– Mohammed Atherulla Shariff
29 Apr. 24: An elderly person was seen roaming on streets of Bengaluru especially on important traffic junctions, carrying a placard in both hands with a message: “I’LL VOTE FOR CHANGE NOT FOR HATE”. It certainly attracted of lot of people. He is popularly known as ‘Petrol Uncle’.
The nomenclature has a background. It was in 2008, late night, owner of the famous Alice Footwear on MG Road, Mohammed Arif Sait was returning home when his scooter’s petrol was exhausted. There was no petrol pump nearby. He had to tow a long distance to fetch a liter of petrol. He realized the difficulties then the other people may face in such a situation. Since then he made it a point to help the suffering motorists. After returning from shop, he stands on the spot where his vehicle’s tank had dried up, carrying a liter of petrol, a water bottle and some snacks. If he spots anybody towing the vehicle, he offers them some petrol and facilitates them to reach the petrol pump. Of course, everything is free. He remains there till 11 p.m. Since then Arif Sait has become Petrol Uncle.
Now his children are running the footwear business and Petrol Uncle is spreading important messages to the public through innovative and attractive methods.
Since a few days before the Parliamentary elections in the city, Petrol Uncle walked through Vidhan Soudha, Brigade Road, M.G. Road, and Commercial Street, awakening the voters.
