It has been a day of hopes, disappointment and then surprises from unknown quarters.
Given that 21 CATS had registered for the blood donation with some bringing in their family/friends/colleagues with them, we had set ourselves a realistic target of 20-30 units. As everyone knows that ours is a contributory trekking club, there was no money in the kitty. However, our 'Elusive' CAT Charanjeet and CAT AP were determined to make it memorable for us all. Both insisted that we must have a banner. CATS were doing something good and it ought to be celebrated.
Their passion rubbed off onto me and I thought it would be nice to have a badge depicting the blood drop which CATS could wear with pride. CAT Charanjeet surprised us by quickly printing some car stickers in his office as well. CAT Neerja took care of all the arrangements at Fortis Blood Bank. CATS were all set for the D-Day.
Hats off to the enthusiasm of CAT Ravinder, who despite having never been on any of the treks with us, gave blood two days in advance as he was set to leave for Bangalore yesterday. This morning the first ever official CATS banner was put up inviting the CATS in to donate blood. It was a Kodak Moment but there was not a CAT in sight to share it with!
I was the first one to re-open the CATS account at Fortis Blood Bank around 9.15am. CAT Madhavi has never been on any of the treks with us, but came in to donate blood before going to her office. It was 10.30am. Half a dozen Rotarians and CAT Ashok dropped by to cheer up CATS donating blood, but CATS were conspicuous by their absence! I had organized the camp only after getting a consensual opinion from CATS, 21 had volunteered but where were they?
Perhaps CAT Neerja saw the disappointment writ large on my face and quickly got into action. She went on a round of the hospital and soon the blood bank was buzzing with employees of Fortis from various departments, happy enough to donate blood to demonstrate their commitment to join CATS. Others I am sure simply could not refuse the request to donate blood from our charming CAT Neerja.
First time donor, manager of IDBI Bank got cold feet and disappeared after his medical. CAT Neerja appointed IDBI's security guard to bring him back! One first timer requested to be photographed once he had donated blood. Yet another first timer said, 'It feels good' when asked how he was feeling after donating blood. We were on a roll. It was sheer joy to see the pride with which CAT Neerja was putting the pin on every donor. She was honoring the brave ones, who also got a car sticker and a certificate in return for the little effort they made today. We dubbed this little ceremony as 'Taaj-Poshi' of CATS!
It was a relief to get a call from CAT Dharminder that he's on the way and more so, he's bringing along Ashish with him. I was delighted to see CAT Jolly walking through, even though he had not registered. CAT Sandeep walked in chattering his life away on two mobiles he was carrying. CAT Navpreet showed up soon thereafter. Our quite CAT Paramjeet was another surprise. CAT DV Bhatia stayed put good part of the morning to cheer the CATS. Finally some regular CATS started pussy footing through the door but we were still miles to go before we met our target. It was 1pm soon and the tally was still only 11.
CAT Navpreet swung into action and rounded up his team from the office as well as friends circle. Since they had come in at lunch time, we actually fed them before taking any blood! Nikhil Bhalla, Raju, CAT Anu Sodhi, CAT Ashish Arora donated courtesy CAT Navpreet's bullying tactics. Count was 20 by the time we went for lunch at 3pm. We had met the lower end of our estimate, but we wanted to have a little higher result.
Special mention needs to be made of CAT Anu Arora, who came in after finishing off her school and attending the condolence meeting at a colleague's home. She was late, but she came nevertheless. CAT Maharaj got stuck at work today but called up just now ( 10.pm) to confirm that he would be going to Fortis tomorrow to donate blood. The final count today was a respectable 25; a quarter century as CAT Navpreet called it.
Overall, 25 units were donated in our maiden effort of blood donation. 3 were rejected on the grounds of having low HB and CAT Maharaj will take our total to 26 by donating tomorrow. Even if the regular CATS had not managed to donate blood, the determined CATS ensured that our first blood donation camp was a complete success.
Three Meows to the CATS who donated blood today and all of us would be wearing our CATS Donor badges with great pride on our next trek.
- CAT Supreet.
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