This afternoon, a lady in a beautiful Rajasthani saree, with her head covered, was assisting a man (with white hair) carry things at the construction site in the campus. When she was relatively free, I asked her where she was from and she said, ‘Badaun’ and then asked ‘would you know the place?’. My mind went back to 1996.
Swami Rama had invited Mr. Saleem Shervani, the then Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Government of India to HIHT. Mr.Shervani was very touched with the grand reception Swamiji laid out for him and asked, “Swamiji, isn’t this strange – You going out all the way to treat me thus.” Swamiji quoted a verse on friendship (between Ram and Sugriva) from Tulsi Ramayan, which touched him further. He then requested Swamiji to do a health mela in his constituency “Badaun” in Uttar Pradesh. Swamiji very readily agreed and commissioned us to do so.
When we finally did the health mela a few months after Swamiji left the body, we were struck by the backwardness of the area. Samir from our team pitched ahead of all of us to do the groundwork, before all the health specialists and support staff reached there. The six days there were so full, there were more than 600 patients each day !! We had to use the help of district administration which such a crowd, but at the end, we were all very happy that we were able to serve the poor and those needing medical care in this backward area. ‘Yes, We remember Badaun’
‘Let there be no doubt in the mind w.r.t giving and taking.
Keep on doing good as per one’s ability.
In times of danger, always be a friend hundredfold
Veda’s say that the highest quality of friendship is this.‘
