Showing Ellen DeGeneres how it’s done: Young chef Kicha’s culinary adventures
Written by: Amrita Priya
(March 14, 2022) Not many of us could have envisioned Ellen DeGeneres learning to make puttu, Kerala’s breakfast dish. But this did happen in 2016, when the American talk show host stood smilingly beside her tutor, the very earnest Chef Nihal Raj or ‘Kicha’, who was only six years old when he made an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. At the time when his peers were still fumbling with their spoons, the young chef was whipping up tender coconut pudding and garlic fried rice. All while his YouTube following continued to grow.
The continued rise of young Chef Kicha
He’s 12 now and eight years into his culinary career. With an eloquence and ease perhaps gained over nearly a decade of being in front of the camera, the young chef Nihal Raj explains his nickname, Kicha. “It’s another name for Krishna. Since it’s my grandfather’s name, my father decided to call me Kicha. My mother and sister named me Nihal because they thought it suited me,” he says.
Despite having embarked on his professional journey at a tender age, Kicha has managed to hold on to some amount of childlike whimsy, and his video on a Mickey Mouse mango ice cream is proof of it. The child prodigy bagged a $2000 deal with Facebook for rights to the video, after it caught the attention of an affiliated company that makes videos for the social media giant. As for the earnings – Kicha donated half the amount to autistic children and used the rest to expand, upgrade his camera and provide better visual experiences to his viewers. On YouTube, the young chef’s channel, KichaTubeHD boasts of 44k subscribers. “The videos are my hobby and my passion,” says Kicha in a conversation with Global Indian.
Off to a headstart…
The young chef’s fascination for cooking developed as he watched his mother in the kitchen, when he was around three years old. “My mother is a great cook. She loves to cook and bake,” recalls Kicha. “I would watch her make something new every day and she would give me small tasks like, ‘separate this from that’ and so on. My passion for cooking grew out of these little chores,” he adds. His parents, while they encouraged him, only allowed kid-friendly recipes. “But you’re not working with sharp knives or fire or anything, right,” DeGeneres asked him. “Yeah, that means I am not an expert, but after I turn nine, I’ll be an expert,” was his prompt response.
As promised, the rules were lifted when he turned nine and Kicha received full access to the kitchen. “Before that, there was always one adult present to supervise,” explains the self-taught young chef, who learnt the trick of the trade by watching his parents and other chefs on social media.
A celebrity in his own right, Chef Nihal Raj, or Kicha, as he is fondly known, is usually flooded with invitations to events, from happenings in the culinary world to delivering keynote addresses as well as book and product launches. Kicha has been associated with brands like Nestle and often reviews products.
Kicha at home
The younger child of Ruby and Rajagopal, he has a sister who works in the US. If Kicha enjoys cooking up a storm in the kitchen, he equally enjoys devouring the food. And unlike most kids, who love their mother’s cooking, Kicha says, “My mother loves the omelette and French toast I usually make for breakfast.” He’s also an enthusiastic student and a self-professed tech head. “I love to learn about computers in school, as well as gadgets and technology in general,” Kicha exclaims. “I love video editing, photo editing, graphic design and solving the Rubik’s Cube. My record is 15 seconds,” beams Kicha with pride.
Most interesting is his answer to the stock question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” In Kicha’s case, the answer seems obvious enough but he only grins, saying, “I will let older Kicha decide whether he wants to be a professional cook or choose something else. But even 30 years from now, I can bet you, I won’t have stopped cooking. It’s a part of my life, a part of my personality and a part of me.”
