Will Rishi Sunak be a gamechanger for UK’s Indian students?
Written by: Namrata Srivastava
(October 27, 2022) The famed 10 Downing Street, which once ruled over the entire Subcontinent, is now home to an Indian family. After an audience with King Charles III on Tuesday, the youngest and richest Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak is set to take charge of the Great British Isles. Despite being relatively new to British politics, this economist played his cards right and in less than a decade went from being a Member of Parliament to Chancellor of the Exchequer and now the 57th Prime Minister of the UK.
Proud of his Indian roots, Sunak is also the first Hindu to take over the PM office. While he has much to sort out within Britain, the 42-year-old does recognise that good relations with India are important for the UK. Earlier this year, while addressing a gathering of British Indian Conservative Party members, Sunak had expressed his desire to change the UK-India relationship to make it a more two-way exchange that opens up easy access to UK students and companies in India. He greeted the crowd in Hindi with “Namaste, Salaam, Kem cho, and Kidda,” he said, “Aap sab mere parivar ho (You are a part of my family).” When questioned about bilateral ties, he responded, “We know the UK-India relationship is important. We represent the living bridge between our two countries. We are all very aware of the opportunity for the UK to sell things and do things in India, but actually we need to look at that relationship differently because there is an enormous amount that we here in the UK can learn from India.”
An immigrant himself, the Global Indian is of the opinion that young students must not be denied any opportunity for good education. And thus, he is not only looking to support India’s student mobility but also vice-versa. “We are all very aware of the opportunity for the UK to sell things and do things in India, but actually we need to look at that relationship differently because there is an enormous amount that we here in the UK can learn from India,” he said, adding, “I want to make sure that it’s easy for our students to also travel to India and learn, that it’s also easy for our companies and Indian companies to work together because it’s not just a one-way relationship, it’s a two-way relationship, and that’s the type of change I want to bring to that relationship.”
Currently, with a 96 percent student visa acceptance rate, about 1,65,000 Indian students have moved to the UK between 2019 and 2022 alone – making them the biggest student diaspora in the country. The Indian and UK officials are working closely to support student mobility and create better opportunities for Indian students to succeed in the global job market. Only last year, the two countries announced the India-UK Roadmap 2030 to pave the way for deeper collaboration between the two nations, allowing for more exchange of knowledge and ideas between institutions and supporting the two-way mobility of students, teachers, and researchers.
Despite the reassurances, experts believe Sunak’s impact on India-UK ties will be marginal at best. With Suella Braverman, who has been re-appointed as the Home Secretary, branding Indians as the largest group of migrants who overstayed in the UK, the mobility of skilled Indians to the UK could be a sticky point. It also remains to be seen how the Sunak government handles immigrants, who have extended the maximum period of two years allowed to international students to work or look for work within the UK.
(January 12, 2022) “We have every reason to be angry. But I have no time for anger. I want to act. I am not just a girl from India. I am a girl from Earth and I am proud to be so,” smiled the pint-sized bespectacled Vinisha Umashankar at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. The student innovator, environmentalist, entrepreneur and optimist had Prince William, and other world leaders in awe. Suddenly, a toothy 15-year-old Indian environmentalist was in the reckoning. However, this native of Tamil Nadu is not ready to rest on her laurels, and demands action. “All of us should understand that environmental issues are real and can't be fixed later. Most importantly, they are not someone else's problem. We all must work together to understand environmental problems and solve them before it is too late. Today’s actions matter tomorrow,” says Vinisha, who is one of the eight baton-bearers to carry the Commonwealth Games 2022 torch in India from January 12 to 15, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvLD6waVlkk Being the youngest and the only school student to earn a spot among the finalists for The Earthshot Prize 2021, the TEDx speaker was invited by Prince William, The Duke
y Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge, to speak at the World Leaders’ Summit at the COP26 in November 2021. Such was the impact of her five-minute speech that global leaders like US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Bill Gates, and PM Narendra Modi gave her a standing ovation. Vinisha’s plea has since gone viral with over 30 million views.
