Gujarat uncovered a 3,000-litre fake milk factory.
What went into it wasn’t milk at all—urea, detergent, caustic soda.
And families consumed it without ever knowing.

Across India, more than 70% of milk fails purity tests.
The ones who suffer first? Children.

Now here’s the shift.
A simple ₹40 paper card. One drop of milk. Instant truth.

No lab. No machines. Just clarity.
Over 23,000 kits already in homes after being featured on Shark Tank India.

Built by Dhruv, Rajat, and Parul.
Backed by IIT Mandi and IIT Ropar.

When food lies, awareness becomes protection.

What should they help Indians test next?
Tell us in the comments.

#FoodSafety #MilkAdulteration #ConsumerAwareness #HealthFirst #IndiaNews

[Food Safety in India, Milk Adulteration Crisis, Fake Milk Factory Gujarat, Paper Milk Testing Kit, Consumer Health Awareness]

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The holy month of Ramadan is more than fasting. It is a time of reflection, gratitude, and compassion — a reminder that hunger should never stand between a person and their dignity.

For many families across India, however, the reality is far more difficult. While some prepare elaborate meals for Iftar, others struggle to arrange even a simple plate of food to break their fast.

For Sumbul, this reality is deeply personal.

When she first arrived in Noida in 2018, she had just Rs 7,000 with her. After paying for travel and essential expenses, barely Rs 2,000 remained — money that had to cover food and daily survival.

“I realised very quickly what it means to worry about your next meal,” she recalls. “Hunger does not just affect the body. It affects your confidence and mental peace too.”

That experience stayed with her long after her situation improved. And in 2021, it inspired her to start something that could help others facing similar struggles.

Determined that no family should have to face hunger alone, Sumbul founded the Aapke Saath Foundation — a volunteer-led initiative that focuses on supporting people in need through food assistance and community outreach.

Today, one of the foundation’s most meaningful efforts takes place during Ramadan.

Bringing dignity to Iftar tables

As the evening call to prayer approaches in parts of Delhi, Noida, and Bareilly, volunteers begin distributing food packets to families preparing to break their fast.

Many of the recipients are daily wage workers, ragpickers, or migrant families who struggle to secure consistent meals. For them, the arrival of these food packets means they can observe Ramadan with dignity rather than uncertainty.

The initiative provides both freshly prepared Iftar meals and ration kits containing essentials such as rice, flour, lentils, and cooking oil.

Last year, the team distributed over 100 meals daily, reaching nearly 3,000 people throughout the month. This year, they hope to increase that number to 150 meals each day — potentially serving more than 4,500 meals during the Ramadan season.

In addition to the meals, the initiative also plans to distribute around 100 ration kits to families who need longer-term food support.

“Hunger creates emotional stress as much as physical discomfort,” says Sumbul. “Our aim is to make sure families can observe Ramadan with peace of mind.”

Powered by young volunteers

Much of the initiative’s work is carried out by a small but dedicated team of volunteers.

The foundation currently operates with a core group of 10 members and 17 volunteers, most of them young individuals between the ages of 22 and 32.

Together, they identify communities where families are struggling the most and organise the preparation and distribution of meals.

Campaign volunteer Aditya explains that the effort depends heavily on community participation.

“We reach out to families who are facing real financial difficulty,” he says. “These could be daily wage workers or households where earning opportunities are irregular. Even a simple meal packet can make a difference.”

For many families, the ration kits offer something even more valuable than food — a sense of stability.

Knowing that basic groceries are available for the next few days allows parents to focus on work, children, and daily life without the constant worry of where the next meal will come from.

A reminder of the power of community

For Sumbul, the initiative reflects a belief she discovered through her own experiences: that collective action can create change far greater than individual effort.

“I realised that as a single person, you can only help a few people,” she says. “But when communities come together, the scale of help multiplies.”

Ramadan, she believes, is a powerful reminder of that shared responsibility.

At its core, the month encourages empathy — urging people to reflect on the struggles of others and respond with generosity.

Through simple acts such as sharing meals, supporting neighbours, and volunteering time, that empathy can translate into meaningful change.

For the families who receive these meals, the impact is immediate. A hot plate of food after a long day of fasting offers not only nourishment but reassurance that someone cares.

And for Sumbul, it is a quiet reminder of why she started.

Because sometimes, the smallest acts of kindness — a meal shared, a ration kit delivered, a volunteer showing up — can restore something far greater than food.

They restore dignity, hope, and the feeling that no one has to face hardship alone.

Why your contribution matters

Charity need not be large to be meaningful. A donation of Rs 100 can sponsor an Iftar meal, providing nourishment and dignity to someone fasting. A contribution of Rs 750 can supply a ration kit, ensuring food security for a family for days. Even smaller donations add up, enabling the distribution of meals and essential supplies.

As Sumbul reminds us, “For someone, Rs 100 may seem small, but for a family struggling to eat, it can mean fruits for Iftar or a meal that gives them strength.”

Giving is more than financial assistance — it is an expression of humanity and a step toward restoring dignity and opportunity. When communities invest in one another, the ripple effects are powerful: children receive better nutrition, families regain stability, and societies move closer to equality.

Every meal shared and every ration kit delivered is a step toward building a world where dignity is universal and hunger has no place.

How you can help

Supporting the Ramadan drive is simple and transparent.

Donation options:

• Rs 100 – Sponsor an Iftar meal

• Rs 750 – Provide a ration kit for one family

• Donate any amount — every rupee creates impact

Donation details:

UPI: +91 9582527110
Account Name: AAPKE SAATH FOUNDATION
Account Number: 50200065795880
IFSC: HDFC0001887

For 80G tax receipts and impact documentation, donors can email: info@asf.org.in (include name, contact, and PAN details).

Donation link

Transparency ensures trust. Documentation ensures accountability.

More importantly, it ensures that every contribution reaches those who need it most.

A month of dignity and compassion

Ramadan is a time of reflection — a reminder that generosity and empathy define our shared humanity.

No family should face hunger during a month dedicated to kindness. No child should wait in uncertainty for a meal.

Together, we can change that with small acts of giving, we can create large stories of hope.

This Ramadan, let us turn fasting into action and charity into impact.

Every meal shared and every ration kit delivered is a small but powerful step toward a world where dignity is given, hope is restored, and no one is left behind.

All images courtesy Aapke Saath Foundation

The toxic foam seen on the Yamuna River is not a seasonal phenomenon. It is the visible result of untreated industrial waste and heavy metals released by illegal jeans dyeing units operating around Delhi.

Much of this pollution comes from chemicals used in fast fashion denim processing. For years these units functioned with little oversight discharging toxic waste directly into the river that supports millions of lives downstream.

Varun Gulati chose to confront this system at great personal cost. He shut down his own business and exposed the illegal nexus responsible for poisoning the Yamuna. His efforts led to the closure of over 700 illegal dyeing units but the damage and the fight are far from over.

This is not only an environmental issue. It is a question of consumption accountability and civic responsibility. Pollution is a result of choices. So is action.

Watch share and act to protect the Yamuna.

#SaveYamuna #EnvironmentalProtection #FastFashionImpact #CleanWater #DelhiPollution

[Yamuna river pollution, Toxic foam Delhi, Illegal dyeing units India, Varun Gulati environmental activist, Industrial waste water pollution]

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When Neha Kirpal looks back on her childhood, one memory returns with startling clarity.

She was about five or six when her mother told her, “Don’t brush your teeth because I think the toothpaste is poisoned. I think your father is trying to poison us.”

At that age, Neha did not know the language of mental health. Most five-year-olds are still learning words for the world around them, not trying to make sense of why a parent has suddenly become frighteningly unpredictable. She did not know why her mother would say such terrifying things, or why an invisible fear seemed to have settled over their home.

For Neha, this was simply life as it was lived. It would take many years before she understood that her family had been living inside an illness that affects millions of people in India and that the confusion of those early days would influence the woman she would eventually become.

“One just knew it as how one was experiencing life day to day,” she says.

As a teenager, she would learn that her mother was living with schizophrenia — a severe mental illness that can distort how a person perceives reality, sometimes creating intense paranoia or deeply held delusional beliefs.

What followed were years of chaos that would affect every part of her growing up: conflict between her parents, accusations that blurred reality and delusion, neighbours overhearing the fights, police arriving at the door, and a home where safety could vanish without warning.

“For the first three-four years, essentially our definition of mental health and illness was a family at war with itself, but behind closed doors.”

Those closed doors, however, did not hold forever.

“The sounds leaked out. My brother would hide under the dining table, and I would throw myself in the middle of a fight.”

At the time, in the 1980s, the family itself did not fully understand what they were dealing with. Conversations about mental illness were rare, and schizophrenia was barely discussed in public. What Neha remembers most is not diagnoses or treatment plans, but the sense that reality inside the house kept shifting in ways she could not explain.

Decades later, those early memories would shape the work she would go on to do — helping transform how India understands and responds to mental health.

But at the time, she was simply a child trying to survive in her own home.

The child who learnt to disappear

Through her school years, Neha built a parallel life outside the house — one that looked almost perfectly normal.

“We slept with furniture pushed against the door because my mother believed someone might come to kill us. Stuff like that was sort of what everyday childhood was. And then one just got up and went to school and pretended like it’s a normal day.”

If home was a battlefield, school became her stage for normalcy. She attempted to excel academically and immersed herself in competitive sports such as badminton and hockey.

What looked like discipline from the outside was, in many ways, survival.

“I just ran ten hours a day. That actually saved my life, I would say.”

Looking back, she recognises what she was doing instinctively.

“There was a lot of dissociation. I had to dissociate my inner world from my outer world, my home life from my school life, my body from my mind.”

She learned early to carry different versions of herself in different spaces — the child navigating chaos at home and the teenager who showed up every day determined to keep moving forward.

The day her mother left

By the time Neha was thirteen, the atmosphere inside the house had become almost unbearable.

Her mother had begun to believe that people were trying to harm the family. Complaints were filed with authorities, and paranoia increasingly shaped daily life. Doors were barricaded at night, and furniture was pushed against entrances because danger felt imminent.

For Neha and her younger brother, fear had become routine.

Then, one day in April 1994, everything changed.

Her mother took Neha and her younger brother away and said they were never going back home.

Neha ran back.

“At that point, I was just going back to what I knew was a normal life and not this, you know, being on the run.”

What she did not realise was that this moment would fracture her life into a before and an after.

“I didn’t realise that I’m going to lose them for the next 10 years.”

Her mother and brother disappeared.

“My mother and brother continued to be on the run for the next 10 years and I spent all of those years looking for them.”

For years she had no idea where they were living or how they were surviving. Meanwhile, Neha continued her life — studying, growing up and building a future — while carrying the constant weight of not knowing where they were.

The child nobody asked about

Ask Neha what support she had during those years, and her answer is simple.

“I was parenting myself.”

There were fragments of support — an aunt she could call, small anchors — but much of the emotional labour of surviving those years was something she had to do alone.

In many families navigating severe mental illness, the illness itself becomes the centre of attention while the children quietly learn to survive around it.

For Neha, adulthood would eventually become an attempt to understand what had happened during her childhood.

Finding her mother again

After nearly a decade of searching, the trail finally led somewhere.

Through fragments of information, Neha was eventually able to trace her mother and brother. But the reunion she had imagined for years was not the one that unfolded.

“When she came in front of my eyes… literally like on the floor, chained to a hospital bed… there was a part of me that was so resentful.”

For years, she had carried the weight of their absence — the unanswered questions, the endless imagining of where they might be. Now the reality was both relief and shock.

Her mother’s illness had deepened, and the years that followed would be marked by a cycle familiar to many families living with severe mental illness: hospital admissions, medication trials, brief periods of stability and then another relapse.

“Every time we would try a medication combination, she would be in the hospital for three, four, five months.”

Yet life continued to unfold around this reality.

Neha went to the UK to study, encouraged by her father to step out into the world and build a life beyond the turmoil she had grown up with.

But even as she built her future, her mother’s illness remained a thread running quietly through the background of her life.

In 2008, when Neha got married, her mother came straight from the hospital to attend the wedding.

For families who grow up around severe mental illness, this kind of juxtaposition becomes part of everyday life: hospital visits and celebrations, fear and love, instability and routine existing side by side.

Outside those families, however, the experience often remains hidden.

In India, mental illness is still heavily stigmatised, and nearly 95% of people living with mental health conditions do not receive the treatment they need.

Despite the years that shaped her childhood and early adulthood, Neha continued to build a life that moved forward — studying, working and forming relationships while slowly making sense of the experiences that had shaped her.

Eventually, a treatment combination began to work for her mother.

“Insight is not something that builds overnight.”

Today, her mother lives with her and shares a close bond with Neha’s daughter.

But Neha remains honest about the emotional complexity of that relationship.

“I don’t think I have ever really had a mother that I yearned for.”

Turning lived experience into systems change

For years, Neha’s professional life unfolded in a completely different world.

She built one of India’s most influential cultural platforms — the India Art Fair — and spent more than a decade shaping the country's contemporary art ecosystem.

But the realities of mental illness never left her.

In 2018, after nearly ten years of running the fair, she stepped away from that world and began working in mental health.

In 2019, she joined psychiatrist Dr Amit Malik as co-founder of Amaha, a mental health organisation designed to make care more accessible across India.

Today, Amaha operates alongside Children First under a shared umbrella of mental healthcare services. While Amaha focuses on supporting adults through therapy, psychiatric care and community programmes, Children First works with children, adolescents and their families. Together, they provide care through both digital platforms and in-person centres in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. With a large team of psychologists and psychiatrists, the organisations have already reached millions of people seeking mental health support.

But for Neha, the real impact lies in something less visible.

Helping families feel less alone in the kind of silence she grew up with.

“How many psychiatrists today ask what is happening to the children in the house? Nobody asks these questions.”

She also co-founded the India Mental Health Alliance, which now brings together more than 275 organisations across the country working in mental health.

Because mental healthcare, she believes, cannot exist in isolation from families, schools, workplaces and communities.

When the silence finally broke

If building institutions was one form of healing, writing Homecoming was another.

The book, co-edited by Neha Kirpal and Nandini Murali, brings together the lived experiences of eleven women navigating severe mental health conditions — from depression, suicide loss and complex trauma to bipolar disorder, OCD and schizophrenia within families.

Emerging from spaces that are not always safe or supportive, the stories challenge the label of “brokenness” and reshape perspectives on what wholeness can mean.

Together they hold up a mirror to society’s discomfort with mental illness, while also revealing the quiet strength of families and individuals who learn to live alongside it.

For Neha, the book opened conversations that had never happened before.

Her father came to the book launch, and she felt him witnessing and understanding her journey. And for the first time in decades, she and her mother finally spoke openly about the illness.

“After the book came it was the first time my mother and I ever talked about her illness.”

At events, audience members began sharing their own hidden stories.

“Everybody is just looking for somebody else to go first. When one person begins speaking, it often creates a sense of safety for others to do the same,” she explains. 

What remains after the telling

There was a moment in my conversation with Neha that shifted how I began to understand her journey.

She spoke about something that often happens to people who grow up around trauma. Many feel an urgency to step into work that tries to repair what they once lived through.

But Neha’s path unfolded differently.

For many years, she deliberately kept a distance between her personal history and her professional life. She focused first on building herself — studying, working, and slowly making sense of the past she had grown up inside.

Only later did she step into the mental health space.

That distinction matters.

By the time Neha began working in mental health, she had stepped far enough away from the immediate impact of her childhood to recognise the larger systems around it.

What emerged from that distance was something larger than a personal mission.

Today, the work she leads does not revolve around her own story. It draws from it quietly — while relying equally on the collective expertise of clinicians, carers and people with lived experience.

Her relationship with mental health did not begin with a career choice.

It began at five, with a mother slipping into paranoia and a child trying to understand a world that no longer behaved predictably.

It deepened through violence, silence, disappearance and years of searching for her family — and for herself.

