KOCHI: When Anees, Shihab and Shyam helped Zeenat, a three-year-old child in Mattanchery, little did they know that it was their ‘karma’ calling.The trio met Zeenat’s parents nine years back who then were struggling to save their daughter’s life as the girl was in an urgent need of a surgery.Unfortunately, the trio could not think of providing financial assistance towards girl’s treatment as they too were working hard to make ends meet for themselves.However, the trio sang well and it became a natural choice for them to take it up for a cause.They decided to sing to save lives.They took up small-time performances in a big way and started organising musical performances.The first time itself, they collected `60,000.“Thus, started our journey,” said Shihab.He said that there are many people living in the nook and cranny of Mattanchery and Fort Kochi who need help and this was the only way they could help them.“ We grew up in the dingy and narrow streets of Mattanchery.For us, life has always been a struggle.We could understand their pain more than others.The money we got the first time itself boosted our confidence,” he said.It all started with them advertising to reach people who needed help.“Then we started reaching people looking for those who needed money to meet medical expenses.Then, we would go around performing for a month or until we collect the required amount which is then handed over to the needy,” Shihab said.These performances are scheduled for the evenings as they have regular day jobs to carry out.However, it is not always easy to even help people.Shihab said that there have been many instances when they had to face suspicious glances and had even reached a point where they wrapped up this venture.“But we could not keep away from it for too long as we kept seeing all the pain around us,” they said.“At the outset, we needed electricity and we used to request support from nearby houses.Some relented while some did not.Now, we have started using inverters that cost us `500 and we pay for it from the amount that is collected,” they added.One of the painful experiences they encountered was when a little girl died of cancer.“We managed to collect `60,000 for the girl’s treatment but she could not be saved,” they recall
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