Ranchi businessman celebrates birthday week by feeding poor

TNN | Apr 16, 2020, 05:00 IST

Ranchi: For 45 year old Ranchi based businessman, Sanjay Kumar Senapati, his birthday on Thursday will be unique and different. He shall be celebrating it by continuing to serve food to hundreds of needy in the village of Ranchi outskirts to help them tide over the crisis of hunger in times of the nationwide lockdown. The second phase of lockdown till May 3 formally kicked off on Tuesday.
But Senapati, who owns a sweet shop at Birsa Chowk, said that the current phase of crisis has given him a new vision towards life. He said, “While I will turn 46 tomorrow, but I am celebrating birthday week this time unlike past years, by serving the needy since last three days.”
Accompanied by wife Poonam, the duo daily first distributes about 300 packets of food consisting of 3kg rice, half kg pulse and 1 kg potato to homeless and needy on the streets and then drive to different villages on Ranchi outskirts to single handedly feed around 1,000 people in different villages. He said, “The reason I chose villages on capital outskirts is because there are many who are helping within the city. We get the food cook (poor, sabji, kheer and pickle) at my hotel and packets are carried for distribution. So far we distributed people in Lodhma,Balsiring, Jojoairing and Obhoria villages near Birsa Chowk.”
He said the lockdown has given him a new calling. “Helping poor daily gives a lot of satisfaction which is incomparable. If there was no lockdown, I would have thrown lavish party but now I am celebrating by public service.”