19 June,2011 09:30 AM IST | | Dhamini Ratnam
A lawyer by profession, a traveller at heart, a citizen activist worried about Maoist affected states -- here's one man's expedition to the Himalaya to raise money for better health care in Chhattisgarh
Somasekhar Sundaresan wears several caps. But the one that the 38 year-old journalist-turned-securities lawyer is finding difficult to take off nowadays is that of do-gooder -- he just spent 18 days ascending a 21,348 feet high Himalayan mountain, and raised over Rs 12 lakh for a health care centre in Jharkhand.
The final ascent to Sudarshan Parbat. Somasekhar Sundaresan
takes a breather to pose. pic/ Avilash Bisht
Sundaresan left Mumbai on May 18 and returned last Sunday, after summiting the Sudarshan Parbat in Garhwal, Uttarakhand. This extreme adventure holiday was also a mission to raise funds for Chhattisgarh-based Jan Swasthya Sahyog, a not-for-profit organisation founded by health professionals to provide health care services in the tribal and rural areas of Bilaspur district. Sundaresan raised Rs 12,65,550.
"I wanted to do something for Maoist-affected areas, where health care and basic amenities are absent. I floated the idea of raising funds by summiting a peak to aid group Oxfam India. They were keen to support the Jan Swasthya Sahyog. Once I read up about the NGO, I knew this was it," says Sundaresan.
Preparation for this expedition included sending out emails to clients -- CEOs and COOs of companies -- friends, relatives and colleagues, apart from getting fit. It had a short note on the existingu00a0 health care problems faced by Chhattisgarh tribals. It also linked to the JSS site which talked of the community health centres, diagnostic lab and a low-cost pharmacy, it had built in the villages of Bilaspur.
Attached to the email, was a donation form, and a web link to make a donation. "I would be grateful if you could also pass the hat around... Besides, your donation will also entitle you to exemption from Indian income-tax under Section 80G of the Income-tax Act," it read.
After he left, Sundaresan added the link to the Oxfam India donation site in his out-of-office replies, to do all the talking for him even as he was getting snowed in and sunburnt in the Himalayas. The link (https://fb.me/znPZUIgn) explained his expedition and offered three donation options -- Rs 3,000, Rs 6,000 and Rs 6,750, to contribute to the nutritional development of a child or community health care for a group of persons. Not an easy window to shut.
Sundaresan began his physical preparation for the climb four months in advance. He'd go walking with weights on his back, climb all 28 storeys of his Prabhadevi building, and walk from Nariman Point to his residence as often as he could. So when the time came to head to New Delhi, where he would meet the other members of his team -- an ad filmmaker, an ex-army man, a woman rancher from Zambia, and his guide from the adventure travel company -- he was ready.
Well, as ready as one can get to carry 12 kg of weight, ascend five camps, get snowed in by a blizzard ("sitting in the tent, we debated whether it was a snow storm or a blizzard, but couldn't reach a consensus") and face minus 25 degrees Celsius temperatures. But there were also the light moments. Like eating Maggi, playing cards and sitting in the snow, looking over at a white expanse of sheer space. And, in Sundaresan's case, thinking of his trip to Bilaspur in July, where he'd visit the community health centre built by the money he's raised.
