Jagpal Singh Dhadli

Name: Jagpal Singh Dhadli

Age: 82

Family: Wife, Inderjit Kaur; son, Hardeep Dhadli in Yuba City; daughter, Kamaljit Malhi in India; four grandchildren.

Residence: Yuba City.

Occupation: Retired Indian audit and accounts service worker.

How long have you lived in the Yuba-Sutter area? About 14 years; I moved from India. My son came here and he and his wife had two children, so we came here in 1997 to look after our grandchildren.

Hobbies, interests: I like reading books; I don't watch TV. I have read thousands of books, like Jeffrey Archer and G.A. Wells and Western books. And joke books. I enjoy creating laughter. I can't fall asleep without listening to Hindi music first. Life without music and laughter is like a journey through the desert.

For what groups do you volunteer? I am a tri-lingual teacher for citizenship classes for the Sutter County Literacy program at the Mahal Plaza and the Sutter County Library. I am a translater in Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi. I have volunteered for the program for about nine or 10 years. I got involved when I appeared for my citizenship interview and I was impressed by the teacher, so I started doing the classes. Twice we've had an oath taking ceremony where officials came from Sacramento.

How do you fit volunteering into your schedule? I have all the time in the world — I am free do nothing. And I feel pleasure helping people and getting their good wishes; They are very grateful.

Before, I was too busy in my official work in India and had no time to volunteer.

Words of advice: There are those people who are retired that have nothing to do; they should volunteer. I propose programs in schools for students to take a class about the bad effects of drugs.

Why be a volunteer? It gives me pleasure. It is very rewarding knowing you are doing something for society.

Positive and negative points about volunteering: People are so grateful. Sometimes, we meet some people who are not pronouncing a word correctly and they get angry. We have to calm them down, but, really, people are nice.

Quote: "A day without laughter is a day wasted."