Global Indianstory Global Indian ExclusiveNeeraj Chopra: First Indian to win gold at World Athletics Championships

Neeraj Chopra: First Indian to win gold at World Athletics Championships

Written by: Amrita Priya

(Aug 29, 2023) Rewards and accolades never seem to stop raining down on Neeraj Chopra. He has made India proud once again with a gold in World Athletics Championships 2023 at Budapest, Hungary. A master at scripting history, the 25-year-old athlete is the first Indian to win a gold in the World Athletics Championships since it started in 1983 – exactly 40 years ago. It’s a historic win for India.

Neeraj Chopra was conferred a Padma Shri in January 2022, and Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in 2021. He also received Arjuna award back in 2018. The Indian Army offered him a direct appointment as a Junior Commissioned Officer Subedar (JCO) in the Rajputana Rifles in 2016 when he was just 18. Indian Army does not appoint fresh recruits to such a position but looking at his South Asian Games performance that year and also looking at his future potential, they made this coveted appointment.

Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj has several eclectic firsts to his credit. He is the first Asian track and field athlete to win a gold in Olympics 2020, and also the first track and field athlete from India to win at the IAAF World U20 Championships in 2016. His world under-20 record throw of 86.48 m made him the first Indian athlete to achieve a world record.

Neeraj is one of the only two Indians to have won an individual Olympic gold medal (Abhinav Bindra is the other). The talented athlete had set ablaze the Olympic scene as the youngest-ever Indian Olympic gold medallist in an individual event and the only one to have won gold in his Olympic debut. He represented India in 2018 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games and claimed gold in both. Global Indian turns the spotlight on the journey of the super athlete.

“When the desire for success does not let you sleep, when there is nothing better than hard work, when you do not get tired after working continuously, understand that you are going to create a new history of success.” – Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj after winning gold

Struggles with childhood obesity

Looking at him now, it’s hard to believe that the track and field athlete and reigning Olympic champion in Javelin throw struggled with childhood obesity. This Khandra village boy of Haryana was often teased by children. Addressing his son’s ordeals of getting bullied for weight, Neeraj’s farmer father enrolled him in a gymnasium at Madlauda, a Haryana province.

Neeraj, later enrolled in a gym in Panipat and made physical activity an integral part of his life as he did not want to be an object of fun for the village boys anymore. While playing at Shivaji stadium at Panipat, Neeraj came across javelin throwers and began participating in the game The rest is history!

Learning ancient art from modern platform

There is archaeological evidence that javelins were already in use by the last phase of the lower Paleolithic age that dates back to about 300,000 years ago. Indian Mythology talks about extensive use of this great weapon. This powerful weapon is known to be the favourite of Kartikeya (son of Shiva and Parvati and elder brother of Ganesh), known as the Hindu God of war. History is also replete with use of javelin as a powerful weapon in warfare spanning centuries. Interestingly javelin started trending in India only after Neeraj Chopra created history with it in the Olympics.

As part of its promotional campaigns YouTube has been flashing Neeraj Chopra’s tryst with Javelin stressing on the fact that it was the platform that helped the village athlete in picking up tips and tricks of the game. Neeraj has affirmed that he attempted to copy the style of Czech javelin champion Jan Zelezny while watching the YouTube videos of his performances.

Parent’s and Panipat’s role in preparing the Olympian

He mentioned in an interview:

“In the village that I grew up; no one did athletics. For a lot of my life, I didn’t even know what a javelin was.”

Having discovered the game by chance, Chopra had started visiting Panipat Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre where his talent was recognised by the local coach. He helped him hone his skills and win some local competitions as well. Motivated by winning a bronze in a district championship, Neeraj persuaded his parents to allow him to shift to Panipat from the village to pursue the techniques of the game. That move was quite unconventional for the place that he hailed from and considering the fact that Neeraj was just 13 at that time.

