Global Indianstory Global Indian ExclusivePenn Masala: From the White House to the Paris Olympics 2024, the boy band takes the world stage

Penn Masala: From the White House to the Paris Olympics 2024, the boy band takes the world stage

By: Amrita Priya

President Joe Biden invited Penn Masala, the premier South Asian a cappella boy group to perform at the White House when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the United States last year. Mathematics student Raghunandan Raman, who serves as the current president of the band called it an “opportunity of a lifetime.” Penn Masala, the University of Pennsylvania’s boy-band composed mostly of Indian descent students, has gained wide recognition for blending Eastern and Western influences to bridge cultural divides through their music.

This year, the acclaimed a cappella (without instrumental accompaniment) band performed at the inaugural India House at the Paris Olympics 2024. India House, a collaboration between the Reliance Foundation and the Indian Olympic Association, aimed to boost Indian athletes’ performances, support national sports federations, and position India as a potential future host of the Olympic Games.

Conceptualised by Nita Ambani and her team, the India House in Paris showcased the rich legacy of Indian music and celebrating India in a grand style. In addition to music, it featured craft installations, yoga sessions, and dance performances. Penn Masala artists who have performed across the United States, in India and other locations of the world were thrilled about performing during the most coveted sporting event in Paris.

Penn Masala

The boy-band is an evolving group composed of students from the University of Pennsylvania. The group’s membership changes regularly as veteran members graduate and new members join through auditions. While most of Penn Masala’s members are of Indian descent, the group has also had non-Indian members. During significant performances, the former members also join.

Founded in 1996 by South Asian students of the University of Pennsylvania, the band is recognised as the world’s first South Asian a cappella group. It was established with the aim of creating music that crosses traditional cultural boundaries and reflects the experience of growing up with both Eastern and Western influences.

“It was formed by a group of four guys, who saw that a cappella was a big thing across college campuses, but a lot of music that they grew up listening to wasn’t being expressed in this art form. They probably questioned “Why not us? Why can’t South Asians also be a part of this?” shared alumni Saaketh Narayan talking about how Penn Masala got started. “Back then, it wasn’t cool to be Indian or South Asian. It took guts to do what a lot of art groups and the founders of Penn Masala did,” he added.

Indian artists | Penn Masala | Global Indian

A Penn Masala performance in 2016

Although the group members have always been in their 20s, in its 28-year-journey, Penn Masala has managed to appeal audiences of all age groups while performing at biggest venues across the US and beyond. Apart from releasing 12 full-length albums it has also performed for the Indian Filmfare Awards, and for heads-of-state, prominent businessmen, and international leaders including Barack Obama, Henry Kissinger, Ban Ki-moon, Mukesh Ambani, among others.

The group also had a cameo role in the Hollywood movie Pitch Perfect 2, released in 2015. The movie received the American Music Award for Best Soundtrack.

The homecoming India tours

Apart from several domestic, Canada and UK tours, US-based Penn Masala has travelled to India multiple times. In 2006, the group celebrated its 10th anniversary with a tour of India. Their most recent tour to India was in May 2023 when they performed seven shows across Goa, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore. “It provided us with unique experiences. The love and adulation of fans was of next level. They made poems and art for us,” said one of the performers.

Balancing worlds

The loving audience sometimes tends to forget that the Penn Masala artists are at the university to study and that singing is just an additional activity for them. For all of them music is a great break from their academic rigour and professional aspirations – ‘an outlet to step away from the stress, hang out with an awesome group of guys, and jam’.

The current members Raghunandan Raman, Gaurish Gaur, Riju Datta, Venugopal Chillal, Ajay Kilambi, Prateek Adurty, Rohit Rajagopalan and Aryaman Meswani are all studying different subjects at the University of Pennsylvania but has music in common.

The current Penn Masala president Raghunandan was born in Bangor, India. His family moved to the United States when he was young. “I’ve been part of two worlds,” he remarked, “One American growing up in New Jersey and the other at home with my parents and family steeped in Indian culture, including music. Penn Masala combines both the Western and the Indian side of me, and I feel fortunate to be a part of this group and experience that.”

Like him, Penn Masala has had members who were born in India but raised in the US, as well as those who were completely born and brought up in the US. Regardless of their place of birth, Raghunandan’s words resonate with all of them.

