From Aviation to Serving Humanity

A team that despite flying high in the world of aviation took an effort to alleviate pain in the life of people suffering during these tough times. A platform built to help people get out of this tough situation ultimately became a lifesaver for the creator's own family members. Read on to find out more about his amazing journey of aeroplanes, computers and people fighting the pandemic together.

A group of aviation enthusiasts when turned into Covid Warriors; Dhruv Bhatt, Samay Bhattacharya, Ayshwaria Grace, Thirumalai Raj, Dinesh Kumar, Vibula, Aara Amuthan, Surya Prakash, Ranbir Jain, Sayed Zaafir, Rahul Sharma, Sooryah Prasath

Stories enthral us. They capture us within their own magical world. One of the most interesting facts is that everyone is a storyteller. Be it our conversations, our chats and the funny emojis that pop around, sweet talks with our neighbours or be it a child ranting about his entire day at school, every person ceaselessly tells stories that connect us even more.

As John Green wrote in Turtles All The Way Down, “The world is billions of years old, and life is a product of nucleotide mutation and everything. But the world is also the stories we tell about it.”

As a platform, we are dedicated to telling stories of the past but recently we have decided to start a series where we can narrate the stories of all those brave hearts who have survived the test of these difficult times. An amazing series aimed at portraying the life of all those who have worked relentlessly towards helping out people suffering from Covid-19 and the stories of all of us who have battled with Covid-19 in one way or the other and have come out stronger. With their unique approach to these difficult times, they have managed to bring a smile to our faces.

This tale is that of a team that despite soaring high in the sky took an effort to bring some change in the life of common people on the ground suffering during these tough times.

An aviation enthusiast who had the pilot license since the age of 16 years never knew that unprecedented times like these would get him out of his shell and make him walk on a path that was entirely different from what he has done in his entire life. From controlling an aeroplane to hitting the buttons on a keyboard, his journey was no less than that of Aladdin on the magical carpet. Let’s go on a journey with Leonard Selvaraja to find out more about his life and the sudden turn of events that made him who he is today.

Leonard wore the uniform of a pilot for the first time when he was a teenager. Cleped as the youngest pilot of Tamil Nadu, he got his pilot license at the age of 16. Hailing from the beautiful city of Chennai, he began his own start-up with some of his close friends.

Coding classes in school and interest in aviation led Leonard and his friends to a spectacular idea of providing IT services to aviation and aerospace companies. Time passed by and soon those bunch of kids who started with correcting spelling mistakes on their website started a company to pursue their interests in aviation combined with their knack for technical skills.

The incident which got them into helping others is a peculiar one and was entirely different from what they were used to. They saw a Google Doc that was getting shared rapidly on Instagram with the aim of helping people get the resources they needed during these hard times. The Google Document was a "first-response" idea which basically consisted of a list of verified resources related to hospital beds, oxygen cylinders, and many others. This document was basically managed by a group of volunteers who used to update the resources every 15 minutes.

A light bulb lit on the top of these aviation heads and they decided to create an app that consisted of various resources which could be a great help to the thousands of Covid patients who are battling for the lives of their loved ones. Resources listed down systematically on a website or an app are easily accessible to the masses whereas a Google document might difficult to navigate.

The product was born wherein Leonard and his friends designed an app in which people themselves could add the resources. Volunteers could join to verify them and find out the details of these resources (including the quantity, type, cost and contact information) available at a particular place.

Social Media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook work like a community and what’s better than asking them to share their ideas and viewpoints? When we as people come together, every trouble takes the backdoor and runs away from our lives. Leonard and his friends took help from the Twitter community wherein people tweeted about Covid resources with #covid19verifiedresources.

Twitter Scanner- a scanner with a unique approach to detect any kind of tweet with keywords Covid 19 and Verified Resources. This scanner has the ability to scan the tweet and automatically add it to the list of resources and thereafter the volunteers, working tirelessly for this noble cause, verify it.

A whopping number of 90,000 tweets made its way to the app within a very short period of time. Started on April 30, this app has grown by leaps and bounds. Leonard says, “what started as an online repository has now transformed into a Twitter scanner.”

We all use WhatsApp as a chatbox but with no specified purpose. A Covid Bot created by Leonard and his team also works wonders. Anybody having information about any kind of resource can message on the WhatsApp number and after answering a few questions, he/she can share the details of the resources.

Another mind-blowing feature surfing on the app is ScreenShot Scanner wherein a simple screenshot that contains the details of Covid Resources can be uploaded to the platform. Artificial Intelligence does an amazing job of scanning and extracting the text from the image and recording it in the form of a resource which of course gets verified later on.

A surprising event that took place just a day before the official launch of the app was that Leonard’s entire family except him tested positive for Covid. The urgency to find hospital beds for his grandparents grew with every passing moment when an idea struck in his mind. Leonard decided to use his very own app to find out hospital beds for the treatment of his grandparents. Though by god’s grace, they did not need the beds, the unexpected turn of events was indeed something which he had never imagined. He got the much-needed help from his very own app.

The incredible transformation from a service company providing IT solutions to the aviation industry to an open-source product company serving the citizens with every kind of help they could, related to Covid resources, is something that shows that education is not all that matters, its humanity which suppresses every other quality and inspires us to become something quite different from the original versions of ourselves. Despite the difficult times, people like Leonard and his teammates are fighting the battle together which reflects that the entire world is still very much intact with a ribbon of kindness and positivity tied around its roots. No matter how difficult the situation is, when we as a country come together to fight in this battle, we will surely emerge as the victory holders. The only way is to go into the battlefield together, not as You or I, but as We.

In times when the system should be there to support the people, they are the ones dragging it on their backs. Students fatigued by academic pressure, young professionals in constant existential dread, and people in grief who have lost their loved ones are saving the nation amidst an impending doom.

When people should have the time to deal with their own exhaustion and deteriorating mental health, desperation has turned them into saviours. The system might have lost its empathy but people haven’t.

No matter day or night, so many are constantly answering SOS calls. In absence of any government aid and futile attempts to find refuge in a collapsed healthcare system, collective support has given life to many. We are documenting such stories- stories of resilience, empathy, and humanity. When humanity looks back at this time, they must know who went the extra mile and who left millions in suffering at the mercy of fate. These stories are and would be a lesson but they also serve as a reminder of the strength of cooperation.

Leonard would like to credit his friends from NCC, Cadets from NCC and volunteers from Jesus and Mary College, DU for their support in making this a success.

You can reach out to him, for help or know more about him, here - +919884801349 or message him on his Instagram handle ifly_leonard