On Friday morning, when many party-fatigued Calcuttans were yet to leave their beds, over 150 people in a South 24-Parganas pocket had queued up for warm blankets.

Two Jesuit priests, one of them an octogenarian, were busy managing the queue first and supervising a distribution drive later. As many as 164 people received wheat, soyabean, dal, sugar, blankets, saris and lungis.

The drive took place at Kalahrdaya, a Jesuit-run centre for art and culture in Nepalgunj on the southern fringes of Calcutta, around 40km from the heart of the city and a 15-minute drive from Thakurpukur Cancer Hospital.

Many of the recipients were old and infirm, some of them widows abandoned by their families.

Calcuttans welcomed the New Year in a more muted fashion compared to other years but with the hope that 2021 will bring happier tidings. For the poor families of Nepalgunj and a cluster of nearby villages, a near year does not make much of a difference.

The recipients are served snacks after the distribution drive. Picture by Gautam Bose

“Many of them work on others’ farmlands. Many are daily labourers who are still out of work because of the Covid pandemic,” said Father Saju George, the founder-director of the 20-year-old centre.

A sizeable number of the recipients were women who sell fish and vegetables in markets in the city. The suspension of suburban train services had crippled their livelihood. On paper, hawkers are still not allowed on suburban trains, which resumed on November 11.

An 85-year-old priest, also a member of Kalahrdaya, played an active role in the relief distribution on Friday. Father K. Thottam has three decades of teaching experience in Christian institutions, including a 21-year stint at St Lawrence High School.

“All that we continue to do through Kalahrdaya is very important because Jesus teaches, ‘I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me. ‘And I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these brothers (and sisters) of mine, you did it for me,’” said Father Thottam.

On Friday, the recipients were also provided with sweets and snacks after the distribution drive, which started around 10am and wrapped up by noon.

“Since the lockdown and the Cyclone Amphan disaster, we have reached out to around 3,000 poor families in South and North 24-Parganas, including those in the Sunderbans and tribal hamlets in Bankura. Our relief work includes giving packed dry food materials, cooking oil, clothes, blankets, medicines, and building materials like asbestos, bamboo, cement, red sand, iron rods, plastic sheets. We were able to do it from our Kalahrdaya fund and donations from friends,” said Father George, a Bharatnatyam dancer who has trained many young boys and girls from poor families.