Family gives shelter to three stranded students

Mangaluru: Badruddin Kalai decided to shift his family to his mother-in-law’s house for a brief period in the second week of April, to accommodate three physiotherapy students from Kerala, who were studying in Mangaluru, who were in distress during the lockdown.
One of the stranded girl’s father, a member of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), reached out to the local SDPI office in Mangaluru, seeking help. Badruddin said, “We received information that a girl was staying at a paying guest (PG) accommodation on MG Road. We visited the place and found that there were two others, and that the girls hailed from Pallakad, Thrissur and Kozhikode. The rest of the students staying close by had already left the PG. The owner of the PG had also requested the girls to leave,” he said.
Since they hailed from Kerala, there was no one willing to welcome them. “They were surviving on oats and instant noodles. I decided to arrange an accommodation for them,” said Badruddin.
Badruddin hails from Bantwal and stays in a rented house in Kudroli with his wife Shabnam, a schoolteacher, and three children. “I decided to shift my family to my in-laws house near Alake, and initially my wife would cook for them. We left the house as it is for them. Since one of the girl’s was a Muslim, she wanted to be home for Eid, as soon as the Kerala government started issuing travel passes in the second week of May, they decided to leave. All the girls have returned home. However, their luggage is still in my house, and they can collect it once college resumes,” he said.