Enriched to be in the company of the minds whose innovations and solutions are making an impact on Earth, she was apt and self-assured. “COP26 was quite critical because we have to plan actions for the next 10 years, and execute them together for a better future. I am keen to take forward what I learnt to make the Earth better,” adds the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Award winner (2019).
Thinking beyond fossil fuels
Her invention of a solar-powered ironing cart became the lodestar. She was just 12 when she started designing her innovation after the idea struck when accompanying her mother to deliver ironing clothes.
[caption id="attachment_9525" align="aligncenter" width="1080"] The Solar Ironing Cart[/caption]
Seeing six ironing vendors in her neighbourhood, Vinisha saw how charcoal burning is a serious threat to the environment. “They use charcoal to heat an iron box, and usually throw the burnt charcoal away with the garbage. It made me think about the number of ironing carts in India, the amount of charcoal burnt every day, and the damage done to environment,” says the SKP Vanitha International School student, who found her “eureka” in solar power which effectively substitutes charcoal. “Using renewable solar energy is the aim of my innovation,” Vinisha says in an exclusive with Global Indian.
Cleaning the air, making us breathe
The innovation won her the Children’s Climate Prize in 2020, and helped her get a slot as a finalist at The Earthshot Prize in the Clean Our Air category in 2021. “I was happy that environmental innovations like a solar ironing cart got due recognition. It can play a crucial role in reducing environmental damage and climate change. I hope my innovation motivates students to innovate on products that could help protect the environment for future generations. I am happy that the solar ironing cart is my little contribution towards an ambitious goal,” says the confident young inventor.
[caption id="attachment_9526" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Vinisha Umashankar won the Children's Climate Prize 2020.[/caption]
Vinisha’s invention is built on an integral-type chassis, the ironing cart, “can be fitted with a coin-operated GSM PCO, USB charging points, and provide mobile recharging services. The solar panel doubles as the roof of the ironing cart,” she adds.
The girl who reads too much
Born in 2007 in Tiruvannamalai (Tamil Nadu), her business consultant father and school teacher mother realised how fascinated she was by science and maths as a child. They are the wind beneath her wings, and her biggest support system. “My parents bought me many books to read, and explore,” reveals the Class 10 student, who often accompanies her parents to museums, zoological parks, botanical gardens, palaces, and forts. Her love for Nature and environment stemmed from these visits, and to country farms and animal asylums.
As one of the eight baton bearers from India to carry the Commonwealth Games torch and a participant at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, she is also preparing for her boards. How she strikes a balance between the acclaim, endeavours and studies evokes a smile. Her time management skills, she explains, “I sort my scholastic and co-scholastic activities a day or week in advance. I prepare a to-do list, and finish it one by one. I schedule everything meticulously so that I don’t spend too much time on a single activity – all done a little at a time rather than in one long slot! However, I listen to music, go for a walk, exercise and relax in between activities.”
A tale of many talents
Despite her hectic schedule, Vinisha finds time to unwind curling up with a book, cycling or trying her hand at photography. A yoga and gymnastics enthusiast, she has a Grade 4 electronic keyboard certification from Trinity College London too.
[caption id="attachment_9527" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Vinisha Umashankar with PM Narendra Modi at COP26[/caption]
Having accomplished so much so young, she advises youngsters “to believe.” “If you think that you can move a mountain with your fingers, believe that you can. What other people think of you is irrelevant. No one is in charge of your future, but you. Gain knowledge around your passion and strengths. Develop a unique set of skills that work. It is better to try and fail than just dream about achieving great things! You learn a lot by doing things and even more by failing. Do not fear failure. That’s how great people have done it,” adds the teenager, who wants to become a research scientist or a theoretical physicist in the future.