Over the past two years, 14-year-old Ayush Singh has found himself flooded with job offers, each trying to outdo one other with exorbitant pay packets and an assortment of benefits. His 10-hour course on Free Code Camp is nearing the coveted 'one million views' mark - "It's at 800k so far," he ventures, with the shy grin that rarely leaves his face. The course was even recommended by MIT on their official Twitter page. As his peers navigate the heady ups and downs of being a teenager, Ayush is already at the forefront of the proverbial bleeding edge, a known name in the Machine Learning and data science space. Thousands of students have attended his ML001 course, he has been a data scientist intern at Artifact and he is one of the world's youngest data scientists and Machine Learning Engineers – when we speak, he had just quit his job at ZenML, a German startup that 'productivises' machine learning and was all set to begin a new stint as a data scientist at Replayed. A recent YouTube chat with content creator Ishan Sharma, enticingly titled "14-year-old Prodigy Coder says IIT Bombay is his backup," has already neared the half-million views
ews mark - and it's not just clickbait, either. He receives plenty of advice telling him to take the IIT route and he shuns it all. "I will definitely go to college, I want the experience, but I would like it to be MIT or Stanford," Ayush tells Global Indian in an interview. The big ticket offers come in from the MLOps companies around the world, Ayush likes to pick and choose, preferring startups to bigger firms and foreign companies to Indian ones.
He’s an unusual prodigy. Until the pandemic, he lived an affluent, suburban life with his family in Patna. When Covid-19 hit and businesses collapsed, his father was among those who took a fall, leaving the family in a very tough situation, financially. "We went from having every luxury in the world to wondering where our next meal was coming from and watching relatives and friends distance themselves," Ayush says. The situation was dire - the IIT-JEE route didn’t seem like an option.
So, Ayush got to work. He began cold emailing founders and networking on LinkedIn, trying his hand first at web and android development, both spaces crowded by enthusiastic teenagers. There was no dearth of critics telling him not to enter the tech space, that he "wouldn't even get ₹10,000 per month." Luckily, he chose not to listen. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are budding, complex spaces, requiring skills that can't be learned through a couple of crash courses or on YouTube. He did spend a lot of time on the latter "but there's so much more to learn than can be done through videos," Ayush explains. "I would read numerous books, even on a single topic, to bring myself to a professional level."
He began by learning Python, picking up a copy of Python For Geeks (Muhammad Asif), graduating to O'Reily's Robust Python and then to more advanced design patterns. He also had to learn the Math. "I did Algebra, Linear Algebra, Calculus from Khan Academy," Ayush explains. He found he had a knack for data science and machine learning - "From coding, I jumped to machine learning and deep learning." So far, he's read over 20 books on the subject.
He dedicated “24 hours a day to do this." He would wake up at 5 am and spend anywhere between 10 and 16 hours studying, apart from the five or six hours that he had to give to school. When the time came to return to campus, he would carry his books with him.
Wooing employers
Building a profile and upping his skills was one thing but landing a job was a whole new challenge. He could impress his potential employers with his skills but predictably enough, was told that he was too young. Cold-emailing worked well and he chose startups believing they’d be open to taking a chance. That’s how he found a post by ZenML on LinkedIn. "I emailed the founder, Adam. I highlighted my skills and although I didn’t know much about MLOps at the time, I had prepared a project that aligned with the company's aim." The founder replied and Ayush was put through two sets of interviews - a coding interview and a 'take home challenge'. He got the job and is now experienced at conducting interviews himself. What's the trick, though?
Unleashing the entrepreneur within
His ability to think differently, learn new skills and get companies to hire him at the age of 13 is, arguably, a great entrepreneurial talent in itself. But he has struck out on his own - aside from his full-time job, school and the freelance assignments he takes on, Ayush is also building his own startup, Antern with co-founders Tushar Vaswani and Priyanshu Bhattacharjee. He describes Antern as the ‘Netflix of Education’. "We're leveraging AI and ML for the education space," he says. Taking off from the massive success of his MIT-recommended course on Free Code Camp, the company is launching 'nano degrees', certificate courses that are in-depth versions of the free course. The company launched on June 20 and also involves an AR/VR master course.
"I started with a basic machine learning course and thought, let's do this on a large scale," Ayush says. He met his co-founder, Tushar, through the YouTube comment box. Antern harnesses an AI assistant that can assess a student’s performance every week and answer complex Codex questions.
