Mangaluru: Highway 234 Is a narrow, winding road passing through the Charmadi Ghat. Along this ghat section stands U. Hasanabba’s Hotel Charmadi, a small restaurant that caters mainly to the bevy of tourists and truck drivers who use this route.
Hotel Charmadi has, over the years, become an oasis for hungry travelers and anybody who meets with an accident on NH 237. In the last 30 years, social worker Hasanabba has helped over 500 accident victims along the perilous ghats.
NH 234, which runs through Charmadi Ghat connects Belthangady of DK district with Kottigehara of Chikmagalur district.
The road, which is used mainly by tourists heading to Dharmasthala, is narrow and full of sharp curves.
Accidents are common and bringing help to the wounded is a herculean task. This is where Hasanabba steps in, the real-lief Good Samaritan who rushes to the spot in his car and takes the injured to the nearest hospital.
Though Hasanabba was always inclined toward helping people, his life reached a turning point about 28 years ago.
A man and his son travelling through Charmadi Ghat in their new truck met with an accident in the middle of the night, near from Hasanabba’s place.
“I rushed there with an ambulance from the nearest healthcare centre and took the injured to a hospital in Belthanagady and then to Manipal,” said Hasanabba.
He traced their identities through the agency from which the truck was purchased. When the family arrived, we handed them a suitcase that I found at the scene, which, it turned out, contained Rs. 53,000.” The grateful family returned to Hasanabba’s house a few days later with fruit, as a gesture of goodwill.
Since then, Hasanabba has been helped anybody who meets with an accident at the Ghat. He rushes to the spot in his own vehicle to give the injured a ride to the hospital.
Often, the victim is too badly hurt to walk, so Hasanabba uses his dhoti to lift the patients to his car. He never expects anything in return from the people he helps.
Family members of the victims are asked to pitch in only in case of major accidents, where earth movers, cranes and labourers are required to sift through the wreckage.
Hasanabba is such a well-known name now that people from the region flock to Hotel Charmadi just to see him. “I get many people who enter my hotel just to meet me and let me know that they have travelled along this road.
They tell me they are condident that there is somebody to help if something happens to them in the ghat. Many of the people I have helped in the past also come back to visit.
This love, affection and confidence the people have in me is a great strength,” he says with a smile. “Almost everybody has my number. They call me if there is any accident or problem in the Ghat,” he added.
His children couldn’t be prouder. “We get great respect when people find out we are Hasanabba’s children. We’re very proud of him and he is always telling us to serve society as well,” said his eldest son.
Hasanabba has not studied past the second standard, but a lack of education hasn’t stood in his way. His selflessness and compassion, though, mark him out as a hero.
