Photo Gallery: CATS 10th Blood Donation Camp

Though the date of the camp was officially 14th of June'11, but CATS who would have been unable to visit the blood bank due to work or personal commitments on 14th started getting their unit of blood counted towards the camp almost a week in advance!

CAT Vivek Kumar was the first donor of our 10th camp :)

CAT Anuradha Chawla walked into the blood bank with two of her colleagues, 

Shruti and Manoj the next day where I was able to meet them :)

CAT Guneet Singh took her cousin Micky along two days ahead of the camp 

as both would have not been able to make it on 14th to donate with the rest of the CATS.

CAT Guneet, you are one determined little girl.. PROUD OF YOU :)

We started the morning of 14th of June, World Blood Donors Day 

with a donor count of 6. Given that our target was 50 units, 

we were looking for another 44 donors to walk through the doors.

I reached the blood bank by 8.45am to set shop with CAT Amanat and 

CAT Aman - the support team for the donors. CAT Paramjeet arrived 

just as we were offloading the goodies and the necessities from the car. 

He was our first donor of the morning.

The blood bank was all set for the day to receive the meowing CATS :)

and so were the CATS!

Wondering what the story is behind this cake??

It was CAT Chat's only son's birthday and the doting father had 

brought along the cake to celebrate his birthday with all the CATS.

CAT Amanat happily helped CAT Chat to cut the cake in Anurag's absence, 

and a wish was also made for CAT Monica who shared her birthday with Anurag :)

Birthdays galore :)

CAT Mukesh walked in with his wife Kusum just after 9am. 

Mukesh might have started giving blood late in life, but he's been regular as a clock work.

Proud of you BOTH :)

CAT Gagandeep arrived soon before going to the office while Gurdeep led the SDI gang.

It was a good start of the day, given CAT Gagandeep 

walked away in his own shoes after the donation :D

It was a pleasure to be greeted by Mrs Kanta Swaroop Krishen who 

appreciated the electronic working style of CATS. She spent time speaking with the donors and 

was quite excited to browse through the picture gallery of the previous 9 camps of CATS.

Yet another charming lady, Mrs Duggal arrived with Rtn. Sneh Popli to cheer up 

the donors but it was so easy to get waylaid by the happy faces from the picture gallery ;-)

If this was not enough, then CAT Aman had also put up a chart asking 'What BLOOD Means'.

CAT Chat was at his wittiest best while Mrs Duggal was most inspiring :)

It was good to see CAT Arti back on the bleeding bed after she missed the previous two camps.

Ab iss rockstar ka naam main bhool gayi hoon ;-)

Rtn. Vipin Dewan kept his promise and came to cheer up the donors with his charming colleague.

It's always a delight to hear his stories, just as it used to be to listen to the stories of the previous Principal of YPS, Dr Harish Dhillon!

While all this was happening, a bus full of donors had arrived from SDI to simply sweep us off our feet...

There were more donors than pens available at the blood bank to fill the pre-donation medical forms ;-)

We were going full strength in the bleeding room...

and we had started running out of not only the pens, but chairs and sofas 

also to sit in the foyer for the donors to fill their forms in... 

Despite the heat and the lack of chairs, there was not a sign of complaint from anyone.

THAT is what I admire about you all :)

There is more to us than pretty faces :)

Go on.. I invite you to write a caption for this photograph :)

See, I told you that the photo gallery was a BIG HIT :)

Aa jayo... Aa jayo... Aap bhi aa jayo :)

It was great to see such a huge effort made by SDI to bring in the donors, 

when it was all too easy to worry about the loss of working hours!

It was great to see the camaraderie between the defense personnel and the civilians.

Mera Bharat Mahan :)

All donors are equal but there are some above equals!

Please meet Ranpal who may be severely disabled in one leg, but that has not 

stopped him from hopping along to the blood bank with a stick. 

This man deserves a standing ovation for he indeed is the REAL HERO.

