Sarbjeet Singh started
a free canteen for poor patients and their attendants at Shimla’s only cancer
hospital. He has been organizing blood donations camps for hospitals and has
been serving the underprivileged people of the Himachal Pradesh for years. He
had been volunteering to drive dead body van free of cost for the poor. It’s heartwarming to read about this
hardworking and inspiring person who is so caring and committed.
In an interview he
explains how his journey as dedicated social worker began when he used to do
volunteer work at a local gurudwara, a holy religious place for Sikhs. He
recalls how he felt the need of continuing to organize blood donation camps,
despite the gurudwara being closed for this activity. He says living in the
capital city shimla, he was aware of the shortage of blood in the main
hospitals and hence he felt the need to continue the blood donation camps. He
is well known for his contributions in the hospitals, all the blood banks in
the state have his contact and approach him for emergency cases.
For so many years he
has been doing job of providing honor to the dead. He has been running a free 24/7 funeral van
service to transport the dead to the crematorium day or night. As long as he
has the vehicle available to him, he never refuses a call, even during odd
hours to transport a dead body to the cremation ground. It is said he has even
transported badly decomposed dead bodies lying unclaimed from hospital
mortuaries for the last rites to be performed by the municipal corporation.
He says that this
thought of the funeral van service came to him as he found that there was no
facility and even government run hospitals lacked this facility, as the
cremation and burial grounds were far from hospitals which had no vehicle for
transporting dead bodies. As a result many families used to find it difficult
to transport the dead bodies for their last rites. After 5 pm the people were
helpless due to lack of facility in town to help them.
Singh says that because
he likes driving, he decided to lend a helping hand to drive a funeral van
which is run by the local Guru Nanak Sewa Society to ferry bodies 24 by 7 and
free of cost. He bought his own crowd funded van for the free service, and has
ferried more than 5000 bodies.
He talks about his
experiences stating that he ferried a 9 year old girls body to her distraught
mother’s home and for the first time he realized the importance of his work,
and it strengthened him to continue these services.
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How lovely these stories are Genevive, thank you for sharing them. 'Vela Bobby' in Shimla, doing a job that brings significant closure in having their loved ones dead bodies brought back to them or to the crematorium so that they can undergo their last rites is truly selfless. And the man who can be relied on to bring blood when it is needed .. truly, stories that show humanity in action ...
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan for connecting with me here; these type of stories touch our hearts and motivate us also to do some kind deeds in our lives... death itself is so frightening and to be having dead bodies in the van is unthinkable... needs a lot of courage and generosity to be doing this kind of work.
DeleteHi Angela - Dr Sarbjeet Singh is an incredible man ... totally generous with his life for others ... both wanting to help people stay alive at the cancer clinic, and those unfortunate who need transporting so they can go forth to their last resting place, and the blood courier ... all three extraordinary caring men - thanks for letting us know - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteWelcome Hilary to my space;agree with you that Sarbajeet sing was a selfless and generous man. and so committed that he could do so much in reaching out to people around. Appreciate your comments, thanks.
DeleteSarabjeet's humanitarian work in so many fields is truly awe-inspiring. Though I have been going to Shimla regularly since the last 7 years, I wasnt aware of his efforts. Thanks for showcasing his story, Genevive.
ReplyDeleteAh that's nice to know shilpa that you have been visiting shimla.. happy to connect with you after a long time and yes Sarabjeet's work is very inspiring, I was also inspired by your post on the fishermen who rescued 70.000 people in Kerala..
DeleteIt is wonderful for someone such as Sarbjeet to generously serve people in their life and their death. Thank you for sharing such a story and supporting our WATWB.
ReplyDeleteTrue:) its always a wonderful feeling to come across persons like Sarbjeet. Thanks for your encouraging words.
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