From Rohtak to International cricket: Shafali Verma’s story sets the right inspiration for budding players
Written by: Amrita Priya
(July 13, 2022) She was quite young when she first stepped on a cricket pitch. Disguised as her brother, who was sick, Shafali Verma played at the under-12 national school championship and ended up winning the Player of the Match award. A first-class cricketer today, this Rohtak girl has carved a niche for herself in the world of cricket. The youngest Indian cricketer to play in an international match, Shafali was just 15 when she was selected to play at the Women’s 20 International Series. Interestingly, the teen prodigy became the youngest Indian half-centurion, while playing against West Indies during her debut series. Her first international series turned out to be a great one. Scoring 158 in just five matches, she became the player of the series, garnering lots of attention for her fantastic performance.
Shafali Verma, Indian cricketer
By 2021, the 2004-born Haryana girl had built a good repertoire – becoming the youngest player to represent India in all three formats of international cricket at the age of 17 years. Her brilliant performances earned her a place in the Indian team up for the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup, to be held in New Zealand. Global Indian looks at the extraordinary journey of this brilliant, young player.
Off her own bat
Daughter of a jewellery shop owner, Shafali has been playing cricket since she was just eight years old. The young cricketer was trained by her father, Sanjeev, who once aspired to be a cricketer himself. A strict mentor, Sanjeev devised a rigorous training schedule for his daughter. However, he would also give her a reward of ₹5 whenever Shafali would hit a sixer at the local ground. Recognising that Shafali could make an excellent cricketer, her father later made her join the Ram Narayan Cricket Club, Rohtak.
Shafali Verma representing IPL Velocity at a match in Pune
Crediting her father for her success, Shafali wrote on her social media, “I am who I am today because of my father. He has always been the most supportive and friendly dad in the world.” But, her father wasn’t her only inspiration. Not unlike other cricketers, Shafali too idolised one of the greatest cricketers of all times, Sachin Tendulkar. “The reason I took up cricket is because of Sachin sir. My family has just not idolized but worshipped him,” she had once mentioned in a post.
Shafali with her idol, Sachin Tendulkar
The journey continues…
A alumna of Mandeep Senior Secondary School, Rohtak registered yet another record to her name becoming the youngest cricketer ever to play in the final of the World Cup. Owing to her game, the cricketer moved 12 places up in the ODI batting rankings, to a career-best 36th rank.
Shafali with Indian women’s cricket team
The Indian cricketer, who is a right-handed batswoman, has played a significant role in bringing India a 2-0 lead against Sri Lanka in the ten-team league ICC Women’s Championship (IWC) 2022-25 which is in its third iteration. There are many tournaments on the bay and Shafali is in a good form to make a mark in all the matches ahead.
Even though she is quite busy, the sportsperson always manages to find time between matches and practice sessions, to connect with her fans through social media.
(April 21, 2022) “Wow! I’m freaking out. I'm going to get a tattoo (like that) of Alvaro Morte. With everything around, magic and Bollywood. There's a bit of joy too,” is how the star cast of Netflix’s Money Heist or La Casa De Papel reacted to Indian digital artist Abhishek Salvi's artwork. With his work featured on the official YouTube channel of Spanish heist show, the 27-year-old has become a name to reckon with, making him the first Indian artist to achieve the feat. “It’s a popular show and there was a lot of buzz around it last year. So I decided to make the portraits of the Professor and Berlin (characters from the show). But I didn’t know that my work will get showcased on a global platform. It was mind-blowing,” Abhishek tells Global Indian. Caricature callings This has made the Vadodra boy an overnight sensation whose Instagram page currently boasts of over 45k followers. “Even Money Heist actor Pedro Alonso, who plays Berlin, commented on the photo. It was quite a moment,” says an excited Abhishek. However, it has been an uphill journey for the digital artist. [caption id="attachment_15264" align="aligncenter" width="541"] Abhishek Salvi[/caption] Born in Maharashtra in 1994,
Born in Maharashtra in 1994, Abhishek was raised in Baroda by an artist father, and an art teacher mom. Witnessing beautiful strokes on canvas was a common occurrence. “I was always surrounded by art. I’d find my parents immersed in their work. However, I’d often ask them ‘why aren’t you famous like other artists?’” laughs Abhishek, who now understands the hard work and persistence behind reaching the top. While his parents’ love for art was apparent in their career choices, Abhishek wasn’t inclined towards art at a young age. “My friends in school used to make fun of me during art classes. They couldn’t fathom how with artist parents in the house, I could be this bad,” smiles Abhishek.
