Earlier this month, Harshvardhan Rane had posted pictures of his gleaming Royal Enfield Continental GT on Instagram, informing that he intended to sell the bike to raise funds for oxygen concentrators. Two weeks on, the avid biker may be missing his first love, but he is glad to have lent a hand in this time of crisis.

The actor, who battled the infection last October, says he can understand the acute suffering of patients, owing to the scarcity of oxygen. “I couldn’t look at my Royal Enfield bike, knowing that someone is not able to breathe, [and decided to put it up for sale]. Luckily, I found a buyer in Hyderabad. It has yet to be transported, but the buyer was kind enough to make the payment so that we could get the oxygen concentrators. One concentrator has reached the Cyberabad police, and another, donated to NGO Cheers Foundation [that provides shelter and food to underprivileged children]. We plan to send a concentrator to an old-age home too,” he says.

It was heartbreaking for Rane to part with his first bike. “I had bought it with my earnings from a South film. It was like my baby, and I used to lavish care on it. It was a part of me, but now, it is serving a bigger purpose by helping people breathe.”