PRAYAGRAJ: We often come forward to offer a helping hand to a friend or family member who is in need of help, but it takes much more to care for someone unknown or strangers. In the present situation of the deadly second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, and at a time when the country is trying to put up a brave fight, a group of citizens have come forward to do their bit to help people in fighting Covid-19. For instance, people turned good samaritan for 56-year-old Rajesh Kapoor, who had no relatives or close friends in the city when he was fighting against Covid-19 at Swaroop Rani Nehru (SRN) hospital. Sharing his experience, Civil Lines resident Kapoor told TOI, “I was admitted at SRN hospital on May 1. This is when one Ritesh Srivastava helped me to get admitted in a hospital after I was diagnosed with Covid-19. This when people were struggling to find a bed in any medical facility in the city. As I had no relatives or close friends in city, Ritesh stayed for hours at the hospital till I was shifted to a Covid ward. After my admission in a Covid ward, I had no one to seek help from outside but a woman named Mayuri, when she came to know about me having no one to ask about my well-being, came forward and started sending meals three times a day including breakfast, lunch and dinner.” “Despite being unknown to me, she not only arranged quality meal for me three times in a day but also made calls to me regularly to ask about my condition every day and encouraged me in my fight against Covid,” he added. Kapoor further said, “Mayuri had helped me for 14 days in terms of sending a balanced diet from her home and connecting with me every day so that I did not feel lonely or isolated”. Kapoor was discharged from SRN hospital on May 14. He, however, said, “The two people gave a me a new lease of life at a time when I had no one in the family to take care of me.” 48-year-old AK Tripathi told TOI, “When I was diagnosed with Covid-19, I was supported by some of my neighbours whom I was not even on talking terms. When I got admitted in a hospital, they kept on taking my care in terms of arranging medicines and meal and welcomed me when I reached home back after getting a discharge.” He also added, “I am so grateful to my neighbours for giving me so much love and affection when I needed it in the time of crisis.”