One man NGO

In a mission to save water, Aabid Surti devotes every Sunday to repair leaking pipes with a plumber and a volunteer

When an 80-year-old man says with a boyish chuckle that he is just 20 years old with 60 years of experience, it is fair to say that he has seen life for its true beauty. Mumbai-based Aabid Surti is one such soul who has brought back our faith in human society.

With a bright spark of creativity at heart, this national award-winning writer has become a national celebrity for his novel way of serving society. A visit to a friend’s place which had a leaking tap was what changed his life. Despite asking the friend to get the tap repaired, Aabid found it still leaking weeks later. What hurt him was the amount of water that was getting wasted.

He wrote on his website, “I came across an article on water. It explained — If one drop drips in a second, in a month thousands of litres of water go down the drain. I imagined a thousand bottles of drinking water poured into the sewage.” (sic). This thought gave birth to his ‘one man NGO’ — Drop Dead Foundation. Every Sunday, he devotes time to repair leaking pipes with a plumber and a volunteer.

“We visit targeted buildings, meet their secretaries. After getting permission, a poster will be put up informing the residents. The poster has our tagline ‘Save Every Drop or Drop Dead’,” says Aabid, over a phone conversation.

Aabid was in his late 70s when he turned to this selfless act. Ask him what keeps him going even at this age, he responds positively, “When we do something good for the society, it gives so much positive energy; this keeps me going.” He goes on to say, “Another benefit of doing selfless social work with transparency is that we need not ask for fund, God becomes your fundraiser. These two are the vital points of my working system.”

So what is the secret of his energy, does he follow any routine “Every morning, I spend one hour for meditation, yoga and 20 minutes for physical exercise. When it comes to food pattern, as I live alone, I have arranged for vegetarian tiffin from the neighbourhood. Occasionally, if I have no choice, I go for non-vegetarian food.” Surprisingly, even at this age Aabid does not have any age-related ailment. “I have avoided allopathic medication for the last 25 to 30 years,” he says.

Quizzed about his work hours, Aabid explains, “I work for a maximum of three hours on Sundays alone. The point is that if I work every day, I won’t be able to motivate common man; people will complain that they don’t have time for this. I always tell people — ‘Anybody can do this, just devote some time in a week’!”