The start of a new year often comes with big resolutions, many of which quietly fade by February. Through Better India Goals 2026, we’re doing things differently. This series brings together personal, practical goals set by our team— rooted in lived experiences, not perfection. These are intentions shaped by real lives, evolving challenges, and the hope that small, consistent changes can lead to a better year for ourselves and those around us
What object most resembles you?
I recently came across one of those typical psych evaluation questions, the kind that, when you answer them, people believe can crack the code to your personality.
It got me thinking.
And my answer is: most days I feel like a jigsaw, a puzzle made up of all the people whose lives I’ve written about, whose journeys I’ve silently celebrated, and whose wins I’ve translated into words.
It’s been four years of writing about changemakers. Weeks and months of archiving great minds, people with humble beginnings, from those who’ve clocked greatness on foreign shores to those who’ve brought innovation to remote Indian farms. However, as I scrolled through my mental archive, what stood out was how, while each of these stories mirrors a successful ending, their beginnings look remarkably different from one another.
I’ve listened to how booming startup businesses took shape in doubt, how legacies were created out of serendipity, and how, sometimes, ideas were sparked by loss and grief.
And as I step into 2026, I have decided to channel the learnings from my protagonists into the new year.
I am resolving to learn from them. You could too.
‘Don’t wait for company; start, and people will join along the way.’
The interview with Col Dr Rajinder Singh is etched in my mind. The Akal Drug De-Addiction Centre in Punjab, led by the army veteran and psychiatrist, is a lifeline for youth who struggle with addiction and substance abuse. Instead of punishment and moralising, Dr Rajinder believes, care, counselling, and empathy have a long way to go in ensuring rehabilitation. But while the centres are now supported by a team of equally passionate people, when Dr Rajinder started, there weren’t many who believed in his vision.
Didn’t you get demoralised? I asked him.
He replied, “Mein akela hi chala tha jaanib-e-manzil. Log saath aate gaye aur karvaan banta gaya(I had stepped alone towards the destination. People kept coming along, turning it into a caravan.).”
The Akal Drug De-Addiction Centre in Punjab’s Sangrur is a safe space for those who battle addictions to seek therapy. Photograph: (Col Dr Rajinder Singh)
And so, I figure the lesson here is that going solo is okay.
When’s the last time you shrugged off an activity because you didn’t have company? Well, start it today. Alone. The company will arrive.
I found a common thread of courage in the work of another one of my protagonists, Dr Taru Jindal, who helped reform maternal and public healthcare at Bihar’s Motihari District Hospital. The Mumbai-based gynaecologist was unprepared for the scale of neglect she observed during her posting in 2014: unsafe deliveries and unhygienic operating theatres.
Dr Taru spent six months in the Motihari District Hospital in Bihar training the staff in basic medical practices. Photograph: (Dr Taru Jindal)
Not only did she blow the whistle on these, but she then worked to transform the mindsets of the staff, training doctors, nurses, and health workers in essential skills like sterilisation, safe childbirth, neonatal care, managing bleeding, and infection control.
Courage takes on a different avatar in her story. Dr Taru spoke truth to power and then worked to find a solution. Another one of my protagonists, Dr Prasanna Shirol, did the same.
Ensuring your profession serves humanity
While his daughter Nidhi, India’s first reported Pompe disease patient, battled the rare genetic condition that causes glycogen to build up in the body, Dr Prasanna founded the Organization for Rare Diseases India (ORDI). It went on to become a national platform for advocacy and awareness, addressing the lack of diagnosis, treatment access, and institutional support for rare disease patients.
From him, I learnt what it means to turn grief into purpose.
Each one of us might not have the agency to start initiatives and full-blown revolutions. But covering the story of CRY (Child Rights and You), one of India’s most influential child rights organisations, showed me that opportunities to help are present everywhere. All we need to do is look.
CRY India advocates for the rights of children to health, education, and nutrition. Photograph: (CRY)
This year, you and I could make a difference in our community. CRY has a repository of volunteering opportunities across anganwadis(child care centres), where we can be a part of community outreach programmes and projects centred around health, children’s rights, and STEM education.
Making resolutions is easy; following through is tough. So, I plan to check in every few weeks on where I stand with them. For instance, I plan to dedicate two hours of my time every weekend to volunteering for a cause. It could be just about anything. But setting aside those couple of hours will help me ensure that I’m doing my bit and staying true to the goals I’m setting.
And if time constraints are hindering you, you could always volunteer for nature, just like my protagonist Rakesh Khatri, widely known as the ‘Nest Man of India’, who’s dedicated over a decade to restoring bird habitats in Indian cities. Rakesh has helped install more than 7 lakh nests across urban India, offering shelter to sparrows, bulbuls, magpies, and robins. The work is painstaking, but he does it with a smile. What’s stopping us?
As part of the extensive coverage of wildlife stories we’ve done over the past several months, I now know of many wildlife organisations that are looking for help. And it doesn’t always have to be about braving the throes of the jungle and saving the wild.
It could be something as simple as adopting a hornbill nest. The Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme in Arunachal Pradesh encourages city folk to take an active part in wildlife conservation by simply adopting a nest. The team then takes care of the nest, while providing you with routine updates on its inmates. I plan to adopt a nest, and get a dozen or so people to do the same. Adopt a hornbill nest, here.
(L): An oriental pied hornbill cleaning the nest, (R): A great hornbill takeover of a wreathed hornbill nest. Photograph: (Taring Tachang)
Along with this, I want to commit an hour every week to connecting initiatives that help stray animals with those who know of injured animals in need of medical aid. Through the stories I cover, I’ve built a network of changemakers and resources, which, when connected and amplified, can do wonders.
There are many challenges that the wild encounters. And some changemakers could do with a little help from you and me.
But, I get it; we’re busy.
Time is short.
We have tasks and deliverables, right?
And maybe, we’re bound to find, along the year, that we don’t have the time to spare, or enough emotional bandwidth to care. But when that feeling visits, I’ll be reminded of one of my protagonists, Satyam Mishra. A teacher by profession, Satyam ventures into conflict zones, where education often doesn’t reach.
Through his work, he’s reimagining classroom practices, focusing on equipping teachers with innovative, research-driven methods that move beyond rote learning and outdated pedagogy. Satyam found a way to integrate purpose into his passion. And so can you and I.
Through every story I tell, as a journalist, I intend to venture into the fringes of problems that plague our world, starting from those affecting my community. Because the way I see it, 2026 isn’t about shifting the goalposts. It’s about seeing them through a different lens.
As the year unfolds, our goals will evolve — just like we do. What intention are you carrying into this new year? It doesn’t have to be perfect or ambitious — just honest. Let’s begin 2026 one mindful step at a time.
