CHENNAI: Some help sick neighbours do their everyday chores, some attend to limping dogs, and some lend a sympathetic ear to desperate callers on the verge of suicide and counsel them back to life. All it takes is the spirit and will to volunteer to provide a service.

The city has many sympathetic souls who sit enthusiastically before a telephone, listening for hours to help piece together the fractured lives of disembodied voices that come to them over the airwaves.

At Sneha, a 24-hour suicide helpline, 200 persons responded to the organisation's call for volunteers. "We selected 12 persons based on our requirements," says Director P.V. Sankaranarayanan. Those selected are aged between 20 and 70. They listen to callers for four hours at a stretch once a week.

However, organisations such as Nethrodaya, for the visually impaired, are waiting for more volunteers. According to founder-trustee C. Govindakrishnan the helpline 044 - 26565012 is for rushing help to those visually impaired who get into accidents.

"But, what we need more is for people to donate their vision while they are alive. I mean, we need committed people to teach students, convert written text to audio format and help sort the mail. They will have to come to the office once a week," he says. They also need volunteers such as Sriram Anand Varma, who did the running around to organise a volleyball match. According to the 22-year-old engineering graduate, who one day chanced upon the Nethrodaya office in Mogappair: "I was staying nearby and was free and bored. I am not interested in partying... so some of my friends told me about the place."

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