Ayush is also building Schema, a platform that caters to content creators. More than half of content creators don't understand the analytical tools that gauge performance. Schema will retrieve data by analysing all social media platforms to provide a comprehensive report on performance and how the customers are responding. "You will also be able to segment your customers and target them specifically," he says.
He also prefers to work with companies abroad. "Indian companies treat you like a kid," says Ayush. "Even if they hire you, they give you repetitive tasks that they don't want to do. At ZenML, I was treated like a core member; I was even involved in the company's retreat where the founders were making decisions. They focus on your skills and give you unique tasks. Indian startups tend to focus on their growth but companies like ZenML know that their growth involves mine too."
Staying grounded
He sees himself "building my own multi-million-dollar company" five years down the line. Entrepreneurship is the plan. His father tells him, "Your work shouldn't be just for one family. Do it for 1000 families, just like Ratan Tata." Ayush has kept his word, helping young people find good jobs.
At home, his parents are immensely proud of their talented son. They advise him to keep going, even when he fails and to remain humble. "Because I have seen rock bottom and I will never forget what that was like.”
The future of ML, AI and Deep Learning
It's a promising area, Ayush says. "Machine Learning, Deep Learning and AI will create millions of jobs all over the world. But they won't be able to find talented developers." Companies might be willing to pay handsome salaries but expect something in return. "It's not just about learning some coding," he says. "There is a paucity of talented developers. People who say they know ML know how to use an API and build an algorithm but it's important to know what works where. And when an algorithm doesn't work, how do you tweak your data to make it happen?"
He can't stress the importance of domain knowledge enough. "The jobs are there and will pay well but will remain untaken. You can't succeed in AI and ML if you don't know Maths because that's what it is, at its core. And then, you need to code. It's not enough to just use the buzzwords and think you know the subject."
(July 4, 2023) J. Jeya Ratchagen would watch his daughter, who was diagnosed with a hearing disability, sitting alone all day. With no friends or schoolmates to play with, the eight-year-girl would often sit idle and stare out the window of her small house. To cheer his daughter up, Jeya decided to involve her in sports and took her to a local stadium, where the kid instantly fell in love with the racket. A decade later, the same girl - badminton player J. Jerlin Anika - created history after winning three gold medals at the 24th Summer Deaflympics, held in Brazil earlier this year. [caption id="attachment_24639" align="aligncenter" width="349"] Arjuna awardee Jerlin Anika, badminton player[/caption] "Initially, it was not for playing. I just wanted her to socialise. She was sitting idle and feeling lonely at home," a proud Jeya said in an interview, adding, "When my eight-year-old daughter started showing a liking towards badminton, I thought the sport will distract her from her hearing impairment. I never thought that she would reach this level." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jerlinanika (@jerlinanika18) Passionate and focussed, Jerlin had earlier won the gold for India at the 2019
Passionate and focussed, Jerlin had earlier won the gold for India at the 2019 World Deaf Badminton Championship in China. On November 30, the 18-year-old badminton player will become India's first-ever deaf athlete to receive the Arjuna Award, the second-highest sporting honour in the country.
A huge fan of P.V. Sindhu, Jerlin never misses a single match of the shuttle ace. Inspired by her, she wishes to represent India at the August 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. "She wants to move into the general category, and represent India at the Olympics, having achieved everything in the ‘deaf category’,” her father shared.
A troubled start
Jerlin was only two years old when her parents noticed that, unlike other kids, their daughter didn't respond to voices at all. After several tests at a local hospital, the doctor informed them that their daughter had a hearing impairment. Jerlin's father has recalled in several interviews that it was "the saddest day for the family."
When the shuttler's father decided to enroll her in the local badminton academy, he was ridiculed by his relatives, who thought that she wouldn't last one day in the court. "I had a lot of faith that my daughter would make us proud. More than the success that she has achieved on the court, I am glad to see the smile on her face. She has put in a lot of hard work to achieve this. She is now an independent girl. My wife and I always wanted our daughter to be a strong person," he said.