A disabled giving blood to enable another life.

We were indeed the stars of the day with media all around :)

The waiting queue spilled over from the foyer and corridor into the bleeding room itself ;-)

Please meet these handsome young kittens of ours, sons of our 40+ donor CAT Vishal Kalia, 

who had brought them along to see what it feels like to be part of a blood donation camp.

It was a delight to see them all grown up... but handsome as ever :)

and here is the father.. CAT Vishal Kalia himself... 

the one who's always there whenever anyone needs blood.

I remember calling him up on 07th of Jan'11 and he reached the blood bank 

in less than 10mins to give blood for a poor accident victim about to undergo surgery :)

Boys will always be boys I guess ;-)

I may not remember the names, but I shall never forget the donors!

Meet this regular blood donor couple who joined us for the noble cause... 

in his words, 'I have never seen such a rush at this blood bank before!'

and this is the important back breaking work which 

CAT Aman was assigned; to keep records of all the donors.

Incase you missed Ranpal's previous photograph, this is how 

Ranpal came to the blood bank to donate blood.. 

I wonder how should those able bodied ones amungst us should feel 

after seeing this photograph.. I am talking about the ones 

who do not donate blood despite being medically fit!

CAT Jolly was always rejected in UK and Canada whenever 

he tried to give blood on account of malaria and mad cow disease :D

Thanks to being in India, he's become a regular donor with CATS :)

Do meet out new CAT Nitish, the quite one who surprised even his friends as he's a regular blood donor.

THANK YOU Nitish for coming along yesterday... and you look even fitter than the rafting trip :)

Our Fauji GS Dhillon in deep discussion with CAT AP to discuss CATS, Leh and beyond :)

I look forward to a guided tour of something special soon with The Army for all the CATS!

Time to meet another determined fauji who had come with his wife and two pretty children.

Son-in-Law of Col Shah (Rotary blood bank) is another towering example of 

taking the challenges head on that life throws at us, rather than drowning in 

sorrows or seeking sympathy through creating a web of self-pity.

This fauji with a beautiful young family who had come to donate blood with us all, 

had come limping slightly with a stick as a support. It was later on that we came 

to know that he had lost half a leg and a foot in a freak accident a few years ago.

Hats off to the courage of this fine Officer serving the Army, he never let the adversities get in his way.

Do allow the CATS to salute you Sir!

and what do I say about this 18yrs old smart chap.

I got into a conversation with Nipun and found out that this was his first blood donation. 

I asked if his parents know and he replied, 'No. I actually had been asking them 

to accompany me for my first blood donation since I turned 18, but they had been 

dilly dallying giving one excuse or another as they feel I am too young to give blood.'

I ensured I stood by him and as he was being bled, he got a call from his mother 

on his mobile, asking him where he was and he responded with a twinkle in his eyes, 

'At the blood bank mum, giving blood!'

Not only these two students of PU gave blood with us, but asked us to go and 

motivate the youngsters in the colleges to raise an army of blood donors in the city.

Leading by example they sure are.. and CATS would be more than happy to help them in their mission.

Who says females are a scarce breed when it comes to blood donation... 

THEY ARE EVERYWHERE at the camp :)

Infact the energy at the camp was so palpable, that many walk-ins 

immediately signing the membership forms to join CATS there and then!

I was surprised some even had the passport sized photos in their wallets 

to stick on the membership forms... 

they left no stone unturned to be part of this merry group of CATS ;-)

forms forms and more medical forms to be filled in... 

Blood bank had appointed one person by this time to specially hand out the pens to the waiting donors :)

Rtn Darshan Mahendru may be a quite man, but what grace he brings along 

with him wherever he goes. Thank you for coming in to cheer up the donors... 

who by the way were too engrossed in either the refreshments or the photo gallery :)

I did tell you that we had a house full... right :)

Hey CAT Tanbir... yeh kya ho raha hai??!!!!

