The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : The unsung heroes who too made a difference

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Monday, Jun 28, 2010
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

The unsung heroes who too made a difference

Amutha Kannan

Photo: S. Siva Saravanan

Yeoman service:Student volunteers of Bharathiar University who worked for the World Classical Tamil Conference.

COIMBATORE: Even amid the thousands of khaki uniforms of the police, the shirts of the Coimbatore Corporation, and those of the various other Government and quasi-Government departments, the T-shirts of Bharathiar University student volunteers and the white uniforms of the NSS volunteers did stand out at the venue of the World Classical Tamil Conference (WCTC).

They were prominent by their presence not because of their numbers, but because of their work. Whereas others were performing their duties, the student and teacher volunteers were there to offer their assistance on a purely voluntary basis.

They could be seen along with the police in regulating traffic, serving at food courts, assisting people inside the various halls of the exhibitions, aiding the elderly and physically challenged in getting them seated in the academic session halls, and journalists in quick transfer of stories.

Crowd regulation

Nearly 5,000 students drawn from 80 affiliated colleges of the university were assigned various functions. Out of them, nearly 4,500 were NSS volunteers. This strong silent group has been working hard since June 20 when the ‘kalaivizha' of the WCTC began. They were assigned for crowd regulation at the 11 venues where the programmes were held.

As many as 3,500 were involved in the crowd regulation of the “Iniyavai Naarpathu” pageant on day one of the conference. On the following days, they were assigned to the general exhibition hall, book fair, Internet exhibition, academic sessions, food courts, and media centre. The non-NSS group was also involved in the above activities in addition to assisting officials at the reception area, and WCTC centre.

Teachers were assigned for the contact and care of foreign delegates besides being present with the students in other activities. Nearly 150 NSS programme officers were also involved in the work.

In order to make the student and teacher volunteers ready to take up such a mammoth task, they were made to undergo rigorous orientation and training sessions at Bharathiar University. The NSS programme officers attended a number of briefings by the Commissioner of Police C. Sylendra Babu regarding the duties of the NSS volunteers.

District Collector P. Umanath, Officer on Special Duty for Tamil Conference S. Prabhakaran, Vice-Chancellor C. Swaminathan, besides various other officials oriented the students on what was required of them during the conference.

Conference co-ordinator from Bharathiar University R. Venkatapathy said the students had put in a marvellous effort. “Their work was impeccable. They have done their best by putting in their whole-hearted efforts. They did not bother about food or water when they were doing their work.”

True to his words, there were many who had an appreciative word for the volunteers.

K. Govindarajulu, NSS Programme Co-ordinator of Bharathiar University, who co-ordinated the work of the NSS volunteers was a content person. His group had delivered more than what was expected of them.

Volunteers Ramesh Kumar, Jansi A, and R. Aravind, were happy that the crowd were receptive to them.

“We are proud to have been part of such a grand event. It was a good opportunity to see the arrangements from close quarters and also for getting to know many people,” they said.

The 5,000 students who could have enjoyed a quite week-long holiday chose to offer their services without expecting anything in return at the ‘historical event' even if it meant standing for long hours in the sun and dust and surging crowd.

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