And then, slowly, it turned into work.

The little girl who once tried to become invisible now helps thousands of families find care, language and community.

And in that sense, her journey anchored in mental health has always been one story: the child who heard that the toothpaste was poisoned, and the woman who went on to help build the systems she and her family once needed.

Between them lies a lifetime — and a thread made of fear, survival, truth and finally purpose.

An inspiring journey of resilience, healing and wholeness, true to the title of the book Homecoming.

“Girls can do anything” isn’t just a quote for me—it’s my everyday reality. 🛺💨

In the heart of Chandrapur, I traded the comfort of a desk job for the grit of the streets. Today, I drive a toto and run a paan stall. Why? Because life demanded more than comfort—it demanded courage. Between these two wheels and one small stall, I support five lives and fuel one stubborn dream.

This International Women’s Day 2026, we celebrate the theme "Rights. Justice. Action." and the power to "Give to Gain." My journey isn't about helplessness; it’s a conscious choice of responsibility and financial independence. I believe respect isn’t a title on a door; it’s earned by showing up every single day with dignity.

This is my story. No drama. No shame. Just work. And I am incredibly proud of it.

#WomensDay2026 #IWD2026 #GiveToGain #RightsJusticeAction #NupurDidi #WomenEmpowerment #SmallTownIndia #HustleWithDignity #BreakingStereotypes #WomenEntrepreneurs #FinancialIndependence #EverydayHeroes #ChandrapurDiaries #SheInspiresUs #genderequality

[International Women's Day 2026, IWD 2026, Give to Gain, Rights Justice Action, Nupur Didi Chandrapur, Female Toto Driver India, Women Entrepreneurs India, Small Town Success Stories, Breaking Gender Stereotypes, Financial Independence for Women, Women Empowerment Video 2026, Inspiration for Women, Real Life Heroes India, Hustle Culture India, Women in Non-traditional Roles]

This week’s good news comes with heart and backbone. It has a woman who mothered thousands, and a daughter keeping that love going. It has an AI clinic helping women ask gynaec questions without fear. It has school friends meeting again after 60 years and choosing travel and laughter. And it has a Manipur woman turning flower waste into a celebrated business. Four reads, one mood: keep going.

Left To Die on the Road, She Became ‘Maai’ to Thousands. Her Daughter Is Keeping That Legacy Alive

Sindhutai Sapakal’s story begins with a moment no one should face. Her family left her on the roadside when she was heavily pregnant, and she had to fight for her own life, and her baby’s. Later, she took that same survival and turned it into care, opening her arms to children who had nobody, until thousands began calling her ‘Maai’. She passed away in 2022, and her work continues through her daughter, Mamata. Read how Mamata is keeping Maai’s legacy alive, one child at a time.

Pinky Promise AI Clinic Helps 4 Lakh Indian Women Get Gynac Help Without Shame or Judgement

For so many women, a gynaec question sits in your head for weeks because you feel awkward, worried, or judged. Divya Kamerkar and Akanksha Vyas built Pinky Promise for that exact hesitation, a chat-first, AI-powered clinic where you can start privately and then speak to real doctors when you are ready. 

The platform says it has helped over 4 lakh women across India. Read how Pinky Promise is making gynaec care feel easier to start.

After 60 Years, School Friends Reunite To Explore the World on an Epic Girls’ Trip

It starts with a simple message and a sudden rush of memory. Mercy Rego stumbled upon an old school friend online, and soon, one by one, their childhood gang found each other again after decades.

They did not keep it to a quick catch-up. They planned a trip, then another, and gave themselves permission to laugh, sing, and feel young in their 60s. Read how their reunion turned into the girls’ trip they had been waiting for.

Told to Get a ‘Proper Job’, This Manipur Woman Turned Flower Waste Into an Award-Winning Business

When people told Chokhone Krichena to find a “proper job”, she kept going anyway. In Mao, Manipur, she began working with local flowers and built Dianthe to connect floriculture farmers to city markets, so their work gets fair prices and steady demand.

Her model also uses discarded flowers to create eco-friendly products, and her work has earned recognition for climate innovation. Read how she turned flowers and doubt into a business with real impact.

At Paarakhi Organic Farms, the morning sun cast a warm glow across rows of mango, sugarcane, and jowar. 

The air carries the earthy scent of freshly turned soil, sharpened by the fragrance of lemongrass and sweetened by mango blossoms. Women in vibrant saris move through the fields with baskets in hand, harvesting vegetables as their tools clink rhythmically against metal pails.

“To farm organically is to honour the earth and our bodies,” says Monika Mohite, capturing the quiet conviction that shapes her work.

At the centre of this bustling farm stands 51-year-old Monika Mohite — farmer, entrepreneur, and mother — guiding the work with steady purpose.

What began as a deeply personal decision for her family has today grown into a 40-acre organic enterprise in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, demonstrating how sustainable farming can nourish both people and the land.

A mother’s spark ignites change

In a farming landscape dominated by chemical inputs, Monika’s journey into organic agriculture began with something simple and deeply personal: a mother’s concern for her son’s health.

Her son Dhruv was pursuing professional motor racing, a demanding sport that required high physical endurance. During a routine consultation, a dietician pointed out nutritional gaps in the commercial energy foods available to him. When Monika searched for clean, nutrient-rich alternatives, she found very few options in the market.

Instead of settling for what was available, she decided to create those foods herself.

“It took a couple of years of workshops, field visits, and beginner mishaps to understand organic farming properly,” she recalls.

What began as a small experiment soon grew into something much larger. Over time, Monika transformed the idea into a full-fledged organic farming venture spanning 40 acres, now generating up to Rs 40 lakh annually.

Dhruv’s journey mirrored her determination. In 2019, he became the youngest winner of the Indian Touring Car Championship, going on to become a three-time national champion.

Roots and resolve

Though she is now deeply connected to farming, Monika did not grow up expecting to become a farmer.

Originally from Gwalior, she holds a Master’s degree in English Literature, a postgraduate qualification in Computer Science, and a diploma in Creative Writing. She married into a family that runs a cotton yarn mill.

Yet her childhood memories held quiet seeds of what was to come.

“I grew up around mango and guava orchards,” she recalls. “Back then, farming was just a passing curiosity for me, like it is for many college students. The only hands-on experience I remember is harvesting fruits.”

In 2010, she established Paarakhi Organic Farms in Vadgaon village near National Highway 4 — a venture that would gradually become known for its commitment to clean, sustainable farming.

Building a self-reliant ecosystem

Today, Paarakhi Organic Farms operates as a diverse and self-sustaining ecosystem.

Across its 40 acres, the farm produces high-protein soy flour, jaggery made from sugarcane, mango and chikoo pulp, rice, jowar, pulses, fresh vegetables, and eggs. One of its most unexpected successes has been cow-dung dhoop sticks — a product that neighbours once mocked but which has since become popular among urban customers.

The farm’s sales combine steady outlets with seasonal produce, allowing the business to adapt to changing climate patterns while maintaining consistent income streams.

In the early days, scepticism from neighbouring farmers was common. Many dismissed her composting techniques and natural pest repellents.

But when her fields began producing healthy yields, attitudes slowly changed.

Today, Monika advocates for direct farmer-to-consumer connections through platforms such as Krishi Jagran’s Global Farmer Business Network (GFBN), helping farmers reduce dependence on middlemen and secure fair prices for organic produce.

Cow-powered organic mastery

A defining feature of Monika’s approach is her reliance on traditional cow-based organic practices.

At Paarakhi, she avoids synthetic inputs across 35–40 acres and instead uses products derived from native Khillari cows — including gomutra (urine) and gomaya (dung) — to prepare natural fertilisers, sprays, and pest repellents.

“As a farmer, my focus is on building soil carbon,” Monika explains.

For her, soil carbon is more than a scientific metric. It represents the long-term health and resilience of the land.

The most recent soil test at Paarakhi revealed a soil organic carbon (SOC) level of 1.3%, an indicator of healthy, fertile soil and the result of years of consistent organic practices. Soil carbon is a key measure of soil health — it reflects how much organic matter (like decomposed plants and microbes) is present in the soil. 

1.3% is considered healthy, as it helps the soil retain nutrients, hold more water, and support better crop growth.

Integrated farming practices

Monika follows a carefully designed integrated farming system.

Crop rotation and intercropping form the backbone of her fields. Vegetables such as spinach, beans, and brinjal grow alongside fruits like mango and chikoo, as well as grains such as jowar and soy.

Livestock plays an equally important role in maintaining the farm’s nutrient cycle.

Her free-range poultry currently includes about 700 chicks, with plans to expand to 2,000 birds. The farm also houses native Khillari and Devni cows.

“I convert the cow dung into briquettes and dhoop sticks, which have become popular among buyers,” she says. “I currently have 12 cows.”

A dedicated team of 12 workers manages harvesting, processing, and packaging.

The farm produces a wide range of food products — including khandsari sugar, gulkand, groundnut oil, and Ajara Ghansal rice — all processed without chemical binders, artificial sweeteners, or synthetic additives.

In addition, Paarakhi offers natural wellness products such as Panchgavya hair oil, haldi face cream, and Gomay ointment, along with eco-friendly cow-dung cakes and biodegradable planters.

Sugarcane cultivation covers 12 acres of the farm, surrounded by marigolds and lemongrass that help deter pests naturally.

“Sugarcane is a long-duration crop,” Monika explains. “It is residue-free and is grown with three cycles of flood irrigation.”

Empowering women, feeding futures

Beyond farming, Monika has also focused on creating opportunities for rural women.

Through Paarakhi Organic Farms, she has supported hundreds of women farmers by sharing sustainable farming knowledge, providing market access, and ensuring fair pay.

Her products are sold directly to consumers through her website, mobile app, WhatsApp orders, and local delivery networks.

“I have built a customer base of more than 300 people,” she says. “Many of them are from Nashik, Pune, and Mumbai.”

Her social media presence has also become a powerful tool. With over 420 posts documenting harvests, farm life, livestock care, and product processing, she has attracted more than 2,200 followers.

These posts frequently lead to enquiries and orders for vegetable boxes, jaggery, grains, and other organic staples.

A philosophy rooted in care

As climate pressures grow and chemical dependence continues in agriculture, Monika believes that farming must return to its most fundamental purpose: nourishing people without harming the earth.

Her farm stands as an example of how traditional knowledge, modern enterprise, and maternal instinct can combine to create a sustainable model for the future.

For Monika, the philosophy guiding her work remains simple and deeply personal.

“My motto is delivering health,” she says. “Whatever I cannot feed my own children, I will not feed any child.” In the fields where the morning once began with the scent of soil and lemongrass, that promise continues to take root — season after season.

At 16, people laughed — “Yeh kya kar lega?”

But when Arjun Deshpande saw a man return cancer medicines he couldn’t afford, he decided to change the system.

With just ₹15,000, he removed middlemen and began selling affordable generic medicines.

Today, Generic Aadhaar has 4,000+ stores across India, reducing medicine costs by up to 80%. His mission to make healthcare affordable has even earned the backing of industrialist Ratan Tata.

A powerful reminder that age never limits impact.

#InspiringIndia #YoungEntrepreneur #StartupIndia #AffordableMedicine #HealthcareForAll #GenericMedicines #IndianStartup #InnovationIndia #PositiveStories #entrepreneurjourney

[Arjun Deshpande Generic Aadhaar, Affordable generic medicines India, Generic Aadhaar stores India, Low cost medicines India, Generic medicine revolution India, Healthcare startup India story, Young entrepreneur India startup, Affordable healthcare India initiative, Generic medicine business model India, Startup India healthcare innovation]

From sweeping railway platforms to becoming a Station Master, her story is pure grit.

Meet Urmila Dhiwar, who once spent long days cleaning tracks and platforms under the harsh sun.

After exhausting 10-hour shifts, she returned home and studied late into the night, determined to change her life.

With no coaching, limited resources, and only self-belief, she cleared the Station Master exam in 2023.

Her journey proves something powerful:
Determination can transform survival into success.

#InspiringIndia #IndianRailways #WomenEmpowerment
#NeverGiveUp #SuccessStory #RealLifeHeroes
#WomenAchievers #PositiveStories
#DreamBigIndia #MotivationDaily
#RailwayStories #HardWorkPaysOff

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For past 8 years this car driver from Kolkata has fed 8 lakh+ people
outside hospitals.
Meet Partha Kar Choudhary, also known as Hospital Man.
What began with 30 packets of muri from his small kitchen soon became a nightly mission - feeding families waiting outside government hospitals for their loved ones. From 7 PM to 2 AM, Partha distributes dal, rice and sabzi to people who often go days without proper food while caring for patients. Despite financial struggles and long hours, he continues with quiet determination.
“My body gets tired, but when I see someone helpless in a hospital, I forget everything,” he says.
Loved the video? Stay tuned for more in #ForceForGoodHeroes, an extraordinary series on India’s unsung heroes that will inspire you to believe in the power of change!
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In partnership with @adityabirlagroup

Originally reported and written in 2023. 

The positivity shines through like a beacon. It is as if Jazz Sethi has vowed that she will triumph over Type 1 Diabetes, a condition she was diagnosed with when she was 13 years old. And she is determined to help other children and youngsters with the condition lead better lives.

The 31-year-old professional dancer, choreographer, theatre artist and author based in Ahmedabad is the founder-director of the Diabesties Foundation, set up in 2018. Diabesties is a not-for-profit that aims to make people with Type 1 Diabetes (formerly called Juvenile Diabetes) feel heard, understood, loved, supported and celebrated.

What started as a YouTube channel and regular meet-ups of persons with Type 1 Diabetes has turned into a multi-pronged programme with awareness tours, educational material, one-on-one sessions, advocacy and access.

The daughter of billiards legend Geet Sethi and prominent educationist Kiran Bir Sethi, Jazz says she is privileged that she can use technology to make her life much easier and be in the best possible health. “I have an insulin pump and a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) attached to my body. They work in tandem to regulate insulin delivery. However, while technology is the way forward for Type 1 diabetics, access and affordability to such devices are a serious problem,” she says.

Reflecting on life with Type 1 Diabetes, Jazz says, “What is needed for a good quality of life is not just knowing how to stay alive, but how to live — and thrive — with Type 1 Diabetes.”

The day a sudden diagnosis changed her life

Jazz relates her own experience of being diagnosed.

“I was 13 years old. We were preparing for a football tournament at school. In one week, I lost 7 kg. I was also drinking a lot of water. My parents were alarmed at my sudden weight loss and took me to our family doctor. He suggested blood and urine tests. When our doctor got the results, he told my parents to rush me to the hospital. My sugar was 1050 mg/dL, which is extremely high. I was in the ICU for three days.”

“Somehow, I was naive enough at 13 to believe that once I was out of hospital, I would be cured. It came as a jolt to me when the doctor told me that I had Type 1 Diabetes, an incurable autoimmune condition and that I would be on insulin for life. Our family was in a state of shock,” says Jazz.

Two things struck Jazz. One, she felt the absence of information about her condition suitable for children. Two, she did not meet another person with Type 1 Diabetes for many years after her diagnosis.

To address the gap in information, she decided to start a peppy YouTube channel to build awareness about Type 1 Diabetes in a fun and engaging way.

To meet others with the condition, she reached out to 25–30 other diabetics through her doctor’s contacts. The plan was to start a community. DiaMeets were held for Type 1 diabetics to meet, bond and share their experiences.

How small meet-ups began bringing people together

“I was surprised that 25 people turned up for the first meet in Ahmedabad. Since this is a lesser-known condition which is mostly diagnosed in childhood and requires regular, expensive insulin injections, there is a great deal of stigma attached to it.

We have around 8 lakh registered Type 1 diabetics in India. That is a conservative estimate. Shockingly, we also have 9 lakh ‘missing’ Type 1 diabetics who have died before diagnosis or died because they did not get treatment on time. Many doctors in rural areas don’t know the symptoms of this condition,” says Jazz.

