We held our 7th blood donation camp yesterday at RedAlkemi, since year 2002. It was my fourth time, and possibly the final one. Unfortunately, I seem to have really thin veins, so the doctor piercing my vein had a blast poking this thick needle in and out of my arm for about half a minute till finally a little trickle of blood started to flow. I was supposed to continuously squeeze the rubber ball they handed me, but nothing helped beyond a point. Seems like I have enough blood, but not thick enough veins to help pull out a decent flow for donation. Sad!
They gave up half way and I was advised to eat the banana nevertheless, drink the lassi, and call it quits. I was also told that I should give up any future attempts at blood donation, since its next to impossible to draw blood out. So here’s my last picture sitting in that chair, although I think it will be worth the effort to give it another shot 6 months from now, at our next camp. If my veins don’t behave better by then, I guess I will devote myself to bullying all the squeamish people at work and help them become brave enough to volunteer. Watch out for me guys! I promise to be nice, but will get you in that chair 
HR tells me our final count was 80 units of blood, which is fairly good. Last time we hit a 100+ units, so we could definitely have done better this time around. I loved the way people from surrounding offices came in to donate selflessly. I would love it if the complete 120 odd staff strength at RedAlkemi would turn into fit, fearless and healthy volunteers. It is a noble cause after all, and the feeling you get after donating blood is awesome! You just saved a life…. now beat that!!
