Good samaritans making it worth the wait outside Banks and ATMs

Posted on 19 Nov 2016 By Ishani Bose

Volunteers at Silver Innings Foundation distribute food to the customers waiting outside the bank on Mira Road.

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, it has become common to see people lined up in long queues outside banks and ATM counters across the country. These queues are long, leaving people tired and infuriated by the time their chance comes. Amid these frustrating times, some people have taken it in their stride to provide food and water to the people standing in these long queues to ensure they are adequately fed and hydrated.

One such group of good samaritans is the Silver Innings Foundation, an NGO formed to provide need-based services to senior citizens, co-founded by Sailesh Mishra. Volunteers of Silver Innings, on November 13 at noon, distributed 216 packets of bread butter and water bottles to people standing in long queues at Bank of Baroda, Naya Nagar, and ICICI Bank at sector 11, Mira Road. ” For two consecutive days, I stood in a long queue for nearly 8 hours without water and food, and that prompted me to do something for those like me, ” said Mishra.

HDFC Malad (Mindspace) branch also provided vada pav and tea to customers waiting outside the bank for several hours. Speaking to PaGaLGuY, Girish Deshpande, an HDFC account holder at the branch, said, “I was quite overwhelmed with the bank’s gesture of providing those waiting with food and water. Some of us had been standing for over two hours and had grown hungry and thirsty waiting for our turn,” he said, adding that the bank also put up a shamiana for its customers to stand under. He noted that other banks, like ICICI, SBI, etc., have also constructed shamianas and arranged chairs and water facilities for all their customers waiting in long queues.

Throughout the country, humanitarian incidents like these have been witnessed over the last few days. In Ludhiana, Punjab, Sikhs served complimentary tea and food to people queuing at ATMs and banks. Restaurant chains like Pizza Hut also dropped in with free pizzas at selected banks across Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru to elevate the spirits of bankers and customers.