Next on agenda for the Earth Day Network Rising Star 2021, is, “To manufacture the solar ironing cart. Also, over the years, I have given over 100 interviews, 40 innovation talks, and 40 motivation speeches to over 25,000 school and college students. I will continue to inspire young minds to create an environmentally-conscious society,” says the committed teen activist.
(August 14, 2022) While people of the country were busy fighting over various problems, the youth have been working quietly behind the scenes, away from the noise, to find answers. In the last 75 years, India has witnessed many young minds who have played an instrumental role in finding the solutions to some of the biggest issues plaguing our society. From space technology to artificial intelligence, and environment to social issues, these innovators have earned global recognition in various fields. Global Indian puts the spotlight on five young prodigies, whose research and innovations are making a positive impact - not just in India, but across the world. Self-powered freezer to keep vaccines cool When he was 15 years old, Anurudh Ganesan invented VAXXWAGON, a portable refrigeration system to transport vaccines safely and effectively. The invention won him a slew of awards, including the LEGO Education Builder Award and the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes. The VAXXWAGON runs on a "no ice, no electricity" system and is very cost-effective (less than $100). It can also keep the temperature consistent for several hours at a stretch. When he was an infant, his grandparents carried him ten miles in rural South India
When he was an infant, his grandparents carried him ten miles in rural South India to get him his routine polio vaccination. When they finally arrived, they found the vaccines were useless after having not been refrigerated for an extended period.
Always given to questions and innovation, he recalls asking his father when he was five years old, about inventing a vehicle that doesn't need gas. The innovator didn't stop there. He went on to research the subject, learning everything he could about self-generating power. In keeping with this, VAXXWAGON works with "wheel-powered refrigeration". As the wheel turns, mechanical energy is converted to thermal energy and can keep vaccines cold for up to 16 hours after being powered for only half that time.
Back in 2019, Pravin Nagendran, a student of Biotechnology at Bannari Amman Engineering College in Erode, began working on a plant-based, flame-resistant alternative to materials like glass fibre. To minimise damage caused by impact, aircraft and other vehicles are built using a composite material, like glass fibre, to add tensile strength. The flip side is that they are flammable.
Working out of his lab in college as soon as the lockdown was lifted, the innovator developed a prototype, made by extracting nanoparticles from the ash of the plant, he told Better India. This came after one year of research, during which he worked with members of the faculty to identify a suitable biomaterial. They tested the material at high temperatures and found it completely resistant to fire. It is also biodegradable.
The invention won him third place from over 65,000 entries at the Defence Research and Development Organisation's contest, Dare to Dream 2.0. He hopes to commercialise it after he graduates from college.
The girl who has a planet named after her in the Milky Way
Growing up in Bengaluru, the city of lakes, Sahithi Pingali had come across many infamous incidents of the Bellandur, Arthur, and Agara lakes bursting into flames from the heaps of garbage around them. Worried about the pollution in the water bodies, the innovator came up with an award-winning paper – ‘An Innovative Crowdsourcing Approach to Monitoring Freshwater Bodies', and presented it at Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
Her work was based on the insights she had gathered through a lake monitoring app and a monitoring kit that she had created to collect the crowdsourced data on the issue. The 16-year-old not only won the second prize at ISEF 2017 but also bagged additional three special prizes there. The talented innovator was pleasantly surprised when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology partnered with ISEF and decided to name a planet in the Milky Way after her as a reward, making entire India proud. Sahiti is now a master’s student of management science and engineering, at Stanford University and has worked in several environment-related initiatives since then.
As a young kid, Arunima Sen was often in awe of her parents who spent hours working on various projects for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). That's how she developed an interest in the subject and started working on innovative solutions for global problems. When she was in grade 10, she was selected for The Junior Academy programme conducted by The New York Academy of Sciences, and that set her on the course of finding many solutions.