Slowly, Jerlin started learning about the nuances of badminton from coach P. Saravanan at Bose academy. While she played well, she faced many difficulties understanding the rules of the game. Realising that he cannot teach her the same way he taught his other students, coach Saravanan came up with a witty solution to communicate with this young badminton player. "He used to train with the normal kids but after seeing her, he started learning ways to communicate with her," explained Jeya, adding, "Not being able to understand the rules, she was hardly performing on the court. So, Saravanan came up with the idea of teaching her with visuals. A blackboard was brought in for training sessions. She started improving significantly."
When the going gets tough...
Her hard work and the dedication of her coach won her a silver medal at the Federation of India School Games 2016, and she subsequently earned a place in the Indian contingent going for the 2017 Summer Deaflympics. Shattering all limitations, the young badminton player secured the fifth place as the youngest player in her maiden appearance on an international platform. In 2018, the Global India won two silver and a bronze at Asia Pacific Badminton Championship 2018 in Malaysia.
However, a small businessman from Madurai, Jeya found it difficult to support his daughter's sports accessories and proper nutrition. As the family was trying to find new ways to get past this hurdle, Jerlin's excellence in badminton fetched her a scholarship worth Rs 3.25 lakh by HCL Foundation's 'Sports for Change' initiative. The scholarship also helped her continue her practice during the COVID lockdown, and the star emerged as the most decorated Indian player at the Deaflympics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P_Fpnl5k6s
One of the highest-ranked Indian players in World Deaf Badminton, Jerlin is working hard for her upcoming tournaments. According to her father, "She has reached the highest stage in the deaf category, so now she is looking to do well in the general Olympics. It won't be easy as the level of the game is very high there and she has to improve a lot overall. So, we are planning to get her coaching in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, where she will have technical sessions from leading coaches internationally."
(January 13, 2022) We don’t talk about stigmas and taboos. Swara Patel does, and with immense conviction - Be it reproductive health, menstruation or sexual health. Founder and president of The Period Society, the undergraduate pre-medical student has made overcoming stigmas, and busting myths her raison de etre. And the outspoken straight talker does it impressively. The winner of the Diana Award 2021 for her resolve to further the cause of reproductive health and healthcare, she is also the Global Teen Youth Leader 2021. The Indian teen was just 16 when she started her society, and today, she has added the Talk Project to encourage open discussions on sexual and reproductive health. Right now busy in tomes of medical textbooks, Swara hopes to emulate her healthcare professional parents even as she breaks cultural barriers. Since The Period Society began in 2018, “It has served over a million periods, met monthly menstrual hygiene needs of over 30,000 menstruators for the next three years, and reached out to over 25,000 people through interactive sessions,” Swara Patel tells Global Indian. It has 20 youth-led chapters and four global initiatives today. From home to heart, what mattered most The Mumbai girl who moved to
The Mumbai girl who moved to the US in the fall of 2018 is a freshman at the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College.
Indian teen studied at Bombay Scottish School (Mahim) where she made incredible friends and had amazing teachers who challenged her, and instilled a deep sense of respect for hard work and discipline. And being in a family of healthcare professionals had added an insightful edge to her musings. “My parents are the most open and supportive people I know, though they might take some convincing. My mother is a role model as a healthcare professional who was always busier than dad, and never gave into the societal guilt of being a bad mother. It was primarily dad who parented me and showed me that women can truly have it all. My father is an extremely compassionate physician and seeing him go out of the way for his patients, especially pro bono has set a standard. I am an outspoken person, and feel comfortable thinking independently,” smiles Swara.
Her grandfather Dr Shanti Patel, a freedom fighter and leader for labour rights for ship workers, was “an extremely important influence growing up.”
Migrating from India to the US, the Indian teen studied at Herricks High School, (New York) at 16, where she faced a huge cultural change. Overwhelmed, the kindness of her new surrounds made her realise, “It’s okay to take your time, and feel anxious when making such shifts. I also realised that while there might be cultural differences, your work ethic and ambition can shine through.” Today, Swara’s philosophy has been strengthened by her mentor-teachers and professors.
