Not so black and white: How photographer Akshat Bagla is making waves in NYC
Written by: Team GI Youth
(November 3, 2022) Photographer Akshat Bagla first arrived on the scene when he was 17 years old, as an Artist-in-Residence at his local chapter of the Rotary Club in Kolkata. He hasn’t looked back since. After graduating from the School of Visual Arts in New York, the now 23-year-old Akshat has been appointed as the Director of Photography for Differio, the world’s largest gay menswear company.
Akshat was 13 years old when he first learned from his cousin how to use a camera. As the family gathered around the dinner table, the cousins would spend their time taking photos of the food. “I thank my cousin, he’s the reason I’m here,” Akshat told The Daring. He and his camera were not easily parted after that and Akshat would take photographs of everything he could, from his friends to things he saw on the streets.
Akshat Bagla
Akshat’s road less travelled
Born in Kolkata, to a business family that distributes raw paper, Akshat was trained from an early age as the young scion, primed even as a child to take over the family business. The advent of photography changed all that. The moment of reckoning arrived when he came home with his first set of images. “I put everything on the computer, and I saw the images. I was reliving the whole moment. I was looking at something I experienced but in the form of a photo, which I could cherish for the longest time,” he told The Daring. “What got to me more than the camera and the medium itself is the whole idea of capturing a moment for eternity, you know?”
He did his best to photograph everything he could, going out into the streets as much as he could. Not that walking through the streets was easy. Akshat had grown up sheltered and his parents didn’t fancy the idea of wandering around alone. When the pandemic started in March 2020, Akshat returned home to Kolkata. He would go out every day, waking up early to take photographs. “I explored so many areas, and I talked to more people than I ever did in the sixteen years of living there before.”
It was the start of a new life in more ways than one. The camera that always hung at his side emboldened the young man, helping him open himself up to the world. “It made me more outgoing and able to talk to anyone, anywhere,” he said.
Being able to follow his dreams took some doing, especially at home. Still, his parents did come around to his way of thinking. The first turning point came when he was 17, when he was entrusted with restructuring and editing the priceless photo archive of The Rotary Club of Calcutta, which chronicles the institution’s century-long history.
Studying at the School of Visual Arts only brought him more exposure, from working with the online presence of Indus Net Technologies to photographing bread for the NYC-based academy Bengingi. Akshat has also chronicled the Black Lives Matter protests and done Gay Pride photo shoots for Differio. He has also made himself a name as a re-branding expert.
Black and white photography is all the rage these days, as it has been for a while. Not for Akshat, though. He prefers to lean into his Indian-ness, to celebrate the vibrance and colour of his homeland. “As a visual artist, I rely on our traditional affinity to colours,” he said, in an interview with Outlook. “Cinematic fashion / food photography and rebranding – my two specialties – call for careful proportion between daring and comforting,” he told Newstrack.
Bagla’s bread photographs for Bengingi and the Gay Pride photo shoot for Differio have been hailed as works of art, although they stand as marketing campaigns. In America, Akshat honed his skills, learning to frame images from what he saw around him. At the BLM protests, where thousands gathered on the streets, Akshat would walk effortlessly up to people and strike up a conversation, before documenting them. “I’m trying to tell their story at the end of the day,” he said.
(March 07, 2024) As a young kid, Sadhana Lolla was fascinated with machines and various equipment. But, growing up whenever she would visit India with her parents, she would observe her grandmother's toil without the availability of any assistive technology. "The experience greatly inspired me to delve into artificial intelligence solutions aimed at delivering robotic assistive technology to marginalised communities," the young scholar shared during an interview. Fueled by a desire to make a global impact through her innovative work, Sadhana secured the Gates Cambridge Scholarship. This scholarship allows students to pursue graduate studies in their chosen field at Cambridge University in the UK. "I'll be delving deep into the intricate connections between technology, public policy, laws, and governance," shared an elated Sadhana, adding, "This intersection is pivotal in an era where every process is digitising, and the significance of AI is continually growing. I hope that my studies could significantly contribute to the global discourse on technology and its profound impact on society." ALSO READ: Meet Vaibhav Mohanty – an accomplished scholar and musician Of hard work and grit A curious kid from the beginning, Sadhana took part in various academic and cultural competitions. "In high school, I was
A curious kid from the beginning, Sadhana took part in various academic and cultural competitions. "In high school, I was the captain of my Scioly team and competed in biology and Earth and Space Science events. I was also on the competitor logistics committee and also helped out with events," the scholar shared. Soon after finishing school, the youngster joined the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she is a fourth-year undergraduate, majoring in computer science and minoring in mathematics, "And literature. I have quite a busy schedule, but yet outside of school and planning committees that I am a part of, I still find time to bake, cook, and read," the Global Indian shared.
