Finding his tempo: The rise and rise of tabla maestro Truptraj
Written by: Amrita Priya
(March 5, 2022) A tabla gifted to his father by a friend caught Truptraj Pandya’s eye even before he had learned to walk. The instrument lay unused in a corner of the house. By the time he was 15 months old, he was already playing it, showing, even then, a prodigious talent for music which his parents noticed and encouraged. Today, at the age of 15, the young tabla maestro is well on his way to becoming the face of India’s tabla landscape and has given over 200 public performances. He has been a guest of honour at major events and seminars and created a buzz in the media – local, national and international. In 2019, dressed in maroon attire, he stood proudly before Prime Minister Narendra Modi to receive his Bal Shakti Puraskar.
Truptraj Atul Pandya is a master percussionist He is an established radio and TV artist as well, who has given more than several live performances. Proud that he has been conferred the Bal Shakti Puraskar. pic.twitter.com/iZu8ThvxH0
Fame and accolades have not robbed the young tabla maestro of his humility – he is modest and friendly during his interview with Global Indian. Sound family values have had their part to play – good parenting has kept him grounded and Truptraj describes his father as his mentor and guide. “Who I am today is because of my father. I would not have reached this point without his nurturing and encouragement. All credit goes to him,” says he.
Finding a guru
When Truptraj was about two years old, his father took him to attend Ustad Zakir Hussain’s concert. The maestro took notice of the young prodigy and helped him out, connecting him to his disciple, Dhyaneshwar Popalghat, from the Ustad Allarakha Institute of Music for proper guidance. “My taalim started when I was about three and my association with my Guru still continues, even after 12 years,” Truptraj smiles. He is now undergoing advanced training under Pandit Nayan Ghosh and has also been blessed by legends like Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasiya and Ustad Iqbal Ahmad Khan.
Little Truptraj with Guinness Book of World Records certificate
Encouraged by his parents and his Guru, Truptraj made his bid for the Guinness World Records when he was six years old. Even that, he believes, could have happened earlier. “My father applied for it a little late because he wanted to be sure that it was more than just a short-lived interest to me.” His father’s fears were unfounded, for Truptraj’s love for the tabla has only grown stronger with time. The young tabla maestro devotes himself to perfecting his craft, leaving the details of managing his schedule to his father.
Truptraj Pandya
A student and a star
Truptraj is in the middle of the all-important Class X and exams are around the corner. Nothing holds him back from his riyaaz, however. “I might cut short the duration of my practice if I have exams but I never skip it,” he says. The Covid-19 lockdown left him with ample time on his hands, with classes taking place from home. And the ace performer doesn’t just juggle school and music, he also loves sports, serving as his school’s basketball team captain for four years until 2019.
“My teachers and friends are very supportive,” he says. “I have always taken proper permission from school before traveling for live performances. They make sure I don’t miss out on notes and important assignments,” adds the young maestro.
Truptraj with President, Ram Nath Kovind
In fact, no school event is complete without the musical stylings of Truptraj Pandya. “My teachers give equal opportunity and support to every pupil and my friends aren’t my friends because of the tabla, our friendship comes from the heart,” he says. The young maestro remains unconcerned by the looming exam season – he knows he has studied enough to do well. “My last performance was in December but if something comes up, I will take the opportunity,” he says, now seasoned at juggling his many priorities. His favourite subject, he says, is history and he prefers documentaries to reading a textbook.
Truptraj’s family
Follow your heart, he tells teens
Being on stage across India, with lakhs of people watching him, gives Truptraj a thrill like no other. “This is just the beginning, I have a long way to go,” he says, modestly. “I love stage performances, though. I feel a little nervous just before I begin but once I begin playing my tabla, my fears vanish. The music takes over me and I’m confident that I won’t let the audience and myself down,” he says.
“Do what you love” is his advice to other teenagers. “Don’t give into pressure at home or from family, if you do, you will only get tired and quit someday. But if you do things that you love, you will not get tired of it, you will always be hungry for more. You will remain motivated and passionate. Practice more and be patient,” he signs off.
