Yay! These surprise planners are putting smiles on cancer patients' faces

Surprises are big business. The nice, fun kind, not the mean and gnarly kind. And if you're shopping for a surprise planner, the6.in is one among them. Entering the profession almost half a decade ago, this team now extends their services to Coimbatore, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad

But do they also do cause-based surprises? Talking to Sakthivel Panneerselvam about this, he says, "It all started when I happened to see a picture of a cancer survivor posted by her friend. She had lost her hair and I wanted to bring happiness to that cancer survivor, so I contacted her friend. That is how my team and I went to Adyar Cancer Institute for this surprise plan.”

Many people told us ‘Idhu yellam oru business ah’ (Is this even a business) and some even told me that I was mad to have quit my job. From all the negativity, The6.in has grown as a brand that carries positivity

Sakthivel Panneerselvam, Co-Founder of the6.in

Panneerselvam continues, “As we entered the Cancer Institute, I saw a little girl walking sadly with a plaster around her body. I was shattered by this because she was about the same age as my son and the thought that struck me was, what if that was my son.” This thought pushed him to plan several more surprises in the same place and become the first surprise planners to do something like this on the premises.

Sharing happiness:  Team the6.in has a physically-challenged employee and a transgender who are also a part of  surprise planning team

“We decided to do the best possible thing. The entertainment room inside the institute was packed with children and their parents. After the first surprise, a small girl, Harini, came to us and asked us if we could come again the next week as well,” says Panneerselvam, adding that they have now almost reached over 100 cause-based surprises.

The6.in was started on November 14, 2009. Sakthivel Panneerselvam is a first-generation graduate of his family, but he decided to quit his well-paying job when he started this company

Panneerselvam has also enlisted the help of friends to add more entertainment. “We even joined hands with a friend of mine, who owns a mobile planetarium, for the next visit to Adyar Cancer Institute, which was even more entertaining to the crowd.

So, we have different experiences doing surprises for causes. I still remember Mercy, a cancer survivor, who was about 10 years old. We went all the way to visit her in Madhavaram, and we planned a day trip for her. We took her to different malls, theatres and Fun City,” he recalls.

Well, if planning a surprise and making someone happy makes you happy, then it should make you extra happy if it is a good cause, especially one that you believe in. Standing uniquely in every aspect, this team even has a physically-challenged employee (you can talk to him when you call the6.in for your surprise planning orders) and a transgender, who is part of the surprise activities team. They also have in their employ full-time guitarists and over 60-70 freelancers.