Volunteers at Silver Innings Foundation distribute food to the customers waiting outside the bank in Mira Road
Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, it has become a common phenomenon to see people lined up in long queues outside banks and ATM counters across the country. These queues are long, leaving people tired and infuriated by the time their chance comes. Amid these frustrating times, there are some people, who have taken it in their stride to provide food and water to the people standing in these long queues to make sure they are properly fed and hydrated.
One such group of good samaritans is the Silver Innings Foundation, an NGO formed to provide need based services to senior citizens, co-founded by Sailesh Mishra. Volunteers of Silver Innings on November 13 at 12 noon, distributed 216 packets of bread butter and water bottles to people standing in long queues at Bank of Baroda, Naya Nagar and ICICI Bank at sector 11, Mira Road. ” For two consecutive days I stood in a long queue for nearly 8 hours without water and food and that prompted me to do something for those like me, ” said Mishra.
HDFC Malad (Mindspace) branch also provided vada pav and tea to all its customers who were waiting outside the bank for several hours. Speaking to PaGaLGuY, Girish Deshpande, an HDFC account holder, at the branch said, “I was quite overwhelmed with the bank’s gesture of providing those waiting, with food and water. Some of us had been standing for over two hours and had grown hungry and thirsty waiting for our turn,” he said, adding that the bank also put up a shamiana for its customers to stand under. He further added that other banks like ICICI, SBI etc have also constructed shamianas and arranged for chairs and water facility for all its customers waiting in long queues.
Throughout the country, humanitarian incidents like these have been witnessed over the last few days. In Ludhiana, Punjab, Sikhs were seen serving free tea and food to people queuing up at ATMs and banks. Restaurant chain like Pizza Hut also dropped in with free pizzas at selected banks across Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru to elevate the spirits of bankers and customers.