The Human mosaic

“Different, Not Less”: What Gayathri Ananth Taught Me About Truly Seeing Children When was the last time you looked at someone—really looked—and saw potential , not problems? Gayathri Ananth, founder of We Nurture Foundation , does this every single day. As a counselling psychologist and an early intervention specialist, she witnessed something deeply troubling: too many children with developmental challenges and too many families lost in confusion. They weren’t receiving the timely guidance they deserved. That moment, she says, became her turning point. “These children need assistance like any other essential service,” she told me—and that’s when We Nurture was born. But nothing about this path was easy. She began during COVID-19, a time when the world itself was shut down. “There were barely any shops open,” she recalls, “and getting permissions from the municipality was a major hurdle.” Add to that a lack of resources, and you have a founder facing every kind of obstacle. Yet here...

The Girl with a Guitar Who Rewrote the Meaning of Healing In a world that often separates science from art, Purvaa Sampath stands at the powerful intersection of both. A music therapist, educator, and founder of Mayahs’ Universe , Purvaa is reshaping how India thinks about healing—not with pills, but with rhythm, melody, and deeply human connection. Her journey began not in a hospital, but in a humble music class. Her teacher was working with two neurodivergent students. She watched in awe as the students opened up—emotionally, socially, even cognitively. Their transformation wasn’t the result of traditional methods. It was music that made the difference. That moment quietly planted a seed in Purvaa’s mind: music can heal . Despite this spark, her path wasn’t straightforward. She went on to study at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in the U.S.—a world-class institution, but one that didn’t quite prepare her for the Indian cultural context. Most would have seen that as a dead...