For this Good Samaritan from Keralam’s Vakayar, service is a way of life

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D. Sudheesh Kumar at his one-acre homestead in Vakayar, where he grows around 65 varieties of fruit while also devoting himself to the welfare of people and animals in the locality. | Photo Credit: LEJU KAMAL

By the time Vatican City in Vakayar, a village near Konni, begins to stir each morning, D. Sudheesh Kumar has usually completed his first task of the day. Armed with a broom, the 61-year-old steps out early to sweep and clean nearly 200 metres of the public road adjoining his house. He has been doing it almost every day for the past nine years, asking for nothing in return.

Keeping the Vatican City Road in Ward 11 of Pramadom panchayat spotless is just one part of Mr. Kumar’s unusual routine since 2017. His days also include looking after injured animals, feeding birds, transporting people in distress and tending to an orchard that has become a labour of love.

A nature lover influenced by his late father, Damodaran, Mr. Kumar shares a special bond with the crows in his neighbourhood. A distinctive call from him is enough to bring a flock down to his courtyard, where they are treated to mixture, their favourite snack.

“Crows eat whatever they can find and help clean the surroundings, but nobody thinks of giving them something good to eat,” he says.

He also looks after sick and injured stray dogs and has taken in an abandoned street dog that was once badly injured.

The one-acre homestead where he lives is home to around 65 varieties of fruit trees, besides vegetables and other crops. Mr. Kumar has spent about ₹1 lakh on saplings and grows everything from mangosteen, rambutan and pulasan to several varieties of mango. Traditional crops such as elephant foot yam, colocasia, banana and greater yam also grow on the property.

Protecting the farm from wild boars cost him another ₹3.5 lakh, which he spent on fencing. The orchard has already begun yielding pulasan and rambutan, while the mangosteen trees have recently started bearing fruit. But selling the produce does not interest him. He prefers sharing the harvest with relatives, friends and visitors.

For many in the locality, Mr. Kumar has also become a guardian in times of distress, rushing accident victims and seriously ill patients to hospitals in his car, without charging them a rupee. His efforts have earned him numerous recognitions over the years. The latest came on Saturday (September 12, 2026) morning, when the Vakayar panchayat felicitated him at a special gram sabha organised to honour him.

“Living a life like Sudheesh Kumar’s, entirely devoted to the service of others, is not easy. From keeping the roads in front of his house spotless to caring for people and animals in distress, he is a model of grassroots charity,” said P.K. Uthaman, a local panchayat member who organised the special gram sabha.

For Mr. Kumar, happiness seems to lie in the simple acts that make a difference to the people, animals and plants around him.

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