1. I normally do not tweet about my participation in relief operations. But given the amount of hate dialogue and north south name calling I am seeing here, please bear with me for this thread about #KeralaFloodRelief
2. Some time late friday night @4eo tweeted that he had worked out a great deal on sanitary napkins purchased in bulk, from soothehealthcare.com in Delhi for #KeralaFloodRelief
3. Having noticed some discussions about an acute shortage of sanitary napkins in Kerala, I DM’d @4eo for more details. In short, we decided to pitch in. I sent a WhatsApp message to Mandeep Singh of Sootheheathcare.com on Saturday morning, and he immediately called back.
4. In lots of 1020 packs of 8 pieces (17 cartons), they would deliver to anywhere with Bangalore.He alerted his team (email withCC) and even before we had paid, they had started organising the shipment #KeralaFloodRelief
5. Soothe had 80,000 pads in stack. We were picking up 8k each. @4eo asked for help to pick up 25,000 in a tweet in the morning. #KeralaFloodRelief
6. By lunch @VinithaShetty and @anmenon had paid for similar quantities and we were ready to ship. There are others, whose orders I did not see. @InstantMusings, @iKooky and others too i think, because My apologies to those I missed. #KeralaFloodRelief
7. Which collection center to choose? Rosine connected us to the one in Cessna Tech Park (closed now), from where material would be taken to the airport for airlifting on airforce relief flights. We choose this purely for the speed of delivery. #KeralaFloodRelief
8. Pradeep Sharma, from Noida plant of Soothe was constantly on phone, coordinating delivery. Pradeep Sharma’s last call of the day was around 8 pm, to confirm that the delivery had been done and the small balance will go on Monday. #KeralaFloodRelief. Remember, it was a Saturday
9. Manish Mittal from their Delhi office was also regularly in touch, sorting out payments, invoicing and like. #KeralaFloodRelief
10. The delivery of the goods was coordinated by Revanna of DTDC. I remember his name as he too called me multiple times to ensure that the delivery reached the right place. #KeralaFloodRelief
11. Late at night, I went to the delivery centre to deliver another consignment. The volunteers had all gone home and only guards were there. These young lads were from north and north east India. They helped us unload and carry the goods and stack them inside. #KeralaFloodRelief
12. While doing this, I got chatting with a couple of them. Here is what one of them said - “Sir, i hope that all these things reach the people of Kerala real fast” #KeralaFloodRelief
13. If you pause for a minute here and look back, you will notice by the names, people who come from all parts of India, who worked on a holiday and went out of their way to ensure that relief material gets delivered to Kerala fast. #KeralaFloodRelief
14. None of us had spoken to each other before yesterday, and will never speak to each other again. Most of us did not even know about the existence of the others before this. #KeralaFloodRelief
15. There are north Indians, Kannadigas, Sikhs, people from the east and of course from Kerala who worked together selflessly to ensure this. All showed genuine concern. Everyone went out of their way to ensure that the material was delivered on a saturday. #KeralaFloodRelief
16. Those spewing venom and keeping count of who is giving what and who is not, my humble request, please don’t. Indians from everywhere are helping as much as they can. Let us not sow seeds of hatred in an environment otherwise permeated with love. Please…. #KeralaFloodRelief
17. In the evening, we went to Metro to pick up relief material with collections from the apartment complex. Not all the money came from Keralites. People from all over contributed. #KeralaFloodRelief
18. Metro was letting people in without membership cards, for purchasing relief material #KeralaFloodRelief
19. Inside there were people purchasing items from the relief material lists that were circulating on Social media. Not all of them were From Kerala. #KeralaFloodRelief
20. How do I know they were picking up material for relief? From what they are talking about and asking the staff. Also, from the quantity of material they were picking up. Why would a family pick up just a bulk pack of 70 fleece blankets? #KeralaFloodRelief
22. The staff at Metro helped in packing things in bulk when anyone told them that the material was for #KeralaFloodRelief
23. They told us that there was heavy demand for the items in the relief material lists and that they had run out of stocks for many of the items #KeralaFloodRelief @dhanushgopinath
corroborates this.
corroborates this.
24. Meanwhile, in the apartment complex that I used to stay in, in Gurgaon, a collection drive was on. Those spearheading the drive were not from Kerala. Most of those contributing had never even been to the state. North Indians. But they were contributing for #KeralaFloodRelief
25. I can go on and on. Once again, my humble request. whether you be from the north or from the south, Please, please do not spread hate. Please do not split the country and its people, particularly on the issue of #KeralaFloodRelief
26.North Indians are helping with relief and succor for #KeralaFloodRelief Many are going out of their way. North just north Indians, People from all states of the country and even citizens of other countries are helping. Please do not spread hate and paint it otherwise.
27. If you do not want to help, please don’t. If you do not want to accept help, by all means dont. But please do not spread hate for those who are suffering, or for those helping. please do not demand that we first look the gift horse in the mouth. Thank you. #KeralaFloodRelief
A shoutout to @SootheH and their CEO @SahilnDharia ( I remember getting calls from a number that truecaller identified as Sahil Dharia, but could not place him). My Bad, Apologies