Neeraj Chopra | Indian Athletes | Global Indian

Neeraj Chopra with his parents on their first flight

However, adding wings to the young athlete’s dreams was the best decision of his parents. Life unfolded beautifully, later. For starter, the youngster participated in National Junior Athletics Championships in Lucknow after rigorous training in Panipat and won gold there.

“My village still does not have a playground. Whenever I stay there, I need to practice on the road,” he informed. His flight from such humble backgrounds to reaching the sky in international sporting events is inspiring for millions of Indians and similar to living in a dream for his parents who hardly have exposure to the world outside their province.

Sharing one of the most fulfilling moments of his life, Neeraj Chopra tweeted:

“A small dream of mine came true today as I was able to take my parents on their first flight.”

International beginnings and army induction

Neeraj’s first international competition was in 2013 in Ukraine. He went on to win his first international medal in 2014 at the Youth Olympics Qualification games in Bangkok. By 2016 he started training under the Australian Coach, late Gary Calvert. Neeraj’s performances started improving in international games thereafter.

Neeraj Chopra with late Bipin Rawat, former Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army

Impressed with his performance at the South Asian Games and looking at his future potential, the Indian Army offered him a direct appointment as a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Rajputana Rifles in 2016. He was inducted as Naib Subedar, a rank that is usually not granted immediately to athletes recruited as non-commissioned officers (NCO).

Continuing with high voltage performances

June 14, 2022 marked the high voltage return of Neeraj Chopra in the javelin turf after 311 days of the historic Olympics gold achievement. He finished a close second (winning silver) at Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, competing with world and Olympic champions like Oliver Helander, Johannes Vetter, Anderson Peters, and Julian Weber.

What was glorious about his second-placed finish is that the athlete had participated in a competition after close to a year since his Olympics win. Also, Neeraj unleashed 89.30m while the first-placed Oliver Helander of Finland with his personal best was not too far at 89.93m. Cherry on top was that Neeraj marked a new national record to his name with the 89.30 m throw which turned out to be his personal best. However, Neeraj was prowling for more. Just five days after this achievement his tiger moves crowned India with gold at the Kuortane Games in Finland.

Talking about the sudden interest of youngsters in the game, he mentioned:

“I see so much potential for Indians with the javelin. To succeed you need strength and speed, and Indian kids have that. I think, more and more, they’ll see what we’re achieving and will become inspired to pick up a javelin themselves.” – Neeraj Chopra

There is certainly more to come from the Olympian in the coming days. India is looking forward to celebrate all his victories!

Follow Neeraj Chopra on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

Name*

Email*

Name*

Email*

0 Comments

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Published on 29, Aug 2023

Share with

ALSO READ

Sanjana Thakur: Winner of 2024 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for her story ‘Aishwarya Rai’

(July 19, 2024) US-based author Sanjana Thakur is the winner of the prestigious Commonwealth Short Story Prize for her story, ‘Aishwarya Rai,’. The 26-year-old, who emerged victorious from 7,359 entries from Commonwealth countries around the world, has also received a cash prize of £5,000. She emerged victorious in a competition that saw 7,359 entries. Elated with her achievement, Sanjana tells Global Indian, “I was so overwhelmed! They had asked if I could hop on a video call to film some footage for the award ceremony. And I had this quiet tiny hopeful voice in the back of my mind saying - “What if?” But I never dared to say it out loud. The other regional winners’ stories were so strong and beautiful that I knew any of us could win and be deserving of the prize.” When on that video call, the chair of the judging panel, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, told Sanjana that she had won she was ecstatic. “All I could think, and all I still think now, is how lucky I am, and how grateful I am to have this platform and this community for my work.” ‘Aishwarya Rai’ The premise of Sanjana’s story, ‘Aishwarya Rai’ is intriguing.

deserving of the prize.”

When on that video call, the chair of the judging panel, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, told Sanjana that she had won she was ecstatic. “All I could think, and all I still think now, is how lucky I am, and how grateful I am to have this platform and this community for my work.”

