Soul mission offers dignity to the poor

Stirred by the plight of a homeless child, martial artist Ravi Kalra found his calling to help those abandoned by society

WHEN his single mother could not take care of the mentally-challenged boy Rinku, she brought him to a homeless shelter in Bhandwari village on the outskirts of bustling Gurugram (formerly Gurgaon), one of India’s fastest-growing cities and home to scores of multinational companies in glittering glass and steel towers.

When the six-month pregnant Sarita Devi was abandoned by her husband, she was also sent to this open-to-all shelter by a court.

Now both of them have found a home and new families at the Earth Saviours Foundation (ESF), also called Gurukul.

Around 450 other homeless people, including more than 300 mentallychallenged people, have found a home at this 8 093m site not far from Gurugram’s modern urbanity.

Reached by a narrow and bumpy road, the foundation was started in 2008 by Ravi Kalra, 49, a martial artist who had no idea of his future mission.

Inspired by the tough demeanour of his father, who was a police inspector in Delhi, Kalra learnt taekwondo, a skill that took him places.

He also worked with the US Army in recruiting soldiers from Nepal during the war with Iraq in 2007.

Having earned a fair bit of money, he wanted to give something back to society by doing seva (public service).

While he had always had this urge to help the needy, he had an epiphany when he came upon a beggar child scouring garbage along with street dogs on a busy Delhi road.

“I despised my wealth at that time... felt as if I hadn’t done anything good for society. That was the moment I decided to dedicate my life to seva,” he recalled.

A few months after that incident, he started his foundation and, since then, has dedicated himself to improving the lives of abandoned senior citizens, the physically and mentally disabled, victimised women, and people suffering from incurable diseases.

“I feel all of them deserve to with dignity,” he said.

And dignity is the gift that Gurukul has given to Rinku and Sarita.

When asked about his family, Rinku, 36, would make an adorable gesture by pointing towards Anand Rao, who is himself physically disabled but takes care of him like a son.

“That is how we function here. Everybody has a friend or companion who he or she takes care of,” said Rao, 62, who used to work as a cook at a hotel in Gurugram.

The residents of Gurukul said that the boy couldn’t be taken care of by his mother, a single parent, because of his aggressive demeanour. “He can’t stay in isolation.”

Unlike others, his real family didn’t abandon him though. “They pay visits every now and then,” Rao said.

At Gurukul, one doctor and three live nurses are available between 9am and 6pm every day.

There are more than 450 residents living in five dormitories – three for the women, and two for men.

For recreation, there are televisions, books, newspapers and a carrom board.

Sarita, 27, an orphan who was later abandoned by her husband, was scared when she first arrived.

“I thought how would I stay in this madhouse, but I didn’t have any other place to go to,” she said.

“I feel very different about it today. These people have become my family. My husband wants to get back with me, but I won’t go with him.”

She had previously worked as a housemaid and is now a volunteer at the foundation which runs without any government support, doesn’t have enough beds for the 450 people who reside there, but always has its doors open for the homeless.

“I used all my hard-earned money and now we rely on all those people who generously offer monetary support to us,” Sarita said.

The inception of this was not without struggle.

Kalra initiated his service with about 15 to 20 people in Vasant Kunj in south Delhi.

“That place caught fire and we had to move to Rajouri Garden. Our centre there was flooded and we had to change several places before coming to Bandhwari, where I had my own land. foundation

“People in the village didn’t allow it initially and thought we were bringing mad people here. Eventually, they understood we were doing good work.

Today, everybody in the village knows of this place,” Kalra said.

According to his observations, the beggars on the roads of Delhi are not necessarily people from poor families.

“I have come across NRIS (retired army officers), Indian Administrative Service (government) officers who were abandoned by their families in old age. There is a lot of suffering in the world.”

Kalra said the foundation had cremated more than 5 000 unclaimed bodies so far.