Good people bring spark in people’s lives and they are the best ones in the world. It is because of them, humanity is still alive. They are the strongest ones who tackle challenges in their day-to-day lives, help others in the need of the hour just like this auto driver D Arul Raj, who is a magnanimous person.
Every morning he wakes up with one goal in his mind and that is to rescue at least 1 homeless person and provide shelter by putting a roof over his/her head so that s/he can be safe. He drives his autorickshaw, works for four hours morning and in the evening, and he spends the rest of the day to search the homeless people who are in need of desperate help.
From helping cancer patients to children (from economically weaker sections of the society) to getting scholarships, Arul did everything he could.
Arul established the Karunai Ullangal Trust 2 years ago to help abandoned people. By far, he has rescued more than 320 homeless people. He deserves both award and reward. Let’s take a moment to appreciate him.
“I have a wife and two children. Till 2015, I had no intention of doing social service. During the floods that year, my wife received an emergency call from one of her friends at Saidapet. He told her that they were starving and were unable to get out of the locality due to stagnation. I brought food to their place only to realise there were hundreds who needed help,” he said in an interview with The Indian Express.
One fine day in 2016, a woman on the roadside in Saidapet asked him if there is any chance he would help her join a shelter home. “I did not even know what a shelter home was until then. Earlier too, during floods, a woman had asked me the same, but I could not help her. But this request made me take the step to rescue the homeless and this changed my life forever,” says Arul.
In January 2017, he had received a call adding that an injured homeless man was lying by the roadside in critical condition and that he might die if they don’t help him soon. “This time, I took help from different NGOs and enrolled him in a private shelter home at Porur at 1.30 am. When that sense of satisfaction kicked in, I decided this is what Karunai Ullangal Trust will do from then on — rescue homeless and enrol them in a home.”
Talking about his daily routine, the fuel costs alone comes up to Rs 500. “Each month, we were doing about 10 rescues and I did not want to depend on them forever. So, I bought an autorickshaw in 2017. A dear friend of mine gave me Rs 90,000 and the rest of the amount, I am paying through installments every month,” says Arul.