Mysuru: Many have seen the photograph taken by famous photographer Kevin Carter which showed a vulture awaiting to hunt down a starved baby in the famine-hit Suddan. The photo had drawn the attention of the world.
Rajendra, founder of Akshaya food foundation
For all we know the hunger may be swallowing the hungry in its own way. This is evident by the starvation deaths that occur across the world. But, while starvation deaths are a reality, on the other hand there is another reality that whole lot of food is wasted across the world in hotels, in parties, marriages and other functions. The episodes of food being wasted made an impact on one man to the extent that he started a programme to convert waste food into daily bread.
Meet Rajendra, the man behind the ‘daily bread’ mission.
In order to achieve his own goal, he started Akshaya food foundation in the city three years ago and has been distributing food to the hungry at street corners, railway stations, bus-stands, orphanages, old age homes and many other places which go unnoticed. A native of Honnamachanahalli in Huliyurdurga Taluk, Rajendra is also an employee at Natural Environmental Science Centre, an NGO.
Thinking that his family would not stand by him, he had once told his wife to prepare food for dozen officials who were visiting the NGO from New Delhi. Without questioning him, his wife used to prepare food, which ultimately went to pacify the pangs of stomachs as the waste food that he used to accumulated ran short.
“When my wife came to know of my motives, she had jokingly said that she was willing to cook food for 50 officials,” he recalled. Since then his wife Shwetha is an active member of the mission who is elated to see the number of ‘officials’ taking food increasing day after day. Rajendra then started venturing out, asking people to stop wasting food and urging them to donate edible food that is surplus at home.
The rest is history. Today the couple, with the support from various corners are catering to 77 slums, 19 orphanages, old age homes and destitute in railway stations and the needy in hospitals. After witnessing the service rendered by the foundation, Mahadevaswamy from Kanakapura has donated a vehicle to ferry food to far flung places.
They request volunteers and donors to support them and those interested can call on 9886145659.
“Whether it is 5 plates or 5000 plates the food from my table will vanish in no time,” says Rajendra pointing at the magnitude of starvation still prevailing in the society. Rajendra says that every individual in the world has right to food but there is no right to waste food.