A part of MIT's Distributed Robotics Laboratory, Sadhana has been working day and night on her research under the guidance of Professor Daniela Rus, focusing on safe and trustworthy robotics and deep learning. Her investigations encompass debiasing strategies for autonomous vehicles and streamlining the design processes of robots. Said the scholar, "My research focusses broadly on the application of deep learning to robotics and on designing and deploying uncertainty-aware artificial intelligence with Dr. Ava Amini."
Also, at Microsoft Research and Themis AI, I have contributed to the development of uncertainty-aware frameworks for deep learning, with applications spanning computational biology, language modeling, and robotics," shared the scholar, who has showcased her research findings at prestigious conferences such as the Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) and the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML). "Through this SuperUROP project, I want to become more involved in applying deep learning algorithms to robotics. I hope to apply knowledge from previous machine learning classes and research to an exciting new area of study," she added.
Scaling heights
While she might sound like a nerd, the young scholar is involved in tonnes of activities outside academics as well. Despite a very tight schedule, the young scholar is leading initiatives at MIT to make computer science education more accessible globally. "I instruct class 6.s191, MIT's Introduction to Deep Learning, a course that reaches millions of students globally. As the curriculum lead for Momentum AI, I contribute to the only U.S. program offering free AI education to underserved students. Additionally, I've had the privilege of teaching hundreds of students in Northern Scotland through the MIT Global Teaching Labs programme," she said.
Sadhana also serves as the director for xFair, MIT's largest student-run career fair. Furthermore, she holds an executive board position for Next Sing, where efforts are made to increase accessibility to a cappella for students from various musical backgrounds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvUo1E38ZvY
When asked about her future plans, the young scholar said, "I aspire to spearhead discussions on deploying and developing technology for marginalised communities, including the rural Indian village my family calls home. Simultaneously, I am engaged in research focused on embodied intelligence."
(January 24, 2024) After a tough selection process with over a thousand applicants from across the country, NLU Delhi’s Ayan Gupta is among the five scholars selected for the Rhodes Scholarship 2024 to study at Oxford University. “Oxford is a brilliant place to study at and who wouldn’t want to,” remarks Ayan as he speaks to Global Indian. While applying for the scholarship, he drew inspiration from a past NLUD graduate who had been successful in getting the scholarship from the Rhodes Trust. A fifth-year NLUD student, Ayan has a keen interest in matters related to sentencing and punishment with a focus on the complexities surrounding the death penalty and prolonged incarceration. At Oxford, Ayan aims to explore the fields of criminology and criminal justice. [caption id="attachment_35405" align="aligncenter" width="667"] Ayan Gupta[/caption] He is of the belief that in the sphere of criminal justice, the system does not lay enough emphasis on empathy. “Hopefully, I would get to contribute to reforms that lead towards a more empathetic criminal justice system,” he envisions after graduating as an Oxford scholar. Passionate about education, Ayan aspires to shape criminal justice education as an academic, and has also garnered experience as a research and teaching assistant
-130941-1024x718.png" alt="Indian youth | Ayan Gupta | Global Indian " width="667" height="468" /> Ayan Gupta[/caption]
He is of the belief that in the sphere of criminal justice, the system does not lay enough emphasis on empathy. “Hopefully, I would get to contribute to reforms that lead towards a more empathetic criminal justice system,” he envisions after graduating as an Oxford scholar.
