Perumpilavu: If distributing food for free is a divine activity, then Puthiyakath Abbas is a messenger of god for no less than 25 poor and hapless families in his village for the past four years. Without fail every month, this youngster would provide rice and groceries on a monthly basis to families around Akkikavu in the northern region of Thrissur district.
The streak of charity stems from the days of Abbas as the manager at a neighbourhood orphanage. During those days at the Mary Matha Destitute Home earlier this decade, he was assisted by a set of friends, making it an inspired activity of altruism.
Down the course, his fellow volunteers withdrew for varied reasons, but a tenacious Abbas, as a trader, chose to continue with the work. Come a new month, and Abbas’s vehicle will begin its trips to a clutch of local houses that has members incapacitated in one way or the other: left alone by siblings or spouse, cancer-afflicted, handicapped.... Each of them has more than a story to talk in praise of Abbas about his activities that began in 2014.
“They wait for my arrival,” says Abbas. “There is nothing more gratifying that providing solace to people who are unable to meet even the basic requirements of life. It is punyam.”
Abbas is, himself, not going through a smooth phase in his business. But he notes to his happiness that help comes from friends and relatives whenever he faces financial crunch. “I concede that there is an occasional dip in the measure of items I gift for my people,” he shrugs. “But then it is my mission to continue this activity till my end.”
The benefactor is simultaneously looking for monetary aid from good-hearted people.
