Kindness Beyond the Call of Duty - Four Indians Worth Emulating

Dr Roshan Radhakrishnan
10

snowy foliage

Ashok Nagar Police Station, Chennai

Stevin Mathew, a 19 year old with Down's syndrome who adored the police after watching his favourite film stars don the uniform was given the opportunity to be a policeman for a day by the Ashok Nagar police station in Chennai. 

Downs syndrome boy with Indian policemen


When they received the unique request from the boy's parents, police commissioner A K Viswanathan heartily agreed. They visited the boy and made arrangements for him, including measuring out a uniform for him, giving him his own desk and walkie-talkie. He even got to go in a patrol jeep for duty, accompanied by two constables.

P Sukumaran

47 year old Sukumaran was a murder convict from Pattambi, Palakkad, serving a 10 year (reduced from life imprisonment) sentence for killing his uncle during a property dispute following a fist fight. For him, that was not enough and he wanted to do more.

man sitting on a bed


"One life was lost because of me, so I should give a life to someone else. My family as well as my victim’s family were shattered after the incident. So, if I can save another family, it would be nice.” 
- P Sukumaran

After getting parole, he found a recipient from a poor family who was a match. But there were no laws supporting organ donation by prisoners. His long battle which began in 2015 extended beyond his parole and eventually in January 2018 resulted in the law changing in Kerala. On April 19, 2018, P Sukumaran successfully donated a kidney and saved a 21 year old woman's life.

"He wasn’t just a donor. He participated in the campaigns to collect money for the treatment. He helps us get medicines and other things for our daughter. He has come wherever we called him without any hesitation. We will be grateful to him till we die." 
-Father of the woman who received the kidney.


Radhakrishnan Nair

Working in Gujarat as a businessman, Radhakrishnan Nair hailing from Kasargod in Kerala,  was so distraught when he saw birds dying following tree-felling for a road project 6 years ago that he contacted Akira Miyawaki, a renowned Japanese botanist, famed for restoring native forests on degraded soils. 

man sitting on a tree


Learning from him, Nair grew his first little forest in Umbergaon, Gujarat. The quick regrowth got him a call from the state of Maharashtra to do something similar on a chemical dumping yard. That land is now a forest with 32,000 trees and plenty of birds.

The next call he received resulted in an island being created on water for the Chhattisgarh government, containing over one lakh trees. Since then hes created forests in Andhra Pradesh, Bengal and Rajasthan too. Till date, RK Nair has planted over six lakh trees across seven states.

His most recent project was the Pulwama Shahid Vann, creating a forest of 40,000 trees in 40 days for the martyrs of the Pulwama attack. 


Shaik Saleem


With temperatures reaching as high as 40 degrees, Hyderabad is one of many places in India that struggles during the summer. Auto-driver Shaik Saleem too would get dehydrated while on the job as ferried passengers throughout the day. 

Indian auto rickshaw driver serving cold water


Realizing everyone else was suffering just like him, he attached a water cooler and two 20-liter cans of water to his auto, serving cold water to everyone - not just his passengers - for free. 

“I once came across a couple of daily wage workers looking to quench their thirst after a hard day’s work. So, I just offered them some water. They asked me how much it was, but when I told them it was free, they thanked me for the gesture. Their reaction made me feel good and gave me more reasons to continue what I am doing.” 
- Saleem, auto rickshaw driver


Heroes of Kindness:

Since 2017, every year, I take up the #BlogchatterA2Z & #AtoZChallenge and focus on showcasing lovely real-life heroes from around the worldThe aim is to remind you that there is still plenty of good human beings all around you... to inspire you to smile once more.
You can follow my 2020 Edition of Heroes of Kindness here.

Want more stories of compassion? I have Hundreds of 'Heroes of Kindness' to brighten your day here:

2017 edition (Articles - 40, Heroes - 67)
2018 edition (Articles - 34, Heroes - 52)
2019 edition (Articles - 31, Heroes - 42)


Heroes of Kindness - Indian edition
Heroes of Kindness - My Interviews

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10Comments

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  1. What simple yet unconventional ways to lend a helping hand. It's not the big things we do but the little ones that sometimes matter.

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  2. Acts of kindness come in many forms and it then doesn't remain a small or a big act. It becomes an example that may light a candle of compassion, empathy in some one who would be influenced to engage in one when the opportunity occurs.
    "Jyot se jyot jala"
    -Its 'Important Question' at https://canvaswithrainbow.com/important-question/

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  3. They are truly heroes of kindness Good to see that some criminals completely turn their lives around.


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  4. This is so good to know about these people. A prisoner trying to donate organ and repent for his mistake is a good lesson learnt!

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  5. Wow these stories are just amazing! A convict with a conscience to donate his organs- wow!
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  6. Such heartwarming stories of everyday heroes of kindness and compassion.

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  7. These are such heartwarming acts of kindness. Kudos to these men, and thank you for bringing these stories to us.
    :)

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  8. Good to see that in the era of hatred there are kind people like these that you have listed in this blog. So happy to read about them.

    9 Ways to greet people in the age of Corona Virus COVID 19

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  9. I had been trying to write a story about prisoner's who redeem themselves! And here is a true story! Wonder where these beautiful stories get lost in the daily news

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