Fairy tales of The News World- The Better India

The child in me never grew tired of the hundreds of stories of princesses and princes, of dwarfs and red riding hood, of rapunzel and the fairy godmother. Each story was a war of good versus evil, and every time good triumphed.  The transition from reading fairy tales to newspapers was marred with conflicting emotions and disappointment. Life had a different meaning in every headline; rather it was reduced to being a headline only. Stories of murders, rapes, cheating, begging as a business, trafficking, and many other crimes was the core content of any newspaper out there. Newspapers are not story books and they print the news as it happens, but the lack of positive news or total absence of it bewildered many. As the negative stories unfolded every morning page after page; it made me wonder: Was our society devoid of any Good Samaritan or the newspapers weren't interested?  

While the world was complaining, finding ways to criticize, a couple was brewing a revolution in their minds. A revolution like no other that involved getting positive stories from around the country into one place so that people could read and benefit from it. Seven years ago, Dhimant Parekh and his wife, Anuradha Kedia  tired by negativity and sensationalism decided to start an alternative news medium. There was one thing that both founders had decided early on. Their website wouldn't be another moral science lesson or an op-ed in the newspaper. The website slowly grew into a medium for stories of unsung heroes, innovators, educators, success of organizations trying to bring about a change, forgotten art forms, and tales that would not only impact the reader but channelize a reaction so as to bring about a change. 

The journey wasn't smooth and not as easy as it looked. The couple started with collecting positive news from other mediums and sharing it on their own, but soon they ran out of stories. Content published in other publications did not  qualify as positive stories.  It is then that they decided to don the hat of  ournalists themselves and scout for positive stories in their city. They spoke to individuals working to improve the society, organizations helping the needy,  took pictures and put it up on their blog. Sharing it was very crucial to gaining readership and they took help of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Family, friends, colleagues, friends of colleagues played an important role in giving visibility to this alternative news website. 

Persistence is what kept them going, and it paid off six months later. A journalist offered to write for them: being from a different city they could cover more and the background gave them a new perspective in their writing. The movement kept growing  and they have grown from a team of two people to seven and more than five hundred freelance writers who work tirelessly to bring the positive stories. These stories are not only a delight to read but have had a huge impact on the readers. A story about a genius mind who created 33 forests in India reached as far as the BBC World and a special project request from Germany. Another  inspiring story  about a school for the hearing-impaired children in Chennai moved a reader so much that he visited the school and contributed INR 3.5 lakhs (Approximately, 6000 USD) towards its repairs. These are just some of the many positive changes that have come about just by sharing positive news.

Determination, passion,  and the zeal for positivity is working its magic and impacting the life of millions. They do not have any supernatural powers of superman or the gizmos of batman; storytelling is their cape and their magic wand. The numbers are proof of the impact these stories have had. 1.5 million readers, 300,000+ social media followers and 500+ writers is a gigantic feat that positive storytelling has achieved and it continues to grow.  You don't have to be a magician to change the world. Join the cause, share a positive story and help them change the lives of millions. The fairy tales you missed, happy endings that were lost, fight for justice and hundreds of other stories can be found here: The better India

Originally written for India West: September 17th,2015:

http://www.indiawest.com/eedition/page-a/page_7522ff02-7207-538d-9895-7e17a8fac008.html#page_a08

http://www.indiawest.com/eedition/page-a/page_179fe07a-7278-58e1-bb3a-541a264ec138.html#page_a16