There is something to learn from this destitute… 

​Medak: Nobody knows where she came from or if somebody deserted her there at the fag-end of her life. Taking little steps as she walks with a hunched back, with a turban-like cloth covering her head and a faded and soiled saree which she has been wearing for the past four to five years, her weak appearance is a living example of the horrible condition in which destitute live around us.

Gangamma (80+), is not just any regular destitute that we see on the streets. She made Medak town her home a few years ago and has been living near a dargah located at the entrance of Medak town, very close to the SP office and the new integrated District Collectorate. She was probably orphaned by fate or may have been deserted by her supposed-to-be loved ones.

She has been surviving on tea, biscuits, rice and other things offered to her by the shopkeepers near that junction. She does beg, but she is also choosy about whom to accept alms from. If some drunk person offers her money, she does not accept. “She doesn’t defecate and urinate on the streets, but goes somewhere far away from public places to offer nature’s calls,” says Nagarani, a tea vendor who has been taking care of the old lady, along with other commoners who have been supporting Gangamma all these years.

After she finishes her meal, she wipes and cleans the place and makes the place spick and span, even if the dining area is the main road. She sleeps either on the steps of shops or in an open-air dargah located there. “A few weeks ago when deep trenches were dug by the side of the main road, she accidentally fell inside it and couldn’t even shout for help.

She was discovered and rescued after four days. Her survival spirit knows no bounds,” recollected Rajaram, husband of Nagarani. She sits by the side of the road smoking away her worries, with beedies she buys with generous donations from commoners (not the rich ones). In a feeble voice she speaks Kannada, some parts of which some people understand and communicate with her using key words like ‘chai, paisal, annam’ and so on.

The Hans India has taken the task of ensuring that she lives the last few years of her life in dignity, with the help from Integrated New Life Society for Education and Development (INSED) located in the Sangareddy Government Hospital premises where 86 such destitute are being offered selfless service by M Manohar, its founder.

Gangamma was taken to INSED ashram by Manohar who visited Medak on Monday, after The Hans informed him about the wise old lady. As Nagarani and Rajaram bid goodbye to her, tears started rolling down from her eyes. People from the locality who have known her all these years came to bid her farewell. She had one last meal in Medak, her home for the past few years before she boarded a bus to Sangareddy along with Manohar.

Humanists who wish to do service to mankind by helping these destitute (mostly mentally-ill) to survive may visit www.insed.org or may call 9959333410to donate in kind. The organisation currently needs clothes, winter-wear, rugs, blankets, toiletries and such items which people use in their everyday lives.

The Hans India had written in the past that there is no compound wall around the ashram and due to this reason some of the mentally-ill have been escaping. Till date neither the government, nor socially-responsible corporates have come forward to help. All they need is an eight-feet-high fence.

Gangamma is just one person. There are hundreds of others here. The successive governments have not done enough to give shelter to such people. At least in Medak, Sangareddy and Siddipet districts, there is not a single government-run old age home or a destitute home.

By Vivek Bhoomi