Pudukkottai (Tamil Nadu): Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown having an adverse impact on small roadside eateries, a tea seller from Tamil Nadu's Pudukkottai district has been providing free milk to needy people with infants.
Sivakumar, who runs a tea shop in Vampan village, has been sacrificing his own petty income, and providing free milk to infants with an ever-smiling face.
Vampan was one of the villages affected by the cyclonic storm Gaja in 2018. It was then that Sivakumar had begun his service, as he waived off the debts of all those who had tea at his shop earlier.
Similarly now, Sivakumar was moved by the plight of several families who are struggling to make ends meet without any work during these tough times. Many people are struggling to arrange even a single meal per day, and affording milk for their children remains a distant dream.
Sivakumar had also gone through a similar phase, as during the initial days of the lockdown, even his shop was shut. When shops slowly began to re-open, Sivakumar decided to help people out, even though his own income was meagre.
"I have been running this tea shop for the past 10 years. Due to coronavirus, people were confined to their homes due to the curfew. We have witnessed them suffering without any income," Sivakumar said.