Power of Volunteering to Tame the Second Wave

"Need oxygen cylinder for my mother urgently!"

Three hours later, "We lost her thirty minutes ago as we couldn't get a cylinder!"

"Urgent need of an ICU bed, patient critical".

We have seen such fervent and desperate appeal for help coming from all across India. The second wave of pandemic has been deadly and super fast in spreading. Sparing no city, no region or no cast. Taming the second wave has been a challenge. Given the population density in the cities, the health infrastructure could not tame the tide. But collective spirit and efforts of the people of India did it!

This story brings out the collective power of volunteering in taking the monstrous second wave head on. There are numerous volunteer groups and organisations doing a tremendous job. Documenting their effort may take time. But this short story is restricted to the efforts by BITS Pilani alumni who rose to the occasion and took the bull by the horn. The battle is continuing but the volunteers remain spirited.

Whether it is to search for life-saving resources in real time or providing oxygen concentrators or setting up ICU beds in rural areas, BITSAA (BITS Alumni Association) volunteers are doing it all. Many students of BITS Pilani have also come forward and contributing their time and energy. We are overwhelmed with their support.

In the words of Navkaran Singh who leads a team of more than 800 BITSAA volunteers for providing real-time response to SOS requests for life saving resources, "We started the Covid relief initiative with five volunteers to help fellow BITSians with requests related to hospital beds, oxygen cylinders, medicines, Plasma donations, etc. In the last 12 days, we have resolved 1000+ requests from a variety of sources. What started as an alumni initiative has turned into a war against Covid."

"There are daily planning and review meetings going on every night from 10-12. The kind of enthusiasm of the team is infectious. If you feel that you have seen the most enthusiastic team in your life, please join our WhatsApp group for a day and see the passion of the volunteers to resolve each and every request. It seems like everyone's life depends on that request. We have seen more deaths in the last 12 days than what we have seen in our lifetime. What remains the same every day is the enthusiasm to save another life. Thank you to all the volunteers and all the Alumni who have supported us in whatever way possible. Your small contribution has saved a lot of lives in the last two weeks." 

Go Navkaran go! He is not alone. Alumni across all batches and geographies have come forward to do their bit. Following table summarises some of the initiatives by BITSAA volunteers. The list includes links to respective websites where you can browse further details and contribute if you feel like. We would love to augment the list based on readers' inputs. Please feel free to reach out to us on hbindia@gmail.com .

Initiative	Purpose	BITSian Volunteers in Action
BITSAA Covid Relief Imitative	To help fellow BITSians/families find pan-India resources for hospital beds/ICUs, oxygen cylinders and concentrators, ambulances and medicines in real time	Akash, Saksham, Kalyan, Chandrakala, Sneha, Rahul, Arkapriya, Kathesh, Palak Oswal, Subham, Kunal, Srikar, Ankit, Mayank Anchilia, Navkaran and team of 120+ active volunteers including students working 24x7
HelpUPBreathe	To provide oxygen concentrators and cylinders to the needy in Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow and other towns in UP	Siddharth Seth, Pratyush Rawal, Rishabh Mehrotra, Astha Dhayal and team
Breathe-India.org	To supply oxygen concentrators to the needy across India	Sharat Chaudhary, Anu Khendry, Pankaj Vaish, Arun Chatterjee, Vinita and team
Nirmaan.org	To provide 200 oxygen concentrators and 150 ICU beds in 15 villages in Telangana	Mayur Patnala and team
MOFA Medical Oxygen for all.	To support the medical oxygen needs of tier-2 and tier-3 cities and towns across India	Anish Sinha, Anchal Goel, and a team of eight volunteers.
OxygenForIndia.org	To deploy 40,000 reusable oxygen cylinders and 20,000 oxygen concentrators in 20 urban and rural centers across India.	Diwakar Pingle, Ramanan and team
Pilani Atmanirbhar Resource Centre (PARC)	During Covid, to provide oxygen concentrators and allied equipment to the needy in Pilani, Rajasthan. PARC otherwise works for community development around Pilani.	Sunil Nanda and team
Donate Plasma (Postscript 18 May: Since discontinued as per ICMR's announcement)	To mobilise plasma donors and connect with the needy. Being done in association with Dhoondh.org and NSS, BITS Pilani.	A team of BITSAA Volunteers and students
Oxygen Concentrators for BITSians and families	To provide oxygen concentrators for BITSians, families and the needy in Jaipur and Hyderabad.	Kailash Gupta (Jaipur) and Ashok Agarwal and Sanjay Khendry (Hyderabad) and teams
HyderabadNeedsOxygen	To provide oxygen supply to the needy in Hyderabad in association with Nirmaan.	Praneeth, Sai Rama, Anshool, Venky, Avinash Reddy and team
Oxygen Plant for Pilani	To set up a dedicated oxygen plant for Birla Sarvajanik Hospital in Pilani	Hanuman Bengani, Rakesh Sharma, Sanjay Guha Arun Kumar, Jayant Sogani and team

Am sure similar stories by alumni of other institutes and friends coming together are aplenty. Collectively we can tame the second wave successfully. We will.