(August 2, 2023) She remembers sticking her head out of the school bus window on her way home, to catch a glimpse of the HCG in Bengaluru, the oncology hospital that came up with cyberknife technology and hormone therapy to cure cancer. Such was Swetha Kannan's passion for cancer research, that in Grade 7, she decided to become an oncologist. "The disease was so mysterious; there's so much you don't know about it. I was curious as to why we don't have a definitive cure for cancer," Swetha tells Global Indian. But little did Swetha know that a few years down the line, the deadly disease would come knocking on her door. Her world came crashing down at the beginning of 2018 when her grandmom was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Being her primary caregiver, Swetha understood the importance of psychological well-being in cancer patients. This prompted her to start the Lalitha Foundation (named after her grandmom) in 2019, dedicated to the betterment of the lives of cancer and post-sepsis patients. The initiative, which has positively impacted hundreds, won her the Diana Award 2023. "I thought I was daydreaming. It was a pleasant surprise," she smiles. [caption id="attachment_32352" align="aligncenter" width="512"] Swetha
[caption id="attachment_32352" align="aligncenter" width="512"] Swetha Kannan is the founder of The Lalitha Foundation[/caption]
A personal experience led to her purpose
Having personal experience with mental health struggles, Swetha recognises the lack of awareness and the struggle of opening up, especially in India. "I have anxiety and panic disorder. For me, it was living through these experiences that taught me how important it is for you and the people around you to know what's happening to you, and know that there is support," says the changemaker, who spent three months with her grandmom while the later went through umpteen tests and a surgery.
Those months were taxing not just physically but mentally for both Swetha and her grandmom. "Part of my panic and anxiety disorder arises from the fact that my body went through so much physically and mentally in such a framed period. I was taught to give her blood thinning injections after the surgery, and I thought I was infecting my grandmother and it's not okay. The worst part was that we didn't know what stage the tumour was." Understanding the problem, she founded the Lalitha Foundation with the mission to create awareness around both cancer and mental health widespread across communities in India, especially among underprivileged people. "The second was to find ways to make access to care more equitable."
She realised that one essentially needs to be in an urban setup to either get cancer treatment or be screened for mental health. "The mortality rate of cancer in rural India is double that of rural India, even though the incidents of cancer in urban India are much higher. The statistics rang alarming bells because people don't choose what community or social status they are born into. Having someone have to fight so much harder for something so basic as healthcare based on factors that they didn't even choose for seemed unfair," adds Swetha. This nudged her to make awareness reach places that they needed to. "The mission was to let people know that having cancer or mental illness is not the end of the world. You need to know your symptoms and take action for your good."
Swetha, who a few months after her grandmom's surgery interned at HCG Bengaluru, came across patients from rural areas who were at the mercy of doctors and had no idea about the right treatment or awareness about the disease. "Simple things like awareness about the disease can go massive miles in improving or stabilising one's psychological wellbeing in the long term. You know what's happening to you and you feel in control."
How a teenager transformed lives
In 2019, Swetha was elected to be a fellow of the Clinton Global Initiative in LA. Only nineteen at the time, she began the Lalitha Foundation, to create awareness on mental health and cancer. She began by reaching out to medical students and doctors and using YouTube and WhatsApp to spread the word. "Within a few weeks, I had 300-400 sign-ups," she smiles. The next step was to impart training to the volunteers. Her mentor at The Clinton Foundation suggested creating a Google classroom with training materials including videos, podcasts, and reading. There were assignments to gauge the understanding of the issue on the part of the volunteer. "I can't have a volunteer talking to a patient who has no idea what he's saying." Later, the very few specialists in mental health like therapists and psychiatrists were recruited to train generic healthcare professionals like nurses, and general practitioners on the basics. "As volunteers, their job is to educate patients and tell them to access support, but they can't mediate support," says Swetha who has volunteers in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Punjab, and West Bengal.
Changing lives
It's been over three years since the Lalitha Foundation came into existence, and the nonprofit has created awareness on mental health and cancer, trained volunteers, done in-person programs with the support of the Clinton Foundation, and raise funds to provide free psychotherapies. "More than the impact in the commercial sense, I have seen families being more supportive and patients talking openly about mental health to their oncologists. That's the kind of impact we have made. We have created shared and safe places for people to open up. It's about telling people that your health is not a one-dimensional entity," says the 24-year-old changemaker who had a profound conversation with Sri Sri Ravi Sankar. "He said, 'A strong mind can withstand even the weakest of body but a weak body can't withstand even a very strong body.' And I couldn't agree more."