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Published on 01, Aug 2024

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‘App’solute vision: Diana Awardee Freya Thakral’s recycling & mental health smart solutions

(February 16, 2022) Frantically scribbling away ideas for a startup in 2019, Freya Thakral stumbled upon the huge plastic waste menace. The then 13-year-old created an app that recycles plastic, and even helps ragpickers live dignified life. The same year, India generated over 34 lakh tons of plastic waste, and the teenager knew it was time to take matters into her hand. Freya’s Recycler App, a free door-to-door waste collection service won her the Diana Award 2020. “I had no idea that my work was creating such a huge difference. The award was a validation of sorts, and has made me more comfortable about the path that I have taken,” she tells Global Indian. Incredibly, this isn’t the only app that made Freya a global name. The 15-year-old won the British Citizen Youth Award 2021 for empowering girls to express themselves through her wellbeing app Curiousify. An initiative that began during the pandemic, it helps women deal with mental health issues. [caption id="attachment_10922" align="aligncenter" width="493"] Freya Thakral at Young Founders Summit[/caption] When adventure gave her ideas Born in 2006 to a teacher-father and a homemaker-mother in the UK, Freya moved to Nepal with family at six owing to her dad’s

03ac1684-c02f-47a3-9d54-e084185d53901.jpg" alt="Diana Awardee | Freya Thakral " width="493" height="657" /> Freya Thakral at Young Founders Summit[/caption]

When adventure gave her ideas

Born in 2006 to a teacher-father and a homemaker-mother in the UK, Freya moved to Nepal with family at six owing to her dad’s sense of adventure. “After a year-and-a-half in Nepal, we moved to Delhi which was my home for almost five years,” says the 15-year-old who enrolled in the British School then. Fitting in was a task as neither was she “academically inclined” nor did she have “any particular hobbies.” However, things shifted for the teenager when she decided to participate in the Young Founders Summit, a global start-up competition and accelerator programme. There, Freya came up with the recycling app.

“Since I stayed in the UK and Nepal, I had seen the way waste was disposed. If England has a set system of disposing, open dumping of solid waste was a common practice in Nepal. In Delhi too, plastic was mixed with other waste, making it difficult to recycle. I realised no one was encouraged to recycle. That’s when the idea of a Recycler App struck me,” smiles the innovator who then involved ragpickers to help them in their vulnerability.

From “rags” to sustainable riches

It was after speaking to marginalised ragpickers in her locality, many of them children, Freya realised the need to build a more sustainable method of recycling. Driven by a passion to transform the lives of ragpickers, she decided to build the app to connect users with ragpickers.

The summit helped her find her first investor. With funds pouring in, she set up a warehouse in Ghaziabad and paid money to ragpickers. “A judge liked my idea, and even got me in touch with an investor who helped me understand the business side,” says the Class 10 student who had to learn coding online to develop the app with a little help from her father.

Launched in June 2019 on iOS, the app was initially available in South Delhi. “Anyone who wanted to avail the services could simply slot a date and time, and the ragpicker would collect plastic at the doorstep, which was sent to a recycling plant,” explains the young activist who at first started with only three collectors, and soon the number grew to 10.

[caption id="attachment_10924" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Freya Thakral with the middleman[/caption]

However, convincing ragpickers to work wasn’t easy. “Being so young, not many believe in your vision. So, it took time building trust. We worked with a middleman who had access to the app, and would send ragpickers to homes as not everyone had a touchscreen phone,” explains the Diana Awardee. Her motto was to improve the lives of ragpickers, and employ them. “Instead of roaming the streets, they could reach people who required their services. We would also pay a large part of the money we received from recycling to them,” adds the Brighton School Bangkok student who had 500 active users on the app that she calls the “Uber of recycling.”

Awards & glory thanks to a vision

Freya won the Diana Award 2020 for her app, and it completely “surprised” her.

“I had no idea that my work was getting noticed. While I couldn’t receive the award in person due to the pandemic, it was great connecting with those doing noteworthy work,” smiles the Diana Awardee.

Recycler’s operations are on hold since the pandemic began in 2020. “Collectors weren’t allowed into people’s houses. Since many came from squatter settlements, people were uncomfortable having them near during Covid-19. I, too, moved to the UK, thus it was hard to manage,” reveals Freya who wasn’t sure of “putting the burden of the business on someone else” in her absence. A handful of old users still use the app, and avail services.

