Issue 7 | 30 Dec. 2006

Keep The Spirit Going, Folks!
By Deepak M. Rao

Times they are achanging, but also complicated. We have no time for society (not to be confused with "high society"), no time for whispering sweet somethings to the old and the ailing (not to be confused with sweet nothings to your boy/girl friend), no time for actually anything at all, but work, and some more work. We lunch and dine with people we work, we eat, drink, and sleep - in a manner of speaking - with our colleagues who too, like us have no time for anything but to put their nose to the till. Breakfast is of course for us only, for no one does business at such an early hour (barring of course power breakfasts of CEOs and the like). All the time we only think of logging in 50-60 hours of work per week. Tough deadlines, erratic schedules, trainings, appraisals and what have you keep us all buzzing all day long.

With all these can you imagine a group of people putting in their weekly 60 hours and still doing their bit for the society? It may be difficult to imagine but there are a number of self-formed groups that are lending a hand for many a noble cause. Some of these groups have also registered themselves as NGOs while some are just congregation of people who have a heart to be part of a force working towards a better world. Says Priya, an employee with a top IT company in Bangalore, "We have a social wing which has around 120 members. We call it the Sneham team. We take turns and teach at blind schools and orphanages." They have been operational for about a year now and are very satisfied with how things are moving. "If things move the way we anticipate, we plan to register ourself as an NGO soon. We have the necessary workforce, we are just waiting for the momentum to reach a critical point," says Saurabh, another enthusiastic member of Sneham.

Though many of these teams start of with activities that do not require any funding, ultimately there comes a time when finance becomes an issue. "The orphanages and schools have many requirements. We go there to teach them only to find they do not have enough books or stationery. That's how the money issue comes in," says Niharika who is also with Sneham. In such cases they collect money from friends and acquaintances, pool in their resources as well and fund the cause. You would be surprised to know that when there is a requirement for any particular cause, the collections can be as high as Rs.75,000 to Rs.1,00,000. They buy things like crackers for Diwali, clothes, bed sheets, stationery, groceries with the money collected. They have also joined in to fund a heart operation for a needy patient.

Surprisingly, most of the members of this team fall in the age bracket of 20-28 years. Tell them that this is the age when you party and have a blast during the weekends and pat comes the reply, Who told you we don't do all that?? Well, let's salute the spirit of these youngsters. Let us join them to bring about a little change in the lives of at least a few of our fellowmen.

You can contact the Sneham team on 9886095930.