Passionate about education, Ayan aspires to shape criminal justice education as an academic, and has also garnered experience as a research and teaching assistant at NLU Delhi. Currently serving as the editor-in-chief of NLUD’s Journal of Legal Studies, Ayan oversees the publication of scholarly papers authored by students, faculty members, and practicing lawyers.
The Rhodes scholarship
“After getting selected for the scholarship by the Rhodes Trust, one still has to go through the application process of securing admission at the University’s master’s course but with the kind of support that the trust provides, the process becomes more comfortable with lesser anxiety surrounding it,” Ayan shares.
Rhodes Trust would be providing scholarship between £30,000 to £50,000 per annum, depending on the course and institution that one enrols into. Additionally, there's a stipend of approximately £20,000 per year, ensuring that all that the scholar needs to do is to focus on the studies, without being concerned about food, lodging, or recreation expenses.
“This opportunity is truly life-changing, and I feel immense gratitude and excitement. The master’s programmes at Oxford spans two years, with an option for a third-year extension under certain circumstances and for specific courses fully funded by the Rhodes Trust,” shares Ayan.
Law with an empathetic lens
During his third year of college, Ayan served as a death penalty research fellow on Project 39A - an NLUD organisation dedicated to death penalty litigation founded by the NLUD Professor Dr Anup Surendranath. The project draws inspiration from Article 39-A of the Indian Constitution, which advocates for the equal justice and equal opportunity, and the importance of addressing disparities that intersect and exclude large segments of our society from effectively seeking justice due to economic and social barriers.
Reflecting on his experience of working on the project, Ayan mentions, “I got introduced to the fact that criminal justice goes much beyond criminal law. Many of the problems that plague the criminal justice system are ingrained in the system. Often, the law is adding to the problems,” he says. “We need to think much harder about what it is that we punish, how we punish, and who are the people we punish. I hope to explore these questions in my master’s programme at Oxford.”
The humane perspective that Ayan wishes to explore may have played a role in his selection for the scholarship. “There is often limited consideration given to the complexities of punishment, and there seems to be a prevailing trend towards stricter punitive measures. However, adopting an empathetic perspective is crucial to recognise that crime is a societal issue,” he says. Ayan is of the opinion that crimes are often rooted in societal, socio-economic, and psychological factors. Addressing these underlying circumstances requires more than just punitive measures. It should involve understanding the reasons behind the crimes and taking an empathetic approach for effective reduction of crime rates.
Talking about his association with Project 39A, he mentions, “I am happy that I was able to discover my area of interest through the project and glad that I would be able to explore it further at Oxford. I am thankful to Dr Anup Surendranath for being a wonderful mentor along the way.”
International law with a comparative lens
Ayan’s interest extends to international law as well. “From international law, it has evolved into more transnational or comparative law,” he remarks.
The scholar’s interest in international law underwent a transformation from an initial focus on environmental law during a moot. This shift led him to critically assess the shortcomings of environmental law. Over time, this curiosity developed into a passion for comparative law, prompting him to explore how different nations address shared challenges.
Stetson International Moot Court competition
In the third year of his college, Ayan participated in the Stetson International Moot Court Competition, which primarily focuses on environmental law. Due to COVID-19, what was initially planned as an in-person event in Florida transformed into an online format. The competition featured more than 20 teams from across the world. Ayan’s team managed to become the semi-finalist in the competition. He was able to bag an individual prize for being the second best oralist.
To get an opportunity to participate in the global competition, Ayan and his team of five members had first competed and emerged as national champions in the India national rounds which saw participation of around 25 teams from across the country. Ayan had emerged as the best oralist in the final round as well the best oralist, overall in the national competition.
Talking about the global competition, the youngster remarks, “The fascinating part of it was that we were arguing with lawyers from different jurisdiction and countries and all of them had their own ways of looking at things and ways of presenting the case depending upon their cultural backgrounds. To experience that diversity was very interesting.”