It wasn't until he reached Class 12 that he started giving art a serious thought. With a career path to charter, after finishing school, Abhishek pinned his hopes on becoming an artist as he loved doodling. He slowly developed his skills, but things soon spiralled after the sudden death of his father due to a stroke. “It was a dark and disturbing phase. With dad suddenly gone, we didn’t know how to pick up ourselves and start afresh. We were lost,” reminisces Abhishek whose older brother was majorly disturbed and resorted to alcohol. “There was tamasha at home every single day. Things were going out of hand. I decided to shift my attention to art, and started practicing more,” adds the digital artist who dropped a year after his school.
Getting artsy
That one year gave him time to master his art, and soon he was studying BDes in moving images at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Vadodra. “It gave me exposure and helped hone my skills. But unfortunately, I had to drop out in the third year due to financial problems,” says Abhishek, who also lost his brother the same year. “We didn’t have the money to pay my final year fees. Mom went into depression after my brother’s death. Things were not going well,” reveals Abhishek who had already found his niche in pencil portraits.
Despite commissions, Abhishek wasn’t happy with the way his life was panning out. “Anxiety and panic attacks became common. I then decided to pull myself together- I was made for better things. The ray of hope came in the form of artists on Instagram. Seeing their art inspired me,” adds Salvi who posted a portrait of Bollywood actor Randeep Hooda on Twitter. “He immediately retweeted the photo, and it got many likes. That’s when I understood the power of social media. It gave me the confidence to showcase my artwork,” says the Baroda resident for whom more commissions started pouring in. “I charged ₹100 for my first commission, and now years later, I take ₹25,000-₹30,000 for the same A4 size pencil portrait. That’s how things have moved up for me,” beams the artist.
In 2018, Abhishek decided to explore the digital medium, when a friend suggested a short course in graphic designing. “Back in college, I considered photoshop and illustrator as mere editing tools, without realising their true potential,” says Abhishek who soon developed an interest and started exploring vector art. “I was excited to learn something new, and now understood the potential and relevance of a medium,” says the digital artist, who started getting 30-40 orders a month. Soon his artworks on social media grabbed the attention of actors Vin Diesel and Tom Felton.
Yet, it was the portraits of the Professor and Berlin from Money Heist that were game-changers. They not only attracted a comment from Money Heist star Pedro Alonso but were also featured in a video on La Casa De Papel, the YouTube channel of Money Heist. “I couldn’t believe it. It was exciting,” says Abhishek, who made the artwork during the fifth season of Money Heist, and suddenly the likes increased, and someone on Instagram asked him to check the YouTube channel. Happy that art can open doors to international recognition, Abhishek hopes to inspire other artists.
Now on to his next project on NFT, he gushes, “It’s the next big thing, and it’s time I start to work on it,” adds Abhishek, who loves watching films and is a huge Harry Potter fan.
His advice to amateur artists is to “focus” on their art. “Consistency is key. Don’t get swayed by instant fame, instead work hard to hone your art,” he concludes.
(February 17, 2023) Sejal Akerkar had attended poetry camps in middle school and continued to write but hadn’t really thought about doing it as a profession. That changed when she found inspiration in the Canadian-Indian poet, artist and performer, Rupi Kaur. Rupi’s first collection of poetry was published in 2014 and became a New York Times bestseller. “When I started reading Rupi’s poetry, I was inspired to write because she was so similar to me – a young, Indian-American student. I found great comfort in reading her poems and started to write.” By the time Sejal turned 15, she had written over 100 poems. [caption id="attachment_27571" align="aligncenter" width="572"] Sejal Akerkar[/caption] Following in the footsteps of her role model, she self-published her first poetry book, Walking down the sensory strip. The Sammamish High School student introduced her second poetry book, Optic opening to the world soon after. While the first book made it to the top 35 in the women’s category on Amazon, her second book did even better, finding a place in top 5 in the category of Asian poetry. The India experiences Like her parents, Sejal was born and raised in the USA. However, the seventeen-year-old spent three years
Following in the footsteps of her role model, she self-published her first poetry book, Walking down the sensory strip. The Sammamish High School student introduced her second poetry book, Optic opening to the world soon after. While the first book made it to the top 35 in the women’s category on Amazon, her second book did even better, finding a place in top 5 in the category of Asian poetry.
