My Cup Runneth Over

It is not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving

Mother Theresa

Although the Latin root of the word generous means ‘of noble birth’, generosity is by no means limited to people in power or those with abundance of wealth. This act of giving is especially admirable when there are no expectations of receiving anything in return. Paranjyothi is one such selfless individual who understood the essence of truly giving. She began by sacrificing her holidays to spend her time, energy and money on serving others. Personal gain has never been a motivating factor for her. It is indeed an eye opener to catch a glimpse of this remarkable being and envisage her contributions to society.

While a holiday could prove to be fun after retirement, Paranjyothi was convinced that directing her resources towards giving back to her community would be revitalising and energising besides it would serve to make the world a better place. Having been bestowed with a varied and successful career - working in fields such as lecturing, engineering and entrepreneurship, she still felt the need to do that little extra something for her soul. Her greatest passion has always been to help others. Her deep sense of empathy and desire to uplift as many lives as she can, took a strong hold on her.

After retiring from her professional career, Paranjyothi became a community volunteer, dedicating her time and resources to helping vulnerable women and children. She firmly believed that women are essential at every level to transform the dynamics, ensuring their voices are acknowledged, valued, and not disregarded, dismissed, or suppressed. Children on the other hand are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future and helping them face challenges became her mission. She was committed to making a difference in their lives.

She recognized that children may not listen well, but they learn by imitation, so the best approach was to be around them. How can she effectively handle the situation?She decided to adopt 12 students and indirectly supported their education. These students spent a lot of time at her house and would go home mostly just to sleep. As Nelson Mandela has observed, ‘There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.’ Paranjyothi adhered to this principle and made it her personal goal in life.

Through the Change Agent Fellowship, Paranjyothi was able to have better access to effectively reduce the number of school dropouts. She could now motivate them better to pursue their dreams with confidence. She went out of her way to visit these students’ homes to convince parents to realise the value of a good education and the need to teach them how to think and not what to think. As a result, a few bright students who exhibited academic excellence also received financial assistance from Paranjyothi herself as it was clear to her that children are likely to live up to what you believe of them. She walked with this faith.

Her reward was their academic success and this motivated Paranjyothi to start her own “Kusama Jyothi” trust in 2017. As teaching is a calling and teachers are likened to holy angels leading their flocks out of darkness, she spent 9 years doing just that and inevitably she quickly became their favourite teacher. Her students too realised that better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher. She connected with them and created a strong long-lasting bond. This further ignited her passion to mould and guide more students.

Although her plate was full, the sky was the limit as Paranjyothi tried on yet another hat. One that was perhaps not as conventional but inspiring, nonetheless. Paranjyothi produced a short film named ‘Munnudi’ to highlight the reasons behind the issue of school dropouts. It held a cure for the problem as well. The movie highlights the importance of education and how education is the foundation towards a better future and it simply depicts how it is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.

With a heart that is larger than life, Paranjyothi’s charity of the spirit is borderless. She pioneered a project where silk sarees were used to produce beautiful lehengas and blouses to be donated to poor girls. This project was inaugurated at the Gowri festival in the form of ‘Bhagina’ where she stitched dresses for 50 young girls. This project is ongoing with the continued support of like-minded people from all across the country who have come forward to donate sarees towards this cause.

The richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who gives the most. Paranjyothi is the epitome of that. Her leadership quality and selflessness have no boundaries. She is truly inspirational as she touches and changes lives of diverse people. She has us believe that, helping one person may not change the world but it could change the world for one person. Her light shines as an inspiration to humanity and she exemplifies that sometimes miracles are just good people with kind hearts. She may have missed many fun-filled holidays but she has become the reason why people still believe that that is still some goodness left in this world. Her noble acts remind us to never stop loving people as that is the only fight worth fighting for.