Arushan Naidoo was born in 1997 as a generation of "Mandela's children or the born-frees". Raised in Durban, South Africa but travelled the country extensively as a teenager mainly on account of his sporting interest as a ranked badminton player. His politicization began while he was a toddler constantly in the company of people who were actively involved in South Africa's freedom struggle. Active in community service programmes since high school and Naidoo now directs his energies at building a reading culture among young people, completing his mechanical engineering qualification and freelance writing in print media.