Why this Kerala man wears clothes made of rice sacks & jute?

When 62-year-old Jose Njaliyath gets calls about people abandoned on streets, he expects for the worse. Often, they are found in the most unpleasant state, covered in filth. He brings them to his care home, bathes them and begins the legal process. The residents of Angamaly have long gotten used to the sight of Jose helping out the destitutes. He does all these wearing a shirt-like garment stitched from coarse jute. His choice of wear is interwoven with his way of life.

He started off collecting empty rice sacks and then fashioning clothes out of them. It wasn't done merely out of fancy. "People are often curious about my clothing. Soon after I resigned from my job at the milk society, I began wearing this. Initially, I used sacks that had stored rice and stitched them by hand. Now I use jute fabric, but I still stitch it myself. For me, it is a way of life, to completely renounce materialism and build the willpower to move forward. Oftentimes, the people I try to rehabilitate can turn violent. They might attack or scratch. The jute cloth also helps with that," he said.

Jose believes that to be able to help them, he needs to understand how they feel about their lives."Honestly, to truly be with them, you have to live like them. To understand them, you must understand what they go through," Jose said.

Known affectionately as "chetta" and "acha" by the 25 inmates of Thiruhrudhaya Sadhanam Charitable collective in Ernakulam, Jose has become family to those who have none. For men and women of all ages who are abandoned on the streets, he becomes brother, father, and caretaker.

For the past 26 years, he has been responding to calls across districts about people abandoned on the streets. "When people call us and inform us, we travel to places such as Kollam, Kottayam, Alappuzha and Idukki. They are often covered in their own urine or excreta, with matted hair and in a delirious state. We pick them up, bathe them, trim their hair, produce them before a court, take them for medical examination at government medical college hospitals and then admit them to the charitable home," Jose said.

"For some, it takes months to remember their own name or the place they came from," he added. "Sometimes, people also ask us why we rescue those who do not even know their own name or place. I ask them, don't they deserve to live?" Jose said.

Jose, who had quit his job at the dairy society, is driven by sheer willpower. "When I started this, deaths on the streets were very common. It affected me deeply, and I wanted to do something about it. That is how this charitable home came into being," Jose said. "As a farmer, and with the home running solely on benevolent donations, it is often difficult to make ends meet. Providing food and accommodation for the 25 inmates we currently have and for those we continue to take in is not easy. But I will keep admitting them and try to give them a better life than what they had," he said.

"At our home, we have a few cows and chickens. We encourage the inmates to closely interact with them. It is important for them to stay connected with nature. To be grounded," he said. But even then, due to financial constraints, we are not able to provide much," he added

"My family, my wife Jessy, and my children Jincy, Jisha and Jose, are my greatest support," he said.