‘Aishwarya Rai’

The premise of Sanjana’s story, ‘Aishwarya Rai’ is intriguing. For her story, she imagined what ‘reverse adoption’ might look like – a scenario where a young girl adopts a mother, exploring the criteria and implications of such a case. Sanjana has always been fascinated with the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship, she says and this premise seemed like a fun way to examine various iterations of that relationship for her. “My initial idea was a store where you could browse different models of mothers and then buy them off the shelf. That idea evolved into a shelter where you could adopt and try out different mothers,” she mentions.

Talking about the idea of using a well-known Bollywood actor’s name for her story’s title, Sanjana remarks, “Aishwarya Rai (the actor) makes a cameo of sorts in my story, and exists in the protagonist Avni’s imagination as a representation of the perfect woman and a potential perfect mother.”

During the writing process, as the Bollywood actor made it into the story, Sanjana knew she had to be the title of it. For Sanjana the Bollywood actress is a perfect example of the quintessential woman, and an ideal mother, and that is why she chose her name as the title of her story. The writer looks at Aishwarya Rai as an embodiment of beauty standards, materialism, motherhood, daughterhood, and the experience of being a girl and woman in India and the world today, which her story explores.

Mumbai – a muse

Sanjana grew up in India. She lived in Mumbai until she was 15, and that is why the city ‘exists most strongly, most specifically and concretely’, in her mind. “Mumbai is my city, and I want to tell stories that are situated in my city, that reveal and celebrate how wonderful and dissonant and strange and lovely it is,” she says adding, “Often when I write, I start by capturing a specific Mumbai setting that I am curious about. The city has so much character that it is an endlessly generous muse.”

In her prize-winning story too, Mumbai is an important setting choice. “Since it is the centre of Bollywood, which is one industry that spawns ideas of the unachievable ‘perfect woman’ in the public imagination,” she explains.

Living abroad

As her family moved to Dubai for a few years, Sanjana completed her high schooling there. She then moved to the U.S., first to Boston for graduate studies and later to Texas for her Masters of Fine Arts in creative writing. Sanjana had been a voracious reader since childhood and always had an interest in writing.

Attending an international school in Dubai with students from 85 different countries had brought her into close contact with diverse cultural identities, experiences of distance, and feelings of belonging and un-belonging.

When she joined Wellesley College for a major in anthropology, she started thinking about these issues even more deeply. “There I really started to examine what it means to be an insider versus an outsider, a participant observer versus an interlocutor. I thought about positionality, and how to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange,” Sanjana shares. “My anthropology classes have so richly fed my inner life and therefore my writing life. They have helped me make sense of the space and position I occupy in the world, as well as how that position is entirely contextual.”

A global outlook

Having spent 11 of her 26 years abroad and developed a global perspective, Sanjana feels privileged to be able to come back to Mumbai twice a year and to remake the relationship with the beloved city every few months. “The city changes so rapidly that it is never exactly the city of my memories, so I try to relearn it each time I return,” she remarks.

Grateful for the opportunity to have lived in in different cities, she says, “I feel privileged to be able to capture the various cities of my memories in the stories I write.” Apart from Mumbai being the setting of most of her stories, she also writes stories in foreign settings with Indian characters.

Fiction and future

Sanjana has just completed her MFA at the University of Texas’s New Writers Project. She loved the programme. “The New Writers Project was a gift. How lucky to be able to spend three years writing, and thinking about writing, and reading good writing, and teaching writing,” she says. “The MFA expanded my idea of what a short story could be.”

The youngster is all praise for her incredible teachers at UT Austin who helped her find her voice, develop her writing practice, and become a strong editor of her own work. “I made some wonderful friends. I wrote stories I am deeply proud of,” she remarks. The 2024 Commonwealth Prize winner 'Aishwarya Rai' is one of the short stories she wrote for her coursework.

Apart from looking for job opportunities, Sanjana plans to query agents on her manuscript of short stories – a collection of 15 short stories revolving around mothers and daughters. ‘Aishwarya Rai’ is one of those stories. The response to it has been so heartwarming, that it has made the award-winning writer even more excited to share her other stories with the world.

