Montreal teacher Saiswari Virahsammy is giving out random love notes to strangers on the street, but she never expected to get a response from comedian and avid jogger Kevin Hart — the man she credits with inspiring her to start running.
#KeepBeingAwesome is a pay-it-forward project the professional Indian dancer started last October.
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The good karma paid off Tuesday when Virahsammy was at Hart’s Just For Laughs comedy show.
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A little while ago, when Virahsammy was struggling to finish a 5-kilometre run, she pictured Hart encouraging her and was eventually able to complete the course.
“I wanted to tell him about the story, but figured it might be hard to get to him, ” the 29-year-old told Global News.
“So, I wrote him one of my #KeepBeingAwesome notes. When the show was done, I was able to hand in hand give it to him.”
The note reads: “Hey Kevin, I started jogging a year ago, and to be honest, coming from a girl that couldn’t run, it was a huge thing for me. Eventually I was able to do 5-km jogs. Then, I did them every day.”
“ I remember one day, I was having a hard time finishing the job, and I imagined you encouraging me to finish, and I did.”
“So, thank you for what you do to the community. Keep being awesome, Kevin. You’re my brother. I honestly look to you for true encouragement. I love what you do. Keep going.”
Much to Virahsammy ‘s surprise, Hart read the entire note on his SnapChat.
After, Hart continues: “With that being said, that makes me smile, man.”
“Fans are the best. I do it for you guys. S— like that warms my heart.”
WATCH BELOW: Kevin Hart responds to Virahsammy’s note on SnapChat
Virahsammy started the project when her temple was celebrating the birth of their Guru, Sai Baba.
“All the youths had decided to do something that would spread love in different ways,” she told Global News.
“I thought it would make people smile knowing that someone noticed something they did that was pretty neat.”
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Virahsammy admitted it took a lot of courage to give her first note, but said she now sees it as a way to “notice the beauty in the world.”
“I didn’t want people to thank me, I just wanted them to feel appreciated,” she said.
“As strangers, I think it’s OK for us to compliment each other and encourage each other. We are all worthy of love, right?”
“So while we are sharing this world together, why not tell each other what we appreciate from one another?”
Virahsammy is a high school teacher with the Lester B. Pearson School Board, teaching French as a second language; she’s also a Bollywood teacher at UQAM.
She said #KeepBeingAwesome has done much more than put a smile on strangers’ faces – it’s also helped her overcome her own battles.
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“It helped me spread genuine love around me rather than being caught in negative emotions. Those notes really helped me to see all the beauty that is in people around me and in this world that was created to be appreciated,” she said.
“We have one beautiful life to live, why not keep being awesome by loving one another with our differences?”
Virahsammy is now heading to Honduras to teach English and introduce Indian dance.
“Wherever I decide to be in this world, I want to keep spreading love in the best way that I can,” she said.
rachel.lau@globalnews.ca
Follow @rachel_lau
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