CHOCOLATE

Chocolates won’t ever be the same,

Maybe they would,

But that one was different.

It was sweeter,

It melted like butter,

And touched my heart 

Before my tongue got a taste of it.

Had Dairy Milk changed their formula?

Or, the gamble for titration settled for perfection?

Or, was it the occasion that had embellished the stage?

Red, it was all around,

Valentine’s and Roses not to be counted there

We were in a hospital.

That stranger who gifted it to me,

Might have the hand in this case.

(It tends to taste better when it is not you who bought it)

But how?

I only met him half an hour ago.

And maybe we won’t cross paths ever again

Stakes were too high for that

Yet he upgraded the best thing for me in super- superlative degree.

Mother has always said “Don’t take things from a stranger”

But, she never said anything about donating!

So, I donated 

my blood

To a child whose father stood in front of me,

With that chocolate

And tears in his eyes, 

a smile on his face.

“Words are not enough”

He said and gave that chocolate to me 

that he bought for his own child.

That chocolate was special,

Indeed it was.

Because of the history it carried

Of accident,

Of vulnerability,

Of compassion,

Of Resurrection,

Of overwhelming emotions,

Of the new formed bond.

Chocolates won’t ever be the same,

Maybe they would,

But that one was different.

It was sweeter,

It melted like butter,

And touched my heart 

Before, my tongue got a taste of it.

– RIYA BHALLA

My story

Life is very unpredictable.  We never know that if the person whom we met, would ever meet us again. Something similar happened with me five years ago. By nature, then, I used to be shy. I never interacted with people, sat aside in a corner, all by myself, not making friends. For once, I was that person who didn’t even interact with her family. But things started to change when one of my mama (uncle) observed me. He helped me a lot. He made me what I am today. He  made me confident. He used to call me ‘Furbhi’. He was the one who chided me and made fun of me every time I refused to interact with people. My Umang mama was the one with a very big heart, who thought for others before thinking of self, who wanted to bring smile on others’ face without even caring for how sad he himself was. It was on 8 march 2013 that we were chatting on facebook as always and he was teasing me for not interacting with others. But after that day everything changed. I had never thought that it was my last talk with him. The next day i.e. on 9 march 2014,at around 7 my nani called up my mumma and told her that Umang mama was no more and that he had met with a road accident. He could have been saved, had he got blood on time. It was that moment where I couldn’t think of what to do. I wasn’t able to believe what had happened. After that incident I stopped visiting my Nani’s place because it reminded me of him. After a year of his death, I decided that I will be what he wanted me to be. Since then, as he wanted me to be, I started interacting with people. By then, I had already decided, that as soon as I’ll turn 18, I’ll donate blood, regularly. 8th January 2015 was the day when I donated blood for the very first time, the happiest moment for me. I was not as excited about my 18th birthday as I was for my first blood donation. That very moment I felt that I had gifted something to my mama, the best feeling ever. This was how my first Blood Donation experience came into existence. This was also the time when I came to know about BloodConnect. I realised that these people did such an amazing job, which included arranging donors throughout Delhi. So, I decided that I will join the organisation. It was on February 21 that I joined BloodConnect.  And that feeling was much more greater when I realised that we could help saving lives of many.
Bloodconnect is the best part of my life. And I’m thankful to all my seniors who had been so cooperative and generous throughout.

– Surbhi Gupta