Roshan Radhakrishnan's Blog, page 17

Love, XYZ - Kindness from Strangers

In 2017, the year I started the Heroes of Kindness Compilation, I had a post titled 'Love, XYZ' that focused on compassion from strangers and random acts of kindness.

I said it in 2017 and it bears repeating even today -
When you come across messages and images like these online, actively share them on social media. Brighten the day of people on your timeline with hope instead of darkening it.

Here are a dozen instances where total strangers came to the help of people in need.















Remind people that...

This college student is influencing restaurants in India with just half a glass of water! #WATWB

14 million liters of water get wasted from restaurants alone every year. Shocked? Yes, but what can you do about it? The same question haunted 15 year old Garvita Gulhati from Bangalore a few years ago after she heard about it. But unlike the rest of us, who shrugged and moved on with our lives, she refused to let the fire in her die down.

Garvita co-founded 'Why Waste', a non-profit organization that worked with restaurants to help prevent wastage of water left in glasses, in addition to cond...

Pilot fulfills childhood promise and takes all his village elders on a plane ride

Like many young children, Vikas Jyani too dreamed of being a pilot as a boy. Living in a small village called Sarangpur in Hisar district, he did not let go of that dream and after years of struggle, succeeded in becoming a pilot.

It was what he did after achieving his dream that would make headlines in the news reels.

 Growing up, the elders of the village always encouraged him to go for his dreams. In turn, he promised them that when he did become a pilot, he would take all of them toget...

The teacher who rows a boat and treks through forests to teach tribal children

KR Ushakumari is the only teacher at the Agasthya Ega Adhyapaka Vidyalaya, Kunnathumala. Part of 'single teacher school' programme started by Kerala in 1999 for tribal areas, she teaches Maths, English, the regional language and Environmental studies to children from 1st to 4th standard.

That may sound admirable but it is not what makes her extraordinary. That would be the journey to teach these 14 students of hers.



Every day, KR Ushakumari starts by taking a scooter from her house to the...

Teen Organization Distributes 15000 gifts to Underprivileged Children

Anoushka Saboo, Aditya Saboo, Aryamaan Lakhotia, Ananya Lakhotia and Rashi Choudhary were just young teenagers in 2016 when they started Toy Joy. Today they are one of India's largest student run organization, traversing 8 cities.



Their mission - to bring happiness into the lives of thousands of under-privileged children by collecting and redistributing toys from across the country. The team at Toy Joy meticulously collects the donated toys and examines each one, making sure they are not broke...

The Man who cooked over 1,70,000 meals during the Chennai floods for the Affected

In December 2015, Chennai was ravaged by one of the worst floods in over a century, leaving thousands without food, water and supplies. Over 400 people were killed and more than 1.8 million lost their homes with entire localities under water for over a week. During the worst phases of those floods, many heroes arose.

One of them was Santosh Muruganatha, a young man who owned a take-out restaurant in Chennai.



Even as his own house was submerged under water and his family stranded, Santosh went b...

Man crosses border to deliver gifts after finding Mexican child's Christmas list

Randy Heiss was hiking in the large expanse of land behind his ranch in Patagonia, Arizona, a town near the US - Mexico border when he came across a curious site. A bright spot of red that was once a balloon was caught in the grass and to it, attached by a piece of string was a note.



On the top was written just one word - Dayami - while inside, was a numbered list of things in Spanish. Even though he could not read Spanish, 60 year old Randy Heiss smiled. Decades ago, as a child, he too used t...

Restaurant Worker Helping a Disabled Woman Eat Her Meal Goes Viral

Ridge Quarles, a student from Kentucky, worked in a fast food restaurant called Qdoba Mexican Grill for over five years and hence knew most of the regular customers quite well. He was so good at it that he even knew what their favourite orders were by heart.



So when this customer came in, Quarles knew exactly what she wanted even before she said it out loud as her orders had always been the same - taco with cheese and hot sauce for lunch, burrito with hot sauce and cheese for dinner. Unlike mo...

70 year old Grandmother spent 52 weeks of 2018 cleaning up 52 British beaches

Pat Smith spent her 52 weeks of 2018 in 52 beaches as per her 2018 New Year resolution. Sounds fun, right? Picturing a young woman sunbathing throughout the year, a colourful cocktail in hand? Good. Now, allow me to clarify.

70 year old Pat Smith spent 52 weeks of 2018 cleaning the plastic off 52 beaches as per her 2018 New Year resolution.



The English grandmother took it upon herself to spend 2018 cleaning up one end of the South West coast from Cornwall to Devon, including spending Christmas...

Teacher's incredible efforts pay off as the world takes notice of students plight

33 year old Owura Kwadwo Hottish teaches Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the school he works in. Not a big deal, I guess. Except for the tiny fact that this is a school that does not have computers.



Owura went viral in 2018 when images of him teaching his students by painstakingly recreating the entire computer screen on the blackboard with chalk made the news. While sadly showcasing the poor level of education available for children in Ghana, the world was amazed by the effo...