Bant: He knows the pain and suffering inherent to life. Perhaps that is the reason why he makes it a point to extend all possible help to anyone who is in pain. Meet altruist Jaladhar Nayak of Begana village under Niloka panchayat in Bant block of Bhadrak district who is a known named in the locality for his noble deeds despite his tough background.
Every time Jaladhar is asked what prompts him to be so inclined towards reaching out to the needy ones, he says “I can understand their pain better than others because I have been acquainted to those bad phases of life from my own experience.”
“I was not born with a silver spoon. I lost my father when I was barely seven-years-old. The entire burden of the family fell on my mother. We are four siblings-two brothers and two sisters,” Jaladhar says.
I can never forget those days when my mother used to endure all sorts of pain to bring us up. Those days taught me that life is not bed of roses. There will be problems and struggles aplenty. One must have patience to come out triumphant, he says.
Meanwhile his siblings are now married. His family comprises of six members including his elderly mother. Apart from the homestead land, he has twenty ‘gunths’ of farmlands.
For being a Class III dropout himself, Jaladhar made it a point to educate his two sons who are now earning and looking after the family. “There is no end of problems in my family. Yet I never draw the line at helping people in distress,” he adds.
Every time someone is in need of medical attention, he arrives like a godsend and takes them to hospital. And what endears him to all of us is that he never demands any money from anyone, some villagers remarked.
In past twenty years, he has taken a good number of patients of Padhanpada, Kenduapada, Rampur, Govindpur panchayat areas to hospital.
‘Service to mankind is service to God’ has become the norm of Jaladhar’s life.