What These 10 Powerful Stories Teach about Resilience

By Mariya Rajan

November 29, 2025

Newsreel Asia’s producer Mariya Rajan started the series Stories of Resilience with one aim — to document struggle and the courage it takes to overcome it.

Series Playlist : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaUVKhGRwO-xpjGLEW8CEQLF38HtVo3qZ

What she discovered instead were quiet revolutions — moments where pain turned into purpose, and loss into strength.

Through ten powerful stories, Mariya met people who chose to begin again:

✨ Nayana, a trans woman from Udupi, who rebuilt her life through education and reclaimed her dignity.
✨ Pragya Prasun, an acid attack survivor who founded the Atijeevan Foundation to support other survivors.
✨ Sangeetha, who survived a suicide attempt and learned to live with bipolar and borderline personality disorder.
✨ Swati, who fought cancer while raising her child — showing that courage is choosing to keep going.
✨ Swagata Majumdar, who transformed the grief of losing her twins into a support system for other mothers.
✨ Manish, a single father who redefined parenthood with love that had no gender.
✨ Divya, who rebuilt her life after losing her husband and raising her son alone.
✨ Rashmi D’Souza, who escaped domestic abuse and chose freedom for herself and her daughters.
✨ Poornima, who walked away from bonded labour and built a livelihood not just for herself — but for others too.
✨ Prema, who dreamt of a uniform and became Bengaluru’s first woman BMTC driver.

Ten lives. Ten journeys.
Different worlds — but one thread binds them all: resilience.

Watch this video to feel inspired, find strength, and remember that hope always rises — even against all odds.