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Spreading the language of kindness

From February 19 to 24, Chennai will observe India’s first Kindness Week, an initiative to celebrate everyday acts of being thoughtful and kind, hoping to spark a million more. Speaking about the event, Mahima Poddar, who conceptualised the project, hopes, at the end of the week, a new habit of bringing joy and initiating kindness to everybody around, including the less fortunate, will take root.

Spreading the language of kindness
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Representative Image (Insert: Mahima Poddar)

Chennai

The Kindness Week is the brainchild of Mahima Poddar who is certified in Expressive Art Therapy with specialised training in Child Abuse Prevention and Reporting as well as School Violence Identification and Prevention. Having also worked with schools in Chennai to help children experiencing difficulties due to abusive and neglectful parenting, Mahima says, “Over time, I’ve realised that most of the issues that we face can be addressed just by showing empathy. It’s the root cause of most of the unsolved problems in our society. As someone who’s spent a considerable amount of time with those who often find themselves neglected by the society, I’ve always wanted to start a movement of sorts to propagate the need to be empathetic. So, that’s how the Kindness Week was born.” 

And championing the campaign will be kids. “There will be two sections we’ll be focussing on. The first one comprises kids from underprivileged backgrounds and those with special needs. They will be treated to free movie screenings, get their hair styled at a popular salon chain and taken shopping. Meanwhile, they will also be given self-defence lessons and dance classes, and the companies offering these sessions will identify kids who exhibit exceptional talent and fund their education and training in the respective art form. It’s basically giving them experiences that they can’t afford or have access to otherwise,” explains Mahima. 

She adds, “On the other hand, kids who go to well-established schools in the city will turn volunteers with their parents to facilitate these events. Here, we are trying to make them realise how privileged they are and how often they take it for granted. Since empathy ultimately comes from understanding another person’s experience, the easiest way to develop it is from watching what others go through and what you’ve been blessed with, personally. The main idea is to keep these kinds in a state of mind that instils in them that empathy is a must-have trait and not a nice-to-have skill in today’s insensitive and disconnected world.” 

As part of the event, Mahima will be distributing badges to schools across the city where a child can award another whenever he or she does a random act of kindness without expecting anything in return. Also, kids from the participating schools will create special crayons as a gift to special children in one of the NGOs in the city. “Art therapy works great with special children. However, they cannot hold the regular crayons. Hence, we will be moulding the existing ones to suit their needs. By engaging the other kids, we also convey the message that there are some of their age who cannot even hold things they have easy access to and throw away very often,” adds Mahima. 

About choosing Chennai to host the first edition of the Week, she says, “As a city we’ve risen to the occasion every time, be it during the 2015 flood or the cyclone the year after. We’ve always stood together as a community. So, Chennaiites have an inherent sense of compassion and empathy. It’s just that they need an opportunity. I hope the Kindness Week proves to be one every year.” 

Those who wish to participate can reach Mahima at week@thekindnessproject.in

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