Volunteers

(15 jun ’08)

            At least once a week I get a call from a retired man or a housewife with time on her hands, requesting to do social work. I know what they mean is voluntary work.

            Why me? Because I work in a hospital. I try to explain to them that we have enough staff thank you, but sometimes, yes, there’s a shortage of wardboys. Would they help out then? Cleaning bedpans maybe? Mopping vomit? Wiping drool? They think I’m joking. So I ask them what sort of voluntary work would they like to do, and they say, “anything”. My turn to wonder whether they’re joking.

            Most of these callers have altruistic intensions, I haven’t a doubt. But what happens when they’re actually taken on board is that: “my mother-in-law is arriving, won’t be able to come in today” or “I had sudden guests” or “I couldn’t wait that long for a bus so I gave up” or worst of all, when they don’t inform at all, assuming that if they’re not being paid for a job, it need not be done. The fact that they’ve given their word has no value. As a result, over a period of time, we actually have interviews of volunteers and give them a probation before we take them seriously. Even then, there are expectations: “Can’t we meet so and so doctor without an appointment?” “Can we go in without a voucher (that means without paying the fees)?” Out of turn favours are demanded. So the voluntary work is seldom without a motive.

            This morning, I got one such call. I told the caller that my hospital was far away from his home, why not choose something closer? “Like what?” he asked puzzled. I suggested a municipal hospital close by. In spite of the distance and the fact that we didn’t know what the other looked like, I could perceive the surprise on his face. A municipal hospital? Was I out of my mind? A highly educated, respectable, well to do person like him? So I changed tactics. Why a hospital, there were so many avenues he could explore. “Like what?” for the second time. Try the passport office, I said. “Passport office?” he echoed. Yes, I said, there’s such a crowd there and the staff is terribly overworked. Why not help those tired souls in the queue with the documents, checking them out without taking money instead of the touts and agents who fleece them? Even the government would be grateful. Naaa. I could practically hear his scream. What about lending the cops a hand? A week’s training and you could manage the traffic in your neighbourhood. Prevent accidents, prevent injuries, save pedestrians from using hospitals at all, what say? You’re an upright citizen and you could do so much….he slammed the phone down. Next time I’ll suggest the railway station. Maybe that’ll work. Maybe he had something against the Mumbai police.

            Not all volunteers are like that. I’ll take some names: Harsha Deshmukh worked very well for the kidney transplant program. Jyoti Nagda for oncology. Manissha Wadhwa and Uma Jaitley are doing a limited but brilliant job with the children. They are so involved that it’s hard to believe they aren’t a part of several families who have adopted them well after their children have departed/got discharged/grown up.

            A lot of people get overwhelmed by “I must do something for this world before I die” or “I have so much to offer to the underprivileged” or “I need to earn brownie points to get into heaven or to get a better life next time”. India gives you plenty of opportunities. We have poor people, starving people, illiterate people at every corner. Don’t need to search for orphans, strays, deprived, deranged, homeless, dying… they’re all within reach. Plus, there is garbage to be cleared, greenery to be saved, animals to rescue, heritage to preserve…please keep a cutting of this article.  The next time you say or even want to say, “I want to do something, I don’t know what”, do read it.

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Call to Activists

(10 Jul 09)

            I’m in favour of the Court’s ruling: homosexuality is not a crime. There’ve been many activists who’ve fought and won this battle, to prove that those with different sexual preferences aren’t criminals. As there are activists who have and still are fighting for the rights of stray dogs (am an animal lover and support most causes that save living things…uh, ok, with ‘roaches I make an exception), murderers, foetuses, even dilapidated buildings. Thanks to them, governments have learnt to toe the line, helpless prostitutes have been rehabilitated, dying arts have been revived.

 “Media persons” (no longer reporters, cameramen, or subs) love to present their points of view and ask them lots of questions on prime time. We have activists to agitate against the establishment, no matter if the latter is actually doing a good job in some cases. We have activists who will agitate without agenda. Some who will argue about gender and other forms of discrimination endlessly, in their privileged homes. All said and done, without such change-makers, we wouldn’t, couldn’t have remained like our poor neighbours, but hey, even in Pakistan, now, dissenting voices are getting louder against the gagging rule of the Taliban. Activists have certain genes, I think, that prod them to oppose the Big and Mighty in favour of the small and meek. We’ve seen in Goa how teamwork has helped activists save the State from ruthless politicians.

            So, I wonder, what stops activists from actively disciplining the aam aadmi? Why doesn’t a single activists show his/her clout in teaching our citizens their responsibility? How come there isn’t a single NGO that works to educate the average paan-chewer from spitting/urinating/throwing garbage wherever they please? How come no NGO protests against temples/chapels/shrines blocking roads? How come no NGO monitors queues at counters and bus-stops? Or helps the cops catch offenders of traffic rules? Why can’t we have people who protest the tweaking of flowers/twigs/leaves from carefully tended plants (here, the Majority community, or Hindus, are the major culprits, grabbing anything floral, free, for pujas)?

Every activist believes in anti-government. How about pro-everything-that’s-civilized?

            At a hospital in Mumbai (and this could well be Goa or any other part of India) two days ago, evening time, pouring like hell, there was a crowd of people, mostly women, who took shelter under the porch. Fair enough. Then, because their legs tired, they squatted: right in the drive, right in the middle of the ambulance-drive-way. The staff tried to reason with them. No luck. Surely there must be a law that gives patients/medical facilities right of way. But who’ll enforce it? The cops? Would they risk chasing away ‘helpless ghungtaaed women? The tv channels would appear in a trice.

            At the laser-and-fireworks show celebrating the inauguration of the Worli-Bandra sea link, college-goers trod all over the cordoned area, stamping to death sapling tufts of grass that were meant to catch root in the monsoons. The solitary, illiterate watchman-cum-gardener did tell them and pointed out to the damage they were causing. So? He was ignored. I couldn’t think of a single activist/NGO that was involved in crowd control.

            I’ve said this often, but will repeat: NGOs and activists need to rethink what’s right and wrong. No volunteers get knee-deep in garbage to help clean out the muck after a flood or an earthquake. Clearing out the decaying and putrifying matter is left to the government.  Oh, there are those who rush to trouble-spots to teach ‘victims’ breathing exercises and or have special prayer-sessions to help them overcome their trauma. But come bullets/molesters, and back they run to the same government that they curse, for protection. Take mass inoculations, sewage treatment plants, or agriculture… if any of these are to be successful, it’s a good idea to support the government (and yes, fight corruption to make sure the plans succeed), for our own benefit.

            Two friends popped in a few days ago. Nitin runs an NGO of his own to help industries run with modern technology that helps rather than kills the environment. He isn’t against anything, just pro-earth. Dr. Chacko works in poverty-stricken, backward areas of Orissa, Bihar, and other parts of India. They aren’t labelled activists. They don’t appear on tv. They don’t wear khadi or flaunt jholas. They don’t visit courts or newspaper offices. They see the seedy part of the government; they don’t spew curses. We need them. And more like them.

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