How a Pathmaker Became a Changemaker: Swagat’s Story with Patang

A Pathmaker’s journey of facilitation, creativity, and grassroots learning

There was a time when Swagat believed that life needed a clearly marked road - a fixed plan and a destination approved by society. Over time, his Pathmaker journey with Patang taught him something far more honest: sometimes the path does not appear first. You become it while walking.

Swagat’s journey began with a simple realization -that doing something which genuinely feels meaningful has its own way of returning love. For him, that love was not limited to one form. It existed across many spectrums- creativity, community, care, responsibility, discomfort, healing, and growth. What initially felt like uncertainty gradually became direction.

He has come to believe that choosing the right path matters less than choosing a path with clarity and intention. When intention is honest, the path slowly becomes right. This belief shaped how he stepped into his journey with Patang - not to perform or prove, but to show up with sincerity and responsibility.

As he often reflects,

“Patang did not give me answers. It gave me the space to ask better questions.”

Through his association with Patang, Swagat found himself in spaces that were both nurturing and challenging. These experiences encouraged him to reflect deeply on his role in society. He believes that giving back to the world what one has received - sincerely and responsibly- is in itself a blessing. Over time, this belief translated into action through facilitation and community engagement.

His journey found early grounding at Gangadhar Meher University, Sambalpur, where he began exploring learning spaces, creativity, and his initial steps into facilitation and social engagement.

One of the most defining experiences in his journey was his role as a Samatalaya Facilitator during the Kishor Kishori Mela in Sambalpur. This experience played a significant role in shaping his ability to listen, hold space, and understand people beyond assumptions and labels.

Reflecting on this, he shares,

“In Patang spaces, I learned that listening is not waiting to speak- it is choosing to understand.”

As his work around mental well-being, gender, and youth engagement deepened, his learnings began to travel across spaces. He contributed to discussions in Delhi and Lucknow, sharing reflections on mental well-being, masculinity, and social responsibility- bringing grassroots perspectives into wider conversations.

At the same time, his work remained strongly rooted in practice. He facilitated the Equity Mentorship Programme at Ravenshaw University, working closely with young people to create spaces for reflection and growth. He also facilitated Dance Movement Therapy sessions across Odisha and Bihar, using movement as a medium for emotional expression, healing, and connection.

Through these experiences, one belief became clearer—change becomes meaningful only when learning connects with lived realities.

Swagat’s journey also reflects a deeper understanding of facilitation. For him, facilitation is not about speaking more; it is about listening better. He believes that change does not begin with ready-made solutions, but with empathy.

As he puts it,

“Patang taught me that change does not start with solutions. It starts with how deeply we are willing to listen.”

Alongside his community work, creativity has remained an integral part of his journey. Poetry, performance, music, short films, and anchoring have become mediums through which he expresses what data and structures often cannot capture.

With a background in Economics, he brings an understanding of systems and policies, while his creative practices help him connect with people and their lived experiences. This intersection has helped him find a balanced and authentic voice. Swagat's Pathmakers story with Patang.

His journey also led him to explore storytelling through visual mediums, including acting in the short film “The Domino Effect,” and building his own creative space, Parakh Soul, where art and honest expression come together.

For Swagat, art and social engagement are not separate paths. Art has the power to soften conversations and make complex realities more approachable, creating space for reflection and connection.

In his everyday life, these learnings translate into simple but conscious choices—choosing empathy over judgment, listening over reacting, and responsibility over convenience.

As he continues his journey, one thought stays close to him,

“Patang is not just a place I worked with. It is a way of seeing people, of holding space, and of becoming more human.”

Swagat did not begin his journey expecting society to change overnight. Instead, he focused on changing himself. And through that process, he emerged as a changemaker whose actions gradually began reflecting in the spaces around him.

His journey offers a simple yet powerful message for young people: you do not always need to find the right path. Sometimes, the path becomes right through your intention and your actions.

Because real change does not always arrive loudly. Sometimes, it begins quietly—when we choose to remain kind, conscious, and committed, even when no one is watching.