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After Saving 4 Years For Cycle, 8-Year-Old TN Girl Donates All Of It To Kerala Flood Relief

byJisha Joseph
20th August 2018
3 minute read
kerala

Sometimes the way a child’s mind works can leave you dumbfounded. They often display wisdom and maturity way beyond their years. Having not yet been tainted by societal constraints of religion, caste, creed or financial status, their innocence is both adorable and a nudge at how we could and should do better as adults.

As much as we consider them to be young and not as knowledgeable as those older and apparently more sensible than them, at times it takes a child to remind us of the humanity stored deep in all our hearts.

One such angel on earth is 8-year-old Anupriya from Villupuram, Tamil Nadu.

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This tiny tot has been saving up to buy a bicycle since the age of four. She would collect coins from her father Siva Shanmuganathan when he returns home every day after work.

Speaking to The New Indian Express, her father says:

“Anupriya started saving money in piggy banks when she was four. Every day, when I return home, she will ask for some coins and deposit them in her piggy banks, which were almost full.”

However, when she began seeing visuals of the Kerala flood and the devastation it left on the state on TV, this sweet child decided to spend all of her life savings on helping those suffering. Shanmuganathan says that though initially, she thought her savings would be enough to fix all the damages suffered by the state, once he explained of the Kerala CM’s relief fund, she wanted to help as much as she could.

For Anupriya, it was simple. She says:

“I saw the people suffering in the floods in Kerala. So I asked my father to give all the money I had saved in my piggy banks to them.”

Bless her heart!

Together with her father and mother, Lalitha, Anupriya counted all the coins collected in her four piggy banks to find a total of ₹8846.

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Rounding off the amount, Shanmuganathan sent ₹9000 on her behalf to the CM’s relief fund.

The maturity and selflessness displayed by the class 2 student hit the right note with many as her story surfaced on social media:

Netizens rose up in praise of the little girl and wanted to help in any possible to help her fulfil her dream of owning a bicycle:

And you guys know how the Internet pulls out its magical powers of doing good in the world? Well, it did its trick this time as well as the tweets reached Hero Cycles themselves.

The bicycle manufacturing company reached out to the person who tweeted her story:

She’s getting a bicycle y’all!

They’ve managed to track her down through the reporter who initially published her story.

This little angel honestly made my day. She proves how no contribution is big or small. Play your part, do good to your fellow humans and the universe always finds a way to pay you back in kind. If an 8-year-old can sacrifice everything she’s painstakingly saved up for four years, why can’t we? As Kerala begins to rebuild itself from the drenched remains, we should all make our contributions towards it, no matter how big or small.

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