The Happiness Road: ‘Being useful and serving humanity is happiness’

Dr Srinivasan is a medical doctor by training, but he’s a social entrepreneur by choice. Over the last two decades, he has led two non-profit initiatives under the name Jeevan: a blood bank he co-founded in 1995; and in 2008, he co-founded a public stem cell bank to help Indians across the world get quick, affordable access to matching stem cells for the treatment of blood cancers and Thalassemia. Life in this time has not been easy for the simple and unpretentious Dr Srinivasan. Being a not-for-profit entity, Jeevan struggles to raise every rupee. So the blood bank closed down recently and he’s setting up a new diagnostics business, Healyst, which will plough back its profits into Jeevan’s ‘Be The Cure’ Registry. His work involves constantly battling misguided public perceptions about Jeevan’s projects and dealing with exhausting processes while seeking grants. Yet, Dr Srinivasan is always cheerful and full of life. Despite his demanding schedules, he finds time to pursue his interest in nature and photography. He recently held an exhibition of his photographs on wildlife to raise money for Jeevan. And he’s already working on plans to travel to the Himalayas and to Botswana later this year. How does he manage to pack so much into his life? How does he keep going on with the Jeevan mission, despite the odds? 

He explains, “I know I own nothing. I have no fear of death. So I live with total detachment and live each moment fully. I don’t miss even a small opportunity to create value in whatever I do. And I keep doing all that I love doing because I know that I may not be around tomorrow.” 

With his credentials, Dr Srinivasan could have continued in the lucrative private healthcare sector. But he chose to lead missions in the non-profit sector, braving humungous challenges. When I ask him why, he responds meditatively: “An obstacle means we must pause, review and relaunch ourselves. So, I am never discouraged by no go situations. I simply go on and the path unfolds. To me, being useful, serving humanity, is happiness.” 

If more of us lived our Life this way, we will not just have healed the world, we would have made it a happier place!