True friendship: Sexagenarian Odisha man takes ailing 85-year-old friend to hospital on a trolley rickshaw

By Saroj Behera

Puri, April 13: A 62-year-old man in Odisha’s Puri has displayed an extraordinary example of true friendship by helping his ailing octogenarian friend to reach the hospital.

On Tuesday night, people in the pilgrim city Puri found that an elderly man was in a hurry to reach the hospital with another elderly man on a trolley rickshaw. When some of the people approached the trolley rickshaw, they found the man who was carrying the octogenarian Bedanta Kumar, an eatery owner.

Bedanta developed a friendship with one Debendra Nath Paramanik (85) from West Bengal who was abandoned by his children following his wife’s death and now lives in a mutt in Puri.

As their bond strengthened, Bedanata gave shelter to Debendra and provided him with all the necessary support.

Recently, Debendra suffered from paralysis and his health condition worsened due to old-age-related ailments.

Finding no other means of transportation in the dark of the night, Bedanta decided to take his friend to the Puri district headquarters hospital on his trolley.

At first, the onlookers could not understand anything, but later they lauded Bedanta’s gesture and love for his friend.

“Bedanta’s financial condition is not good. However, he has never allowed his poverty to stand in the way of their friendship. His earnings are not adequate to sustain his family. In spite of this, he has never neglected to buy food and medicines for Debendra,” said Saroj Behera, a neighbour of Bedanta.

Saroj informed that Bedanta very often comes to the help of unidentified mentally unsound persons who move around in the city.

“In Puri city, we very often come across mentally unsound persons. While some of them arrive here accidentally after leaving their homes, a few of them are abandoned in the city by their families. Bedanta always takes care of these persons,” said Saroj.