As India grinds to a halt with more than two months of a nationwide lockdown and lakhs of people from all walks of life stranded in different places wanting to go back to their families, facing monetary challenges and living alone often feel stuck and helpless. In this time of spiralling chaos and uncertainty, Jay Raval writes about the ground force – 2 Junior Field Engineers of Sarvajal who were at the field when the lockdown was announced. We have corona warriors or heroes in form of healthcare staff, policeman and others, but after going through these stories, let’s take a pause and thank these unsung heroes who were miles away from family and friends, adapting themselves in unfamiliar places, conforming to lockdown protocol with patience and peace.
In such times of despair, when many find it difficult to look for a light at the end of the tunnel, there is someone who hasn’t lost hope. Sahdev Tandel, a 25-year-old, a young engineer looks forward to returning home, residing inside his hotel room in Bengaluru. Working since 2015 with Sarvajal, Sahdev handles different locations in southern and western parts of the country. Sahdev from Billimora, Gujarat has been out from his home since March. On the 15th of March, 2020 he left from his place for Mysuru. A day before lockdown, when he arrived in Bengaluru from Mysore, he had plans to travel back. With the announcement of lockdown, his train booking got cancelled and he had to be in Bengaluru. Being confined at one place and not able to move out can sometimes be very stressful. But when asked about how he is feeling and whether there are any difficulties, Sahdev in an optimistic tone replies “Nani moti toh amuk vaar aavya kare”. He further added that he got all the required support from Sarvajal, there were regular calls from HR and Operations team asking for his well –being and whether he needs something.
On being asked about his experience of being locked in a hotel room for the past two months he said “Initially it started to feel like he is locked up inside a jail, with very limited interactions with the hotel staff and calls from family”. Sahdev says his frequent field travel, was never an issue for him, but not been able at the field sometimes bother him, yet on a positive note, he ends that conversation by saying, “Can’t wait to get back to work and contribute towards fulfilling Sarvajal’ s goals”.
Ekanand Pathak, a junior field engineer working in Sarvajal for the past 6 years had to stay back in Udaipur, Rajasthan when the lockdown was announced.
During the initial 8-9 days, he managed to find a hotel to stay in but the stay did not last long, because the hotel was shut for stay with all the staff leaving. He shifted to the second hotel where he stayed for a month. There also the hotel got shut as staff left. With temperatures soaring high in the desert state of Rajasthan, many nights Ekanand would sweat profusely in the hotel room with dysfunctional fan. Despite all this and his family members concerned about him, Ekanand continued to work, addressing operational issues, helping the plant operators through phone and video calls. There were times when he even thought about walking a distance of around 550 km. to reach his hometown Bharatpur, but Ekanand gave his thoughts and impatience a halt and waited for the situation to get better.
His optimism didn’t fail even once and when the government eased the restrictions and started issuing passes for intrastate movement, with support from the organisation, Ekanand was able to get the pass and reach hometown safely on May 9th. As a safeguard protocol, he was home quarantined for a period of 14 days. Ekanand is now safe and reunited with his family and is thankful to on-field team and organisation including the Regional Manager, Neeraj and Territory Manager, Tarun, HR team who provided him immense support during this difficult period.
The above two stories are prime examples of optimism and patience and how it can help overcome even the most adverse of situations. These two brave heroes of Sarvajal have set up an example for each one of us to follow.
