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103: Project Mumbai: Harnessing kindness to build India's kindness capital - In conversation with Shishir Joshi Founder and CEO Project Mumbai
Shownotes
In the midst of all the doom and gloom, here is a heart warming story and wonderful initiative that taps into the ‘kindness bone’ of people. My guest on The Elephant in the Room podcast this week is Shishir Joshi, a veteran journalist and the Founder and Chief Executive of the award-winning not-for-profit Project Mumbai (www.projectmumbai.org) a public trust striving for social transformation through initiatives of scale.
Mumbai, is the city of dreams for millions of Indians. Its a city I spent over a decade in the city and fell in love with it, its spirit, its generosity, its ability to let people be, for everyone to dream, for everyone to be who they were, for being a safe city for women working crazy hours. I loved it for its indomitable spirit and humanity but also its street food (nothing to beat Mumbai street food). It is also the city where I met with Shishir (a journalist at that time) as a PR pro.
Coming back to the podcast, according to Shishir, the idea of “Project Mumbai” is founded on the belief that every human being has a kindness bone - especially Mumbaikars (people who live in Mumbai). And he wants to harness that to make Mumbai the ‘Kindness capital of India’. Project Mumbai represents what a successful model for what public, private, people partnerships should look like, showcases how we can achieve social transformations through collaborations and make our cities more accessible and safer for those who are the most vulnerable.
The tagline for this brilliant initiative is equally brilliant and colloquial “Mumbai ke liye kuch bhi karega” which losely translates to ‘I will do any thing for Mumbai’. The tagline beautifully captures the essence, the spirit of the city. And that not just why this volunteer-led non-profit, was selected by the UN SDG Action Campaign as one of the global recipients for the Solidarity Award, a special call from the annual UN SDG Action Awards 2020 (It is was 1 among 3 selected from India among 50 in the world)
Listen to Shishir Joshi speak about building cohesive teams, volunteers and their role during COVID, his favourite projects, proudest moments, biggest learnings, the future, and how cities could tackle some of their biggest challenges through similar initiatives and what it means to be a catalyst for positive change. To know more about how this incredible organisation is harnessing the kindness of people and collaboration to deliver on over 100+ successful partnerships towards building and creating a more inclusive city head to the podcast.
Episode Transcript
Sudha: Hey Shishir, Good afternoon. Thank you for being a guest on The Elephant in the Room podcast today. Wonderful to have you here and see you after a very long time.
Shishir: Thank you so much, Sudha. And yes, I really love the title of this podcast that you have. It's very interesting
Sudha: Brilliant. So let's get started with a quick introduction to who you are and what you do.
Shishir: Oh, it's going to take a long time.
Sudha: I can believe that.
Shishir: I'm Shishir Joshi and I head a not-for-profit called Project Mumbai, which may have been founded, co-founded by me, but it's a citizen-led initiative and it's an idea of - can we create social transformation through initiatives of scale. And that's where our entire passion is to also involve citizens doing their bit and there are two elements to it. One is, our tagline which says, ‘Mumbai ke liye kuch bhi karega.’ And second is, because there's a lot of kindness that people in Mumbai have I'm not saying other cities don't, but the city which is kind of a country in itself, then can we work towards making Mumbai the kindness capital of the country?
Shishir: So I love what I do. And I'm glad that there are people who love what we do as well, which is why we've become a go to organisation for a lot of things.
Sudha: Absolutely. So you've also clearly mastered how you do that because people wouldn't be coming if you were not doing it well. Moving on to the next question.
Sudha: There have been rare occasions when I've seen a journalist move from being a hardcore journalist to working with communities. How did that happen? You were like doing hardcore business reporting.
Shishir: Well, I think as a part of journalism, there's so much of people interface, which happens. We did journalism at a time when cell phones did not exist. So there was actually live real interactions. So when you meet people you have conversations, you understand people's stories, and vice versa. So when that happens, your understanding of situations, change. But yes, that's seeing life from one perspective.
Shishir: There have been lots of opportunities I've had over the years, even as a working journalist to interact with communities. My earliest I think was when I was in school and college then I was reading books for those who are visually impaired. I'm not saying that that contributed to where I am today.
Shishir: But I think just things fell in to place, dots got joined and I think there were opportunities which just came my way and I kind of let my passions pace move in the right direction or maybe the direction just started getting created. I've always enjoyed doing what I'm doing. So a question which I'm sometimes get asked is, don't you miss journalism?
