Venkatraman - An ordinary man who serves one rupee meals to the poor everyday.
Who said charity is possible only for the rich? Meet 50 year old Venkatraman who has been giving lunch every day for about thirty persons at his hotel for just Rs 1.
Venkatraman is not a wealthy man. He runs a mess in Erode close to the Erode General Hospital where most of his customers are attendants of the patients admitted to the hospital. To help the poor, he offers lunch meals to such people for just Re 1 even though the normal price for the same is Rs 50. He must have served at least 50000 people such meals till date. Just imagine the kind of money he could have made had he decided not to sell meals at such a low price. The prices of food has gone up many times in the last few years, but the one rupee lunch has still continued without any price hike.
That's not all! Venkatraman also gives a 20 percent discount for the disabled.
This all started seven years ago. A woman who had admitted her relative to the hospital came to buy idlis for herself and another relative. As the idlis were over Venkatraman suggested dosas instead. The woman told him that dosas were more expensive and she would not have enough money to buy.
That got Venkat thinking. He knew that most of the patients and attendants at the hospital were really poor, being daily wagers. Initially he decided to offer meals for free. But then he thought that would hit the self-respect of the customers and embarrass them. So he decided to charge just a token amount of Re 1 only.
His work is getting recognised and what touches him the most is that even poor people sometimes donate Rs. 5 or Rs. 10. "There are donors from America. People celebrating birthdays or other special occasions can sponsor food," he says. "Even if 50 hotels give just five people free food, it means they are helping 250 people everyday."
Venkatraman also believes that such good deeds bring good fortune too. He was unable to admit his daughter in engineering college because he could not afford the fees. But thanks to a person in Ramakrishna Math, she got a seat in a reputed engineering college in Chennai. The management has also given her a fee waiver.
We salutes such selfless acts of giving. If only every person cared as much as him, there would be no problems in the world at all.
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Ordinary Faces Extraordinary Work
Non-FictionTo do something for your country or for your people, you don't always have to go to border or for war. Sometimes you can do the things by living your ordinary life in extraordinary way...This book is about some people who were ordinary but they did...
