He gives a full meal for Rs.1 only!

“When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed.”

- Mother Teresa

"When I was small, there were times when I struggled to get one square meal a day. But now God helps me to feed others. Sometimes we cannot help others despite wanting to do so. But now I can do so by God’s grace. I didn’t start this with any support in mind, nor have registered any NGO for this"

- Venkatraman

Venkatraman

There are many poor patients admitted to hospitals. Their family members who accompany them find it difficult to meet the expenditure of medicines, investigations and even surgery. They skip meals sometimes due to financial or emotional reasons. A Good Samaritan provides one-rupee meals to a particular and oft-neglected section of society: needy caretakers of patients.

He is not a rich man and has no other source of income. Like most of us, he has a family to look after. His wife is a freelance yoga teacher, and both of his daughters are in college. He has little savings. One would feel, that a man like him would think of ways to develop his business and make more money. That’s what ‘ordinary’ people would have done anyway. But 50-year-old Venkatraman is not an ordinary person. He has elevated himself by his noble thoughts and deeds. His only concern is to ensure how he could continue with the lunch at Rs.1 scheme at his hotel. For over five years, Venkatraman has been giving meals every day to about thirty persons at Sri AMV Homely Mess near Erode Government Hospital for Rs.1. The beneficiaries are mostly attendants of poor in-patients from the nearby Government General Hospital who pay only Rs.1 for a meal that is sold at Rs.50 to other customers.

Tokens are distributed daily to about 30 poor people at the hospital. The token holders then collect their food packets from the restaurant in the afternoon. How does he select his beneficiaries? "We visit the wards, at times we know by the look of those who come to our place to buy food. We prefer to help the dependents of those families where the breadwinner of the family is hospitalised for a long duration, and there is no active source of income. Normally, such low-income families run out of their savings during the first week and run out of credit options, which is only the employer, within two weeks. If the breadwinner has to take longer to recover, then, they are most helpless even amongst the poor. The hospitals feed the patients, but, no one will feed the poor attendant who is generally his wife in most cases", he says. "We also look for signs of wealth when we visit, if we notice lots of jewellery or mobile phones, we politely refuse and take back the token from them," he adds.

Sometimes he asks nurses at the hospital to identify the needy and distribute tokens to them. An old woman is eating here for the last six months. He also offers a 20% discount on food prices to any physically challenged and blind person who visits his eatery.

Venkatraman has served at least 40,000 Rs.1 meals to date. The prices of food grains, oil, spices, and vegetables have gone up many times in the last few years but the cost of lunch has remained at Rs.1. He ensures that the poor get the same meal that his other customers get for Rs.50. "For general customers, the price has been revised. Five years ago, the cost of a lunch at our hotel was Rs.25, now it is Rs.50," he says.

"Initially, I thought of giving them a free meal. But then I felt they might get embarrassed and perceive it as charity. They may also doubt the quality of the food since it is free of cost. Therefore, I decided to charge a token amount of Rs.1"

Venkatraman was born in a family of 30 members. So, helping others came naturally to him. "When I was small, there were times when I struggled to get one square meal a day. But now God helps me to feed others. Sometimes we cannot help others despite wanting to do so. But now I can do so by God’s grace. I didn’t start this with any support in mind, nor have registered any NGO for this."

This effort started in 2008 when a woman who had admitted her relative to the general hospital came to his mess to buy idlis for herself and another relative. When Venkat informed her that the 'idlis' were over and suggested 'dosas' instead she told him that since 'dosas' were more expensive, she would not have enough money to buy 'dosas'. That got Venkat thinking. "I knew I had to do something. Initially, I thought of giving them a free meal. But then I felt they might get embarrassed and perceive it as charity. They may also doubt the quality of the food since it is free of cost. Therefore, I decided to charge a token amount of Rs.1," he explains. Though he is facing financial problems, Venkatraman receives solace from the 'divine blessings'. Does he get any outside support? ‘Not much but sometimes, people give him Rs.100/- or Rs.50/- some people can’t afford to support a full meal in orphanages or old age homes on their birthdays or some other such important days, for such people, it is easier to give whatever they can afford. "We write their name on a board in our eatery to ensure that their donation is acknowledged," he says. "There are donors from America. People celebrating birthdays or other, other occasions can sponsor food," says Venkat.

"I have the support of my family in whatever I am doing. My daughter scored 1085 marks (out of 1200) in her Plus 2 exam. We were not able to admit her to engineering college because we could not afford the fees. But with the help of a person in Ramakrishna Math, she got a seat in a reputed engineering college in Chennai. The College has also given her a fee waiver. I have reasons to believe that such good things have happened in my life because of the small acts of service to the poor I have been doing. It gives me great satisfaction," says Venkatraman.