Shishir: There's been print and there's been television. So do I miss it? Of course I do. But because I love that as well. And do I love what I do? Yes, I do. So if I leave this and go elsewhere, will I miss this? Of course I will. So I think it's about enjoying what you do. So living for the moment and for the present.
Sudha: Yeah. And also following your passion, because when you moved out, you started an initiative, which was also linked to supporting young students. I think it was all leading towards where you are today.
Shishir: You're right. Absolutely. So the teaching journalism or the citizen journalism was also about as one would put it the kindness bone that I see in most other people as well. So I think maybe that's an extension which led from one to the other from hardcore journalism teaching to maybe civic journalism, which is about civic sense and responsibilities and duties apart from rights, which led to people sharing what are their concerns and from concerns led to maybe solutions from there led to finding a pathway.
Shishir: And it's not about me finding a pathway, it's about guiding people and working with them to find the pathway. Because it's not about me doing Project Mumbai, it's about people who are part of it, which is leading to Project Mumbai what it is. It's a people movement.
Sudha: Yeah, finding the right communities to do that.
Sudha: So what is Project Mumbai, this passion project of yours. I love the tagline Mumbai ke liye kuch translates into, I'll do anything for Mumbai. How did you arrive at that?
Shishir: I think a lot of things at Project Mumbai well, there is a planning that happens, but being a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing, because it's about a feeling. Living that feeling. Now, the name Project Mumbai also is not about getting a lot of brand experts coming together to say, what should we call it? It's about the city Mumbai and treating it like a good project. So it became Project Mumbai. So we never really thought about, it was a very simple thing that would it become popular or not popular if you have a different name, we do good work. It has to be popular or not popular. So project Mumbai name also became that way. And similarly, people in Mumbai talk like that and that's how, when we started talking to a lot of people to say will you be able to help us out? And that's when came in, of course, we'll do anything ‘kuch bhi karega’. So that became Mumbai ke liye kuch bhi karega.
Shishir: And from there realised that there are so many people who have that element of kindness to say. And we've seen the city going through crisis so often over the years, decades, that every time there's a crisis, people have come together. So there is that very deep, inherent kindness bone that people have, that of giving.
Shishir: So when it's in crisis that people come together, why not in peace times? So can we make the city the kindness capital? It is a kind capital, it is a kind city, there are kind people everywhere. It's just that sometimes they don't have that opportunity to express that kindness. It's just that some of these stories don't come out.
Shishir: One story which has come out, there are so many other bigger Project Mumbais' happening around us. Maybe we don't know about it.
Sudha: True. But, the tagline Mumbai ke liye kuch bhi karega it so well captures the spirit of that city and also the language. Right. Mumbai language is different, Mumbai Hindi or Marathi is a bit different to what is elsewhere in the country. So it captures that spirit definitely.
I read on the Project Mumbai website that you've had like a hundred-plus successful partnerships. And the partnerships work on the principle of collaboration with local administration and the private sector.So one a bit slower and the other a bit faster or both very slow. I don't know. So what does it look like in practice?
Shishir: Which one would, according to you, be the slower one, if one would ask?
Sudha: I'd say the public sector would be the slower one, but from recent examples, I also know that organisations sometimes they take their time to move on important things.
Shishir: So, it comes back to that element of kindness, that there are good people everywhere. There are good people within the government, there are good people in the private sector, there are good people all around us. And it's just tapping that resource helps the door open faster. And its also then creating that interest, it's about storytelling, maybe that this is what we are doing. And if I am trying to sell you an idea about an initiative, if that does not interest you, then either I have not conveyed it to you in the manner it ought to be conveyed, or maybe your priorities are different.
Shishir: So it's about getting the right story to the right people and then getting them on board. So people could come on board as volunteers. People can come on board as permission givers, people can come on board as funders or just co creators. But they have to buy in.
Shishir: I might say, okay, Sudha, why don't you join me in x activity of mine? You would join in the first time because maybe I've asked you to, but you need to come on board again and again and again, you need to like it. So that is where the idea is to get people interested and get the right people interested.
Shishir: So to answer your question, the earlier one there have been challenges at either ends that governments or the public sector be it the municipal corporation or different authorities. It takes time to convince, but some of these ideas and so many of them, which is like, when you said the tagline, Mumbai ke like kuch bhi karega so many of our initiatives, just to give you an example, setting up libraries in the gardens of Mumbai.
