With Just Rs 300, #DonateABlanket to Help Homeless People on the Banaras Ghats

One night, around a week ago, Divyanshu Upadhyay (30) was sipping on chai with his friends on the banks of Tulsi Ghat in Varanasi (also known as Banaras or Kashi). It was around 10.30 pm, Divyanshu recalls. An elderly woman watched the group; seeming almost hesitant to approach them. Finally, Divyanshu got up and asked her, “Dadi kya hua? (What happened?)” Smiling, she replied, “Once you and your friends leave from here, I will put down my mat to sleep. But take your time, no hurry.”

Divyanshu, the founder of Hope Welfare Trust — an initiative helmed by youngsters intent on bringing change in the hinterlands of Uttar Pradesh — was appalled.

“You sleep here? It’s winter!”

“I’m used to it,” Parvati (85) replied. She was dressed in a simple dress and a wrap-around shawl — the same muddy grey as the silt that forms the coastline. The fabric offered little protection from the harsh winds. She continued, “I sell diyas (lamps) during the day and earn enough money to buy myself some food. This has been my home for eight years now ever since my children abandoned me.”

Her admission drew a blank stare from the group.

How anyone could sleep in the open in the biting cold of Varanasi was beyond Divyanshu’s comprehension. And so, he promised the woman: “I’ll bring you a blanket soon.”

And that’s where you and I come in. Divyanshu has a promise to fulfil, and he needs our help.

Donate a blanket to a homeless person in Banaras

For thousands of people, the pilgrim-drawing spiritual capital of India offers solace. These include migrant workers, senior citizens abandoned by their families, ones whose children sever ties with them, and widows who are ostracised by society. “Their stories are heart-wrenching. When I speak to them, they tell me how the ghats are the only place they have to go,” Divyanshu shares.

Despite leaving everything back in their hometowns, they retain their pride. Retelling one story that puts this into perspective, Divyanshu shares, “There is an elderly man who sets up his ‘shop’ every day at the same spot. He charges people Rs 2 to get their weight checked on the weighing scale. Somedays, no one stops by. But he continues to sit at the spot the entire day.”

When Divyanshu and his team from the Hope Welfare Trust offered the aged man some money to buy food, he declined. “He said I must earn money. He did not want charity.”

Getting a square meal every day is a dream for most of these people, Divyanshu points out. A blanket is a coveted luxury.

The same fate befalls the influx of migrant workers who head to Varanasi for work from different parts of Uttar Pradesh like Sonbhadra and Mirzapur. “They come for a few months and don’t earn enough to pay for lodging and food. The ghats are a sort of home for everyone,” says Divyanshu. Their loyalty to the ghats holds steadfast even in the chilling winter temperatures.

A walk across the Tulsi Ghat early morning reveals a landscape dotted with sleeping figures, seeking comfort in skimpy shawls that are no match for the 10-degree temperatures. This reality is extrapolated to the 84 ghats in Varanasi, including the smaller pockets on the outskirts.

But this winter, we can change it with just Rs 300.

Hug a homeless person this winter - #DonateABlanket

Not far away from the ghats, in the Rajatalab area, is a centre where 35 women are hard at work upcycling old bedsheets, saris, jeans and T-shirts into shawls and blankets that can be distributed to the homeless of the ghats.

Elaborating on this model — an arm of the Hope Welfare Trust — Divyanshu shares, “People know about the Trust. They send a lot of old clothes to the centre, which are usually recycled and stitched into jholas (bags). These bags are given to the local municipal commission to collect plastic waste during their cleaning sprees.”

However, often the clothes cannot be turned into jholas. “For example, if the material is too thin, or if the fabric is torn in the middle.” A few months ago, Divyanshu came up with an interesting way of salvaging the textile, that would otherwise go to waste.

Explaining it, Sony Patel, a trainer at the centre, shares, “We are given a casing in which we stuff these waste cloths.” She adds that the women then muscle in to beat the entire bundle for around 20 minutes. “This ensures uniformity. Then we stitch all four sides and get a blanket which measures 7 feet by 5 feet.” The resulting product is sturdy, and as one woman at the centre testifies, “It will last you 10 years without any problem.”

But what really sets the blankets apart, Divyanshu shares is the passion of the women who make it. These are part of the Green Army —  a group of women from Uttar Pradesh who have come together to bring about change in the state. Through the years, the Green Army has grown from 25 women to its present total of 2,200 women spread across 250 villages of the state.

To strengthen the message of empowerment, the Hope Welfare Trust started centres where these women could channel their skills into stitching, plate making, bottling, etc, to earn a livelihood. The centre at Rajatalab is one of them.

“The women feel emotionally connected to the blanket they are making. It urges them to think of their own family members who might often be travelling for work to other villages of Uttar Pradesh and might have to sleep in the cold,” Divyanshu explains.

As another night settles in on Varanasi, the people of the ghats brace themselves for a tough night. But tonight is different for Parvati. As she lays her mat, she remembers Divyanshu’s promise to her: “I’ll bring you a blanket soon.”

Let’s keep our promise to Parvati, this winter.