Follow Sanjana Thakur on LinkedIn

Reading Time: 5 mins

Shaamil Karim and Yash Rathod: The teenage entrepreneurs making NFT mainstream

(May 9, 2022) Who could have thought that the last unreleased song of legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam would be an NFT? That’s what Chennai-based startup Diginoor pulled off - and how! What sets it apart from any other NFTs (non-fungible tokens) auctioned so far is that 51 percent of the copyright was transferred to its buyer making him eligible to make the song available to a larger public and adapt or reproduce the song. Sold at a whopping $150,000, it has pulled Diginoor into the big league. "India has never been a collector's market, and this is what we intend to change with Diginoor," says Shaamil Karim who launched Diginoor along with Yash Rathod in 2021 to make NFT adoption mainstream. The teenage entrepreneurs, who met in school, have auctioned 75 NFTs so far and sold over 50 of them. What began with an NFT of Rajinikanth in Sivaji: The Boss has now grown into an entity of its own; with Diginoor eyeing expansion in Bollywood and Punjabi cinema. “The Indian production houses saw the opportunity to monetise content with NFTs,” Shaamil tells Global Indian in an interview. [caption id="attachment_16191" align="aligncenter" width="835"] Yash Rathod and Shaamil Karim[/caption] Technology for the future

r">Global Indian in an interview.

[caption id="attachment_16191" align="aligncenter" width="835"] Yash Rathod and Shaamil Karim[/caption]

Technology for the future

The Manama-born returned to India at the age of five during the 2008 financial crisis, after his mechanical engineer father shifted base to Chennai. Being raised in a family of engineers, the 18-year-old was always fascinated by technology. Even as a third-grader, he would go to the local shop owners in his locality explaining to them the importance of having an online presence. "I started creating websites quite early. Frankly, I wanted to earn pocket money. I wanted to know how to earn exponentially without giving it too much time," says Shaamil, for whom financial freedom was paramount. However, he gradually understood that there was a lot "more potential in finding happiness from building products," and that’s what got him hooked.

Seeing his dad try his hand at various businesses, he understood the requirement for 10x capital to set up a factory or a shop. "But the beauty of technology is that even working from your room, you have the potential to strike billion-dollar opportunities. You are making millions out of nothing," says the entrepreneur, who started Diginoor with Yash right after finishing Class XII.

Were his parents skeptical of him skipping college? "If we can sell the idea that NFT is the future to 60-year-old producers, then we can convince our parents too,” Shaamil replies. “I think communication is the key. Parents understand your passion." Shaamil is grateful that his parents are not paranoid about him skipping college, for he has a full scholarship awaiting him indefinitely, from an Ivy League college.

Foraying into novelty

During their 12th grade, Yash and Shaamil, who have known each other since middle school, caught on to the potential of NFTs. Still a novel concept in 2020, they took it upon themselves to learn everything about it. "In 2019, we stumbled upon cryptokitties, a blockchain game where players can buy and collect one-of-a-kind animated cats. And we got a handful for free during NFT airdrops. But it wasn't until a year-and-a-half that we decided to go all out in the NFT space after our board exams got cancelled," says Shaamil.

Shaamil and Yash could see the potential that cinema held in the NFT space. But it was an uphill task to convince production houses to collaborate with Diginoor initially. "This was a time when you typed NFT on Google, it would say 'did you mean NEFT'," laughs the teen, whose company needed capital and advisors. "By then, the value of cryptokitties had risen over 30 times. So we sold them to fund the project. At the same time, we cold emailed 100 production houses, and some big houses like AVM Productions reverted. It was like a domino effect from there on," adds the teenage entrepreneur.

