Little stars shining bright

They are young and vivacious, and they inspire and awe us with their hard work and talents. We all know about Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg. These young girls have been an inspiration to millions of other youngsters, and adults, in the world as they work tirelessly for the people and the environment around us. But there are other young firebrands too who may not gain too much limelight but still shine bright. Let’s take a look at these astounding wonders who come in small packages. Bodhisatva Khanderao Though today Greta Thunberg has become synonymous with environmental crusader, India boasts of the youngest climate change activist. The record for being the youngest messenger of social forestation was set by Bodhisatva Ganesh Khanderao (born on July 24, 2007) of Yavatmal, Maharashtra. He started working for Social Plantation Awareness Program at different places, at the age of 6 years, when he was in class one. Bodhisatva’s efforts are not just limited to words. He has also been tapping the potential of Abhangs, a form of devotional poetry, and ‘Vrikshpath’ is his harmonic rendition to highlight the importance of trees. His soliloquy, ‘Mi Shetkari’ is also quite popular in the region, and through it, he has been highlighting the crucial role that farmers play in sustaining the population. Little Bodhisatva speaking about deforestation at a public function Shafali Verma Fifteen-year-old Shafali Verma became the youngest Indian cricketer to score a half-century in international cricket, her 49-ball 73 in the first T20 International against West Indies. With this she surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s 30-year-old record! Shafali’s blazing knock powered the Indian women’s team to a convincing 84-run win. This young Haryana girl had to disguise as a boy to learn cricket. Due to lack of a single academy for girls in Rohtak while Shafali was growing up, her father decided to admit her as a 'boy' and train her. And today, she’s a star of women’s cricket team! Prithvi Shaw Prithvi Shaw is 20-year old Indian cricketer from Thane in Maharashtra. He is one of the only young achievers in India who made it as the captain of the Indian under-19s cricket team and won the 2018 World Cup. Having scored a century in his debut matches of Ranji trophy and Dileep trophy, he equaled Sachin Tendulkar’s record. He also established a national record in November 2013 by scoring 546 runs out of 330 balls when he was playing for Rizvi Springfield in a Harris Shield match and currently that score is 4th highest score by any batsman in any form at the organised games. Kautilya Pandit Believe it or not but Kautilya Pandit is all of 11 years of age. And he’s called Google Boy! He garnered fame at a mere age of five when he acquired intelligence in several subjects. He was awarded a scholarship from the Haryana government and also hosted the KBC show with the veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan on the occasion of Children’s Day in 2013. He has an IQ of 130 points, which is surprisingly more than the children of his age. Angad Daryani Steve Jobs and Elon Musk maybe international legends, we have our own tech wizard in India. Angad Daryani is the creator of India's first very own 3D printer. At the age of eight, he built his own robot, and after that continued his learning from YouTube. At the age of 13, he started creating his own versions of RepRap 3D printer. Angad, now 20, is working on the modified versions of the printers, and is known as young tech entrepreneur of India. Shubham Jaglan At just 15 years of age, Shubham Jaglan has already won more than 100 golf tournaments. Born in the family of wrestlers in Israna, Jaglan is considered as one of the best golfers in the world. He has won many world tournaments for his age. Now that’s one lad we need to be proud of!