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PDBC visits Vrundavan Dham

Chale hum sab: Sambhav, Amitesh, Prashant, Meghna, Srijan, Prince, Yatvi, Bhavita, Chirag, Priya, Mitesh, Millee Behind the scenes work: Nija, […]


Chale hum sab: Sambhav, Amitesh, Prashant, Meghna, Srijan, Prince, Yatvi, Bhavita, Chirag, Priya, Mitesh, Millee

Behind the scenes work: Nija, Bhavita, Janvi, Aishwarya, Nirali

List of supplies contributed for donation by club members:

  1. Bathroom Stool 24 nos.
  2. Phenyl 11 bottles
  3. Harpic 15 ltrs
  4. Standing mops 3 nos.
  5. Dustbins 10 nos.
  6. Jhaadu 5 nos.
  7. Savarna 5 nos.
  8. Bathing soaps 32 nos.
  9. Toothpaste 36 nos.
  10. Toothbrush 36 nos.
  11. Hair oil 2 Bottles
  12. Tea 8 kg
  13. Coffee 3 kg
  14. Microwave 1 no.
  15. Tang/Rasna 6 packs
  16. Khakhra 5 packs
  17. Light Bulb 12 nos.

Total amount of money donated: Rs. 38,440/-

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Stories from 14.04.2024

Started today with making chai, getting it packed, and reached the PDBC around 12:15ish.

At the book club, there were the widest of smiles, and of course, Bhavita’s bag full of snacks. Everyone was almost unknown to me, but it slipped my mind within the first 15 minutes as we started to pack things and head out. There were 3 cars and around 12 people. I was with Amitesh and Sambhav, and Prashant later joined. As I stepped inside the car, I heard Rolling Stones playing, and I knew I was in for a beautiful Sunday.

We started chatting, picked Prashant up, and headed to the venue, which was about 60 kilometers away. Most of the way forward was filled with humming and a tad bit of talking. Prashant quietly guided the route while Sambhav patiently drove.

When “Country Roads” started playing, the weather started becoming kinder to us. We could only ask each other if these were the real ‘country roads’, while learning about the Mahudi Temple nearby and the remarkable Sukhadi it serves.

Our first stop at the snack place felt like a family outing by now. We had a different goal, but by now I recognized faces and could immediately grab a quick sugarcane juice while cracking lame jokes.

We reached the venue about 15 minutes from there. It started with a pretty formal beginning, distributing snacks and chai, with a ‘jai shree krishna’ as that was all I could say. Then we gave a champi to a couple of aunties and started indulging in conversation.

I came across and heard some splendid love stories, like this one uncle who takes care of his wife and sings for her, and an aunty who talks about her late husband, how they would watch Dilip Kumar and Sayara Bano movies together. Her eyes lit up, a little with tears, but her face plumped up into the happiest smile. Would I call it straight out of romance novels? No. These were the stories that inspire the romance novels to be believed in still.

It was supposed to be the same story from different mouths somehow. ‘Why should I take anything from my child?’ says aunty, ‘I can sit here by myself and chant the shlokas that I memorized back in school, no complaints.’ We could see life there; it indeed was ‘older than the trees,’ but I’ll tell you, there were a lot of things they could complain about: power supply, limited food, limited medical access. What each one of them demanded was to be able to talk to someone. Even when some of us could not understand, they would still talk, until we stayed around.

I got to see the kitchen, and while hovering around and trying to be as present as I could, I got to know that Mitesh got the refrigerator fixed. I could see Chirag and Sambhav setting up light bulbs too.

It was certainly poetic. After the formal meetup was over, we started talking to them in a more fun way. Of course, there was a language barrier, and of course, they did not care. Priya pointed at the bed of pink flowers; we ran over there to embrace them, ending up being fed with freshly picked Chikoos. Srijan and Prince were digging around a plant when it started raining. There were swings around, and there was no way anyone was planning to behave; all of us went out, picked flowers, and ran in the rain, barefoot in mud.

