Some time ago, Anson Kurumbathuruth, a teacher at Peechanikkad Government UP School in Angamaly, received a call from an anonymous girl who just wanted to thank him.
A little prodding, and the girl revealed she would not have been alive but for him. Devastated by a failed love affair, she was all set to end her life when she happened to listen to his motivational message on WhatsApp and dropped the plan.
“That message was about a person trapped in a cesspool who can either resign to his fate and suffer or be optimistic and try to recover,” said Mr. Kurumbathuruth, who has been sharing motivational messages in the form of small stories or real-life experiences set to a soothing background music over WhatsApp without fail for the past five years.
ADVERTISEMENT
On the fifth anniversary of his initiative, a teacher from Fort Kochi rang up to thank him for having stopped her from resigning from her job in a fit of depression after the death of her parents. In another instance, a woman diagnosed with blood cancer kept listening to his messages daily till she died three months later.
A motivational speaker, he started his new habit when some regular participants of his sessions pointed out rather unkindly that he was repeating stories and incidents. Thus dawned the realisation that he has to spruce up his reading.
“I started collecting books. Reading a few passages every morning became a routine,” said Mr. Kurumbathuruth. He then spun from it a motivational message and shared it over WhatsApp groups.
ADVERTISEMENT
He now shares messages over 230 groups and a few broadcast groups from where they take a life on their own and get shared to countless groups even among expatriates.
“I have never missed it in even in the middle of personal tragedies and have recorded those messages from hospital corridors and parking lots,” said Mr. Kurumbathuruth, an established Chavittunatakam exponent, having performed in over 300 stages for 16 years.
Once his mobile phone broke down, and a Vypeen-based businessman in the Middle East gifted him with one, so that he would continue to inspire others.