Visually challenged IIT researcher helps needy

The 36-year-old had recently started work on a doctoral thesis at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, and Bhagwan Vival often ferried him in his auto rickshaw inside its large, leafy campus. Vival, in his 40s and a resident of the eastern suburb of Chandivli, wasn’t making enough money to run his household, he told Tandel.

A few days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the national lock-down on March 24, Kailash Tandel received a call for help.

Mumbai may be the Indian city worst hit by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) today, but even in March the effects of the pandemic were being felt n the metropolis. (Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo (Representative))

The 36-year-old had recently started work on a doctoral thesis at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, and Bhagwan Vival often ferried him in his auto rickshaw inside its large, leafy campus. Vival, in his 40s and a resident of the eastern suburb of Chandivli, wasn’t making enough money to run his household, he told Tandel.

Mumbai may be the Indian city worst hit by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) today, but even in March the effects of the pandemic were being felt n the metropolis. Businesses large and small had closed down and public transport, including three-wheelers, had gone off the streets.

Tandel, who is visually impaired, decided to turn to his institutional department to raise funds for the driver; within a day, he collected Rs 5,000. That’s when he decided to do this on a larger scale.

A first-generation doctoral scholar in his family, Tandel belongs to the Koli community — one of the oldest surviving indigenous communities of the islands that were reclaimed and stitched up to form the city of Mumbai as we know it today.Traditionally, the community earns money through fishing, but the lockdown had put a stop to it. Some of the busiest fish markets in the city like Bhaucha Dhakka or Sassoon Dock in South Mumbai remain closed.

“Some fisherfolk have started fishing for either self-consumption or selling their wares at a small-scale level but unless the markets open, there will be no business,” said Tandel, whose father Ganjan and brother Harshad, are fishermen.

“Initially I waited to see if political representatives or community leaders are reaching out to the Koli communities. When I saw there was no help coming, I started collecting funds to help the fisherfolk,” said Tandel, who sought funds from IIT-B colleagues, connections to networks through his earlier alma mater, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and ration kits from the non-governmental organisation Yuva.

In the past two months, he has built a team of 15 volunteers — from his own residential colony at Machimaar Nagar in Colaba — to provide dry rations, sanitary napkins and medicines to over 800 residents of Machimaar Nagar, Sudaam Jhopdi, Darya Nagar and Murti Nagar, spread across south Mumbai.

The volunteers, including brother Harshad and his wife, Leena, make a list of people and their needs, note their mobile numbers and call them once they have the kits ready. Apart from distributing the kits, the volunteers have also distributed 300 sanitisers.

“We have also reached out to people with disabilities in areas like Palghar (on the outskirts of Mumbai) with the help of IIT-B For Justice,” said Tandel, referring to a collective of students, researchers and faculty members in the institute.

“When I lost my eyesight, it took me 15 days to realise that I cannot see anymore but once I accepted the reality, it was easier to tackle all the problems,” said Tandel, who turned blind at age nine due to a genetic condition called retina pigmentosa.

“A person can accomplish anything if his mind is still active. I am no different from people who have vision because I can also perform the same tasks with the help of technology,” he said and added that technology played an important role in organizing volunteer efforts through Zoom video conferencing calls and seeking funds on social media platforms.