It was a delivery of Hyderabadi chai on a rainy night that changed Mohd Aqeel Ahmed’s life.
It began when Robin Mukesh placed an order for chai from a restaurant in Lakdi Ka Pul at 10 in the night. Within 15 minutes, a container of piping hot tea was delivered to Mukesh who lives in an apartment block in King Koti area. “I wanted hot tea as I was working from home. I was surprised to see the delivery executive near my home in 15 minutes. But he had a strange request. He wanted me to collect the delivery as I stay in an apartment,” recalls Mr. Mukesh.
When he went down, he was surprised to see Aqeel Ahmed on a cycle, drenched to the bone. “I was shocked and asked Aqeel if I could click his photo. He allowed me to do so and I posted the photograph in our foodies’ group on Monday at 11.10 p.m. By morning, the post had gone viral and people said they wanted to do something (to help him),” says Mr Mukesh about the heart-warming story.
At that point, R. Ravikanth Reddy, the admin of the Great Hyderabad Food and Travel Club on Facebook, stepped in by sharing the fundraiser post about Aqeel. “I posted it at 8 p.m. on Tuesday and when I woke up in the morning, the target of ₹65,800 for a two-wheeler was achieved,” says Mukesh.
“We do charity on a different scale. But this incident showed how members of a foodie group can quickly mobilise funds to help someone. One big donor was a person from the US who saw the post and sent across ₹30,000. We exceeded the target,” adds Mr. Reddy.
On Friday, at 10.30 a.m., Aqeel received the keys and helmet for his new motorbike with which he plans to increase his deliveries from 20 to 40 per day.
