“It was heart-wrenching to hear daily wage workers around me speaking to their children on their phones every evening, assuring them that they would be home soon. They’d wait hours for the RTC buses to show up. I would notice these things around me, people needing help, but never asking- I could never figure out if it was because they didn’t actually need the help, or if it was hurtful to their sentiment. One day I built up the courage to ask some women if they would come with me on the metro as the regular bus was unlikely to run in the heavy rains. Initially, they were hesitant, but the looks on their faces when they reached home an hour early was incomparable.

I was 21 and working when I found out that one of our house-keeping staff in our office couldn’t afford her childrens’ school books. It took only about a day to collect funds from the team. It’s not some big revelation that came to me as I grew older- compassion and empathy is something we are born with. Convincing my manager and colleagues was a piece of cake- sometimes people just need a little push to see what they can do to help.

One day when I called an orphanage home I frequented, I was greeted by a very cranky man who completely changed my vision on social work. He was upset that people always visited for an hour, took a bunch of photographs with promises to return, and then never did. What those children needed was consistency in relationships, not just more toys and clothes. Our “selfless” deeds are tarnished by likes, shares and comments, it completely loses its authenticity. Since then, I have been mentoring two young girls- financially, but also emotionally and mentally. They’ve told me things they’ve never been able to share with anybody- how they feel unwanted and ugly, stories about their pasts, their dreams for the future. They were terrified of the hierarchy that money created, but today, they have a voice of their own.

We’ve been raised to believe social work is only about giving away money, but it’s not, it’s about being mindful. Offering water or lemonade to Swiggy delivery boys, or teaching your help a little English, asking how their kids are doing in school- every bit of kindness goes a long, long way. I once read a line in the teachings of Islam that said ‘It’s easy to give to the ones who ask, but it is noble to recognize the ones who need and are unable to ask’.

We’ve now begun a project to educate lower income workers on finances, as well as to teach them the art of making soaps and candles. I’ve never once worried about running short of funds, all I’ve based my work on is my clarity and compassion. Nana once told me that God has given us so that we can give to someone else- it is a cycle, he said. “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded” is a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, that I strongly live by.”