If you look around the Dabeerpura flyover bridge in Hyderabad, or Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad, and occasionally in random points around the Telangana cities past noon, you will spot a humble man in his prime along with his team feeding about 1000-1500 people. This has been a ritual for a whopping 3943 days and is still going on.
“Meri walida kehti hain ki hamesha apna dil doosron ke liye saaf rakho. Aage wala aapke saath kaise bhi rahe, aap hamesha unke saath ache se rahiye. Dekho baba, apne ko nahi raha toh nahi raha, magar apne hisse mein se kisi aur ko bhi baantoge, toh upar wala apne ko achi sehat aur achi izzat dega. Ek hissa acha karenge, upar wala 10 guna aapke liye acha karega.” (My mother always says, be honest with and good to all, no matter how another person behaves with you. Even if we don’t have much, sharing whatever we have with others in need will reap great rewards, ten times more than the help you offer), said very gently, Azhar Maqsusi, the man behind the act.
Azhar has been feeding the hungry since October 2012 through his NGO – Sani Welfare Foundation. They have been providing free mid-day meals to the less-privileged members of society in Hyderabad. On top of all, all are welcome to partake in the free meals irrespective of their religion, gender, race, caste, orientation, etc.
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“It is considered the Mecca and the Mandir by many who are in abject poverty and challenging life situations. It is the last straw of hope for those who have lost everything and are beginning to save every penny to rebuild their lives.“, the organization quotes.
Beating Hunger Across Religions
Maqsusi decided to begin the campaign in 2011 when he saw a frail old woman near the Dabeerpura flyover in the Old City of Hyderabad. He spoke to her and found out that she had not eaten.
“Her name was Laxmi. She was old, and hungry. That very day, I decided to start Hunger Has No Religion, and began arranging meals under the Dabeerpura flyover for those who could not afford them. My wife cooked meals from home for four or five months. Later, we scaled up, and after a few years, we then began serving meals near Gandhi Hospital,” Maqsusi shared.
Hunger was not new to Azhar. When he was only four, his father, an auto driver, passed away. His mother struggled to care for him and his three siblings. He stopped going to school at the age of 10 and took up odd jobs to support his family.
Azhar remembers with pain his childhood – days spent by Azhar and his siblings listening listlessly to the rumbling sounds in their stomachs with no food to eat. These memories and experiences are an integral part of Azhar’s personality and possibly the source of his life’s calling of feeding the hungry.
In 2001, Azhar started a Plaster of Paris unit, which remains his only source of income even to date. Azhar spends close to 50%-70% of his waking time working toward his life’s calling. A normal day in Azhar’s life doesn’t go by without feeding the needy.
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Maqsusi wakes up at 6 am everyday and he and his team cooks hundreds of meals to serve by the afternoon. Their reach is now even wider spread across 6 cities in India – Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Raichur, Cuttack, Tandur and Bhubaneshwar. Meals are distributed at strategic locations in each city – usually outside Government Hospitals – where family members of poor patients wait in hunger. In most cases – such family members of the patient do not have sufficient money to even buy medicines and hence they skip meals for the treatment of their loved ones.
With this, millions of free meals have been served by Sani Welfare Foundation over the last 12 years.
Volunteers from different walks of life – engineers, scientists, sales professionals, software professionals, digital marketing professionals, chartered accountants, etc. contribute and work towards the noble cause making it a team effort.
A few years ago, Azhar started the ‘Do Roti’ campaign. He urged people to carry two pieces of roti when they leave the house and give it to the hungry. It was an attempt to discourage children from begging.
Not just this, during the pandemic, Azhar and his team fed thousands of jobless or needy as well as migrant laborers.
“Service to mankind is the service to god. Humanity is the most important degree that everyone should have apart from their other degrees,” Azhar concluded.