The Upamanyu Mallik Initiatives will use the power of cricket and the compelling human-canine bond to initiate conversations and awareness around rights, responsibilities, leadership, cooperation, compassion, gender equity, mental health and a unique livelihood possibility by engaging with communities of young people with limited life chances. The work is permeated by two core values that were fundamental to the way Upamanyu led his life – a sense of empathy and a strong desire for equity.

The Genesis: channeling grief and loss into legacy and social action

The Upamanyu Mallik Initiatives celebrates and honours the short but remarkable life of Upamanyu Mallik. A visitor on this planet for just 28 earth years, he left us with a legacy of not just overwhelming love but also a pulsating energy field even after the demise of his body. To keep his energy and passion alive we started the initiatives for change in his memory in March 2023. The acronym TUMI means “you” in Bengali. Shifting the attention from “me and mine” to “you and yours” TUMI works with two of Upamanyu’s driving life forces – his passion for cricket and his love for and unique communication with dogs. TUMI collaborates with two award winning social enterprises – Pro Sports Development and K9 school India’s K9 Healers Foundation to use the power of cricket and the therapeutic impact of the human canine connection to impact social change and promote mental wellness. Through his life Upamanyu remained deeply concerned with issues of equity so with both these initiatives we reach out to young and vulnerable segments of society; whether it is children in street situations or children in conflict with the law, or unemployed or under employed youth in rural India looking for a new vocation around the burgeoning pet and working dog industry.

Our Collaborations

The Upamanyu Mallik Initiatives currently work with two award winning social enterprises

Pro Sports Development which uses sports for social change.: TUMI collaborates with their community cricket project in training boys and girls from under privileged sections on and off the cricket field to become confident, socially conscious citizens aware of their rights and responsibilities. The Upamanyu Mallik cricket tournament inaugurated in 2023 is being envisioned as an annual event.

K9 Healers Foundation the nonprofit wing of K9 School India which runs a wide ranging programme building on the human canine connection: TUMI will collaborate with the Rescue Dog to Super Dog project by helping construct the Upamanyu Mallik wing of the rehabilitation centre that will among other things house this project. It also envisions offering support for the Tihar program with children in conflict with the law, future therapy visits and the rural upliftment programme of K9 Healers Foundation.