“As a student of the humanities and biological sciences on a pre-med track, I am deeply invested in furthering reproductive rights and bridging healthcare accessibility gaps in low-income communities by combining my skills of leadership, knowledge of global health inequities, and passion for change making,” says the Diana awardee.
The Period Society is a huge step to help break stigmas. It conducts menstrual hygiene education sessions across India, distributes eco-friendly reusable menstrual hygiene products, and dispels cultural taboos, many of which Swara herself experienced in Mumbai.
The change was palpable
The Indian teen's “modern progressive” upbringing apart, Swara had to first tackle her parents’ menstrual taboo influences. “Changemaking begins at home - it was difficult to convince my parents that this was a cause that could be spoken openly about. I was exposed to period poverty as a volunteer in a paediatric oncology ward when the mother of a patient confided that she was struggling to live with dignity as the cost of treatment left her family unable to purchase ‘luxuries’ like period products. I remember bitterly arguing with my mother every Ganesh Chaturthi about being forced to stay home while my parents visited relatives as I was on my periods. Or my father asking me to speak about ‘girl things’ to mom. It took persistence, perseverance, and grit to change the attitudes within my house before I stepped out to change ideas within my world. By repeatedly reminding my father (a physician) that menstrual blood was not ‘dirty blood,’ and that he couldn’t choose to shy away from speaking about female reproductive health when he did rotations in the OB-GYN department, I eased him into speaking about periods,” smiles the daughter who managed (over two years) to change her father’s view so much so that he would drive her to the sessions, and even distribute kits.
Patel has personally conducted menstrual hygiene education sessions in red-light districts, at municipal schools, with urban slum communities, and in collaboration with NGOs since she started. In fact, Patel wants other like-minded youth to begin a chapter or a global initiative or even remotely join the team to help too.
The youth leader and progressive med student
Passionate about setting wrongs right, Swara also addressed the taboos surrounding sexual health with the Talk Project in 2018. “It was started to drive conversations surrounding sexual health and amplify access to reproductive health resources via youth led advocacy programmes,” says the Indian teen whose passion for public health, STEM, gender equality, and social justice is aimed at an intersectional social-centered trajectory. She is also deeply involved in Model United Nations, and has won accolades and chaired conferences by Harvard and UPenn in the US, China and India.
For a mere student to juggle diverse ideologies and social endeavours is what spurs Swara on. “I intend to use my skills, coursework, and genuine passion to translate my interests into measurable social impact to make a tangible difference in the lives of real people,” she adds.
Her volunteer work earlier with the Impact Foundation at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai opened her mind, as she helped children in paediatric oncology engage in arts and crafts or even with their homework!
The pre-med student has been exposed to healthcare across two very different countries and feels her understanding of health transcends borders. “I love biology and learning about clinical applications of biological concepts and at the same time I aspire to become an advocate for my patients and play a role in eliminating these disparities,” says the double major in the biological sciences as well as women’s, gender, and sexuality studies.
In fact, she chose Hunter for its close proximity to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, Rockefeller Laboratories and Weill Cornell – which she hopes will be great resources as she furthers her medical studies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-mhoynuU1M
The outspoken straight talker now wants to be a physician who goes beyond treatment plans and advocates for the elimination of real-world disparities. Busy in college, Swara has the mindfulness to explore and understand medicine to realistically understand how to be a compassionate and effective physician.
In her free time, apart from juggling pre-med classes, she learns Bharatanatyam, loves to dive into a good book, and often takes a breather from the work she has set out to do to catch up with friends and just be an ordinary girl.
As the medical student is on her way to becoming the kind of physician she dreams of, Swara also sees herself integrating medicine with public health to care for marginalised communities and influence health policy.
