Bengaluru: A walk with carol singers to his neighbour's house was an eye-opener for young Nestin. “It was December 2011 and my mother asked me to take carol singers to the neighbour's house. I was not very keen, but I took them anyway. Our neighbour was an elderly woman with Alzheimers and failing organs. The carol Singers sang for the family, even as her husband held her hands," remembers Nestin Vas.
“After the song got over, she was very happy and thanked all of them. That was it," he adds. The smile on the elderly woman’s face made him think about not just her, but a multitude of people who could be cheered up with a simple act of spending time and singing for them.
A year later in December, Nestin and his team of some 10-15 friends formed an NGO, Little More Love, which aimed to kick off a kindness movement in the city to make world a better place to live by collectively and consciously performing acts of love.
“We believe that ‘small acts can change the world’, and we take it forward through several events, like carol singing, blood donation camps and raising funds for those who are in need. Most importantly, Little More Love aims to spread a little happiness in a mundane world that cries out for it,” explains Nestin, who is also the trustee of the NGO. Their journey has since been revolving around this mantra of kindness.
“We try to go to old age homes, orphanages and other NGOs to spread joy through music and dance. The feeling one gets after looking at the happy faces is immeasurable. But our aim is not just this, but to create a movement to encourage people to recognise this truth and build a community that empowers individuals to grow through their struggles by humbly serving those in need. It is great to see people reaching out to us and offering help and that is what is important," he explains.
His team has now grown to more than 40 members who spread awareness and reach out to people for funds for orphanages and old age homes. They conducted their first blood donation drive in April 2013. The team also helped a school by conducting a book donation drive. “There are so many people who need our help. Equally high are the number of people who want to help, but are not aware,” he adds.
The NGO works broadly on six important initiatives – Beautiful Ones, Open Hands, Gift a Patient, Furry Ones, Lifeline and general event. “Under Beautiful Ones, we visit NGOs, orphanages, old age homes and help spread cheer through music and songs. We clean up the place and spend time with the inmates. Under Open Hands, we try to identify the needs of various centres and try to collect those materials for them, be it sanitary napkins, books or stationery. It is all about spreading the word and encouraging people to give it back to society," he explains. Under their, 'Gift A Patient' initiative, they organise various awareness and blood donation drives for patients. Another important and a fairly new initiative, 'Lifeline', sees them joining hands with an NGO at Kidwai and collecting funds for the families. “The parents of patients admitted at Kidwai would have already exhausted all their money on that one child and forgotten the needs of their other children. It is for these kids that we collect funds through various collection drives and fundraising platforms," he says. Nestin and his team have till now conducted over 70 such drives, including their music visits to various places. The future for his team is not dependent on money, but just to get as many people as possible involved in this movement. “In the future, we want to have individual heads for various projects, but overall it is not about collecting funds but getting people together," he sums up.
