In college, we all learn to build huge dreams and have hopes of executing them. Vasundhara Gupta, a second-year at Ashoka has worked for different social communities. At a very young age, she started getting involved in social work and here she is, bringing about changes; real, tangible changes in society that all Ashokans are really proud of! Here is her story!
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Q. What inspired you to get into social work?
A. As a student, I have always rallied against sexual abuse. In the beginning, it started off as a social obligation, but now it has transformed into my interest. The gratification I get inspires me to keep going! In the beginning, I had worked with Oye Happy, a social gifting platform which helps the community and I realized that I was helping them because I felt socially obligated to do so. When I realized this, I quit! However, now I engage in community service because I genuinely want to help the community.
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Q. As the co-founder of Ruhi how have you contributed and where do you see Ruhi in the future?
A. Ruhi is a social initiative on campus where the didis and bhaiyas, the staff on campus are taught English to boost their confidence and enhance learning. I see Ruhi as an instrument to unite Ashoka, to ensure that no individual on campus feels like they are left unheard. I see Ruhi as a means to provide every individual with an outlet to share their story and to feel close to others on campus. Ruhi should be like a bubble where everyone feels welcomed and integrated. I feel like that hasn’t happened yet. We have all the didis and bhaiyas and over 150 volunteers and I am very proud of that. These numbers are much more than I had ever imagined and it feels really good!
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Q. What social work have you done outside campus?
A. I distributed sanitary napkins from project Bala. It was started by a young lady and she came up with a great sanitary napkin that works for 1.5 years. It reduces waste and also makes it reasonable by surpassing the GST on sanitary napkins. I introduced this to Ashoka and broke norms concerning menstruation. The didis on campus use these and are very happy with it.
I have also conducted workshops for safe/unsafe touch. There was an interesting workshop I conducted to foster the idea of inclusivity. For another workshop on sexual harassment, we were going to teach them a song. A girl was being very mischievous and I joked, “I’ll beat you now”. The girl said “You can’t touch me because you don’t have the right” (Sorry aap mujhe nahi maar sakte, aapke pass haq nahi hai) and that was a very proud moment for me because I saw her applying what I had taught.
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Q. Tell us something shocking about you.
A. My eyesight is weak but I can see without my glasses and the doctor said I have supernatural powers to expand and contract my ciliary muscles. No one believes it when I tell them but it’s the truth!
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Q. What extracurriculars do you do at Ashoka?
A. I really enjoy playing the sitar. When I was seven years old, I learnt Kathak and I still love practicing it. My Kathak teacher never thought I was a good student because he wanted regularity. I enjoy singing but I don’t get why everyone runs away when I do so.
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Q. What is your motto in life? And what is a piece of advice you have for all Ashokans?
A. I just felt like a BABA when you asked me that! *laughs*. Something that has really kept me inspiring from talking in class to heading a cohort is the quote “Step out of your comfort zone and it will expand” by Swami Vivekananda.
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Q. What would we find you doing in your free time?
A. Talking to people and getting inspired.
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Vasundhara is truly inspiring and it was great talking to her. She also has great movie suggestions for all of you! Do contact her and have a chat, it will be an amazing experience.
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Edited by:Â Â Vasudha Malani
Photographs courtesy of Vasundhara Gupta