It was somewhere around then when the members sowed a Chikoo seed, calling it ‘Hope,’ the next generation of PDBC.

As we came back to the car, we stopped at the Home’s temple. On the way to exit, I saw Prashant and Bhavita doing something interesting with the white flowers. I joined in unheralded and started to copy them.

We came back to the respective cars, and again, great music and good conversation. We stopped at the same shop for a chai break; I practically hogged bhajiyas, gathiyas, and fried chillies.

The rest of the journey was spent figuring out what it was like to be there, how the turntables of privilege could affect us, and quietly segueing over to mental health and everything there is (coping mechanisms available) in Ahmedabad in general.

We switched to Priya, Chirag, and Mitesh’s vehicle around Karnavati club; my phone was almost dead. We reached back to the book club and got to know there were more than a handful of things that were overlooked by my eyes, all the things that these people at the old age home did not complain about.

~MEGHNA

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Day at old age home, on 14th april, ambedkar jayanti which was a very honor for me to give selfless service to these people on this day. All day was wholesome for me. Carpooling with bhavita, srijan and prince was different. In this tadakti bhadakti garmi, we reached vrundavandham old age home with bhajiya and chai for them. As we entered they all were waiting for us, for the hope that we would bring joy today. And we did, we ate, we talked, we sang, we played also in the rain!

They were very shy at first, so I had to beg one dadi amma to get an oil massage from me. But finally I convinced some of them to give tel malish. And I enjoyed it a lot. I remembered my grandmother (now RIP) used to take oil massages from me. I was so happy to give her a massage and we talked while doing massage. The bond with my ‘baa’ was so special. In all this, I missed her so much. And hope she is missing me and smiling from heaven. But this event made me feel so overwhelmed and emotional.

And the rain..!, it was charming in all this. They were watching us with so much joy on their faces it was like God was giving an answer to our service. It was so heartwarming when we left the old age home. I was so not ready to leave them. But hoping pdbc arranges this second time so I can talk to them again and make their day full of enjoyment AGAIN!

I just learned from all this that I love my parents and I will give them all the seva they need from me. And make them happy in their old ages when it comes to them. Never make them feel like left out from the world. And just love them!

~YATVI

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This One really chatty old lady I met talked alot about her life, she has lived in rajkot, Mumbai and ahmedabad for most For her life. She talked about her relatives that lives or lived in those cities. She briefly talked about her kids, with joy and sadness in her in her eyes . She said she was once called, ‘sethani ‘ by others but well waqt Waqt ki bat hai . She also inquire if i am married or engaged or not 😅 . she also told me that her parents didn’t get her educated even though her father was school teacher. I talked with couple of old guys, who talked about their life, professions and experience in the oldage home.

~PRINCE 

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A journey starting with me being (ahem ahem) on time, and being put between 3 complete strangers with whom I’m listening to the beatles and a bunch of other old rock bands. 

I wanted this journey to be as human as it could be without any specialization of acting like donating and helping someone and yade yadi yada. And that’s how it was. It was wholesome.

It was me talking with a bunch of people, patting a dog, giving him nice massage around the neck, helping a guy in figuring out some mess in laptop. 

Then talking with him, him sharing a bunch of shloks and talking about does god need the candle or it’s us to be honest?

There were flowers. A lot of pink once.

There was throwing them off strangers.

There was the freeness.

There were stories. Good once. Bad once. Having longings. Having acceptance. People being content with what they had. People not being content with what they had. There were humans. Of a lot kinds.

There were a lot of teas, there was rain and dancing and old bolly songs. 

There was an uncle taking a sneak pic of me in his laptop, saying there, now I captured you! (I KNOW, SO OUTRAGEOUS!!!)

There was white flower on my ear and Meghna’s.

