This year, my #AtoZChallenge theme is something very familiar

The #AtoZ Challenge is here once more. For those who need a reminder, it is a writing challenge where bloggers across the world write for every day (except Sundays) of the month of April, usually following the sequence of the alphabets as guides for the posts.
In 2016, I had done a fun series based on something I am good at - Tv shows and trivia.

In 2017, I chose something unique. 

It started when I was thinking of what to write about and came across a single two line snippet in the news paper of a good deed done by someone in a foreign country. In a whole newspaper filled with hundreds of articles, that was the only good news story I read that day. It was a deed of kindness done by someone for some elderly people. And it got two lines. No one would remember him over all the other terrible stories of hate, racism and war.

That is where my series 'Heroes of Kindness' began. I decided that it was time to showcase the good deeds done by people as an antitheses of what newspapers and media tends to do.

Was it easy? 

Hell, no. This was not something I could randomly google or 'wiki' and jot down information. I had to literally search the corners of the globe for stories of small, kind deeds done by random people and then fit it into a A to Z format, no less. My searches took me from the cockpits of a German fighter plane in World War 2 to a superstitious village in Nigeria, from Disney princesses in hospitals to intimidating bike riders. 

But I did it. I searched for each of these random people in the real world and found many too, contacting a dozen of them and eventually interviewing quite a few, including in some cases, the recipients of these acts of kindness. 

 

I planned to go with something simpler this year. 

Music, comicbook and movie trivia comes naturally to me. But then, rifling through my Evernote entries, I realized there are still so many wonderful stories that I have saved over the year to showcase, so many heroes who missed out the first time around. And these were stories that can still inspire people today. They can still be 'the only good news story that someone reads that day.'

Last year I struggled to get one hero for each letter of the alphabet. This time, I've decided to double down on last year's A to Z challenge. I'm betting that I will find another 26 heroes  (and more!) who will make you smile with their deeds, cry as the world repays them back and yes, make you have faith once more.
I have small children in my list and old grandfathers. I have convicts and cleaners,  newly-weds and cleaners. I have people of different races and hues. I have acts of kindness that cut across the divisive boundaries of society and religion.

I have Heroes of Kindness once more. 

Till date, I have 39 articles of real-life heroes and 66 individual positive moments within these articles. I intend to end April with 60+ real-life heroes and a 100 individual inspiring moments.

So join me next month every day of the week as I look to restore your faith in humanity.