Diabesties does not focus on Type 2 Diabetes because Jazz believes that condition gets sufficient attention and support. “For Type 1 diabetics, their life changes overnight; there is overwhelming stigma, misinformation, zero support, and a huge financial burden on the family,” she explains.

She relates a tragic case in Bengaluru, where parents pushed their two children who had Type 1 Diabetes into the river. The parents committed suicide, too. The cause for four lives being lost was the stigma and financial burden attached to the condition.

Today, Diabesties has 32 chapters in the country and they all conduct DiaMeets thrice a year. Since 2018, over 90 DiaMeets have been held with around 7,300 participants. The foundation has 210 videos on YouTube with 6.74 lakh viewers till now.

“Behind the statistics are the stories. We have teenagers tell us that they felt much less alone after attending a DiaMeet. A girl who was very depressed because she had Type 1 Diabetes was contemplating suicide. She told us that Diabesties saved her life.”

The foundation has 50 employees who either have Type 1 Diabetes or have a child, partner or relative who has the condition.

“We want people with the lens of lived experience,” says Jazz.

Turning lived experience into support for others

Soon after the first DiaMeet in 2018, Diabesties was formally registered. Its activities are aimed at addressing the gaps in the healthcare system pertaining to Type 1 Diabetes.

“For instance, doctors don’t have time to explain to people with Type 1 Diabetes how to live with the condition. According to data, a doctor spends 2.5 minutes with a Type 1 diabetic. In our flagship programme, Back to Basics (B2B), the average time for each online session is 48 minutes,” she says.

“In the B2B programme, we tailor-make sessions for participants. A child can schedule a one-on-one online session with a diabetes educator on any topic — say, counting carbs or exercise guidance — in a language and time slot of his or her choice.

According to research, the clinical outcomes have improved after B2B sessions — HbA1c has come down, and frequency of hypoglycaemia (episodes of very low blood sugar) has also reduced,” says an elated Jazz.

D-Tour is a national awareness programme on diabetes in general and Type 1 Diabetes in particular. The programme is conducted in schools, colleges, corporates, clubs, NGOs and housing societies.

Most people are not aware that there are not two but seven types of diabetes. D-Tour aims to help people identify symptoms, reduce risks and create a more inclusive environment, she explains.

Access includes providing insulin and test strips to children from poor families in four states with support from the pharma industry.

“This is our Project Mishti. We are also launching an ‘Economic Empowerment Ecosystem’ project by partnering with NGOs that work in the field of women’s employment. The idea is to help women work and support the insulin requirements of their children. We want to make the families self-sufficient as we cannot indefinitely support them,” explains Jazz.

Project Kiran of the Diabesties Foundation creates educational material — posters, games and instruction manuals — on Type 1 Diabetes to cater to every child’s learning style. The material is free and available online in multiple languages.

Interestingly, the foundation also publishes a thick comic book called Bluelight. Volume 1, launched in 2020, focused on busting myths and stigma around Type 1 Diabetes.

Diabesties also has a Caregiver’s Council where parents and partners of persons with Type 1 Diabetes come together as a support group.

Whenever possible, Jazz expresses her journey with Type 1 Diabetes through dance, which she believes is the most powerful medium for storytelling.

Not only has this spunky young woman learnt to live with a hard-to-manage, lifelong condition herself, she has also reached out to help thousands of others along the way.

How the community has grown over the years

Over the years, the work that began as small meet-ups among people living with Type 1 Diabetes has grown into a wider network of support and care. Through the Diabesties Foundation, she and her team have now impacted over 60,000 individuals living with Type 1 Diabetes and their caregivers across India. The organisation operates through more than 32 chapters and a 50-member team, many of whom are patients or caregivers themselves.

One of its flagship programmes, Back to Basics (B2B), has scaled considerably. The initiative has conducted 4,000+ sessions and delivered 6,000+ hours of diabetes education in 10+ languages, with research indicating improved diabetes management, lower HbA1c levels and reduced hypoglycaemia episodes among participants.

The foundation’s Project Mishti currently supports 400+ children from underserved backgrounds by providing insulin and essential diabetes supplies. Early outcomes include an average HbA1c reduction of about 1.9 percent, improved adherence to treatment and fewer school absences.

To address long-term financial challenges for families managing diabetes care, the organisation has also launched Project KABIL, which focuses on building income pathways for families, especially mothers, helping them achieve financial self-sufficiency for their children’s treatment.

Educational work has expanded through Project Kiran, which now includes game-based learning tools, visual resources and multilingual material designed for children and caregivers. 

Meanwhile, DiaMeets, the community support initiative that began with small gatherings, has grown to 500+ meetings across 40+ cities, connecting more than 5,000 participants.

Jazz has also expanded her work into healthcare innovation through Glyd Health, a person-centred diabetes care platform that focuses on real-time guidance, behaviour change and sustainable outcomes.

Her organisation now collaborates with government bodies as well. In Gujarat, a partnership with the Mehsana district administration supports around 190 children with Type 1 Diabetes through structured care models, including insulin access, CGM support, quarterly camps and the development of a specialised centre for care.

The foundation’s awareness campaigns continue through D-Tour, which works with schools, colleges, corporates and communities to promote early diagnosis, reduce stigma and build inclusive environments.

Jazz is also currently working on developing a Stigma Severity Scale for Type 1 Diabetes in India, aimed at understanding the social barriers faced by patients and designing targeted interventions.

Her advocacy extends to global platforms through collaborations with organisations such as Breakthrough T1D and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

The Diabesties Foundation has also recently opened NEEV, India’s first patient-led physical centre for education and empowerment in diabetes care.

Even as her work grows in scale, Jazz continues to use dance, theatre and storytelling as tools to humanise diabetes and open conversations around chronic illness.

This article was first published on the Women's Web platform in 2023 by Aruna Raghuram under the title, ‘This Spunky Woman Thrives With Type 1 Diabetes And Helps Others Too’.

All images courtesy Jazz Sethi

The first look of Ranabaali has already sparked curiosity among fans. With Vijay Deverakonda appearing in a fierce, battle-hardened avatar and Rashmika Mandanna joining him in the historical epic, the film promises a gripping story rooted in courage, resistance, and the spirit of survival.

Set against the rugged landscapes of southern India, the film appears to explore a turbulent period in history — a time when ordinary people rose with extraordinary resilience despite immense challenges. The dramatic visuals hint at a story of rebellion, survival, and communities standing up against overwhelming odds.

But behind the cinematic spectacle lies a very real and complex chapter of Indian history.

When drought turned into disaster

The world that Ranabaali steps into closely mirrors the conditions surrounding the Great Famine of 1876–1878, one of the deadliest famines in colonial India. The crisis affected large parts of southern and western India, including the drought-prone region of Rayalaseema in present-day Andhra Pradesh.

By the mid-1870s, repeated droughts had already weakened agriculture in the region. When the monsoon failed in 1876, crops collapsed and food shortages quickly spiralled into widespread starvation. Villages across the region were pushed to the brink, with farmers losing both their harvests and their livelihoods.

Yet historians argue that the tragedy was not caused by drought alone.

Policies of empire

At the time, India was under the rule of the British Raj, whose economic policies often prioritised imperial trade over local welfare. Even as famine spread across drought-stricken regions, grain continued to be exported from India to global markets.

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Colonial administrators largely believed that the market should regulate food supply. Direct intervention, they argued, could disrupt trade and create dependency on relief.

Relief measures were also shaped by this thinking. The British official overseeing famine management, Sir Richard Temple, introduced strict austerity rules in relief camps to limit government spending. Food rations were drastically reduced, at times providing fewer calories than what prisoners received in colonial jails.

The consequences were devastating. In Rayalaseema alone, nearly seven lakh people are believed to have died. Across India, historians estimate that the famine claimed more than 10 million lives.

The forgotten rebellions of famine

This is the historical world that Ranabaali appears to draw inspiration from.

As starvation spread and taxes continued to be collected, some famine-stricken communities began to resist colonial authority in small but powerful ways. Villagers raided hoarded grain supplies, challenged harsh tax demands, and organised scattered uprisings in desperate attempts to survive.

British records often labelled these acts as criminal or rebellious behaviour. But local folklore in Rayalaseema tells a very different story.

Their names may not appear in the official archives of the British Raj. Yet in Rayalaseema’s folklore, they are remembered as people who fought back when famine and empire left them with no other choice — rebellions forged in hunger, survival, and resistance.

Independence looks different for everyone… a child gaining focus in therapy, a mother riding to work on her own, a family finally breathing easier.
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We often grow up believing that life’s biggest breakthroughs arrive in our twenties, when ambition is fresh, energy is high, and the world seems wide open. The narrative of success is usually stitched to youth. But some stories quietly challenge that belief, reminding us that timing is not universal and that it is never too late to bloom.

The journey of Boman Irani is one such story — a powerful reminder that life can change course long after society thinks it should have settled.

When success shows up at 44

Today, Boman Irani is celebrated for his impeccable comic timing, layered performances, and unforgettable roles. But his breakthrough in Bollywood came at 44, when many believe their professional paths are already defined.

Before the spotlight found him, Irani’s life looked very different.

He worked as a waiter and room service staff at the iconic Taj Mahal Palace. Later, he helped run his mother’s small wafer shop in Mumbai after his father’s passing. There was financial strain, mounting debt, and responsibilities that arrived early in life. There was no glamorous roadmap and certainly no industry connections.

What there was, however, was quiet perseverance.

From a shy child to a stage performer

Born shortly after his father’s passing, Irani grew up in a household led entirely by his mother — a woman he often credits as his greatest source of strength. With debts looming and responsibilities piling up, she single-handedly managed the family’s small wafer shop in Mumbai, ensuring her children never felt the weight of scarcity. 

As a child, he battled severe anxiety and a stammer, making communication a daily struggle. Confidence did not come easily. Yet, watching his mother confront financial hardship with resilience quietly shaped his own outlook on life. 

When he grew older, he stepped in to help run the wafer shop, learning discipline, patience, and the dignity of honest work long before he faced a camera.

Parallelly, he explored photography, often capturing school events, including performances by choreographer Shiamak Davar. Impressed by his personality and spark, Davar encouraged him to consider theatre. 

That encouragement proved life-changing. In his forties, Irani finally stepped onto the stage, a powerful shift for someone who once struggled to speak in public. Theatre became his training ground, helping him transform vulnerability into strength.

The role that changed everything

Irani’s film journey began with smaller appearances, but his big turning point came with filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani.

In Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., Irani played Dr J C Asthana — affectionately (and hilariously) nicknamed ‘Circuit’s worst nightmare’. As the stern, rule-bound dean, constantly at odds with Munna, played by Sanjay Dutt, Irani delivered a performance that balanced authority with vulnerability. His comic timing and expressive face made Dr Asthana unforgettable. The role didn’t just bring laughs — it announced the arrival of a formidable character actor.

But it was his portrayal of the strict, eccentric principal Viru Sahastrabuddhe (Virus) in 3 Idiots that cemented his place in cinematic history. The performance was sharp, layered, and iconic — a character both intimidating and human. Once again collaborating with Rajkumar Hirani, Irani proved his range, holding his own alongside actors like Aamir Khan.

From there, memorable roles followed — whether as the flamboyant editor in Khosla Ka Ghosla! or in impactful ensemble films like PK. Each role showcased his versatility: comedy, drama, satire — he moved seamlessly across genres.

And all this began after 40.

Reinventing the timeline of success

What makes Irani’s journey particularly inspiring is not just the late breakthrough — it is everything that preceded it.

Debt. Anxiety. A speech impediment. Career detours. Responsibilities.

Yet, none of these became full stops.

His story dismantles a deeply ingrained myth: that success must follow a fixed timeline. That your twenties are your only window. That reinvention has an expiry date.

Instead, Irani’s life suggests something far more hopeful, readiness matters more than age.

A story bigger than stardom

Boman Irani’s life is not merely a Bollywood success story. It is a narrative about patience, courage, and trusting your own pace. He did not peak in youth. He blossomed in maturity. And in doing so, he proved that talent does not diminish with age — it deepens.

For anyone feeling “behind” in life, his story offers reassurance: your defining chapter may still be ahead of you.

The anxious child can command the screen; the shopkeeper can become the star. And a 40-year-old beginner can steal the spotlight.

Perhaps we don’t miss our moment. Sometimes, our moment is simply waiting for us to grow into it.

And when it arrives, whether at 24 or 44, it can change everything.

Sources:

‘Boman Irani: Overcoming anxiety and debt, finding success at 44: "I have no idea how my mother raised me and paid back all the debt"’: by Times of India.

‘This actor debuted at 44, worked as a waiter at Taj hotel, managed his mother's wafer shop, his role in this Raju Hirani film changed his career forever’: by Times Of India, Published on 2 December 2025.

Originally reported and written in July 2025, this story has been republished as part of our archival content.

What does it take to leave behind the noise, the rush, and the endless grind of city life, and choose instead the steady pulse of the land? For Neil and Momo, this was not just a question. It was a calling.

Located in the misty hills of Mahabaleshwar, their farm is a world apart from the hectic streets and towering offices they once knew. Here, mornings begin with the soft chorus of birdsong, not honking traffic. Days are shaped by the rising sun, the turning seasons, and the hands-on work of tending soil, trees, and animals. It is in this rugged beauty that Swapnil Rao and Mrunmayee Deshpande Rao, known to most as Neil and Momo, chose to build a new kind of life.

Neil’s path to this life began with a rigorous education in engineering, followed by business management. His city years were filled with building startups and strategic growth. “I was chasing success, but somehow I felt disconnected from people, purpose, and the world around me,” he tells The Better India.

On the other hand, Momo’s upbringing in Pune was woven with the colourful threads of art and culture. From childhood, she indulged in the world of theatre and film, pouring her heart into performances that captivated audiences and brought stories to life. Her success as an actor and director in the Marathi industry brought her recognition and the thrill of creative expression.

But beneath the applause and the bright lights, she felt a yearning that went beyond the stage. The fast pace of the entertainment world, with its relentless schedules and endless demands, left little room for stillness or introspection. She longed for a life uncluttered by noise, where she could find space to breathe freely and reconnect with something more enduring and true.

“It was not that I wanted to leave my passion behind,” she reflects, “but I needed to find balance, a life where creativity could flow naturally, alongside peace and simplicity.” 

A meeting of minds (and hearts) online

Neil and Momo’s meeting in 2015, through a matrimonial website, brought these shared longings into focus. “We realised we wanted something different,” Momo recalls. “A life that was slower, more meaningful, and strongly connected to the earth.”

 

So, they made the daring decision to walk away from the noise and pace of city life, not to escape, but to live in nature’s lap. The choice to move to the hills was not romanticised; it was the result of constant questioning, reflection, and a desire to reconnect with something real. Life on the land came with its share of challenges, like erratic weather, unfamiliar terrain, and the unrelenting demands of farm work. But each day brought them closer to understanding what they were looking for in this new way of life.

By 2019, those questions had become a clear vision. But they knew that desire alone was not enough. Neil enrolled in formal permaculture training, immersing himself in the principles of regenerative agriculture, learning how to design systems that restore soil health, conserve water, and support biodiversity. 

Alongside this, the couple chose to live and work on farms run by friends and mentors, spending time in different rural settings to observe, ask questions, and understand the realities of land-based living. They took their time researching, listening, and learning at every step.

Choosing a broken piece of land on purpose

In 2020, they finally took the leap and sold everything they had in Mumbai and purchased a piece of land in Malusar, a small village tucked in monsoon-fed hills of Mahabaleshwar. But the land they chose was not a picture-perfect plot; it was barren in places, stripped of nutrients, and in need of healing. That is exactly why they chose it.

“We spent the whole of 2021 just observing,” the couple explains. “In the first year of shifting to the land, you are not supposed to touch anything; you just watch, listen, and try to understand what the land needs.”

