Officially famous

With some tolerable errors and not so sensational insights here goes an article about the free hugs seva which appeared in Ergo(a newspaper in tabloid format issued by The Hindu for IT professionals). Growth is inevitable.
JGD

Jaadu ki jhappi
http://www.goergo.in/?p=3939
By Vipasha Sinha

What on earth am I standing here for? What if the cops catch me? Before I could answer with my ifs and buts, I felt a kid hugging me tight. It was then that I knew that our Free Hugs Campaign had begun,” recalls 20-year-old Rohith Nathan, one of the initiators of the Free Hugs Campaign in Chennai.Rohith Nathan , an Engineering student, and his IIT buddies Puneeth Raj , Chethan Bikkina and Amit Saxena, were seen anywhere between Citi Centre and Lighthouse station on Valentine’s Day , inviting (and sometimes even persuading) strangers around to receive free hugs.

“We met during the Youth Empowerment and Skill (YES) course in Chennai. Wavelengths matched and we decided to do something different – spread happiness and have fun at the same time. Then one day Rohith comes shouting ‘Machaan, let’s hug people!’” says Puneeth .

“I thought it was yet another attention-seeking idea of Rohith and discarded it at once but when he explained the concept we all just loved it,” continues Amit

“It was A.R. Rahman’s free hugs video that inspired me. I always loved to make people smile and what better way than jaadu ki jhappi!,” smiles Rohith “When I shared my thoughts, my YES course buddies loved it. Only now I knew that they thought I was joking,” he pats Amit.

V-Day

With zero planning they decided to start it on a Saturday, which coincidentally happened to be Valentine’s Da y. The Free Hugs campaigners did invite people, but a majority were sceptical about the whole thing. They also had people backing out the last minute.

“I was videotaping the other three holding the placards calling for free hugs in Citi Centre. The first to hug were children. Later, a few others followed. Most of them found what we did amusing, but nothing stopped us,” explains Chetan.

Then came the show-stoppers and Punith was the first one to face the security. “It looked like a Tom-and-Jerry chase when the security personnel were chasing us. After warning us thrice, they forced us out. We knew that our charts would be torn, so we had carried three extra ones. Like we anticipated, we were left with only one chart.” he says

Hug hops

After being thrown out of Citi Centre, the EMU local trains were their next destination. They hugged people on the platform as well as in the trains all throughout the journey. They intentionally avoided hugging women to avoid trouble on Valentine’s Day .

It went on for just two hours, but they did end up making a lot of people smile. “Though not on a large scale as in Mumbai, in our little ways we did what we aimed to – go mad, make a difference,” the team echoes.

Check out the video of the FREE HUGS SEVA