Helping those struggling in the pandemic

As lockdown put a spade on everything, Freya was busy creating the app Curiousify which focusses on wellbeing and the mental health of young women. After experiencing emotional difficulties, she needed a constructive outlet to express herself. “I realised many young women going through issues were exposed to negative and incorrect information, thus exacerbating the situation. So, I decided to bring a sense of community with Curiousify,” reveals the girl who offers a curated collection of bite-sized articles and videos that are positive and helpful. The mental health campaigner won the British Citizen Youth Award 2021 for empowering girls to express themselves.

[caption id="attachment_10926" align="aligncenter" width="516"] Freya Thakral at the British Citizen Youth Award 2021[/caption]

Freya is now bettering the app by adding new features like a language convertor to make it accessible to a larger audience. Looking forward to working for something bigger than her, the Diana Awardee avers, “Joining the United Nations is definitely on my list.”

She credits the awards for opening her mind to possibilities. “The current generation needs to get out of their comfort zone,” she implores.

Follow Freya Thakral on Linkedin

Reading Time: 5 min

Animall: The IIT-duo turning India’s traditional cattle trade digital

(October 7, 2023) "Yeh app nahi, aandolan hai," a farmer remarked to Neetu Yadav and Kirti Jangra, the co-founders of 'Animall'. After struggling for over a month, the farmer had just sold three cows within 24 hours through the easy-to-use app. What started as a weekend project back in August 2019 had become what its co-founders had always envisioned - disruptor. Four years later, the company is a top-funded VC startup, boasts an annual income of Rs 565 crore, and has facilitated the buying and selling of 8.5 lakh animals worth Rs 4000 crore, across the country. [caption id="attachment_33434" align="aligncenter" width="371"] Neetu Yadav and Kirti Jangra. Photo: Forbes[/caption] A new bond Neetu Yadav (26) and Kirti Jangra (27) met soon after they each arrived at IIT-Delhi. For Neetu in particular, it was the start of a brand-new life. She was leaving behind the tiny, rural farming community she called home, and finally transcending its rural mentality. Her father was often advised not to invest in his daughter's education, but he "always treated her like a son," he said in an interview. And Neetu wanted to be someone. "With the help of many people, including my uncle, I went to Kota

"Kirti was the first person I met," says Neetu. A few hours later, they discovered they were going to be roommates. It turned out to be the start of an enduring friendship. "We had a cooler company for a few weeks," they recall, laughing. "It was called Kirti-Neetu Cooler Company, we weren't too creative with the name!" The idea came because of the old electrical system at IIT-Delhi. A regular cooler could blow the fuse for the entire campus. So, they decided to come up with a low-cost, low-voltage cooler. They took oil containers from the hostel kitchens and used them to make their cooler. "We thought we could make a lot of money selling and then realised the market was too small. But that was the first time we thought of building a startup together.

Building Animall

The cooler company didn't take off but both young women were enterprising, and driven to make a social impact. Animall first took shape in August 2019 from a room in Bengaluru, where Neetu and Kirti were participating in a weekend hackathon. Organised by a storytelling organisation named Pratilipi, the hackathon theme was to build for one billion users. Neetu leaned into her own roots to get a better understanding of what the One Billion needs - she knew that the next one billion users meant millions who live in rural India. "Whenever you look at a farming family, there are just two aspects - agriculture and animal husbandry. Animal husbandry is mainly dairy," Neetu says.

That's how the Global Indians decided to create Animall and their five-member team went on to win both the jury and audience awards at the event. Neetu and Kirti wanted to grow Animall and used the Rs 2 lakh they received as prize money to fund their early operations. "We used it for marketing, servers etc," she adds.

Animal husbandry contributes anywhere between five to seven percent of the national GDP. But in 2019, when Team Animall conducted extensive research across the country, interviewing thousands of farmers they realised that the sector is largely untouched by technology. In 2022, the gross value added from livestock within the agricultural industry was over seven trillion rupees but the trade of cattle continues to operate in a highly informal, fragmented, and disorganised ecosystem. Kirti and Neetu were both keen on making an impact and realised this was where they needed to be.