From measuring micro-nutrients in a person's body using strands of hair, to developing a method to save energy in high-rise buildings, the 20-year-old innovator has found a solution to every problem in most developing countries. A climate activist, Arunima is the recipient of several international and national awards — including the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, MPower Financing Women in STEM Grand Award, and the Distinguished Student Award from the New York Academy of Sciences — and has been named a 2020 Global Teen Leader of the We Are Family Foundation and one of the Mars Generation’s 24 under 24 Innovators in STEM and Space.
During an interaction with the press, Arunima said, "I am currently being mentored by professionals from Sidewalk Labs — an urban innovation company working to make cities more sustainable and affordable for all. Since the pandemic had brought many discussions and assignments to a halt, my friend and I are working to resume it soon."
Shocked by the most gruesome ‘Nirbhaya’ incident of the country, Siddhartha Mandala, who was a 12-year-old kid then, had accompanied his mother for public demonstrations that followed. Deeply moved by the sordid event, the youngster spent the next four years creating a device to prevent molestation and rape. The gadget that he named ‘Electroshoe’ passes electricity to electrocute molesters.
The young innovator had not lost his patience in creating the device even when his prototype had failed 17 times and he had got electrocuted twice during the experiments. The footwear created by him can also send signals to the police, friends, and family using GPS. Influenced by his mother’s activism, Siddharth also started an NGO, Cognizance Welfare Initiative (CWI) to spread awareness about rape and its prevention. He is now a student fellow at the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Claremont, California. The youngster often visits dating sites, not to find a dating partner but to sell his device.
(January 24, 2023) “One in seven people worldwide deal with a mental health issue. I am one of them,” remarks Manvi Tiwari. Turning her adversity into advantage, the nineteen-year-old youngster has built her identity as a well-known mental health activist. She was one of the youngest speakers at 2022’s World Health Summit held in Berlin, Germany in October. She began writing - describing her own experiences with mental health, which she sent out to online media platforms. That grew, leading to full-fledged activism and global collaborations for the teenager. [caption id="attachment_26828" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Manvi Tiwari[/caption] One significant association includes the Global Mental Health Peer Network (GMHPN). Based out of Johannesburg, South Africa GMHPN reaches out to people in 30 countries with the agenda to create a network of experts with lived experiences to be on board of initiatives to combat the global challenge. Manvi has been the country executive of India for GMHPN. “I am associated with a lot of projects on mental health and coincidentally most are based in Europe,” says the Kanpur girl, who has been pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in Mumbai over the last two years. Global associations Manvi is associated with Women in Global Health (WGH),
ca GMHPN reaches out to people in 30 countries with the agenda to create a network of experts with lived experiences to be on board of initiatives to combat the global challenge. Manvi has been the country executive of India for GMHPN.
“I am associated with a lot of projects on mental health and coincidentally most are based in Europe,” says the Kanpur girl, who has been pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in Mumbai over the last two years.
Global associations
Manvi is associated with Women in Global Health (WGH), a women-led movement challenging power and privilege for gender equity in global health. Another association has been working as a lived experience expert for MQ Mental Health Research, an organisation working to identify world-wide longitudinal datasets that can be best used to advance the understanding of how brain, body and environment interact in the trajectory of anxiety, depression and psychosis.
The teen is also part of a collaborative initiative of London-based The McPin Foundation and British magazine, Economist Impact for a project titled the ‘Common Metrics in Mental Health (CMMH) Programme’. “I’m on the advisory board for this much needed project,” she tells Global Indian.
[caption id="attachment_26829" align="aligncenter" width="973"] Manvi Tiwari with delegates at World Health Summit in Berlin[/caption]
World Health Summit in Berlin
As representative of Global Mental Health Peer Network, Manvi got the opportunity to represent the organisation and be a speaker at World Health Summit, co-organised by WHO and GMHPN. High profile participants from across the globe, including presidents and prime ministers of several countries were part of the summit. “I remember seeing the presidents of France and Germany at the breakfast table,” recalls Manvi. There were other dignitaries like Dr Mansukh Mandavia, minister of health and family welfare, Dr Amar Patnaik, member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha, and UNICEF representatives from several countries.