 

In 2022, they built a small one-room studio on the farm and began the work of establishing their food forest. “We wanted to move in quickly, so the house was designed to be simple but very scientific,” explains Neil. “Its alignment is east-west, which allows us to make the most of the natural wind flow to keep it cool.”

The materials they chose were rooted in the local landscape. “There is no plaster on the outside; the walls are made of laterite, a native Mahabaleshwar stone. Inside, we avoided cement completely and used lime instead. We built the entire house ourselves, just the two of us, with our own hands,” says Momo.

Their home is entirely solar-powered. “We are net zero in terms of electricity,” they explain. “It is a tiny house, so it does not take up too much space, and everything was designed using passive solar principles,” she adds.

Rainwater harvesting plays a crucial role. “All the runoff from the roof is captured and stored in tanks, then directed to irrigate the food forest,” her husband says. Even wastewater is carefully managed. “Our greywater, from the bath and kitchen sink, passes through reed beds, where it is naturally filtered, and then it goes to water our banana plants,” he explains.

Nothing goes to waste. “We compost all our kitchen scraps and return them to the farm. Everything stays within the system,” they say.

Let nature lead: Planting a food forest

Their mission was to restore the land using permaculture practices, to let nature lead the way, and to enhance the space into an abundant farm where food, creativity, and care could flourish side by side. Their long-term vision extended beyond just growing their own food; they wanted to build a model of living that honoured the environment, supported the local community, and inspired a soulful way of being.

 

Today, the couple’s days unfold in sync with the land. They grow what they eat, collect their own seeds, and craft with their hands. Neil and Momo’s farm is no ordinary piece of land. It is a carefully designed, regenerative ecosystem where every element, from the soil to the plants to the wildlife, is part of this symbiotic relationship. Their approach is influenced by permaculture, an agricultural design system based on natural ecosystems.

“Permaculture is about working with nature, not fighting it,” Neil explains. “We focus on creating a self-sustaining system that nurtures the soil, supports biodiversity, and produces food and resources without harm.”

Over five years, they changed three acres of degraded land into a lush farm. Through composting, cover cropping, mulching, and planting a diversity of crops and trees, they added over 30 tonnes of organic matter to the soil. This increased the soil’s organic carbon content, an essential factor for long-term carbon sequestration and soil health, by approximately half to one percent.

“Watching the soil come back to life has been the most rewarding part,” Momo says. “The earth is resilient when you treat it with respect.”

Their farm grows a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, and native plants. Leafy greens like spinach, kale, fenugreek, and mustard grow alongside cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli. Root vegetables include carrots in orange, red, and black varieties, beets, and potatoes. The farm also boasts gourds like ridge gourd, bottle gourd, snake gourd, and ash gourd, as well as nightshades such as heirloom tomatoes, brinjals of different varieties, and chillies.

 

Beans and legumes, including French beans, cluster beans (gawar), and edamame, add to the diversity, as do fast-growing greens like malabar spinach and water spinach. The roots and tubers section features taro (arbi), elephant foot yam (suran), turmeric, ginger, and sweet potatoes. They also grow native trees of the Mahabaleshwar bio-region, preserving local biodiversity.

Among fruits and spices, the farm produces lychee, mango, coconut, jackfruit, nutmeg, cinnamon, guava, avocado, and several local delicacies such as jamun, awla, breadfruit, kokum, and the unique kusum tree. Their dedication to native species also supports over 40 native bird species, pollinators, frogs, and beneficial insects.

How nature became skincare

The farm’s bounty does not end with fresh produce. Drawing inspiration from the land’s richness and their passion for natural living, the couple developed a line of handmade soaps and personal wellness products that capture the essence of their farm’s ethos. Their organic brand, ‘Neil & Momo,’ offers a range of eco-conscious and artisanal products, including bath bars, shampoo and conditioner bars, solid deodorants, bamboo toothbrushes, dishwash and fragrance bars, along with their signature farm-to-jar strawberry preserve and wild forest honey.

“Our soaps are more than just cleansing bars,” Momo explains. “They are a bridge between nature and daily life, crafted with intention and respect.”

Each bar is made using the traditional cold process method, a time-honoured technique that retains natural glycerin and preserves the delicate properties of plant oils without artificial hardeners. Every batch is small and carefully hand-poured, hand-cut, and cured over four to six weeks, guaranteeing quality and consistency.

 

The base oils are a thoughtfully selected blend of cold-pressed and plant-derived oils sourced from ethical farming communities across India that practice regenerative methods. These oils are celebrated for their cleansing, moisturising, and nourishing effects on the skin. The soaps create a rich and gentle lather that leaves skin hydrated and balanced.

The fragrances in the soaps come from pure, steam-distilled essential oils or fragrance oils blended with 100 percent natural bases, including essential oil isolates, natural resins, and botanically derived compounds. Free from parabens, phthalates, synthetic preservatives, and harsh chemicals, each scent is designed to evoke the rhythms of farm life, whether it’s the fresh crispness of a morning walk through the forest, the earthiness after rain, or calming herbal notes.

“We want every scent to connect you to a moment in nature,” says Neil. “The oils we choose are not just about fragrance, they have therapeutic benefits too, like uplifting your mood, calming the mind, or clarifying your senses.”

Some soap bars include botanical additions grown or foraged right on their farm. Herbs, flowers, and clays add gentle exfoliation, subtle colour, and texture, while creating a direct connection to the land where they were born.

 

Sustainability extends to packaging as well. All soaps are wrapped in biodegradable, recycled, or handmade paper, with labels that are simple, compostable, and hand-applied. “Zero plastic, always,” Momo emphasises. Each batch is date-stamped and traceable, reflecting their commitment to transparency and low-waste living.

Their Aloe Lavender Shampoo Bar, made with organically extracted aloe gel and natural coconut surfactants, offers a luxurious hair spa experience, free from synthetic detergents and preservatives.

The sweet story of their honey

Their Wild Forest Honey is another treasure, harvested from the biodiverse forests of Mahabaleshwar. This raw and unfiltered honey supports local communities and the delicate balance of the forest ecosystem. “Buying our honey means you are supporting ethical harvesting practices and the conservation of native forests,” the husband points out.

The couple’s passion for permaculture goes beyond their farm. Since 2023, they have been hosting immersive three-day “Introduction to Permaculture” workshops, blending theory with hands-on learning to offer a rich and practical experience to interested visitors. These workshops welcome individuals from all backgrounds, farmers, urban dwellers, students, and sustainability enthusiasts alike.

Over 150 participants have taken part in these workshops until now, travelling from various parts of India and even abroad. The response has been positive, with many attendees returning for advanced sessions or inviting the couple to conduct customised workshops.

 

The workshops cost Rs 15,000 per participant, covering all sessions, materials, site visits, and meals made from farm-fresh ingredients. The fee supports the farm’s operational costs and helps fund community outreach programmes.

The workshop experience: From forest walks to life audits

Each workshop begins with forest walks to introduce participants to the native ecosystem, followed by classroom sessions on permaculture ethics and design principles. Participants learn to observe natural patterns, map contours, test soil health, and design water harvesting systems. Practical activities include seed starting, compost making, and building soil fertility. 

“We then gather for an open discussion, where we reflect on each person’s lifestyle and conduct a simple life audit,” explains Neil. The goal is to help everyone identify small and practical steps they can take to begin managing and reducing their waste immediately.

After the workshop and reflection session, visitors are treated to a wholesome farm-to-table meal. The food served is a traditional Maharashtrian meal, usually featuring two seasonal vegetable dishes, freshly made rotis, rice, and dal. Most of the ingredients used in the meal come directly from the farm itself. The rice and vegetables are grown on-site, while the wheat used for the rotis is sourced from a neighbouring farm.

This meal often becomes one of the most impactful parts of the experience. Many visitors find it life-changing because the food is grown without the use of chemicals and prepared with care. Eating this kind of fresh, natural food can make people more aware of how their bodies respond to what they consume. 

“We believe in empowering others to become caretakers of their land, whether that is a backyard garden or a larger farm,” the husband shares. “These workshops are seeds that grow beyond our farm, spreading regenerative practices across communities.”

 

Srushti Gosavi, 26, a homoeopathic practitioner from Nashik, says, “For the past few years, I have been drawn towards a more natural and conscious way of living, largely because I have felt the weight of climate change and its impact on our lives and health. The idea of permaculture fascinated me from the moment I first heard about it, and, thanks to the Instagram algorithm, I stumbled upon Neil & Momo’s page while searching for sustainability content. I have been following them since the very beginning.”

“I finally made it to their March workshop, and it felt like stepping into a space I had been searching for. The experience was full of insight on sustainable practices and the people were curious, kind, and had similar thought processes, thus making it even more special. One of the most memorable moments for me was learning about how roots connect underground and how soil functions much like the human body. As someone trained in homoeopathy, that parallel was incredibly exciting. And yes, I dug my hands into cow dung for the first time, and absolutely loved it,” she adds.

One of the most impactful moments during the workshop was a life cycle analysis (LCA) activity, which revealed the hidden environmental cost of everyday consumer habits. “It really hit me, I uninstalled all my e-commerce apps while still on the farm, and have not felt the urge to go back,” she shares.

Goodbye apps, hello conscious living

Since the workshop, Srushti has begun planning a green space of her own, with native trees, birds, and a small food-growing area. A chance connection with a native plant expert at the farm helped her finally convince her parents that native plants can be beautiful too.

Shamika Bhide, a 31-year-old playback singer based in Mumbai, attended the permaculture workshop with her husband after watching one of Neil & Momo’s interviews online. “We had been following them for a while, but that interview really struck a chord; we did not just want to admire what they were doing, we wanted to understand it,” she says.

 

The factor that resonated most with her was how integrated the learning was. “Everything we discussed in the theory sessions was already alive and implemented on the farm. It was not abstract; it was right there in front of us. The farm tour made everything click. We finally understood what it means to design with nature, not against it,” she adds.

Back in Mumbai, that clarity began to shift their everyday choices. “We stopped relying on delivery apps and began sourcing our food from local farmers’ markets. We also replaced chemical-heavy products with natural alternatives and even started a small kitchen garden,” she explains.

The workshop gave them the confidence to think long-term. “We are now seriously considering buying a piece of land where we can apply these principles. We have also started talking to friends and colleagues about sustainability, not by preaching, just by sharing what has changed for us,” she says.

For Shamika, the biggest realisation was, “Permaculture is not only about growing food, it is a mindset. It is a lens through which you can reimagine how you live, what you consume, and how you connect with the world around you.”

Real changes take place slowly and steadily

The story of Neil & Momo is also one of measurable environmental success. When they first arrived in the hills of Mahabaleshwar, the earth beneath their feet was dry, compacted, and stripped of life. The topsoil had eroded from years of conventional agriculture, and very little could grow without heavy chemical inputs. But rather than turn away, they saw possibility.

 

By adopting a zero-landfill lifestyle, the couple has composted over 3,000 kilograms of organic waste, from both the farm and their home, diverting it from landfills and turning it into nourishment for the earth. All greywater from their household is treated and redirected into the fields, helping them save more than 50,000 litres of fresh water over five years.

Their commitment to a low-impact lifestyle also meant embracing renewable energy. Their home runs on solar-powered drying, heating, and cooking systems, and the design of their living spaces relies entirely on passive cooling, no air-conditioners, and no energy-hungry machines. Transport is kept minimal, with most errands done on foot or through coordinated, shared logistics. There is a 70 percent reduction in household carbon emissions compared to the urban average.

They have also kept more than 3,500 plastic bottles out of circulation by refusing plastic-packaged personal care products.

And then there is the revival of biodiversity. More than 500 trees and perennials, including fruit trees, medicinal plants, nitrogen-fixers, and native forest species, have been planted across the land. As the ecosystem rebalanced itself, it welcomed back birds, frogs, butterflies, and bees. 

 

“When the land sings back to you, when the frogs croak at night and the birds greet you in the morning, that is when you know the work is real,” Momo reflects. 

For the duo, everything comes down to one principle: that well-being grows in direct proportion to our closeness to nature. Neil & Momo’s story is an invitation. It asks each of us to rethink our relationship with the earth and the choices we make every day. From the food on our plates to the soaps in our bathrooms, every decision is an opportunity to support restorative living. Whether you visit their farm, join a workshop, or bring home one of their handmade products, you become part of a community dedicated to sustainability, authenticity, and care. 

All pictures courtesy Swapnil Rao

Innovation isn’t reserved for boardrooms or Ivy League classrooms. Sometimes, it begins with a simple inconvenience — like checking into a hotel room that looks nothing like the photos online. A flickering tube light, stained bedsheets or a bathroom that doesn’t quite work. The kind of experience most travellers grumble about, post a review on, and move on from.

But what if you didn’t move on?

What if, instead of frustration, you saw a pattern? And instead of a complaint, you saw a business model waiting to be built?

For Ritesh Agarwal, that moment of irritation became a turning point. Long before he built a global hospitality brand, he was simply a teenager from a small town in Odisha trying to understand why budget travel in India felt so unpredictable — and how it could be fixed.

Born on November 16, 1993, in Bissam Cuttack, Odisha, Ritesh grew up in a modest Marwari family. His father ran a small infrastructure business, and life was steady but simple. Yet from an early age, Ritesh was drawn to computers and business ideas. While most teenagers were still figuring out their interests, he was already reading about startups and imagining building one.

From Kota to Delhi: A different dream

Ritesh attended Sacred Heart School and later St. John’s Senior Secondary School. Like many ambitious students, he moved to Kota, Rajasthan, to prepare for the IIT entrance exams. But while engineering was the expected path, entrepreneurship quietly pulled at him.

Instead of limiting himself to textbooks, he attended startup events, networked with founders, and absorbed everything he could about building companies. In 2011, he moved to Delhi for college, but traditional education didn’t hold him for long. He dropped out to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions full-time.

It was a risky decision at that time but sometimes clarity outweighs comfort.

Oravel Stays: The first attempt

In 2012, at just 18, Ritesh launched Oravel Stays. The idea was to create a platform for booking affordable stays, inspired by global models but adapted for Indian travellers.

His inspiration came from personal experience. As he travelled across India on a budget, he noticed a recurring issue — cheap hotels were everywhere, but quality was unpredictable. Cleanliness, amenities, and even basic hygiene varied wildly.

Oravel Stays received early support, including funding from the Venture Nursery accelerator. But Ritesh soon realised something crucial: listing budget hotels wasn’t enough. The real problem wasn’t discovery. It was trust.

The birth of OYO rooms

In 2013, Oravel pivoted into OYO Rooms — short for ‘On Your Own’.

The model changed completely. Instead of simply aggregating hotels, OYO partnered with small hotel owners, standardised their rooms (clean linen, functional washrooms, basic amenities), trained staff, and rebranded them under one unified identity.

This approach brought predictability to India’s chaotic budget hospitality segment.

Around this time, Ritesh became the first Indian to receive the prestigious Thiel Fellowship, which awarded him $100,000 to pursue his startup rather than attend college. The validation and funding helped him focus entirely on scaling OYO.

Rapid growth and investor backing

The idea resonated. Investors took notice. Firms like Sequoia Capital and SoftBank backed OYO, fuelling rapid expansion across India and later into international markets.

Travellers appreciated affordable, standardised stays. Hotel owners valued increased occupancy and tech-driven operations. Within a few years, OYO grew into one of the world’s largest hotel networks, operating in multiple countries.

At its peak, the company’s valuation crossed billions, and Ritesh emerged as one of India’s youngest self-made billionaires.

The challenges behind the headlines

But scale brings complexity. Managing quality across thousands of properties wasn’t easy. Some partners raised concerns about contracts and revenue models. International expansion came with operational hurdles. The pandemic dealt a heavy blow to the hospitality sector globally.

OYO had to restructure, reassess, and adapt.

Growth wasn’t always smooth but resilience became part of the journey.

Recognition and the next chapter

In 2016, Ritesh was featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list, recognising his impact on the startup ecosystem. Years later, he stepped into a new role — joining the panel as a “Shark” on Shark Tank India Season 3, becoming one of the youngest investors on the show.