Learning from experts
While studying at NLUD, Ayan has also served as a research assistant of some academicians. The experience has broadened his intellectual horizons and fuelled his aspirations to become a law faculty in future. Collaborating with Dr Anup Surendranath of NLU Delhi, Dr Aparna Chandra of NLS, and Dr Mayur Suresh of SOAS, London was an extremely rewarding experience for him.
“Working directly with academics as an intern, instead of organisations, provided me with insights into their unique thought processes. Difference in their approaches to handle research exposed me to diverse perspectives of looking at a problem,” he says. This firsthand experience with such experts has polished his ability to contemplate on relevance, critique, and utilise reasoning in academic research.
Personal observations on Rhodes scholarship
Significance of personal essay
“Given the high volume of applications, receiving a call for an interview seems a bigger achievement than actually making it through the interview,” Ayan remarks with a smile. Hence, personal essays play a crucial role as they determine whether one will be selected for an interview and also serve as the foundation for the questions posed during the interview.
In his essay Ayan delved upon his observations and experiences during his involvement as research fellow in Project 39A. He talked about impactful stories of people on death row that struck him hard. He also wrote about his aspiration to be a future law academic to challenge and rectify societal perceptions of criminality, and how his teachers especially Professor Anup, the founder of Project 39A made a huge impact on his life at NLUD.
Misconception around sports
“There's a prevalent misconception that being exceptionally skilled in sports is a prerequisite for earning a Rhodes scholarship. While this may have been somewhat true in the past, it is no longer the case in the present scenario,” says Ayan emphasising that the trust just seeks to understand the multifaceted components of an individual’s personality.
Involvement in sports can simply be a part of one's life. “During my interview, I made it clear that I watch tennis tournaments and play tennis just as a means of relaxation, and have never participated in the sport competitively.”
Before joining NLUD, Ayan studied at Amity International School, Gurgaon. His father is an Udaipur based neurosurgeon while his mother is a former Hindi and Sanskrit teacher. The youngster loves playing ukulele in his free time.
(December 23, 2023) When most kids of his age were glued to cartoons on television, Shahan Ali Mohsin would watch motorsport racing. But his visit to the Indian Grand Prix changed it all for the teenager. Looking at the fast-speed cars, he knew he wanted to be on the track driving one. And now a few years later, he has become the first Indian to win the FIA Formula 4 car racing championship. The 19-year-old, who represents the Hyderabad Black Birds team, picked up the trophy at Madras International Circuit in Sriperumbudur, a town panchayat some 35 km away from Chennai. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shahan Ali Mohsin (@shahan_racing) It's nothing short of a dream come true for the teenager who has spent a considerable amount of his life on racetracks. It was in 2011 that he first visited Indian Grand Prix, and was determined to make a career in motorsports. Seeing his passion, his father Shahroo Mohsin, a shoe exporter based in Agra, did some research and soon enrolled Shahan at the Meco Motorsports Karting Academy in 2012. He adapted to it pretty soon. "In my first time driving a go-kart I
It's nothing short of a dream come true for the teenager who has spent a considerable amount of his life on racetracks. It was in 2011 that he first visited Indian Grand Prix, and was determined to make a career in motorsports. Seeing his passion, his father Shahroo Mohsin, a shoe exporter based in Agra, did some research and soon enrolled Shahan at the Meco Motorsports Karting Academy in 2012. He adapted to it pretty soon. "In my first time driving a go-kart I was already pretty fast. Mr. Ebrahim (Akbar Ebrahim) coached me over the years, which helped me learn racecraft. In the first year itself, I was in the top five. And by the end of my first year in the national championship, I already had a podium. By the second year I was already in the top three, and I was leading the championship for a brief while as well," he said in an interview.
The very next year, Shahan began competing in the Asian Rotax Championship. By the second season, he already managed a few podiums. At the age of 12, he won the Asian Championship's Micro Max category and even had his first race in Europe at the Rotax Grand Festival. "In 2018, I returned to Europe to do the Central European Championship. I got one podium, a second place, there. I did the Rotax Grand Festival in 2017 as well, finishing fourth that year," he added.
