REPUBLIC OF SELF-HELP

SUPERHEROES OF THE PANDEMIC WHO ARE GOING BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY TO HELP FELLOW CITIZENS BATTLE COVID AND STATE APATHY

- RAJ CHENGAPPA

MEET GURPREET SINGH RUMMY. For a living, he works as a contractor supplying fuel pumps to petrol stations in the National Capital Region. But not during these troubled times. He and his friends are busy running an ‘Oxygen Langar’ 24x7 in a gurudwara in Ghaziabad. They set it up in the last week of April to help Covid-positive patients who needed medical oxygen desperately but were unable to get it, either from the market or in hospitals. With the state machinery overwhelmed by the crisis and unable to meet the needs of Covid patients in the NCR, Rummy and his band of do-gooders—who call themselves Khalsa Help International— stepped in to make a difference. Patients can choose between being admitted to the 25-bed makeshift hospital at the gurudwara or refilling oxygen cylinders for home treatment. Thousands have received succour but Rummy’s philosophy remains simple—“Our first priority is to save lives. We don’t say no to anyone.”

THESE DOGOODERS HAVE RISEN ABOVE POLITICS, CASTE AND RELIGION TO HELP THE NEEDY IN THE TRUE SPIRIT OF THE ANCIENT INDIAN TRADITION OF VASUDHAIVA KUTUMBAKAM: THE WORLD IS ONE FAMILY