The Lalitha Foundation which currently operates in India is planning to expand in Africa, with a focus on countries like Uganda and Tanzania. "The stigma for mental health in India stems from different socio-cultural aspects than one in Africa. So, currently, we are in the process of understanding what the mental health situation in Africa is like," adds Swetha, who is pursuing a PhD at University of Cambridge. Ask her about her thesis, and pat comes the reply, "My project is looking at tumour immune interactions in Burkitt's lymphoma. It has two subtypes - Endemic which is more common in Africa. It's a paediatric cancer and kids with this cancer almost always die as they don't have access to intensive care. While sporadic is more common in kids in developed countries like Europe and the prognosis is okay but kids who relapse almost always die. It was only last year that I realised that paediatric cancers are extremely under-researched and also underfunded for research." Before her Ph.D., she did her BSc (Hons) in Immunology from the University of Edinburgh and her MPhil in Medical Sciences from the University of Cambridge.
Dealing with her grandmom's cancer to starting The Lalitha Foundation, Swetha calls it a transformative journey. "As a 19-year-old when my grandmom was diagnosed, I used to think Why Me? I was disconnected from reality as I was working like a machine and wasn't processing anything on an emotional level. In retrospect, it was the most transformative part of my life. If not for this, forget Lalitha Foundation, I wouldn't have grown as a person," she says, who has now translated her passion into purpose in the field of oncology.
The girl, who sings and writes poetry to unwind, says that her biggest learning in the journey has been to trust the process and let go. "The things that don't work are just distracting you from your bigger goal and the role you have to play in this world."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-3jjohf8WU
The Lalitha Foundation gave her a purpose, and Swetha is on a mission to transform the lives of cancer patients and their caregivers. "We teach people to love themselves and be kinder to themselves. You don't fight cancer but you heal from it, and you can only do it with love and kindness along with the treatment. Things might not be okay right now but some day things will be better," she signs off.
(March 12, 2022) At the age of 17, as most kids struggle with board exams, Indian teen scientist Snehadeep Kumar founded and continues to run The Aurora Academic Journal, a platform for students to publish. In October 2021, he founded the Nebula Space Organisation, the world's first space organisation run by students. It's an ambitious project, one that involves creating a floating settlement on Mars and caught the attention of Harvard University, resulting in a collaboration. He now has high aspirations of building the world’s smallest space telescope too. As he juggles his projects with his own research, the budding young Indian scientist is busy trying to decide at which University he can begin his scientific career. [caption id="attachment_12384" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Snehadeep Kumar[/caption] How a journal became the crux of knowledge When he said he wanted to reach out to the world’s top scientists to support The Aurora Academic Journal, Snehadeep was met with skepticism from friends and peers. He gave it a go anyway, dashing off emails to Bill Gates, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Peter Ratcliff, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, Fields Medal Winner Edward Witten, the
ld’s top scientists to support The Aurora Academic Journal, Snehadeep was met with skepticism from friends and peers. He gave it a go anyway, dashing off emails to Bill Gates, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Peter Ratcliff, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, Fields Medal Winner Edward Witten, the legendary anthropologist and primatologist Jane Goodall and Nobel Prize winner Dr Akira Yoshino, who developed the first commercially viable lithium-ion battery.
The initial response was as they feared – lukewarm. “We weren’t getting replies,” recalls the Indian teen scientist. In the end, persistence won the day. “I kept at it, I sent emails every day, telling them about our journal and what we hoped to do. One day, the responses began to arrive,” says Snehadeep Kumar in an interview with Global Indian. The celebrity testimonials are on display at the bottom of their website.
The Aurora Academic Journal takes entries from all over the world, across disciplines. Snehadeep stresses on the latter - there is more than just science. The website gets 500 hits a day, with interviews with Dr. Robert Lefkowitz, Nobel laureate in chemistry and Dr. Tom Welton, president of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
When science caught his fancy
Snehadeep's talent for science surfaced early - by the age of eight, in fact. His parents, keen to stoke his curiosity, subscribed to several student newspapers like Times NIE, which he read cover to cover. “I would read about science and scientific experiments and be completely fascinated by it all, also films like Interstellar and Inception, and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet inspired me,” says the Indian teen scientist. His father works at SAIL, and his mother is a homemaker.
In third grade, an astute science teacher at his school DAV Model School, Durgapur, Soma Ghosh, noticed Snehadeep’s inclinations and took it upon herself to encourage him. “She asked me to participate in a science competition - Intel IRIS,” says the lad who grew up in Durgapur, Bengal. With her help, he built a functioning electromagnetic circuit, connected to a bell. “She taught me how to conduct a project, and write about it,” he adds. In Class 9, another mentor, Sushmita Chandra, a science teacher, cemented his knowledge – he worked on three projects with her.