Unlocking the potential

Diginoor made a bang on impression with their first NFT on Rajinikanth - a scene from the 2007 film Sivaji: The Boss. "As stubborn teenagers, we waited to put out the best as our first NFT, and the response was overwhelming. Our focus is to make NFT adoption mainstream in the cinema industry. It's a mission-driven company that wants to unlock the true potential of NFTs," says the teenage entrepreneur who believes that the first NFT helped immensely in creating awareness. "Rajinikanth NFT got us the right attention," adds the teenage entrepreneur, revealing that Diginoor had the first-mover advantage as well as disadvantage. "Creating a market with no textbook example to follow was quite a challenge," reveals Shaamil who has been using deleted scenes, iconic scenes, and exclusives for NFTs.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Entertainment NFT Marketplace (@diginoor.io)

Shaamil calls the last year "an MBA of sorts" where he learnt practically the "hard stuff about being an entrepreneur." However, as a word of caution, he advises people that entrepreneurship is a challenging process and not as "glorified" as it looks. "If you find a 9-to-5 bad, then let me warn you that entrepreneurship is 24*7. We had to do a lot of trial and error to find our path. But it was an opportunity to make mistakes at an early age so that I can prepare myself better," adds Shaamil.

Expansion plans

The brainchild of Yash and Shaamil, who used to study for his preliminary board exams in the morning, do pitches in the evening, and code at night, Diginoor now has 22 employees. The fund seeding of $1 million in January 2022 helped them inch closer to their mission by providing the capital to expand the team. "For us, funding isn't the badge of approval. It's just a way of getting us closer to our mission," says Shaamil, who heads the marketing and operations. Yash, on the other hand, is the head of the tech. The teenager entrepreneurs who have forayed into the world of NFT now want to push the envelope through expansion. "We are now eyeing Punjabi cinema and Bollywood. The reason that Netflix didn't work in India is that it didn't cater to regional content. We don't wish to make the same mistake. That's why we plan to cater to all market segments with Diginoor," says the teenager entrepreneur.

The teenage duo wants to unlock the "new utility for NFT as an investment opportunity," and not just see it as an art form. Shaamil wants the youth to "follow their heart, do things, make mistakes and not look for advice." The Barcelona FC fan, who loves his work, likes to unwind by sleeping.

Follow Diginoor on Instagram
Follow Yash Rathod on Linkedin and Shaamil Karim on Linkedin

Agnishwar Jayaprakash: Making the drone industry soar

(October 1, 2022) On September 29, 2022, Garuda Aerospace received its DGCA approval as a remote pilot training organisation. It will enable the startup to train some 1 lakh drone pilots across 755 districts, a target it aims to meet by the end of 2025. It's a huge leap forward, both in terms of technology and regulation. Founded by serial social entrepreneur and Global Indian Agnishwar Jayaprakash (Agni Foundation), who went from swimming to champ to entrepreneurship and studying in Harvard Business School, the startup received funding from MS Dhoni in June 2022. Back in 2014, Francesco's Pizzerias in Mumbai created quite the stir when it used an unmanned drone to deliver pizzas. Unfortunately, it also ruffled the feathers of the Mumbai police, who called it a security risk. The Indian government has been quick to catch on to the many uses of drones, from defense surveillance to mapping rural landholdings. The forest department also uses them to keep an eye out of poachers. By 2030, India's drone industry is all set to hit a market-size of $23 billion and capture 25 percent of the global drone market, according to journalist Shereen Bhan on Young Turks. With the government going

With the government going full throttle on easing regulations, Garuda Aerospace, founded by serial social entrepreneur Agni Jayaprakash is the 31st RPTO to get the government nod since the regulations were eased on August 26 this year. Two months earlier, it burst into the limelight when cricketer M.S. Dhoni invested an undisclosed sum in the startup and became its brand investor. "I'm happy to be a part of Garuda Aerospace and look forward to witness their growth story," Dhoni said at the time.

As for the young entrepreneur himself, he was over the moon about it. Growing up, Agnishwar was an award-winning swimmer, his eyes set on the Olympics. At 14, he became the youngest Indian to represent his country at the World Championships in Indianapolis in 2004. At 22, he brought home medals in six categories at the world Short Swimming Course Championship in Istanbul, becoming the youngest Indian to achieve the feat. By this time, he had stepped fully into his entrepreneurship role.