(August 3, 2024) The girl from Jhajjar district in Haryana was always bent towards sports - martial arts, boxing, or skating - but it was her tryst with shooting that changed her life. Two months into exploring the sport at her school, she requested her father for a pistol. A chief engineer in the Merchant Navy, he wondered if spending ₹1.5 lakh investment would be worthwhile. On Sunday, she proved that choosing shooting was indeed the right decision as Manu Bhaker became the first Indian to win multiple shooting medals at the Paris Olympics 2024. She got India off the mark at the Paris Olympics by securing a historic bronze medal in the women's 10m air pistol event, followed by another historic win in the 10m pistol mixed event with Sarabjot Singh. After years of hard work, blood, and sweat, the 22-year-old got to bite an Olympic medal, becoming the first Indian woman to earn a shooting medal at the Summer Games. Expressing her elation, the Global Indian wrote on X, "Extremely humbled by the support and wishes that have been pouring in. This is something that I've always dreamt of. Proud to perform at the biggest stage for my
n pouring in. This is something that I've always dreamt of. Proud to perform at the biggest stage for my country."
Extremely humbled by the support and wishes that have been pouring in. This is something that I've always dreamt of. Proud to perform at the biggest stage for my country 🇮🇳 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/8U6sHOLulR
Ever since she burst on the scene with the gold in the 10m air pistol at the 2018 Youth Olympics, all eyes have been on the young athlete. But despite the countless medals, the ultimate prize remained out of reach, especially after the heartbreaking defeat in her first Olympics in Tokyo. But she returned to the Paris Olympics with a will to fight and win, and she did.
Love for sports
A native of Goriya village in Jhajjar district, Manu always excelled in sports like Huyen langlon, a Manipuri martial art, as well as boxing, tennis, and skating and won many medals. It was in 2016 that she was introduced to shooting at Universal Senior Secondary School - the only place to have a shooting range in her district. 25 km from her home, she would practice for five hours every day. Within a few months, she asked her dad to buy her a pistol as wanted to take up competitive shooting. A year later, she achieved her first international success by winning the silver medal at the 2017 Asian Junior Championships. The same year, she won nine gold medals at the National Games.
[caption id="attachment_38676" align="aligncenter" width="624"] Manu Bhaker[/caption]
Going global
2018 brought with it more opportunities and more medals on the international stage. She won two gold medals at the International Shooting Sports Federation World Cup held in Mexico, followed by a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2018. Talking about her success, she said, "It just happens. I don’t think about them. At times I don’t even know what the records are," adding, "I am grateful to all my coaches or their advice and the hours they have put in to hone my technique."
The wins and great performances earned her a spot at the Tokyo Olympics. Still, she returned home empty-handed and teary-eyed from her maiden Olympics, falling short of expectations. The Tokyo heartbreak led to a public fallout with her coach Jaspal Rana. She soon retrieved her shell and lost the spark that she had for shooting. Instead, she started finding the sport boring which for her had become more "like a 9 to 5 job." "That was the time I felt 'okay, I am still in the team, I am doing okay, but it's not giving me any kind of joy and any kind of happiness'. I felt like that was the time I should give it a break and probably focus on my studies, go to a college, and study abroad for a while. I was really thinking about it," she said in an interview.
Reuniting with coach Jaspal Rana
However, Manu did not give up. She picked up the phone and called her former coach Jaspal Rana to bury the hatchet. Keeping their egos aside, the two reunited and Manu started practising under her coach once again. Whether she was training in Luxembourg or Dehradun, Rana set specific targets for Manu even during routine sessions. If Manu failed to achieve the score set by Rana, she would incur fines, which were then donated to help those in need around the world. "His working method is very different from the rest of the people. Usually, he sets a goal and if you score that much, then it's okay," she said, adding, "And if you don't score that much, then the points that were less in that score, let us say we decided to score 582 and I scored 578. So those four points will amount to 40 Euros and sometimes 400 Euros depending on the situation and country. You have to donate that much."
[caption id="attachment_38678" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Manu Bhaker[/caption]
Along with intense training methods, she began reading the Bhagavad Gita for mental fortitude. "I have become religious after Tokyo but not in an extreme way (laughs). I believe that there is an energy that guides us and protects us. And there is an aura around us that feeds on that energy. I think there should be some faith in God who has created us," she said.