There was prashant and sambhav written on a slate in gujarati and bhavita written in my diary at second last page in gujarati.

There were songs and dancings which I missed and there was some fixing required in laptop which I didn’t miss. There was refrigerator fixing which I missed. Boy do I miss a lot of things.

Regardless regardless. There was us. All with same red blood. Walking some steps together for a while in our life together. A lot of things won’t be remembered but a lot of things did happen, and I’m happy about that.

The day could go on a thousand different ways and yet it happened this way. And I was glad to be a small part of it.

It was fun, easy going, happy, sad, enlightening day. All in all a wholesome day in terms of emotions for me.

It could go worse or better, but I’m happy for it more than anything. Cheers to the experiences.

~PRASHANT

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Yesterday was a great day filled with fun and fulfillment. I was one of the designated drivers accompanied by Meghna, Amitesh and Prashant. I was driving at my own leisurely pace with The Beatles and some other classic rock playing in the background. We spoke about music and various other topics and Amitesh took a power nap. This is followed by a quick but much needed chai and nasta break enroute.  

It was great meeting people at the old age home. They shared their life stories, their ups and downs and what keeps them going on a day to day basis. There were tears of joy and sadness. We got to do a bit of DIY work, technical laptop troubleshooting and more. I had become the custodian of the microwave that we were carrying and was happy when we placed it in the community kitchen.

The weather became nicer as the day progressed followed by a shower. With the changing weather, everybody’s mood too changed and we all started becoming more playful and had a lot of fun getting wet, which i haven’t done for a while now.  There was also an impromptu Garba session. With all the fun, the chikoos grown there were getting demolished at a rapid pace.

By the end of the day, I was privileged enough to get to know a little about the lives of the residents and hopefully managed to share some of my life story with them. This experience also made me realize to be extremely grateful about the privileges that I enjoy & never to take them for granted. 

Looking forward to more such visits : ).

~SAMBHAV

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Tarikh 14-04-24  aaj ka din bahot hi khas rha pata hi nhi tha itni jaldi koi vichar hamare PDBC  pariwar me banega aur itni jaldi pura ho jayega jyotish shastra me a tarikh k ank shubh hai sayad .milii ji ne jyotis avam vaastu ki jankari di ha mujhe vishwas hai inme aj ki tarikh ham sab ko kuchh achha karne k liye saath lai group k sahyog se kuchh hi samay me sari donetion ki chije mil gai aur nikal pade vrindavan dham (old age home) k liye raste me milii ji ne jyotis ki itni jankari di ki dada dadi ki baate yad aa gai .raste me ruk kar chai bhajiye liye aur gav k uche niche tede mede raste se hote huve ham pahuche vrindavan dham jaha par sab hamari rah dekh rhe the sab chehre par utsukta thi mano soch rhe ho kaun hai ,kya karne vale hai , ….

 Ham sab unko chai nasta parosne lage sath sath hi sath sab se baate bhi suru ki pahle o sankoch kar rahe the fir kuchh hi palo me o hamare sath samanya bat chit suru ki jab unhone dubara chai mangi sarmate huve to achha laga aur bhi chai k sath baate ki sab ne hame naste k bad kuchh bujurgo ki champi ki aur baate ki 1  bujurg dampti se baat ki jo apne jivan me bahot sari kam kiye apna ghar hai 2 betiyo ki sadi ki achhe ghar me uske bad akele ho Gaye patni ki bimari ki vajah se unhe asharam ana pata is age me o apni patni ki seva kar rhe hai ..Patniyo ko pati ki seva karte bahot dekha hai par ek pati ko dekh rha hu aj o apni patni ki seva ek chhote bache k jaise karte hai aur baaki time ashram me seva  Sacha pyar aj. Dekha …PDBC k sare members sab k sath ek k bad ek baate unki baate suni…fir hamare team k sath Hindi gano ka Anand liya gya kaka ne kaki k liye….tu mumtaz hai meri khwabon ki Mai Tera shahejha….

