‘The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who makes an effort to clean up the river.’ Dheeraj Muramshetti had a similar mindset towards social work. He never believed in giving excuses or complaining about the downside of society. Instead, he believed in working in the right direction to get rid of the present problem. He believed in making our society a better place to live.
Dheeraj started volunteering as a social activist when he was barely 16 years old. In childhood, he began his service from something as minor as distributing chocolates. He felt a sense of happiness. This sense turned into a feeling, and he decided to be a social worker. Rest is a story that he will share with you. So let’s hear his story and know more about his volunteering journey.
Dheeraj Muramshetti – My Story
I’m Dheeraj Muramshetti. I was born and brought up in Hyderabad. By profession, I am a banker, and I work for the Union Bank of India. Apart from it, I’ve been volunteering for different causes for the last 12 years. My journey started when I was 16 years old. When I was in my intermediate education, one of my school friends got to know about an NGO. They were planning to distribute chocolate on Christmas eve to orphans and homeless kids as they spend most of their time begging and cannot celebrate properly.
I also volunteered to help, so my friends and I went to distribute chocolates and sweets. We went to the traffic signals, markets, bus stations, and both of us distributed chocolates at different junctions. Kids received it warmly. They seemed too happy, as if they had gotten something so precious. That day, I realized that the things I get effortlessly could be unique for others. One little kid thanked me, and I felt delighted. This feeling stayed with me for a while, and I wanted to live the emotion again. So I decided to do more things like this.
After a while, my school friend started an NGO. He named it Nature’s Army, and I joined his team. At first, we didn’t know what to do and where to start, so we began our journey by visiting orphanages and nursing homes. We’d go there to spend time with them, celebrate the festivals, and provide basic things that we could arrange for them.
For the betterment of the environment, we conducted tree plantation drives. Our team attempted to make pre plantation seed balls. Apart from it, we went to the supermarket and requested everyone not to give plastic bags and exchange them with paper bags. We asked them to give all the groceries in a paper bag instead of a plastic one.
In the days of Ganesh Chathurthi, we tied up with statue artists to make environmentally-friendly small clay Ganesha statues. During the Visarjan Ceremony, our team helped Hyderabad police in stopping people from throwing garbage into lakes. I supported many other things such as blood donation camps, public volunteering initiatives, environment campaigns, etc.
Then I moved to Tamilnadu to pursue my graduation. In the university, through the college newspaper, I got to know about a fundraising campaign. The Bhojan Atews NGO was organizing it to collect funds for the eye operation of a local kid. I wanted to provide help, so I approached them to become a volunteer. They allowed me to join and complete the campaign. For the next three years, I volunteered with them.
We conducted various welfare campaigns like the New Nickers Project, under which we distributed new innerwear to orphans and the homeless. Another one was the ‘Make a wish project’ under which we celebrated birthdays of HIV, AIDS, and cancer patients (kids mostly) who were in the final stage of the disease. We initiated the campaign to fulfill their last wishes. I was the promotional manager of that NGO during my college days.
Later on, after coming back to Hyderabad, I became a core member of a few NGOs in the city. I participated in activities like rehabilitating beggars, educating the underprivileged, lake cleaning drives, animal adoption drives, animal birth control, food donation drives, and many more.
During Covid, I ended up being the go-to person for oxygen-related requirements. I provided oxygen and other resources through volunteering connections. I also helped people in finding hospitals and medical resources. Many other social activities are going on at the front, and I became a part of them.
This social work has taught me a lot about life. It gave me the right direction to proceed in. My overall experience has been great, and now I firmly believe that our happiness lies in helping others. We must help each other, especially during a crisis. That’s what humans are supposed to do when humanity is at stake. So my request, support each other in the hard times, and we will cross it.
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