"Just the idea of trying to organise, trying to disrupt an unorganised market like this... the market is hungry for a platform like Animall," says Kirti. They set about trying to create a user-friendly, one-stop-shop for cattle farmers. However, their idea was not well-received, either at home or by investors. "If you wanted to herd cattle, why did you go to IIT? We could have done that for you right here," Kirti's father joked when she first pitched the idea. Neetu's family, who had pulled out all the stops to make sure their daughter made it to an IIT, was appalled by the thought of her quitting her job to build an app, that too an app for cows but resigned themselves to it saying, "But since you want to do this, how can we stop you." Investors were skeptical too. "Who will download this," they asked the co-founders. "Will people use this? Even their batchmates didn't buy into it. "Do you think rural people will be able to download and use an app?"

Disrupting the market

They chose the herd, however, and shunned the herd mentality, and 10 million downloads later, their critics have more than retreated. "Build for Bharat is real," Kirti insists. "Bharat is online." Sequoia led a $6 million funding round for the fledgling company and they arrived on the scene. But they are not without challenges, even now.

Indian farmers are happy to hop onto the tech bandwagon, but buying and selling cattle is, at the end of the day, a hands-on process. It's not easy to convince a seller who is far away, to invest in a cow he has never milked. That's not all. Their market is in the heartland of rural North India, in states like Haryana and Jharkhand that are mired in patriarchy to the point where Neetu and Kirti find it hard to be taken seriously, simply because they are women. "Men have a larger network. To enter those rooms as women is very hard. We ignore the glass ceiling. We don't make it the limit. We just do our thing," Kirti says.

It has only taught them to think differently. "Our thought process has changed significantly," says Neetu. "It's okay to make mistakes, it's okay to be wrong," Kirti adds. "You just have to learn from it. We have taken short-term decisions and then realised, hey, this is not who we are, we want to plan for the long-term." And above all, they value each other. "I think stereotypically, women friendships are underplayed," Kirti remarks. "I think they bring a lot to your life. Just like bro-hood has its advantages, sisterhood has its advantages too."

Read more about Animall on their website.

Reading Time: 6 mins

Apsara Iyer: The first Indian-origin female president of Harvard Law Review

(March 22, 2023) In 1990, when former US President Barack Obama was in his second year at Harvard Law School, he created history by becoming the first black president of the Harvard Law Review – a monthly journal comprising 2500 pages per volume published every month from November to June. This year, history has been made once more by Apsara Iyer, who became the first Indian-origin female to be elected the president of the prestigious journal in its 137-year history. The second year student succeeded Priscila Coronado and has begun her full-time volunteer position as editor-in-chief, supervising the law review’s team of nearly 80 editors. “Since joining the Law Review, I have been inspired by her (Priscila Coronado’s) skilful management, compassion, and capacity to build vibrant, inclusive communities. I am so grateful that we ‘Volume 137’ inherit her legacy, and I am honoured to continue building on this important work over the next year,” said Apsara after being elected. [embed]https://twitter.com/Harvard_Law/status/1622264234221486080?s=20[/embed] Overseeing a rich legacy Launched in 1887, by former Supreme Court judge Justice Louis D. Brandeis, the Harvard Law Review is an entirely student-edited journal. It is the world’s most impactful student law journal, among the 143 published around

) skilful management, compassion, and capacity to build vibrant, inclusive communities. I am so grateful that we ‘Volume 137’ inherit her legacy, and I am honoured to continue building on this important work over the next year,” said Apsara after being elected.

[embed]https://twitter.com/Harvard_Law/status/1622264234221486080?s=20[/embed]

Overseeing a rich legacy

Launched in 1887, by former Supreme Court judge Justice Louis D. Brandeis, the Harvard Law Review is an entirely student-edited journal. It is the world’s most impactful student law journal, among the 143 published around the world.

According to the Review’s website, “the journal is designed to be an effective research tool for practicing lawyers and students of law.” Apart from student contributions, the review features write-ups from professors, judges, and solicits who contribute articles, analysis of leading cases, comments on recent decisions by courts and developments in the field of law. The students on the team follow a rigorous editorial process to produce the hefty annual volume.

Apsara’s academic journey

The Indian-American law student graduated from the Yale University in 2016 with a B.A. in math, economics, and Spanish. She went on to do an MPhil in Economics at the University of Oxford as a Clarendon Scholar.

She enrolled in Harvard Law School in 2020 and became a part of the editorial team of the Harvard Law Review.

“Apsara has changed the lives of many editors for the better, and I know she will continue to do so, “said Priscila, Apsara’s predecessor. “From the start, she has impressed her fellow editors with her remarkable intelligence, thoughtfulness, warmth, and fierce advocacy. The Law Review is extremely lucky to have her lead this institution,” she added.