The moment we share it with somebody in the government, they say, wow, so interesting. And all we do is ask very little of others because the ask is big, but we are breaking up the ask in different portions. So I'm not asking a lot from one person, I'm just breaking up the ask so that everybody feels doing something little where he feels or they feel a sense of giving partnering and a sense of ownership.
Shishir: I gave you an example or be it vaccinating the elderly or taking care of, maybe providing vanity vans for women cops, or you name it, or road mapping. Everything takes a little of everyone, so then the onus does not fall on one person. And then there's a willingness, there's happiness. And that brings in that collaboration.
Shishir: The most difficult is to bring money, so to answer your question, easiest sometimes is permissions because corporates have their own limitations in, audits, processes, paperwork, and then there are multiple people in in the chain who have to agree to, in alignment with the idea. So it's good on so many fronts, it's challenging on so many other fronts as well, but we have to keep at it.
Sudha: Absolutely. That is why it is successful and you had such great projects that you've done. So some of what you said helps me to segue into this next question. That project Mumbai has been able to engage with ordinary residents to get them to give their time towards issues that they are passionate about. Like you said you're not putting all the onus on one person they are contributing in the best way they can without feeling overwhelmed by it. So as I understand, most of the projects are managed by volunteers, how do you create a cohesive team of volunteers focused on an end goal? Because these are not people who've worked as teams. Sometimes you'll have new people, sometimes you'll have different people.
Shishir: Yeah, I'll just make a slight kind of structure that the projects are by and large run by the team, and I've got a fantastic team at Project Mumbai.
Shishir: So this is the in house Project Mumbai team, but co led in so many cases by the volunteers, because they're part and as much the arms and legs. I could lead a team, but if there's no team, then what am I in that sense? So there are, for instance, if you talk about beach cleanups, which have volunteers who come in at maybe carrying stuff from here to there, keeping records, ensuring certificates are done, that could be done by volunteers. There's a lot of responsibilities that volunteers take. But there is a team which just ensures that the systems are in place, the processes are done. Libraries in schools, there is, yes, some projects are driven by volunteers. Or in COVID a lot of the responsibility because we were doing 30 initiatives at the same time.
Shishir: And I don't have those many team members who could handle 30, but then yes, there are volunteers who took independent charge. My entire vaccination initiative was largely on ground driven by a volunteer lead, but you live and learn. Sometimes mistakes do happen and we learn from them, but sometimes you get lucky and we were lucky most time because there are good people everywhere.
Shishir: It was being done by a lot of people, and when you put the word out to say, I'd like to do something it's not a force, it's volunteering. So only those hands will go up, which are interested. Some hands will go up for something else. Some hands you go for even something else. So also answering one point that you mentioned, that it's not just ordinary people who came in, people across age groups, people across economic abilities joined in. The volunteering is not only about stepping out and doing an act, but volunteering was about volunteering money sometimes, volunteering is volunteering to connect me with somebody else. Volunteering is also just showing a support or dropping a mail about our work to a third person, that also led to a lot of traction of goodwill, which brought in so many people. Just to give an example, we've had some fantastic leaders in the corporate space who for nothing in return, put the word out, spoke about us to other people. And then that led to more and more people getting to know about us. Or using social media, let's say John Abraham offered his entire social media platform to us during COVID to say, whatever you're doing, my team is going to put it out in the public domain.
Shishir: So that's his big heart, his kindness, his volunteering to the cause. There was Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal, they chipped in support financially to buy things for the needy. Amitabh Bachchan and Amir Khan contributed, Ayushman Khurrana contributed. Now, we don't know them personally, but they hear about us, but they chip in that's also volunteering, volunteering your time, volunteering your money, volunteering your credibility. So it's just that one has to keep doing it. So we were touching what lives, what people were getting impacted, which is what led to other people saying, I'd like to help out also. So that's where more hands go up where we are not an exclusive activity, we are an inclusive kind of activity.
Sudha: Yeah. And then with the internal teams, probably guiding the volunteers, or facilitating an environment where they are all working towards a common goal.
Sudha: So interesting to hear this. And you've spoken about COVID and the number of projects that you were running during COVID. So Project Mumbai played a huge role in supporting citizens who did not have access, the elderly and collaborating with public health to deliver on the COVID vaccination drive. Tell us more about it, that was a terrible time across the world, but especially for those who are excluded or have no access.
Shishir: I was speaking to a Jesuit priest recently and I was talking about the work that we do, and he said you guys are actually like a Jesuit priest. You're doing things, which nobody else does. And I think that aptly kind of summarised what we do because there is a role that a state has to play. There is a role that a organisation, a building has to play. What we were looking for were the gaps, and we said, let's fill those gaps...
