St Aloysius College Alumnus Sumith Rao gone Good Samaritan Caring for Migrants/Poor during Lockdown
Mangaluru: Following close on its heels after I had done a report ( Ref: Once An Aloysian, Always An Aloysian! St Aloysius HS 1975 Batch ‘Make A Difference’ serving Food for Needy ) on 8 April, where a bunch of Aloysians of St Aloysius High School 1975 batch went on distributing (lunch) food packets to 160 migrant/low wage workers/destitute (which will continue for eight days), and here we have yet another product of St Aloysius High School (1979) and completed his PUC at St Aloysius PUC, and Team Mangalorean feels proud to introduce Sumith S Rao, currently the Managing Director of M/S Olympus Refrigeration Inc, Mangaluru, and Assistant Governor Zone 3 of Rotary Club International Dist 3181, who for the last few days has turned into a Good Samaritan, feeding nearly 300 migrant/low wage workers and destitute daily lunch, and this is a ONE MAN HUMANITARIAN initiative, and Sumith has handled it alone, with little assistance from his three buddies, Shailendra Pai, Prashanth Rai and Canute Pinto.
Rtn Sumith S Rao
We Aloysians, including Sumith Rao and Yours Truly, have always followed in the Motto of tour Alma mater (St Aloysius institution) which is ‘Lucet et Ardet’- and these Latin words mean ‘Shine to Enkindle’ refer to the mind and heart. It is the deep desire of our Alma Mater to present to our nation and to the world men and women with minds bright with knowledge and creativity, and hearts burning with genuine love and concern for others. And our lives have measured up to the expectation of this Motto. And also with the Vision of our Alma mater, and guided by the motto, we have committed ourselves to spread the light of knowledge and wisdom and to kindle the ardor of faith that does justice by forming men and women for others, where we are academically accomplished, emotionally balanced, morally upright, socially responsible, ecologically sensitive and professionally dedicated, proving that we are a powerful force for the transformation of society. Proud to be Aloysians!
The ongoing lockdown, in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic, has affected the lives of some of the most vulnerable communities across the country, such as migrant labourers, waste pickers, single mothers, artisans and many others. It is to cushion the impact of the crisis on these sections, and to ensure their access to essentials, that many NGO’s, social organizations, church/temple volunteers, Good Samaritans, among other shave come forward in lending their helping hand during this pandemic- and one such Good Samaritan is Sumith Rao. In an exclusive conversation by Team Mangalorean with Sumith, as to how he acme up with an idea, loaded with gesture and humanitarian values, he said-
“It all started with the lockdown. I was sitting at home with my wife Vidya and discussing what do we do at home. She said that since you like to be busy why don’t you think of the thousands of people who are day labourers, stranded workers from North Indian migrants etc and try to feed them. I said though the idea is good who will fund this project. She then said you just start with a small corpus, approach the District administration and find out how you can help them in serving the people. I immediately talked to them and they were welcome to my suggestions”.
“They gave me two car passes and designated about five areas in Ganeshpeti ( near MRPL ) Baikampady industrial estate, Akash Bhavan, a colony behind income tax office Attavar and some few people in Yeyyadi. The next problem was to tackle the food preparation. Luckily, for me I have a tenant who is running a small street shop preparing morning breakfast etc who is home bound because of the lockdown. He readily agreed to prepare the food. This was a great idea because he got to work when he was struggling to make ends meet. And also he agreed to give us the food ( rice, rasam or sambar and sometimes vegetables) at a very reasonable price individually packed. This solved me the problem of preparing the food”
“The next problem was the distribution. Here too, I asked a few friends of mine to help me in my venture, and Shailendra Pai, Prashanth Rai and Canute Pinto readily agreed to help me. After the first day I posted pictures on my WhatsApp groups. The response was overwhelming. My cousins and more so, my classmates from 1st std responded very well. As my wife said Any good deed will find God’s way of being accomplished. Now with the help of good Samaritans around our city and more, we were able to give one meal a day to nearly 300 people everyday till the end of the lockdown as projected to be 14th of April”.
“Even if there is an extension of the lockdown, there are many more friends and relatives who have said they would help me. So what started as a small idea has now bloomed into a full fledged service which is giving me so much happiness and peace of mind being able to serve the needy. One of the incidents during this journey was finding an old couple who were bound to go back to Tiruchirapalli and were stranded because of the suspension of trains- we found this couple below an extended roof of Hotel Aamanthran in Attavar, and when we gave them food, the twinkle in the eye of the old lady has doubly energized is to do something and give back to society. Such kind of experiences along this journey, has made me proud that I am serving the society in this time of Covid-19 lockdown, turned into a pandemic” said Sumith.
Well said by Sumith, and his Good Samaritan work caring and feeding the migrant workers and the needy in this pandemic crisis. In conclusion, in my perspective, while we look at these migrants we need to pity them, the hardship they are facing during this pandemic and most of all, when the strict covid-19 guidelines enforced on them by the central government. It’s sad to see these migrant workers, walking home with children on their hips, belongings bundled on their head. They had moved to our city in search of a better life and better income. How is it that we have nothing but pity and disdain for them? How are they different from the other working class of people?
We do fight for stray dogs and we do become vegans to save cattle, but we let these fellow humans remain homeless in our City. We limited our focus to ourselves—our job, our income, our wealth and our family. We forgot to give, to include, to empathize, to enable, and to take our communities along. We have no stake in our communities, the places we live in and work. We are all nomads occupying slots of economic value that pays us money. We don’t know how every other piece fits in that collage of our lives—every human being that contributes to make our life what it is.
To donate money is to take the easy and lazy way out of the problem. Dignified humans do not stand and wait for charity. Into our everyday lives, we have to include our community. We have to take it upon ourselves the responsibility for every single person who enables our lives. We cannot see urban migration as a policy problem that offers pavements as homes and streets as toilets to millions of our fellow humans. We have turned into societies that grab, take, and behave with an entitlement mindset. Thus we don’t see those who walk home in hunger and sorrow as people like us. People we abandoned.
There is no difference between the coveted NRI or a bank or a IT employee and the construction worker. The former three have nudged their way into the community they live in and found their voice and power. The latter remains on the fringe, powerless and alone. Let us not stop at merely donating to feed the misplaced. Let us find a way to integrate these people into the places they have come for a better life, so they can call it home. So they won’t be asked to pick up and leave ever again. As an Aloysian, just like Sumith, on behalf of Team Mangalorean/Mangalorean.com would like to thank Him for his initiative in serving these people lunch, and considering them like any other working class- and making a difference in their lives, and put miles of smiles on their faces. In the eyes of God we are all equal- No Migrants or locals- just HUMAN BEINGS.
Our aim as men and women (ex-Aloysians) is to serve others, and that has been our Alma mater aim. The efforts put in by Sumith Rao helping out the society through His little contribution is praiseworthy. May God bless Him for what he is doing during this pandemic- and hope he will be a role model to others to take up the gauntlet in serving the needy during this time of distress . Proud to be ALOYSIANS!
