Shelter From the Storm

Taking care of 500-plus homeless was only the first of the challenges; the 24-year-old social worker has done more since

- Nabodita Ganguly

Some days we are so gutted that the pain leaches into the soul. December 19, 2021, was one such day for Jas Kalra, a social activist from Gurgaon. That day his father suffered a heart attack and passed away.

Not just trying to cope with his grief, Kalra suddenly realised he would have to take care of 550 people. “I was just 21. The same day, I got the responsibility of taking care of 550 people. Till then, I had never even taken care of a puppy,” he says.

Kalra Sr, a social worker, had in 2008 founded The Earth Saviours Foundation (TESF), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) to help the homeless. It runs two shelter homes in Haryana’s Bandhwari and Mandawar villages. Today, the shelters are home to around 1,200 people.

Baptism by Fire

Things turned difficult for Kalra in the beginning. “TESF was running thanks to my father’s credibility. After his death, the organisation’s credibility was lost. People who were associated with my father left; from around 1,000 well-wishers it dwindled to 20,” he says.

The biggest problem was funding. Most donors turned wary given Kalra’s young age. “Once a man said, ‘The kid has come for pocket money’,” he recounts.