Karnataka - Bangalore   

Their heart is in the right place

Govind D. Belgaumkar

BANGALORE: Remember the way some students from Garden City College in K.R. Puram tried to help an aged and ailing woman who was left to die on the streets in K.R. Puram a couple of months ago? The woman had been abandoned by her daughters. The woman, Muniyamma, got a loving care till she breathed her last.

But the college students, who have joined hands under the banner Mission 5, have again proved that they have their hearts in the right place. This time the sad story of Padma Bhattacharya, who lost one arm after an electric shock, has moved them, literally. She needs over Rs. 3.5 lakh for her medical treatment and an artificial limb.

The students launched a five-day collection drive and collected Rs. 30,500 from their college and PES College and a few corporate houses. Though this met only a part of the money required, it went a long way in mitigating the problems of the family, considering its low income. The students appreciated any amount of donation, even Rs. 5. In fact, the name of their group M5 (abridged version of Mission 5) has something to do with Rs. 5. Led by student Ashok Shah, M5 collect Rs. 5 from students in their campus every month to help the needy.

In April-May, they collected Rs. 5 from nearly 900 students and had groups of three students each help one child each for 10 months by contributing Rs. 50 (to each child) for 10 months. Such groups number 23. This follows a study conducted by M5, around their college which suggested that 26 under-privileged children were not able to go to school because of poverty.

The M5 members have been contributing some 2,000 Braille sheets to Rakum School for the Blind in Indiranagar and organising medical check-ups for school children.

"What is the use of all those degrees we get if we cannot respond to the misery we see around us?" asks Shah.

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