Acts Of Incredible Kindness By Individuals That Are Helping Chennai Stay Afloat

I. Aditya Venkatesh

Reaching out to those in need of medical help

Aditya Venkatesh who hails from Chennai, left his Bengaluru office as soon as he heard about the situation. After rushing to collect all the medical supplies that he could afford, he headed to severely affected areas and worked hard to ensure that his efforts reached those who needed it the most, such as pregnant women. With people contacting him through Twitter and Facebook asking for help, his medical services brought aid to several flood victims in need.

II. Hotel For Dogs

Transporting dogs to safety

III. John

The human bridge

No one knows his full name or who he really is, but for the past few days John has been involved in the relief work around MKB Nagar. Through a Facebook page titled My Chennai, he brought his efforts to the public's attention, and his contribution was one that filled a serious need gap, a middle-man service, if you will. Wading through Chennai's deluge, John has been acting like a bridge between the boats carrying supplies, and the people in building who do not wish to venture into the mucky water ridden with snakes, bacteria and other viruses.

IV. Krishna

Single-handedly cooking food for thousands

The residents of the city have been strapped for food ever since the floods began, and several rescue teams have worked towards getting essentials to the stranded citizens. While organisations and NGOs have harnessed all their man-power to address this food crisis, Krishna's efforts involve him, and only him. For three days, this 70-year-old man single-handedly prepared food for about 6,000 people and had them sent out to those in need across the flooded city.

V. Mohamed Yunus

Providing shelters to those in need

Owing to the unyielding rain of the last few weeks, many in Chennai have had to leave their flooded homes and find a safe haven elsewhere. And for those who didn't have anywhere to go, a few kind-hearted souls like Mohamed Yunus opened up their homes. In a Facebook post, he shared his contact details and asked those in need for a shelter to reach out to him. And his act of compassion doesn't end there, as he bravely rescued a stranded pregnant woman, Chitra. Proving that some good deeds truly go rewarded, as a token of gratitude, she and her husband named their new-born daughter Yunus, after the man who saved her.

VI. Mohsin Patel

Helping people keep in touch with their loved ones

For those who think that they can't really help unless they're on the ground, Mohsin Patel is here to prove you wrong. Even as he sits at home, he is make a huge difference to several in need. As he realised that people would want to keep in touch with their families and loved ones, he started offering a mobile recharge facility on request, where people have to simply get in touch with him through Twitter or his phone number that was shared on various social media websites. "I have shared my number so that people in need can contact me for recharging their mobile phones. I lost some very close friends in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and I can relate to the affected in Chennai. These days communication is essential and so I thought of doing this," he said.

VII. Piyush Manush

Building Life-rafts 

Piyush started a campaign on Ketto as part of his efforts to raise enough money so that he could put together 200 bamboo rafts complete with food and other supplies. Each life-raft cost his campaign 2000 rupees, and could even be used for building shelters later. "My friends are trying to help by providing rafts that can be turned into shelters made of bamboo. Food and general supplies will be provided as well. Please donate. It costs only 20$ (INR 2000) for each raft. Please donate and share. Spread the word," he writes. With several people across the city suffering from acute shortages of food and shelter, this initiative was an extremely fruitful relief effort.

VIII. Radha

Delivering milk every day

A crisis can make you grateful for the smallest things, and to those who make them possible. Even in adverse conditions, there are a few who made it a point to get their job done, making a difference by fulfilling what they consider their duty, much like the milk-delivery woman Radha.

Our milk lady Radha in Chennai - been delivering for 25 years, and did not fail to show up this morning. pic.twitter.com/WrcCITS60e

— Ramanathan S (@madarassi) December 2, 2015

IX. Ram Kashyap

Shuttling between Chennai and B’lore with relief supplies

A resident of Bangalore, Ram Kashyap has taken it upon himself to shuttle between the two cities so that we can provide people with relief supplies, such as food, containers, paper cups, umbrella and raincoat, etc. In order to collect all the materials, he wrote a Facebook post informing people about the plan. Then, along with his friends, they made stops at 14 points so that they could reach out to as many Bangloreans as possible. Before his first trip, he managed to contact more than 1,200 residents of Bangalore while 250 volunteered to help him in collecting all the required essentials, and he plans to continue his trips until the crisis subsides. Acting with foresight, he has even shared his account details on social media enabling people to contribute with money for fuel and other logistics.

X. The Good Samaritan 

Transporting people for free

While several victims of Chennai's floods have found saviours in perfect strangers, this one will remain further glorified for his selflessness, since he remains unnamed. With no knowledge of his name or even where he's from, they only thing we do know is that he is out there, actively helping those in need. The Good Samaritan, a rickshaw driver, has been taking people from Madhavaram to safety in Moolakadai for free, lending a helping hand to shuttle efforts dedicated to transporting stranded citizens.

Several officers from the Madras regiment of the Indian army launched an extensive rescue and relief operation in Chennai's Defence Colony area of Nandambakkam on motorboats. There are instances of jawans swimming through eight-feet deep water to carry families to safety, with several more of such acts of kindness in toe. While the benefit of social media in the wake of a crisis has been demonstrated once again through Chennai's deluge, the selfless activation of average citizens leaping forth to the aid of complete strangers is a truly beautiful human moment to witness. We commend these ten efforts of individual altruism, along with all those that haven't made it to social media, and hope that these kind strangers are joint by social, economic and political influencers in such benevolent efforts.

Written by Krupa Joseph