Senior citizens and differently-abled persons are having a hassle-free darshan at Sri Durga Malleswara Swamywarla Devasthanam in Vijayawada during the Dasara festival, thanks to young student volunteers who are working round-the-clock at the temple.
A group of 60 students from KBN College and Sarada College, who are offering their services as Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) volunteers, are working in three shifts, with the first batch starting at 5 a.m.
The other two shifts are 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. and 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Each shift has a batch of 20 volunteers, both boys and girls. Only boys work on night shifts.
“While our shift ends by 1 p.m., we continue working till 9 p.m. because there is nothing else to do at home. We can enjoy a movie or watch TV, but we can do it on any day. But we do not get many opportunities like these to serve people,” says G. Arun, 21, a student of MSc Data Science at KBN College, who comes to the temple by 5 a.m.
The volunteers, all in the age group of 19-22, go out of their way to ensure that senior citizens are not inconvenienced. Right from helping them get off the bus to reaching the main temple, and then helping them get back to the bus stop after darshan, the volunteers are always at hand to assist the elderly.
“While two volunteers are enough to escort one person, sometimes those who cannot walk or climb the few steps near the temple, have to be carried,” says Charitha Sri, from KBN College. The elevator at the temple is in disuse temporarily.
Every volunteer helps around ten people and makes up to eight rounds from the temple to the bus point and vice versa during their shift.
“We were imparted training on CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and how to escort senior citizens,” Charitha said.
In addition to them, there are 200 volunteers from National Service Scheme (NSS), all students, who offer water to devotees standing in queues.
Anusooya, aged 68, who came with her grandson to the temple, said that were it not for the volunteers, it would have become quite difficult for her to have darshan of the Goddess.
