How underestimated is the power of Social Platforms!

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A man from Delhi seemed to know nobody in the big city of Mumbai. A time came when he took a courageous decision of pursuing his dreams of understanding filmmaking and writing scripts. What went into making him cross his threshold of finally moving to action guided by his heart is a separate story.  However, through a circle, he met another guy who offered his rented apartment to accommodate him (in Mumbai) for a month. These people had never met before. 

 What is it that creates such trust among the unknown, to give and to receive? What do these platforms for connecting look like? What value do they hold in the world of unending human desire?

Mera Gaon Meri Dunia is a dream envisioned by many youths who immensely believe in the magic of collaborative trust and sharing. It, bi-yearly, organize a journey called Aaina Dekho which welcomes youth from diverse background to live, work, talk, and travel together. The participant could be anybody who is looking for an opportunity to peek into their own self to find certain answers or anybody who is courageous enough to find strength in vulnerability. Post this six-day immersive journey away from the hustle-bustle of city lives, amazingly, the platform doesn't end but seems to live with its participants as leaders. 

Let us know how!

One of the events the participants collaborate over is the sharing circles, called Vaartalaap, they create. To those who find sharing circle an unfamiliar concept, it is a group of people who create a space where one can speak one's heart out without facing a reaction, opinion, advice, approval, and judgment. 
The participants who once were unfamiliar with the people and power of creation are hosting, moderating, and spreading the idea of such healing spaces which seems to be a means of catharsis. Our participant Vinay, who now hosts and leads various chapters of Vartalaap creates an atmosphere of acceptance and inclusion in the group. 
In the world which says your network is more important than your net-worth, such spaces come out as empowering opportunities wherein people can lend their most reserved thoughts and get a peep into the world of others. Ethnographic researches have often put forward that access to peer networks sees a decline post young adulthood and there is even a stark gender difference with women having fewer friends starting from adolescence (Santhya, K.G., Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, Iram Saeed, and Archana Sarkar. 2013)

However, it is a sight to behold when women lead change and adorn such spaces. Our participants like Manjari, Preeti, Jyoti, and Komal tell inspiring stories of personal growth and perspective shift. These women have shown immense ownership, a sense of responsibility with empathy in creating platforms for collaborative growth, and learning. When Manjari had been mentoring a group of people to be able to find a place to reside in an unknown community, just after 1 year of her own quest (a part of the program), she could be seen working till dusk tirelessly.

Mera Gaon Meri Dunia came into being to build and sustain such empowering platforms that cut through the barriers of gender, class, caste, creed, region, religion, and language.

- Vasudha Kapoor (Co-Founder, MGMD)

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