#Rewind2021: We couldn’t have gotten through this year without the kindness of strangers
The Hindu
We look back on a year on friendships forged in fire. Faced with the many challenges of the pandemic, we leaned on a network of unexpected bonds and the kindness of strangers. They form a strong foundation for 2022
Life turned upside down for Prasanna Athi in February 2021. Even as she was settling into her lovingly decorated home in Washington, unforeseen visa issues meant she had to leave her job, family and friends, pack her bags and move back to Hyderabad with little to no warning.
Uprooted and in between jobs, with no clarity on where she would be spending the rest of the year, there was a group of people anchoring her through this instability. Having joined a Covid squad by people from IIIT in early May, she found that helping others put her personal distress to temporary rest.
“Everything in my life was uncertain at that point. And then I found this group with whom I would spend 12-15 hours a day on calls... people from all walks of life bringing in different skills to fight the pandemic,” she says.