From pitching his own startup as a teenager to evaluating others’ ideas on national television, the arc feels full circle.

Ritesh Agarwal’s journey isn’t just about hospitality. It’s about spotting inefficiencies in everyday life and daring to fix them. It’s about pivoting when the first model doesn’t work. It’s about betting on conviction — even when you’re young, even when you’re from a small town, even when the odds seem steep.

The broken hotel rooms that once frustrated him became the foundation of a global brand.

And perhaps that’s the real takeaway: transformative ideas rarely arrive wrapped in grandeur. They often begin as small annoyances — waiting for someone bold enough to see opportunity in them.

Sources:

‘Ritesh Agarwal: Success Story & Net Worth Of OYO Founder’ by Finschool

‘Ritesh Agarwal: The Inspiring Story Of OYO's Founder’ by Broadwayinfosys, Published on 12 February 2026.

Can an Indian man find pride in being a "Househusband"? For 10 years, Amit Kumar Dubey from Motihari, Bihar, has been doing exactly that. He didn't just quit his engineering job; he chose to prioritize his wife's mental health and career over traditional ego.

When Amit saw his wife, Preeti, struggling with the crushing weight of burnout and professional stress, he made a decision that shocked his community. He traded his corporate office for a home office—managing households across multiple cities and raising their daughter so Preeti could soar in her career.

This isn't just a story about chores; it’s a masterclass in Modern Indian Marriage and Shared Responsibility. Amit proves that being a "provider" isn't just about a paycheck—it's about providing the space for your partner to thrive.

Is India ready for more men like Amit? COMMENT below your thoughts on gender roles in 2026. If this story inspired you, please SUBSCRIBE for more stories that challenge the status quo!

#Househusband #ModernMarriage #BreakingStereotypes #GenderEquality #InspiringIndians #Motihari #MarriageGoals #StayAtHomeDad #PositiveMasculinity #AmitKumarDubey #Bihar

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As the sun dips below the horizon, signalling the end of a long day, the aroma of fresh dal, rice, and fried fritters fills humble kitchens across India. These meals are not just for the families who cook them. They are meant to be shared, carried with care to those who may not have anything to eat otherwise. In the month of Ramadan, a time celebrated for giving and sharing, countless families and small organisations are turning ordinary kitchens into lifelines for the hungry.

For many, feeding others is not a seasonal activity; it is a way of life. Mr Saiful Islam (70), from Kolkata, has been practising this expression of care for decades. 

“Fasting in Ramadan makes you understand what hunger feels like, and when you feel it yourself, you naturally want to share what you have,” he tells The Better India, with a smile on his face.

 “It is always in our house to share food. This is something we inherited from my school, St Patrick’s in Asansol, where the motto was always ‘sharing means caring’, and also my family.”

His recollections of school days are evocative. The Irish and British brothers who ran the institution would take students into underprivileged communities, encouraging them to share their meals, their clothes, and their time. 

“From that time, we learnt to feel for others, to share joy. When you share a meal with someone, it gives inner happiness. You are serving your community, and it humbles you,” he says.

For Mr Saiful, sharing is not confined to his household. From a young age, he witnessed the struggles of those around him, children with empty plates peering into kitchens and families making do with very little. 

He often recalls the pang of seeing someone hungry while holding food in his own hands, a feeling that left a mark on his conscience. “It is not just about giving what you have, it is about feeling what they feel, imagining their hunger, their hopes, and their little joys. That is what shapes you, what teaches you to be human,” he explains.

This responsibility extends far beyond his own doorstep. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, when everything was panic-stricken, we had to collect and distribute food and money to the underprivileged,” he recalls. “If you do not care for others, nobody will care for you in the end. Whatever you leave behind is the legacy you pass on to your children.”

A legacy served on a plate

This sentiment is echoed by Md Shabbir Ahmed (63), a Kolkata-based businessman whose passion for feeding people was ingrained since childhood. 

“I cannot eat alone,” he asserts. “If someone is standing outside a hotel asking for food, I cannot have my meal without offering it to them. It is in me. If my wife cooks something special, we make it a point to share some with the underserved community near our home.”

His dedication extends beyond routine generosity. Years ago, when a building collapsed on Collin Street in Kolkata, claiming many lives, he mobilised resources to provide emergency medical care, food, and supplies. 

“When disaster strikes, and there is nothing to eat or drink, I feel restless until help reaches those affected,” he says. “Even though age-related illness has limited my physical involvement now, my desire to help remains undiminished. If you see someone struggling in your neighbourhood, help them discreetly, without them even knowing who helped. That is how acts of kindness flourish.”

This ethos of compassion was inherited by his daughter, Sufiya Hassan, who grew up witnessing her father’s generosity every day. 

“I have always observed my father and mother make it a point to give back to the community,” she shares. “Ramadan is a month when this value is elevated, but my parents never restricted it to any season. They believed the more you give, the more returns come, and it is always from a place of sincerity, not show.”

She recounts stories her father shared about people in their community who helped others. “He always admired those who gave without seeking recognition, who would leave food or supplies for someone in need without anyone knowing it was them,” she says. “That lesson stayed with me.”

Today, she continues the tradition with dedication, carrying forward the legacy her father instilled. “We plan, cook, and pack together. What we eat, we share. Be it chana and puri, fritters, seasonal dishes, or tropical fruits, nothing is separate. It is not about giving leftovers; it is about sharing what we have. Even in the busiest days, with work, errands, and prayers, we make sure it happens. The joy and gratitude we witness when handing a meal to someone are worth every exertion,” she explains.

From Kolkata to Delhi: Kitchens that are open to all

While families in Kolkata are turning their homes into support systems for the hungry, a similar spirit of care is unfolding thousands of kilometres away in Delhi. Amid the chaos of the COVID-19 lockdown, when streets were empty and schools were shut, many underserved children faced unending hunger. It was here that Payal Kumar, a homemaker, found herself compelled to act.

She started the initiative ‘Feed the Souls Foundation’ six years ago. Her journey began during those early days of uncertainty when midday meals had stopped, and daily wage earners had lost their livelihoods. “Standing in my kitchen, I saw children hungrier than afraid,” she recalls. 

“One child told me he had eaten only biscuits all day. That moment altered my perspective. Hunger was the real fear, not the pandemic. I resolved that as long as I have the strength to cook, no child around me should go to bed hungry.”

The path began as a few extra plates in her home kitchen and has now evolved into a daily operation feeding dozens of children. 

“Education cannot flourish on an empty stomach. Fresh dal, rice, sabzi, and roti are prepared daily, while special dishes are reserved for occasions that merit a little extra joy,” she says. 

During Ramadan, for example, she once made firni for a child breaking his fast with minimal food. “When his eyes lit up, I realised it was not just the dessert. It was recognition. Someone acknowledging his effort and small sacrifice. That smile is something I will treasure forever,” she recalls, her voice soft with emotion.

All four individuals emphasise that the act of sharing is life-changing, for both the recipient and the giver. Saiful observes, “When you see others struggling, and you can help, you become more human, more humble. Acts of kindness mould your character.” Sufiya, reflecting on her father’s influence, adds, “Giving back has made me more ambitious because I want to give more. Every act of generosity enriches your own life as much as it benefits others.”

Shabbir underscores that sharing is instinctive and a moral imperative. “I want to see everyone eat. I cannot rest until I know those around me have enough. The world improves when we do not turn a blind eye,” he asserts.

Payal adds, “Every day, the children we feed arrive with trust and joy. Hunger steals childhood. If I can preserve even a small fragment of their childhood, that is sufficient motivation for a lifetime. Moreover, the community surrounding us becomes more compassionate.”

The long-term effect of a single meal

The beauty of these initiatives lies not in the act of feeding, but in the dignity and care with which it is executed. There is no ostentation, no expectation of recognition, only the understanding that food connects humanity in various ways. “Sharing a meal is sharing love,” Payal asserts. “It conveys to someone that they are not alone.”

During Ramadan, when the act of giving is highlighted, these small yet meaningful gestures create a mosaic of hope. These individuals prove that generosity is neither a function of wealth nor fame, but of intention and action. They exemplify that anyone can contribute, be it by cooking one extra plate at home, confirming a child receives a wholesome meal, or discreetly aiding a neighbour in need.

The impact goes beyond the immediate satisfaction of hunger. It promotes empathy, fortifies communities, and imparts lessons in compassion to younger generations. Sufiya recounts a moment at a cake shop that has stayed with her. Two young children stood at the counter, counting the few coins they had, whispering to each other as they tried to decide what they could afford. It was evident they had very little money, yet they longed for a small treat like everyone else. “They were budgeting every rupee, deciding what to keep and what to leave,” she remembers.

Moved by their restraint, she stepped forward and offered to pay for what they wanted. The children hesitated at first, unsure, almost embarrassed to accept help from a stranger. “I had to gently insist,” she says. “When they finally agreed and chose what they wanted, the delight on their faces was priceless. In that moment, I realised how small gestures can bring immense joy. Something so little for us can mean everything to someone else.”

In a society often measured by material success, these acts remind us of values that carry humility, empathy, and generosity. “Do not wait for grand plans or wealth. Begin with one extra roti. One extra plate. One sincere act of care. Kindness requires not scale, but authenticity. Imagine if every household embraced this. How many empty stomachs could be nourished?” she urges.

The narratives of these four families are emblematic of a broader wave of individuals and small NGOs sustaining hope within their communities. They illuminate the truth that the spirit of giving need not be confined to festivals; it is a daily practice. 

“When you give without expectation, you inspire others to do the same,” Saiful observes. “It becomes a legacy and a culture.”

Perhaps that is the most poignant lesson of all. In kitchens across India, during the month of giving, meals are prepared, packed, and delivered. But with every parcel goes more than sustenance; it carries a reminder that humanity flourishes when we care for one another.

When it is time for families to break their fasts, it is not only hunger that is sated. It is the spirit that is nourished, and the message that resonates; a single meal shared can illuminate many lives.

From Crisis to Care!
As the US-Israel-Iran conflict grounds flights across the Middle East, hundreds of Indian travelers found themselves stranded in Dubai; exhausted, anxious, and stuck in a rapidly changing geopolitical crisis.

While the world watches the escalating tensions, Rajasthan-born businessman Dhiraj Jain chose action over observation. Recognizing that hotels were full and nerves were frayed, he dispatched 11 vehicles across Dubai to find and rescue stranded Indians.

He has transformed his Ajman farmhouse into a sanctuary, providing free food, beds, and security for over 200 people caught in the crossfire of international flight cancellations. In a time of global uncertainty, Dhiraj Jain is proving that the spirit of India knows no borders.

#MiddleEastCrisis #DubaiFlights #DhirajJain #IndiansInUAE #FlightCancelled #HumanityFirst

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Last year, Basanti Devi (33) moved into a ‘pakka makan’ (a solid, durable home) in Hesapora Tola, Shishatand-Gola village, in the Ramgarh district of Jharkhand. The family had previously been living in a mud home. Last year was transformative in more ways than one; Basanti’s son (the eldest of her three children) began pursuing his bachelor of arts degree. 

All these developments are symptoms of the successful farming model that allows Basanti to grow crops, particularly coriander, even in the off-season. 

Reasoning that coriander grows well in the winter months of October and November, Basanti says she would often experiment with growing it in the monsoon season as well. 

But these attempts were unsuccessful. “The heavy rains would damage the crop and wash it away, and all the money we spent on seeds would go to waste,” she explains. But last year, the net house technology by Kheyti, a company that designs farmer-friendly, climate-smart ecosystems, gave Basanti the confidence to dream beyond what she was comfortable with on home turf. 

She shares, “I used three kilograms of high-quality coriander seeds worth Rs 900 and prepared the field.” On 16 October 2025, she got her first off-season harvest, and over the course of the season, she harvested the crop eight times, collecting a total of 85 kilograms of fresh coriander, which she sold for Rs 150 per kg. 

The net house technology was installed on Basanti’s farm in 2023 with the support of TRI (Transform Rural India), an NGO that works to improve rural livelihoods by supporting farmers, promoting sustainable agriculture, and strengthening community institutions, and with technical guidance from the Kheyti team. “The more I started seeing the results of growing these crops, the more I wanted to learn about the technology,” she shares, adding that in time she also adopted a battery-operated sprayer to replace manual spraying; this reduced her labour and time while improving the accuracy of pesticide application. 

When tech combats climate change 

On any given day, if you were to stop by Basanti’s 1.2-acre field, you’d find her surrounded by women farmers eager to learn and understand how she’s reaping success with her farming techniques. They bond over the same woes. 

Basanti echoes these concerns: “Either the availability of water used to be a problem for us, or the crops would get affected by insects. But even when the factors were in our favour, we were unable to earn throughout the year.” 

While Basanti says the peas, beans, tomatoes, and potatoes she cultivated would bring in income, she admits she was always worried about the capricious climate dynamic and the toll it would take on the crops. But the net house technology has shifted the odds in her favour. 

Elaborating on this technology, Bapi Gorai, a senior practitioner at TRI, shares, “The Kheyti Rakshak Net House is a part of our Greenhouse-in-a-Box ecosystem. It helps farmers grow over 20 vegetables, herbs, fruits, and flowers profitably. The technology protects crops from harsh sunlight and reduces the temperature within the net house by three to five degrees Celsius. It protects crops from high-speed winds of up to 100 kmph, unpredictable rains, and reduces pest infestations by up to 90 percent.” 

He asks farmers to think of the net house as a portable technology that helps farmers grow vegetables throughout the year and produce three to four crops annually, instead of the usual one or two. 

A farmer’s first line of defence

Calling it a farmer’s first line of defence, Bapi says one of the most unique features of the net house is that it comes with a complimentary year-long agri advisory support service.  

He shares, “To ensure a smooth transition from an open-field farming system to the greenhouse system, we offer one year of free agronomy support to each farmer. Our on-field representatives and online advisory team work together with farmers and guide them on their way to climate-resilient farming.”

Bapi explains that between March and June — months characterised by high temperatures — the net house’s 30 percent shade-net provision reduces heat and creates conducive conditions for growing tomato, cucumber, chilli, okra, and bottle gourd. 

“From July to September, heavy rain and pest attacks are common. During this period, the net house protects crops and provides conducive conditions for growing tomato, beans, coriander, and spinach. In the winter months between October and January, the net house provides temperature and humidity control and allows crops like capsicum, cabbage, cauliflower, and strawberries to thrive.” 

Being able to grow crops off-season translates into better income for farmers like Basanti, who shares that she now earns around Rs 70,000 a year. The microbiome she has cultivated stands as proof of her perseverance and of how technology can transform harvests and livelihoods. 

All pictures courtesy TRI

Just as hospitals in Hyderabad begin to witness the morning footfall, their corridors are already alive with quiet urgency. Patients sit outside wards, relatives clutch prescription slips, and families who have travelled long distances wait anxiously for updates from doctors.

In parallel, one major struggle for patients and attendants is already taken care of — their next meal.

Thanks to Hyderabad’s ‘Foodman’.

For the past 10 years, he has been ensuring that no one around these hospitals has to go hungry. Through his free food distribution initiative, he serves nutritious meals every day to 200 to 400 people across government hospitals in the city — patients and their attendants who often spend days, sometimes weeks, seeking treatment.

https://www.instagram.com/thebetterindia/reel/DVXYb5YDHxW/ 

What began ten years ago as a simple act of social service has since grown into a sustained hunger relief mission.

Every morning, his day begins not at his workplace, but at hospital premises where people wait for warm, freshly prepared meals — a big pot of food and a long queue of people waiting to be served.

Only after completing this routine does he head to his corporate job, balancing professional responsibilities with a commitment he has upheld consistently for years.

Government hospitals in India often serve people from economically weaker sections who cannot afford private healthcare.

Many patients battling serious illnesses such as cancer, kidney failure, heart disease, and brain stroke arrive with relatives who stay by their side throughout the treatment process. In such circumstances, something as simple as a meal can become uncertain.

