Thomas 'chettan' who delivers free lunches to patients in some of Kerala's government hospitals, gay couple Sonu and Nikesh, daily wage worker Omana, fishermen Pramod and Anil—these are some people whose stories feature on the Instagram page Humans of Kerala. And they share the same space with the likes of former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, Yuva Sahitya Akademi Award-winning author Manu S. Pillai, and actor-model Shaun Romy.
“Every one has an interesting back story; you need not be extraordinary or a celebrity,” says Sanjana Elizabeth George, one of the founders. “People who often call themselves ordinary are the ones with the most inspiring lives.” And for Humans of Kerala, every story counts—not just of Malayalis but even migrant workers who are an integral part of the state now.
Just a little over five months old, Humans of Kerala (HOK) has over 12,000 followers. The platform was the brainchild of Rahul Roy and friends Ron Abraham and Stanley James. Rahul, who graduated from Delhi's St Stephen's college earlier this year was deeply inspired by the college's in-house platform Humans of Stephen, and the hugely popular Humans of New York and Humans of Bombay pages. They discussed the need for a similar space for Malayalis in 2016, but what eventually paved way for it was the Kerala floods of 2018. “There were so many stories emerging—of people's struggles, survival spirit and many unknown heroes. We thought this was the time when inspiring stories from the state needed to be shared,” says Rahul.
The first struggle was getting the title of the page to themselves as there were a few pages, most of them inactive, that went by the same name. Requests to these page managers to give up the title were in vain. And so the four of them went forward with a prefix to the title—'Official' Humans of Kerala.
They launched the page after compiling about 15 stories, but this was no mean feat. Roaming around the state, observing people, speaking to them and getting them to share snippets from their personal lives requires a good deal of commitment. "When we first approached people, we did not even have an official page to show them. Also, most of the people featured are clueless about Instagram and such platforms," says Rahul. But the effort has been rewarding—not monetary benefits, but the sheer joy of connecting with simple human beings, and picking lessons from their lives. Within this short span of time, the team has also received messages from quite a few followers who express interest in offering financial aid to some of the people featured on HOK.
HOK is also slowly transforming into a platform that challenges stereotypes and lends voice to those who need it. The story of gay partners Sonu and Nikesh, for instance, grabbed eyeballs when it was posted on the first anniversary of the historic Section 377 verdict. They approached us because they wanted to come out with their story, and shatter the stigma in ways of their own, says Rahul.
HOK has also been roping in volunteers to help them bring more stories from Kerala's lesser known villages and towns. Besides bringing in human interest stories, the team has taken huge steps forward—by creating a space for conversations on mental health. “We realised that a large part of the mails we received and stories shared with us were from youngsters, and they mostly spoke of their mental health challenges,” says Rahul. The team understood the need for taking the conversation ahead, and stepped out of the virtual world to organise the 'Sound Mind Official' campaign.
Launched in October during World Mental Health week, the team has so far organised five outreach programmes where people gather and talk about their struggles, under the mentorship of a mental health expert. “Talking in itself is a cathartic process, and we saw some of them break down or bond with random strangers they met at the event,” says Chirag, coordinator of the campaign. Chirag Lalwani, a third-year medical student in Kochi, initially joined the team as a volunteer this year. For Chirag, a Gujarati raised in Kochi, Kerala is home. His father Sunil reached Kochi over two decades ago to set up his business, and has called the city home ever since. The story of Chirag, his father and mother who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 14 years ago, was yet another touching post on HOK.
For HOK, the journey has just begun. There are many more stories to be unearthed—those of ordinary people who have lived extraordinary lives.