It was a ‘surreal experience’ for the teen, being a member of the panel that included representatives from the health ministry of Egypt and director of non-communicable diseases and mental health, WHO. This was also her first foreign exposure, as well as her maiden attempt at speaking on such a large platform.
She was nervous at the start but soon found her feet. “To my surprise, many people whom I met at the World Health Summit knew me already.” One such person was Dr Shubha Nagesh, heading the South Asia region of Women in Global Health. “She just walked up to me and said, ‘you are Manvi Tiwari, right, I have been looking for your number for quite some time’,” recalls Manvi. Having admired Dr Shubha Nagesh, Manvi was pleasantly surprised to learn that Dr Nagesh was following her work too. Today, Manvi is part of Dr Shubha’s project – Women in Global Health.
[caption id="attachment_26833" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Manvi Tiwari with panel members of her session on mental health at World Health Summit, Berlin[/caption]
Manvi’s lived experiences
“I am a lived experience expert. It means an expert who has experienced mental health issues,” tells Manvi. She wasn’t even a teenager yet when she first began dealing with mental illnesses like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and depression. “I was 11 or 12 when my mother was diagnosed with OCD and depression. Right now, there is lots of awareness about mental health but that time it was close to zero. I remember how I used to search for keywords on the internet to find a solution to my mother’s problems, but was led to concepts like superstition to describe her situation.” It took time for Manvi and her family in Kanpur to realise that the condition that her mother has been suffering from was a mental health issue and that there are specialised doctors to treat her condition.
“Even today there is a very niche audience comprising youngsters, well-to do people, or those staying in metro cities who are aware of what mental health means. Outside of these segments, most people remain unaware, like we were eight years ago in Kanpur,” she remarks.
With psychiatric interventions, Manvi’s mother’s condition gradually started to improve and has shown drastic progress since. Her mother, Manvi says, showed great determination, handling her job as the principal in a government school, taking care of a family of four and working with psychiatrists at the same time to lift herself out of her mental health situation.
Manvi had a great role to play in her mother’s successful journey. She often found herself talking and behaving like a therapist around her parent. However, as her mother began showing signs of improvement, Manvi began to develop OCD and anxiety herself. “I did not share it for long with others except my family,” she says. Her teachers noticed a change in her behaviour and asked her what had happened. She was reluctant to talk but as they persisted, she began to open up.
“I still have OCD moments; I still get anxiety. I still seek help from professionals but I am more or less cured,” says the activist, who has been using her personal experiences to help others transform their lives. “My source of strength is certainly my mother,” she smiles.
“Even now just because I speak regularly about it, it’s still hard to speak about my experiences, but a person gradually adapts to the condition. And there are forces that compel me to speak for benefit of others,” she tells.
Speaking out is important
Manvi had written the first-person account of her entire journey of helping her mom deal with her OCD and depression, experiencing it herself and rising above it. The purpose was to help de-stigmatise mental health ailments and make people understand that they should not be ashamed of it.
“If first person accounts of mental health struggles had been available to me when I was 12-years-old, I would have had more clarity and been less scared,” she says. “The lack of voices of lived experiences compelled me to write down my thoughts,” she adds.
[caption id="attachment_26839" align="aligncenter" width="577"] Manvi Tiwari speaking at World Health Summit, Berlin[/caption]
Manvi wanted people with mental health issues to know that many others are going through the same condition and it is absolutely possible to come out of the situation with help from experts.
When the teenager started writing, she had approached several digital media platforms to publish her work and is grateful to organisations like Livewire and iViva who published her thoughts. “When positive feedback started pouring in with people thanking me for sharing my story, my fear of how people would react slowly vanished. Sharing became quite empowering,” tells Manvi.
The course of life
While Manvi was sending her first-person account to different media platforms, she sent it to the Global Mental Health Peer Network as well, mistaking it for a media house. However, this error proved to be a boon, changing the course of her life. “The non-profit organisation, which works with people with lived experiences, approached her and made her the country executive of India. Thus began her journey of global collaborations.
The multimedia and mass communication student wishes to pursue a career which is at the intersection of her degree in media studies and passion for mental health. Writing a book on her lived experiences is also one of her future goals.
(April 19, 2023) Right from her school days, Shriya Boppana had been passionate about advocacy, and deeply involved in raising awareness and funds for causes like anti-sex trafficking. She would do whatever it took to achieve her goal - show up at community events to hand out flyers, volunteer, do community service, and more. “Over time, these community spaces weren’t big enough for some of the initiatives and in college, I stepped on the Miss India DC stage as an ambassador for the Save our Stars Foundation to raise money for an HIV clinic in Nepal,” Shriya tells Global Indian. This turned out to be a great turning point in her life. [caption id="attachment_29357" align="aligncenter" width="568"] Shriya Boppana[/caption] Little did she know that she would end up participating in the competition and winning the first runner-up title in the contest. “After that, I had no plans of competing in the nationals of Miss India America 2020 until some friends encouraged me to show up. I won completely accidentally - no training, no planning, no preparation,” says the youngster. “That crown catapulted me and my advocacy into the media limelight overnight and I got featured everywhere from ABC to the Wall Street Journal,”
2020 until some friends encouraged me to show up. I won completely accidentally - no training, no planning, no preparation,” says the youngster.
“That crown catapulted me and my advocacy into the media limelight overnight and I got featured everywhere from ABC to the Wall Street Journal,” she says.
Opportunity to host her TV show
After her win in the Miss India America contest, Shriya’s popularity caught the eye of producers at Fox 5 Plus/GTV who offered the youngster her segment on-air, Becoming a Voice with Shriya Boppana.
“My show has hosted popular voices from political candidates such as Deja Foxx of the Kamala Harris Campaign to Maria Thattil, Miss Universe Australia, all the way to Jared Isaacman of SpaceX’s Inspiration4, and reached more than six million households. My efforts in educating the public on gender-based violence got hugely successful” tells Shriya.
After doing a season of the show the youngster stepped down to work for Nickelodeon and AwesomenessTV in talent casting. By that time the youngster already had more than twelve years of experience in theater acting under her belt. “I guess the opportunities that I got after winning the crown were a ripple effect of my win. I had only planned to do two things in life - acting and advocacy” she says. The unplanned foray into the world of pageantry and subsequent win turned out to be a game-changer, helping her reach her goals more easily both in advocacy and acting.
“I received a lot of love, support, and attention from the media and audiences. I cannot thank everyone enough for consistently believing in me and providing me opportunities to grow,” she tells.
Acting - a passion
As a schoolgirl apart from studies, Shriya had been an avid pursuer of the theatrical arts, musicals, and films. She has won awards for her performances in short films like Love is Louder which was a semi-finalist at the All-American High School Film Festival. Shriya was also cast in a full-length feature film Water with a Slice of Lemon which debuted in DC theaters in 2018. In 2020, she starred in the Chinmaya Mission-sponsored short film, Been on Sale.
Her interest in performing arts has led to several achievements in the sphere of dancing as well. Shriya has competed nationally for her premiere collegiate Bollywood fusion dance team - Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Sahara, winning multiple trophies for her alma mater. As much as she likes competing, the youngster loves to organise events. She has been the youngest board member of the National Bollywood Dance Championship, Legends in the US. Her academic training in marketing helped her in taking up the role of the Public Relations chair at the non-profit, Desi Dance Network Inc for two years where she raised awareness about South Asian performing arts.
The multifaceted beauty queen
A recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, Shriya is a full-time interactive development consulting analyst working with Accenture in the US. She majored in business administration with a double concentration in marketing, and leadership and organisational effectiveness with a minor in psychology.
