RATS floated by as Steve Wong waded through the streets, knee deep in monsoon rains.

The dad-of-three's memories of the squalor and deprivation were reawakened by Slumdog Millionaire, the rags to riches tale of a teenager from the Mumbai slums who becomes a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Steve, a 43-year-old pharmacist from Keyworth, was in Calcutta, 1,000 miles from Mumbai, but conditions were the same.

"Even now, 15 years on, after the life-changing experience of Calcutta, it makes you appreciate what you have and not to take things for granted," he said.

"Slumdog Millionaire certainly provokes emotion and highlights the plight of many millions of people living on the streets and slums of India. It has a bitter sweet ending, but it still only covers a small area of a very complex situation. And it certainly does not give you the feel and smell of India."

Steve's first visit as a volunteer pharmacist at street clinics was during the monsoon months of August and September in 1993.

He returned again for another two-month stint the following year to provide healthcare to people from the streets and slums through the charity Calcutta Rescue Fund.

Steve said: "The street people are the poorest of the poor – at least in the slums you have a roof over your head."

Volunteers set up street clinics every day, working under a tarpaulin in the blazing heat of the summer sun.

"The monsoon rains, when they came were actually a relief. Even the rain pouring through the tarpaulin roof did not deter the squatting patients, waiting their turn to see the doctor," said Steve.

Patients had a variety of problems: diarrhoea, diabetes, heart conditions, burns and vitamin deficiency.

Wounds were dressed, medicines dispensed and nutrition provided.

There was a separate mother and child clinic, a leprosy clinic, and a mobile outreach clinic providing health education to remote parts of the countryside.

Steve said: "It was a real culture shock – the heat, the smell, the lack of sanitation, the poverty and the astonishing number of people living in such close proximity.

"Coming from our well-equipped pharmacies to work in the heat on the street, and the cramped conditions of the central pharmacy store was also a challenge."

However, the commitment of Calcutta Rescue Fund founder, British doctor Jack Preger, the staff and volunteers, coupled with the cheerfulness and enthusiasm of the children, was inspirational, said Steve, who met his late wife Moira during his second trip when she was a volunteer nurse.

As well as providing free healthcare, the Calcutta Rescue Fund also aims to educate so people can help themselves and not rely on charity forever.

It provides free schooling to support the street children and give them the chance of a better life. For those that have the aptitude, the charity will pay for them to go on to formal schools and college.

And the fund provides vocational training to many ex-patients through weaving and handicraft projects so they are equipped with a skill for life.

This year the charity is celebrating its 30th anniversary and to boost funds Steve is joining the Big Street Sleep in London on July 18.

With just a sleeping bag and a couple of bin bags in case it rains, Steve will be sleeping rough outside a chapel in Hampstead.

If anyone wishes to support him please send donations (cheques made payable to Calcutta Rescue Fund) c/o Lynette Pinchess, Nottingham Evening Post, Castle Wharf House, Nottingham NG1 7EU. For more information about the charity's work go to www.calcuttarescue.org.uk

lynette.pinchess@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk