Charity gets the better of lockdown joblessness

When there is no work, this headload worker at Changaramkulam near Edappal goes around the village looking for people who are indigent or destitute. K.B. Sivadasan is known in the region as a messiah of charity.

Mr. Sivadasan defeated the joblessness he faced during the COVID-19 season by finding resources to reach out to dozens of poor women with Onam food kits and new cloth.

Mr. Sivadasan’s gesture, even when he faced a fall in his work, has gained him appreciation. “True that there is a drastic fall in our earnings. But think about the poor people out there living in more pitiable conditions than us,” he said.

It has been the ninth year since Mr. Sivadasan began offering new cloth and food kits to poor women during Onam. He has named his gesture Ammakkoru Onakkodi.

He keeps aside a share of his daily wages for charity. He has also become a source of inspiration for others too. Mr. Sivadasan believes charity is not the prerogative of the rich alone.

Half-Tamil and half-Malayali, this headload worker is a one-man army of charity at Changaramkulam. It was the poverty that he suffered in his childhood that drove him to reach out to the poor.

He has no distinction of religion or caste. “Every mother who needs care is mine,” Mr. Sivadasan said.