Ten years ago, Raja was a small-time goon, making news for all the wrong reasons in Bangalore. Sick of his frequent drunken brawls and petty crimes, his parents gave up on him and threw him out on his ear. If he is to be believed, they even prayed for his early demise so that his dastardly ways would come to an end.

HEART OF GOLD: Raja with two inmates of the Home of Hope

Raja, 38, is a changed man today. An angel of mercy, as he is referred to, Raja-better known as Auto Raja since he used to drive an autorickshaw earlier-brings hope to the hopeless in Bangalore, be they infants abandoned in garbage bins, the homeless and sick, the old or mentally challenged destitutes. Raja's transformation was gradual. The daily sight of the poor on the roads agonised him. "I was never a religious person but whenever I saw these people I wondered how God could do this," he says. The thought stirred into action. To the chagrin of his family, he began bringing the destitutes home. "All I did was bathe, clean and feed them and they would die in peace," he recalls.

Soon Raja launched the Home of Hope, an NGO that could address the needs of the hopeless in a more effective manner. Things improved and today the centre houses more than 80 people who have learnt to live again. Like Deepa, 23. Being confined to a wheelchair hasn't clamped this Class VIII drop-out's enthusiasm as she earnestly pitches in with house work or takes care of a newborn. Similarly, four-year-old Gracy, who was brought in from the streets with a torn eye three years ago, is a bundle of energy. She goes to school thanks to an operation and a glass eye.

"It is my dream to make sure not a single person remains homeless on the streets of Bangalore," says Raja ambitiously. "I want to create a corpus and build a big home." The task is not easy though. Run entirely on voluntary donations, the home finds it difficult to meet the needs of food, clothing, shelter, education and medication of its inmates. Raja has managed to acquire an ambulance to pick up the sick from the streets, but he knows there is a long way to go.

The limitations, however, have not detracted from the real focus of the Home for Hope: to ensure dignity in life. And death. For, even those who die homeless on the streets are taken to the centre, bathed and then cremated. What more can one ask for?