At 21, Bengaluru boy Anirudh Dutt doesn’t buy into the school of thought that thinks funding is what makes an idea work — and he’s proving it right with his initiative, Let’s Be the Change, which is creating a wave, with about 4,000 likes and recognition from the BBMP and conservationists in the city.
The youngster tells us more, just as he readies up for a ‘cleanathon programme’, which urges you to ‘get, set, go and clean up the mess.’
“I have grown up in an environment where everybody has always wanted to leave. Leave the house they grew up in, to move to the suburbs. Leave their town to move to bigger cities. Leave their country, to move to the west. Leave their family to make big bucks. It appalled me. Ever since I was a child, I’ve wanted to make where I am, a better place. Make the people I’m with, happy. Make the most of who I am in that moment. I hated people who went abroad and said, India needs to change. And this is probably my way of giving back,” shares IT engineering student, who’s initiative bagged the Namma Bengaluru Award 2015, and the Yuva Chetana Award’13.
While the idea started back in the year 2013, the project garnered massive support only recently. “While there are about 200 volunteers at present, it was hard to get people to support and believe in what I was doing. I’m glad the trend of pointing fingers at the BBMP or other local bodies is changing, and youngsters are more willing to offer support than they were, when I charted out the plan. It’s not always about the money. If you’re hell bent on getting things done, you make it work,” he says.
Social services and academics take much of his time, yet the fitness enthusiast tells us how he never skips a workout. “No matter how busy I am, I make sure to squeeze in time for running, cycling and gymming. It’s become a goal that’s turned into a hobby!” quips the youngster, adding, “Oh, and when I’m not doing either of these, I like lazying on the couch; reading and gaming!”
Giving us a peak into what next, the enterprising youngster pipes, “Personally, I’d like to explore social media, and bring about as much awareness about everything under the domain of cleaning and segregation. As a team, we wish to get every Bengalurean out of their homes and identify a black spot near their homes and rectify it in every way possible! It might sound insane, but I believe through this cleanathon campaigns, we are capable of bringing about a big difference. The change isn’t out there. The change is you.”