Chai bhajiya baate ..gane ..k bad ham unke jarurat ho chije le Gaye the unko dediye …mujhe achha laga ki Mai unke liye kuchh kar saka ..

Dadi kehti thi jab kuchh achha hota hai to ishwar khud dharti par ate hai ..baish k roop Mai barish mitti ki khusbu ham bari me bhig kar khub Masti ki paudha ropna tha par paudhe ki kyari bana k apni yad bana Li o pal akho me chhap gya hai Priya ki masti khoon me teri mitti  mitti me Tera khoon …Prashant yatvi Priya ki fulo ki holi  …sab ka sath me Masti vala dance..baris me bhigna jhula jhulna …chiku ka swad ..sab k chehre ki muskurahat sab kuchh bahot achha pal tha .

Akhir hamne vha se Vida Li mandir k darshan k sath bhavuk samay tha bahot si yade lekar Laut rhe the ..aur agli baar jab aye to aur achha kare 

Thank you so much PDBC pariwar app sab ko jo is achhe kam me apna Sahyog diye upasthit hokar ya dur se sab k bina mumkin nhi tha 

Thank you

~MITESH

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SRIJAN_ 16.04.2023_4:50 A.M.

It was a regular Saturday evening for me. Sitting with a couple of my friends at Goga Tea stall in Godrej Garden city, sipping some chai accompanied with some other stuff. It had been a couple of days since I had met Chirag sir and was wondering when he would be free, and suddenly I received a call from him. I answered it at once and after the courteous greetings he asked me if I was free the next day, and told me to come to the studio at 12 noon. I suddenly remembered a text that I had received from Jhanvi Ji a few days back, which asked for our availability and interest to go to an Old-Age home, which I had ignored. In my defense, I had been to only 1 of PDBC’s events earlier and wondered if I had any role to play in this as well. 

Well, as agreed I luckily woke up in time the next day and left for the studio. It was after I had reached the studio that I came to know that we were to go to a place 60 kms away and I had to drive Chirag Sir’s ‘Beat’, a petrol converted to CNG car which I had the experience of driving earlier as well. At the Studio I met all the people who had very graciously agreed to come for this cause on a sunday.  The only familiar faces there were of Priya Mam, Mitesh Bhai and Bhavita Ji. I was very shy of talking to anyone new initially, but also made sure of observing everything for the only reason that Chirag sir or Priya mam might suddenly ask me for a blog or report of the whole day, which eventually happened.(Its 6 in the morning and I’m still typing 😭)

The drive was uneventful except for the fact that I had to keep up with Chirag sir driving ahead of me, iykyk. 

Upon reaching the location the first thing that we saw was all the residents of Vrundavan Dham eagerly waiting for us. My hesitation to interact with anybody kicked in as soon as we got out of the car, I don’t know why, lekin bas aa gayi. For the first half an hour while we were serving the residents with the Bhajiya and chai we had brought for them, I did not interact with anybody. Kept myself busy with getting the stuff out of the tempo. 

After a lot of reminders from the other members, I gradually started talking with the people there. The first person I talked to happened to be the Maali of the place. Talking to him gave me the perspective of the staff that works there towards the residents. He gave me a brief overview about almost all the residents and how their behavior was. A very interesting and disturbing fact that i came across was that the word for people dealing with Mental Health issues were referred as ‘MANSIK” in Gujarat in general. Was not happy knowing this but it is what it is.

One of those “Mansiks”, was a man who was very enthusiastically participating in the singing spree that Bhavita and Yatvi had started. He was thoroughly enjoying it as if it was after a very long time that he had done some singing and had been waiting for just this moment. After all the singing had stopped, while he was conversing with someone from PDBC, I heard him mention Amol Palekar. This caught my attention almost immediately. I told this to Priya mam and was told to go and interact with him without any delay. This particular man, it turned out, was a Cinephile before he had come to Vrundavan Dham. A die hard Amitabh Bachchan fan, used to watch all of his movies at Natraj Studio. He seemed very disheartened when he told me that they did not have TV at the place. 

