Kerala landslides: Elderly tea stall owner in Kollam donates earnings, pension to relief fund
Kollam (Kerala) (PTI): Amidst businessmen, celebrities and institutions offering lakhs and crores of rupees to the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund, an elderly tea stall owner from this south Kerala district selflessly donated her meagre earnings and welfare pension towards helping those who lost everything in the devastating landslides that hit Wayanad and claimed 190 lives.
Subaida, from Pallithottam in Kollam district, who runs a small tea shop to make ends meet for herself and her husband has donated Rs 10,000 to the CMDRF.
The amount comprises the meagre earnings from her tea stall and the welfare pensions received by the couple.
"I had taken out the amount from the bank a few days ago to repay the interest of a loan. But then we saw on the TV that contributions were being sought from everyone to help those who lost everything (in the Wayanad landslides).
"My husband immediately asked me to go and give the money to the Collector. He said the interest payments can wait as giving aid was more important. So I went and deposited the money at the collectorate here. I cannot go to Wayanad and help out," she told a TV channel.
Subaida further said that if she just accumulated the money and something happens to her, then neither can the interest be paid nor can anyone be helped using the amount.
"It is better this way," she added.
This is not the first time she has selflessly given away money to the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF).
She had earlier sold off her four goats to donate money for flood relief efforts, she said.
However, there are many who criticised her selfless action, she said.
"Ever since people heard about what I did, many came here and said why have you given your money to the crooks? They said I could have given money to people here. Is it more important to give money to people here or help those there (in Wayanad)? she asked.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
