Father seeks ‘best wedding gift’: Groom sons and baraatis donate blood at venue
Tragedy often inspires great deeds.
When a family member died around 20 years ago due to lack of blood, Rakesh Vaishnav had only thought in mind —if only someone had volunteered to donate blood, a life could have been saved.
Then a 19-year-old, he took an oath to donate blood regularly. He has already donated blood more than 24 times. His mission touched a high point Saturday, when two of his sons, all dressed for their wedding later in the day, and several members of the marriage procession --- from both the grooms’ and the brides’ side --donated blood at a camp he had organized at the wedding venue.
The unique event was witnessed at Ramganjmandi town of Kota in Rajasthan. To make the event a success, when Vaishanv sent out invitations for the wedding of his sons --- Arun and Alpesh --- he made sure to call the invitees and tell them about the blood donation drive.
Even the wedding invitations carried the message “Uphaar ho to aisa, raktdan jaisa (no better gift than blood donation)”. He, however, made it clear that any blood donation that was to take place had to be voluntary.
“I started a group called ‘Raktdata Jeevandata Samooh’ in 2012. It is connected with voluntary blood donation organisations in nine states and provides blood to the needy people,” Vaishnav said.
One of the members of Vaishnav’s group confirmed that they had collected 26 units of blood by the afternoon. The number was likely to go up when others guests were scheduled to arrive in the evening.
Rahul Vaishnav (21), a cousin to the grooms, too donated blood at the wedding venue.
He said he was inspired by his uncle’s work and the “noble cause”. Several other family members donated blood at the venue.
A wedding guest, Saroj Sharma (39), said she had made the decision to donate blood the day Vaishnav sent her the wedding invite.
“I have donated blood for the first time today,” she said.
Vaishnav himself could not go for the noble act as he had donated blood around two months back.
“Asperdoctors,there should be a gap of three months between