[caption id="attachment_28636" align="aligncenter" width="515"] Apsara Iyer[/caption]

The Global Indian is associated with the International Human Rights Clinic of Harvard and is a member of the South Asian Law Students Association.

The art crime investigator

A deep interest in indigenous communities and archaeology led Apsara to join the Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit (ATU), after she completed her MPhil.

At ATU, she became deeply engaged in investigating art crime and repatriation, coordinating with international and federal law-enforcement authorities to repatriate more than 1,100 stolen works of art to 15 countries.

“Several of these objects were from India,” she said, in an interview with Mid-Day, “I was the lead analyst on many investigations concerning trafficking networks operating in India and Southeast Asia,” she revealed.

[caption id="attachment_28637" align="aligncenter" width="886"] Apsara Iyer with ATU team[/caption]

Among her first cases at the District Attorney’s office was one involving a Nataraja idol, stolen from the Punnainallur Mariamman temple in Thanjavur. “Over the next three years, I worked tirelessly with the lead prosecutor to uncover new evidences, witnesses, and investigative leads. Our work single-handedly resulted in the return of the Nataraja to the Government of India,” she explained. “In such cases, I have seen first-hand how the communities had maintained hope and prayed for years for the relics to be returned,” she added.

The Indian-origin law student’s favourite memories from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit are of organising repatriation ceremonies to return stolen objects to their lawful owners.

At the intersection of archaeology and law

Apsara’s interest in history and antiquities was first kindled in high school, when she worked on an archaeological excavation site in Peru. When she joined Yale, her research was focused on the value of cultural heritage.

“During one of my field research projects in India, I had the opportunity to visit a site that had been looted. I distinctly remember that while I was at the site, someone asked me, ‘What are you going to do about this?’ she recounted in the Mid-Day interview. “This wake-up call led me to work in law to address the issue of antiquities trafficking,” she revealed.

[caption id="attachment_28639" align="aligncenter" width="754"] Apsara Iyer with ATU team[/caption]

Apsara’s commitment towards fighting illicit antiquities trafficking has been so strong, that she even took a leave of absence from Harvard Law School in 2021-22 to return to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, where she worked on an international antiquity trafficking investigation case as the deputy of the ATU.

In the future, Apsara aims to work at the intersection of law and archaeology. “I would love to continue working in this space (archaeology), probably in a prosecutorial role, possibly in an international court,” she had said, in an interview published in Harvard Law Today, a news portal of Harvard Law School.

Born to Tamil parents who moved to USA before her birth, Apsara grew up in Indiana. Apart from being exemplary in studies she is good at art and is a trained boxer.

Follow Apsara Iyer on Facebook

Reading Time: 5 mins

The grandmaster’s gambit: Chess prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is making India proud

(May 18, 2022) The sooner we get the correct pronunciation of Praggnanandhaa (meaning delight of the intellect), the better it is; as we embark on the long journey of cheering and celebrating the achievements of the aptly-named chess prodigy who is all set to conquer the world in the war of checkmates. On February 21, 2022, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa defeated reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen in the Airthings Masters Rapid Chess Tournament. With this the 16-year-old from South India became a (difficult-to-pronounce) household name. The coveted ‘Grandmaster’ title; that Praggnanandhaa has earned, makes him the fifth youngest person in the world to achieve it, after Abhimanyu Mishra, Sergey Karjakin, Gukesh D, and Javokhir Sindarov. Setting the benchmark  Praggnanandhaa earned the title of FIDE Master at the age of 7, winning the World Youth Chess Championship Under-8 title in 2013. The champ went on to win the under-10 title in 2015.  The following year, 2016, marked another major milestone for the young prodigy, who became the youngest international master in history, at the age of 10 years, 10 months and 19 days. [embed]https://twitter.com/sachin_rt/status/1495759508177571843?s=20&t=Cq4k2SIwGYWX5UKnNmasJg[/embed] Becoming a grandmaster requires winning three ‘norms’. Praggnanandhaa achieved his first norm at the World Junior Chess Championship in 2017, finishing fourth with

ship Under-8 title in 2013. The champ went on to win the under-10 title in 2015.  The following year, 2016, marked another major milestone for the young prodigy, who became the youngest international master in history, at the age of 10 years, 10 months and 19 days.

