“Growing up in a conservative household, I was restricted from doing most things. I wasn’t allowed to go out to play with friends, take trips and sometimes even stepping out was prohibited. My parents feared the world outside and deterred me from doing anything. It was probably this inner drive that pushed me to do something incredible for the society I believe.

It so happened that when we completed our 10th grade, we were planning a reunion of sorts. I pitched in saying that we have to make this reunion a purposeful event. We started planning reunions in different orphanages and would go on to spend the entire day there. This eventually brought to light an entire aspect of the world we were largely veiled from.

We set up a corpus fund where every month, members of our class would pitch in a certain amount and we would donate it to a cause. This started panning into multiple opportunities in the future. Being confined to my house, I was held up from stepping out to volunteer. So I decided to step in whatever way I can.

When the floods ravaged the city of Kerala and Chennai, I was helping everyone from the backend connecting requirements to sources and volunteers to the needy. It started with a facebook group and eventually went on to become a huge network.

One time, going to inquire about something, I was given the admin responsibilities of the group and I started helping from the backend in whatever way I could. The pandemic too was a brilliant opportunity to work with people and bring good improvements to society. I got in touch with many wonderful people through this.

So many people lost their jobs in the pandemic and there was a huge requirement for jobs. A few of us came together and compiled a list of job leads and over 30 people were successfully placed in different roles.

In all this, I have come to understand only this. No matter how arduous the situation looks, we will always be given a choice – give up or go on. It’s very easy to give up but if one is ready to make strenuous efforts for the latter, the results are always beautiful. There are so many successful people out there, there are so many strategies to become one too; but to be selfless, to be grateful for what we have at the moment, for being empathetic and doing whatever is possible for others without expecting anything in return, now that takes guts; that takes determination. That doesn’t have any particular agenda but it will for sure ensure a better world for us to live in. During hard times like this, we all have to realise that this is a wake up call for all of us proving that humanity is the most essential factor than anything in life. Let’s together build a community of empathy and compassion and take a conscious effort to uplift one another.”