For some families, there are days when food is the last thing they can afford.

Recognising this reality, the Foodman made it his mission to ensure that those seeking care at hospitals do not have to endure hunger as well. His guiding belief is simple but powerful — no one should sleep hungry.

Over the years, his efforts have extended beyond hospital grounds. He also distributes meals to homeless individuals living on the streets, reaching people who often fall through the cracks of formal support systems. For him, the act is not merely about handing out food packets, but about serving meals with dignity and compassion.

Today, the Foodman’s work feeds hundreds every single day. Yet, for him, the goal stretches even further. His larger vision is to see Hyderabad become a hunger-free city.

In a world where acts of kindness are often fleeting, his routine continues day after day — proof that sustained compassion, carried forward with determination, can bring relief to countless lives.

Every Saturday, 400 residents of Tulip Violet Society line up with segregated waste — plastic, glass, milk pouches — all sorted at source.

In just two years, this community has prevented 15,000+ kilos of waste from reaching landfills.

It started with one resident, Divya Dhingra, who chose action over blame with support from One Step Greener.

Today, their small weekly habit sends 200–400 kilos of waste for recycling.

One housing society proved something powerful:
Real environmental change begins at home.

Imagine the impact if an entire city participated. ♻️

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#EnvironmentalImpact #GreenCommunities
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“Rice is cooked on people’s heads.” This is Varun Hegde’s favourite story to tell about the Shisharanni ritual as he escorts travellers into Goa’s villages every March, where the locals prepare to celebrate Shigmo — the harvest festival that heralds spring. 

Varun pauses to allow the dramatic gasp that always follows his tale. 

This story might seem unbelievable to those whose idea of the festival is coloured by the parades and floats that deck Goa’s streets. “That is one version of it,” confirms Varun, who leads cultural explorations at Soul Travelling — an initiative that specialises in offbeat tourism. But far removed from the chic masquerades is a more authentic interpretation of the festival, celebrated in the villages of Goa. 

This Shigmotsav, The Better India decided to explore it — through the eyes of Varun and photographer Daniel Dsouza, who have enjoyed a front-row seat to these esoteric, spirited gatherings that happen in the hinterlands.    

Homecoming of soldiers and Indian cupid lords 

March in Goa is a vibe. The month is considered a harbinger of good. The harvest could be one reason. As farmers set aside their ploughs, Goa dons her festive avatar, hopping into a cultural extravaganza. Crowds swarm the streets; folk music, dance, and mythological depictions add to the fanfare. 

Much has been written about this flamboyant side of Shigmo called ‘Vhadlo’, but much less about 'Dhakto Shigmo'. Celebrated in the villages, Dhakto includes equally overt demonstrations, albeit more deity-centric. The villages reverberate with the beats of the ghumat, dhol, mhadle and tashe (percussion instruments) as men invoke the Gods, giving thanks for the rich harvest. 

Both the city and village versions are a visual and auditory panorama. 

But at the core of Shigmo are rituals that reference its many lores: Holika being chased and immolated; the story of how she coaxed her brother, Hiranyakashyap, to inflict torture on his son Prahlad to stop him from chanting the name of the Lord; a story about the Indian cupid lord Kamadeva, and the homecoming of brave soldiers. 

And it is these rituals that Varun decodes — the significance behind the pomp. 

Flipping through Shigmo festivals  

Faith is at the core of Shigmo, Varun emphasises. He concluded this soon after his experience of the ‘Chorotsav’ festival in the Zarme village. Known as the ‘festival of thieves’, it sees the villagers atoning for their ancestors’ misdeeds. “The story goes that a few young men were beheaded in the village. To this day, the villagers enact the beheading, and the men who participate are actually buried too, (temporarily with their heads sticking out).”  

These rituals are not for the faint of heart. Putting the case into point, Varun shares about the 'Gadde' festival he participated in at Kudne village. “A day before Holi, the villagers start dancing around the Holi fire at midnight and go on till 6 am the next morning. No one is allowed to leave in between, nor is anyone allowed to switch on their phones.” The macabre ceremony is etched in Varun’s mind. “A hundred or so people dance around the fire. It is believed that when they are in a trance, a devchar (ghost) lures them into the forests with a burning lamp,” he says. 

Revisiting his claims that faith is central to these rituals, he points to the 'Lairai Zatra', which is celebrated in honour of the Goddess Shri Lairai, one of the deities of Shirgao village in Bicholim. The temple devotees dance around pyres, even running into them without thinking twice. “To witness or participate in such rituals, your beliefs must be strong. The villagers consider these things an honour. They are not afraid.” 

This intrepid energy is conveyed in the pictures captured by Daniel. These snapshots bring this lesser-seen side of Shigmo out of the shadows. Calling the festivals “deep-rooted”, Daniel says each has its unique traits. Take, for instance, 'Xeni Uzzo', which is celebrated by the villagers of Malcornem as they thank the harvest Gods. Men ascend areca nut palms, tossing flaming sheni (cow dung) cakes at each other, as bare-chested men dance amid the burning cakes hurtling around them. Faith vests them with this daredevil spirit. 

“It’s almost like being on a set of ‘Game of Thrones’,” Daniel says, drawing parallels with the American fantasy drama series.  There are numerous other festivals in the Shigmo repository. These include Shidyotsav, where a chosen someone dangles from a rotating log suspended from a 30-foot vertical pole; Karvalyo, which celebrates womanhood; Viramel, a martial arts performance; and Ghode Modni, which sees dancers carrying wooden horse effigies and wielding naked swords — an ode to Goa’s warrior past. 

As the festival of Shigmo kicks off, Goa readies herself for a makeover. And it promises to be beautiful. 

Edited by Khushi Arora 

Sources 

Shigmo Festival Goa: Everything you need to know! by Sharvani Chandvale, Published on 24 March 2024.

Shigmotsav by Ministry of Tourism.

History of Shigmo Festival: by Society for the Confluence of Festivals in India, Published on 24 March 2024.

In Varanasi, where the Ganga River murmurs age‑old prayers and pilgrims circle life’s biggest rites, an unlikely artist is weaving magic from the city’s overlooked remains. At 75, Rajkumar walks the ghats with a practised eye, gathering what most would dismiss as refuse, discarded wedding cards, broken bangles, frayed paper, and stray scraps of metal and cloth.

To the casual observer, these are remnants of rituals, celebrations and daily life, detritus left in the wake of devotees and tourists. But in Rajkumar’s weathered palms, they carry stories waiting to be told. With patience and an intuitive sense of form, he turns this ‘rubbish’ into intricate art. Each piece he creates is proof of his belief that sustainability need not be a new idea; in India, such resourcefulness has long been part of daily life and tradition.

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As his creations take shape, fragments of forgotten ceremonies and broken adornments are reborn as wall hangings, sculptures, and decorative artefacts. Locals and visitors alike pause to watch him work, drawn by the poetry of his craft and the vivid colours rising from the rubble. As the lines between material and meaning blur, what was once dismissed as waste turns into a mirror of human experience, culture and continuity.

In Rajkumar’s world, nothing is truly worthless. Instead, every discarded object holds the potential for beauty and a chance to remind us that life’s ‘waste’ can speak volumes if we take the time to look.

The soil is soft and warm, sunlight dances on tiny leaves, and eager little hands press seeds gently into the earth. Few experiences are as magical as planting a seed and witnessing it awaken into life. 

Gardening turns ordinary afternoons into moments of revelation, patience, and delight. Among vegetables, radishes are ideal for young gardeners because they are fast-growing, low-maintenance, and wonderfully rewarding.

Why radishes are advantageous for young gardeners

Radishes flourish faster, need minimal care, and produce crisp, colourful roots that children can harvest in a matter of weeks. Beyond the thrill of watching plants grow, cultivating radishes teaches essential lessons in observation and responsibility. 

Children learn how seeds germinate, how roots and leaves develop, and how sunlight and water nurture life. It is an education embedded in curiosity, care, and a tangible connection to nature.

Step-by-step guide to growing radishes

1. Choose the right spot

Select a sunny location that receives four to six hours of light daily. Radishes survive in loose, nutrient-rich soil. For homes with limited outdoor space, containers or raised beds work perfectly.

2. Prepare the soil

Invite children to help loosen the soil and mix in compost. This experiential task teaches the importance of soil health and how proper preparation encourages strong growth.

3. Sow the seeds

You can guide young gardeners to place each seed gently into the soil at a depth of one to two centimetres, leaving space between them. This task promotes patience, careful observation, and a sense of responsibility.

4. Water gently

Radishes require steady moisture but dislike waterlogged soil. Children can help water with a small can, learning the balance between too little and too much, and the value of regular attention.

5. Watch and record

Within a week, tiny green shoots appear. Teach children to note changes, measure growth, and even draw little garden diaries. Such careful observation promotes patience and curiosity among small kids doing this for the first time.

6. Thin the seedlings

When seedlings reach a few centimetres, remove the weaker plants to prevent overcrowding. This is important because when seedlings are crowded, they compete for sunlight, water, and nutrients. 

This competition can stunt growth, cause weaker plants to wither, and reduce the overall health of the crop. 

By removing the smaller or weaker seedlings, called thinning, you give the remaining plants enough space to develop strong roots and leaves. For children, this step is an important lesson in cause and effect. Caring for plants means making thoughtful decisions to support healthy growth, not just planting seeds and waiting. 

7. Harvest the radishes

In three to four weeks, the radishes are ready to be harvested. Show children how to lift the roots gently from the soil. The satisfaction of eating a vegetable they grew themselves is unmatched, reinforcing the connection between effort and reward.

Lessons beyond gardening

Radishes grow quickly, its influence lingers well beyond the garden bed. Tending to radishes acquaints children with the discipline of routine and the satisfaction of consistent effort. They begin to understand that living things respond to care, and that small, regular actions shape meaningful outcomes.

Tips for a successful garden

• Rotate crops to keep the soil fertile.
• Use natural remedies, such as neem water, to control pests.
• Celebrate every sprout, every leaf, and every harvest.

With just a small patch of soil, a handful of seeds, and attentive care, young gardeners can witness radishes grow within weeks. 

Not Delhi. Not Mumbai.

India’s most efficient public transport success story might just be in Bhubaneswar.

Instead of chasing expensive metro projects, the city upgraded its buses through the Mo Bus initiative — focusing on accessibility, safety, and reliability.

✔ CCTV & panic buttons
✔ Real-time GPS tracking
✔ Clean, modern bus shelters
✔ Seamless last-mile e-rickshaws
✔ 40% women conductors
✔ 200% ridership growth
✔ 57% shift from private vehicles

The result? Cleaner air. Safer streets. More trust in public transport.

While other cities debate infrastructure, Bhubaneswar quietly built a scalable urban mobility model.

If Bhubaneswar can do it — why can’t your city?

Tell us in the comments.

#Bhubaneswar #MoBus #PublicTransportIndia
#UrbanMobility #SmartCityIndia #SustainableCities
#Odisha #CleanAir #CityPlanning
#WomenInTransport #UrbanInnovation #solutionaries

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It is an image that has stayed with his granddaughter for years.

At a commemorative concert last year, as stories flowed late into the evening, Shruti Chatur Lal, the granddaughter of ‘Tabla Wizard’ Pandit Chatur Lal, recalled an incident from 1958 shared by industrialist Surendra Malhotra.

At a house gathering that began at 7 pm, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Pandit Chatur Lal became so immersed in music that they played until 4 am. At some point, Chatur Lal’s knuckles began to bleed from hours of relentless playing. A doctor present insisted on bandaging his hands.

“But my grandfather said the guests would not find transport at that hour,” Shruti recounts. “So he continued to play, even with a bandaged hand, until the sun properly rose.”

The story is less about spectacle and more about devotion to music. “For him, music was not performance alone,” Shruti says. “It was love for his craft.”

As India marks the 100th birth anniversary of Pandit Chatur Lal, born on 16 April 1925 in Udaipur, Rajasthan, the centenary is not simply a remembrance of his mastery.

It is also the story of a family that has kept his legacy alive.

The man who carried the tabla across oceans

In the 1950s, when Indian classical music was only beginning to find a global audience, Pandit Chatur Lal stood at its frontier. Touring with luminaries such as Pandit Ravi Shankar and Baba Allauddin Khan, he helped introduce the tabla to audiences unfamiliar with it.

He performed at prestigious institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Rockefeller Centre in 1955, facilitated in part by violinist Yehudi Menuhin, whose advocacy opened Western stages to Indian musicians.

In 1957, Hollywood’s World Pacific Records released his solo LP, The Drums of India, a landmark that positioned the tabla not merely as an accompaniment, but as a compelling solo instrument.

That same year, he made music for the Canadian short film A Chairy Tale, which went on to receive a Special BAFTA Award.

He also collaborated with Western jazz musicians at a time when such exchanges were rare, essentially laying the foundations for what would later be called fusion music.

Yet his career was heartbreakingly brief. On 14 October 1965, at just 39, he died at Lady Irwin Hospital in Delhi due to complications arising from jaundice.

On the day he died, there was mourning not only in India but also in Germany.

A road carpeted in flowers

For his eldest son, Pandit Charanjit Chatur Lal, the defining memory of his father is not from any stage but from a street.

“I was just nine years old when my father passed away,” he says. “When his body was brought home from the hospital, the road connecting our house to the main street was completely covered in flowers. There was a huge crowd gathered to have a last glimpse of him.”

After his father’s death, Pandit Charanjit Chatur Lal learnt music, becoming a percussionist himself. He started the Pandit Chatur Lal Memorial Society and registered it in 1990. Through annual festivals, awards, and curated performances, the Society has kept his name in circulation within India’s classical music landscape.

Taa Dhaa: A house that breathes memory

The most intimate tribute to Pandit Chatur Lal stands in New Delhi in the form of Taa Dhaa, perhaps the first museum in India dedicated to a percussionist.

The name is layered with affection. “Taa” was what the family called him and “Dhaa” is the first syllable of tabla.

The museum occupies the very home Pandit Chatur Lal built. Because it is a house-cum-museum, visits are currently by appointment only and can be arranged via email.

Inside, display cases hold his personal effects: a bar of soap purchased in Paris and used in his final days, gold kurta buttons, fountain pens, passports, and concert memorabilia from around the world.

In a small adjoining closet are photographs of gods and goddesses, and a rudraksha mala used during prayer.

“No matter how busy he was,” Pandit Charanjit Chatur Lal says, “every Tuesday he would stand on one foot for an hour to worship Lord Hanuman.”

Carpets gifted by the Shah of Iran and the King of Afghanistan hang on the walls. An old refrigerator presented by German scholar Dr Lothar Lutze still functions, a reminder of friendships forged abroad.

The Papa Jo Jones tape: A dialogue across drums

Among the museum’s most extraordinary artefacts is a 13 mm tape documenting a duet between Pandit Chatur Lal and American jazz legend Papa Jo Jones — believed to be the first-ever jugalbandi between Eastern and Western drum instruments.

Shruti describes the jugalbandi as an impromptu performance. “It was spontaneous and unrehearsed, built purely on understanding each other’s music and mutual respect. That East–West dialogue was groundbreaking in the 1950s.”

The performance recording was preserved at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The family discovered its existence while researching his international performances and formally requested a copy. With assistance from the American Embassy, it was sent to India through diplomatic channels.

Today, the tape exists in only two places in the world: the Library of Congress and Taa Dhaa. It is a collector’s item and cannot be displayed or circulated elsewhere.

Despite Pandit Chatur Lal’s remarkable achievements, there is a gap between his international acclaim and domestic popularity.

“Perhaps because he passed away so young, not many people know about him. But within the music fraternity in India,” Shruti notes, “the respect is profound.”

This centenary, then, is both remembrance and public reclamation.

Children of rhythm

Music education in the Chatur Lal family begins early. Both Shruti and her younger brother, Pranshu, were introduced to music as toddlers.

