Bengaluru: The success of 28-year-old Alina is a ray of light bringing hope in the divisive world we wake up to everyday. Her story makes you realise the divisive, communal social media messages you read every morning are just a chimera; half-truths. The truth is that there is abundant kindness in the society we live in.

Alina Alam strongly believes in one of Prophet Mohammad’s (PBUH) sayings: “Tie your camel first, and then put your trust in Allah,” meaning perform your duty first and rest will follow. She believes it’s her faith in Allah which has made her a successful woman today. She is a well-known TEDx speaker inspiring millions of people.

“I really care about development in our country. If one community is harmed then the other one will also suffer. Our happiness is interdependent. My dream is to create awareness among the people and ensure every person who needs support gets it,’’ she says.

Alina’s recent claim to fame is her nomination among 20 extraordinary young individuals from 18 countries as finalists for this year's Commonwealth Youth Awards.

The awards recognise outstanding young men and women from the commonwealth countries whose projects are transforming lives in their communities and helping in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

More than 1,000 entries from 43 Commonwealth countries were received last year. The finalists were selected across each of the award's regional categories following a rigorous judging process.

Alina helps one of her wheelchair-bound employees, Keerthi Kale

Alina’s life changed the day she heard the story of Roman Emperor Nero, who had decided to burn prisoners of war to light up his celebrations.

This story jolted her; she realised that she was behaving like Nero; being insensitive to the people who were being burnt alive. That moment she decided she would work for differently-abled people and those who are bullied and rejected.

She launched Mitti Café, a food chain, which is run by differently-abled persons. Today, she is the CEO of Mitti Café that has spread into 14 branches and has presence at corporate offices of Infosys, Accenture, ANZ Bank and many more.

Employees at Mitti Cafe: (anti-clockwise) Roopa and Bhairappa, who have dwarfism, and Gauri, who has 100 per cent visual impairment

Taking cue from Alina, Starbucks has recently opened a food joint exclusively run by the differently abled persons in China.

Mitti Café’s turnover was Rs. 3 crore in 2019-20. More than revenue, for Alina, it’s her journey of three years on the path of making a change.

“A few years ago, I used to travel a lot. Whenever I went to Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, I stayed at Gurdwaras and Railway stations. It was there that I realised how much kindness is around all of us,” says Alina.

Swati, her colleague says: “Alina is an extremely passionate person and she believes in the potential of every human being.” The simplicity of Alina’s model is in its connecting people through food.

'Mitti Cafe' trains and employs persons with intellectual, physical and or psychiatric disabilities to work in inclusive kitchens and cafes in India.

The organisation's outreach initiative helps create awareness about inclusion and disability rights. Mitti Cafe has trained over 700 persons with disabilities and served over one million meals to vulnerable communities and homeless groups.

Young Alina recently did kanyadaan of Roopa when she got married to Bhairappa, co-workers at Mitti café

When Alina came up with the idea of helping differently-abled persons and she started writing to various corporate houses and management institutes, she received mails expressing regret. But she never gave up.

Then Deshpande Foundation approached her with an offer in Hubli. It offered her free space to launch her venture. The place was a bare space infested with fat rats. But as they say carvan banta gaya (things started moving), many students volunteered to help her.

Somebody gifted an old refrigerator; the plumber didn’t accept remuneration. This trend continued till the first outlet of Mitti café came into being. The name Mitti (earth/soil) brings out the unity in diversity. There was no looking back for Alina and her colleagues ever since.

The Mitti Cafe in Hubli

Th staff at Mitti Café are: Kirti, who couldn’t afford a wheelchair; Lakshi, who can’t hear or speak; Bhairappa, who has dwarfism; Sabiha, who has multiple sclerosis, Hemant, who has cerebral palsy and Gauri, who has 100 per cent visual impairment.

Kirti came for an interview crawling. Today, she has 116 persons working under her. She has become a motivational speaker. Alina and her team members have in turn created several new leaders.

Interestingly, young Alina recently did kanyadaan of Roopa when she got married to Bhairappa. Both are co-workers at Mitti café.

                                       Alina and her colleagues(Left to right...Swati Dokania, Ayesha and Alina)

Alina did her schooling from Kolkata and graduated in psychology from Sophia’s College, Mumbai. Eventually, she did her masters in development studies from Azim Premji University. Alina loves singing and an avid reader of newspapers. This is important for her to remain herself aware about the happenings around.

Alina’s father had worked in the corporate sector and mother is a homemaker. Her siblings also help her. She says her family believes that money alone cannot bring happiness.