Not for fame: Bhopal’s masked volunteers encourage philanthropy with a twist

New Delhi The Anonymous mask, also known as the Guy Fawkes mask, gained mainstream popularity especially after the 2006 film V for Vendetta, also finding place in various protests across the world

New Delhi

This group of volunteers from Bhopal distributes Covid-19 relief material while wearing the Anonymous mask.

The Anonymous mask, also known as the Guy Fawkes mask, gained mainstream popularity especially after the 2006 film V for Vendetta, also finding place in various protests across the world. Now, it’s been linked to a charitable endeavour, thanks to a group of four young and committed men in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The quartet – Zeeshan Mujeeb, 30, Abdul Mubeen, 26, Abdul Rahman, 23 and Raj Lodhi, 27 – pooled in their resources to provide dry rations and cooked meals to the underprivileged as the second wave of Covid-19 hit.

What sets them apart from thousands of others across the country is their decision to remain masked while lending a helping hand. Yes, when out to distribute rations, they wear the distinctive white masks – a smiling face with wide moustache upturned at both ends, and a thin vertical pointed beard.

“We were helping out people in our own small ways when my brother-in-law, Imran, 32, returned home from Dubai right before Ramzan. He suggested that helping people anonymously would be the noblest deed,” says Mujeeb, adding, “And that’s when we decided to use face masks for all our ration distribution drives. We’ve been sporting it for over a month now.”

While Mujeeb, Mubeen and Rahman are first cousins, Lodhi helps Mujeeb with his business house. Their ration kits, Mujeeb informs, comprise a litre of cooking oil, chana dal and tur dal, 3 kg rice, 1 kg salt, two biscuit packets, a 500 gm tea packet and 1 kg sugar along with common spices such as turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander powder. “We buy everything from a wholesale shop. It costs around ₹1,000-1,100 per kit. In the last one- and-a-half month we haven’t sought funds from anyone, neither do we plan to. We’ll try to do whatever little we can, from our own earnings,” he says.

So far, the group has been helping people in regions in and around Bhopal. “We have distributed ration kits in Ratibada area of Bhopal as well as in Sehore and Vidisha districts,” Mujeeb tells us. How do they identify people in need? “Humare kuch dost, jinhe humare kaam ke baare mein pata hai, woh hume aise gharon ke baare mein batate hain jahan sach mein ration ki zarurat hai. Hum wahan zarurat ka saaman pahuncha dete hain. Hum sabki madad to nahi kar sakte, isliye theek se pata karke sahi zaruratmandon ke yahan hee madad pahunchai jaati hai,” informs Mujeeb, who says they managed to help at least 70 families. “I have kept a record of all the families we helped, if need be, we will help them again till the situation improves,” he adds. Besides, they also distribute cooked meals on streets from time to time.

While they’ve never clicked pictures of themselves helping others, they agreed to talk about their efforts as many people convinced them it would inspire others. “We never clicked any photographs. But some people spotted us distributing rations while wearing masks, took pictures and shared them on social media,” Mujeeb says, adding, “Many encouraged us to talk about it saying it may motivate others to help people discreetly, hence we decided to talk about it.”

Do they plan to scale up their initiative and accept funds from people? “We are open to helping more people, but as far as possible within our own capacity. If there is someone in real need, we will do our best to help the family. But we aren’t looking for funds, we want to keep it the way it is. This is our own small effort and instead of giving us the funds, I will suggest people to use that money to help someone in their vicinity,” Mujeeb concludes.

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