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A wonderful act of kindness by the music fraternity

An act of kindness

On 18th April 2021, i got a forwarded message from some music industry colleagues (engineers & musicians). It was about a fundraiser campaign for Ankur Mukherjee. Though i haven’t yet had the opportunity to meet or interview him, Ankur Mukherjee is a well-known name in the Bollywood music fraternity. You would instantly recall his guitar playing in songs like “Give me some sunshine”, “All is well” in the film 3 Idiots. His repertoire is far bigger ofcourse. Check here

And the 47-year-old, Ankur Mukherjee is currently in critical condition at Kokilaben Ambani Hospital in Mumbai. Ankur suffered a left middle cerebral artery ischemic stroke that was Covid-19 induced and was in the ICU in an induced coma since the night of April 6. His sister, Paroma, made an appeal via Ketto on April 18, 2021 to help her raise Rs. 70 lakhs (appx. USD 96,000). That’s a huge sum.

An excerpt from her appeal (details in link below):
“Since he did not have health insurance, we have done whatever we could do meet the expenses so far, which have been upwards of 25 lakhs just for a period of 10 days as yet. Ankur will be in the hospital for at least 3 more weeks, and then if things go well, he will have to undergo intensive neuro-rehabilitation for 6 months. We lost our father in January this year to cancer and there was significant expenditure even back then. It is heartbreaking to see my brother in the same ICU ward as my father, exactly three months later. My mother is also currently Covid-19 positive and recovering by herself alone in our house.”

One can only imagine the plight of a sister who is going through so much. And her appeal hit the right notes in our Indian music industry. The word spread and all those who know Ankur came forward to help and encouraged others to do so as well. And just within 2 days, contributions by 1200+ music industry colleagues and well-wishers of Ankur crossed Rs. 94 lakhs (USD 129,000). Yes, in just 2 days!

You can check the list of donors here

This incident reassures us all that in times of such need, our Indian music industry does stand by its colleagues. And hats off to all those who made the contributions. And let us all hope and pray for Ankur to spring back to action soon with his fantastic guitar playing in the coming months.

There are several learnings here:
1. you are not alone in testing times
2. good karma always helps
3. get yourself medical insurance without delay. Need not be a huge sum, but is a must for us all. Read this article now

Paroma has updated the donation page with this note:
Thank you everyone for the amazing support and all your prayers.
I’m overwhelmed and humbled that we met our goal, even crossed it— this will definitely aid his upcoming surgeries and intensive neuro-rehabilitation treatment over the next 6-7 months.

Here is wishing Ankur a speedy recovery. And thanking everyone who has put faith in the words, “Be kind”. For one and all.

IMPORTANT NOTES RELATED TO TAXATION ON ONLINE DONATION PLATFORMS (LIKE KETTO) FOR INDIVIDUALS:

As a donor, how do I get a tax exemption receipt (under 80G) for my donation amount made on Ketto?
Fundraisers with tax exemption will have the same mentioned on the page. If you have made a donation to a fundraiser which has tax exemption applicable, it will be mentioned in your acknowledgement email. If the information is not mentioned in your email, then the donation is not eligible for tax exemption. If you have donated to 80G (tax exemption) applicable fundraiser, you will receive the 80G directly from the NGO.

As a recipient of the funds raised via Ketto, do I need to pay income tax?
The funds you raise on Ketto can be withdrawn post the deduction of Ketto fees, PG fees and GST. The net amount you receive post the deduction may be applicable to local government taxes.
Ketto does not provide tax advice and it would be best to check with your tax consultant about the same.

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