Pranshu began playing the tabla at three and a half. At seven, he travelled to the United States to perform at the Tennessee Jazz Festival, becoming its youngest performer at the time.

Shruti remembers summer vacations when practice would begin at 6 am and continue in multiple sessions throughout the day. “He was completely immersed and would practise for six or seven hours,” she says of her brother, who now plays in India and around the world.

For Pranshu, inheritance required intention. “I grew up surrounded by music, but choosing it professionally was a decision I had to arrive at on my own. Legacy alone cannot sustain you; only dedication can.”

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A post shared by Pranshu Chatur Lal (@pranshu.chaturlal.official)

He is clear about the balance between homage and individuality. “I don’t try to replicate my grandfather or father,” Pranshu explains. “I try to carry forward his belief that music must serve humanity. However, my sound is shaped by my own generation, experiences, and collaborations.”

That generational imprint is visible in his work with his band Brahmaand, where classical foundations meet contemporary sensibilities.

Shruti, while trained in tabla and sitar, moved from active performing to organising. “Growing up around concert organisation influenced me deeply, though I remain interested in music,” she says of taking up responsibilities as director of the Pandit Chatur Lal Festival.

Festivals, awards, and a growing audience

Through the Pandit Chatur Lal Memorial Society, the family has organised concerts for over four decades, honouring his birth anniversary each April.

The Pandit Chatur Lal Excellence Award, originally initiated by the American Embassy in 1965, has been conferred upon legends such as M Balamuralikrishna, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Vyjayanthimala, Sitara Devi, Birju Maharaj, and others.

Over the years, the demographic of classical music audiences has shifted. Increased outreach and digital visibility have brought younger audiences into auditoriums that once felt niche.

Shruti observes that the family’s sustained efforts in the form of festivals, centenary initiatives, and outreach events have expanded the footprint of classical percussion.

A packed hall, and children on stage

At the 28th Amar Jyoti concert in August 2025, presented as a tribute to India’s armed forces under the Pandit Chatur Lal Festival banner, the hall filled quickly.

Latecomers lined the aisles, many of them youngsters. When no seats remained, the organisers guided them to sit cross-legged on the stage, just steps away from the artists.

Among the performers was Pranshu, presenting both classical repertoire and collaborative pieces with his band Brahmaand. After the performance, the applause was electric, Shruti recalls.

For the Chatur Lal family, the sight of youngsters sitting on a stage to hear the tabla was confirmation that their family’s musical legacy was not lost.

The knuckles that once bled in devotion may have stilled, but their rhythm continues to inspire new musicians and attract new listeners.

Nakuul Mehta and Jankee Mehta are changing the way Indian parents think about raising children. Instead of asking children what they want to become, they focus on who they want to be.

Through The Indian Parent Pod, they promote conscious parenting by prioritising curiosity values emotional safety and character over marks salaries and social status. Their approach challenges traditional success driven parenting and encourages parents to focus on self worth beyond achievements.

The conversation highlights that parenting is not about perfection or control but about presence consistency and raising emotionally secure individuals rather than impressive resumes. It also addresses modern parenting challenges generational conditioning and the importance of equal parenting roles.

#NakuulMehta #JankeeMehta #ConsciousParenting #IndianParents #ParentingTalks

[Gentle parenting India, Conscious parenting strategies, Modern Indian parenting, Breaking generational trauma, Parenting values over success]

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Originally reported and written in June 2025, this story has been republished as part of our archival content.

Every year, devoted travellers set out on pilgrimage routes in bustling, picturesque landscapes of the country, some on foot, some on the back of equines. Thousands of equines — horses, mules, and donkeys — are burdened not only by their heavy loads but also by exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition. In the holy air, where one seeks peace, these sentient beings fight their silent battles against neglect and cruelty.

“A particularly distressing incident comes to my mind: two horses, pulling a cart, collapsed from sheer exhaustion near Dehradun. Instead of empathy, their owner resorted to desperate measures. He lit paper near their noses to induce panic and force them back to work. Such is the plight of these weary travellers, working on the brink of death just to survive another day,” shares Gauri Maulekhi with The Better India.

She further highlights that the plight of equines on pilgrimage routes presents a challenging and heartbreaking scenario. “About 40,000 to 50,000 equines are used on popular pilgrimage routes, such as Chardham and Vaishno Devi, where they face neglect and abuse.” 

In her words, “dying out of exhaustion is the worst kind of death,” and her endeavours strive to eradicate such inhumane practices.

 

A torchbearer of animal compassion, when Gauri learnt about the incident and suffering, she could not stand idly. Driven by empathy and determination, she approached the situation with a strategic resolve that promised change.

She didn’t just speak up; she took action. Taking her fight to the legal system, she caught the eye of the Uttarakhand High Court. From there, she pushed tirelessly for change, helping set a precedent for how equines should be treated. More than just a protestor, she wanted to make sure that these animals were getting the care they deserved.

She set up the sole equine sanctuary in Uttarakhand to provide refuge to disabled, injured, and abandoned animals. “Collaborating with local administrations, we ensured that only healthy, registered equines serve these routes, and that effective complaint systems are in place where previously there were none,” she adds.

Gauri’s work is not merely about rescue and rehabilitation; it’s about restoring dignity to the lives of equines, and reminding the world that compassion must extend to all beings. 

Beyond rescue: campaigns that change the status quo

It was during the late 1990s when young Gauri faced a profound personal tragedy that set her on this transformative journey. It was the untimely death of her beloved pet due to the lack of accessible veterinary care that opened her eyes to the world of animal welfare.

This heart-wrenching experience, along with her yearning to do something larger than life, planted the seed for what would become a lifelong dedication to the voiceless residents of our planet.

 

She’s not just driven by emotion. She’s standing up to apathy and ignorance, the quiet reasons why so many animals are still suffering. 

Starting her journey as a volunteer, Gauri’s initial steps were exploratory rather than decisive. Over 18 years, she juggled various careers — from teaching to radio jockeying, from software to theatre — but always returning to the humble shelter where her earnings found a meaningful end.

It didn’t happen overnight. It was a slow build where a series of small but meaningful wins for animals led her to start People for Animals, Uttarakhand in 2012. For her, it wasn’t just about rescue work. She wanted to tackle the bigger issues too, like outdated beliefs and broken systems that kept animals at risk.

“Before our interventions, Uttarakhand was marred by unchecked animal sadism — over a lakh animals were sacrificed annually in temple rituals, animal birth control was non-existent, and the forest department lacked even a single veterinarian. By building alliances with the government and judicial systems, we set up wildlife rescue centres and animal birth control centres,” she points out.

Her approach is strategic while being rooted in compassion. Through training police officers, administrators, and veterinary officials, she equips the state machinery to handle animal welfare with empathy and efficiency.

“We emphasise a collaborative approach and work closely with officials to improve conditions on the ground. This has included deploying a team to assist with health checks and ensuring that only registered, healthy equines are allowed to serve on pilgrimage routes. Such collaborations ensure that our strategies outlast a direct involvement and create a sustainable impact structure,” she adds.

 

Dr Satish Joshi, Chief Veterinary Officer of Dehradun, has been pivotal in advancing animal welfare in Uttarakhand with Gauri’s support for 20 years. “Their training included an in-depth understanding of the Animal Husbandry Act, the Animal Cruelty Act, and the necessary documentation for enforcement,” he says. In India, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960 addresses cruelty towards equines, encompassing various forms of animal abuse.

Dr Satish, continues to share, “I was stationed in Vikas Nagar where active cooperation with the police and administration was necessary due to frequent cases of animal rights infringements. As veterinarians, having complete information about regulatory procedures has been vital. The support we received from Gauri was essential in ensuring that operations were conducted legally and respectfully.”

Dr Satish says the government’s role is of paramount importance as they conduct disease surveillance, random sampling for equine influenza and glanders, and provide requisite treatments. “Despite the challenges, particularly in regions like Kedarnath and Yamunotri, our veterinary officers, alongside Gauri’s team, sustain commendable efforts to safeguard animal welfare. Our team in Uttarakhand’s Animal Husbandry Department remains dedicated and skilled, often overcoming immense obstacles to deliver essential care,” he adds.

AHIMSA Fellowship: the road to building an empathetic community 

A shortage of skilled advocates led to the inception of the AHIMSA Fellowship, a programme designed to train the next generation of animal welfare experts. The fellowship not only imparts legal knowledge but emphasises experiential learning and strategic communication with governments and industries.

 

This eight-month fellowship stands out by training individuals in their own states, empowering them with skills to address local issues while collaborating with a national network of mentors and experts.

Delhi-based Sanna Singh, who has been committed to animal welfare since 2019, was part of 2023-24 cohort. Sharing her experience, Sanna says, “The fellowship begins with online sessions followed by in-depth, in-person workshops, providing participants with comprehensive knowledge of animal welfare laws and strategies to influence policy changes. I learnt to leverage my skills to work with government authorities, tackling large-scale issues within the dairy and pig industries.”

The fellowship isn’t just about learning theory. It gives fellows hands-on projects and real assignments they can work on in their own regions. This way, they’re doing more than just theoretical learning. Instead, they’re making a real impact from the start. And the best part? The work doesn’t stop when the fellowship ends. Just like Sanna, many continue pushing for change long after the program, helping improve lives for countless animals.

“I first got involved in animal welfare around 2019, in the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by a longstanding passion for the social sector. For me, it felt like a calling. The AHIMSA Fellowship allowed me to take this passion further by providing the right mentorship and direction,” she says.

“Prior to this, my efforts were focused on rescuing individual animals like cats and dogs. However, the fellowship has empowered me to work on a much larger scale, influencing policies that can improve the lives of countless animals. It taught me the importance of understanding and leveraging laws, and although the process requires patience, the potential for lasting impact is significant,” she adds.

 

As part of the fellowship, 59 fellows have been trained to work in animal protection sectors. As per their records, about lives of 50 lakh animals have been impacted, over 5,000 govt officials sensitised, and at least 50,000 volunteers have been trained in other training sessions.

While these stats suggest that the impact is significant, Guari views this as merely “scratching the surface”. Her aspirations go beyond rescue and rehabilitation; she envisions a paradigm shift in how society perceives animal welfare.

Commenting on the distressing incident of those two horses near Dehradun, Gauri says: “They now live with us, happy and healthy, still maintaining their close bond with one another. However, many such equines experience death through exhaustion, which is unimaginably cruel and akin to being worked to death — a fate no being deserves.”

“But this is the grim reality for many of these animals, and there are far too few that I can personally assist. Therefore, we conceptualised the Fellowship to extend this help and awareness across the globe, reaching everyone with the power to make a difference,” she urges.

Edited by Saumya Singh; All images courtesy: People for Animals, Uttarakhand & PFA-PPF

Although detrimental to the environment, plastic packaging is used tremendously by consumers due to its high durability. Most of this waste ends up in landfills and water bodies, causing harm to biodiversity. But Mumbai-based Neha Jain has come up with an eco-friendly alternative.

She makes low-cost packaging that can dissolve in water. Surprisingly, these are made using seaweed!

It was after working at Google for five years that she decided to quit her job and work in the sustainable segment.

During her research, she came across a unique species that could change the face of plastic consumption in the country — seaweed. It is a species of marine plants and algae found in the ocean and does not require energy to be grown or even fertiliser, fresh water, or soil.

In 2020, she started converting various species of seaweed into low-cost packaging and launched Zerocircle, a material science startup. The team procures seaweed from farms in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. They turn it into a powder and make handbags, bags for clothes, film for food, and more plastic alternatives.

The packaging is soluble and dissolves in the ocean without leaving any microplastic causing no harm to the biodiversity.

Watch her journey of making 100 percent ocean-safe packaging here: 

After Holi, the streets of Vrindavan were covered in plastic and thermocol.

11-year-old Rada from Ukraine couldn’t ignore it.

With gloves, a trash bag, and her father Max — a former Paralympic swimmer — she began cleaning the sacred streets. What started as two people picking up waste has now grown into the Clean Vrindavan Project, a volunteer-driven movement removing tonnes of Holi waste.

In a town revered for devotion and faith, this young environmentalist reminded us:

Devotion isn’t just prayer. It’s responsibility.

If an 11-year-old visiting from another country can protect Vrindavan, can’t we protect our own sacred spaces?

What do you think? Comment below.

#Holi2026 #Vrindavan #CleanVrindavan
#SwachhBharat #EnvironmentalHeroes #YouthForChange
#PlasticFreeIndia #SustainableHoli
#CleanIndia #SacredSpaces
#ClimateAction #PositiveIndia
#HoliAftermath #GreenFuture

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We’re conditioned to believe that breakthrough ideas belong to the young — that disruption is a young person’s sport, powered by speed, risk, and restless ambition. But every so often, a story quietly challenges that narrative. It reminds us that experience can be just as revolutionary as energy and that clarity can be more powerful than chaos.

The journey of Falguni Nayar, founder of Nykaa, is one such story. At 50, when most professionals are thinking about legacy, she chose reinvention. What followed was not just the rise of a beauty brand but the creation of a cultural and commercial force that reshaped how India shops for beauty.

A foundation built in Mumbai

Born and raised in Mumbai, Falguni grew up in a Gujarati business family where conversations about margins and markets were commonplace. Watching her father run a small bearings company instilled in her a sharp understanding of entrepreneurship early on.

She pursued commerce at Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics before earning her MBA from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. Her corporate journey began in finance, eventually leading her to Kotak Mahindra Group, where she spent nearly two decades. Rising to become the Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Capital, she advised leading Indian companies on IPOs and strategic growth.

By all accounts, she had built a formidable career. But somewhere along the way, she began to ask a question that changed everything: What next?

2012: Starting over with a clear vision

In 2012, Falguni incorporated FSN E-Commerce Ventures Private Limited, laying the foundation for Nykaa. The Indian beauty market was fragmented, offline-dominated, and largely unorganised. Online beauty retail, as we know it today, barely existed.

Nykaa began as a digital-first platform focused on authenticity and education. Instead of simply selling products, it invested in tutorials, reviews, and content that helped customers make informed choices. Trust became its currency.

By 2014, the brand took a bold step offline, opening its first physical store — signalling its belief in an omnichannel future long before it became a buzzword. A year later, it launched its own label, Nykaa Cosmetics, moving from marketplace to brand builder. Around the same time, the Nykaa Femina Beauty Awards strengthened its position as a serious authority in the beauty ecosystem.

Growth was steady but strategic. In 2018, actor Janhvi Kapoor came on board as its first brand ambassador, giving the company a stronger pop-cultural presence. By 2020, Nykaa had achieved unicorn status — a billion-dollar valuation milestone — and diversified further with the launch of Nykd by Nykaa, expanding into intimate wear.

From unicorn to listed giant

The momentum continued. In 2021, Nykaa’s IPO opened for subscription and received an overwhelming response, marking its transition into a publicly listed company. It wasn’t just a financial milestone; it was symbolic. Falguni Nayar became one of India’s richest self-made women billionaires — a rare feat in a startup landscape often dominated by younger founders.

Expansion didn’t slow. By 2022, Nykaa had launched its 100th retail store, deepening its offline footprint across the country. In 2023, it introduced Nyveda, an Ayurveda-focused brand tapping into India’s growing interest in holistic beauty. By the end of FY23, Nykaa had crossed a cumulative customer base of 24 million — a staggering number for a company that began as a single bold idea.

Reinvention has no expiry date

Falguni Nayar’s journey is not just a startup story; it’s a masterclass in timing, patience, and perspective. She didn’t build Nykaa on impulse. She built it on decades of understanding capital markets, consumer behaviour, and sustainable growth.

Her story reminds us that entrepreneurship doesn’t have an age limit. That experience can be a founder’s greatest asset. And that sometimes, the most disruptive move you can make is to start again — not because you have to, but because you dare to.

In a world obsessed with early success, Falguni Nayar proves that clarity, conviction, and courage only get stronger with time.

