One thing that impressed me most during the flood period was the selfless volunteer work localities were doing to help flood victims. For initial 10 days when Government and NGO support was still far away, flood victims only survived because local residents came forward to help them in every way possible. Relief work started the same day water breached its boundary, the same day when every empty space in our island town was getting filled and it was spontaneous. Help came in mere form of asking victims their story, local women reaching camps with cooked food and feeding one or two families at a time, simple act of drawing electric lines to these camps from their home so that victims do not loose their sight in those dark days, medical representatives visiting camps until proper medical facility was established or donating generously towards relief. They helped because they felt it was right thing to do and they knew with little extra water it could have been their fate too. Do not think negative of me but in the world where I see people using others as stepping stone and cranking up iPod sound on beggars plea, it was too beautiful to see abundance of humanity.
Evening of 1st Day:
Our group was pumped up after 1st day of work. All the support of community and satisfaction of doing something worth doing was encouraging us to continue further (we worked almost for 40 days). In the evening meeting we decided our work will be more inclined towards infants.
That night my mother asked me how was my day and in reply I smiled but she sensed worry in that. She asked why I was worried and I told her that, there were lots of things to do and I do not know how we were going to do it. Fund was scarce too. She told me that I can not help everyone and I can do only my part. I should not worry too much and take one day at a time. And I repeated her in my mind, one day at a time.
2nd Day:
Aid was scarce so we could not afford to loose the opportunity of collecting 3 boxes of biscuits. I had made clear to the group that any kind of help should be appreciated and this was the time to set example. House of food inspector was 10 Km away. Early morning I and 2 other guys from the group rode to his house to collect the boxes. He was little surprised and impressed to see our promptness and enthusiasm. He gave us 4 boxes instead and carried one box on his bike. That is how we found our 9th member :).
That was not all surprise that morning, when we came back with 4 boxes of biscuits, 3 new friends were waiting to join our group. And so list kept on increasing till day 4 when we had our final 16th member. That day some of us went for collecting aids again in the colony while some of us started distributing biscuits and milk (made from milk powder) among children in the camps.
Our financial worries were over once I contacted Gour to arrange help from IIT. Gour and his colleagues did an excellent work in collecting funds and sending it to us as required. I am extremely grateful to IIT community for their trust and generous contribution. After publication in BBC some people from other countries also approached me for aid but I channeled them to aid me through IIT. Thank you all for contributing.
A general Aastha day:
Someone in the group suggested we should give our group a name and so we became “Aastha”. A general Aastha day would start early 6:30 AM in the morning. Everybody knew what they were supposed to do. Some would go for marketing, some would go for collection of aid and rest of us will go to the camps distributing aids. We started with one camp but later with growing strength we started covering 5 nearby camps. Apart from biscuits and milk, we started distributing chuda - gud, medicines, tooth paste, plastic sheets, mosquito coil, candles and later on soaps. We would talk to local doctors to come and visit camps. Doctors would give us bleaching powder to spread in the habitat area to keep it healthy. Apart from IIT, we would contact other NGO to come and help us at the camp.
Government and NGO help started around 10th day. After that it was a lot easier for volunteers like us as they did very good job. You could see “Roaming medical vehicle” from Gujarat everywhere. NGO and Government managed camps everywhere. Military personnel rescued people from interior regions. Later we would also deep in the flooded regions with our help on military boats. It was scary and satisfying at the same time. Guys from IIT also came during their vacation and did a very good job in deep interiors of flooded region.
A day would end with evening meeting around 8 PM. We would review our progress and decide what to do next. After hard days work, we would share some laughter and develop friendship which still connects us.
I had to stop as I had to join Rio Tinto. But in the end I was satisfied like a donkey in the grass field and tanned like umbrella in Rihana’s music video.
