Akshay Mandlik puts on his mask, gloves, and overalls every day after finishing his online classes at a Bengaluru college and walks out to assist bury the COVID deceased.

The 37-year-old social work professor is one of several citizen volunteers throughout India who've already stepped forward to assist families devastated by the country's terrible second wave, often sacrificing their own safety.

Mandlik assists mourning families in locating burial sites, transporting the deceased and even digging graves when no gravedigger is present.

"I took some time to consider becoming involved because I am not vaccinated," Mandlik explained, "but the urgency of the hour was more than my fear of getting infected."

As of Wednesday, India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, has fully immunized just over 40.9 million individuals, or 3.3 % of its 1.35 billion population.

Volunteers said they were prompted to respond after seeing desperate appeals for assistance on social media and in their neighborhoods.

Murthaza Junaid and Muteeb Zoheb, brothers and well-known motorcycle racers and entrepreneurs, are now working as ambulance drivers in Bengaluru, answering hundreds of calls each week.

Zoheb, 33, said he and his brother decided to volunteer a month ago after hearing stories of families who were charged extra by professional ambulance crews.

With the epicenter of India's second wave changing frequently, Bengaluru's COVID-19 death count exceeded 10,000 on Tuesday, and its daily number of new cases has overtaken that of Mumbai and New Delhi. So far in May, more than a third of Bengaluru's deaths have happened.

Informal volunteer organizations have formed, with IT experts, investment bankers, estate agents, and students who work together to locate critical care beds, Remdesivir supplies, oxygen concentrators, and ambulances.

Azmat Mohammed, 44, said he had decided to take a sabbatical from his work in IT to help full-time, while Akshaya 22, a law student, said she was juggling classes and her COVID work. "I think that if we do good, good will come back to us," said Akshaya, who wishes to be identified only with her first name.

"I attend lectures and then go to the cemetery for funerals. I also spend time working with others to assist with ambulances. It requires a huge amount of multitasking."

A similar organization has arisen in lesser towns and cities as the second wave has moved beyond the major cities.

Volunteers from the Khan Trust and Ekta Foundation are working to cremate COVID-infected dead people in Surat, Gujarat's western state.

Surat suffered some of the worst bloodsheds during a series of violent Hindu-Muslim riots in 2002, but volunteers believe the epidemic has softened some of the remaining enmity between populations.

Sahil Sheikh, who is in his twenties, claimed he and his friends had performed the last rites for approximately 800 persons of different religions in the last year.