Reaching out

Project director of a community outreach centre under NACO

Routine: Sharma who is in charge of a community outreach centre for Men who have Sex with Men MSM,works mainly with migrant workers. Besides counselling them on issues like exposing their identity to families,he also cautions them against high risk behaviour that may make them susceptible to HIV. He reaches office at 9 a.m. and chalks out a weekly plan for his four outreach workers. In the afternoon,he counsels people who have dropped by and at 7p.m.,hes on the road again,reaching out to the community

T C Sharma alias Pummy loves the mountains and Hindi ghazals. Just back from a holiday in Nainital,he found himself in the middle of another crisis situation last week. Everybody gets agitated. But I keep telling them that these politicians themselves need to be counselled. Its not their fault,they are just ignorant, Pummyji,as hes affectionately called,explains patiently. Hes referring to the storm over Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azads comments last week,terming homosexuality a disease.

A project director under one of National Aids Control Organisation NACO community outreach centre for Men who have Sex with Men MSM in Lakshmi Nagar in east Delhi,32-year-old Pummy began his career a decade ago as a house-to-house worker,distributing condoms and counselling the community to come to terms with their identity. It is 9 a.m. and he has just come to work at his three-room office at SHAPE IndiaSocial and Humanitarian Action for Promoting Education in India. A project director now,Pammi is incharge of the overall running of the centre.

An hour of yoga at 6 a.m. and half-an-hour of prayers,followed by breakfast with his wife and daughter,and he heads straight to work. Standing in the backdrop of a wall of pencil sketches depicting homosexual love,he says with a tinge of exhaustion in his voice,We work tirelessly,congratulating ourselves for every person we manage to persuade. But statements such as Ghulam Nabi Azads are a bolt from the blue. They hit you on the face,and its like the last ten years never happened, he says. The paintings,nine of them in A-4 sheets,are products of people he has counselled. His day begins with chalking out a weekly plan for his four outreach workers,dividing which area each will be going to,and taking status reports from them. Though he refuses to divulge the precise areas of operation for reasons of confidentiality,in east Delhi alone he reaches out to about 3,000 people. The team busies itself with planning out one of their bi-annual events-fashion shows,beauty contests,dance and music competitions for clients.

A graduate in arts from Delhi University,he worked with the Delhi based Naz Foundation,before joining the government project. He hurries next to check that the vocational classes-computers,sewing and Hindi language tuition for those who cant read and write,are going smoothly. Pummy works with migrant workers from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh,labourers,small time shop keepers and also people from better social economic and educational backgrounds . Besides counselling them on issues like exposing their identity to families,his work also entails him to caution clients against high risk behaviour that may make them susceptible to HIV.

In the afternoons,he visits government hospitals in east Delhi,where his clients,diagnosed with HIV are being treated. Today its Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital in Khichripurs Anti Retroval Therapy ART centre. He manoeuvers his way through the crowd,calling out greetings to nurses and making his way to a fidgety client. After a whispered discussion,a perturbed Pummy disappears into the nurses duty room. Emerging half-an-hour later,he speaks a few words of encouragement to a man. It is always the same. Snide remarks about how homosexuals get the virus because of their tendencies,loud questions about whether homosexuals have time for other activities besides the obvious. If medical professions say such things to their patients,what can we say of Mr Health Minister, he asks. For MSMs who are diagnosed with HIV,its a life of double stigma.

By 3 p.m.,he is back in his office. By now,people are swarming in the Drop in Centre DIC. Encircled by a motley groupfrom CA students to a migrant labourer from Ghaziabad to the kin of a private physicianPummy takes questions one by one. From partner troubles to marriage to alcohol to the need for getting constant HIV tests,every query is patiently answered. There are occasional jokes and tears alike. After a particularly emotional confession from a victim of a recent police brutality,he says,These sessions are the epitome of the change we have seen in the last decade. Back then,people would insist on talking on the phone. Nobody would come out and directly talk of their problems, he says. Though his clients are still not comfortable with a public declaration of their identities,Pummy says this intra community acceptance is itself a huge leap forward.

At 5 p.m.,the doctor appointed by the Delhi State AIDS Control Society is available for consultation. Pummy sits with him in his office,counselling patients. Some walk in with their families,others still alone. We never advise people to break up from their families at the very outset,even if they are married. At the same time,we tell them striking a balance between two lives is difficult. Our job is to tell them the pros and cons of both situations,and help them in breaking the news to their spouse,it is then up to them to decide, he says. By 7 p.m.,he is on the field. I go to the community in the evenings because the problems that come in at these times are more sensitive. Sexual abuse,harassment by the cops,drugswe get them almost on a daily basis, he says.

After patrolling on his bike for about an hour,Pummy declares this to be one of the rare peaceful days. Today the cops who would ask you to turn out your bags,and ask you why you carried condoms are very rare. Such behaviour is not so common as it used to be, he reflects. However,just last week,Pummy says he had a heated discussion with a cop,who accused him of spreading homosexuality. I met him on a night patrol,and after inquiring about me,he started hurling accusations. But I know,arguing alone doesnt help. I had a cup of tea with him,and we debated. I think I managed to persuade him to be a bit more receptive, he smiles. By 9 p.m,he is back to shut his office. Always the first to arrive and the last to leave,for Pummy his job is his life.