In today’s fast paced world, social media has emerged as an ever changing and evolving industry. Some say that it is a bane as it distracts one from the things that actually matter in out day to day lives. Others say it’s a boon as it has made the world a much smaller place and all the knowledge and resources that one might need is now present at ones’ fingertips. In my opinion, just like any other technology, it depends on how one actually makes use of social media that decides whether it’s a boon or a bane. If wrongly used social media can be a cause to great distress like online fraud, cyber bulling, identity theft, etc. On the other hand if used wisely and cautiously, social media can bring about revolutions, change people lives for the better, give you access to all the knowledge you need.

One recent example of using social media as a positive influence is how a video changed the lives of an elderly couple who run a small eatery in Delhi i.e. “Baba Ka Dhaba”. Recently someone posted a video online in which an elderly couple running a small eatery in Delhi are seeing discussing the hardships they faced in the pandemic as they found hard to earn anything even after working all day in the covid times. The owner of the Dhaba, Kanta Prasad was brought to tears as he talked about how even after working hard all day and making delicious cuisines, the couple couldn’t earn much in the pandemic times.

The man making the video promised to help them. The video was later found on social media websites like facebook and youtube from where people saw the video and came out in numbers to support the elderly couple. People have been pouring in huge numbers at the Baba Ka Dhaba ever since to support the couple in these tough times and in a recent video Mr. Kanta Prasad san been seen with a lovely smile on his face, he thanked everyone for all the support and said that it felt like the entire India came forward to help them. All this positive change brought about by a youtube video that has been seen more than 80k times on youtube and also due to multiple tweets from well known and well connected people.

One of the first person to tweet about the elderly couple, imploring the masses to come out to support the couple was from Vasundhara Tankha. She was amongst the people who saw the video and tweeted about how the aged couple trying their best to make a reputable and honest living deserved all the support they can get. The tweet from Vasundhara Tankha was later retweeted by many big celebrities as well. In a way she was amongst the first to try to bring about a positive change in the lives of the couple.

Vasundhara Tankha’s father Vivek Tankha, a household name is not far behind his daughter when it comes to public service. Mr. Tankha has long been known for thinking about the community’s betterment and the country’s prosperity recently took actions to ensure the family of the Hathras case that shook the country recently gets all the help they can get in the pursuit of justice. After reports emerged that the family of the victim were being oppressed as they were not being allowed to talk to journalists, lawyers or doctors. Mr. Tankha came forward to bring a halt to this atrocious act of violation of fundamental rights of the family. Mr. Tankha quickly discussed the situation with Mr. Kapil Sabil and tweeted to the officials to stop this gross violation of the basic rights of the family. In the tweet he asked the officials to take the right steps as soon as possible to end this wrong treatment of the family and promised to take strict steps like going to the court if the wrongdoings were not stopped at once. The tweet resulted in a very positive outcome as steps were immediately taken by officials.

It is safe to say both Mr. Tankha and his daughter are driving the idea to bring about a better India by making proper and effective use of social media- a powerful tool present to almost everyone in today’s times. Both Mr. Tankha and his daughter are prime examples of how social media can and should be use in a constructive and productive way.

[ Article by: team tosscall ]