Bangalore's Young Guns on De-addiction Mission

Bangalore, Jul 11 (Bangalore Mirror): At about the time when most teens are tucking into a weekend treat, a group of youngsters gets trained to help hardcore addicts give up their poison. Bal-Mandal is a group of talented, determined young people, between 11 and 16 years, which meets up between 5 pm and 7 pm on weekends on the sprawling campus of Baps Shri Swaminarayan Temple in Rajajinagar.

Mentoring this enthusiastic bunch of kids is Yagnik Patel, 23, and Ketul Chauhan, 24, an aeronautical engineer with an MNC. The trainers dedicate their time and energy to mould, motivate and prepare the children to communicate and convince people about de-addiction.

As part of the intensive training, they undergo mock-up drills as they learn to deal with questions, counter-questions and arguments. They also learn the approach to take — emotional, rational or financial - depending on the social and economic status of the individual.

On May 6, a group of six children from Bal-Mandal visited The Ledge, a residential construction site at Jakkur. They met around 125 construction workers, mostly illiterate, engaged them in a friendly conversation, and asked them to talk about their addiction to alcohol, smoking and chewing tobacco. Almost every worker was addicted to one bad habit or another. Mohit, 15, says, “We showed them gory images of people afflicted with cancer and gave examples of how families are ruined because of alcohol.”

According to Prabhav, the eldest in the group, here’s their trump card. “We first ask them how many cigarettes they smoke in a day, how many packets of gutkha they consume in a day or how much they spend on alcohol every day. We do a quick calculation to show them how much money they waste every month. And how it not only robs them of their hard-earned money but robs them of their health as well.”

Everyone in the group is proud that after an hour’s talk, nearly 80 of the 125 workers agreed to give up the habit and took a solemn oath, using holy water. And a few more promised to give up the habit gradually.

The story does not end there. Kunal Bhat, an architect and volunteer at Baps, proudly states that the boys came up with a brilliant idea to ensure the workers either control or give up the habit. According to him, the boys advised the site engineer at The Ledge to coax the petty shop owner at the site to refrain from selling cigarettes and gutkhas and sell only chai and condiments.

Neil, 15, quickly adds that they do regular follow-ups to find out if the workers abide by the promise made in the name of God.

In just three months (April to June 2011), the youngsters have met over 800 people at Hill Side Hospital, Victoria Hospital, Boavista Business Solutions, The Ledge Construction etc. They claim to have convinced more than 200 people to kick the habit.

It has not been a smooth ride every time, they admit. But every time addicts are not convinced, the boys are trained to leave it to the individuals to decide. They say, those who have ears will listen. And those who have the heart to take the message, will change.

As for the source of their inspiration, they give credit to their guruji, HDH Pramukh Swami Maharaj of Baps.

Though their weekends are packed, they manage to excel in studies. For instance, Shishir Singh (15 years) secured 94 per cent in class 9.

If you’d like like to join the group, or call them for a de-addiction drive, contact Ketul Chauhan on 9916338985.