Redefining "Volunteerism"-Part 1

Volunteerism has attained a new meaning! The post-COVID meaning of volunteering will alter the underlying tenets! There could have been many volunteers in the past, with no expectations, and for having donned the cloak of a warrior, for having attended the call of action, for having risen above the life-as-usual dogma, despite hardships, despite harsh conditions and the impending danger of the unknown, our MEDICINE MAKERS stand tall! Amid all the fear & gloom of the transmission of the virus, our MEDICINE MAKERS shine to make us proud!

The employee in the pharmaceutical industry is asked, repeatedly: Why are you going to work?

Despite fear all around them, cities locked down at home, with the public transport non-existing, with having to walk 3-4 kilometers and local law-&-order enforcement agencies seeking first-to-stop-than-look at mobility permits, at every nook and corner, with neighbors turning hostile every time they step out of their homes why are they still going to work?

Rumors all around, paranoia gripping social interactions, social distancing becoming a norm, immediate family longs for their be-at-home-time, parents are worried about their physical-emotional-social safety, work timings becoming brutal, staying at home is definitely an option, yet the question remains....why are they getting to work?

Neither do they get saluted, nor do they make media headlines, and no one talks about them. While they struggle to find solace, they also suffer in silence, they fight the ‘battle-of-dilemma’ every day; they handle their share of failures, in silence, they bury their frustrations, and despite all, have not abandoned their posts of work. They have to find answers to a single question… why are they still going to work?

The spouses are afraid, they convey the trauma, wordlessly, about their dislike on the daily jaunts of the outing to work, for they know it is not the money, it is not the glamour of the job, which keeps the warriors going, and the decibels of this question gets louder, wondering why are they continuing going to work?

Is it the drill? Is it the drumming in “patient first”? Is it the honour? Is it a calling? Is it the money? Is it the thrill? What is it? At the medicine makers organization, everyone is a leader, every face glows with pride, every heart has its beat orchestrating the hidden message: I am a volunteer, no one can take my place, not everyone can do what I can!

I am, therefore I can!

Staying at home is not an option, getting to work to set that line of manufacturing or testing in motion, getting to participate in producing lifesaving drugs is the calling... because they are OUR MEDICINE MAKERS! Their work makes its mark!