I am surprised that a small place like this can offer all the facilities to the poor and the needy. A voluntary group of able doctors and experts drive every weekend to Ganeshpuri to organise a nonprofit camp to treat the locals free of charge. A large room divided into four sections addresses all kinds of problems be it blood pressure, diabetes, knee joint pain and even more serious issues. The locals stand in an organised line and are led to respective sections by volunteers. When they finish consultations they are led to the medicine desk and this goes on from morning till evening.
The camp is clean and well maintained and all problems of the patients are needed to sensitively. I speak to the doctors and to the moving force behind the camp, he says he wants to do more for the locals and is in the process of collecting resources in order to dream big. On our way out I spoke to some locals waiting in the queue, if they were satisfied with the medical attention and all of them express gratitude, say that it is because of the local camp they don’t have to travel out of Ganeshpuri to seek a doctor or medicines. So much of good work and so quietly in a small town of Maharashtra and people like us living in Maharashtra don’t know anything about it.
(To be continued)
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @bhawanasomaaya
Post the aarti my friends acquainted me with all the nooks and corners of the ancient temple and its relevance, we dipped our feet into the sacred hot water which has the sacred power to cure all infection and incurable diseases. We walked the narrow lanes in the backyard and lingered in the museum housing memorable pictures of Nityanand Baba in various stages of his life. The walk back home is incomplete without a stop at the curios shop selling Nityanand memoirs – a picture, a mala, a locket or a musical instrument, I purchased one too which reverberates with Nityanad mantra and which is my companion over my first cup of tea in the morning.
The coffee was refreshing and revived our spirit and even though the rains continued with the downpour, we were unbroken in our spirit. Jagdish continued to drive cautiously and Bhakti made sure he was not distracted from the road. Somehow all of us had faith that a miracle will happen and the roads will clear on their own!!
And it did! A few kilometres before the signboard the clouds cleared up suddenly and the sun beamed at us from behind the trees and the clouds. It was evident that somebody in Ganeshpuri was keen on having us at his abode and helping our journey. From there on it was a beautiful drive of the green enclave and sparkling mountains. The roads looked happy and washed and @927BigFm also was playing cheerful songs.
I somehow made it to the meeting point half drenched in a rickshaw. They had not yet arrived and the driver could not wait so I made myself comfortable in a tiny shop on the road stacked with rubber tyres. The owner was kind enough to offer me a hot cup of tea and dry my umbrella hooked on the ceiling. We were on the verge of sharing our lives with each other when my friends arrived in their swanky car and it was time for me to say goodbye to my stranger friend who cheerfully bid us goodbye.
We set out in lashing rains listening to @92.7BigFm playing on our radio. The road ahead was hazy and by the time we reached Dahisar the muddy water collected in the potholes and spilled over the roads into a massive flood. It was bottleneck traffic and there was no way to turn back. All of us were worried but we continued to drive ahead, slowly and carefully…
Daughter Konkana Sen has in a way followed in her mother’s footsteps, been an actor and is slowly diverting towards filmmaking. Konkona shares this desire to tell the untold story, make visible the unspoken or often deliberately ignored experiences be it through her characters as an actor or in her transition as director in A Death in the Gunj.
Recent Comments