From Mission Impossible to I’M Possible | Dr. Divya Raj | TEDxKPRIT

Key Concepts

• Helplessness: A state of being stuck and unable to act, often accompanied by exhaustion and frustration.
• Loop: A recurring cycle of difficult situations or feelings that are hard to escape.
• Operation Ganga: The Indian government's initiative to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine.
• 3M Mantra: A framework for breaking loops, consisting of Map, Move, and Mentor.
• Map (Mind Mapping): The initial stage of understanding a situation and planning a course of action.
• Move: Taking action, even small steps, to overcome challenges and avoid freezing in panic.
• Mentor: Someone who provides motivation, resources, stories, and experiences to guide others towards solutions.

Summary

The Ukraine Crisis and the Onset of Helplessness

The speaker recounts the harrowing experience of February 24, 2022, when a student from Ukraine called in a state of extreme terror. The student described chaos at the airport, with an attack underway and the airspace shut down. This incident highlighted the stark reality of dreams turning into struggles for survival, particularly for young individuals like the 19-year-old student who was holding his passport instead of textbooks and facing sirens instead of alarms. The speaker, a doctor and mentor, felt a profound sense of helplessness, realizing she was unprepared for such a crisis involving hundreds of students in Ukraine and thousands more elsewhere. The panic from students and parents, who looked to her for answers, amplified this feeling.

Personal Journey Through Loops

The speaker reveals that her experience with "loops" began long before the Ukraine crisis. In 2002, as a young woman in India with limited opportunities, she aspired to become a doctor. Convincing her parents to let her study abroad was a significant challenge. She describes her initial struggles in a foreign country, facing language barriers, cultural differences, and isolation, making her first call home after three months. Her journey was a "roller coaster ride," further complicated by marriage and pregnancy during her education. She credits her husband, Dr. Raj, as an "unsung hero" who supported her through these hardships, enabling her to become a successful doctor, author, and achieve notable positions. This personal history of overcoming obstacles made her believe she understood struggles, but the Ukraine situation presented an unprecedented challenge.

The Evacuation Operation: From Chaos to Coordination

The situation in Ukraine escalated, with survival becoming a minute-by-minute challenge. The speaker describes the intense coordination efforts, working 24/7 with sleepless nights, and the feeling being "even more horrible than lockdown." They lacked access to basic necessities and had to stockpile food, medical supplies, and power banks. Students endured hours, sometimes entire freezing nights, in bunkers without ventilation or power, maintaining faith that a solution was being sought.

The announcement of "Operation Ganga" by the Indian government offered a ray of hope. However, with Ukraine's airspace closed, evacuation flights could only reach European borders, a daunting 1,000 kilometers away from the students' locations. The lack of transport presented a new hurdle. The speaker emphasizes how the human brain functions intensely in crisis, leading to brainstorming and pattern formation. They engaged in extensive discussions with governments, ministries, embassies, experts, and students to explore every possibility, aiming for zero risk.

Innovative Solutions: The Train Evacuation

Drawing on previous evacuation plans, the speaker proposed a "train evacuation," which was initially met with skepticism due to the closed airspace and blocked transport. Undeterred, she made "countless communications" and "knocked every single door possible." Leveraging her relationships, institutional support, and the Ministry of Transport of Ukraine, she secured the "first special train permit" to evacuate students to the borders.

The logistical challenges were immense, involving coordinating thousands of students to move simultaneously. Information portals and WhatsApp groups were established, and teams worked tirelessly, checking each student's name to ensure no one was missed. The first train, exceeding its capacity, left with many students still on the platform due to local occupancy. This caused renewed panic, but fortunately, a second train was allotted within two hours due to the existing permit. The second train saw an overwhelming number of students, with 120 crammed into a 60-seated compartment, highlighting their desperation and panic attacks. The speaker notes the presence of a nine-month pregnant student and others with asthma.

The journey of the train was tracked via geotagging, with "glowing dots" on phones providing emotional relief. The 20-hour journey felt like "20 years" to the speaker, who prayed for their safety. The train eventually reached the borders, and with the assistance of NGOs, the Indian community, local communities, and embassies, the students were moved to shelter homes in Hungary. The final step involved coordinating their flights back to India. Upon receiving confirmation that the students were safely on a plane, the speaker experienced an overwhelming sense of gratitude, falling to her knees and crying.

The Education Loop in India

Despite the successful evacuation, the speaker realized that a new "education loop" awaited the students in India. Their education was disrupted, and their academic paths were uncertain. Despite promises and assurances, they faced a "matter of uncertainty." Approaches to governments and the Supreme Court yielded no immediate solutions due to the stringent regulations of medical education.

The Indian government eventually engaged in diplomatic efforts. The speaker also traveled internationally, seeking solutions, which led her to Uzbekistan. Leveraging her "good bilateral relations" and connections with Indian culture, doctors, and actors in Uzbekistan, she pitched her request to the Ministry of Health. After a month of negotiations, a "special order" was obtained, allowing students to continue their education in the same academic year. This resulted in the relocation of thousands of students to Uzbekistan. These students later demonstrated their resilience by cracking India's "toughest licensing medical examination," with a passing percentage of only 20%, achieving a success rate of 67-80% in their first attempt. The speaker refers to them as "warriors" and "true heroes" now serving the nation.

The 3M Mantra: A Framework for Breaking Loops

The speaker concludes by reflecting on how this experience transformed her from a mentor and educator into a "crisis leader." She emphasizes that breaking loops is not exclusive to global crises but is relevant to everyday life, citing examples of a patient in a "fear loop" after a diagnosis, a student in an "anxiety loop" before an exam, or an employee in a "failure loop" facing a deadline.

She introduces her "3M mantra" as a framework for addressing these loops: Map, Move, and Mentor.

• Map (Mind Mapping): This is the initial stage of understanding a situation, akin to a GPS, where one plans a course of action. This was crucial in the Ukraine evacuation.
• Move: This emphasizes taking action, even small steps, as "motion always beats panic." This was evident in the USB relocation and Ukraine evacuation efforts.
• Mentor: This involves motivating others through resources, stories, and experiences to find shortcuts and solutions. The speaker chose to be a mentor, guiding individuals from "mission impossible" to "I am possible."

The speaker invites the audience to consider their own loops and choose one of the three words – Map, Move, or Mentor – to begin breaking them. She asserts that "helplessness is really not the end. It's just a loop you're stuck in," and that "loops are meant to be broken." She concludes with an empowering message: "If I can, you can. And you can, we all can."