Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. - Nelson Mandela
It was summer of 2008 and I was waiting for my visa approval after graduation. If you can remember, that year it rained heavily in north India and Kosi barrage failed to save life of many thousand and all together nearly 2.3 million people became homeless. Worst affected districts in Bihar were Supaul, Araria, Saharsa, Madhepura and Purnea. Everything submerged in water, people were left with no option but to leave everything behind and save themselves and walk a road to nowhere. The water which only took 3 days to fill these districts, later took nearly 6 months to recede and for those 6 months, fortunate ones who were able to save their life had no shelter and no food.
I was in Saharsa (my hometown) at that time and all of it was happening in front of me. Saharsa district was fully submerged except few patches of lands and Saharsa town was luckily one of those islands. We did not need to see television for what was happening, it was happening right in front of us. Thousand of people from submerged areas very quickly populated every bit of available space in the town. Every school, railway station, parks, hospitals and roadside was occupied with people who had either lost their family of property to the flood.
It was second day of the flood and NGOs & Government help was still far away. The plight of flood victims were unthinkable, they did not have anything to sleep on or anything to eat as most of them were empty handed. In the late evening I was waking with my friend Praveen in one of these parks, and we could only hear were cries of babies and tears running down the cheeks of those who understood how bad their luck was. I went back home and told my mother tomorrow I want to go door to door in the colony and collect whatever I can to help the people living in nearby park. My father was skeptical that people would help me in my cause but my mother was more than encouraging but warned me not to stress too much as I was still recovering from my appendix operation. Next day I called Praveen, who arrived with few bags and that’s how it all started.
First Day:
I asked my mother to be the first one to donate. She gave me nearly 2 kg of rice, half kg of daal and made my father donate Rs 100. I and Praveen went to every door in our colony and requested to donate anything from old clothes to money. I was surprised and overwhelmed with the kindness people were showing. We collected everything old clothes, bora, plastic sheets, grains, cooked food, money, medicines, candles and even mosquito coils. In the mean time some of Praveen’s friend also joined the cause and now we were almost group of 6 people. Few people started cooking whatever we had collected. Two of us started distributing plastic sheets and bora for families with small kids so that they do not have to sleep on the floor. We collected nearly Rs 2000 and we were not sure what to do with the money. There were lots of things to do and so we wanted to spend it wisely. While serving food a lady came to me in tears and asked me that could we arrange some milk for her 6 months old daughter as she can not eat the food? I abruptly asked her why can not she give mothers milk to baby. She started crying and told me that she can not produce milk. I was feeling so humiliated and ashamed of my question. I asked Praveen if can arrange some milk for her daughter.
Few people from colony came by to encourage us. Few told us to come next day to collect some more items. Some just came by to talk to people. One of them was food inspector and he was really impressed with us. He told us he can give us 3 big biscuit cartoon box only if we can collect.
That evening all six of us sat together and decided we need to do something for baby food. Adults could go to Government stall (total 4 at that time in the city) and eat khichdi but nobody was thinking about infants at that time. We needed lots of milk powder and biscuits. We knew it was not going to be one day job.
I would write second part very soon. A lot happened in coming days and I have to thank a lot of people for their support.
Anand
I was in Saharsa (my hometown) at that time and all of it was happening in front of me. Saharsa district was fully submerged except few patches of lands and Saharsa town was luckily one of those islands. We did not need to see television for what was happening, it was happening right in front of us. Thousand of people from submerged areas very quickly populated every bit of available space in the town. Every school, railway station, parks, hospitals and roadside was occupied with people who had either lost their family of property to the flood.
First Day:
I asked my mother to be the first one to donate. She gave me nearly 2 kg of rice, half kg of daal and made my father donate Rs 100. I and Praveen went to every door in our colony and requested to donate anything from old clothes to money. I was surprised and overwhelmed with the kindness people were showing. We collected everything old clothes, bora, plastic sheets, grains, cooked food, money, medicines, candles and even mosquito coils. In the mean time some of Praveen’s friend also joined the cause and now we were almost group of 6 people. Few people started cooking whatever we had collected. Two of us started distributing plastic sheets and bora for families with small kids so that they do not have to sleep on the floor. We collected nearly Rs 2000 and we were not sure what to do with the money. There were lots of things to do and so we wanted to spend it wisely. While serving food a lady came to me in tears and asked me that could we arrange some milk for her 6 months old daughter as she can not eat the food? I abruptly asked her why can not she give mothers milk to baby. She started crying and told me that she can not produce milk. I was feeling so humiliated and ashamed of my question. I asked Praveen if can arrange some milk for her daughter.
Few people from colony came by to encourage us. Few told us to come next day to collect some more items. Some just came by to talk to people. One of them was food inspector and he was really impressed with us. He told us he can give us 3 big biscuit cartoon box only if we can collect.
That evening all six of us sat together and decided we need to do something for baby food. Adults could go to Government stall (total 4 at that time in the city) and eat khichdi but nobody was thinking about infants at that time. We needed lots of milk powder and biscuits. We knew it was not going to be one day job.
I would write second part very soon. A lot happened in coming days and I have to thank a lot of people for their support.
Anand
