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New Delhi: In a country where philanthropy has yet to take root, a simple idea is growing.
In Bhilwara, Rajasthan, India, a Wall of Kindness is groaning under the weight of all the clothes, books, shoes, school bags, kitchen utensils, and books that have been donated by residents.
A resident who had heard about the first wall of kindness in Iran contacted Pradeep Singh, secretary of the Urban Improvement Trust in Bhilwara. Singh was sceptical.
"I thought, first no one will give anything much and even if they do, it will be looted at night," he said.
But he went ahead anyway and got local artists to paint the wall and had hooks and shelves put up. Then they waited. "By the second or third day, we had lots of stuff. The response was fantastic," Singh said.
An unidentified man created the first wall of kindness in Mashdad in Iran last year to encourage people to donate winter clothing for destitute or homeless people. The motto was "Leave if you do not need" and "Take if you need". It caught on and quickly spread to other Iranian cities. Then a wall came up in Karachi, Pakistan in January and in the same month, in Liuzhou in China. Brazil has at least one too.
Bhilwara's first such wall went up in front of where Singh's boss, Urban Improvement Trust chairman, Tina Kumar, lives last month. On the first day, she looked out of her window anxiously.
"I had a Plan B ready. If nobody gave anything, I was going to give my old clothes and my son's clothes. But I was stunned at the generosity. We can barely cope with all the stuff that people have given," said Kumar.
The poor in Bhilwara have been coming to the wall to pick up whatever they need ever since.
The generosity is a welcome change from the time in 2011 when Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett visited India to explain "the art of giving" and to ask 70 of the country's richest tycoons to give more of their fortunes to charity.
The two billionaires were promoting their "Giving Pledge" to persuade some of the world's richest to give away half of their fortunes. While their campaign prompted 57 American other billionaires to make a pledge, it fell flat in India where a culture of philanthropy has yet to take root.
But Bhilwara philanthropists are showing the way now. Layers of clothes are piled high on the hooks. The shelves are full of miscellaneous items. No one guards the wall.
"I'd thought that some needy people might just go on a looting spree at night but it hasn't happened. They try on the clothes and shoes and if they don't fit, they put them back," Singh said.
For Kumar, even if some items are taken away to be sold, it doesn't matter because it's going to be needy people doing it and if they make a little bit of money, so be it.
"In any case, we have more than enough clothes," she said.
This week, Singh and Kumar asked a local not-for-profit to collect the donated clothes and have them washed and ironed.
A second wall went up last week. Three will be up before Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Diwali is the time Hindu families spring-clean their homes. They buy new household goods and clothes so much of what they turf out before Diwali on October 30 is expected to end up on the walls.
The first "takers", not used to second-hand freebies, glanced around nervously over their shoulders as they examined the clothes, looking as though they expected to be reprimanded. But as word spread, they became more relaxed. After looking at items, they now fold them neatly and put them back.
Kumar, who passes the wall every time she leaves her house, said she has not spoken to any of them.
"I don't want to embarrass them. They need to keep their dignity," she said.
Word has spread to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, where the government has decided that the experiment will be replicated in every district of the state.