The Bloody Citizen

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THE ELIXIR OF LIFE Abhilasha Chhikara 19. A psychology undergrad and a bibliophile. I am a dreamer and a die hard lover of sitcoms. Coffee and pop music is my kind of high. Monotony and short talks are my poison. Sitting outside the hospital room, with her hands folded and her mouth chanting prayers, Shakuntala Devi could not thank the lord enough nor could she formulate words to express the gratitude she felt towards the stranger who had given a new life to her son. After her husband’s demise, she overcame her grief and raised her son, who became the center of her universe, to have a balanced and harmonious life. Her son, Vivek, was a software engineer and her sole purpose to life. However, her life took a tragic turn two months ago when she received a phone call one evening. She never had imagined how a phone call could change her life Completely and throw it into a spiral of choas and confusion. Her beloved Vivek had been in an accident. She could wait no more. She rushed to the hospital to see her son and was shocked to her core by the sight of her injured, blood stained son. Her mind played tricks bringing back the sour memories and flashbacks of her husband’s death leaving her teary-eyed. She couldn’t afford to lose her loved one once again. The doctors learned about the incident through some eye witnessesThey were told that the bike had flipped over as he had applied the break suddenly thus hitting his head on the guardrail nearby. . 20 The impact of the collision severed the major vessels carrying blood to and fro from his heart. To survive, he required hundreds of units of blood to be transfused immediately. What was unfortunate was that Vivek’s blood group was AB negative, one among the rare blood groups. Between hundreds of phone calls, tears and alot of stress, Vivek had to be put on life support. The days of sleepless nights spent sitting beside her son who was hooked to machines were the gloomiest days of Shakuntala Devi’s life. Even after searching and contacting almost every blood bank, a donor with AB negative blood group could not be arranged. But Shakuntala Devi never gave up on and continued to search. Everyday with strong hopes and an optimistic feeling she contacted every riend and foe, reached out distant relatives and did all she could do but in vain. She left no stone unturned in her attempt to save the life of her only son but all she got from everywhere was a negative response. fAB negative was the rarest of rare blood groups, present in only 0.6% of the population, making it more difficult to arrange. However, a few days laters she came to know about a Youth-run Non-Profit Organisation
working for the cause of connecting voluntary blood donors with those who need blood across cities. She contacted the organisation which assured her of getting help as soon as possible. It was only in seven hours that the organisation succeeded in finding a donor with AB negative blood. The doctors soon started the transfusion. Seeing the complication of the case it took the doctors four hours to make his condition stable. After those long and dreadful four hours, Shakuntala Devi could finally see her son coming out of the operation theatre with assurance laced in the doctor’s voice. “He’s going to be fine”: said the doctor. Those words worked as an elixir for Shakuntala Devi who sighed a breath of relief. Sitting in the hospital room beside a sound asleep Vivek, she prays, “Thank you, God. You heard my prayers.” with a trembling voice and ‘tears of joy’ well up in her eyes. On her request, the NGO agreed to share the details of the donor which are otherwise kept confidential. She is waiting to meet the good Samaritan who gave a new life to her son. She personally wanted to express her gratitude to the noble soul for his selfless act of donating blood. Only after going through the trauma of facing blood shortage for her loved one, Shakuntala Devi realised how truly important it is to donate blood. Thinking of every 1 out of 3 people requiring a blood transfusion in their lifetime, it is difficult to comprehend what their families go through in a country which faces a shortage of 3 million blood units. .It had happened with her and so she knew it could happen with anyone. As her contribution for this cause, Shakuntala Devi made a promise to be a consistent blood donor and spread awareness through campaigns to ensure that nobody EVER has to go through what she did! 21
Page 2 and 3: CONTENTS Features 4-7 NEED FOR BLOO
Page 4 and 5: ABOUT KHOON Khoon is a Bangalore-ba
Page 6 and 7: THE NEED OF EVERY TWO SECONDS 4
Page 8 and 9: Every other day we come across a st
Page 10 and 11: THE MESSIAH DEBABRATA GHOSH Debabra
Page 12 and 13: Does the thought of donating blood
Page 14 and 15: 12 Vanshika Agarwal is a painter an
Page 16 and 17: WHO CAN DONATE BLOOD? Blood is prec
Page 18 and 19: 16
Page 20 and 21: ags or double filter bags) serves m
Page 24 and 25: IN CONVERSATION WITH Dr. KARAMJIT S
Page 26 and 27: IN CONVERSATION WITH Vedanidhi, 18
Page 28 and 29: “ When a star dies, it’s light
Page 30 and 31: In 1869, she went to Europe and bec
Page 32 and 33: BUILDING A NEW PLATFORM FOR YOUTH M
Page 34 and 35: FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE WORLD It
Page 36: “ Dear Khoon Family, All of us, o

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