No TV Weekend: Be a rebel with a cause

You can paint a public wall this No TV weekend, help care for thirsty birds, sing with the elderly or organise a charity drive. Go on, do your bit

Chances are you want to make a difference but don’t know how. You’re not sure where to start, when to make the time, whom to contact.

Organise a DIY donation drive in your neighbourhood to collect books, clothes and stationery for underprivileged children. (Hindustan Times)

This No TV Day, start with the TV remote. Switch off, step out and make a difference by pitching in with any of the numerous drives being organised across the city over the weekend. Whatever your pet cause, chances are there’s some way you can contribute.

Help collect old school uniforms, books and stationery for underprivileged children, with NGO Anybody Can Help; party and plant saplings with seniors courtesy the Silver Innings Foundation; install bird feeders at a national park or bird sanctuary with My Vets Trust — or paint your love at a railway station with Die Hard Indian.

DHI, founded by software engineer Gaurang Damani, 44, has been beautifying railway stations for 18 months. “So far, 1,400 volunteers have helped clear garbage and replace it with art, saplings and new dustbins at Mahim, Sion, King’s Circle and Reay Road,” he says. “Painting is therapeutic and the end result gives one a tremendous feeling of accomplishment.”

Among those who have volunteered in this unusual civic initiative is 17-year-old Henna Kuvadia, a college student from Sion.

“I never spent a better Sunday than the one I spent painting walls outside Sion station,” she says. “Initially my friends were hesitant to take part, but once we were done painting, we couldn’t stop telling people about it.”

All you have to do is turn up and pick a message or scene from the DHI ‘catalogue’ to paint onto your ready-scrubbed wall. You don’t have to be a Picasso either. If you’re artistic talents are limited to stick figures, volunteers will give you an outline to paint within, along with all the material.

If the birds and the bees are more your thing, help install bird feeders this weekend — and see the inside of a prison complex.

The Taloja area in Navi Mumbai is seeing bird populations dwindle, according to Yuvraj Kaginkar of the My Vets Trust. “This year, water bodies in the area are also drying up at an alarming rate,” he adds.

As part of the ongoing habitat restoration drive that involves placing bird feeders at venues such as the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivli and the Karnala Bird Sanctuary in Panvel, a drive is being organised this weekend at the Taloja prison, a 200-acre compound home to scores of bird species, both migratory and indigenous, getting its richness in biodiversity from the nearby Western Ghats.

“We’d love to have more volunteers,” says Yuvraj Kaginkar, secretary of the My Vets Trust. “It’s always good to see young ones step forward to take steps towards conservation. This is just a small step but even the small steps help.”

Shubham Agam, 20, who works at a pet parlour in Kharghar, has been helping install water feeders with MVT for two years. “To help birds find some sustenance in this harsh weather is a wonderful feeling,” he says.

Silver Innings Foundation, meanwhile, is uniting children aged 4 to 14 with seniors, at a party that will include a tree-planting drive. “Volunteers can help us teach dance and play board games,” says founder Sailesh Misra. “Children need to be sensitised towards the elderly and there is no better way than to engage in activities such as these.”

It doesn’t take too much to do one good deed, adds Mona Mishra, 48, a frequent volunteer with Silver Innings. “And this kind of event helps make children empathetic, aware of what give-and-take is all about, and helps them share what they have such an abundance of — happiness.”

Admittedly, it is difficult to break from your daily routine, for youngsters to put aside the gadgets they are so intensely involved with, adds Sonal Shah of Anybody Can Help. “No TV Day can help them reach out and engage with people they generally wouldn’t interact with.”

Ankita Shah, 38, a homemaker from Kandivli, for instance, is currently collecting books from neighbours and her daughter’s friends, to donate.

On No TV Day, they plan to “experience the joy of giving” by dropping off the books and supplies they have collected at an ACH collection centre. “Children need to understand that sharing is important,” Ankita says, “and that there is a lot more to holidays than movies and malls.”

DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START? LET US HELP

1) Paint a wall at a local railway station with bright, colourful social messages, at a drive organised by Die Hard Indian

Where: Mahim station

When: May 29; 9 am onwards

Call 96633-02189 to register (free materials will be provided)

2) Help install bird feeders with My Vets Trust

Where: Taloja jail complex, Navi Mumbai (100 spots available; applicants must be over the age of 20)

When: May 28 and 29

Call 98335-22077 to register

3) Organise a DIY donation drive in your neighbourhood to collect books, clothes and stationery for underprivileged children

Where: Donations can be dropped off at the Anybody Can Help collection centre at Shop No 33, Bayside Mall, Opposite SOBO Central Mall, Haji Ali

When: May 28; noon to 8pm

Call 93220-76502 for more details

4) Take your kids to spend a day singing, dancing, planting saplings and playing games with seniors, in an inter-generational bash organised by the Silver Innings Foundation and A1 Snehanjali

Where: A-1 Snehanjali Elder Care Home, 445, Rajodi, Virar (West)

When: May 28, 4 pm to 6 pm

Call 93239-19145 or email a1snehanjali@gmail.com to register

5) Volunteer at the annual picnic of the Epilepsy Foundation, conducting sessions in singing and dancing at a lush, green nature centre

Where: Keshav Srushti Nature Centre, Mira-Bhayander Road, Bhayander (West)

When: May 29; 10am to 4pm

Entry: Limited seats for 10 people only. Free. Includes breakfast, lunch and snacks. Register on 91679-10203