It was late in the evening around 8:30 when the entrance gate sounded us about an visitor. A visitor who as stranger. And the first thing he said was, "I am not a salesman, don't worry."
He introduced himself as Siddesh Rane, a volunteer for CRY and an engineering graduate. No he did not work for CRY though he did work with CRY. He and a few of his friends had taken it upon themselves to carry out fund raising activities for CRY's project on protecting and educating the girl child by going door to door. Their reason instead of wasting time on weekends, let's do something fruitful. Moved by the cause they go around visiting one house after another in order create awareness and raise funds. The experience has been good, bad and ugly too. But that has not deterred him or his friends from going about doing their volunteer act on weekends.
In course of our conversation he said "Sir, its your choice to donate or not to donate and what amount to donate. I am not here to force you. My work is to create awareness and raise the funds. Nothing in cash or kind but cheque drawn in favour of CRY and you can claim the income tax benefit too."
At this point I felt bad for still meeting him at the gate and not inviting him in, which I eventually did but he declined for he had to cover more homes too.
I was impressed with his willingness to contribute for a cause at the expense of his personal time which he could have spent with his hanging out with his friends or enjoying himself.
I am writing this to acknowledge the contribution of thousands others like Siddesh who are not just motivated by the cause but also act on it to bring the change. As Gandhiji said " We must be the change we wish to bring about in this world" ... Here was one live example right in front of me....Bravo!! All the best!! and more importantly THANKS for making a difference.
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