Vishakapatnam, April 11: Monday to Saturday, Hari, Swaroop, Ravi, Yagadish, Siva, Mani, Vidya Sri, Shalini, Manoj and Naga are your regular campus dudes participating in campus capers.
On Sunday, as they head out to the old age home run by Nirmal Hriday here, they are a transformed lot.
These 10 are representatives of an increasing breed of students who combine career purpose with social responsibility.
Every Sunday, when the rest of their ilk are lazing in front of the TV or preening up for the disco, they go over to Nirmal Hriday to help out with chores such as shaving and nail-cutting or any other deed that needs to be done.
Along the way, they lend an ear to the inmates and just generally spending time with them.
It all began in 2008 as an initiative by P Hari Prasad, a B Tech computer science student of Avanthi Engineering College at Bheemili. Now in the third year of his course, Hari roped in the rest of the gang and formed an organisation called Yuva Seva.
They first approached the noted old-age establishment Nirmal Hriday being run by a missionary charitable trust. They were told that while it had all the material wherewithal, it had no volunteers.
“A sister told us that donations were not a problem – services were. Since then, every Sunday we come here and help out. Also, importantly, our spending time with the elders brings some cheer into their lives,” says Hari Prasad.
Shy of publicity, the Yuva Seva team goes about its work unostentatiously.
“We talk to the old folks about their past, about their children. In fact, we are like grandchildren to them,” says another volunteer, M Avan Babu.
The Yuva Seva has attracted the interest of more students wishing to do something socially relevant. Now programmes are being chalked up and volunteers are divided into groups and SMSed as to which old age home to go to.On completion of the first year, in 2009, Hari Prasad and his group decided to extend their services to the fields of education and health.
Tasks involve collecting clothes, rice, medicines and distributing them to the needy, besides visiting bridge schools and child rescue centres and motivating the children.
Hari Prasad plans a career that will enable him to carry on with social service: “I would like to become a lecturer so that there is constant interaction with students who can be sensitised to social issues and motivated to do their bit. Currently, our services are very limited as we also have to look to our studies. However, all our team members have decided to continue this work even after settling down in various fields.”
Adds Vidya Sri: “After finishing our examinations this year, we want to chalk out a systematic plan of activities.”
Among the services envisaged are reading aloud from magazines and religious texts like the Bhagavad Gita, the Quran and the Bible.
“The elders ask for little. Just a bit of help and some solace and comfort,” note Ravi, Siva and Jamani.Apart from serving the elderly and the needy, Yuva Seva also tries to raise public awareness on various matters.
In Visakhapatnam, one such is carelessness at the beach which can prove fatal.
For instance, Friendship Day celebrations brought sorrow for a family when an MCA student was swept away.
His sister, Mounika, who is in Class X, appreciates the solace Hari and his group have brought to the family and the efforts by the Yuva Sena to caution the public on the dangers at the beach.
Contact: Yuva Sena at srihari7936@gmail.com. Phone: 9948245355
–Agencies