Special experiences from second-phase Cuddalore-area relief-efforts:

Car-drivers: helped a lot in delivering food packages and other necessities. As we were preparing for relief efforts in Srirangam, late one night at around 10pm we come to know that there is a party offering products that need to be transported for delivery in affected villages around Cuddalore. This meant a vehicle is needed before 11pm so that products can reach people in the morning. We called sleeping car-drivers and, before they fully woke up, they would be asked to come to pick up. And finding the route in Srirangam is a big confusion for drivers as most are new to the town and the 4 Uttaraveedis inside 4 Chitraveedis pattern is hard to comprehend for them. So after having reached Srirangam on time they would arrive at the specific location late. When yelled at for this, they would apologize. We yell out of tension following our commitments to deliver product in the morning – the product includes breakfast – so delivering on time is critical. The drivers did not show any sign of anger in any form. They would deliver the products in time after driving through the night for 5-6 hours. After returning, they wouldn’t even take 50-100-rupee tips. They would say that let it be contribution from their side: “saamee idhu aen side-laendu pannaamaari irkatam”.

Small vendors: had similar story. With big shops, bargaining for 5% discount would be looked at as if we are trying to rob them of their profits. Whereas small vendors would be forthcoming to give 50-75% discounts. On top of that, there were those vendors that would say that because we purchased all they would sell in a day, they offered the discount and joined us in relief efforts since the rest of the day is free: “saamee naan oru naalaikku vikkardellaatyum neenga mottamaa vaangitteenga. Adanaala innikku fullaa naan free daan. Naanum volunteer pandrattukku varaenae”. Nothing to beat the heart of simple folks and their generosity.

General Volunteers: We don’t have any listed volunteers for ourselves. It is all ad hoc. We went to Tirukkottiyur Madhavan Swamy who had material to deliver. We went to Velukkudi Krishnan Swamy, through whose SMS contacts we could get many volunteers. We found an apartment complex called "Sri Narayana Homes". Without notice or permission, we started using the building as a warehouse, making chapatis, breaking a few tiles in the process, collecting piles of old clothes, packing food and water, on their electricity bill, etc. Volunteers, who would normally not even touch those clothes for aachaaram reasons, let it all go and helped fold and pack them. We would finish work at 2am in the night and restart the next day at 8am. In the meantime the nice ladies (mamis) residing in the apartment complex would come to wash off the area and get it cleaned for the next day’s work, make coffee for the volunteers and so on, in addition to taking care of their daily routine at home. Their large heart and tremendous cooperation merits recognition. The apartment secretary mama’s son had a motorbike accident that day around noon. He had hurt his head, he got 8 stitches and was back to work at 4pm. The apartment residents were also able to bring volunteers from other apartments too.

A special volunteer, Jeeva. The first day no one had the guts to go to Cuddalore. Jeeva, about 23, was the only one who signed up for going anywhere as needed. First day, in the night he went to Cuddalore, delivered materials, and came back. The very next morning, he came to volunteer for packing food. That night again we sent him off to Tambaram, Chennai. He went in the same vehicle, no sleep. The third day we sent him again to Cuddalore. The fourth day he said he will be the point-person in Cuddalore taking care of distribution and asked us to continue delivering materials to him. During the first trip his wallet with license, etc was taken away by some other volunteer by mistake and he could not get them for the next four days. Jeeva didn’t care for it and simply pushed on.

Another special volunteer  and a bhagavata, Santosh. Early the morning at 5:30 am on the second day, he was standing after bath shivering in the cold. When we asked him why he said that he had washed the only veshti he had and it was drying in the cloth-line. When we told him to just use one of the piled up clothes temporarily, he wouldn’t do so saying that all that is donated is donated in good faith that it would all go to the affected people.

One volunteer mama: There was divided opinion about volunteers food during the prep work. Some would say that the volunteers should eat the food made there for efficiency’s sake, while others would say that they should take care of their food on their own. Vehement among the latter was one mama, who insisted that even though the volunteers would need only about 100 of the 10,000 chapatis made there, they should not touch the chapatis as it is made out of donated money meant only for villagers. It took quite some convincing to get him to see that it is indeed wasteful to have the volunteers go home for food and return to work.

HH Sri Mannargudi Jeeyar Swami. Ramapuram, Kodukanpalayam and nearby villages gave him a rock-star welcome with banners, paadapoojai, tiruppaavai sevai, nagarvalam, etc., with some even taking home Jeeyar Swamy’s tiruvadi mann (the holy soil from under Jeeyar Swamy’s feet). They were all bhagavatas, whose homes were destroyed by the floods. Yet they said that they are willing to go to other villages with worse damage and help out. Jeeyar Swami was a big strength in trying to keep things go smoothly and on time, keeping volunteers’ nerves under control, getting the attention of villagers and calming them down. Jeeyar Swamy entered Dalit colonies, personally entered homes and talked to them and gave them assistance. They were so moved as this has never ever happened before. Jeeyar Swamy did not want to get the affected people to stand in line and show their ration cards to get assistance. He wanted to go and hand out whatever was needed, inspired them to hang on, and gave them hope to get out of the situation. He also told them ways to live like keeping the house clean and auspicious with a separate place dedicated for deities and worship: “veetta suttamaa vechkonga, majal poosunga, vaasappadila veppamaram vainga, unmaiyae pesunga, saamikku oru edatta odukki vainga, mudinja alavaukku anda edatta suttamaa vechkonga, veetta mangalakaramaa vechkonga, etc.” He would just give a holler from outside and enter the house, look around the house and quickly judge their situation, ask a few quick questions about how they live, and would give this personalized advice. Flood situation apart, he wants every household to have Ramanuja-bhakti, and the relief efforts helped the cause in a big way. We could see that we have their trust. They would promise to change for good and not forget this ever. Jeeyar Swami would also text, call and keep enquiring about status of delivery and keep tags on things. A very inspiring personality ready to get down to any level to help. He has the natural instinct to want to be the first to help people in need.