100% Literacy saar

It was midnight and I was at the Thiruvalla bus depot. The place looked neat as usual, something you do not normally expect at bus stations in India. While waiting for my bus my eyes drifted around and stopped at something unusual on the wall, an Automated External Defibrillator. At a bus depot of all places. I had never even imagined seeing one there. It felt almost strange in a good way. Not decorative, not highlighted, just quietly present for anybody who might one day need it.

Later I looked it up and learned that Kerala is the first in India to install AEDs in KSRTC Swift buses and at select bus stops as part of the CARe project with SEMI. Staff are being trained to handle emergencies, especially sudden cardiac arrest, where every minute counts. It is the kind of initiative that might not trend on social media but could save someone’s life without any applause. A machine like this can mean a person gets a second chance simply because help reached within those first critical minutes.

This is what effective public service actually looks like. Practical decisions that are not loud but meaningful. Imagine someone collapsing in a bus stand and instead of confusion people know exactly what to do. That single act of preparedness could send someone back home alive. I walked away feeling quietly happy about it. Progress does not always need ribbon cutting or noise. Sometimes it is a box on a wall.