Inspired by former president APJ Abdul Kalam, Agnishwar founded Ignite-India, a nationwide platform to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in schools and colleges. The platform reached out to over 7000 schools and was recognised by the United Nations. "I started swimming at the age of three and it became a passion because I was getting really good at it," he said, in an interview at Harvard Business School. "It was good, it let me travel the world, have many new experiences and meet new people. But it was very individualistic. All I thought about was what I could do for myself. Now, as an entrepreneur, the work I do impacts thousands of young people in India and South East Asia. It's been a very satisfying transition."

[caption id="attachment_22464" align="aligncenter" width="409"] Agnishwar Jayaprakash[/caption]

In 2019, he became Vice Chairman at Agni College of Technology in Chennai. "I wanted to leave a mark on the education system," he told Guindy Times in 2020. "Our system has become rudimentary because our kids are just expected to reproduce content after absorbing it in class. We test our kids only on one aspect of intelligence. You score good marks but you're not really learning." Agnishwar stepped in with the intention to bring innovative and entrepreneurial learning into the education system. Their acceleration programme funds startups and works with the government to inspire children and students as well.

Seven years after its founding, Garuda Aerospace has "scaled to a 200-member team having the largest drone fleet in India with over 300 drones and 500 pilots operating in 26 cities," Agnishwar said, in an interview with Industrial Automation India. "We have also expanded to Malaysia, Africa and South America." The team aims to spearhead what Agnishwar calls a "Drone Revolution" with a "vision of manufacturing 1 lakh Made in India drones and cement the market dominance on 2 major multi-billion-dollar segments - Precision Agri Tech and Industry 4.0."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Agnishwar Jayaprakash (@agnishwarjayaprakash)

Currently, Garuda Aerospace manufactures around 30 different kinds of drones and offers over 50 types of services across a range of industries. This includes warehouse management and delivery for Flipkart, seed dropping, project monitoring and drone delivery of medicines for hospitals. They are also working with Swiggy which is looking to expand to drone delivery in Bengaluru and Delhi.

Back in 2017, his interviewer at Harvard Business School asked Agnishwar his views on failure. "It's a cliche but it is a stepping stone," he said at once. "I learned that as a swimmer. I wanted to be in the Olympics, but I couldn't make it. With entrepreneurship, it's always a hit-and-miss. I tell young entrepreneurs not to lose motivation and to remember that ideas can only be sustained with the right modules and strategy. All we see in the media are the success stories but never the failures from which we can truly learn."

Follow Agnishwar Jayaprakash on Instagram and LinkedIn

Reading Time: 6 mins

Leena Rafeeq: UAE-based Indian develops AI app to detect eye diseases

(May 31, 2024) 12-year-old Dubai-based Kerala native Leena Rafeeq made headlines when she developed an AI-based app Ogler Eyescan to detect eye diseases and conditions. Interestingly, she was only 10 when she developed the app which is capable of detecting various eye conditions through a unique scanning process. "Using advanced computer vision, and machine learning algorithms, Ogler can analyse various parameters such as light and colour intensity, distance, and look-up points to locate the eyes within the frame range. It also identifies any light burst issues and if the eyes are positioned exactly inside the scanner frame," she said. [caption id="attachment_38056" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Leena Rafeeq[/caption] Using AI to create an impact A self-taught coder, the Global Indian built the app using machine learning algorithms and computer vision systems, thus leading to 70 percent accuracy in diagnosing potential eye conditions like arcus, melanoma, pterygium, and cataracts. "This app was developed natively with SwiftUI without any third-party libraries or packages, and it took me six months of research and development to bring this innovative app to life," she added. It was a year after the invention of the AI app that she submitted it to the app store. During her development journey,

rithms and computer vision systems, thus leading to 70 percent accuracy in diagnosing potential eye conditions like arcus, melanoma, pterygium, and cataracts. "This app was developed natively with SwiftUI without any third-party libraries or packages, and it took me six months of research and development to bring this innovative app to life," she added. It was a year after the invention of the AI app that she submitted it to the app store. During her development journey, Leena expanded her expertise in areas such as eye conditions, computer vision, algorithms, machine learning models, and advanced Apple iOS development features, including sensor data processing, augmented reality (AR), CreateML, and CoreML. As of now, the app exclusively operates on iPhones from the 10th model onward, running iOS 16 or higher.

