This couple provides free dabbas to abandoned seniors
‘Living life for a good cause, life should go on,’ this adage is the first thing that comes to mind when we see middle-aged couple Damyanti and her husband Pradeep Tanna, who have since the last five years dedicated their lives to serving free lunches to almost 110 senior citizens in their area.
This wasn’t their life six years back, but then they lost their 23-year-old son Nimesh after he fell from a moving train. “It took almost two year to come out of the emotional trauma, but later we decided not just to live life but also to keep our son’s memory alive.Therefore, we decided to serve free dabbas (lunch boxes) to elderly people who have been abandoned by their children or have lost their children or dear ones like us or are staying alone,” said Damyanti.
The Tanna family may have lost their only son in 201,1 but now they have ensured that they are family to these senior citizens. Actually, it won’t be wrong to say that the senior citizens are all dependent like children on this couple.
A senior citizen named Maya Maa said, “I lost my husband after few years of our marrage. I don’t have children nor do my relatives come to my place, I stay alone. I am surviving today only because of these humble couple. Not just do they give lunch boxes, but they are our family.”
Damyanti, looking at her son’s photo, said, “We do all this by ourself and whatever help we receive from our friends and relatives. Nimesh is behind this entire initiative. Though he is not with us but when he was alive he always used to say life must go on... he was full of positivity.”
She added, “Everyday we cook good hygiene food at our residence. A total of eight women cook the meal and two men deliver the dabbas. As many elderly people cannot walk, therefore we send dabbas to their house.”
Pradeep, remembering the unfortunate incident of their son’s untimely demise, remarked that they still don’t know how it occured. When their son was travelling in the local train it wasn’t crowded and he wasn’t depressed to jump out of train. “It was a usual day with Nimesh going out for some work but later we received the news of his death,” Pradeep said, holding back his tears.
He remarked that they have a small shop and whatever they earn from it, a part of it they put aside for this initiative. Apart from giving dabbas to senior citizens, they provide free grocery every month to around 70 poor families.
And that’s not all. During festivals like Ganpati, Dussera, Diwali they visit adivasi padas and small villages and distribute books, food items.