In 2013, while volunteering for NGO Sanatkada Samajik Pahal, a 21-year-old was required to tutor prisoners. The idea seemed terrifying. But as time passed, she encountered inspiring humans. While sharing her stories with a little girl, who had grown up in prison because there was no one to tend to her besides her convicted mother, she shared her love for oceans, and her new hobby of collecting shells. The naive girl asked her, “Yeh ocean kya hota hai?”

Years later, Kopal Khanna — once a tutor for prisoners — and Ali Hussen co-founded a storytelling platform called Tape A Tale in 2017. “People aren’t acquainted with the craft of recognising stories in their lives,” says Khanna. Tape A Tale started as a website where individuals across walks of life came together to share their stories. Soon, it evolved from a virtual platform into a popular offline platform. “Comedians in Mumbai rented venues to tell funny stories, and there were so many platforms for them; we wanted to start one for vulnerable tales.”