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Shownotes
In the midst of all the doom and gloom, here is a heart warming story and wonderful initiative that taps into the ‘kindness bone’ of people. My guest on The Elephant in the Room podcast this week is Shishir Joshi, a veteran journalist and the Founder and Chief Executive of the award-winning not-for-profit Project Mumbai (www.projectmumbai.org) a public trust striving for social transformation through initiatives of scale.
Mumbai, is the city of dreams for millions of Indians. Its a city I spent over a decade in the city and fell in love with it, its spirit, its generosity, its ability to let people be, for everyone to dream, for everyone to be who they were, for being a safe city for women working crazy hours. I loved it for its indomitable spirit and humanity but also its street food (nothing to beat Mumbai street food). It is also the city where I met with Shishir (a journalist at that time) as a PR pro.
Coming back to the podcast, according to Shishir, the idea of “Project Mumbai” is founded on the belief that every human being has a kindness bone - especially Mumbaikars (people who live in Mumbai). And he wants to harness that to make Mumbai the ‘Kindness capital of India’. Project Mumbai represents what a successful model for what public, private, people partnerships should look like, showcases how we can achieve social transformations through collaborations and make our cities more accessible and safer for those who are the most vulnerable.
The tagline for this brilliant initiative is equally brilliant and colloquial “Mumbai ke liye kuch bhi karega” which losely translates to ‘I will do any thing for Mumbai’. The tagline beautifully captures the essence, the spirit of the city. And that not just why this volunteer-led non-profit, was selected by the UN SDG Action Campaign as one of the global recipients for the Solidarity Award, a special call from the annual UN SDG Action Awards 2020 (It is was 1 among 3 selected from India among 50 in the world)
Listen to Shishir Joshi speak about building cohesive teams, volunteers and their role during COVID, his favourite projects, proudest moments, biggest learnings, the future, and how cities could tackle some of their biggest challenges through similar initiatives and what it means to be a catalyst for positive change. To know more about how this incredible organisation is harnessing the kindness of people and collaboration to deliver on over 100+ successful partnerships towards building and creating a more inclusive city head to the podcast.
Episode Transcript
Sudha: Hey Shishir, Good afternoon. Thank you for being a guest on The Elephant in the Room podcast today. Wonderful to have you here and see you after a very long time.
Shishir: Thank you so much, Sudha. And yes, I really love the title of this podcast that you have. It's very interesting
Sudha: Brilliant. So let's get started with a quick introduction to who you are and what you do.
Shishir: Oh, it's going to take a long time.
Sudha: I can believe that.
Shishir: I'm Shishir Joshi and I head a not-for-profit called Project Mumbai, which may have been founded, co-founded by me, but it's a citizen-led initiative and it's an idea of - can we create social transformation through initiatives of scale. And that's where our entire passion is to also involve citizens doing their bit and there are two elements to it. One is, our tagline which says, ‘Mumbai ke liye kuch bhi karega.’ And second is, because there's a lot of kindness that people in Mumbai have I'm not saying other cities don't, but the city which is kind of a country in itself, then can we work towards making Mumbai the kindness capital of the country?
Shishir: So I love what I do. And I'm glad that there are people who love what we do as well, which is why we've become a go to organisation for a lot of things.
Sudha: Absolutely. So you've also clearly mastered how you do that because people wouldn't be coming if you were not doing it well. Moving on to the next question.
Sudha: There have been rare occasions when I've seen a journalist move from being a hardcore journalist to working with communities. How did that happen? You were like doing hardcore business reporting.
Shishir: Well, I think as a part of journalism, there's so much of people interface, which happens. We did journalism at a time when cell phones did not exist. So there was actually live real interactions. So when you meet people you have conversations, you understand people's stories, and vice versa. So when that happens, your understanding of situations, change. But yes, that's seeing life from one perspective.
Shishir: There have been lots of opportunities I've had over the years, even as a working journalist to interact with communities. My earliest I think was when I was in school and college then I was reading books for those who are visually impaired. I'm not saying that that contributed to where I am today.
Shishir: But I think just things fell in to place, dots got joined and I think there were opportunities which just came my way and I kind of let my passions pace move in the right direction or maybe the direction just started getting created. I've always enjoyed doing what I'm doing. So a question which I'm sometimes get asked is, don't you miss journalism?