The India experiences
Like her parents, Sejal was born and raised in the USA. However, the seventeen-year-old spent three years of her life in Gurugram, India, where her father was posted. That’s when she came across the non-profit Udayan Care, which gave her a fresh perspective on life.
After returning to the US, the teenager published two poetry collections and on instinct, decided to donate the royalties that her books fetched. “When my books were published, I knew that I didn’t need the money earned from royalties and giving away the money to Udayan Care seemed the best thing to do,” says the youngster as she connects with Global Indian.
Udyaan Care, Sejal says, "has multiple houses and homes across India where they foster orphaned and abandoned children and give them higher education. It helps them succeed in the world instead of getting into the orphanage system.”
When Sejal and her family was in India, her mom became associated with one of the houses in Gurugram, teaching English to the girls there. “She would take me and my younger sister along to hang out with them and over time we built lasting connections,” she recalls. “We use to hear their stories of how they lost their parents, or were abandoned by them. We built deep connections and started celebrating festivals and birthdays together. We would see them all the time.”
When the family went back to the United States, they wanted to stay connected to the cause. “While my mom joined Udayan Care USA as the president, I became a volunteer. We planned lots of fundraisers and activities,” Sejal says.
Teaching poetry
These days, the teenager also teaches poetry writing in an elementary school. “It’s my after-school activity," she tells, adding, she loves being a mentor to kids between seven to 10 years of age. “I even created the entire curriculum of the poetry class,” she says.
By applying a different approach to teaching, the young teacher enjoys great bonhomie with her little pupils. “I teach differently because I think that usually poetry is taught in a very structured manner which tends to get boring for students. I don’t teach them how it is supposed to be. I give them creative prompts,” she says.
Sejal helps her pupils imagine with visuals, drawings, videos and more, and makes them write whatever comes to their mind. This keeps them interested. “It’s like giving them a little seed and let them water it, allow sunlight to come and help them grow their poetry without structuring them or restraining them from anything.”
As for her own poetry, Sejal writes on a wide array of topics – ‘life as a teenager and how it feels to go into adulthood, about my immigrant grandparents, how they came here and what they gave up to get here’, she tells. “I also write about the destruction of nature by humans, my relationships with my loved ones, social media, technology, my friends, myself,” smiles the teenager who loves dancing and golf.
While her first two books have done well, she is in no hurry to come up with the third one, and rather prefers to evolve a bit as a poet. With all her focus on the ongoing college application process, the teenager looks forward to take up biology. “That's complete opposite of what people would expect from me,” she chuckles adding, “I think combining creative and scientific things are very useful to the world today and I want to focus on a lot of multidisciplinary studies in my life.”
(December 19, 2023) At the 2023 Canada-Wide Science Fair awards gala in Edmonton, nearly 900 attendees celebrated the achievements of Canadian students. Among them, fourteen-year-old Arushi Nath, the founder of MonitorMyPlanet, became the first back-to-back best project award winner since 1989-1990, claiming the prize in 2022 and then again 2023. Her project on planetary defense, focusing on detecting unknown asteroids using open data, mathematics, and Python – her algorithm did actually manage to locate three unknown asteroids. Arushi already has a long list of achievements to her name - she came in second at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in 2023, the winner of the 2023 Young Astronomer Award from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. In 2020, at the age of 11, she won the NASA SpaceAppsGlobal Challenge and in 2017, was the Canada SpaceApps Winner when she was eight years old! A young genius Arushi’s scientific journey began young – she has been learning on her own for years. Growing up in Toronto, she would spend her time looking up at the night sky when she was four or five years old. Soon, the family got their first telescope, and Arushi would “observe planets, stars clusters
ushi would “observe planets, stars clusters and sketch the observations,” she said. Academically, she had long since surpassed her school work, and wanted to spend her time pursuing her interests. One of these was sparked during her weekly family trips to the Ontario Science Centre, where she learned about the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC). "They were hosting a monthly meeting inside the Ontario Science Centre, and I was really curious, so I listened to one," Arushi said. The meetings at RASC, where astronomers and scientists presented their projects, further fueled her interest.
