Bollywood promoter ships Covid-19 aid to India
‘EVERY LIFE saved gave me fresh energy to help more,’ says Indian-American Bollywood stars promoter Rajender Singh Pahl who has been involved in helping people back in India since the deadly second wave of the coronavirus pandemic struck the country.
Pahl, the CEO of Star Promotions Inc, has been consistently providing help to save lives in India since the onset of the coronavirus, shipping over 200 oxygen concentrators, 50 oxygen cylinders and several oximeters to India.
He has been promoting the Indian culture and heritage through over 95 major Bollywood events across the US with the help of Bollywood actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Shah Rukh Khan, Asha Bhosle, Madhuri Dixit, Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif for over two decades.
As an immigrant, ‘you’re always living half in nostalgia,’ Pahl, who immigrated to the US from Rajasthan, said
‘In a state of having lost your home, you carry sadness with you… Everything that has shaped you as a child is there, you feel just lost; your family is lost and want to do whatever is left of it,’ he said.
Pahl, who gets a flurry of messages from relatives, friends in India seeking his help and networking advice through WhatsApp, midnight calls, tweets, says it is a very tough situation as any family he talks to has been affected.
His cousin in Rajasthan tested positive for Covid-19, a childhood friend died within days from his daughter’s wedding in Mumbai, his high-school friend’s whole family in Bikaner got infected and pleaded for medical supplies, food and oxygen concentrators as no one would help them around.
‘All the excitement was suddenly gone. Seeing Americans walking around without masks and dining indoors at restaurants, I felt like I was betraying my country by being here,’ he said.
Pahl has been depressed and sleepless, compulsively following headlines about what is happening in India, tweeting requests for help, video conferencing with his friends, family, every chance he gets.
‘I feel paralyzed by powerlessness,’ he said. The Indian-American communities across the country, including a sizable population in the Houston metropolitan area, are mourning the deaths of family members, checking on relatives with growing alarm and launching efforts to help their native country battle the world’s worst Covid-19 surge.