:P

Even the lunch hour went busy.... what a day indeed it was.... THANK YOU donors :)

CAT Puneet Kapoor came to donate blood but had to become a 

cheer leader instead once again! It's always a pleasure to be with puraane-paapi.. 

CAT Hemant being another regular one.

I remember I would beg, request and at times blackmail Hemant to stay

 as long as he could at the camp, without being fired from his job to 

take care of the record keeping or photographs ;0)

Hustler may have left for other shores... but we still have the Warrior with us :)

To give or not to give ;-)

what an amazing journey it was... each part of the blood bank had different focus.. 

and here it was restricted to two senses only - Taste and Vision :D

A walk in dulhan who had come to donate blood with his dulha... LOVE YOU girl :)

Does the face expression convey enough that he's a first timer?

This proved to be the most pleasant surprise of the day for me... 

CAT Jasmit shifted to Mumbai over a year ago and since he had written to me 

saying that he would be making his blood donation on 14th of June, 

I assumed he would go to his local blood bank to make a donation.

Can you imagine my reaction when I saw him walking through the doors 

of the blood bank, straight from the airport to donate blood with his fellow CATS here in Chandigarh?!!!

Thakur.... khoon de de na!

CAT Hemant Anand who took over the task of reminding me to hold 

the next blood donation camp as we enter the 10th week of the last blood donation!

The Silent Crusader CAT :)

and this gentleman had walked in to give blood in the name of his daughter's birthday.

He told me that he was about to leave for a few days to camp in Manali... 

but walked away after filling in the form of CATS to join us from the next activity itself ;-)

I have honestly run out of words to describe this phenomena called CAT Abhijit... 

Our original Pied Piper when it comes to blood donation!

He's probably sharing stories from his recent quest of kissing the Everest Base Camp with CAT AP :)

and here is our original Dulha, CAT Jasmit who has always donated blood with 

his dulhan CAT Jasmine. The ones who're not just there for fun times, 

but there when the going gets tough too.

Yeh jori to rabb ne banaayi hai... fursat mein :)

aur kaun kehta hai Punjab Police sirf khoon peeti hai... deti nahin :D

This gentleman had come with a colleague to be part of this blood 

donation drive and we are indeed proud of them.. even if it's this once ;-)

Yupp.. back to the picture gallery :)

Yet another first time donor for whom we tried to make this day memorable :)

Meet this lady who not only is a regular blood donor, but has pledged to 

donate her eyes as well body to the PGI upon death.

Walking Massiahs.. what do you say?

Want to join her ranks?

and this is what I call the purrfect partnership.... 

CATS donating blood with active participation of SDI :)

do meet yet another regular blood donor CAT Ajay.....

There's a saying in punjabi, 

'Tera ik hath dewe te doosra de ke bhul jaawe!

He has literally taken it to his heart and can't remember the dates of 

any of his previous 30+ blood donations!'

PROUD of YOU Ajay :)

and you really have to meet Madan.. it I was heading CATS to ensure 

everything fell in place for the donors at the camp, Madan held the fort 

on the ground for SDI.. and he did that without a break or lunch... 

I literally had to force him to eat a muffin before I let him carry on further!

THANK YOU Madan :)

CAT Ashish walked in with his old pals Davinder and Jasraj along with 

CAT Navpreet Singh to give blood together.

Do you notice to lanky chap standing in the extreme right hand corner 

of the photograph? He works in a hospital and had seen many blood donations in his life,

 but had never had the courage to jump from the fence. He's still doing his calculations 

as he meets this noisy bunch of happy go lucky regular donor friends.

and this was another set of colleagues who neither stopped laughing themselves, 

not allowed anyone else to stop giggling away - Drunk over blood!

and here is another one of us regulars playful ones, 

CAT Navpreet who marked his paws at the camp post lunch... MEOW :)

10/10 blood donations has made CAT Ashish the brightest of STAR Donors amungst CATS.

