I thank you! #AllForAll

So it all started one day before my flight from Bangalore to Chandigarh. I got a ping from one of our team-members asking for help for another team member for an oxygen bed in Bangalore. That was the first time someone near needed help, rather desperately needed help! That was when it got real! It got so so so real! Believe me, unless it kicks you in the gut, it all feels far away from your reach! Or you feel far away from it's reach! Yes that deadly virus. That virus which almost made it's way to homes of millions of families in the nation. After a struggle of few hours, we were able to arrange bed for our team member and his wife. A sigh of relief it was. I slept a bit scared that night thinking about how people struggling with this all alone - feeling miserable health wise and still feeling more miserable calling 100s of hospitals for help. I was almost asleep when another ping came! And it came seeking help again! This time it was for someone extremely close to me and a few more of us. Damn this night! An oxygen bed in Delhi required! Somehow arranged this in the morning after almost 5-6 hours of struggle. I was about to board my flight and i was damn scared. Scared because what if someone else needs help and i was unreachable! What if something would happen by the time i land! But at-last i boarded. A scare of getting affected and a scare of someone affected - both running down my veins - kept me wide awake throughout the flight. I switch on my phone the moment i see the land getting closer just praying of no pings for help. Thankfully nothing! A sigh of relief again! Fast forward just a week and another ping for help! By this time i was atleast getting used to knowing that people are struggling for resources and then there were others who were helping with resources. This help was from a very close friend for her mom. It came down to a situation when we just wanted to be prepared with oxygen / oxygen concentrator / hospital - anything that we could get. We also went through a route of political connections but it was all a dead-end. The shit got so real. Usually people say when you can have your connections with big shot guys, everything is easy. But believe me, this virus left everyone in such misery that even all-nighter struggles from these connections also came to a dead-end. Atlast help came but by now, i had realised one thing - the nation is in need of help. My friends are in need of help. Strangers are in need of help!

Fast forward to today, i am sitting in my room thinking about how it all started exactly one month back. How in the last one month i came across hundreds of friends, family and strangers seeking help for one thing or the other. How every night was a nightmare for someone somewhere in the nation.

I have been actively volunteering to help people in need. Numerous tweets, re-tweets, calls, messages, whatsapp stories - it almost felt like a playbook for action getting created as soon as someone needed help. In all, i was able to help almost 15 people with beds, 25 people with Remdesivir / Tocilizumab, 19 people with oxygen cylinders, a few others with medicines. But this is not the main thing i was able to provide, what i was able to provide was far more important - it was a hand of support for someone in need. It was a feeling of people thinking me a part of their family and helping them 24*7. Continuously checking with people on their well-being helped them get through these tough times.

I know the times are tough but i am just grateful that i am perfectly healthy and able to sit home, able to type this here and help others in need as i write. Folks who are in distress, just hold the fort. The nation is fighting together. I can't imagine the pain / the loss people have gone through or are going through. Let's be with each other. Let's all take responsibility of atleast one fellow Vedan in need and shadow them end to end. Be their family in need. Call hospitals for them, ask for help for them, talk to doctors for them, verify oxygen for them - do everything it takes. Even if it takes 100 calls, do that. Even if it takes 100 hours, do that - Your help can save not just a patient but a whole family.I know a lot of the numbers/leads rotating around are either old / verified etc but keep trying. Don't lose hope. I know people who have lost someone might think that help won't come but don't give up. Don't give up for the person in need. Do everything it takes.

I thank our #Vedantu COVID help desk for working tirelessly 24*7 for Vedans in need. I thank each and every #Vedan who has been helping the nation get through this pandemic. I thank each one of you out there who is helping someone in need. I thank myself for being capable enough to help someone in need!

#AllForAll

#LetsKeepiFightingTogether