These four 20-year-olds proved that it only takes a good heart, a little ability and some perseverance to Make the World Wonderful. Their project works on the motto - “bring harmony to the world”. Here’s a peek into the lives of these unconventional youngsters
HYDERABAD:While others their age are going to college, working on assignments and making plans for their weekend dinner date, four girls – Meghana Dabbara, Sai Khyathi Chodagiri, Saumya Katuri, Pranita Garimella – took an unconventional route to living their life. Make The World Wonderful, an organisation dedicated expressly towards building a world where people live in harmony. Currently running two programmes – Perceptions programme and Child Adoption Programme, the organisation plans on undertaking more, all of which will have a common agenda: bringing harmony to the world through speech, thoughts and actions.
Meghana was fourteen when she realised that her only passion and ambition in life was to make the world a better place. “I grew up listening to my mother’s stories about her life which she narrated to me as bedtime stories. Her view of life and those stories built up my inclination towards building a beautiful world,” says Meghana. As philosophical as it sounds, she managed to get the idea across to iB Hubs who interviewed her to take her under its wing and then trained her until she was ready to launch her own project under their guidance at 17 in 2015. “Again with the help of iB Hubs, I got to meet and build a team with Khyati, Saumya and Pranita.” she says.
Saumya who was born and brought up in California moved and changed her entire life for the cause she dedicated herself for. “The shift didn’t feel too jarring for me. I guess that isn’t something that ever bothered me,” she says nonchalantly. Another one of the team who is a second generation NRI, Pranita too was inspired by the cause and took this up as her lifestyle and livelihood. Pranita says, “All of our interests and our passions were similar. We were all on the same page and I think we just clicked!” Khyati who was also picked through an interview like all the others too concurs saying, “We enjoy our work and each others’ company. So everything we do is no less of a party.”
It’s evidently not the conventional life for these young ones. Their daily routine however is enviable. At the home in Medchal where they adopt children and supervise their education and overall personality development, the girls spend most of their waking hours. “We practically live the same life that the kids do. We start our day with yoga, we even attend the assembly. When they have classes, we would be working and when they have their games period we do too!” says Khyati gleefully. While adopting the children (50 to be precise) is just half the job done, the girls also make sure, they are imparted with values and skills that will help them further their cause of “bringing harmony”. “We can’t just pay for children’s education and forget about it. We wanted to create a generation however small it may be, which thrives and nurtures harmony in their own lives and the others that they touch,” explains Meghana. Barely adults themselves, they run the tight rope between being the guardians and one of the kids too.
For taking upon a life as unusual and challenging as theirs, it comes as a pleasant surprise that their parents did not object but rather supported them in taking up the initiative. “We have been lucky that we are able to do what we are doing. And I believe that without our parents’ support it would’ve been impossible. All it took was for us to explain our plan and gain their trust through rationale,” says Pranita. The girls didn’t let education take a backseat either. All of them are pursuing their BBA through distance eduication. Saumya says, “We are studying while doing what we are passionate about. Our parents too are happy that we have our lives sorted.” Doing so much might seem challenging but it worked out for the best for these young ladies. Meghana says, ”On the contrary, because we are studying administration, everything we do at work becomes our practical experience. At times we realise that what we have been doing over the years has a term through the formal training. So both our pursuits complement each other.”
The future is bright for the kids under the guidance of these young women. “The home in Medchal is a pilot project we launched as a part of our Child Adoption Programme. Raising each child with utmost love and respect, we have built the harmony we wish to see in the world among these children first. We have created an ecosystem, through which we are empowering the children to reach their full potential and become agents of harmony. With the success of this pilot project, we aim to establish 2500 fully operational centers by 2023,” says Meghana signing off on a hopeful note.
— Srividya Palaparthi
srividya.palaparthi@newindianexpress.com
@PSrividya53