How it began

Leena's interest in programming and developing websites developed at a very young age. At the age of six, she was able to create a website from scratch for her school science exhibition. "My parents, who are both coders, are the reason I started gravitating towards coding. I created my first webpage at the age of six, and soon started teaching my younger sister Hana coding and programming," she recalled.

After toying with any ideas, she finally zeroed in on developing an app that aids in diagnosing diseases for users of any age. "This introduced me to Ogler Eye Scan, a program that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to thoroughly scan your eyes and enable you to diagnose eye problems," she said. Explaining the benefits of the app, she revealed that it is capable of both - a comprehensive eye scan as well as disease detection. "The four disorders that our app can currently diagnose are melanoma, arcus, pterygium, and cataract. Additionally, it can perform a comprehensive scan that can detect all of these disorders at once. Using your GPS position, the app also lets you browse for eye hospitals in the area," Leena said. Moreover, that app can check pupil distance as well as compare previous scan results with the latest ones. She is glad that her app can help identify eye conditions at an early stage.

Expanding her horizons

The co-founder of Misrai, Leena is trying to be at the forefront of AI with her innovations. "With a passion for technology that ignited at the age of five, I've journeyed from early coding experiments to SOTA innovations in the field of Gen-AI and Pred-AI. At Misrai, I'm currently dedicated to developing a base model prototype for an intelligent, efficient, and compact AI model. This project encapsulates my vision of making AI more accessible and impactful in various industries."

However, it's the development of Ogler Eyescan that she calls her proudest achievement so far. "It's a testament to my commitment to creating tools that define how we interact with technology," says the teenager who loves reading and watching films.

[caption id="attachment_38058" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Leena Rafeeq with her sister Hana[/caption]

She is glad to have found a strong support system in her parents who are also her inspiration. "They have been encouraging throughout my journey, providing me with fresh concepts and business initiatives I might pursue."

AI is the future

As a young software developer, she believes programming and coding are the fundamental building blocks defining the future. "People will likely begin conversing with machines and progress to artificial intelligence. To live an inviting lifestyle and thrive in the upcoming years, it's crucial to know how to code and program because robots may replace many jobs."

Follow Leena Rafeeq on LinkedIn

Vedant Harlalka: The teen innovator making breakthroughs in 3D printing and IoT

(April 27, 2022) Turning a problem into an opportunity is what Mumbai-based Vedant Harlalka believes in. As an eighth-grader, Vedant thought 3D printers were expensive, and he created one that was economical. Not just this, during the pandemic, he ideated on an automatic hand-sanitiser dispenser. “Pushing the boundaries and moving beyond limits is what I truly believe in. At a time when my friends were watching YouTube videos, I was busy making them. Constant evolution is what keeps us moving forward in life,” Vedant says in an interview with Global Indian. A member of Model United Nations, the 15-year-old has engineering and IoT (internet of things) at the core of everything he does. “I began exploring it at the age of 11, and soon found myself immersed in the world of innovation,” adds the keynote speaker at Global Youth Education Summit. [caption id="attachment_15540" align="aligncenter" width="596"] Vedant Harlalka working on 3D printer prototype[/caption] A self-taught innovator Born in Singapore in 2006 to a stockbroker father and a CA mother (now a homemaker), Vedant moved to Mumbai with his family when he was a year-and-a-half as his parents wanted to raise him amongst extended family. Growing up in the era of technology,

ught innovator

Born in Singapore in 2006 to a stockbroker father and a CA mother (now a homemaker), Vedant moved to Mumbai with his family when he was a year-and-a-half as his parents wanted to raise him amongst extended family. Growing up in the era of technology, he loved referring to YouTube reviews before buying a gadget. This stirred something in him. “I wanted to be confident in front of the camera,” says Vedant who started his own YouTube channel in grade IV. “I loved reviewing gadgets, and my channel helped me learn scripting, production, and post-production,” adds the innovator who continued this for two years before sinking his teeth into the world of Arduino.