[embed]https://twitter.com/sachin_rt/status/1495759508177571843?s=20&t=Cq4k2SIwGYWX5UKnNmasJg[/embed]

Becoming a grandmaster requires winning three ‘norms’. Praggnanandhaa achieved his first norm at the World Junior Chess Championship in 2017, finishing fourth with eight points. He gained his second norm at the Heraklion Fischer Memorial GM Norm tournament in Greece in April 2018. In June 2018 he achieved his third and final norm at the Gredine Open in Urtijëi, Italy at the age of just 12 years, 10 months, and 13 days. 

The discipline of champions

Always a call or text away is the iconic Viswanathan Anand, India’s first chess grandmaster and a five-time world chess champion. The prodigy is also associated with Anand’s Westbridge Anand Chess Academy.

“If I have a doubt, all I have to do is message him. It’s a very big opportunity for me to get guidance from him,” Praggnanandhaa mentions in a conversation with Global Indian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvXgXqfyV1k

His first coach, he says, was S Thyagarajan, who had already been training Praggnanandhaa’s sister. “GM RB Ramesh became my coach after that,” he says.

Life and the chessboard…

He's not the only genius in the family. By the time he was three-and-a-half, 'Pragg' would hang around watching his sister, female grandmaster Vaishali Rameshbabu play. Although chess was never a 'plan' per se, it seemed only natural that he would be drawn to the game. "It came to me naturally and became a part of my life," Praggnanandhaa says. The brother-sister grandmaster duo love discussing chess moves but their practice sessions remain separate. It hardly needs to be said that Praggnanandhaa rarely misses practice. “The duration might vary based on tournament schedules and exam timetables but I always manage to give it my time.”

[caption id="attachment_16788" align="aligncenter" width="779"] Praggnanandhaa with his mother, Nagalaksmi and sister, gradmaster Vaishali Rameshbabu[/caption]

Always by his side, especially as he travels for tournaments, is Praggnanandhaa’s mother, Nagalakshmi. His father, Rameshbabu, a banker at Tamil Nadu State Corporation Bank, takes care of all the details involved in managing the household’s two grandmasters. He finds support at school, today – he is a class 11 commerce student at Velammal in Chennai. “My school supports me immensely and allows me to take leave to play tournaments and practice,” he says. “I will spend this month studying as the 11^th standard board exams are in progress.”

Impressive journey...

Praggnanandhaa began traveling abroad for tournaments at the tender age of seven. "I have lost count," he says, pausing to think about it. "I have probably visited 30 countries." No matter where he goes, his focus remains unwavering, concentrating on one thing only – the game he is there to play. There is hardly time for trivialities like sightseeing. To emphasise this, Praggnanandhaa says, “My favourite place? Any place where the tournament went well becomes a good destination for me.”

[caption id="attachment_16794" align="aligncenter" width="891"] Photo courtesy: ChessBase India[/caption]

At 16, Praggnanandhaa has seen more of the world than most people will in a lifetime but is an undoubted homebody. He loves being home in India and whenever he has the time, likes to watch Tamil films. The typical boy-next-door in every other way, Praggnanandha loves Indian food more than any other cuisine and plays with one mission: To make his country proud. “I started playing tournaments when I was very young but there is lots more to achieve,” says the courteous and down-to-earth champion.

Follow Praggnanandhaa on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

Reading Time: 5 mins

Colouring the world happy: Artist Rishika Karthik is using tactile art to help the visually impaired students

(August 6, 2022) About five minutes into the video call with Rishika Karthik, I notice a beautiful painting hanging right behind her. Depicting several masked people, a small note on the canvas read, "I'm not fine." Upon enquiring about the piece, she quips, "Oh! This is something I drew during the lockdown, its called Welcome to the Masquerade. I noticed that along with the physical mask, people also wore a metaphorical mask that stifled their individuality. Many people put on a facade to fit in the society. I think, masking our emotions and vulnerability strips us of true human connection." [caption id="attachment_20443" align="aligncenter" width="544"] Rishika Karthik with her artwork, Welcome to the Masquerade[/caption] Just 17 but wise beyond her age, Rishika is a creative activist, who is committed to increasing artistic and educational opportunities for blind and visually-impaired students since 2018. And for her service to the community, this Tamil Nadu native was presented with the USA President's Volunteer Service Award 2022. "I had just woken up and rushed to get ready for the school when I read the mail announcing the win. It is such a big honour for me. Especially because the list includes some very impressive youth,

the USA President's Volunteer Service Award 2022. "I had just woken up and rushed to get ready for the school when I read the mail announcing the win. It is such a big honour for me. Especially because the list includes some very impressive youth, who are working for the community. I cannot wait to collaborate with the other awardees on some project," says Rishika, as she connects with Global Indian from Colorado.

