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| Chennai Micro team accepts The Indian of the Year 2015 award goes to People of Chennai (video below) |
June 10, 2016, NewsCrunch
CNN News 18 awarded its Indian of the year 2015 to the people of Chennai on Thursday and popular RJ Balaji's acceptance speech has gone viral.
RJ Balaji, along with actor Sidharth and other friends, had started a spontaneous movement ChennaiMicro on Decemebr 1, the day the flood hit Chennai. The movement using #ChennaiMicro hashtag on Twitter mobilised massive resources, and thousands of volunteers and managed to feed 5,-000 people on day one alone.
In a short two minute speech, RJ Balaji said, flood changed people of Chennai forever.
When they started #ChennaiMicro, they never thought it would become become so big and draw support from thousands of people, he said.
As a child, RJ Balaji said, he had always wondered how our forefathers had fought for Independence so selflessly and why had present-day Indians changed so much.
Chennai floods showed that people could again become selflessness and go all out to help each other
He said there have been very few moments in India after Independence, which make us feel proud of ourselves - may be a Virat Kohli century or a Priyanka Chopra getting a role in Baywatch.
Chennai floods and its people's response was a moment we can feel proud of ourselves, he said.
The flood also ripped out caste, class, religion and other masks we wear and revealed our human faces, said RJ Balaji.
When you think of Chennai don't just think of its masala dosas and Rajinikanth lungi dance - also remember the spirit of its people, which is the true spirit of India, said RJ Balaji.
Balaji Patturaj popularly known as RJ Balaji, is an Indian radio jockey, presenter, comedian and actor based in Chennai.