Your special trophy is still in the making Ashish.. 

ab soch rahi hoon ke CAT Hemant ki bhi abhi banwa ke rakh loon ;-)

Davinder Singh and Jasraj... partners in crime for everything in life.. 

whether it's a quick junket to Bangkok or the blood donation ;-)

THANK YOU both for bringing in some Amritsari blood to the camp.. 

not to forget the set of advise you were handing out for the first time donors :)

Due dilligence and the cheers around created yet another first time blood donor.

CATS were able to do what IVY could not create... 

and he made him promise to send an invite for all future camps too.. 

khoon munh ko lag gya na :P

This is how the sampling of blood is done to determine your blood group friends....

I am B+ 

what about you??

A drop of these chemicals is left on the drop of blood on a ceramic plate to settle.. 

the blood cogulates to determine which blood group each one of the donors is...

and this is also to be tested only.... not to be tasted ;-)

and this is how the blood you give is safely stored in the refrigerators...

Do you notice the plasma has floated as yellow fluid in the blood sacs 

stored earlier on the upper shelf than the fresh ones which are still all red in the lower shelf?

The last set of donors before we called it quits at the count of 125.

but not before we say goodbye to our CAT Varun who came late but 

ensured that his blood got counted with his fellow CATS.

Purrrfect teamwork in action visible with CAT Charanjeet typing away the 

Press Release while CAT Aman is taking off the picture gallery.

It was time to shut shop as time was already 5.30pm!

and yes... the photo gallery was a BIG HIT.... 

what a delight it was to see the donors preening through the gallery to 

spot themselves donating blood in the previous 9 camps... 

while some were feeling proud, one was wondering, 

'Where did I buy this shirt from that I am wearing in this pic?'

Forget the donors, even the blood bank staff could not get over 

the photos we made available to them, which apparently no organisation had 

ever done in the past, atleast never holding a picture gallery with them 

taking a place of honour along with the rest.

Told you... we treat everyone as EQUAL in CATS :)

We can not possible finish off our day without a BIG THANK YOU to all the staff 

at the blood bank, Mr Sudan and Col Shah especially who work hard for the donors at each camp.

We have practically become one big family :)

A BIG THANK YOU: CAT Aman and CAT Amanat for being the purrfect team, 

right from making the picture gallery, keeping records, ensuring all donors were 

photographed in the bleeding room and well served in the refreshment room. 

This day could not have run so smoothly without your support girls :)

CAT Amanat, a little kitten whom we have seen blossoming from a chubby baby

 into a beautiful teenager... from being the one we had to take care of, 

to be the one we could give responsibility to.

THANK YOU CAT Amanat for taking charge of the photography 

for the day amungst so many other things.

and folks, please pardon us incase she missed to take your photograph or 

your prized photograph has come out a little grainy. This was the first time for her to 

take photos and she had been on her feet since 8am!

Would you like to meet my sounding boards - CAT AP and CAT Charanjeet :)

I do owe a BIG THANKS to CAT Abhijit and CAT Anuradha Chawla 

for being the purrfect pied pipers to bring in the bubbly donors from SDI.

Yeh SDI aur CATS ke khoon ka rishta humein baandhe hai ik dor se... 

woh dor jo jeevan deti hai... 

woh jeevan jo khoon se banta hai... 

woh khoon jo hum ikathhe dete hain.

Three MEOWs to both the pied piers also :)

Counting the total blood donation units to 125, 

we moved on to taking a peek at WHAT BLOOD MEANS to CATS :)

Would you like to add to this?

I spoke too soon I guess ;-)

After 10 at night as I was preparing to sleep I got a message from CAT DeepInder 

who asked for the total to be raised to 126... he had donated blood in Manama, Bahrain 

at the same time his fellow CATS were bleeding here in Chandigarh.

With tears in my eyes for the spirit which drives CATS and prayer to keep them all safe, I went to sleep.

 - CAT Supreet