In 2024, she returned to the international stage with vigour and determination, and it paid off as she clinched two the bronze medals and become an unmissable part of India's Olympic history.
(March 1, 2024) In November 2023, 16-year-old equestrian Ananya Settipalli realised a long-time dream - she made it to the United States Dressage Finals, competing with the best young riders in America. At her first junior nationals in 2019, which she entered at the age of 12, she landed multiple podium finishes, including a silver in show jumping. Ananya made it to her second junior nationals just before the pandemic and came home with a team gold in dressage and a team silver in jumping. Ananya Settipalli was born in Boston and discovered a love for horses when she was around four years old. "My parents put me in my first summer camp in North Carolina when I was seven, at a barn called MacNairs," she tells Global Indian. Nobody in her family had been into the sport or ridden horses, but her mum, who was a national-level track athlete, was an early inspiration. Ananya would listen to her mum's stories and wonder what it would feel like to compete at a national level. She would watch equestrian events on TV too, and remembers watching the Olympics over and over. "The way Charlotte Dujardin and Carl Hester was mesmerising to
obody in her family had been into the sport or ridden horses, but her mum, who was a national-level track athlete, was an early inspiration. Ananya would listen to her mum's stories and wonder what it would feel like to compete at a national level. She would watch equestrian events on TV too, and remembers watching the Olympics over and over. "The way Charlotte Dujardin and Carl Hester was mesmerising to me. They were the equestrians I looked up to the most growing up."
When she was nine, the family moved to Hyderabad, where Ananya began riding consistently. She started at the Hyderabad Polo and Riding Club but soon switched to Nasr Polo, where she competed at my first show at HRPC under Nasr.
[caption id="attachment_36295" align="aligncenter" width="614"] Teen equestrian Ananya Settipalli[/caption]
Training with KCS Reddy
She moved back to the Hyderabad Polo and Riding Club to train under Hyderabad's only competitive coach at the time, KCS Reddy. "His methods of training were quite different from others," Ananya recalls. She learned her basics on retired thoroughbreds (ex-racehorses), which can be very challenging to ride compared to the more traditional, docile warmbloods. "I learned most things related to riding the hard way. With off-track thoroughbreds, you have to control every action you make when you're on them," she says.
It was a challenging way to learn. At Nasr Polo, the polo horses were well-trained and easy to handle. The ones at HRPC, however, were fresh off the race course and had received a few months of training from KCS Reddy and his assistant. "It was a rough experience since the horses were so green, but I wouldn't trade it for any other," Ananya says, adding with a smile, "And if I hadn't, I wouldn't have met Princess."
On her 12th birthday, Ananya got her first horse, Princess, as a present. When she rode her for the first time, Princess, who was “as grumpy as a mare could get,” threw her off right away, leaving Ananya with a concussion and “a giant red mark” on her face.” A few months later, when Ananya was at her first show, Princess threw her again, and this time, she fractured her arm. "Nobody thought I would come back to riding. Nobody thought I would keep Princess. But I did both because the most important thing to understand with a horse is that it's never their fault," she says. Instead, Ananya learned patience, and began building a real relationship with the horse she would soon call her best friend. She would head to the stables at 5 am and spend three hours with Princess before school. "It was the best experience I ever had. On weekends, I would spend the first half of the day with her, I would bathe her, hand graze her, groom her and just sit in her stall to spend time with her. She was very sensitive but she just needed some love and a girl who had all the love in the world to offer to her." Their bond only grew, and ultimately, Ananya went on to qualify for the nationals riding Princess.
Competing in India
By this time, Ananya was going back and forth between Hyderabad and Bengaluru, where she was now training under Ashish Limaye at the Embassy International Riding School. She rode with Limaye to try horses to compete in her first Equestrian Premier League at the Embassy to qualify for the nationals. "I loved the place immediately," she said. "They had incredible facilities; everything was so well organised and everyone was extremely friendly and the horses were well taken care of." At the Embassy, she was also looking for horses to ride at the EPLs and ended up riding four, three of which came from the Embassy: Qurt, Dejavu, and Obligado. The fourth was a mare named Zala, whom she leased from the United Rider barn.
