The Hyderabad induction for Greenpeace volunteers was scheduled and planned for 4:30pm, inside a room with dry floors, electricity to run the projector, speakers, and an internet connection. And although everything needed to be perfect, the induction for the volunteers was far from it.
Aware about the unpredictability of the weather that Saturday evening, what we couldn’t have fathomed was a hail storm in Hyderabad and the thundering charge of rains on our well planned event. It was the impeccable example of rain on a parade. Nonetheless, it didn’t seem to have stopped us from conducting the induction. The more difficult it got, the more zealous did get our actions get.
Outside the office, lit with darkness, was a veranda illuminated by the frequent bolts of lightning — dramatic, yet poetic indeed. We covered the floor with a carpet with those five volunteers who had braved the rains. I must admit that this wouldn't have been possible without the unconditional support from the Greenpeace India staff. We started the induction with five volunteers, a low battery laptop, a virtual hotspot, a Junior Public Engagement Campaigner, and his intern. By the end of the induction, we had twelve enthusiastic volunteers, seven of whom joined after it started, two happy mobilization unit members and a yes, wet carpet.
It is not an easy idiom, typed in black and white, “no matter what the weather”; and if this situation didn’t represent it, then I am not sure what else would. It is always too hot or too cold, too simple or too difficult, too early, too late to do something; but putting that extra effort is what it takes to make a change. If the Greenpeace volunteers had not been driven to come despite the rain, we wouldn’t have been motivated to do it outside; and if we hadn’t been the enthused doers, volunteers who came later wouldn’t have imbibed the same. Thunder blazed and lighting laced the skies, things seemed difficult, yet not impossible!
K. Nirupama Chandra is a Greenpeace India Intern.