S. Varathanarayanan, 43 Enterprise Resource Consultant Bengaluru, Karnataka
On the 9th of September, 2016, there was to be a strike in Bengaluru. A century-long water row over the Kaveri river had hit boiling point and resulted in a Karnataka-wide bandh.These strikes are known to be violent, and sometimes even fatal. Ordinarily, engineer and enterprise resource consultant S.Varthanarayanan would have chosen to lie low, maybe take the day off to stay home with his family (and celebrate his wedding anniversary) but on that day, he would not.
He had a life to save, and he had promised to be there.
Varthanarayanan is a genial middle-aged man who seems to smile all the time, even while speaking. He narrates his story from start to end, beaming through numerous connectivity and network problems. When the call gets cut, he is willing to stay an extra hour and go over the details all over again. He’s a proud Tamilian settled in Bengaluru with two lovely daughters and a super-understanding wife. When he told her the donation had been fixed on their wedding anniversary, she replied: “If you do something like this on your wedding day, it is very good!” and this gave him confidence to go ahead.
After the strike was announced, DATRI Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry employees Srinivas and Varthanarayanan had about three days to hatch a fool proof plan. A Blood Stem Cell Donation was to take place, and there was an eager little boy or girl somewhere in India going through intense chemotherapy and drug treatment in preparation for a one-in-a-million chance at a new life.
They quickly went through their options. Plan A was to admit Varthanarayanan in hospital on the 8th, so as to avoid commuting on the morning of the 9th. The only problem? There were no beds available at the hospital. They had no choice but to go through the city on the day of the strike. Luckily, Srinivas knew a street smart and reliable cabbie who was willing to take Varthanarayanan to the hospital. To reduce the risk of being harangued by the mobs of protest-ers, they would aim to reach the hospital before the strike commenced, and make their way at the witching hour.
As planned, Varthanarayanan was up and ready to go by 3.30am in the morning. As planned, the cabbie picked him up from his Banashankari home and reach him to the hospital before 7am, the time the stem cell donation was to begin. As planned, the cabbie was prepared to speed (safely) over 35 kilometres of rioting ground to reach the hospital. As not planned, however, the strike was already on by 4.
“As we passed through the city, they (the mobs) were already stopping vehicles on the streets,” he recalls. “The cab driver was very smart and took us through the smaller lanes and we reached by 5am.” Fortunately, things weren’t as bad as they were about to get. As Varthana-rayanan and Srinivas watched the city news over a simple morning tiffin at the hospital cafeteria, their hearts almost caught in their throats. “Four-five buses were burnt and people were get-ting out of cars ready to fight with sticks and stones. If we had delayed even by half-an-hour, we would have been caught.”
The Blood Stem Cell Donation Process began. Srinivas kept his eyes trained on the news while Varthana-rayanan interrogated the doctor. “He was very nice. He explained everything about the ma-chine and how it works. It takes in the blood and segregates the excess stem cells. Then the rest of the blood comes back into your body. I asked so many questions, even about the syringes, but he was so patient. He showed me a big case full of the syringes, tubes and things used in one particular donation. All these would be replaced for the next donor.” The transparency of the procedure boosted his trust and genial Mr. Varthanarayan co-operated happily.
Hours later, Varthanarayanan describes the ride home through the aftermath. The city was broken, and the debris of unfortunate buses, cars, bikes and autos targeted by the violence. For a moment, he is lost for words. He continues, uncertainly: “It was an unexplainable experience.”
It wasn’t over for Srinivas, though. Srinivas had to make his way straight to the airport for an evening flight to Chennai, where he would deliver Varthanarayanan’s precious stem cells
safely to the custody of a doctor, who would then deliver a child into a brighter, more promising future.
Varthanarayanan went back to work to an extremely delighted office. “After this whole experience, someone from Donor follow up team of DATRI emailed the director of IT at Unilever, a company my firm consults with, to tell them about what I had done. It felt very good at that time and I felt very proud of what I had done. They were very happy, because they never expected a match to come from Unilever though I’m strictly not an employee of theirs. Now I’m famous there. Everybody at Unilever knows me!”
His real takeaway from his experience though? “I am very happy, and I always have a helping tendency but now I’m ready to do anything for anyone who needs my help. 4.5ml of Blood Stem Cells have been collected from my body but I still lead my life with no problems absolutely. I am happy all the way. Everyone who is a donor should come forward. Nothing will happen to you.
If you are really impressed by this story and want to give second chance to needy Please register with DATRI Blood Stem Cell Donors Registry today.
DATRI is registered with the Government of India as a Section 8 organization and all monetary contributions towards DATRI are subject to 80G exemptions
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