The feeling of helping others is a bliss in its own league. For me it turned out to be more than satisfaction of helping others. I made new friends, whom I had seen many time walking on colony streets but never bothered to talk. I was mere one among thousands who helped voluntarily and did not care for name or praise. Each one of them deserves the same praise and recognition I got. I have to thank many as without their help I could not have done even a small fraction of what I managed to do. Thank you all: my Aastha members, everyone who helped in generating fund at IIT, everyone who helped us with aids, everyone who encouraged us and Praveen's mother who will make us tea everyday in the evening.
It is our society and everybody needs to chip in. Humanity does not need to rise only at the brink of devastation; it should be more common than it is.
Evening of 1st Day:
Our group was pumped up after 1st day of work. All the support of community and satisfaction of doing something worth doing was encouraging us to continue further (we worked almost for 40 days). In the evening meeting we decided our work will be more inclined towards infants.
That night my mother asked me how was my day and in reply I smiled but she sensed worry in that. She asked why I was worried and I told her that, there were lots of things to do and I do not know how we were going to do it. Fund was scarce too. She told me that I can not help everyone and I can do only my part. I should not worry too much and take one day at a time. And I repeated her in my mind, one day at a time.
2nd Day:
Aid was scarce so we could not afford to loose the opportunity of collecting 3 boxes of biscuits. I had made clear to the group that any kind of help should be appreciated and this was the time to set example. House of food inspector was 10 Km away. Early morning I and 2 other guys from the group rode to his house to collect the boxes. He was little surprised and impressed to see our promptness and enthusiasm. He gave us 4 boxes instead and carried one box on his bike. That is how we found our 9th member :).
That was not all surprise that morning, when we came back with 4 boxes of biscuits, 3 new friends were waiting to join our group. And so list kept on increasing till day 4 when we had our final 16th member. That day some of us went for collecting aids again in the colony while some of us started distributing biscuits and milk (made from milk powder) among children in the camps.
Our financial worries were over once I contacted Gour to arrange help from IIT. Gour and his colleagues did an excellent work in collecting funds and sending it to us as required. I am extremely grateful to IIT community for their trust and generous contribution. After publication in BBC some people from other countries also approached me for aid but I channeled them to aid me through IIT. Thank you all for contributing.
A general Aastha day:
Someone in the group suggested we should give our group a name and so we became “Aastha”. A general Aastha day would start early 6:30 AM in the morning. Everybody knew what they were supposed to do. Some would go for marketing, some would go for collection of aid and rest of us will go to the camps distributing aids. We started with one camp but later with growing strength we started covering 5 nearby camps. Apart from biscuits and milk, we started distributing chuda - gud, medicines, tooth paste, plastic sheets, mosquito coil, candles and later on soaps. We would talk to local doctors to come and visit camps. Doctors would give us bleaching powder to spread in the habitat area to keep it healthy. Apart from IIT, we would contact other NGO to come and help us at the camp.
Government and NGO help started around 10th day. After that it was a lot easier for volunteers like us as they did very good job. You could see “Roaming medical vehicle” from Gujarat everywhere. NGO and Government managed camps everywhere. Military personnel rescued people from interior regions. Later we would also deep in the flooded regions with our help on military boats. It was scary and satisfying at the same time. Guys from IIT also came during their vacation and did a very good job in deep interiors of flooded region.
A day would end with evening meeting around 8 PM. We would review our progress and decide what to do next. After hard days work, we would share some laughter and develop friendship which still connects us.
I had to stop as I had to join Rio Tinto. But in the end I was satisfied like a donkey in the grass field and tanned like umbrella in Rihana’s music video.
The feeling of helping others is a bliss in its own league. For me it turned out to be more than satisfaction of helping others. I made new friends, whom I had seen many time walking on colony streets but never bothered to talk. I was mere one among thousands who helped voluntarily and did not care for name or praise. Each one of them deserves the same praise and recognition I got. I have to thank many as without their help I could not have done even a small fraction of what I managed to do. Thank you all: my Aastha members, everyone who helped in generating fund at IIT, everyone who helped us with aids, everyone who encouraged us and Praveen's mother who will make us tea everyday in the evening.
It is our society and everybody needs to chip in. Humanity does not need to rise only at the brink of devastation; it should be more common than it is.
