It was just another another day in May when a thin, ordinary looking man walked up to the house of Bengaluru-resident Prakash Aroor with coconuts.
A coconut picker by profession, it was Sadashiv who had picked coconuts in Prakash's apartment complex that day and was delivering the latter his share.
Probably, at the time, neither of them had any inkling that their lives were about to be influenced by each other.
On Thursday, Prakash put up a Facebook post narrating the encounter and subsequent events.
"Travelling from Gowribidanur in Kolar district to Bengaluru every day, Sadashiv works as a coconut picker and is also a small time gardener," Prakash told The News Minute.
When Prakash first saw Sadashiv, he noticed something was wrong with one of his eyes and wondered how he managed to do such a dangerous job with proper vision in just one eye. Sadashiv said he was born with the defect and that he had not sought treatment. "That made me want to know more about him."
Image source: Shiv Aroor/Twitter
A short conversation and a while later Sadashiv's story emerged clearly.
A father of two children, Sadashiv is the only earning member in his family. His son Gopal is hearing and speech impaired. Gopal studies in Class 8 and attends a school which is 50km from his house in Gowribidanur.
"Sadashiv was determined to educate his children," Prakash said, adding that he wanted to help him.
“He must be finding it difficult to make ends meet with a family of six, including his aged parents. I initially offered him Rs 1,000 because I didn’t know how much the books would cost. I asked him to come with the books to show that he had bought books with the money or just get the bill. On Thursday he came with books and also said he has some money to return. That honesty really pleased me,” he said.
Image source: Shiv Aroor/Twitter
Prakash initially volunteered to buy his son a hearing aid which would cost him Rs 4,000. Later, when he put Sadashiv’s picture on a WhatsApp group, many people volunteered to help.
“I thought if there was so many people interested, then I could also help his daughter. I went ahead and posted on Facebook and got tremendous response in a matter of few hours. I have offered to open a joint account with him, so that I am informed about where the money is going,” he said.
Prakash said that people who are interested in helping Sadashiv can contact him on Facebook or mail to prakash.aroor@gmail.com.
A crowdfunding campaign to help Sadashiv has also been launched on Ketto. To contribute, visit here.