As she matured, Arushi's interests diversified. "I also have other interests, for example, I have been learning to code in Python for the last four or five years. So, I definitely wanted to have lots of coding involved," she says. She also loves Math, which she learns on her own, saying, "I'm always one or two steps ahead of my school because the subject amazes me so much." All these interests would eventually come together in the project that helped her win the Canada Wide Science Fair.
The hackathon veteran
As far as Arushi was concerned, doing projects was the best way to learn. She also wanted to bring her scientific acumen together with the things she cared about. So, in 2018, when she and her friends attended the School Strike for Climate started by Swedish Climate activist Greta Thunberg, Arushi wanted to do more “than raise slogans or wait for others to act,” she said. This led to her designing ‘Schools and NASA Aiding Climate Action by Kids’, which comes with the catchy abbreviation, ‘S.N.A.C.K.’. The project uses satellite imagery to calculate tree densities of schools in Toronto, than ranks and maps them. She also designed a pollution sensor to measure levels in parks and schools across the city, using Arduino, the open source electronics platform that lets users create interactive models. "I wanted school children to come up with local solutions to global challenges," she says.
Her efforts resulted in her being named the NASA SpaceApps Global Nominee - she had already won the Space Apps Challenge in 2014 and again in 2018. In fact, by the age of 10, she had been at a jaw-dropping 29 hackathons. This was a special win, though, she says, of S.N.A.C.K, as it was her first solo attempt. " I had to do all the work myself, from thinking of the idea, making it, coding and presenting it to the judges in 40 hours."
The dragonfly drone
As far as Arushi was concerned, doing projects was the best way to learn. During the Covid-19, she began work on her first major endeavour – building a drone – quite a feat for the young scientist, who was only 10 years old at the time. The idea for the directional dragonfly drone was born during the COVID-19 lockdown. Disturbed by the news of locusts devastating crops in Asia and Africa, Arushi saw an opportunity to make a difference. "These locusts often travel in large swarms, are very fast, and can change direction unpredictably," the Global Indianexplained, underlining the urgency of the problem.
Arushi's solution was to use drones for locust control. "I thought of using drones, as they can fly, follow the locusts, and monitor their behavior," she explains. She also wanted to biomimic nature, choosing the dragonfly because it is by far the most efficient hunter, with a 95 percent success rate in catching prey (in comparison, the success rate of lions is 25 percent and sharks have a 50 percent chance of success). Developing a drone is no mean feat, and Arushi used her Lego base to create the foundation and then attached motors and sensors to it, in a meticulous trial and error process. "I programmed it to identify all red objects as locusts," she said, describing the functionality of her creation.
The planetary defense system
By this time, Arushi Nath was also involved with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. She started out attending meetings and listening to others speak but before long, she was presenting her own findings as well. She was also learning how to code in Python, “I started on my own and did many tutorials on Coder Dojo and Kids Code Jeunesse,” she says. And she wanted a way to put all these passions together.
Her idea was planetary defense against unknown asteroids. She had learned about robotic telescopes through the RASC and utilised images from these devices – “I took images from robotic telescopes in Canada, Spain, the US, and Australia to get full sky coverage," Arushi explains. She had to sift through these to pinpoint the unknown asteroids, using the Gaia Star Catalogue for information on star positions, and the NASA Horizon dataset, for predictions on the locations of known asteroids. Then, using her coding and math skills, she developed an algorithm to filter out known entities - “I created custom masks to remove all these objects, leaving me with the unknown objects," she explains.
She couldn’t always go it alone, though, often turning to online forums for help. "When I got some errors, I would try for days, even weeks, on my own to find the answer, but if not, I would reach out to specific forums," she says. She also reached out to experts, including Christina Thomas, the lead investigator on NASA’s DART mission. “"I sent her a message, told her about my current project, and asked if I could have a Zoom meeting to talk to her about her project and how it could relate to mine," Arushi smiles. Thomas responded and the two did get on that Zoom meeting. "I actually asked her for pointers on my project and what I could do," she adds.
