5-year-old Delhi girl sells illustrated book online for raising money to feed needy

By Joymala Bagchi
New Delhi [India], April 29 (ANI): Moved by the migrant labourers' deplorable conditions due to COVID-19 lockdown, five-year-old Aranya Dutt Bedi has decided to help them with all the money she has in her earthen piggy bank.
The migrant labours are sheltered at a government school just opposite to her house.
However, Aranya felt her piggy bank contains very less money. So, she put forth an idea of selling her book online that she illustrated with her imagination.
Emphasising on the importance of staying inside home, her illustrated book on coronavirus depicts a green and red colour virus outside a square-shaped house, in which a girl (Aranya herself) is seeing standing inside the house.
"I saw from the balcony that there are so many persons who do not have food to eat and they are called poor. So many people were lined up in long queues only to eat food. I wrote this book because I wanted to sell it online and give the money to arrange food for these people," Aranya said.
UNICEF and Akshaya Patra have come forward to help little Aranya feed the poor and the needy. With no fixed price, the buyers of her online books are being asked to donate whatever amount possible which directly goes to any of these two NGOs.
After getting the money directly from the buyers, the NGOs are spending it by providing food to the poor as well as providing them with essentials.
Till date, her books have fetched Rs 1 lakh and the amount has been used to feed the needy.
Vijay Bedi, Aranya's father, said, "Poor people, who are the most affected due to the outbreak and its consequences are leading a very tough life. This is the feeling I think one need to pass on to their children. It eventually makes them more sensible. Aranya always liked telling stories and I was stunned when she herself came up with the idea of selling her book online only to extend a helping hand to the needy."
Aranya, who is the eldest of the two children, cannot write long sentences. However, with her illustrations, the young girl has completed 10 books and is currently working on her latest ideas. She wants to continue with it till food reaches to every migrant labourer. (ANI)