• Unconditional love: My sister, Yaki, grew up supporting her ailing sibling. An evening is etched in my memory when my physiotherapy session ran very late. Mom and I returned home way beyond my sister’s feeding time. I remember seeing her little body propped against the window, staring into the dark outdoors, searching for the glimmer of our scooter headlight. The moment she saw us arrive, she shrieked in happiness. I got a hug first, and then she pranced around like a happy pup until Mom was ready to feed her. This pretty much sums up our childhood to teen years. I was always top of mind for the family. Every task and decision revolved around how to make me most comfortable. Her childhood became a shadow of my priorities but she never resented me. She showed me how to lean in with all the goodness I can offer.
   

• Championing: My grand aunt taught me the power of focusing on strengths. While watching a football match, I commented on how I wished I could run fast like him. She replied - “you may not run like him on the field but your mind runs faster than all of them.” She always encouraged me to focus on my achievements and less on where I fall short in comparison to others. 

​

• Inclusion: During a school sports season, my batch captain walks up to me and assigns me the performance tracker register. He tells me - “you know the participants, and you are good at taking notes. Help me with detailed entries so that I can track who needs more training.” Suddenly I was part of the event and not just a sad spectator. He found a way for me to contribute in my unique way. It’s one of my happiest memories from school. I doubt he even realized how his simple action meant the world to me.
   

• Intentionality: I have worked for almost two decades at Google. From the early days of search advertising to now leading a team that works on AI offerings in our product ecosystem, I have been lucky to learn from the best. A key theme that defines my learning is intentionality. It translated to how I started creating time beyond my core job for coaching, mentoring, and facilitating globally recognized workshops like #IamRemarkable. It led to our discipline of working on weekends on Ahora tasks and dedicating  % of our income to self-fund the Foundation. 

​

• Action: Kal kare so aaj kar, aaj kare so ab. Pal me praleya hoyegi, bahuri karegi kab - Saint Kabir Das.
  My husband, Manan, lives and breathes this. It’s the reason behind how much he gets done, how he makes each day count. While I had a clear vision of how I want to give back to our community, it wasn’t until Manan came in with his game plan that Ahora Foundation launched. I remember being overwhelmed and in analysis paralysis on how to start a non-profit while having a full-time job and living in another country. It was his bias for action that compelled us to see the value in helping even one child instead of just daydreaming about building for a thousand someday.

​

A simple act of kindness, support, and action that you may not even think much about can have a butterfly effect in someone’s life. I am grateful for being on the receiving end. It is important that I pay it forward. This is what motivates me about the Ahora Foundation journey.