Janki Hariani, Aishwarya Bagri and Meesha Gupta, 11^th std. students of Neerja Modi School are the youngest “social entrepreneurs” of our city with their startup, “H.U.G.S-Help Us Gift Smiles”.

One. Two. and Three,

These girls are not ordinary.

Their eyes so lively and bright,

Full of dreams they shine.

Their smiles contagious,

Laughter so infectious,

They have built a castle of books,

Discarded and placed in nooks.

Young little guardians of the needy,

Only for H.U.G.S are they greedy.

After our RU lunch challenge, I was headed to the rendezvous with these super cool teens at Janki’s home. As we were settling down in her bedroom, Aishwarya was anxious about something. Yes, the pillow you see there on her lap is to cover her food-spill stained jeans. Ha-ha! Happiness is telling everyone what someone is hiding*sticking out my tongue*

Here’s a sneak peak in our conversation:

Me: First, Tell me everything about your initiative?

Janki: We initially started by collecting all kinds of books from the students of our school that had no use for them. And our first exhibition was at Ada, in February 2015. We have also exhibited in Forhex Fair. *excitedly* And we have a website coming up soon which will help us collect and sell books online nationwide.

Aishwarya: *still conscious* We always wanted to do something for the society. We three were always discussing ideas. We thought about various second-hand things that we could sell: used clothes and all. We did a lot of market research and realized that so many children were not studying just because they didn’t have the resources. So, we decided to go with books that were the need of the hour.

Me: interrupting, Explain me in detail! How do you channelize and how does it all work?

Meesha: So basically, we saw that almost all libraries had no books because of lack of funds. We decided to utilize their empty spaces by keeping the collected books there, so anyone can have free access to the books.

Janki: Also we go to Kendriya Vidhyalas to sell the books to children at the subsidized rates of Rs.5 or 10. for a book. And we even visit the slums with our teacher or a government school teacher and sell the books to the needy.

Me: Wow! That’s so amazing. But when I was your age we didn’t think past the jugaad of money for the canteen, the pimple-frenzy and homework *embarrassed*. What’s changed now? What sprung you to start HUGS?

Aishwarya: ‘Humein shuru se kuch bada karna tha’ (We always wanted to do something big). Our school has always encouraged us to do something meaningful. They have always pushed us to explore our ideas and implement them.

Meesha: *eyes lit up* Nothing would have been possible without the support of our school’s Vice Principal, Shilpa Ma’am, Mr. Paresh Gupta our mentor and Head of Headstart, Mrs. Bhakti Hariani and Mrs. Seema Bagri, Janki’s and Aishwarya’s mom.

I later learnt that ‘Shilpa ma’am’ was actually Meesha’s mom and teased her for calling her ma’am instead of mummy.

Janki:  *with a broad smile* Neerja Modi School has started with another adjoining school ‘Nishchay’ to provide skill development training and education to underprivileged girls and we always volunteered to teach them dancing, painting or something or the other and that motivated us more to do something for the society but by being self-sufficient and not through donations. This is where “social entrepreneurship” comes in.

Me: *confused* I have been a student of entrepreneurship, still I have no idea about this term.

Janki: *quoting with “fingers”* This is the most trending term. It means generating revenue to invest in a social cause, and you also get motivated to work if you generate profit.

And at that moment, I felt old!

Me: Why the name “HUGS”?

Janki: We invested a lot of time and energy in keeping it. And actually Akshat, a fellow student, suggested this acronym and after much brainstorming, we decided its full form.

All of them: *giggling* we don’t know why were we stuck on acronyms. And the funniest was ‘WOW- Words of Wisdom’.

Me: Okay, now tell me the truth! How often do you fight with each other and do you get scolded by your parents for giving so much time to this?

Aishwarya: Honestly, I was thinking about it the other day that we never had an argument ever and why is that so!

I gave them a suspicious look.

Janki: No, seriously! Our parents have always supported us in whatever we did because they knew we are responsible enough to balance our studies alongside HUGS.

Meesha: All of us divide work based on our expertise, so there’s never been a fight.

This left me thinking that were they ‘baniyas- the vyapaaris’? And when I probed into it, two of them turned out to be baniyas and Janki a gujju. Waah! What a combination!

We even chatted with their mothers who were insisting not to highlight them.

Me: So, how do you help and support your girls?

All the mothers in chorus: We fully support them and back their initiative with the same enthusiasm.

Seema (Aish’s mom): We even accompany them to exhibitions to support and help them.

Shilpa (Meesha’s mom): We support them totally even if it means we have to fold their clothes and arrange their cupboards. *gives a look to Meesha*

Prachi, Janki’s younger sister, was quietly sitting with us listening to all the praise for her jijas. After everyone finished, she quietly raised her hand and said, “I want to tell one thing. When we were at the Forhex Stall, they used to make me run to the food counter 3-4 times a day. I also put stickers and rate tags on the collected books .”

Awwwww…. How cute she is, I thought.

Then we all danced on their favorite song where Prachi lead us, and we followed.

Me: Do you want to dance on Dj wale baabu? That’s the hot favorite nowadays.

They exchanged looks and said No. They put on Watch me Whip, whip, watch me nene and with all that teenage charm they danced, giggled and tried synchronizing their steps.

Inside my head, “Old” me and “Young” me had a great fight.

We said our goodbyes after gobbling on the yummy idli sambhar. gajar ka halwa, khakhras and gajaks made by Janki’s mom.

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