitable Trust" in Secunderabad, Hyderabad. Where they will accept to join & accomodate such kind of a needy people, after thanking that sister we went to that Charitable Trust along with Vanajakshi.
After reaching that place we approched the Sister who is managing that trust, but that sister suspect us that as if we are joining our own grand mother but later on she came to know the truth after speaking with Vanajakshi (luckily all the sisters whom we met knows Vanajakshi's language). Then after she agreed to join her & appreciated us for taking this big step which is very rarely seen these days, we felt so happy at that time atlast we found some place to keep Vanajakshi safe where she can get all her basic needs like food,shelter,clothing & health care etc... most importantly she can communicate with them freely as all of those volunteers on that trust understands & knows her language well.
We thank god for giving us such a great oppurtunity to help some one like this for the first time in our lives, we really felt great that day by realising that we did something good today. I donated 1000/- Rs on the name of Asha,Kumuda & Myself to the trust immediately.
Now its a very tough time for us to say good bye to Vanajakshi, we really dont like to go back to home by leave her who spent a whole day with us by keeping her trust on us even we are a big strangers to her and hoping that we will do something for her. We really thank her for utilizing us in such a good way.
While leaving she thanked us by crying & explaining everything to the sister that what we did for her from the morning to till now, then we gave her a word that we will definetly come back to see you regularly, after listening that she felt very happy and replied us "On your next vist I will offer you the Sarees" ofcourse this offer is limited to Ashu & Kumuda only not for me hehe :P, then sister asked Vanajakshi what will you offer for this boy (AJAY) ? then she laughed at me haha that was a funny moment for me :) and started telling about me to the sister I was overwhelmed at that time.
Finally before leaving back to home we decided to take few photos with her, so we took a permission from the sister to take few snaps with Vanajakshi in their premissis after her approval we took few memorable shots with my mobile.
Ashu,Vanu & Myself
Ashu, Vanu & Kumuda
What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like. Saint Augustine