From a madman to changemaker: how Swapnil Tewari beat the odds to bring hope to others
Swapnil Tewari has rescued families in danger, enabled craftsmen to earn a living, brought people out of depression, and infused a sense of positivity and hope among vulnerable communities.
A dyslexic and synesthetic (a medical condition in which one of the five senses simultaneously stimulates another) by birth, Swapnil Tewari’s life has been a rollercoaster ride. While he struggled to learn at school due to his condition, he lost his father in a car accident and was on the verge of committing suicide at 12. But he decided to give life another chance. He learnt from his problems, and the struggle only made him stronger.
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Swapnil Tewari started a movement called Livemad in order to spread hope and love among troubled communities in India.
Swapnil not only filled his life with joy, but also made efforts to spread the joy to people around him. Today, the 31-year-old is one of the youngest specially-abled social reformers in India. After quitting his job in the banking sector, he went on to lead a movement called Livemad to infuse hope and help troubled communities by way of social inventions and entrepreneurship.
As Swapnil was inclined to contribute to society, he began working towards it by empowering the marginalised and the disadvantaged. From rescuing distressed families to helping tribal artisans earn better, and creating tools for women’s safety, he has done it all.
An inspiring journey
After completing his MBA from Jaipuria Institute of Management, Swapnil started working with the Bank of India and then moved to the Reserve Bank of India. But Swapnil was looking to do something more creative and wanted to help people.
Swapnil’s tryst with social cause happened when he got on a phone call with an artisan’s daughter.
“That was the time when I was contemplating on ideas to enable craftsmen in India to preserve their artforms. Hence, I looked up a couple of contacts from my roster and picked out the number of an artisan’s family in the town of Madhubani, Bihar. A little girl received the call and said that she had recently lost her father due to a disease,” Swapnil recollects.
The girl said, “After my father passed away, the Pradhan of the village started taking away my mummy at night and dropping her back in the morning. Since then, my mummy has only been crying.”
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Swapnil sharing his story the US Consulate General in Kolkata.
This conversation stayed with Swapnil and he was unable to make peace with the trauma that the artisan’s family was facing. A few days later, he decided to do something about it and went in search of the family to rescue them. He went to Madhubani on a motorcycle with Rs 60,000 in his pocket. After putting up with many tough situations, including being chased by the thugs of the village, he somehow managed to identify the artisan’s family and relocated them to Delhi.
“In order to sustain the family, I asked them to continue with their traditional art, and started a venture called Naked Colours. The objective of the company was to sell the art and craft made by artisans by linking them to the corporate gifting market. The business model was such that one-third of the total profits was given to artisans, another one-third was used to sustain the company, and the remaining was donated to orphans and differently-abled children,” Swapnil tells YourStory.
It was not only the artisans from Madhubani who benefitted from Swapnil’s venture, but craftsmen from Thanjavur and Gond also gained from it.
A roller coaster ride
Born to a middle class family in Lucknow, Swapnil was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was just seven-years-old. He had a very unpleasant childhood as he was not able to play outdoor sports nor concentrate on his academics.
“I used to be extremely restless as a kid. Throwing the ball in the right direction while playing a game of cricket was a herculean task. Joining words together and reading a complete sentence was a nightmare. To add to my woes, my classmates began taunting me and calling me mad. From then, I started calling myself ‘the madman’ since I did not want to run away from reality, but embrace it,” Swapnil says.
While he managed to pass through this difficult phase, another big blow came in his life when Swapnil lost his father when he was just 12. This incident affected him to a great extent, and he became an insomniac. He was about to take an overdose of sleeping pills and commit suicide, but managed to change his mind and gave himself a chance.
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Swapnil Tewari giving a talk on the TEDx platform.
Just when things were getting back on track, Swapnil was diagnosed with gynecomastia, a medical condition that leads to the swelling of breasts due to hormonal imbalance. Nonetheless, he did not let this deter him.
“I believe that everybody is born a wonder – whether they love it or hate it is up to them. And, I decided to love it,” he quips.
Changemaker in the true sense
Swapnil was determined to bring about a positive change in the community. This drove him to go to the jungles in Satpura, one of the most violence-stricken areas in central India. Though he went with a mission to get people out of the cycle of poverty and bloodshed, he was abducted and tortured for days on the grounds of being a spy.
“They would starve me and beat me up every day. Gradually they realised my true intentions and freed me. Since most of the people in the jungle were cut away from the mainstream society, I began spreading awareness about some basic life skills like health, hygiene, and education,” Swapnil narrates.
After getting back to Delhi from Satpura, Swapnil started the Livemad movement in 2015 as part of which he initiated several social programmes. One of his first projects was on women’s safety. He started the ‘Pink Whistle Project’ under which he designed a whistle Shakti for the safety of women. The whistle could be worn as a bracelet, and in case of any impending danger, on pressing a button, it could turn into a two-inch knife.
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Swapnil delivering a motivational talk at IIM, Trichy.
Despite his own struggles, Swapnil broke out of the victim box to counsel and enable thousands of people to get out of depression and suicidal tendencies by conducting sessions on positive thinking. In addition to this, he is also working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the prevention of AIDS.
While Swapnil broke all odds and followed his passion to help others, he was recognised for his contribution as one of the ‘1000 World Leaders for Hope’ by Forbes. He was also chosen as the UNESCO ambassador for inclusive learning in 2018. Uttar Pradesh and Odisha governments also conferred him the State Peace Award in 2018.
His life journey is in the process of being captured in a documentary and a biographical feature film. Swapnil has been an ocean of inspiration and hope to many across the country.
“I want to live each moment of my life as if it were the last. I want everyone to remember me for the love I shared, the hope I spread, and the change I brought forth,” he says.
