Udupi : Ravi Katapady, who dons a different costume during every Krishna Janmashtami festival, will be putting on the costume of a vampire this time.

Mr. Katapady’s costumes are popular. He raises funds by wearing these costumes and uses the money to help poor patients every year.

Speaking to presspersons here on Wednesday, Mr. Katapady, who hails from Katapady village near Udupi but works in air-conditioner maintenance field in Muscat, said that this year, the funds raised would be used for helping Srithan, three-year-old son of Kushal and Usha from Mandarti, Pratham, five-year-old son of Ravindra and Yashodha from Vakvady, and 18-year-old Kiran, son of Krishnamurthy and Kushal Acharya from Hiriyadka.

Mr. Katapady said that he had been donning different costumes and giving performances with his team called Ravi and Friends during the Janmashtami festival for the last five years.

They had raised ₹ 1.04 lakh during the first year, ₹ 3.2 lakh during the second year, ₹ 4.65 lakh during the third year, ₹ 5.12 lakh during the fourth year and ₹ 5.32 lakh last year. All this money was given to parents of poor patients for their medical treatment.

The funds collected during this Janmashtami would be handed over to the parents of patients at a public function at Katapady on September 3 in the presence of Ishavittaladas Swami of Kemar Mutt and Superintendent of Police Nisha James, Mr. Katapady said.

To a query, Mr. Katapady said that the costume of vampire was expected to cost between ₹ 20,000 and ₹ 40,000. Last year, he had spent ₹ 1.2 lakh on costumes. He did not want to spend more money on costumes this year, he said.