Finding acclaim
“The whole thing took about ten months to complete,” Arushi says, “From getting the idea, reaching to people to see if they approved of it and then starting to code." Her goals changed along the way, so much so that her first goal and the end result were very different.” Finally, her findings were sent to the Minor Planet Center database. Then came waiting for a response. “A couple of weeks later, I got an email and three of the asteroids had my name next to them,” Arushi smiles. She submitted her project to the Toronto Science Fair and won gold, qualifying for the prestigious Canada-Wide Science Fair, where she also went on to win. “I was watching the results with my family and wasn’t expecting my name to pop up again but it did,” she says.
Now, Arushi Nath is continuing work on her planetary defense project. Now that the DART Mission has successfully entered the Didymos (asteroid) system, she wants to measure the changes of the system during this impact. "I began studying the Didymos binary system for a copule of months before the DART impact," she says, "To fully understand how it has been affected."
(January 12, 2024) Chocolates with exotic fruits, nuts or liquor have caught the fancy of chocolate lovers for decades now. But have you ever had chocolate with falsa (sherbet berry) or sitaphal (custard apple) or kulfi? Homegrown brand, Saraam, the brainchild of a 19-year-old Udaipur resident Digvijay Singh, is bringing indigenous berries and fruits into the conventional world of chocolate making. Started in 2021, Saraam - which produces chocolates from bean to bar - has till now sold two tonnes of chocolate to thousands of people across India. It was during the pandemic when the world was locked indoors and trying new things, Digvijay too was keen to channelise his energy into something productive. After trying his hand at a lot of things, the then 16-year-old decided to give chocolate-making at home a try. That one step led him to start Saraam, which got its first order in 2021. [caption id="attachment_35192" align="aligncenter" width="484"] Digvijay Singh is the founder of Saraam[/caption] ‘Out of the box’ mindset Born and raised in a middle-class family in Udaipur, Digvijay wasn't academically inclined, instead chose to explore drama, games, and the innovative side of things. "I would always be looking for innovative ideas and things
Born and raised in a middle-class family in Udaipur, Digvijay wasn't academically inclined, instead chose to explore drama, games, and the innovative side of things. "I would always be looking for innovative ideas and things to do that were ‘out of the box’. In school my teachers always supported this innovative side of my brain," he said in an interview. His innovative side got a push during the pandemic when he explored varied things, and being a chocolate lover himself, he decided to try his hand at chocolate making. "I shared this idea with my cousin Mahaveer Singh and he was enthusiastic to join me. However, back then I did not have a plan of action. I didn’t even know how to make chocolates," he added.
With YouTube's help, he learnt the art of chocolate making and started distributing the end result among his friends and family for tasting. While it began as a hobby after getting positive feedback, he decided to turn it into a business. "I started making chocolates in my bedroom, which turned into my studio; day in and day out, I lived and slept in the aroma of chocolates. Even before I got into the business of white labelling, I was teaching myself about cacao beans, roasting, grinding, etc. I was experimenting, doing small batches." While brainstorming about possible customers, he realised that they received a box of chocolates last year when his dad brought a brand-new car from a showroom. Upon inquiry, he found that the showroom sold 60 cars in a day, and it gave him the idea to contact hotel owners and car showroom owners to sell his chocolates. In 2021, he got his first order of 1000 chocolates and launched his brand Saraam.
Creating desi chocolates
Around the same time, he came across an article that talked about a wide variety of indigenous fruits becoming extinct. "There were mentions of fruits that I had never even heard about and I was very shocked. For us fruits mostly mean the mainstream apples, mangoes, bananas, and grapes," he said, adding that this gave him the idea of putting these fruits in chocolates.
After doing some research on indigenous fruits like kokam, ice apple et al, he tried them to see which worked best with chocolate. "In the culinary world, we don’t go beyond exotic berries, cherries, and oranges. I have never seen a brand that puts anything else beyond the known few fruits. I wondered if there is a market for such chocolates and decided to take a leap of faith," he said. Keen to put these fruits on the global map, he put them in his chocolate. Starting with ber (jujube), and he later experimented with saffron and cardamom, bael, amala, jamun, kokam, and rose apple. "The ber chocolate and the white chocolate with saffron seem to be a great hit among people and are one of our best sellers, revealed Digvijay.