Another man that I interacted with had a surgery on his leg a few days back so he had a cast on and was sitting in the back alone. I asked him what he normally does and if he has any particular song that he wishes to listen to, to which he reacted that he does not listen to music nor does he enjoy it because he is always having a headache. He gradually started telling me his story. He did know a lot of Hindi, so it was quite difficult to understand what he was saying in Gujarati. All I recall from that conversation is that his ‘VATAN’ (Gujarati for home/village) was Mansa, a town nearby the facility. For 25 years he used to work in a Papad Factory which got shut down, then he went to Mumbai, stayed there for sometime, came back to Mansa and for the past 3 years was at this Old age home.  

The property was very big and I had to go keep some stuff that we had bought at staff quarters which was at the opposite end, so I went there with the Maali. While walking back, my eyes went to an old warehouse type structure which was now in ruins. Out of curiosity I asked the Maali what it was and he told me that there used to be a papad factory here. All of a sudden that man with the cast came into my mind. I could not help myself but wonder how his life had come a full circle. He was living at the same place where he had worked for 25 years. Was it his choice or compulsion? We might never know. I didn’t even have the courage to go and ask him about the same but I made sure to sit with him for another 5 minutes after that.  

Although the day had been an Ahmedabad classic (>40 degree celsius), suddenly the clouds came and started pouring. A fact that I would like to mention here is that the clouds were very generous the last time I had come for a PDBC event. I’m not implying that it happened because of me, but one might wonder…

The downpour completely changed the MAHAUL. I, along with Amitesh, Sambhav, Prince and Chirag sir put a futile effort of replanting a small tree from its original location. All that came out of it was Priya mam, Meghna, Yatvi and Prince had a chance to do some weird dance circling me while I was digging with the spade. Yes, they were singing “Mere desh ki dharti sona ugle, ugle heere moti” while doing that. And yes, all of us were drenched from head to toe. But, did we enjoy and have a good time? A very big YESS.

Also, everyone reading this, if you ever get a chance of eating freshly picked Cheekus from a tree while it is raining, do not forget to do a “CHEEKU CHEERS”. It will make me and Priya mam feel happy. 🤪

To conclude, I feel it is moments and days like these that make you value the importance of community and makes you more humble and grateful for the life we live and people that bear with us. 

~SRIJAN

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April 14th turned out to be one of the fruitful, and memorable day. I was planning to study but my AstoVastu teacher canceled the class, suddenly I had the window open. Trying my luck  last minute, I wrote to Jahanviji at PDBC, there was one spot  available! Yeeyy!!  Thanks to her and Bhavitaji I became a part.

Priyaji n Chiragji took me in with Miteshji,  we  tried to know a little bit more about each other during travels. Miteshji spoke the least, but I heard he is an observer. Later on, I found Miteshji so  hands-on, he  immediately fixed the equipment problems and kindly assisted the home. At care home, they   mentioned missing light bulbs and without wasting a minute, Chiragji  got light bulbs. He was paying attention to all details and was on toes.

Priyaji took the lead and guided us as n when needed. She managed everything perfectly with passion. I really appreciate everyone’s efforts and teamwork.

Vrindavandham home has Chicoo waadi with lots of fruits, a nice  open place with shadow and cleane air to walk around. Afterwards, when it rained, Mitti Sugandh added the charm.

As we made eye contact, and started with general subject, the ice broke. Some ladies shared  grief that how families have abandoned them, they hardly have 3 pair of clothes, no money and living with a lot of pain. Some have accepted the situation, but not all of them. I thought ,for the next visit if we can sing Bhajans, Aarti, Garbas, and Simple  Mantras, and I can also initiate simple Forgivness Sadhana.

