"Determined to help,” billionaire-philanthropist Dr Cyrus Poonawalla has presented Nasik based child bride-turned rag picker-turned video journalist Maya Muktai a new Maruti Suzuki S-Presso. The mid-day (MD) of August 26 2022 noted that the "self-effacing 34-year-old” told Jaswinder Narang, head of the Villoo Poonawalla Foundation, who spoke to her on behalf of Poonawalla, "that it was enough validation of her work that they had thought of helping her.” She has learnt driving, and told the newspaper: "This car will not only save me a lot of time, energy and money… but will also be constant encouragement for me to do more.”
Clockwise from above: Maya Muktai, Jaswinder Narang;
image of the gifted car; Dr Cyrus Poonawalla
Poonawalla read about Muktai’s saga on January 21, 2022 when MD first broke her story. The newspaper had noted that Muktai’s video journalism made her one of the finalists for the 2021 Network for Women in the Media fellowship. Neither lack of schooling nor the daily grind of survival killed the Marathwada born woman’s natural curiosity, noted MD. "I wanted to learn every skill possible,” she told the paper about her joining up with the Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakarai Panchayat, a nongovernmental organization (NGO). In 2010, Muktai was among three rag pickers selected by the Panchayat to represent India at the United Nations Climate Change conference held in Tianjin, China. It was there that she was introduced to the wonders of videography and trained with an NGO, Abhivyakti, which "changed her life.” The gutsy videographer then joined Video Volunteers, an organization that commissions grassroots journalists to highlight community issues. Despite precarious finances, "Muktai is unwilling to join commercial news channels.” As a freelancer I can question anyone,” she had stated.