In Agra’s 40°C heat, Suyash Jain serves sharbat to workers and water to birds
Agra: By afternoon, the heat settles over Agra’s construction sites and roadside corners. Temperatures often touch 40°C. Winds are harsh. Workers, vendors and birds struggle with dehydration, and water and shade become a daily need.
While most plan their day, Suyash Jain stops to notice what others miss — labourers toiling in the sun and birds waiting under trees for water.
Suyash is a marketing and branding professional. He works for a firm in Agra, but spends much of his time on social service.
His work as a changemaker became visible during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first wave, he and Rajat Agarwal launched the COVID-19 Free Jobs Forum. It began as a Google Form and grew into a network of over 13,000 job seekers and 600 recruiters.
When the second wave hit, Suyash saw families needed food more than jobs. On 15 May 2021, he started ‘Feeding Ones In Need’, inspired by his parents who were already helping daily wage workers from home. Using his own income, he bought ration kits with atta, rice, dal, sugar, salt, spices, tea powder and oil. Each kit supported a family of four for nearly two weeks. The first drive reached 150 families in Agra, followed by 200 more. He also visited construction sites. Over 400 kits were distributed in the early phase.
Suyash says the philosophy comes from his parents. His father woke up early to put bajra and rice on the rooftop for birds, gave 50 rotis to cows daily, and handed biscuits to guards and workers before dawn. His mother helped prepare and organize it all. “Helping others runs in the family,” Suyash says.
This year he launched ‘Summer Relief Seva’ for Agra’s summer. The effort has two parts: distributing chilled sharbat to security guards, construction workers, ragpickers and others working outdoors, and placing water bowls and bajra for birds.
He started with cold water for labourers, then added sugar for hydration and energy. Every day from 12 pm to 4 pm, during his lunch break, he visits locations across the city with freshly made sharbat. He serves 30-40 workers a day. “I wanted to help fewer people but do it consistently and give them something of good quality,” he says.
The initiative is funded from his own pocket. He spends about Rs 350 daily on sugar, sharbat concentrate and ice. He plans to continue until the first week of August when temperatures ease. With his family, he has placed water pots for birds at 10-15 locations and refills them regularly.“My parents were already doing this, especially for animals,” Suyash says. “I simply followed in their footsteps.”He now hopes for volunteers to identify locations, refill bowls and join distribution drives, and for donations to cover ingredients and supplies.