A homegrown brand Saraam sources its cacao from Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and fruits from different parts of the country. In just two years, he has turned it into ₹1 crore business, giving indigenous fruits a fresh lease of life.
(August 27, 2024) It was in the fall of 2023 that Sravan Krishna Kodali found himself walking through the gates of Stanford University, where he enrolled himself in a bachelor's degree. But with a Cameron Impact Scholar under his belt which was given to the 18-year-old teen from New York by the Bryan Cameron Foundation for his dedication to community service and exceptional academic achievements. "I am extremely honoured to be a Cameron Impact Scholar, but I owe all to people who have supported me throughout high school," he had said. Promoting educational equity Born into a family hailing from Enikepadu in Vijayawada, his father is a businessman, and his mom is an anesthesiologist. Sravan was studying at the Christian Brother Academy in Syracuse when he found a way to make the most of his time during the Covid-19 lockdown. With the world locked in their homes, the Indian-American teen saw most of his peers engaging in unproductive activities which made him think of a solution. He started Empower CNY to offer online tutoring classes in Science and Math for lower-grade students. [caption id="attachment_38969" align="aligncenter" width="381"] Sravan Kodali[/caption] Empower CNY was created to promote educational equity in Central New York,
Empower CNY was created to promote educational equity in Central New York, addressing the issue of young students falling behind due to unequal resource distribution in our education system. To address this challenge, Empower CNY connects local students with high school volunteers. Tutors not only contribute to the community's development but also gain the chance to enhance their interpersonal and leadership skills. With diverse student leadership, Empower CNY creates activities and programs tailored to the needs of all ambitious students. "At Empower CNY, our goal is to equip every student with the resources needed to achieve their full academic potential," said Sravan.
The way this program works is that high school tutors from across Central New York register through their website and undergo an initial interview process. After the interview, tutors are paired with a student in need of tutoring. We hold weekly sessions on Saturday and Sunday, offering both morning and evening times. Parents and tutors can provide feedback through our optional session review forms. "We are currently operating at eight centers and providing virtual tutoring through video conferencing services to 50+ families," states their website.
What began as a small online initiative quickly expanded into a program that now supports nearly 200 students from local schools through both in-person and virtual tutoring. In a short span, they have created an impact. "Through partnerships with key community organizations, our volunteers connect with students in need, identify local problems in education, and help address them with activism, lobbying, and organising. Primarily, we coordinate free, weekly student-support locations in immigrant and refugee hubs and provide volunteer-run workshops at resettlement agencies." So far, their team has collaborated with 12 partners across 4 cities. From refugee foundations to STEAM educational groups, these organizations have contributed to their impactful efforts.
Creating an impact
In 2022, as school shootings surged across the USA, Sravan demonstrated his dedication to tackling pressing societal challenges beyond his academic achievements. On May 26, 2022, he led a protest, supported by a local Senator, to advocate for stricter gun laws and raise awareness about the critical need for reform in response to the escalating gun violence.
His achievements, including his work as a genetic researcher and his co-founding of the youth educational organisation Empower CNY, were particularly notable to the Selection Committee, which reviewed 3,000 applications. This earned him the prestigious ‘Cameron Impact Scholar’ award in 2023 from the Bryan Cameron Foundation, earning a full scholarship for his college education. This honour, awarded to only 15 students nationwide, highlights Sravan’s remarkable community impact, exceptional self-motivation, and outstanding academic achievements.
He is the first student He is the first student from his school in the past 60 years to gain admission into Stanford University. Apart from being a top-performing student, Sravan is a skilled soccer player who actively contributes to societal improvement. In addition, Kodali has gained valuable experience through internships at SUNY Upstate Medical University, UMass Medical School, and Syracuse University, where he worked on various research projects. He also interned with the Village of Canastota, focusing on grant writing. Beyond these roles, Kodali serves as a Youth Policy Consultant with the American Youth Policy Forum, contributes to congressional campaigns, and works as an Immigration Team Intern for the Volunteer Lawyers Project of CNY.
His journey from launching Empower CNY during the pandemic to becoming a Cameron Impact Scholar underscores his dedication to academic excellence and community service. Sravan's story highlights his perseverance, creativity, and significant impact, making him an inspiring role model for future generations.
Abhishek Salvi[/caption]
Arushi Nath[/caption]
Empower CNY[/caption]