#here2help: The tales of those who wanted to give

In the wake of news that Mumbai had been struck by terror attacks yet again, one of the most organized responses came from India’s online community. The extremely active Twitter community not only used the service to pass on news and information, but began to pro-actively organize themselves into a fully fledged support network. [caption id=“attachment_41367” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“A plainclothes policeman surveys the aftermath at the site of an explosion near the Opera House in Mumbai 13 July 2011. Reuters”]  [/caption] Within 30 minutes of the explosions, twiteratti began circulating a Google spreadsheet with important numbers and information. As time went by people who wished to help, (be it by providing transport or a place to stay, by making calls/finding out information on behalf of people or by providing blood) began adding their names and contact details to the list. The hashtags #here2help and #needhelp began trending in India, with other twitter users trying to match requests for help with offers to help in various areas. Others trawled the #here2help tweet stream and updated the Google spreadsheet. Firstpost got in touch with a number of people who had offered help/accommodation in and around the core blast areas to see if their offers of help were taken up. Quite a few people said that no one had contacted them, but a few people like Amrit Khanal were able to help out. Khanal, who is based in Dadar, had offered his home for anyone who may have been stranded after the explosions. Although no one took him up on his initial offer he did get a distress call from two ladies who were in the area and wanted a lift to Matunga. “They were too afraid to use the trains since they were afraid that those might also be targeted”, he said. He had also helped one other person who seemed to have been injured in the explosion but said that he had not “talked much”. Shaqti Salgaokar who works with the DNA newspaper had also put her number in the spreadsheet. “I got calls from two people who were not from Mumbai and had no idea where Dadar was. They wanted to know if their friends were ok. I wasn’t able to make too many calls because of congestion, but I was able to tell them that their friends were in Dadar East which was not affected by the explosions”, she said. Salgaokar added that she had been getting calls asking for information even at 1 am. As impressive and organised as the Google spread sheet was, however, it was not without its share of humorous misunderstanding. Take the case of Gaurav Jagwani who was listed in the spreadsheet as someone from Churchgate willing to give anyone stranded a lift. “I don’t know how that happened”, said a bemused Jagwani. “What I offered was a house and food for people to stay in till things calmed down and traffic congestion had eased. I tweeted that out, but somewhere down the line someone had edited it and it got added into the Google spreadsheet under help of a totally different category”. Fortunately for Jagwani no one asked him for a ride. However, he did have a group of young bankers come into his house and ask him for some food and water. “I didn’t even ask them their names. You don’t ask for names in this kind of situation”, he said. Offers to donate blood were also numerous with many people tweeting out their blood types and willingness to donate.  Vimal Shetty of Think Foundation, whose number was being circulated as someone to get in touch with if you wanted to donate blood, said his organisation was flooded with calls. “We did not take anyone up on those offers though, because the situation was comfortable”, he said. #here2help and #needhelp are still trending on Twitter, though today it seems to be more about disseminating information rather than anything else. A tweet looking to find the parents of a critically injured 25-year-old girl is being posted around, as are images of another young girl who has been missing since the blasts. Although today is a grim and bleak day and people are tired of the cliched testimonials to Mumbai’s “survival instinct” and “spirit”, yesterday there was still something to be lauded. The Twiteratti were measured, there was a great deal of self regulation and the willingness to help was heartfelt and genuine. It was heartening to see that in a situation when official systems  temporarily break down, the rest of us are willing to step up and see each other through.