about us
"Sanjeevani booti" are Sanskrit words referring to the medicinal herb that the Hindu hero Hanuman used to revive his fallen comrades, Ram and Laksman. People all across India know this story, and they all recognize our organization's name to refer to the act of giving help when hopes are low.
Varanasi is a city in the North-Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Since the advent of internet, Varanasi has began a transition from being a modern industrial center to becoming an international post-industrial service-sector city. This is due to Varanasi being a city of learning - it has unique spiritual significance to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, and people of other faiths, and people of no faith, all for historical reasons. It is the city which sustains Benares Hindu University, which is premier in India. It is the city of pilgrimage, and is visited and has been visited by more travelers than any other city that exists or ever has existed.
The flow of people through Varanasi creates pressures related to rapid cultural segregation, globalization, high population density, and dire unemployment. Aside from the social clashes, Varanasi is facing a rise in injection drug use and changing practices with regard to social interaction as the tradition of arranged marriage fades and dating situations are more common.
Sanjeevani Booti is an organization which offers aid relating to Varanasi's new social issues - namely, the spread of blood-borne diseases through needle-sharing for illicit drug use and from the changing mores with regard to sex practices. It is our mission to promote harm reduction by teaching condom use, primarily to local university students, and needle-washing techniques, primarily to injection drug users. Although we are government-licensed, the current political situation will not allow us to get official government support, so we depend on citizen contributions to operate.