Shishir: There's been print and there's been television. So do I miss it? Of course I do. But because I love that as well. And do I love what I do? Yes, I do. So if I leave this and go elsewhere, will I miss this? Of course I will. So I think it's about enjoying what you do. So living for the moment and for the present.
Sudha: Yeah. And also following your passion, because when you moved out, you started an initiative, which was also linked to supporting young students. I think it was all leading towards where you are today.
Shishir: You're right. Absolutely. So the teaching journalism or the citizen journalism was also about as one would put it the kindness bone that I see in most other people as well. So I think maybe that's an extension which led from one to the other from hardcore journalism teaching to maybe civic journalism, which is about civic sense and responsibilities and duties apart from rights, which led to people sharing what are their concerns and from concerns led to maybe solutions from there led to finding a pathway.
Shishir: And it's not about me finding a pathway, it's about guiding people and working with them to find the pathway. Because it's not about me doing Project Mumbai, it's about people who are part of it, which is leading to Project Mumbai what it is. It's a people movement.
Sudha: Yeah, finding the right communities to do that.
Sudha: So what is Project Mumbai, this passion project of yours. I love the tagline Mumbai ke liye kuch translates into, I'll do anything for Mumbai. How did you arrive at that?
Shishir: I think a lot of things at Project Mumbai well, there is a planning that happens, but being a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing, because it's about a feeling. Living that feeling. Now, the name Project Mumbai also is not about getting a lot of brand experts coming together to say, what should we call it? It's about the city Mumbai and treating it like a good project. So it became Project Mumbai. So we never really thought about, it was a very simple thing that would it become popular or not popular if you have a different name, we do good work. It has to be popular or not popular. So project Mumbai name also became that way. And similarly, people in Mumbai talk like that and that's how, when we started talking to a lot of people to say will you be able to help us out? And that's when came in, of course, we'll do anything ‘kuch bhi karega’. So that became Mumbai ke liye kuch bhi karega.
Shishir: And from there realised that there are so many people who have that element of kindness to say. And we've seen the city going through crisis so often over the years, decades, that every time there's a crisis, people have come together. So there is that very deep, inherent kindness bone that people have, that of giving.
Shishir: So when it's in crisis that people come together, why not in peace times? So can we make the city the kindness capital? It is a kind capital, it is a kind city, there are kind people everywhere. It's just that sometimes they don't have that opportunity to express that kindness. It's just that some of these stories don't come out.
Shishir: One story which has come out, there are so many other bigger Project Mumbais' happening around us. Maybe we don't know about it.
Sudha: True. But, the tagline Mumbai ke liye kuch bhi karega it so well captures the spirit of that city and also the language. Right. Mumbai language is different, Mumbai Hindi or Marathi is a bit different to what is elsewhere in the country. So it captures that spirit definitely.
I read on the Project Mumbai website that you've had like a hundred-plus successful partnerships. And the partnerships work on the principle of collaboration with local administration and the private sector.So one a bit slower and the other a bit faster or both very slow. I don't know. So what does it look like in practice?
Shishir: Which one would, according to you, be the slower one, if one would ask?
Sudha: I'd say the public sector would be the slower one, but from recent examples, I also know that organisations sometimes they take their time to move on important things.
Shishir: So, it comes back to that element of kindness, that there are good people everywhere. There are good people within the government, there are good people in the private sector, there are good people all around us. And it's just tapping that resource helps the door open faster. And its also then creating that interest, it's about storytelling, maybe that this is what we are doing. And if I am trying to sell you an idea about an initiative, if that does not interest you, then either I have not conveyed it to you in the manner it ought to be conveyed, or maybe your priorities are different.
Shishir: So it's about getting the right story to the right people and then getting them on board. So people could come on board as volunteers. People can come on board as permission givers, people can come on board as funders or just co creators. But they have to buy in.
Shishir: I might say, okay, Sudha, why don't you join me in x activity of mine? You would join in the first time because maybe I've asked you to, but you need to come on board again and again and again, you need to like it. So that is where the idea is to get people interested and get the right people interested.
Shishir: So to answer your question, the earlier one there have been challenges at either ends that governments or the public sector be it the municipal corporation or different authorities. It takes time to convince, but some of these ideas and so many of them, which is like, when you said the tagline, Mumbai ke like kuch bhi karega so many of our initiatives, just to give you an example, setting up libraries in the gardens of Mumbai.
The moment we share it with somebody in the government, they say, wow, so interesting. And all we do is ask very little of others because the ask is big, but we are breaking up the ask in different portions. So I'm not asking a lot from one person, I'm just breaking up the ask so that everybody feels doing something little where he feels or they feel a sense of giving partnering and a sense of ownership.