That year, he began looking into trapping excess water from the soil. “Roots don’t absorb all the water, so where does the rest go? Can we save it? I placed a device that comprised a filtration tank, and a containment tank - water goes into the container, then into the filter for purifying,” says the Indian teen scientist, of the filtration tank which contained moringa seeds, a natural purifier. “We tested the water, and it was fit to drink. SRM University funded the project. I also began thinking of publishing this in a journal,” he adds. Another project involved creating electricity out of carbon monoxide released from cars – creating a rechargeable hybrid battery. He wants to work on it more but being an expensive process – he hopes to continue it at university..
[caption id="attachment_12393" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Snehadeep with the project that started it all[/caption]
When experiments need publishing
Getting published is tough, the Indian teen scientist found out. He approached Nature.com and Scientific American, and was turned down. “I also learned that we need to pay to have our articles published. Besides, journals like Scientific American accept submissions only from PhD candidates, or people with undergraduate degrees,” the Indian teen scientist says.
By this time, Snehadeep was already in communication with some of the world’s top scientists - Dr Tom Welton, president of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London and the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Gerard ‘t Hooft, who, “likes to chat with students. He would send me practice papers to solve,” smiles the Indian teen scientist, adding, “I have always been interacting with scientists, Nobel Laureates, to discuss problems in maths and physics. I spoke to Dr Welton about studying abroad and my prospects at the Imperial College, London too.”
The venerable halls of Cambridge, Oxford and the Imperial College, London, are his deepest desire but “there are financial issues,” he admits. Even Ludwig Max Institute of Technology in Germany, known for its physics research in the fields of atomics and astrophysics, is on his coveted list.
When research led to discoveries
In 2021, Snehadeep met other scientifically inclined children through his favourite social media platform, Discord. “I decided to start my own journal to help brilliant kids with original research who cannot afford to pay for publishing, get a fillip,” explains the Indian teen scientist. Reaching out to friends across the globe through Discord, soon he had a team in place. The Aurora Academic Journal, an interdisciplinary online magazine for students to publish research, was born. “We have 63 members in all, and 10 on the executive team,” he smiles.
[caption id="attachment_12394" align="aligncenter" width="680"] The Moon, August 13, 2021. Shot by Jasa Rebula for the Nebula Space Organisation[/caption]
In October 2021, Snehadeep co-founded the Nebula Space Organisation, the first space organisation run entirely by students. “We would like to build the world’s smallest, functional space telescope. If all goes well, we would like to launch it by 2023-24,” says the Indian teen scientist. The team is also studying the Milankovitch Cycles (changes in climate caused by the Earth’s movements), and hopes to apply its principles on Mars. “We’re looking into what it will take to create a floating settlement on Mars,” he explains. The Nebula Space Organisation is now collaborating with Harvard University, working with students and faculty from various departments.
Always on the lookout for new programmes to do, new things to learn, normal teen activities are much too passe for him. “I received an acceptance from the Oxford summer programme but won't be able to attend because of dates,” he mulls. The Indian teen scientist is also part of the Asteroid Search by Nasa’s Astronomers Without Borders, an initiative through which citizen scientists get the chance to make original astronomical discoveries.
Teen-tastic achievements
Received a Rs 56 lakh scholarship from Lifology, to pursue a bachelor’s degree from select universities across the world.
Top 10 from India by Environcentre Foundation in 2021, for his project “Coagulated water filter and purifier.”
Silver medal in the SRM University Mission Invention. The country's biggest science fair
A Young Fellow of Harvard’s CYES. The Harvard's Entrepreneurship Society, with a very selective procedure
Immerse Education Cambridge Summer Camp in 2020 and Oxford Summer Camp in 2022
A young member of the prestigious New York Academy of Sciences, which selects 1,000 students from over 2 million entries.
She was live on BBC News, the pharmacist who loves to travel and is a popular blogger spoke about the US COVID restrictions put in place due to Omicron. The founder of PharmaD, Nabila is a licensed pharmacist and has been featured in Forbes, Trip Advisor, Travel Zoo, Kayak, Parade, Pharmacy Times, and more.