At the CMU campus, her advocacy was in full swing. She worked for minority, religious, generational, and socioeconomically weaker communities to strive for equality on the campus against battles supporting sexual assault victims, LGBTQ+ members, immigrants, international students, and ‘everyone in-between’.
[caption id="attachment_29356" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Shriya at one of the Carnegie Mellon University's functions[/caption]
Always a good student and multi-tasker, Shriya has represented CMU as the vice president of communications in their chapter of the American Marketing Association and volunteered as the vice president of marketing for the Carnegie Mellon Business Association, and vice president of internal affairs for CMU Women in Business.
Winning along the way
The youngster loves participating in contests. In 2018 she won the Deloitte Start-Up Case competition bagging the third position. She was the only CMU freshman chosen to compete that year. Along with her team members, Shriya took her BusyBus business idea into the world of real-time technology and was even nominated for Forbes 30-under-30 in the consumer technology category.
The multifaceted beauty queen also dabbles in the freelance design and marketing world when time permits. “I kickstarted my content creation career after winning Miss India America and have partnered with many incredible brands like Amazon Prime, Bumble, Handshake, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, Adobe, Tangle Teezer, Mugler, and Tommy Hilfiger to name a few,” she says.
Love for India
Though Shriya moved to the US with her parents when she was just five and a half years old, her tie with India is strong. “I visit India at least once a year for a month at a time, minimum. It’s important for me to stay in touch with my extended family,” she says adding, “I was raised in Indian culture for a good portion of my developmental years and find joy in mixing both the American and Indian identities as much as possible. Whether it’s the clothes, the media, the food, or the religion, I partake in all aspects of my daily life to keep my roots strong and homegrown,” the youngster shares.
Significant collaborations and initiatives
In 2021 Shriya Boppana joined the Obama Foundation and Michelle Obama’s Girls Opportunity Alliance partnership.
As STF Global Youth Ambassador advocating for girls’ rights, she teamed up with famous actress, Brooke Shields to raise awareness for sexual health education of girls for the #GirlsGetLoud campaign.
She has partnered with the popular beauty brand, Bobbi Brown, for their ‘Pretty Powerful’ campaign.
Shriya holds sexual assault clinics in partnership with Bachpan Save the Innocence in India. In their partnership, they have sensitized above 6000 individuals at more than 320 orphanages, schools, slums, and colleges with over 10 different programs like safe and unsafe touch, consent and puberty, digital safety, cybercrime, sexual abuse, and trafficking.
The Indian American youngster conducted light-hearted discussions about mental health and relationships, and self-health as a radio jockey on Radio Zindagi, reaching more than one million listeners in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and the Indo-Caribbean community.
SL Narayanan was all of nine when the board game with 64 black and white squares grabbed his attention. It was at this young age that he learnt that the knight in chess moves multiple squares each time while the pawn moves forward one square. Such was his passion for the game that he aced it and won his first championship that same year. This taste of victory gave Narayanan enough drive to pursue the game professionally and eight years later, he became India's 40th chess Grandmaster at the age of 17. Cut to 2021, Narayanan is still making India proud at the international level when he recently finished second at the ChessMood Open in Armenia. The pandemic was a blessing in disguise for this 23-year-old who got enough time to improve his game. "I was very happy with my performance at the ChessMood Open. I played some quality games and was very happy to see the result of my work during this pandemic. It was my first visit to Armenia and I am glad I could keep a positive memory about the tournament. And this indeed motivates me to work even harder," he told Global Indian in an interview.
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While the chess grandmaster is upping his game with every tournament but he had to overcome many challenges to reach the top.
A chance encounter with chess
Born in 1998 in Kerala, Narayanan was just nine when he first accompanied his mother to a chess tournament at her office and watched with rapt attention as she played the game. Sensing his curiosity, one of his mom's colleagues introduced him to the rules of the game. Intrigued by the world of chess, he returned to the tournament the next year with his mother and tried his hand. He managed to impress his opponent with his moves; he noticed the kid's potential and insisted his mother give Narayanan proper training. "Consequently, under the guidance of P Sreekumar, who was the former Kerala State Champion, I started my first lessons of the game. I learned the game in a systematic way and also started participating in district weekly events," he says.
