In the old days, when I was in junior college, my dad used to occasionally ask me: “Walter, what is the front-page news today?”, and I would tell him. He used to do this to check whether I was keeping up with the (times) Times! If he had to ask me the same question now, I would probably have to tell him that the front-page news is Jupiter Hospitals, the new Volvo model, or CaratLane jewellery! The ‘headline news’ only comes now on page 3; seldom on page 1 or 2!
And what is the news on page 3, and perhaps some pages after that? It is about the rape of a five-year-old, or a 65-year-old retired banker who has been cheated of ₹85 lakh in a net scam or a long-distance bus that has fallen off a bridge into the river and some people have died and most are seriously injured and much, much more depressing news of murder, cheating, rape, major accidents and so on.
That is why I was very pleasantly surprised when I was invited to attend a memorial lecture in Hyderabad recently and the main speaker for this annual function was Jasper Paul, a 40-year-old man, who sported long hair tied in a bun; wore a raw silk jacket and an attractive neck tie and was introduced as the founder of an NGO called A Second Chance.
I was intrigued. But when I heard him talk for an hour to the audience of just 60 people, who he kept enthralled for the whole duration, I was no longer surprised.
Jasper started the NGO when he was just 18 years old. He was living the life of a fun-loving teenager. Once, when he was driving beyond the speed limit in the suburbs of Hyderabad, the car skidded and rolled over twice. The car was a wreck but he walked out of the overturned car, unscathed. As he was walking down the road after this accident, he came across an old woman, frail and weak, covered with sores, many of which were covered by insects. She was sleeping on the pavement. He felt very sorry for her. He picked her up and took her to the nearby hospital. He got them to clean her up. He paid to have all this done and also gave an advance to have her admitted and to help her recover. He felt that he had been saved by the Almighty from death, so that he could help the dying. It was a strange thought- but it seemed so appropriate.
The story of helping this dying woman was the beginning of a new career for him—if it can be called a ‘career’ at all. As he went around Hyderabad, he saw more and more people on the streets - semi-naked, hungry and frail; days or hours away from certain death. He got into a system- getting their sores cleaned while still on the street, and then moving them into government hospitals to get them treated and back on their feet again. He began requesting friends for monetary help. Many did help. Some even got their friend to extend a helping hand! He got more enthusiastic when he found that some of the people that he had helped had recovered so well and sometimes so fast that they went back into the job market and went through a complete turnaround, so much so that they could no longer be recognisable from the persons that they were when they were dying on the street.
In many ways, what Jasper was doing was a replica of what Mother Teresa had done many years ago in Calcutta. She became a symbol of someone who cared for the destitute and dying on the streets and was finally even selected as a saint by the Catholic Church. Of course, there were many critics who said that she did all this to encourage conversion. But many of these accusations were taken as comments by jealous armchair critics who themselves were incapable of lifting a finger to help any unfortunate human being on the streets
In 18 years, Jasper has come to a stage where he has three residences for those picked up from the streets, in different areas of Hyderabad. They can accommodate a total of 200 at any one time. They are all running full. Jasper’s dream is to set up an institute to accommodate up to 5,000 street people. And yet he made no appeal for money at that meeting and does not go around asking for donations. People who know the good work that he is doing come forward to assist in the success and growth of’ A Second Chance. I was also impressed when Jasper told me that he pays his staff (just 8 to 10 people) average, acceptable, monthly wages. They should not feel that they are working for a charity and that they would do so for a little while, then move on with their lives. They should feel they now get enough and yet they can still fulfil their passion for doing good work for humankind.
I was further impressed when, at the end of the lecture, Jasper also asked his wife to come on to the stage to be introduced. She also works with Jasper and is as committed to the cause as she is. What impressed me even more was when she brought their little child to the stage. They have adopted a three-year-old girl who is blind. It seemed that Jasper and his wife had taken on another challenge, as if the challenge of building and maintaining A Second Chance was not enough!
It made me realise that there is so much going on in India that is given little or no publicity. Or if there is publicity, it gets lost in the massive news that covers crime, rape and cheating that consumes most of the news space.
From a lecture like this, one goes home thanking the Almighty for people like Jasper who help a country like India to survive and grow on a foundation of good deeds!
(Walter Vieira is a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of India - FIMC. He was a successful corporate executive for 14 years, capping his career as Head of marketing for a Pharma multinational, for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka- and then pioneered marketing consulting in India in 1975. As a consultant, he has worked across four continents. He was the first Asian elected Chairman of ICMCI, the world apex body of consultants in 45 countries, in 1997. He is the author of 16 books, a business columnist, an international conference speaker and has been a visiting professor in Marketing in the US, Europe, and Asia for over 40 years. He was awarded Lifetime Achievement Award for Consulting in 2005, and for Marketing in 2009. He now spends much of his time in NGO work - Consumer Education and Research Centre, IDOBRO, and some others.)
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