For artistes, art could be a means to different things, from self-expression to fame. Palak Muchhal, however, has used her singing for a bigger cause. Through her initiative, Saving Little Hearts, the singer raises funds for underprivileged children battling heart ailments, by performing at concerts. Now, the singer is funding her initiative’s 3000th surgery—that of Alok Sahu, an eight-year-old from Indore.

Ahead of the surgery today, the singer recalled how it all started in 1999 when she teamed up with an Indore-based school and raised donations for a life-saving surgery of one of its students, Lokesh Kuril. “Three thousand kids have found a new lease of life. I started it at the age of seven for a kid who was suffering from heart disease. Little did I know it would become the biggest mission of my life. I still have 413 kids on the list.”