It was early January 2014 when Bangalore was undergoing severe shortage of blood. Even the most common groups like A+ and B+ were out of stock. The reason being the holiday season, when most of the colleges were off and companies were having fewer drives. The situation became worse as we also take care of thalassemia patients who need blood every 20 days. The problem was being discussed and shared on Facebook and other social networking sites, but until Friday, nothing much happened. We engineers in offices couldn't do much but sit at our desks with our fingers crossed for the day to end. On Saturday, many people walked in the blood bank and donated blood. But something more had to be done.
On Sunday morning, a news article came in The Times of India which covered the issue and requested people of the city to donate blood and help fight the situation. I was restless and decided to visit my college, Indian Institute of Science, and ask for help from my friends there. I went and spoke to the students there in front of the mess during lunch time. I explained the situation and told about those lucky kids who were getting extra care. I am really fortunate to have friends like Ganesh, who is the president of Student council of IISc; and Mohan who is my closest buddy. They helped me collect more people and spread the message. We were soon able to gather a good number of donors.
We booked a 15 seater tempo traveler, and decided to visit "Indira Gandhi Institute of child health" blood bank. More students from IISc wanted to donate, but the blood bank had space and time constraints. In the blood bank, we had technicians working off their duty. On a Sunday when almost the entire city went on it's toes fighting blood shortage, thanks to the support of my friends, that we were able to contribute 21 units of happiness. - VJ, Sankalp Volunteer
