The Quran and the Bhagvad Geetha talk about selfless love and helping people in need. And it is this love for humanity, which has motivated Arun and me, Shabbir, to distribute over 10,000 rations kits, meet over 5000 patients and help over 15,000 migrants, during the ongoing COVID crisis.
When the lockdown was imposed, we found several people unable to meet the need of medical emergencies nor express their urgent need for food to others. Being a medical doctor, I had created a bike ambulance for people who needed immediate medical attention. This came to our rescue during the pandemic. We travelled far and wide and attended people in distress. We also made a 24*7 on call doctor available to attend medical emergencies for changing of dressings or prescribing medicines at a time when no vehicular movement was being allowed. We still remember this one incident of an amputee who was critical and had fainted. She had high sugar levels and high blood pressure as well as other serious health aliments, luckily we managed to reach her just in the nick of time.
Thanks to the bike ambulance, we have traveled to the most remote corners to not only attend patient needs but also supply ration kits. To address the plight of daily wage workers, we identified 2-3 slums in and around Shivajinagar and surrounding areas where 4 people huddled in 50 sqft areas and 1 bathroom was shared among 8 houses or families! We began supplying them with lunch & dinner and slowly branched out the food supply to cover nearby areas through our network. We started distributing ration kits to the needy after a heartwrenching incident where an 8 member daily wage worker family surviving on water & biscuits for 3 days, prostrated themselves before us, when we supplied them with lunch and ration kits. We could do all this and more, thanks to the support of rotary club and the entire team at Bharatinagar police station.
From distributing ration kits to water bottles to lunch to masks to creating awareness in slums and red zone areas, we did it all. I would complete my regular duty at the hospital and post that hit the road with Arun attending medical emergencies and distributing ration kits.
People find it strange that Arun and I belong to different communities and are yet so closely bonded. Apart from being on the same mental wavelength, both of us have read the holy books of both faiths, visited temples & dargahs and celebrated all festivals together, which keeps us going strong even though we have had our fair share of short- lived fights and disagreements!
As that memorable old song goes… Na Hindu banega na musalman banega, insaan ki aulad hai to insaaan banega… and being a human being who helps others through these difficult times irrespective of caste, creed or religion is the critical need of the hour.
Syed Moinuddin Shabbir and Arun Kumar N
BeingYou ©2020