I over heard a Dadaji  reciting, chanting  some mantras, he had immense knowledge of Mantras and Shashtra , Bhavitaji managed to capture some valuable recordings with him.

A well-read, soft-spoken uncle ji from Mumbai had constant teary eyes while he was listening to songs, but he spoke with confidence and interest. There were a few patients of Alzheimer. I heard them  patiently, spoke about what they like and lot other subjects with giggles.

A relatively younger lady who couldn’t come out of her room due to fever, spoke about her village life, and how she passes her time doing Naam Jap of Parmatma, why she wears her Japmala( prayer 108 beads ) around her neck and how this gives her courage to go on. Her words were soothing and reassuring.

I definitely want to spend more time with them again if given a chance.

Many elders were using stick to walk, and particularly, their cloths seemed unwashed. It is possible that they are asked to wash their own cloths. Some fragile elders might not have physical energy to wash clothes.

I noticed this and thought if possible we could hire some domestic helpers next time, they could wash clothes, clean bathrooms or we should go early in the morning and do it ourselves.

My family elders use Grab handle bar to get up from toilet  seat and bath chair, it occurred to me later  that if we can call local plumber who knows the water pipeline in and out, particularly in the bathroom wall areas, could be hired to fit grab handles.

Some observations once again shook me. There are NO activities or entertainment during the day and after 7 30 dinner here. T.V. is switched on only once or twice during the meal.

Can I imagine my life like this? Life without books,  gadgets,  transportation, full independence, places, people, my family n all!

This reminded me of my brother and all the brave women and men in Bhartiya Armed forces, they serve at places where there are  no books, same limited food, no entertainment, not even a roof many a times, standing and walking for hours in harsh weather, no phone, laptop or TV   for years, no contact with family for months. We are privileged.

My suggestion is that once we provide them with their request of 12Ltr two pressure cookers  and a three burner gas stove, if possible, we should do spot visit and spot checking.

I heard from elders that they go to the kitchen to fill up their hot tea twice during the day, and handling hot drinks like this is not safe. The steps, the uneven land also adds risk of burning.

We can talk about the provision of kettle and stainless steel mugs for elders to hold hot drinks and also an updated first aid box.

We should follow up with surprises visit and check  how all clening material,  bathroom seats, dustbins, and all other donated material are being used, also checking the premises and their kitchen.

I came home with memories of everyone mingling with a warm heart, dedication, and respect. 

I know I need to, want to be part of giving back to our society, please do give me a chance again.

I thank you all, all doners,  facilitators, participants and congratulations to all!  Please keep up this kind of good work.

I forgot to mention the thoughtful gesture of Khichdi Kadhi dinner from Chirag Ji after he realised that there was no dinner that day because of evening snack of chai and bhajiye.

~Millee

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1. Vrundavan dham hi tha wo… Bohot sare swarup ke Devki aur Vasudev mile waha par.

2. Kuch waha laye gaye, kuch waha chode gaye, aur kuch waha khud aaye the

3. Kuch besudh se mile, kuch bas aadhi si muskaan liye mile, kuch Gyan ke bhadar se mile toh kuch apni baaton ko dohrate mile

4. Ese intezaar me bathie the wo jane kon maharaja ki sena aa rahi ho, hum toh bas kuch log the jo insaniyat sikhne ja rahe the

5. Yah meri yaad he un kuch ghanto ki… Chay pakode khilaye, champi ki, besure bhi gaane gaye, kuch hasi khusi bhara dance Kiya… Aur aur aur ek Dadaji ke karib baith kar samjha kya hota he surrender karna, kya hota he uus ek paramatma ko apna banana aur usse hi jivan chalana…

6. Aakhir me chiku ke ped(tree) me chipkar baarish ne Aatma ko bhi saaf kar hi diya 😇

~Bhavita

Until our next visit, hope they stay safe

~ Priya.


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