Postscript: 18 May: Plasma drive has since been discontinued based on ICMR's recent announcement. Thanks K Srikanth for pointing it out.

Postscript 20th May: The work of BITSAA volunteers has been covered by the media. See the picture below from Amar Ujala, a Hindi daily in UP.

BBC Radio has also featured the efforts of our Volunteers' Relief Support Initiative. 

Postscript 29th Dec 22:

"During the Covid pandemic when numerous people lost their lives, Ram Nagina Tripathi was responsible for ensuring that the departed were provided a respectable final journey including cremation. There were long stretches of time during the peak period when he stationed himself at the crematorium to ensure that human beings got a respectable send off. Ram Nagina Tripathi is from the 1978-83 batch of BITS Pilani. He recently retired as Chief Engineer from the Uttar Pradesh Government. "

We salute the spirit of volunteering during Covid by Tripathi.

We close with a quotation by Mahatma Gandhi who said that "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others". 

Once again hat tip to each of the volunteer-led initiatives featured above and to countless others who are not featured in our story.

Together we will. Jai Hind.

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ Secunderabad/ 17th May 2021

#covid #pandemic #2ndwave #india #volunteering #powerofvolunteering #riseup #wewill #hailvolunteering #bitspilani #bitsaa #alumni #bitsians #rockingvolunteers #tamingthe2ndwave #togetherwecan #ghumakkadharsh #ghumakkadhb #bitsstudents

Trust Them

Pulwama terror attack.

Nation outraged.

Outpouring of grief.

Surcharged emotions.

Hit back. Do this, do that!

But what each one can do is to 'Trust Them'. In the words of Ramya Sriram of @thetapcomics fame, 'Let's stand by them the way they stand by us'.

Ghumakkad is privileged to feature two guests in this post devoted to our fellow Faujis. Having been a fauji myself for 30 years, I can feel the pain and anguish at the loss of lives in Pulwama terror attack. Dastardly and cowardly act. Highly deplorable.

See what Ramya Sriram, a freelance visualiser presently in UK  created recently. She got the trigger from 'Bharat Ke Veer' campaign of the Govt of India. You can browse Ramya's Instagram handle for more creations. Thank you Ramya.

Ghumakkad personally feels that we should go beyond monetary contribution. We should instead give our time, talent and energy for the Nation and the Armed Forces. Every person's effort counts.

The next guest feature is a poem written by our daughter Akanksha Bhargava. She has so poignantly captured the spirit of every Fauji's soul. Thanks Ashi. You may follow Akanksha on Instagram.

 

Once again, please go beyond signing a cheque. Giving a donation is actually shying away from your societal responsibility. Give your time, share your knowledge and talent, be a volunteer for the society and Nation at large- like Ramya and Akanksha have shown!

Some of our previous posts on the power of giving and volunteering are linked below:

Winning the Hearts of People- The Army Way

Mothers are the Ultimate Givers

Hail The Giving Batch of BITSians

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Jai Hind.

    -Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 18th Feb 2019

#ArmedForces #Giving #volunteering #respect #dignity #jaihind #pulwama #India #bharatkeveer #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh #martyrs 

Ignite To Inspire

Ignite to inspire is the tagline of Rotaract, the youth wing of Rotarian International. Ghumakkad was invited to address the young minds during their Annual District Conference 'Ignite'. Theme 'Why Join the Navy'. There were more speakers:

• Ms Bibo Srinivas, Film Producer and owner of bottled water brand Bibo
• Col Dinanth Singh, MLI
• Mr Gopinath Mallya, Cheif Locomotive Engineer, SCR
• Mr Sanjay Thakur, Principal IHM

Speaking to the younger generation is always fun. They were pretty alive and sharp. Some of the questions were:

• What are the prospects for Naval Architecture
• Do women get permanent commission
• After short service commission, what do we do?

A word about the venue. Institute of Hotel Management (IHM) Hyderabad is a government autonomous institution. The campus is very well maintained. Something like military establishments. The corridors even on 2nd floor had green potted plants to give a vibrant look. Not a speck of dirt anywhere. Each Lecture Hall had a name like Empathy, Innovation, Excellence and so on. Hat tip to the senior leadership of the Institute.

Although I could not attend the entire event, am sharing few pictures.

Shaping young minds is our responsibility. Thanks Rotaract for the opportunity.

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   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 27th Jan 2019

#ignitetoinspire #rotaract #youthofindia #shapingyoungminds #ihmhyderabad #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh @ghumakkadhb

Leadership@Fourteen

Wearing collar tabs at a young age of fourteen? Like senior officers of the Army/Navy/Air Force! Is that possible?
Our 14-year old grandson Ansh has done it quietly.
He has been selected by his school to be a 'Director' of a volunteering program for community work. Four students, one each from 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades have been chosen for this task. He is the youngest of the directors!

This morning while he was getting ready to go to the school, from my yoga mat I noticed a lapel pin on his shirt collar. On questioning, he explained it's significance. Unlike most teenagers of his age he is so humble that he reluctantly agreed to let me take a picture. Not too sharp as you can see below.

