The monsoon shower comes down like in spades in Shamli in the month of July and August. The day the camp was to be held in the village of Lissad, the sky showed its imperious mood, with thunder and lightning. A day before the camp, roads were veritable rivers and fields turned into swamps. A health camp seemed like idle speculation; an absolute impossibility.
But let’s just say that there is no place for impossible in Sarfaroshi’s dictionary. Sarfaroshi’s village president Kuldeep took up it upon himself to rise to the challenge. Like the director of a multi-starrer big-budget film full of situations to be managed, Kuldeep had his cool head on. And divided up the work amongst his associates. Rather than dampening our spirits, the rain and the cold weather filled everyone with a dare-to-do attitude. Sumit, Sachin, Jay Kumar, Arun Kumar and Parvinder Kumar worked in tandem with Kuldeep.
Tents were put up and tarpaulins procured to water-proof them. Fans and two giant coolers were installed and the camp was a big success. On the 30th of July, 2022, 362 people were examined at the camp. The examination was conducted by four doctors and the lab staff of Global Shanti Care Hospital, Shamli. The camp had on board a general doctor, a gynaecologist, a dentist and an orthopaedic specialist. There was also a free blood testing facility.
Sarfaroshi associates came from near and far, in full defiance of the rain, to help Kuldeep and to keep up the fraternal spirit we hold so dear. In attendance were Mukesh from Nala village along with Kandhla block president Sudha, Sama from Sunna and Akshay from Bhabhisa. The latter came despite having a leg wound. Makhmoolpur was represented by Adesh and Hurmanjpur by Kusum. Pushpendra ji, Akshay, Sagar and Rajiv also came from Dangrol.
Towards the end, the rain skulked back to its cloudy abode. Children enjoyed the camp to their utmost and were seen having their own meeting in a corner. Perhaps the next generation of Sarfaroshis is preparing for a take-over from the old-timers.
