Volunteers of Excellence

It only took Mr. Sharad Nair one month after his retirement to get bored of watching the small screen. He wanted to utilize his time instead and thought he could start volunteering, but he felt unsure of how he could make use of his office skills in the welfare sector. One day he came across a write up about SOSVA (Society for Service to Voluntary Agencies) in the Sunday paper, and got in touch with Ms. Radha Vedantam, Project Director of VOLACT (SOSVA´s Centre for Promoting Voluntary Agencies). After she had convinced him that anyone with an interest in the social sector can be a volunteer, regardless of what skills the person has, he joined SOSVA and got his first assignment within a couple of weeks.

By now, Mr. Nair has offered his assistance to the social welfare sector for more than 10 years. The past 9 years he has been volunteering for Foundation for Excellence (FFE) in Dadar, and before joining FFE he was enrolled with NASEOH (National Society for Equal Opportunities for the Handicapped India). NASEOH is a Chembur-based training center for handicapped children. During our meeting he is telling me a story about a handicapped boy who in spite of physical restraints offered his help to Mr. Nair when he needed it, and how that incident changed his thinking. “These people were physically and mentally disabled, but able people are handicapped in their attitudes today”, Mr. Nair says.

After a point of time he felt that he wanted to reduce his time travelling. For that reason he contacted SOSVA and expressed his concerns related to the commuting from his home in Dadar to NASEOH in Chembur, specially during monsoon. Before long he was placed with FFE and working in an office within walking distance from his home.

The mission of FFE is to help economically underprivileged but academically bright students in India complete their higher education. He has now been handling office correspondence for FFE for 9 years, five days a week, but he doesn’t want to call it work. For him it is all about doing something interesting and fruitful to keep himself busy, and the fact that he has managed to combine this with the welfare sector is a great bonus. He claims (and I believe him) to be fully engrossed in social work today, so much that he has forgotten about the idea of retirement altogether.

Another volunteering gentleman, Mr. Madanlal Ghetrapal takes part in our conversation. Like Mr. Nair, he is retired and has been volunteering with FFE since year 2000. He shares Mr. Nairs thought and feelings towards volunteering. “If you are physically fit and have a chance to do something to help others directly or indirectly -do it”, he says.

Both Mr. Nair and Mr. Ghetrapal look at it as an opportunity they have been given, to remain healthy and in working condition. Someone once told Mr. Nair that he is a fool to be working without receiving a salary, but this is one attitude that he doesn’t identify with. He says that people constantly claim to be too busy to volunteer, when what they actually do is wake up late, take a walk, watch TV, or quarrel with the family members. That time could be spent helping someone that needs it and keeping once own body and mind vigorous, he continues. After 10 years of experience his opinion is that anyone with the right attitude can be a volunteer and he specially recommends it for the elderly and retired.

“As long as I can stand I will continue coming here”, Mr. Nair says smiling before he waves goodbye to me by the elevator. I leave the building feeling joyful and content knowing that voluntary work doesn’t only benefit the group it targets- it also shapes and enriches the life of the volunteer.