A Friend For Poor

Social services can take variety of forms. To serve the society, one doesn't have to be a doctor working in the slums for free or become a social worker. Perhaps the sole aim of social service is not to distribute favours, but to restore rights.

The Man Who Knew It All; Image Source: DeshGujarat

"Dad, why are you even up at this hour?', asked an irritated Rohan. "We will be distributing food and clothes to the kids in the orphanage since it's your mother's death anniversary. She never wanted us to perform elaborate rituals. Instead, she always insisted on giving gifts and food to these orphan kids.", replied Akash with tears in his eyes. "Dad, she is with us and will always be. Twenty-five years ago, when she came to this orphanage, she saw me as her son, gave me a home, and the motherly love that I had always craved for. Without her, my existence would have been worthless. I miss her but I know, she is with me, watching me struggle with the household chores, watching me cry while I sleep.", said Rohan with a heavy voice.

Upon reaching the orphanage, Rohan saw those same old walls and creaking gates. After distributing food and clothes, all the kids sat in a circle to listen to their bedtime stories. Akash cleared his throat and adjusted his rocking chair and started his story.

It was the winter of 1869, a time when cold air blew with all its might, freezing the streets of Gujarat. Bhavnagar, a small city in Gujarat, was bustling with noise. The Thakkar family was overjoyed as Vithal Das Thakkar held his son, Amrit Lal in his arms. A toothless smile brightened up the room. The glow on his face was an indication that he would do something which would make his entire family proud. Growing up to be a kind and gentle boy, he learned that service to humanity is equal to service to god. Benevolence and love ease all pain and helping someone who is in need eventually makes you a happier person from the inside.

Though Amrit's primary interest lay in social service, he still went on to obtain his Licentiate in Civil Engineering from Poona in 1890. Immediately after getting his degree, he got several assignments- first in Porbandar and the second one was in Uganda, where he got the work to lay down the first railway track. After coming back to India, Thakkar was appointed as the chief engineer in the Sangli state for some time.

The real story behind Thakkar's transformation from an engineer to a social service worker started when he was posted in Bombay municipality. When he went to stay there, the miserable condition of the garbage collectors, who keep the entire city clean by picking up the garbage from every nook and corner, was miserable. Workers like sweepers, construction workers, household maids, and others lived in colonies that were infected by numerous dangerous diseases. Neither did they have proper access to clean water and healthy food, nor their surroundings were fit enough to live in. Shocked at the unhealthy and unhygienic living conditions of people who keep the country clean, Amrit finally took a resolution- a resolution that would not only change the lives of these people, but also his own. Little did he know that he would be known for doing something that was far away from the confines of engineering.

Vithaldas started with the work of upliftment of the tribal people in Gujarat, who neither had access to education and health, nor proper sanitisation, clean water, and food. Gopal Krishna Gokhale had founded the Servants of India Society which took the responsibility of organising campaigns to promote education, sanitation, health care, and abolish social evils like untouchability, discrimination, alcoholism, poverty, and oppression of women. Seeing it as a good opportunity to contribute to the welfare of the society, Thakkar too became a member of this society. He founded the Bhil Seva Mandal to empower and uplift the weaker sections of the society, especially the tribal people.

When Amrit saw the ill-treatment of lower caste people, he could do nothing but feel bad about it until Gandhi founded the Harijan Sevak Sangh in 1932. Bapa's experience in the Bhil Seva Mandal allowed him to handle all the works and later on, he also became the general secretary of Harijan Sevak Sangh. In the year 1948, Vithaldas took the initiative to establish the Bharatiya Adimjati Sevak Sangh that aimed to promote the socio-cultural and economical development of the tribes.

When the Indian Constitution was in the formation stage, Bapa decided to visit the remote areas of India, which were difficult to find and reach. He tried to understand the problems of the tribal people living in these areas and also provided the solution. This effort of his won him the position of the Chairman of Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas, which was a sub-committee of the constituent assembly.

Thakkar Bapa's sole aim was to uplift the status of tribal people and Harijans. To fulfil his aim, he travelled the entire land of the Indian subcontinent. Starting from the forests of Assam and rural Bengal, flood-affected areas of Odisha, Bhil belts in Gujarat and Harijan areas of Saurashtra, to the Mahar areas of Maharashtra, untouchables in Madras, hilly areas of Chhota Nagpur, the desert of Tharparkar, foothills of Himalaya, and coastal areas of Travancore. Amrit preferred to travel in the third class of railway and spent thirty-five years of life providing his services to the tribal people and Harijans.

The Government of India had also issued a stamp in his honour in 1969. A colony in Mumbai called the Bappa Colony has been named after him. The government of Maharashtra has also designed a scheme named Thakkar Bappa Aadivasi Vasti Sudharana that helps in the improvement of Adivasi colonies and villages. The Madhya Pradesh state government also issued an award after his name to honour those who contribute to the improvement of the tribal community.

People in Tamil Nadu fondly called him by the name, Appa Thakkar. Since Thakkar was quite intelligent and answered every question that was asked of him, the people of Madras gave him the name of Appatakkar, meaning a know-all person.

Two days after his death on 20 January 1951, The Tribune had written the following words in his memory:

In a mentally and spiritually sick world, which is full of dwarfed souls and warped intellects and where human beings get snarled up in their lives at every step due to the battle of “isms” and the conflict of ideologies, men like Thakkar Bapa, who identify themselves with everything that lives, are like rare gems. His was a truly dedicated life for he resisted the lure of wealth, spurned worldly delights and for about 45 years strenuously strove to ameliorate the hard and unenviable lot of the socially and economically disinherited sections of the nation.