A day in the life of: Work is truly worship for him

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 16

Organising number of camps on a daily basis, doing extra duty as BLO, and taking every extra responsibility with a smile, this is what Tarsem Lal (48), the Block Extension Educator (BEE), District Hospital Nawanshahr, has been doing since the pandemic started. The Tribune takes a peek into his life.

The moment the clock strikes 6 am, Tarsem gets ready and goes for a soccer game. After spending about two hours there, sweating hard, he comes back to his home at 8. His shift at the hospital begins at 9, so to avoid running late he takes his breakfast along with him.

Highly qualified, Tarsem shares that he has two interests in his life, playing and studying. He has done masters in Punjabi, postgraduate Diploma in Health, Family Welfare and Population Education, postgraduate diploma in mass communication and masters in political science and now he is eyeing PhD.

As he reaches the hospital, Tarsem plans his day and then follows holding several camps at various spots on daily basis, writing press notes, convincing people to get them tested, and these days, he has been making people aware to get inoculated to avoid getting infected. He has also been given the biggest responsibility of cremation of the patients who die of Covid.

He does all his duty with full dedication. “I feel we all must do our duty with sincerity, then only we can succeed. I accept every assigned duty wholeheartedly and I never say ‘no’,” he says.

The BEE remains on-duty until 5 in the evening, even as the working hours are 9 am-3 pm, and when he comes back, he starts planning for the next day and also makes phone calls to various school heads to ensure samples are being taken regularly.

Recently, he was also awarded an appreciation letter on Republic Day for his commendable contribution and organising awareness programmes and best services in Nasha Mukt Bharat campaign.