Pensha

Arati Patil's journey from a village athlete to an international para badminton player has not been without its twists and turns.  Born with one only arm, Arati considers her disability a blessing in disguise.  “ If I had both arms, I would not have trained so hard. My disability inspires me to face challenges more fiercely, ” she says. Indeed, she has never allowed her disability to  become a hindrance in her pursuit of excellence. Arati was born in Nandgad village in Karnataka. She took to sports when she was not yet a teen --initially as a sprinter before switching to badminton in 2009-10. The credit for making Arati a self-sufficient and confident individual goes to her mother.  “She would not fuss over me unnecessarily. She was a kabaddi player in her school days and knew the importance of sports in shaping a person. She did not allow my disability to limit my ambition to scale new heights, ” Arati says. “I played my first national para tournament in 2010 in Bengaluru, which I

Prachi Shevgaonkar, is the 26-year-old founder and CEO, Cool the Globe, an app for climate action. A media student-turned climate activist, Prachi is now an entrepreneur, an advisor to the Tata Power Company, a UNICEF climate advocate and a TedEx speaker. She tells how her attempts to reduce her personal carbon footprint became a movement Finding her calling “When we consider energy saving or reducing carbon footprint, the first step we probably think of is ‘switching off the light bulb’. But I wanted to take stock of the different ways -- from the time I wake up to the time I sleep – in which I could reduce carbon emissions,” says Prachi. “It could be as simple as taking a cold water shower, or installing solar panels to heat water. I realised that I reduced 14 kg emission after a month of cold water baths. In college, I requested to increase the AC temperature by one or two degree Celsius. That reduced 12 kg emission in a month. Segregating waste at home saved about 4kg emissio