Rourkela: Though several clubs and cultural organisations function in the city to execute their own agendas, Hari Morning Club of Uditnagar near the old police station is a rarity in the community.
The club, having more than 20 men and women as members, has been offering food to birds and animals every morning.
Significantly, they have been doing it for nearly 15 years which in itself is commendable. One can see hundreds of pigeons, house sparrows and crows along with groups of stray dogs, bulls and cattle taking their food quietly at one place for over an hour every day.
The members bring animal diets from their homes and keep on feeding them for hours. The stuff includes bread, rice, mustard seeds, ragi, biscuits and many such items.
Interestingly, the innocent animals also get assembled at a fixed time as they know when the members would turn up. They take their food in a fearless ambience. Many birds even sit on the heads and shoulders of the members to pick up the grains.
One can judge the intensity of man-animal bonding from the fact that the latter don’t leave the place even after the end of the session.
This early morning exercise not only surprises many, a few also appreciate the effort and join the group to feed the innocent beings.
According to reports, the club was instituted by Hari Agrawal, Chhali Singh and a few animal lovers of the city about 15 years ago. It grew in shape with the joining of some elderly persons such as Arun Dash, Reeta Patel, Prajapati, Bimal and Munim.
“We arrange the food packets before retiring to bed and come out the next morning with them before getting assembled under the overbridge at Uditnagar,” Chhali Singh said.
It is not about the animals, the club members provide foods to the inmates of city’s orphanage, cloths to the distressed who take shelter in bus stands, railway stations and prominent intersections of the city, it was learnt.
Such selfless service gives them immense satisfaction for which they spend something around Rs 3,000 a day collectively, said Reeta Patel of the club. PNN