Her most special bond, however, was with Obligado, who was around 20 years old when she began riding him. "He's a thoroughbred but he could jump the 130s with ease and even when he was 19, he could jump the 115 cm classes without breaking a sweat. When I first rode him I barely knew how to jump. I couldn't even get around a course without falling off but he's an angel. He rarely misbehaved and taught me the basics of jumping."
By this time, the pandemic had hit. However, the Embassy allowed Ashish Limaye's students to stay at the riding school and continue to train. Ananya, her friends, and Ashish lived at the school for six months. "He was the most influential coach I had the opportunity to train with," Ananya says. They would ride in the morning, go to school, ride again after, and in keeping with Ashish's rule for his students, work out after riding. "Under Ashish, I competed at two Junior National Equestrian Championships in India," she says.
[caption id="attachment_36301" align="aligncenter" width="426"] Ananya Settipalli with Ashish Limaye at the Embassy International Riding School[/caption]
Back to the US
In a stroke of bad luck, Ananya came down with a fairly severe case of Covid 19 in 2020. At this point, her parents decided to go back to the US, this time to Texas, partly for the good schools and also because they had found Ananya a great coach, Kai Handt.
In 2021, Ananya began riding under Handt, who is also one of the top coaches in the US for para-equestrians, at the North Texas Equestrian Center. Then, in 2022, she bought her current horse from Kai, NTEC Classico, a seven-year-old gelding "with impeccable breeding lines and amazing scope in jumping and dressage," Ananya says. That year, she competed at her first regional championship in 2022.
She attended her second regionals in 2023, this time on another of Kai Handt's best horses, the NTEC Falstaff. This time, the idea was to qualify for the United States Dressage Finals. They qualified and made it to the event in Lexington, Kentucky.
A different ecosystem
Being an equestrian in the US, Ananya says, is a very different experience from being one in India. For starters, the average level is much higher - the best riders in India struggle to even qualify when they first arrive in Germany or the US. "It's much more competitive in the US because it's a much more popular sport," she says. Shows also work differently and it took some adjusting to at first.
"After I bought NTEC Classico, it became easier because consistency is key. Having a horse to ride five days a week definitely helps when you compete with that same horse." Another difference is that riders in the US are expected to do a lot more for their horses. "In India, in HRPC and Embassy, they would know what time I would be there and have the horses ready to ride and take care of them afterward. But in America, at most barns, you tack up your own horse, untack them, and take care of them when you're done riding," Ananya explains. "It's a very different experience, but I like taking care of my horse better because it allows you to build a connection with them."
[caption id="attachment_36294" align="aligncenter" width="492"] Ananya and her father, with NTEC Classico[/caption]
The ties that bind
In dressage, a strong bond between horse and rider is key, where everything is about trust, respect, empathy, and teamwork. That's why Ananya focusses on spending consistent time with her horse, not just during the training but also by doing everyday activities like grooming and so on. "Communication is huge, I try to be clear and consistent with my cues so my horse knows what I'm asking for and I make sure to give plenty of praise and maybe a treat here and there." There are challenges of course, as with any relationship. "But I've learned to approach them with patience and understanding. It's not just about winning ribbons in the arena; it's about having a true partnership with your horse."
Ananya hopes to keep winning but says it's more than just about accolades. "It's about deepening my understanding of horses and enriching their lives through thoughtful training and care." She also wants to continue training, saying, "I aim to compete at higher level competitions and hopefully international ones as well."
Ayush Singh[/caption]
Ayush with content creator Ishan Sharma (left)[/caption]
Manu Bhaker[/caption]
Manu Bhaker[/caption]
Teen equestrian Ananya Settipalli[/caption]
Ananya Settipalli with Ashish Limaye at the Embassy International Riding School[/caption]
Ananya and her father, with NTEC Classico[/caption]