Healing touch
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`Snehayanam,' a documentary, records the selfless service of Radhakrishnan who helps the destitute and the needy in Palakkad.
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Reaching out to the needy.
`SNEHAYANAM,' A 33-minute documentary is a tribute to a truly inspiring person. Radhakrishnan, fondly called the `Mother Teresa of Palakkad,' and his selfless efforts to provide solace and shelter to the destitute and the needy is the protagonist of this touching film. Through telling images, sounds and moments from his life there emerges the picture of this unassuming man.
Radhakrishnan won the Prof. V. Karunakara Menon Memorial Award instituted by Abhayam, Thripunithura, for the best social worker in 2004.
Mini ambulance
For the last 23 years, Radhakrishnan, an autorickshaw driver, has been quietly involved in helping those in need. His autorickshaw, `Snehayanam,' is a sort of mini ambulance with a first-aid kit and a set of fresh clothes. It is free for anyone who needs his service. His home, `Snehalayam,' at Akkathethara, on the suburbs of Palakkad, is a home to the homeless.
This documentary focusses on the man and his work. One scene shows him pulling out maggots from the leg of a destitute. Another scene shows him taking an emaciated old man to the Government General Hospital. A thousand eyes must have seen this man lying for days on the streets. The camera follows Radhakrishnan and the old man as he (the old man) is given a haircut, a bath and fresh clothes before being taken to a home for the aged. As Radhakrishnan tells the man to lie down on a clean bed, the camera captures the surprised look on the wrinkled face of the man.
"Like any other documentary maker I first studied Radhakrishnan and his work. But once we began shooting all that we had planned had to be changed, the draft had to be reworked. Radhakrishnan's life made us realise the importance of human life," says Mustafa Desamangalam, director of the film.
Source of inspiration
There is a painting of Mother Teresa in his home. The Mother has been an inspiration and source of strength for Radhakrishnan. He still treasures a letter sent by the Mother in 1994, which exhorts him to `keep the joy of loving God ever burning' and to `share joy with all your passengers and with all whom' he comes in contact with. This is exactly what he has been doing despite barbs, threats and insults. At their home `Snehalayam,' Radhakrishnan and his wife, Chandrika, will not tell you who are their children and who has been adopted. "It is absolutely impossible to identify the children. It is rare to find such selfless people," exclaims Sanker Madhavan, who has produced this film for Sarang Creations.
"I changed after we lost our first child. Until then I was a happy-go-lucky man who enjoyed life and the company of my friends. I was unable to reach my pregnant wife to a hospital on time because of autodrivers who refused to ply at night. As a result that baby died." That day he decided to do get an autorickshaw and run it free for pregnant women. Today, there is a Radhakrishnan's Fund that is collected from a small money-box in his autorickshaw. It is locked and the key is kept at one of the leading medical shops in Palakkad town. When this box is full, the money is transferred to the fund at the medical shop. Any patient can avail of this fund provided he has a prescription from the general hospital that bears the seal and signature of the doctor along with a note.
"This documentary was first screened at Snehalayam. We still have to get it censored and then we hope that it can be screened at some of the festivals. If our film is able to help him and his children, it would have achieved its goal," says Sanker Madhavan.
K. PRADEEP
Photo: H. Vibhu
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