If anything, defeating the pain barrier is something that Hanuma Vihari is not alien too. After his heroics in Australia in the India colours, Vihari has been actively helping people through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vihari has been extremely active on social media, helping those in need get the resources in demand. He has also created a team of 100 volunteers, comprising friends and followers from across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.
Just like Congress leader BV Srinivas in New Delhi, Vihari’s friends and followers have reached people with plasma, oxygen cylinders and arranged food and hospital beds for patients.
“I don’t want to glorify myself. I am doing it with the intention of helping people at the ground level, who actually need every help possible in these difficult times. It is just the start,” Vihari was quoted as saying by PTI.
“With the second wave being so strong, getting a bed became a difficulty and that is something which is unthinkable. So, I decided to use my followers as my volunteers and help as many people as I can,” Vihari, who has more than 110,000 followers, said.
“My goal is to actually mainly reach out to those people who are not able to afford or arrange for plasma, beds and essential medicine. But this is not enough. I would like to do more service in the future,” said the man, who has 624 runs in 11 Tests.
For Vihari, when the distress calls and messages for help started pouring in, he wanted to create a network of help givers and he found that support from common people, his own family and Andhra teammates like Prithviraj Yarra.
“I built my own team. It’s all about good intentions and people do get inspired and come out to help me.
“I have around 100 people on a WhatsApp group as volunteers and it’s their hard work that we have been able to help a few people. Yes, I am a cricketer, well known but I am able to help because of their untiring efforts to reach the distressed,” said Vihari.
“I started as one and now we have many friends in different platforms through my following on social media. I send them requests I get and they do the search. I chip in if any recommendations are required or to post on social media,” Vihari said.
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