"Reviewing gadgets made me inquisitive about their making. This curiosity led me to learn the basics of computer science through Harvard’s cs50 course on edX. It gave me an insight into a whole new world,” reveals Vedant who explains Arduino as a “printed circuit board which when attached to sensors and modules helps convert ideas into prototypes.”

Turning problems into opportunities

The teenager took a leap of faith into the world of innovation and when “opportunity struck” during Covid-19, he and two seniors created an automatic hand sanitiser dispenser. “Going to grocery stores, we saw that people had to tap the sanitiser bottles, which could potentially spread the virus,” says the St Mary's School student who made a fully functional prototype in 15 days. “We had made small innovations, but with Covid, I knew it was time to do something big. We wanted to give back to society,” adds the young innovator who despite having the first-mover advantage couldn’t turn it into a market-friendly product due to funding and supply chain issues. “The market was in motion, and with ₹15-₹20 lakh needed, the market was saturated with automatic sanitisers in some time,” adds Vedant who refocused on making a cost-efficient 3D printer.

In late 2019, while working on a project with his classmate Ukshaan, he realised the need for a 3D printer for a prototype. But with a decent one costing ₹20,000, these then eighth graders decided to make one under $100. “We realised the potential of making one with recycled electronic scraps like DVD and CD drives instead of the traditional Nema 17 stepper motors, thus cutting down the cost,” explains the Class 10 student who took two years to make the prototype. He is now working on making it a "consumer-friendly product" before patenting it and launching it commercially. "We thought we would finish it in a day, but it took us two years. But those years taught us so much. We learnt through trial and error, and it instilled confidence in us," adds the TEDx speaker for whom it was an uphill task.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFxSNjaNWo8

Overcoming the challenges

With 3D printing still in its nascent stage, the teenager had “few resources”" and had to figure out his way. Vedant also calls the “lack of a mentor” one of the hurdles, initially, however, it turned out to be a learning curve that saw him fit the role of innovator and entrepreneur.

For him, age has always been a double-edged sword. If his innovations have been scoffed at for being a “high school project,” it has at times also added a sense of wonder. “Those who have been supportive of skill and talent, ignore my age,” says Vedant who is gearing up for his board exams.

The young innovator is also the project head at Neuralix, an open-source community with the motive of making the brain-machine interface more accessible to students and tinkerers. “We have developed an open-source development board that can be used to interface machine with the brain. Using the board, you can build a lot of projects with bio-signals,” says the teen innovator who plans to pursue electrical and electronics engineering at IIT Delhi. “I think engineering and IoT will always be at the core of whatever I do,” says the boy who wants to launch a startup in EEE soon.

His parents are the wind beneath his wings. “They have been super supportive. I am thankful that my dad once yelled at me for spending hours playing PubG. That motivated me to use my time on the internet wisely, and led me to learn to code and even mentor students,” says Vedant, adding, “When I was 11-12, I didn’t have any mentor, and was lost. But now with a few years of experience, I want to help youngsters by giving them direction. For me, giving back holds an important place.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vedant Harlalka (@vedantharlalka)

Vedant wants youngsters to “look beyond boundaries,” and “take the first step, and the rest will follow. Don’t limit yourself.” The teenager wants to break the misconception of innovators being “nerds.” “I love cycling for 20 km-30 km every day, and am a part of Sobo Riders. I also love walks and swims,” says Vedant who calls hanging out with friends a perfect destressor.

Follow Vedant Harlalka on Linkedin, Instagram

Reading Time: 5 min