[Monday Motivation] How this ‘costume man’ from Udupi saves sick children

Udupi, a coastal district in Karnataka, is known for celebrating the festival of Sri Krishna Janmashtami with grandeur. Every year, on the day of the festival, several people don various costumes and walk around the city, participating in processions and collecting money from locals.

There are many vibrantly dressed troupes who take part in the celebration and collect small amounts of money for their art. Thirty-seven-year-old construction worker, Ravi Katapadi a resident of Katapadi the town near Udupi, is part of one such troupe. However, Ravi has been using the occasion to raise money to help underprivileged children.

Growing up in a poor household, Ravi could study only till class 9, and started working as a mason right after school. Having lost both his parents, he lived with his brother and sister-in-law.

“Growing up, I saw a lot of struggle and hardship. It’s painful to see children suffer, which is why I continue to support or provide for them,” he says.

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Saviour in a costume

Recalling how it all began, Ravi narrates that back in 2013, he came across a television news of a baby with a dysfunctional hand, which brought him to tears. At the time of her birth, baby Anvitha had lost function of her right hand, allegedly due to negligence on the doctor’s part.

While Ravi initially felt helpless in providing any support to the baby’s parents, he then thought of pledging all the money he was able to collect for his costumed act that year for the baby’s surgery.

Coordinating with his artist friends on different costume ideas that would appeal to children, Ravi finally zeroed in on Faun, one of the characters that appeared in the film, Pan’s Labyrinth. Nearly 15 of his friends too agreed to join Ravi in his efforts, and volunteered to support him collect money for the baby’s surgery.

Ravi spent 12 hours putting on the costume, which had taken a month to design. He then wore it for 36 hours at a stretch during the two-day Krishna Janmashtami celebrations, and collected money across Udupi with the help of his friends. Hundreds of people from different backgrounds donated to Ravi's initiative, amounts ranging from Rs 5 to Rs 1000.

Through this first initiative, Ravi was able to collect over Rs 1 lakh, enough to cover the baby’s surgery.

“This had a huge impact on me, and motivated me to continue working to help as many sick children as possible through my costumed acts,” says Ravi.

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Dressing up to save lives

Ravi has been donning amazing costumes since 2013. He dons peculiar disguises, entertains people and collects money, all for social services like the education and health of poor children and people.

However, his efforts have not gone unchallenged, as applying paint directly on his skin, as part of makeup for his acts, has seen Ravi suffer severe burns over the years. The time-consuming procedure, which sometimes takes close to 20 hours to complete, further prevents him from even eating or drinking for three days. However, this has not deterred him from working towards a cause he is passionate about.

Ravi, a daily wage earner, often finds it hard to find construction work, where he earns around Rs 450-500 per day. Despite this, he has managed to contribute a staggering amount of money.

According to him, in the last few years, his contributions have ranged from Rs 1 lakh per annum to a little over Rs 5 lakh. He claims to have donated nearly Rs 72 lakh since 2013 to over 33 children suffering from cancer, heart ailments, eye and skin diseases.

Until 2017, Ravi had only collected funds from residents of Udupi, by going from door to door. Realising he needed more funds, he started to reach out to people living outside the state and country. With the help of his friends and through social media, Ravi makes sure word gets around across the country and internationally too.

Last year, Ravi also won Rs 12.5 lakh from popular TV show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC).