Woman packs Rs 100 with meal

A woman from Kumbalangi, Kochi is in the news for sharing half of her daily wages with the poor at Chellanam beach. She gave ‘a hundred rupee note worth crores’ – that’s how her blessed gesture is described today.

Mary Sebastian Velamparambil used to work for a catering unit and her husband Sebastian is a carpenter. Both lost their jobs when the lockdown began. Yet, their family was among the ones packing lunch kits for the hungry and homeless in Chellanam, reeling under the Covid lockdown and high tides. The Kannamaly police, under the leadership of Inspector PS Shiju, have been doing remarkable service at the beach – collecting food packets from neighbouring Kumbalangi homes and distributing those to the hungry in Chellanam.

Mary had just earned Rs 200 from a job in her village. When the food packets were prepared as usual, Mary or Mary chechi as she is fondly called, felt a pang of concern and added a Rs100 note. Mary’s family too had been a victim of the floods last year. “I heard that Chellanam was in distress because of the flooding. We know how difficult the situation can be when the high tide hits. Chellanam is also facing the COVID-19 crisis. We in Kumbalangi are generous; we share whatever we have with others, even food”.

“We were packing the food for them. I thought they might need some money to buy rice and tea. So I packed a currency note of Rs100 in plastic, along with the food. The weather is cold; I drink a lot of tea, so I thought may be they could buy some tea with the money. I felt happy preparing that special packet,” Mary told media persons.

A policeman found the money inside an extra packet of food, when the food distribution was done. No one knew who had left the money. Inspector PS Shiju shared the story on Facebook. When media reported the news, Mary’s son Sebin posted her photo on social media, saying he was proud of his mother, instantly turning her into a social media star.

Mary told the press that she is still haunted by the pain of Chellanam natives.

The police team in Kannamaly, led by Inspector PS Shiju, visited her home and honoured Mary with a gift.

(Pics from Facebook)