In the spin of a globe---the Short Cut series

What are the chances that one of the world’s richest women spends a month living with the world’s poorest? Zilch you might say but for Rhea Kumar the chances were very high. When her ex-husband and business partner Naresh ousted her and the 10 year legacy she created at the world’s largest communication enterprise Collab Communications by winning the Collab Board in their long pending power struggle, her career was written off. Who knew the closing of one door would open up her entire life to a much higher purpose? That day Rhea returned home sad and depressed. Her little angel-her 5 year old daughter Tara who was playing Super Girl would ask her mom if she can spin the globe so her little fingers can touch one little spot on the Planet that she would fly to. For a split second Rhea wanted to fly far away too to whichever spot her pretend Super Girl flies. It was so surprise that little Tara’s fingers would reach out for a African country and specifically the Central African Republic. While Tara flew around the living room in her Super Girl costume, so did her mother’s thoughts. Rhea had always dreamed of helping communities and making a greater social impact.

As the CEO of Collab Communications she did initiate a number of social projects to connect the world better and to bring affordable higher education to rural India. She also made Collab City, the township around her company’s headquarters a completely zero waste town. However, it was often that she felt she could do more. While the rest of the world pitied on how a woman had lost her entire life legacy to her ex-husband, she called her closest staff and planned a trip. Neither the media nor her family would be aware of how one of the most powerful entrepreneurs in the country would fly out unnoticed.

Navigating a war zone would not be as easy and Rhea realized that the moment she arrived at the border through Chad. For a moment she doubted the spontaneity of her decision. Her daughter clutched her moms arms as she saw all the armed men. Her daughter would then watch her mom freeze as her staff and the border patrol would warn her one final time against undertaking this dangerous journey especially with a child. But Rhea who had always courted danger in both her professional and personal life, would turn a deaf ear to their pleas. Rhea and her daughter very quickly realized they had checked out of heaven and checked into hell. They visited a number of humanitarian organizations and talked to many of the local war victims. Rhea worried if her little girl was being exposed to too much misery and if it will impact her negatively. Strangely, it worked wonders for her. One night, the until then petrified Tara picked up  her dinner(sandwich and soup) and walked across the camp to where the refugees were lining up to pick up food. She eyed one particularly frail little girl who was wailing clinging onto an older sibling. She walked over to her and handed her the food plate and her little pink teddy. She told the little girl largely non verbally that the pink teddy was going to keep her safe. Rhea felt a lump on her throat as she watched this. 12 years of international schooling would not have given her daughter that confidence to spread a little joy in another life when she herself was submerged in fear.

 From there on, Rhea went on to build multiple shelters that also doubled as a schooling facility for the young. With ideas from her daughter Tara, who loves to paint and read,the curriculum was structured to focus more on the creative arts with an emphasis on learning to read.Tara believes that at the most desperate of times, hope can be found in a little story somewhere and reading would unlock that hope for all. The focus on art did add a lot of color to these kids otherwise dark world. Rhea later expanded her efforts in other parts of the world few people would even dare to travel. There are no super heroes in these parts of the world. Only ordinary people with a brave heart who would give their everything to make an iota of difference. So next time someone asks a probability question and the odds are less, remember it’s always high in a story.