In 2018, Shahan faced a major setback while racing (Trofeo Andrea Margutti) in Italy when he felt a sudden pain in his ribcage. Upon his return to India, the MRI revealed a fracture in his left rib, which was caused by an injury in 2017 when he had a crash in the national championship. The injury kept him off the tracks for four months which Shahan describes as a difficult time. "I had to stay away from racing. I couldn't do anything. There was no gym, no fitness, which was very boring for me. But in the first race after the injury, I was already on the pace. And the second race after that I won," he revealed.
It was in 2019 when Shahan turned 15 that he switched from karting to single-seater with MRF F1600, making him the youngest single-seater driver in India. "The transition was difficult, but I adapted to it in one or two races. You're moving from a kart of 80kg to a single-seater which is 500kg. It's a big difference. And then you have aero, suspension, etc. Plus, in karting, you've got 30bhp, and in single-seaters you have 140-150bhp. It was a big difference in terms of engine and power. Then there was the gearbox. It took some time, but I adapted to it. There was a lot to learn," he said in an interview.
Shahan credits his dad for the journey that he has been able to undertake in motorsports. The racer says that his dad always had a blueprint helping him navigate the course for the next few years. "He always had a plan, and he built me up from scratch. He moved me from the Indian national scene to Asia, then to Europe, and then to single-seaters," added the teenager.
For the next three years, he kept clinching awards that have cemented his position in the world of motorsports. In 2019, he was awarded Best Driver of the Year and in 2021, he won the Indian National Car Racing Championship followed by becoming the first Indian to race in the Indian Racing League in 2022. And now, he has become the first Indian to win the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) Formula 4 car racing championship.
The F4 cars, sanctioned by the FIA, are imported from France and are equipped with turbocharged Renault engines, allowing them to attain speeds of up to 250 km/hr. The Indian F4 Championship comprises a field of 12 drivers, including three from India, as well as representatives from various countries such as Australia, the US, Tasmania, England, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and a female driver from India.
"I have set a goal to make India proud by giving my best in the remaining races of the championship," Shahan said.
(August 17, 2022) In the last 50 years, Maharashtra has witnessed a seven-fold increase in drought events, according to a study by the policy research institute, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). While some people in drought-prone areas have learned to live with it, others have fought ferociously to combat nature’s fury. One such young environmental leader is Sanskruti Dalavi, the teen from Diskal village of Satara district, Maharashtra. “People in my village had to travel 14 kilometers to fetch water, six months a year. If water came to us in tanks delivered by the government, people often got into ugly fights amongst themselves to get their share,” says the 19-year-old in a conversation with Global Indian. By coming up with water management solutions and bringing together warring villagers, the teenager has displayed leadership skills. She got successful in talking villagers to working together to dig Continuous Contour Trenches (CCT) leading to higher groundwater levels, water conservation and reduction in soil erosion. “Now people in my village have to walk just one month instead of six months in a year to fetch water from far away,” she informs chirpily. [caption id="attachment_20921" align="aligncenter" width="792"] Sanskruti Dalavi, environmental leader[/caption] From less
With Sanskruti and her friends’ initiatives, the villagers of Diskal dug a 3,000-meter CCT by themselves and a 6,000-meter CCT with help of equipment in 2019 to bring up the groundwater levels. In no time, the results were clearly visible.
In 2020, the requirement of fetching water 14 kilometers away from the village fell down from six months in a year to just a month. Borewells which were not effective even when drilled 600 feet deep started extracting water from 5 feet depth itself and that too in months of summer. As a result, agriculture was boosted, and crop produce improved both in quality and quantity.
It all started when…
“I had to travel three kilometers from my village to attend school, where children of 12 other nearby villages studied,” informs the 19-year-old. But it was at the age of 16 when she was a student of class 10 that things started to shift after she attended a one-day workshop by Paani Foundation. While most students went their usual way after attending the workshop, it left a deep impact on Sanskruti who gathered her like-minded friends and was ready to make a difference.