[caption id="attachment_15245" align="aligncenter" width="486"] A young SL Narayanan up against top GM Parimarjan Negi.[/caption]
While Narayanan was mastering chess with each game, he would often ask his parents about his future in the game. The question of who would he become if he continued playing well often crossed his mind. "They [my parents] had one clear name to look up to - Vishwanathan Anand. Once I got to know about him through his games and news reports, I knew I had a role model," he adds. Soon, he fell in love with chess as it was the game's individuality that attracted him. "The rules are the same for everyone but you play according to your understanding/strategy and that's what made it colourful for me," says the grandmaster.
Nudging support from family
The 23-year-old is now among the top 10 chess players in India, and his career is testament to his family's support and commitment to the game. "My father was a government contractor but he quit his job when I started playing so that he could travel with me for tournaments," he reveals. His mother, who introduced him to the game, was among his biggest supporters as she was the sole breadwinner in the family for the longest time. The Grandmaster from Kerala also found support in his sister who gave up her dream of being a chess player in order to let him succeed. "My sister was also a very good chess player. She has participated in several national events and was the Delhi University zonal champion in 2017. We both trained under the same coach together for a while. However, my parents could only back one of us as our financial background wasn't great; one of us had to step back to pave the way for the other. Since I was a bit more talented and hard working, she decided to take a step back," adds Narayanan.
The chess player's endeavours were not only supported by his family but even his school backed him. Narayanan studied at St Thomas Residential school till 8th standard and then moved to St Mary's Higher Secondary School to focus more on his game. Despite his hectic schedule, the 23-year-old was able to strike a balance between his studies and chess, all thanks to the support of his teachers.
Checkmate by challenges
Narayanan was quite young when he started learning from former Kerala State Champion, P Sreekumar and later trained under IM Varghese Koshy and GM Praveen Thipsay. But it hasn't been an easy journey from him as financial aid has always been a constraint. "Initially, I didn't get any proper training, opportunities or support to better my game despite being a strong and hardworking player. My parents took loans from several institutions to give me good training and help me participate in tournaments. If I had gotten proper training when I was young, like the players of similar age now get, it would have helped me create a strong foundation which I could build on," says the English Literature graduate from Mar Ivanios College.
[caption id="attachment_15246" align="aligncenter" width="1038"] SL Narayanan at World Junior Chess Championship 2016[/caption]
In 2016, the year Narayanan won gold in the Asian junior blitz chess championship, crowdfunding came to his rescue. "I was contacted by the social platform - Milaap after they came to know about me through one of the dailies. Later, they started crowdfunding and raised around ₹1.15 lakh which was indeed helpful for me. I believe crowdfunding is a reliable way to raise funds especially in a third world country like India," adds Narayanan.
He didn't find much support from the government either apart from the time when he became a grandmaster. "Since then I have not received any support from either the State or Central Government. Even when I went to one of the administrators, he ridiculed me and asked if chess was even a game; that was so disheartening," he reveals.
A journey worth remembering
Despite many challenges and setbacks, Narayanan has been able to pull himself through all of it for the sheer love of the game. From winning his first championship in 2007 to becoming a grandmaster, he has come a long way. "There have been a lot of thrilling moments in the journey with some tournaments working for me and others working completely against me. But I still enjoy the process of working on a game and the concept that builds the game."
For this Global Indian, chess is more than a game as he says it has helped him in shaping his character. The grandmaster is confident in the future of the sport and its players. "I could easily say that chess could help the young generation to instill in them life qualities as well as problem solving capabilities which will benefit them immensely," he signs off.
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Grandmaster SL Narayanan[/caption]
SL Narayanan at World Junior Chess Championship 2016[/caption]
SL Narayanan[/caption]