Meet 2 young eagles who are showing the world that you can be a changemaker at any age.
In the words of Ravindran Ganapathy.
Nimaye Garodia & Aaryan Choksi. They’re changemakers, they’re tech savvy and they bring in a creative flair at the ages of 16 and 14 respectively to contribute to India’s COVID situation.
Their weapons?
A screen and a friend.
“Mom, I feel so bad. Can we not do something bigger” was the plaintive cry of this teenager, Nimaye Garodia to his mother. That was the spark. The 10th board exams getting called-off was a vacuum which they then made good use of, for doing good.
So Nimaye Garodia, a self-taught computer geek, and his best friend Ishaan Shroff, worked out a donation link. Ketto.org/caddies. Leveraging social media they quickly raised 500,000 rupees which was donated to support the welfare of caddies who were reeling under the Covid impact.
Already looking ahead, his immediate plan is to enable up-skilling of under privileged people.
“Donations are ok, but we need to give long term solutions. People need to know ‘how to fish’ and not just take the fish that is given to them”. Nimaye Garodia
Last year, 14 year old Aaryan Choksi from Mumbai, resolved to raise funds to support caddies and their families by conceptualising and creating a ‘home putting’ game for kids and their parents. He hosted this as a virtual tournament with an entrance fee, prizes etc. Within a week’s time his fundraiser raised over Rs 70000 and donated it to the local caddy welfare fund in Chembur.
Aaryan Choksi’s mother Tanvi says she was amazed at how her 14 yr old made creative usage of whatever was available and ran it like a ‘project on his own. ‘’Even more touching was his discovery of humaneness and the resolve to make things better’’, says Tanvi Choksi.
“We will make such efforts self-sustaining”. Aaryan Choksi
Big words for a 14 year old? Not really. Along with best friend Shllok Rawat, they’re already building “Easy Education”, an interactive website which will serve as a market-place for NGOs and Volunteers to find each other. “We will get a user-base of 100,000 volunteers and 50 NGOs in an year”.
Young eagles showing us the way! 4 lessons we can learn from the story of these 2 young eagles with resolve and vision that brooks well for the world.
Don’t underestimate your age, your skills, resources, or the power of it. Sitting at home, with a screen can do enough good. And if it’s serving even one person in need, you’ve truly succeeded.
Things become better when we move beyond 'feeling' for something, to actually doing something about it. Empathy+Action.
Keep moving, keep pushing. One-off success is good but never near enough; pull in others and build something to sustain support for the long term, for many more.
Eagles In The Storm: About the Series
India’s Resilience amidst adversity. We know that while all the other birds fly away from a storm, eagle is the only one that actually flies into the storm. In these testing times, there is a large community full of samaritans, businesses, frontline workers and more who have inspired us and taught us different ways in combatting this storm. This series invites the stories, journeys and lessons from these very eagles in the storm. Everyone is welcome to contribute!