An Appeal by the Sea

Sagar Pawar watches patiently as a man jogs past him on Marine Drive, Mumbai. Pawar works as a bus driver with Rizvi Springfield School in Bombay. His father works in the conservancy department of the municipal corporation as a cleaner. Recently, Sagar was informed of an ancestral house the family owns in Ratnagiri, near the picturesque coastal village of Ganapatipule. Pawar wants to convert this house into a shelter and school for homeless kids. With his meagre salary, minuscule savings and some jewellery, he can only muster a sum of about Rs 100,000. It’s insufficient.

Sagar Pawar watches patiently as a man jogs past him on Marine Drive, Mumbai. Pawar works as a bus driver with Rizvi Springfield School in Bombay. His father works in the conservancy department of the municipal corporation as a cleaner. Recently, Sagar was informed of an ancestral house the family owns in Ratnagiri, near the picturesque coastal village of Ganapatipule. Pawar wants to convert this house into a shelter and school for homeless kids. With his meagre salary, minuscule savings and some jewellery, he can only muster a sum of about Rs 100,000. It’s insufficient. Hence, on weekends he sits with a flex banner at Marine Drive or Pedder Road or other spots seeking donations for the same. “If people don’t have faith in me or don’t want to give me money just like that, I can offer them my services as a driver or as a masseur— I have done a course in that too. They can even ask me to run errands for them or finish their daily chores like sweeping their house, etcetera, and I shall do so without shame or ill will,” he says.

Homeless kidsRatnagiriSagar PawarShelter

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About The Author

Ritesh Uttamchandani