Visionary Philanthropy at 17 Years: Meet Manan Ahuja of Hum Kalakaar

Today we are excited to feature a young boy who is still in school but has a visionary selfless vision that can contribute in fighting back from COVID Pandemic.

Meet Manan Ahuja is a 17 year old from New Delhi, who studies in Vasant Valley School, Vasant Kunj. He is passionate about History, Politics, playing the Piano and Writing. Manan popped up with an idea of a platform 'Hum Kalakaar' came to him when he was looking for a platform that would let people safely express their various talents and skills during the 2020 lockdown. He hopes to find a way to let people conduct philanthropy while being their creative selves.  One of his hobbies is playing the piano and He runs a youth organization called 'Hum Kalakaar' for philanthropy. He is extremely passionate about taking initiatives which can help improve the world around us.

"Hum Kalakaar, is a way to use our gifts to make someone’s lives better, it works on the belief that we owe our talents and gifts to the society who nurtured us, groomed us, and provided every possible opportunity to refine ourselves and become what we are today. He keeps initiative small events to prompt the youth," commented Manan while talking about the platform.

Here are some excerpts of an interesting conversation between Manan and SMEStreet team.

1. How and what inspired him to follow this decision to start this help work?

It was the year 2020, while India was reeling under the clutches of the covid-19 virus, when I felt the need to start Hum Kalakaar. I was a person who was into a variety of fields such as music and dance, however, when the pandemic shut down all concerts, competitions and events, I was left looking desperately for a platform to express my talent. A similar feeling exists in several people my age, which is a factor that helped formulate ‘Hum Kalakaar’ as a platform for creative expression. The pandemic, however, made me realise the importance of philanthropy in conjunction with creativity, thus I combined both these aims to form the ideology of Hum Kalakaar. Through events such as a talent show cum fundraiser, book drive, etc. Hum Kalakaar stressed on the importance of using your talents to give back to society, as the motto of the organisation says ‘kyunki kisi ko hai hamari kala ki zarorat’

2. How much impact has his initiative has made so far?  How did he manage to generate funds and deliver the relief work?

Over almost a year, I have worked on several issues using Hum Kalakaar. 

Show Your Kala: The first event, Show Your Kala was a talent show in collaboration with OXFAM india (a reputable NGO) organised across 8 categories involving dance, music, art and craft, creative writing and drama in several genres, each judged by experts in the fields such as professors and gurus, who kindly agreed to participate to encourage the young people to participate and raise funds for the cause. A small entry fee was charged for participation (per entry) and all proceeds were directly donated to the cause of supporting the migrant labourers, who were travelling across the country to get to their homes during the lockdown. After nearly a month of collection of over 300 entries, the program was closed.

https://www.humkalakaar.org/show-ur-kala

Samvaad: I organized a virtual debate for teenagers on several important topics related to Indian politics and the constitution, to spread political awareness. 

Chalo Dilli: This event was conducted to spread awareness about the farmers' protest against the farm acts passed in the parliament. I travelled to ‘Singhu Border’ where farmer camps were set up and conducted several infield interviews with the protestors. I supplemented these interviews with information collected from some more interviews with experts on this subject such as journalists as well as conveyed the opinions of common people from both sides - supporters of the laws and the farmer sympathisers. All of this material was compiled in a video which was promoted in various social media platforms to counter fake news and biased narratives. 

https://youtu.be/xBPVFFLHXhA

The Kitabh Abhiyan: The Kitaab Abhiyan was an initiative to collect old textbooks, academic books and other reference books, to be donated to an institute of education devoted to providing the best possible learning to people of all backgrounds. We received an enthusiastic response and collected significant sets of books which have been donated to underprivileged people.

Covid Connect: The second wave of the pandemic has been one of the most devastating and traumatising events in this pandemic, during these times I sought to drive Hum kalakaar in a direction, where I could use it for helping those in need during these difficult times. Covid Connect was an initiative meant to ‘connect’ people to the resources they need for battling the virus. I recruited a team of more than 30 volunteers, who all worked tirelessly to find leads and verify them, which were put on our website. We also regularly shared important information on different social media platforms to widen our reach to the maximum.

https://www.instagram.com/hum_kalakaar/

Conversations During Covid: I conducted interviews from experts in different fields, to explore several dimensions of the pandemic. I posted these interviews on several social media platforms to help spread the word about important issues such as ‘the vulnerability of children during the third wave’, the importance of mental health during the lockdown as well as the new threat posed by ‘Mucormycosis’ the so-called Black Fungus.

Interview with Ms. Samra Khan - https://youtu.be/z2jrlXbxJIA

Interview with Dr. Mahesh K - https://youtu.be/GyCJk8tiyIM

Interview with Dr. Vinay Garodia - https://youtu.be/-hSRSHrNE-E

Interview with Mr. Amit Chopra - https://youtu.be/Qv-m37PlSAU

3. What are his plans in the future for this work?

My aim would be to find a way to rise to the occasion and give back to society in every way possible. I hope that I will be able to find more innovative ways to link creativity and philanthropy. 

4. What is the scale of the problem as his observation on being on ground zero.

Having actively participated in finding and providing leads during the worst phase of the second wave of the pandemic, The situation at hand is incomprehensibly horrific. Things have started getting better since the past few days, however at the height of the contagion, there were unbelievable shortages of all necessary resources as well as a staggering mortality rate. As this wave subsides, I hope we can learn our lessons, take all precautions and get vaccinated. Hopefully we will never have to see such a time again.