The ability to create opportunity is a skill devoid of none but found in few.

Pondering over the worldwide disinterest towards positivity, growth mindset, loyalty, and all the good that is needed to sit atop miseries, I was taking a hit every time I went out there to compete. My purpose of life was rattled completely and was limited only to the few things that had not been tainted, yet. Owing to such times, I decided to break free and add meaning to not just my life, but others too. I feel it is a moral obligation of every human being to impact the lives of others in such a positive manner that they are able to lift themselves and see hope in their situations. The materialistic outcomes seem very shallow and timid then.

Scouting through the various platforms that I could use to contribute virtually to the community in COVID times, I came across an excellent platform named MentorTogether(M2G) MentorTogether is an initiative by IIM-B and University of Manchester grads who decided to create a rich ecosystem for underprivileged kids to interact with caring and committed Samaritans and ultimately strengthen the base for a better INDIA. I was really impressed by the online experience with the mobile app and the desktop website and decided to sign up immediately. After clearing the initial rounds of interviews, I was all set to start off with my first mentorship session! (Although a little late to the party, but it is never too late to start a good thing 🙂 )

I was matched with two mentees, Vraj Desai and Sneha Ugale, both passive horcruxes of potential and wrapped in their miseries respectively. Breaking the ice with the two and making them comfortable was the biggest challenge I faced, but soon I realized my motive to sign up for the program. I wanted to make a difference to their lives, but how could I do that without walking a mile in their shoes? Hence, I decided to let them drive conversations and think about what they wanted to achieve out of this program. As soon as we landed on the same page in terms of goals, we started singing the same tune and the trust was established. We discuss short term goals and long term goals and how to chart a path to accomplish them. We learnt about personal and professional values and how some things are non-negotiable in life and some things can be recalibrated with the scale of time. We discussed the philosophical discourse of Happiness (so subjective, isn’t it?) and also encountered the most memorable session on managing our emotions in tough times. I also charted a Career Development Plan for my mentees since I could see my footmarks on the journey that they were about to tread and wanted to notify them of the pitfalls that lay ahead.

One might wonder what else is in it for the mentor apart from giving back to the society. I can most certainly say that it gave me an opportunity to reflect on my prejudices and helped me ace the test of time and patience as I was always motivated to complete the modules, even at 3 AM in the night and then setup calls to accomplish the task of learning. I also made sure that I answered all the questions so prudently that the mentees were motivated to put in the extra effort of expressing themselves and driving the conversations forward with their ideas, an occurring that was the ultimate goal of my mentorship.

Before I signed off, I wanted to bargain an opportunity to reflect and acknowledge the gift of GIVING BACK AND MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. Hence, this is my way of giving a huge shout out to those who made this possible. I shall forever be indebted to this amazing opportunity that I received and would like to continue doing so wherever I go.