[caption id="attachment_20444" align="aligncenter" width="492"] The artist recently won the USA President's Volunteer Service Award 2022[/caption]

A proud member of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Rishika founded a project called Vision of the Artist's Soul (VAS), to create a comprehensive art education programme for blind and visually-impaired youth. The youngest recipient of a two-year Arts in Society Grant Award, Rishika advocates for policies and infrastructure for a more accessible society. Speaking at several panels and events, the young artist has been raising her voice for the rights of blind and visually-impaired individuals to travel independently. Gearing up for her freshman year at Brown University, Rishika plans to take up disability studies for her bachelor's.

Of colours and art

Twenty years ago, Rishika's parents moved to the United States of America in search of better employment opportunities. Born in Colorado, Rishika was a curious kid who was intrigued by everything she saw. "My parents often tell me that I asked the question 'why' more than anyone they have ever met in their entire lives. But I was a curious kid, who questioned everything," laughs the artist. "When I was growing up, I felt like I was too American in the Indian community and too Indian in the American community. Now, however, I understand that being multi-cultural and multi-lingual allows me to look at things from more than one perspective."

Struggling with her identity as a child, Rishika found solace in art, where she could express her thoughts and emotions without any hesitation. "I taught myself how to sketch and colour. Blank pages became a sea of opportunities for me," she shares.

[caption id="attachment_20445" align="aligncenter" width="562"] Rishika's artwork, Blind Vision. The braille engraved on the artwork reads 'Confident'.[/caption]

A bright student of St. Mary’s Academy, Rishika credits her teachers for motivating her to help the kids with disabilities in her locality. "My teachers instilled the value of how education can transform lives, and I really wanted to serve the less fortunate people. My mother also comes from an educational background, so I was very inspired by watching her tutor kids in our home," the artist shares.

Motivated and curious, Rishika approached the Director of Service Learning at her school for volunteering opportunities and learned about the various organisations working to help the visually-impaired kids in her locality. "It was a community that I had never interacted with before. So, when I first went, I was a bit hesitant, but upon meeting them I fell in love with their warmth. I learned so many new things about the community and the challenges that they faced doing the things that are quite simple for us," says Rishika, who learned braille to help these students better.

From visual to tactile

While they had other mediums to study and learn, one thing that grabbed Rishika's attention was the lack of art or colours in these kids' lives. "During my research, I learned about Tactile Art Club, run by Ann Cunningham, who later became my mentor. I realised that tactile art is just as important and powerful, as visual art, and decided to incorporate it into my volunteer work. The results were a revelation for me - it helped many blind students explore new artistic possibilities," shares the artist, who focussed on enhancing the participants' experiences with ceramics, using many tools to form a variety of textures and forms.

[caption id="attachment_20446" align="aligncenter" width="701"] Rishika at the art workshop[/caption]

In January 2020, Rishika became the president of the Tactile Art Club. Although they were making good progress, COVID came as a disrupting guest. "It was hard initially, as no one knew what to do or how to connect to the students. But eventually, we started our workshops and classes online." And that was the turning point - for Rishika and the Tactile Art Club. The online classes attracted visually impaired students not just from Colorado, but across the world. In December that year, the club had twenty-eight participants - all from diverse backgrounds. "It was quite a learning experience. From using just ceramics in our class, we started experimenting with a variety of interesting materials, such as tinfoil, pipes, and paper."

[caption id="attachment_20447" align="aligncenter" width="596"] Air dry clay creations by visually impaired students[/caption]

Interestingly, the 17-year-old artist is also a part of the team researching the impact of COVID-19 on visually-impaired kids, under Dr Penny Rosenblum, the Director of Research, American Foundation for the Blind. "I want to work towards a world that is inclusive, accessible, and safe for people with disabilities. I am also working on developing an interactive game app, that teaches visually impaired people mobility skills," she signs off.

Follow Rishika Karthik on LinkedIn and her website

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