Ex-Miss World Aishwarya Roy

PUNE, July 25: The mesmerising blue-grey eyes of Aishwarya Rai have obviously given a big fillip to the eye donation movement in the country, proving that not all beauty queens make empty social commitments.

According to figures released by the Eye Bank Association of India, the former Miss World's 50-second spot promoting eye donation, regularly beamed on television for the past few months, has brought in a phenomenal number of 10,000 pledges, a majority of them from defence personnel.

The short film, currently being aired on Doordarshan, Sony, Zee TV, UCN, Discovery Channel, ABNI and all Star channels, in which the ravishing beauty makes an appeal to the people for eye donation, while informing that she has pledged her eyes too, is a message that has been described as ``simple and winning.''

And our gallant men in uniform have hit the forefront in large numbers by responding to this fair maiden's call, signifying that chivalry is not dead and gone. ``In our analysis of the responses of Aishwarya Rai's film we have found, of all the professional categories, the forces have responded in the highest number, our mail is never complete without a few letters and pledges from them,'' states Jayashree Francis in Punarjyoti, the quarterly newsletter of the Eye Bank Association of India. Says Francis: ``One would think just serving in the forces is ample repayment of their indebtedness to the country, but these men have displayed a consistent urge to do more than that. We are deeply touched to know they wish to be of use even after death.''

The pledges have come from all three forces in a continuous flow and the EBAI believes it to be symbolic of the strength and purpose behind their lives. Enquiries from our friends in uniform have reportedly been received in large numbers from the remote parts of East India as well as the cold hills of Jammu.

A city-wise breakup for 1996 shows that largest number of 1,793 eyes have been retrieved from Mumbai, followed by 829 from Chennai and 691 from New Delhi. Pune is 13 in the list with 213 eyes retrieved. According to Dr Sanjivi Ambekar of the Sassoon Eye Bank, response is growing steadily in the city though it is mostly in the younger age group of 20 to 45, which means a long-wait for the eye bank. The older citizens are obviously one bracket where even Ash's magic does not work.

According to Aruna Kelkar, administrator, National Institute of Ophthalmology, ``There has been a slight increase in the number of donors but I am not sure if it is because of the Aishwarya appeal or the awareness camps.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.