What struck me is the spin-offs of such volunteering programs for teenagers. As a 14-year old 'Director' he is responsible for the following:

• Fund raising for different programs/activities
• Organise the events
• Mobilise other volunteers
• Participate in community work

You will agree that in doing so, these young 'directors' will imbibe many qualities and values listed below which will help them in their life after school:

• Self-confidence
• Leadership
• Communication
• Event management
• Team work
• Sensitisation towards societal needs
• Social equity
• Power of volunteering
• Empowerment and its true meaning

I felt very happy that schools are making an endeavour to shape the young minds into responsible citizens of India. Hat tip to Ansh's school and his teachers. Future of India is bright with such teenagers. I couldn't have found a better theme for Ghumakkad's Independence Day message. 

Keep going Ansh! We have a star in you.

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Happy Independence Day to all.

   -  Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 15th Aug 2018

#Values #leadership #responsiblecitizens #volunteering #teamwork #teenagers #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh

Winning the Hearts of People

Do Military units help the local community? Do they give back to the society? In what way?
The answer is a 100% yes. Whether in forward area or peace location, military personnel voluntarily come forward to help the local community. Be it healthcare, education, water or communication, military units have always contributed towards the welfare of the local community.
Here is a classic example from the jungles of Arunachal Pradesh, the eastern most state of India.

This is a guest story by Abhishek Singh who commanded the Battalion which was stationed there. Pictures and text by Abhishek. Used with permission. The story in Abhishek's own words:
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Some pics don't really need a description. The smiles on my kids faces do the story telling on their own :)

An age ago, when we arrived in the remote border village of Arunachal which was to become our outpost for these last three years, we were met by a suspicious local Tribal population which viewed everything we did with suspicion and distrust. As army men - we were foreigners who apparently were likely to force occupy their land and impose a cramp on their lifestyle.

Three years - we have developed a water supply scheme for the complete village, provisioned electricity through solar lights and generators for all hutments, we've evacuated pregnant women out in our choppers, opened up our ration stores to the complete village when heavy rains cut off the region isolating it for months, brought modern medicine and doctors to their doorstep, built and provisioned a polyclinic in the middle of the forest, trained young boys of the village for recruitment into the army and transported their bamboo craft to Delhi to be sold for unimagined profits. We are family today.

I love walking into the village during sunny days and plonking down on the lush green grass. I love the way the village kids cheer up on seeing me and the way they all rush me - particularly when they find me seated in striking range.

They know my pockets will be full of chocolates and all for them.

The grownups always come trotting over to chat up the 'CO Sahib'. After a year or so, even the ladies had shed their reservations and would come over to talk and complain of their drunkard husbands and non - compliant children (women no different - no matter what tribe 😉) .

One such day as I sat on the grass with my friend Tai Mara - the grand old man of the village, the mother of one of my favourite kids - Bhoomi, came over to talk to us. Since I'd missed Bhoomi the last few days I enquired of her and her mother told me that she had to be sent away to the distant town to start her education. Our village did not even have a primary school which forced all kids away from their parents the moment they turned 3. Then she made a beautiful request - 'please build us a primary school so that we don't have to part with our kids so early...'

O K .

I've realised there's magic in these two alphabets. Just utter them.... Make the commitment.... Rest of the things tend to fall into line after that. We initially constructed a thatched hut classroom with the help of the villagers and I put my education instructor to teaching the kids. We bought them bags and books and stationary and words can not describe the kids happiness the day we distributed these goodies to them. We got a proper school building sanctioned and made and my men innovated a playing field for the kids. The District Commissioner recently promised me a permanent teacher. The kids are back... all of them... Our village is beautiful again :)

We've named the school - the 'Sawaiman Primary School' after my unit and to commemorate our time and love affair with Arunachal and its people...

We leave in a months time.... When we do - the heartache will be mutual..
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Abhishek is a great photographer and writer. Sample the picture below. The write up is also his. Used with permission.

Little Big Mummas....

Another glimpse of Arunachal. It's common practice here for the young girls to take care of their kid siblings while their mothers go out to work in the Border Roads as labour or work the fields. This is the most common sight one sees as one drives (or attempts to drive - the roads of Arunachal defy our official claims of fast paced road development) from one place to another. The young ones start bearing loads very early (refer the youngest mum standing on the left) and by the time they are 13-14 they carry 20+ kg loads of firewood or stones with a relative ease which will put grown men from plains to shame. Happy faces and infectious smiles... They will remain some of the most favourite memories of my time in Arunachal...

_______________________________________ 

Thanks Abhishek for such a wonderful story and brilliant pictures. It was a privilege sharing it with Ghumakkad's readers. Am sure many of the armed forces readers of this blog will have similar stories to narrate. We would be happy to share, but do send a picture or two. Be it the Army, Navy or Air Force, we have always helped the local community in their welfare and upliftment. That's what we call the power of volunteering!

We close with John F Kennedy's famous words, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Indian armed forces have lived with this credo all along.

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     - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Abhishek Singh/ 10th July 2018

#CommunityWelfare #Education #healthcare #water #ContributionbyMilitray #AbhishekSingh #GhumakkadHarsh #GhumakkadHB #Volunteering #IndianArmedForces