Shishir: I gave you an example or be it vaccinating the elderly or taking care of, maybe providing vanity vans for women cops, or you name it, or road mapping. Everything takes a little of everyone, so then the onus does not fall on one person. And then there's a willingness, there's happiness. And that brings in that collaboration.
Shishir: The most difficult is to bring money, so to answer your question, easiest sometimes is permissions because corporates have their own limitations in, audits, processes, paperwork, and then there are multiple people in in the chain who have to agree to, in alignment with the idea. So it's good on so many fronts, it's challenging on so many other fronts as well, but we have to keep at it.
Sudha: Absolutely. That is why it is successful and you had such great projects that you've done. So some of what you said helps me to segue into this next question. That project Mumbai has been able to engage with ordinary residents to get them to give their time towards issues that they are passionate about. Like you said you're not putting all the onus on one person they are contributing in the best way they can without feeling overwhelmed by it. So as I understand, most of the projects are managed by volunteers, how do you create a cohesive team of volunteers focused on an end goal? Because these are not people who've worked as teams. Sometimes you'll have new people, sometimes you'll have different people.
Shishir: Yeah, I'll just make a slight kind of structure that the projects are by and large run by the team, and I've got a fantastic team at Project Mumbai.
Shishir: So this is the in house Project Mumbai team, but co led in so many cases by the volunteers, because they're part and as much the arms and legs. I could lead a team, but if there's no team, then what am I in that sense? So there are, for instance, if you talk about beach cleanups, which have volunteers who come in at maybe carrying stuff from here to there, keeping records, ensuring certificates are done, that could be done by volunteers. There's a lot of responsibilities that volunteers take. But there is a team which just ensures that the systems are in place, the processes are done. Libraries in schools, there is, yes, some projects are driven by volunteers. Or in COVID a lot of the responsibility because we were doing 30 initiatives at the same time.
Shishir: And I don't have those many team members who could handle 30, but then yes, there are volunteers who took independent charge. My entire vaccination initiative was largely on ground driven by a volunteer lead, but you live and learn. Sometimes mistakes do happen and we learn from them, but sometimes you get lucky and we were lucky most time because there are good people everywhere.
Shishir: It was being done by a lot of people, and when you put the word out to say, I'd like to do something it's not a force, it's volunteering. So only those hands will go up, which are interested. Some hands will go up for something else. Some hands you go for even something else. So also answering one point that you mentioned, that it's not just ordinary people who came in, people across age groups, people across economic abilities joined in. The volunteering is not only about stepping out and doing an act, but volunteering was about volunteering money sometimes, volunteering is volunteering to connect me with somebody else. Volunteering is also just showing a support or dropping a mail about our work to a third person, that also led to a lot of traction of goodwill, which brought in so many people. Just to give an example, we've had some fantastic leaders in the corporate space who for nothing in return, put the word out, spoke about us to other people. And then that led to more and more people getting to know about us. Or using social media, let's say John Abraham offered his entire social media platform to us during COVID to say, whatever you're doing, my team is going to put it out in the public domain.
Shishir: So that's his big heart, his kindness, his volunteering to the cause. There was Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal, they chipped in support financially to buy things for the needy. Amitabh Bachchan and Amir Khan contributed, Ayushman Khurrana contributed. Now, we don't know them personally, but they hear about us, but they chip in that's also volunteering, volunteering your time, volunteering your money, volunteering your credibility. So it's just that one has to keep doing it. So we were touching what lives, what people were getting impacted, which is what led to other people saying, I'd like to help out also. So that's where more hands go up where we are not an exclusive activity, we are an inclusive kind of activity.
Sudha: Yeah. And then with the internal teams, probably guiding the volunteers, or facilitating an environment where they are all working towards a common goal.
Sudha: So interesting to hear this. And you've spoken about COVID and the number of projects that you were running during COVID. So Project Mumbai played a huge role in supporting citizens who did not have access, the elderly and collaborating with public health to deliver on the COVID vaccination drive. Tell us more about it, that was a terrible time across the world, but especially for those who are excluded or have no access.
Shishir: I was speaking to a Jesuit priest recently and I was talking about the work that we do, and he said you guys are actually like a Jesuit priest. You're doing things, which nobody else does. And I think that aptly kind of summarised what we do because there is a role that a state has to play. There is a role that a organisation, a building has to play. What we were looking for were the gaps, and we said, let's fill those gaps...