(August 30, 2022) Toxic relationships are not very uncommon these days. As a 25-year-old, Priyal has seen many of her peers in such relationships for years, ultimately seeking professional help and support to come out of it. What finally triggered her to launch StandWeSpeak, her SexEd tech platform, was the incidence of abortion of a young acquaintance who was also mentally and physically abused in her relationship. It has been just nine months into the venture and Priyal’s startup has taken her places. From being invited to promote social and gender equality at the World Bank Group Youth Summit 2022 to being approached by UNDP to share her journey, her initiative has garnered attention at the right places. The Diana awardee is now stationed in South Korea for a three-and-a-half months’ accelerator program. StandWeSpeak has been selected as top 60 in the K-Startup Grand Challenge, a global accelerator startup programme by the Government of South Korea as part of solution for the country’s problems. [caption id="attachment_21410" align="aligncenter" width="679"] Priyal Agrawal, founder, StandWeSpeak[/caption] Priyal appears excited about the opportunity as she connects from Seoul. “It’s not just a great opportunity but huge validation of my efforts that the government of South
Priyal appears excited about the opportunity as she connects from Seoul. “It’s not just a great opportunity but huge validation of my efforts that the government of South Korea is supporting and helping to establish my company here,” Priyal tells Global Indian. “This motivates me to do better as we got chosen amongst thousands of applications received globally,” she says.
The purpose
“As a society, we are not allowed to discuss relationships openly and that is why it takes longer for people to end abusive relationships,” says Priyal. Her initiative equips people with life-skills required to take care of their well-being, relationships, mental and sexual health. It empowers youngsters to make informed decisions. “It’s a 21st century sexual health ecosystem for millennials and Gen Z,” she tells.
Through an anonymous chatbot, Talk to Mae, an AI-driven sexual and reproductive health expert, youngsters seeking help can get accurate medical and legal answers. The platform offers knowledge on vital issues through informative videos, bio-degradable menstrual hygiene and sexual health products, and judgement-free, consultancy service from gynaecologists, counsellors, sexologists, intimacy experts and lawyers.
Journey so far
“I did not register my organisation as an NGO because when something is provided for free, people do not value it enough. I did not want that to happen to my initiative,” says the entrepreneur, who works from Goa. In the course of nine months, StandWeSpeak has handled 15,000 chatbot interactions and has conducted workshops of 10,000 youngsters in schools and colleges.
[caption id="attachment_21411" align="aligncenter" width="857"] Priyal Agrawal in a school workshop[/caption]
“Youngsters are able to find anything and everything about love, gender, intimacy, relationships, sexuality, consent, and much more,” says Priyal, who enjoyed short stints as psychological first aid provider in Tihar jail, Delhi and as a counsellor at Samaritans, a suicide prevention helpline in Goa before starting her venture.
Hiccups along the way…
The psychology graduate from Mumbai’s Sapphire College is the first entrepreneur in her family and it took quite a bit of convincing. By then, she had tried a number of things, from preparing for IIT and trying her hand at architecture for a year before ultimately studying Psychology.
“As a young woman in India, starting a venture is not easy. People do not accept the idea readily. It is considered a passion or side project until the time the girl gets married,” says Priyal. “People advised me to go for a masters first or think of something else as I didn’t have experience or expertise of running a company.”
Also, the domain that she chose to work does not get recognised as important or considered in a need of a solution. “India is conservative of talking about sexual health, wellness and providing sexual education to youngsters,” she rues. However, to be recognised at global platforms has added immense strength to her confidence in her choice of venture.
More inclusivity in future
“The need exists and young people are looking for solutions,” says Priyal. She was confident about it looking at the youngsters around. Starting with a bootstrap budget, she learned to design the initial version of the platform. Later, when her team expanded, it interspersed AI with counselling of the gender inclusive platform that is being used even by members of the LGBTQ community.
Apart from the expansion plans in South Korea, Priyal is planning to make StandWeSpeak more inclusive so that even people with physical disabilities can access the services through features like voice search option. She is looking at producing informative videos which would also have the sign language component so that it can reach a wider audience. Having multilingual services in India is also one of her plans. Priyal wants to promote her services worldwide someday but for now, is taking things one step at a time.
