Noble Deed

The wheelchair is wheeled into the Garden

For all our madcap antics and wayward behaviour, we were able to claim some credit today for a good deed done – thanks entirely to Jagmohan Papneja. As secretary of the Club, he was under pressure to provide a wheelchair for Sitaram Hivarkar’s wife. The latter is down with a crippling knee problem, making it almost impossible for her to walk. As Sitaram has to attend to her from early morning, his exercise routine had gone for a toss.
Being the proverbial good samaritan and also, fully aware of the financial constraints of the Club, Jagmohan did the next best thing. He went around looking for someone who would donate a wheelchair to the Club.

Mr and Mrs Sitaram Hivarkar

Eventually, he zeroed in on a retired director from the Geological Survey of India in Lucknow who was on a short visit to Mumbai.
Virendra Mohan’s daughter is physically challenged and uses a wheelchair. Last week, she packed her bags and left for Delhi, leaving the wheelchair behind in Mumbai. Apparently, she has no more use for it as she has another wheelchair for herself in Delhi.
On Jagmohan’s request, Virendra Mohan turned up at the Garden this morning and delivered the wheelchair.

Jagmohan with Virendra Mohan

“My daughter will be only too happy if this could come to anybody’s help,” he said with extreme humility. “Otherwise this will just lie unutilized here, gathering dust. Tomorrow, I shall be going back to Lucknow.”
Sitaram was not present to receive the gift. Failing to contact him on phone, Jagmohan rushed to his house in Bihari Milwani’s car, hoping to get him to meet Virendra Mohan. But there too, he drew a blank.
Returning to the Garden, he entrusted the wheelchair to Swati Punjabi, Sitaram’s building neighbour. “We needed a donor, we already had the donee (sic), my job was to get them together,” Jagmohan quipped before slipping out of the scene.
Watching the happy turn of events, Srichand Arora spoke on behalf of the Club: “Jagmohan-ji, we are indeed proud of you.” We applauded the good samaritan, basking in his reflected glory.
Harish Wadhwa:
A noble gesture of Virendra Mohan-ji to donate the wheelchair and we all thank him very much for this. Thanks also to Papneja-ji for discovering Virendra-bhai. Help can come in simple and in heartwarming ways.