Shawls presented to writers and artistes donated to old age home

Hubballi: Dharwad is home to many writers, musicians, artistes and other talented personalities who are felicitated by various organizations. Many of them, who receive shawls as part of their felicitation, just stock them at home. On the other hand, there are many elderly persons who are in dire need of shawls. Rajkumar Madiwalar, 36, an accountant with Sarur Group, a private firm in Dharwad, realized this and started an initiative to collect shawls from achievers and distributed them among the inmates of an old age home.
Madiwalar is a frequent visitor to Sri Maitri Vruddhashrama in Navanagar, Hubballi, where he usually arranges lunch for the inmates. "They have the required materials like bed sheets, pillows and blankets. But recently, I found that they lacked shawls. One of them, expressed the need for a shawl," he said.
Madiwalar posted requests on his Facebook account and WhatsApp groups to provide 25 shawls for the old age home. Achievers Suresh Kulkarni, H V Kakhandaki, Rajani Garud, S S Hegade and Basavaraj Sulibhavi were among those who contributed the shawls. "I also served them lunch from my pocket money. It was a nice feeling to see them happy," he said.
H V Kakhandaki, a writer who donated shawls, lauded Madiwalar's initiative. He said, "Such initiatives move the society, particularly the young generation which is forgetting to respect elders."
Theatre personality and writer Rajani Garud also responded to Madiwalar's request on Facebook. "As my husband Prakash Garud is also a theatre personality, we often receive shawls from several organizations. We are satisfied that our stock of shawls is helping the needy," she said.
Maktum Hussain Gamanagatti, superintendent, Maitri Vruddhashrama, said that Madiwalar's initiative has helped all the 25 inmates. "They were feeling cold and uncomfortable while moving inside the ashrama premises. Now they can protect themselves," he said.
Indubai Vajpayee, Sharadabai Putani and Fakirappa Hubballimath, inmates of ashrama, shared their joy after getting the shawls. "It's not just the shawl; it's a feeling that someone is there who cares for us," they said.