Sources:

Nykaa

Geeta University Blog

This Holi, it’s not just about colours in the air — it’s about colours on forgotten walls. 🌈

Meet Manmauji — once a child who couldn’t afford school, now transforming Delhi’s bastis into open-air galleries of hope.

Each mural reflects a child’s dream — pilot, singer, scientist.
With leftover paint, his own savings, and unwavering belief, he’s turning grey lanes into vibrant futures.

Because Holi isn’t just a festival of colours —
it’s a reminder that every child deserves a brighter tomorrow.

Would you celebrate Holi like this? 💛
Tell us below.

#Holi2026 #HoliSpecial #FestivalOfColours
#Manmauji #Delhi #ArtForChange
#InspiringIndia #PositiveStories #ColourOfHope
#ChangeMakers #CommunityArt #HoliInspiration
#DelhiStories #DreamBigIndia #SocialImpact

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Originally reported and written in September 2025, this story has been republished as part of our archival content.

It was an unseasonal spell of October rain that flattened a cabbage crop in a Vadodara school. A group of children stood speechless before it, then tears rolled down their cheeks. Weeks of careful tending had been washed away in a single downpour.

For Hitarth Pandya, who had guided them through the process, this was proof that his experiment was working. “They didn’t need a lesson on empathy or food waste,” he says. “They had experienced it first-hand.”

That moment captures the essence of Pandya’s Kids for the Environment Development Initiative (KEDI). What began in 2016 as a semester-long farming module in one school has now reached nearly 20,000 children across five schools in Vadodara. Two of these schools have even adopted it as part of their eco club activities.

Why a journalist left the newsroom to nurture young environmentalists

Pandya didn’t start as a teacher. For nearly a decade, he worked in the newsrooms of The Times of India, The Indian Express and Divya Bhaskar. His bylines told stories of forests cleared for highways, migratory birds dying in wetlands, leopards straying into villages, and farmers battling distress.

But one question lingered: “What changed after these stories were published?”

Convinced that words alone weren’t enough, he left journalism and corporate communications. His new audience would be children.

“The turning point was in 2012,” Hitarth recalls. “I questioned: Did the stories matter? Did they create any impact? By August 2015, I quit journalism in search of a more meaningful and impactful endeavour.”

Why farming?

“I worked on the idea of immediate gratification,” he explains. “Children were growing up watching Cartoon Network. Why would they sit through a 30-minute lecture? Farming shows the growth of plants, providing dopamine to hook their attention.”

Learning through seeds, skits and stories instead of tests

His first opportunity came at St Kabir School in 2016. Instead of learning farming from textbooks, students got their hands dirty in the soil.

The learning grew step by step — Class 4 students began with farming, followed by insects in Class 5, then birds, trees, and water. One layer of the ecosystem naturally led into the next.

“The focus was always on learning, not assessment,” says Hitarth. “Until 2023, there were no paper-pencil tests at St Kabir. Children showcased learning by drawing, skits, songs, and even documentaries. A workshop on birds once inspired students to make a film on how sparrows could return.”

Students agree. “By being in the field, we understand the entire ecosystem and how these are interrelated. I explain this to my cousins and friends,” says Nandani, who has studied with Hitarth for five years.

At Tejas Vidyalaya, principal Lina Shajy puts it simply: “One 70-minute session with Hitarth equals 100 hours of textbook learning.”

From classrooms to mandis: Teaching children the economics of farming

KEDI also introduces children to the economics of farming. The KEDI Haat is a vegetable market run entirely by students.

Teams form naturally — one haggles like a vendor, another tallies accounts, a third shouts out prices. Students track mandi rates, compare them with supermarket prices, and then sell their own produce.

“Students quickly learn the difference between the cost of vegetables they buy and the profit a farmer actually earns,” Hitarth explains.

Each year at the KEDI Mela, children sell around 2,000 kg of terrace-grown greens and 3,500 kg of soil-grown vegetables. Teachers say the lessons show in small actions too — students pouring leftover water from their bottles at the roots of school trees.

The Harvest Festival became another way to measure outcomes. Vegetables grown were cooked collectively in a Sanjha Chullha (community kitchen), with each child bringing chapatis from home.

“Students ate all vegetables, whether they liked them or not,” recalls principal Swati Khot. “Even urban parents living in apartments began experimenting with balcony kitchen gardens.”

Encouraged by such visible impact, more schools began joining the initiative. From one school, KEDI has now spread to Tejas Vidyalaya, D R Amin, and OneWorld School. Where space or schedules were tight, Hitarth innovated.

From Sonam Wangchuk’s advice to wider recognition

In April 2019, education reformer Sonam Wangchuk suggested tweaking the model without losing its core. Hitarth responded with a three-month, one-and-a-half-hour module.

When schools lacked farming fields, he used resources developed at home to demonstrate techniques. OneWorld School adopted this renewed model in 2024.

The success of this adaptable approach soon drew wider attention. His expertise has since been recognised by Gujarat’s Department of Science & Technology, Rajasthan’s SCERT, and DIET Vadodara, which invited him to train teachers.

A passion project that grew into a larger vision for education

From reporting on environmental decline to teaching children to protect the environment, Pandya’s shift has been clear. The cabbage crop may have been lost to rain, but for him, the lesson was a gain: children once detached from farming now knew what it meant to nurture — and lose — a harvest.

“I implemented KEDI without any personal financial gains for the first few years — it was pure passion,” he says. “Now, I see the bigger picture. My vision is to focus on training teachers and communities, while also teaching children multiple subjects in innovative ways.

“The real challenge is breaking silos: a math teacher rarely sees the art in math, or the math in art. That has to change.”

Students echo his belief. Swara, who has studied with Hitarth for two years, says, “Amir ho ya gareeb, khana to sabhi khet se hi khate hai (Rich or poor, everyone eats food that comes from the farm).”

Co-written by Vandana Talegaonkar, associate professor, and Darshan Desai, professor-of-practice at Navrachana University and founder-editor at Development News Network (DNN).

Edited by Pranita Bhat

Loved the fierce Ranabaali look of Vijay Deverakonda?

It draws from one of the darkest chapters in Indian history — the Great Famine of 1876–1878, which claimed millions of lives during the British Raj.

As drought devastated Rayalaseema and large parts of South India, grain exports continued and rigid colonial policies worsened the crisis.

The film, also starring Rashmika Mandanna, echoes stories of famine-stricken communities who resisted oppressive taxation and looted hoarded grain — acts of survival rarely recorded in colonial archives but preserved in local folklore.

These are histories many were never taught in school.

Were you? Comment below.

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#GreatFamine1876 #IndianHistory #BritishRaj
#UntoldHistory #ColonialIndia #Rayalaseema
#HistoryRevealed #SouthIndianHistory
#ForgottenStories #IndianCinema

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Last year was particularly tough for Varsha Dhanavade, a farmer from Maharashtra’s Mhaswad. Despite a bountiful harvest of pomegranates — Varsha’s three-acre orchard has nearly 1,000 pomegranate trees — she was unable to sell most of them. 

As the middlemen reasoned with her, no customer in a high-end market would be interested in buying pomegranates that had blemishes, even if their sweetness were intact. “Customers want pomegranates that are shiny and good. And so, we lose a lot of money,” Varsha explains. 

The ‘perfect’ pomegranates give stiff competition to others that aren’t as ‘good-looking’.  

In the hope that the fruits will eventually find buyers, farmers like Varsha stock them. But this isn’t a viable option either, as, eventually, the fruits begin to rot. “It is really sad,” Varsha shares. “We spend so much money on irrigation, fertilisers, and growing the crop. When it rots, it is like watching all our money go to waste.” 

This then has a ripple effect on the farmers’ lives. It translates into loss of opportunities and hinders their chances to dream big. 

This Women’s Day, we want this to change. The Better India, in collaboration with Mann Deshi Foundation, wants to ensure women in Maharashtra’s most vulnerable villages get access to solar dehydrators, which will help them process the harvested fruits to avoid post-harvest crop spoilage.  

Donate Now

These women farmers belong to Satara, Sangli, and Solapur districts of Maharashtra, and are supported by the Mann Deshi Agriculture Centre that helps them with adopting a scientific and sustainable orchard management approach. 

Since 1996, the foundation has been empowering women with knowledge, capital, market linkages, and social support, helping them to gain control over their finances. 

The solar dehydrator is another step in this endeavour. 

How will your donation help the women?

As per a report, Indian farmers incur Rs 92,651 crore per year in post-harvest losses. 

We turn our gaze towards Maharashtra’s Satara, Sangli, and Solapur districts, where the real faces of climate resilience are visible in the form of the women farmers who grapple with produce losses due to heat waves, unseasonal rains, and insect attacks. 

In Maharashtra, post-harvest losses in fruits are more than just statistics; they represent months of a farmer’s labour wasted. Growers of mangoes, grapes, and pomegranates often watch a portion of their harvest spoil due to poor storage, delayed transport, and limited market access. 

For small farmers, this can mean lost income and mounting debt. Investing in fruit processing, turning fresh produce into pulp, juice, or dried products, not only reduces waste but also extends shelf life, stabilises prices, and ensures farmers earn more from what they grow.

While sun-drying is a technique rampant in Maharashtra, Nidhi Pant, co-founder of S4S Technologies, an agritech startup that provides solar-powered dehydrators to women farmers to help them increase the shelf-life of agricultural produce, shares in an interview with Mongabay-India, “Direct sun drying results in the heat spreading unevenly, and it takes about six to seven days to thoroughly dry the produce. In this process, it is susceptible to fungus growth and other environmental challenges.” 

This is where a solar dehydrator can help. 

“Solar dehydrators can do this [the drying of the produce] in six to eight hours. The colour, texture, and aroma can be matched with the industry requirements, and it is more hygienic, and the nutrition is retained,” Nidhi explains. 

While protecting the produce from secondary contamination by rain, dust, insects, rodents, or birds, the fruits are dried using hot air. Not only is this one way to help the produce weather the effects of changing climate patterns, but it also offers the slightly blemished produce a lifeline. 

Through the duration of the campaign, the Mann Deshi Foundation will select the beneficiary farmers based on need, farming activity, and readiness to adopt technology. They will take care of the procurement, installation, setup, on-ground coordination, demonstrations, and initial technical support for each unit. 

Practical orientations will be conducted for women farmers on safe usage, basic maintenance, and maximising benefits for farming and enterprise use. 

Helping women farmers dream

The United Nations declared 2026 the International Year of the Woman Farmer. While playing the role of stalwarts in India’s agrarian economy across agrifood systems, producing, processing, and trading food that sustains families, communities, and economies, they often go unnoticed.

But this Women’s Day, we want to ensure them support and, through the solar dehydrators, ensure they can dream big. Elaborating on their work with the women farmers in Maharashtra, the team at Mann Deshi shares that, through the DRE (decentralised renewable energy) livelihood technologies, the goal is to enable women farmers to strengthen and grow their farming businesses through access to clean, cost-saving green technologies that improve irrigation, reduce dependence on conventional fuels, and enhance post-harvest processing and value addition. 

Donate Now

As Anagha Kamath, Director of Innovation, Mann Deshi Foundation, shares, “Women play a critical role in farming operations, ranging from sowing, weeding, harvesting, livestock care, and post-harvest processing, yet they often have limited access to productive assets, technology, and market opportunities.” 

She adds, “Farmers in the region face persistent challenges such as water scarcity, rising input costs, dependence on conventional energy sources, and post-harvest losses due to inadequate storage and processing facilities. These constraints disproportionately impact women farmers, who manage both farm responsibilities and household care work, leaving limited time and resources to expand their farming enterprises.” 

In her view, “Green technology solutions like the solar dehydrators will help women farmers reduce post-harvest losses and enable them to process and preserve produce of fruits and vegetables. This will support value addition, improve shelf life, and open new income opportunities through local sales and markets.” It will also help counter the monopoly that ‘perfect-looking’ produce enjoys in the big markets. 

Archana Babar from Satara, who cultivates mangoes in her orchard, recalls the Rs 4 lakh loss she faced a few years ago when unseasonal rains destroyed her crop. Things are unpredictable, she reasons. 

She shares, “We used to be hopeful about harvest and reaping many mangoes. But, we realised that no matter how many mangoes we can grow, we cannot sell all.” 

The story doesn’t end here. 

Archana explains, “My daughter was studying in class 8 and would always tell me that she wanted to go to Japan for further studies. She had read that in Japan, there was an institute that taught how to engineer machines that could carry food for astronauts in space. But with all these farming losses, we were never able to promise her that we could send her out of the village to study; out of India was a distant dream.” 

‘Maybe once you receive the solar dehydrator, things will improve,’ I tell Archana. 

“My daughter passed away a few years ago,” she shares. “I still regret that I could never even promise her that I would try to make her dream come true.” 

Today, when anyone commends Archana about the way she handles her mango orchard, she smiles sadly: “If a farmer’s daughter could dare to dream beyond the village, and think of space, I should also have at least some of the strength she had.” 

By being resilient, Archana says she’s honoring the spirit of her daughter.

This Women’s Day, we want to ensure that women farmers like Archana do not have to put their or their children’s dreams on the back burner any longer. By donating to this cause and helping them get access to a solar dehydrator, you can ensure them financial security, work, and a chance to widen their horizons of hope. 

Donate Now

All pictures courtesy Mann Deshi Foundation

Sources 

'From Plentiful Harvests to Empty Pockets: The Devastating Effects of Post-Harvest Losses': Published in Gram Heet.

'Technologies to decrease food loss and increase farmer incomes': by Priyanka Shankar, Published on 26 April 2024.

At sunrise in Patna, the steps of the Ganga ghats glow briefly in soft gold. Priests prepare for morning rituals. A faint mist hangs above the river. And then, as the light grows sharper, so does the reality — thermacol plates float near the banks, plastic glasses lie crushed underfoot, and tourists quietly turn away.

For years, people have complained about the state of the ghats along the Ganga. The trash became routine — an eyesore everyone noticed, but no one owned.

Everyone except Shubham Kumar.

An engineer by degree, Shubham worked four years outside Bihar. Like many others, he built a life away from home. But when he returned and saw his birthplace buried in garbage, he could not ignore it. Instead of joining the chorus of complaints, he made a decision — he came back to rebuild.

https://www.instagram.com/thebetterindia/reel/DVNMrMXCA0d/

Every Sunday morning, he showed up at the ghats. Gloves on. Bags in hand. He named the effort the Ganga Ghat Safai Abhiyaan. In the beginning, it was just a handful of volunteers. The first few Sundays, barely anyone turned up. A few shopkeepers laughed too.

“Yeh sab nautanki hai,” (all this is drama) they said.

They said the trash would be back by Monday.

But the next Sunday, Shubham returned. And the Sunday after that.

Instead of arguing, he started conversations. He distributed more that 5,000 dustbins. He explained how plastic would hurt businesses and how clean ghats would attract visitors. He explained to the shopkeepers how dignity and development go hand in hand.

Slowly, resistance turned into support.

The numbers began to shift. Today, there is a 98% drop in thermacol plates. A 65% drop in plastic glasses. 1,43,612 kgs of plastic are removed — the weight of 20 elephants. Over 2 lakh plastic bottles are recycled.

But as the ghats grow cleaner, Shubham noticed something else — women avoided the space due to fear of harassment. Cleanliness alone is not enough if safety is missing.

So he sets up changing rooms. Clean spaces became safer spaces, and safer spaces brought visitors back.

Today, more than 16,000 people earn from the restored areas. What begins with one man and a few volunteers now grew into a movement of over 1,100 volunteers. The work expands beyond Patna — reaching Ranchi and Varanasi.

At the ghats now, mornings look different. The river still flows as it always has. But the steps are clearer. The crowds return. Livelihoods revive.

Civic sense, Shubham proves, is not a viral moment. It is repetition. It is responsibility. It is showing up when no one else does.

Some wait for cities to improve. Others pick up the first bag themselves.