[caption id="attachment_20924" align="aligncenter" width="933"] Sanskruti in one of meetings with the villagers of Diskal[/caption]
“In our village, women and children were hardly made aware or made part of any yojana (programme).” Attending a workshop for the first time in life was so empowering for the young girl that she decided to bring women and children to the forefront. “If we involve a woman in any initiative, we do not get just two hands to help but many helping hands in the form of her husband and children,” she adds.
Addressing challenges with smart strategies
Despite previous efforts and initiatives to improve ground water level, not much had changed. However, Sanskruti was keen to put to good use the know-how of villagers who had worked on past initiatives. However, she had one more battle to win - the lack of unity amongst the villagers, due to political and religious differences. “If one group wanted to do some good, others did not cooperate thinking there might be some vested interest and vice versa,” says the changemaker.
“I thought that if we children get involved in doing something for our drought-prone village, people will come forward to lend a helping hand as they will not find any hidden agenda in it.” This strategy worked.
[caption id="attachment_20922" align="aligncenter" width="934"] Continuous Contour Trenches (CCT) being created by villagers of Diskal[/caption]
Sanskruti and her team of 25 school girls organised door-to-door campaigns in Diskal, making them come together for a common cause. It was the first time that the villagers attended the gram sabhas (meetings) in thousands and that too in quick succession.
The young brigade also conducted special meetings for women making them aware of their significance in this whole initiative. Moreover, they celebrated community events, clubbing it with a CCT digging drive – thus bringing people together to celebrate and in turn, asking them to lend a helping hand.
The making of the young leader
Neither did Sanskruti possess any technical know-how, nor age or experience, all that she had was the burning desire to change the plight of her village which is 55 kms away from Satara, the nearest city. “Someone will have to come forward,” she says modestly about the mammoth task she accomplished that also included solutions like rain water harvesting system and drip irrigation. All the water management resources that the villagers created worked to their satisfaction following a rainfall. There is hardly anyone in the village now who does not know the youngster.
Sanskruti got selected as Ashoka Young Changemaker 2021 along with 18 others from different parts of the country, andwasinvited to Bengaluru for a two-day workshop. It was her first trip outside Maharashtra and the very first flight journey.
[caption id="attachment_20925" align="aligncenter" width="1017"] Sanskruti with Ashoka Young Changemakers of 2021[/caption]
“I was deeply impressed by other changemakers’ achievements in the workshop and developed great connections for doing more for my village,” says the teen who has also received the Diana Award 2022.
Working with a life-long mission
The Yashwantrao Chavan Institute of Science student is currently pursuing her bachelors at College of Social Work Nirmala Niketan in Mumbai. Shifting to Mumbai made her start a new initiative Pehchaan Vahi Soch Nayi (PVSN) in her native village to help instil leadership qualities among the kids.
“Kids staying in cities have various opportunities of growth but the same is not available to village children so
I have been encouraging the kids of my village to work for a good cause and grow in the process.” A total of 15 schools from various districts of Maharashtra are a part of PVSN. Her 40-member girls’ team, who coordinate all the programmes, are called PVSN Thinkers.
Though her village is a seven-hour journey from Mumbai, Sanskruti is at the thick of all initiatives being taken by her Thinkers team. The daughter of a farmer father plans to return to her village and work for its greater good after completing her studies. “For now, my aim is to create more and more ‘thinkers’ so that they not only help in village development but also develop their own leadership skills in the process as girls have rare opportunities of growth,” says the changemaker whose mother is an Anganwadi worker.
(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."
Ayan Gupta[/caption]
Ayan Gupta[/caption]
Sanskruti Dalavi, environmental leader[/caption]
Sanskruti in one of meetings with the villagers of Diskal[/caption]
Continuous Contour Trenches (CCT) being created by villagers of Diskal[/caption]
Sanskruti with Ashoka Young Changemakers of 2021[/caption]
Leena Rafeeq with her sister Hana[/caption]