(January 28, 2023) The fundus camera, an instrument used in opthalmology for to capture colour images of the inner surface of the eye, can set one back by anywhere between INR 1.5 lakh and INR 5.25 lakh. In low-income countries, the prohibitive cost of devices used in diagnostic and rehabilitative care makes access a challenge. According to the World Vision Report, prepared by WHO, over 2.2 billion people worldwide are visually impaired and nearly half that number live with treatable or preventable conditions because they cannot get the care they need. The second-leading cause of blindness is glaucoma, with an estimated 57.5 million people around the world affected by primary open-angle glaucoma. In 2020, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, this number rose to 76 million. Among those tackling the problem head-on is Ontario teen Hardit Singh whose innovation is a step towards better healthcare for all. Speculor: A Comprehensive Teleopthalmology Platform for People Centered Eyecare fetched seventeen-year-old Hardit the top prize at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in 2021. Using a portable imager and AI algorithms to screen for disease, Speculor, which has been field-tested in India, can detect glaucoma for the very-affordable sum of $300. The Global
the Canada-Wide Science Fair in 2021. Using a portable imager and AI algorithms to screen for disease, Speculor, which has been field-tested in India, can detect glaucoma for the very-affordable sum of $300. The Global Indian, who also won second place at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists, intends for the device to be used by international NGOs working to bring equality in eyecare.
[caption id="attachment_26981" align="aligncenter" width="488"] Source: World Vision Report[/caption]
The vision
Born and raised in Waterloo, the idea took root around three years ago, when a friend from the Cameron Heights Collegiate in Kitchener, where Hardik studied, suffered from retinal detachment, where the retina begins to peel off the eye. "He went to three different opthalmologists and experts and was misdiagnosed all three times for different reasons. He went almost blind because of it," Hardit said in an interview for the Canada-Wide Science Fair. Luckily, doctors managed to detect it before the damage became irreversible. It made Hardit wonder - if such misdiagnoses can happen in a place like Waterloo, what could conditions possibly be in rural or low-income areas, where there is little proximity to healthcare facilities?
By this time, the then 13-year-old Hardit was already building classification algorithms and had a basic understanding of AI from previous projects. He hit the books, learning from YouTube, books and just "trying things out, playing around until it works. That works for hardware, you tinker until you understand what happens. It's the same with optics. I learned until I had enough to build what I wanted."
He began cold-emailing professors, eventually hearing back from the University of Waterloo's Department of Optometry. Hardit began working with a group of grad students, going to them with questions or when he was struggling. The hardware had to be built, the software coded and the two integrated. He worked in the lab, testing the device on a model eye in controlled conditions.
Speculor worked smoothly in the lab and Hardit decided to roll out his prototype. When he tested it on the field, however, "everything failed," he admits. He had made one fundamental mistake - he hadn't geared the device for less than optimal conditions. "I had designed the prototype to work in perfect condtions but in poor lighting, when the patient is moving around, the device wsn't working at all. The AI had the same problem." The AI sensor was used to very high-quality images, taken by devices, Hardit says, that cost USD 25,000 and up. "My device can't produce such images and it was throwing the AI off."
"I was frustrated. I had put in so much effort and the device didn't work at all. But my mind was already working on how to fix it." With the hardware, his moment of revelation came through integrating cross-polarisation, a technique used in more expensive fundus cameras but rarely in more affordable devices. "It worked really well to ensure there was no glare on the fundus images," he said. He tried a number of solutions with the AI, but nothing worked, until he developed his own training method. The AI was trained to study low quality images, account for poor lighting and movement and detect anomalies under these parameters.
Hardit Singh sent the device for testing once more, this time to an opthalmologist in India. The feedback was far more promising. "The second time, the images turned out really good. It was amazing because I still wasn't expecting it to work, I only had acess to a model eye. This was a Hail mary move for me, sending a protype to India blindly without a test."
[caption id="attachment_26983" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Source: The Record[/caption]
Always a work-in-progress
Hardit's eventual goal is to commercialise the device, pricing it within reach of international NGOs and organisations, to improve healthcare in rural and underserved areas around the world. The cost is currently dominated by the lens, which is about $250. He is also working to improve the design, after a judge from the CWSF remarked that it was "too boxy."
Hardit Singh also wants to expand the scope of his device, which is now mainly used in glaucoma detetion. "I can reapply the same model over different diseases by changing the paramters," he says. He also wants to make it easy to understand, to aid doctors as they make a diagnosis.
Hardit has also published a paper on AI in the Journal of the Optical Society of India. His other interests include computer science, AI, optics, medicine and sports.
Swetha Kannan is the founder of The Lalitha Foundation[/caption]
Snehadeep with the project that started it all[/caption]
The Moon, August 13, 2021. Shot by Jasa Rebula for the 
Priyal Agrawal, founder, StandWeSpeak[/caption]
Priyal Agrawal in a school workshop[/caption]
Source: 
Hardit Singh[/caption]
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