Mumbai Nov 25: The ‘Yuva Puraskar 2013 Selection Committee’ has decided to select the nomination of Narayanan Krishnan (Akshaya Trust- Madurai, Tamilnadu) for reputed ‘Prof. Yashwantrao Kelkar Yuva Puraskar 2013’.
This selection has been made to recognize his remarkable work in “helping the helpless, homeless, sick, mentally ill and destitute by providing healthy food, care and opportunity to rehabilitate to restore human dignity”. This award is given in the memory of Late Prof. Yeshwantrao Kelkar whose contribution was like a foundation stone to build up and flourish ABVP, the world’s largest student organization. This award has been given since 1991.
This is a collaborative activity of ABVP and ‘Vidyarthi Nidhi Trust, both committed for the cause of upliftment of education and students.’ Narayanan Krishnan will be felicitated with the Prof. Yashwantrao Kelkar Yuva Award of 2013 in a special function in the National Council of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) held on 30th November 2013 at Kashi, Uttara Pradesh.
The idea behind this award is to encourage young social workers, engaged in various social welfare activities and to offer them a platform, thereby to motivate other youth for social work as well as to express gratitude to the young social workers.
The award comprises of Rs 50000/- cash, certificate and a memento. Narayanan Krishnan with a degree in hand and future in sight was on his way to be an awardwinning chef at a 5-star restaurant in Switzerland. After witnessing a distressing incident in 2002, an elderly man lying on the side of the road starving and filthy. Narayanan Krishnan describing the incidence said, “I saw a very old man, literally eating his own human waste out of hunger. I went to the nearby hotel and asked them what was available. They had idli, which I bought and gave to the old man. Believe me, I had never seen a person eating so fast. as he ate the food, his eyes were filled with tears. Those were the tears of happiness.” This was a defining moment. Narayanan decided in this moment that helping this man and those in need would be a life well-lived, providing him the happiness and fulfillment he had yet to experience until this moment. He quit his job and began feeding helpless poor in his hometown Madurai in Tamil Nadu.
Starting in 2002, utilising his personal savings, Narayanan Krishnan fed around 30 people. In 2003, Krishnan founded his outfit Akshaya Trust in Madurai, which helps to feed the homeless and mentally-disabled. He serves breakfast, lunch and dinner to 425 indigent and elderly people in Madurai. He began to serve freshly-cooked meals, and has since served over 19 lakhs till date. Narayanan Krishnan is known and appreciated for going well beyond the act of feeding those in need – He also bathes and provides haircuts and shaves to restore human dignity to those he serves. Narayanan Krishnan was recognized as one of the World’s Top Ten Heroes of 2010 by CNN.
Narayanan Krishnan will be felicitated with the Prof. Yashwantrao Kelkar Yuva Award of 2013 in a special function in the National Council of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad held on 30th Nov. 2013 at Kashi, (U.P.).
