‘A broke college kid’ on a mission to tell stories that matter

CHENNAI: The day Mohamed Ashik turned 25, he knew it was time for him to accomplish something in his life. With zero ideas crossing his already confused mind, he decided to step out in the bustling streets of Chennai, seeking advice from random people.

“I still remember vividly posting my first reel on February 15 this year, where I was asking for life advice from an auto driver on my birthday. I received a message from Madan Gowri, one of South India’s biggest YouTuber, appreciating my content. I jumped out of bed with joy at 10.30 pm, and showed it to my parents, only realising later that I am on to something much more than just an Instagram reel,” says Ashik, who ever since that night, works hard to deliver the best content possible for his audience.

As an IT professional, Ashik always had a fondness for storytelling. Working his 9 to 5 job from Monday to Friday, the storyteller, along with his brother, wanders in the streets during the weekends, asking random strangers about their experiences in life.

‘A broke college kid’ reads the Instagram handle of Mohamed Ashik. Explaining the difficulties his family faced during his second year of college, the storyteller says, “My family was homeless and we struggled to make ends meet. I would cry myself to sleep, hoping someone would lend us a hand. This made me want to make an impact on people’s lives and uplift them by sharing their stories out to the world.”

Having fondness for reading books only when gifted to him, the storyteller decided to gift books to teenagers whom he met during his weekend stroll. “I would start by asking them about their ambitions, and giving them a book in return to help them develop a reading habit,” says Ashik.

Books give us knowledge, but what about real-life experiences which teach us how to survive in this testing world?

“I started asking for life advice from elders in different professions and loved every second of interacting with new people. Slowly I shifted my attention towards street vendors and small scale businesses, who sweat day and night for people to buy from them. I would share their side of the story through my videos, buy all the products they sell and pay them respectfully” states the content creator, describing the hopeful smile the poor street vendors offer him in return for his deed.

On a weekend evening, on his way back home from a beach, Ashik couldn’t stop but took notice of a young boy delivering newspapers. He knew the boy had a story to tell. “He introduced himself as Roshan, in a stammering tone. He was pursuing his studies in Vels University and delivering newspapers, after his fathers death, to support his mother. The video went on to garner over a million views in a day and caught the notice of Dr Preethaa Ganesh, the vice president of the university who went on to offer Roshan with a scholarship,” describes the storyteller.

“Let’s live a simple life but worthy enough to be written in history,” is how Mohamed Ashik perceives life, with a promise to serve the society, providing a platform for unheard voices with a story to tell.