From London to Delhi on a thirst-quenching mission
Delhi’s Matka Man, who earlier ran a store in UK, on a drive to ensure the poor don’t go thirsty
On a scorching summer day, the likes of which are plentiful in Delhi, what one needs most is a glass of water to quench one’s thirst, more so for those who toil in the unbearable heat to earn their livelihoods. The hundreds of civic workers, rickshaw pullers, street vendors and road sweepers cannot afford to buy water several times a day from vending kiosks.
To their rescue come the “matkas”, or traditional earthen pitchers, installed at different parts of the city which seem to get magically filled up with water every day.
Behind these matkas is a 69-year-old man who wakes up every morning before dawn and steps out in his van to fill up the 70 matkas — used to store water in homes before refrigerators and coolers arrived — he has installed in the city to ensure the poor don’t go thirsty. The man who overcame cancer and gave up his business in Britain, finally found happiness in this daily routine with which he gives back to what he says is an “interconnected” community that has lost its social purpose.
He says he wants to start a “revolution in human kindness”.
The story began in the summer of 2014 when Alagarathanam Natarajan — now known as Delhi’s Matka Man — realised that even something as basic as cold drinking water was not accessible to all even in the national capital. So he put a water-cooler outside his home.
“Once, I casually asked one of the guards who came to take water from the cooler why he was coming here and not taking water from where he worked. He said they did not provide him water,” said Natarajan, who earlier ran a corner store in upscale Oxford Street in London.
Self-funded
The answer shocked Natarajan and also motivated him to do something. “It was always on my mind to do something for my community. I discussed it with my family. But installing water coolers was difficult as it required space, electricity ■ and also needed a lot of maintenance. So, I thought of installing matkas to help people in the hot summers,” he said.
However, it became a throughout-the-year ritual to wake up in the morning and fill the pitchers. During the initial days, people used to consider him as someone appointed by the Delhi government.
“I am not backed by an NGO, nor am I a government-sponsored organisation. I am mostly self-funded through my pension and life savings. I do get a few donations and, most importantly, lots of help and support from my family,” he said.
Brought up in Bengaluru, Natarajan moved to London as a young man and spent 40 years there as a businessman running a souvenir shop. There he was diagnosed with intestinal cancer and, after his treatment, he decided to return to India and do something for the less-privileged. “It was always on my mind to come back to the country. I saw cancer as nature’s reminder of my wish.”
After returning to India, he volunteered at an orphanage, a last-stage cancer hospice, served langar (free food) to the homeless in Chandni Chowk and even carried out the cremation of destitutes to give them a dignified end.
In 2014, he turned his attention to water which then expanded to encompass a much larger range of activities for the poor. Natarajan not only provides free drinking water to the poor but also distributes food and fresh fruits.
“Through this work, I have come to believe that we are all crucially linked together, but that society today has abandoned this inter-connectedness,” he said.
For the water distribution, Natarajan has modified a van fitted with an 800 litre tank, a pump and a generator to run it.