From discussing the importance of giving to navigating a plumber's entrepreneurial journey; top SocialStories this week

This week, SocialStory spoke to a few individuals who, through their own life journey, have shown how one can succeed in life if they keep believing in themselves.

While 37-year-old Aashutosh Yadav shared his journey of transforming himself from being a plumber to an entrepreneur, Kerala-based Ajay R Raj defied his physical, social, and financial hindrances and lead a life he dreamt of.

How this 37-year-old plumber toiled hard to navigate his entrepreneurial journey

Life is a roller coaster. This adage stands true for Aashutosh Yadav, the 37-year-old from Gonda district, Uttar Pradesh, who traversed life through many challenges and milestones.

For a person who wanted to make it big in life and do something of his own, Aashutosh never got sound guidance or advice from his parents as they were separated. As a Class 10 graduate with limited skills, he came to Delhi-NCR in 2006. A few months later, he found an opportunity to work as a plumber. He joined LIXIL GROHE as a technician in November 2009, where he volunteered for a programme to kickstart his entrepreneurial dreams.

Aashutosh's career as a businessman may be new, but he had his first idea five years ago. Today, he is the owner of A to Z Bath Solutions, a bathroom service solution company that works as an authorised service provider for GROHE in North and West Delhi and Gurugram, depending on the need of the hour and available manpower. 

This Daan Utsav, take a moment to appreciate the importance of giving back

In today’s fast-paced life, it often feels like we’re living life weekend to weekend. Meetings, calls, travel—we’re too busy to catch a break. But if the pandemic has taught us anything, it's that life is short and we need to make ours count for something that’s bigger than us.

A great way to do that is by offering our support to those less fortunate than us. There are thousands of people who need our help—whether it is in the form of money, our time, or even our skills. It doesn’t have to be a magnanimous gesture; even a small step goes a long way in improving another living being’s life.

For any vulnerable section, education is the best tool for upward mobility

In this week’s Survivor Series, we introduce to you the story of Ajay R Raj from Kerala, who describes his life’s journey as an attempt to challenge the choice one is given to replace with what one can have.

My name is Ajay R Raj. I grew up in the Western Ghats in a small town located between Kozhikode and Wayanad districts of Kerala. I had loads of fun and lived every bit of my early childhood.

In my fifth grade, I got to see a small library that was set up in my town by the politicians. Coming from the countryside and due to my partial visual impairment, the library and the books were my sole window to the outside world. I read voraciously on different works of literature and it started shaping my life. Since fifth grade, it was my dream to be able to study at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.

Canon India empowers rural communities with its ‘Four Es’ sustainable development

For a Class 2 student, Rakhi—who resides in Maheshwari in Haryana—learning at school came to a standstill amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

When the school reopened last year, the nine-year-old got promoted to Class 3. Since she could not read Hindi, the teachers put her in a remedial class, where she learnt to read and write the language. At present, she is interested in pursuing computer studies. This, however, was a joint effort by Rakhi and her teachers, with intervention from Canon India—a professional and consumer imaging equipment and information systems company.

Under its ‘Adopt a Village’ initiative, Canon India has been organising various programmes in rural India for over nine years, positively impacting 80,000 people across the country.