Tanish Panjwani is an alumnus of the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad's Class of 2019 and is determined to follow a path he will carve independently, “off the beaten track.” He attributes this fierce individuality to the opportunities he has been presented with in school.

"The Academy has pushed me to boundaries and spaces which I never imagined being in,” he expressed. “It has taught me many important life lessons which I wish to take with me as I move towards university. One of these is to always try something new. It gave me so many opportunities to explore my passions for which I am eternally thankful."

Tanish was one of the three student organisers of Academy in Hyderabad’s pioneering TEDx conference, which took place in May 2018.

“TEDxYouth@AKAHyderabad began as a revolution of ideas that inspired me to dream big and accomplish more. I wanted the students in the Academy to dream and imagine with the same ferocity, and come up with ideas that not only solve global problems but also inspire. This was my motivation behind organising such a conference here.”

Additionally, he held key leadership positions in the Academy’s Model UN conferences, played in the Senior School football team and was a chief editor of the student newsletter. 

However Tanish’s passion lies in the realm of physics, believing in the power of scientific solutions to address current global issues.

“A better understanding of our surroundings helps us gain a better understanding of ourselves," he said. "The biggest breakthroughs have come from principles based on physics – smartphones and normal appliances are built on the foundations of quantum tunneling. Not understanding physics hinders us from truly understanding the world around us.” 

For his Grade 10 personal project, Tanish focused on the importance of a future free of climate change and pollution. He used an old television to make a cathode ray tube (CRT) that disintegrated plastic and created something new in its place. He draws inspiration from his physics teacher Sudipta Roy.

“He teaches with such great passion and his zestful energy lights up my mood inspiring me to study even the most boring (and difficult) topics.” 

Tanish was accepted into University College London and the University of Glasgow to study pure physics, and intends to make connections in the fields that interest him. He wants to get involved in actively educating people about the possibilities of approaching everyday problems through the lens of science, by utilising concepts learnt within classrooms to bring small changes in their immediate environments, leading to big changes in a bigger context.

Contributed by Saheb Lakhani (Class of 2014).

Dhan Prasad was born in Hyderabad after his parents relocated here from Nepal, and grew up in Red Hills. He joined the Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, completing their Food Production & Patisserie course in the year 1993. In the following years, Dhan Prasad trained and worked at two of the premiere hotels in India, the ITC Grand Chola in Chennai and Oberoi Krishna in Hyderabad (renamed Taj Krishna). It was during this stint in Hyderabad that Dhan Prasad decided to pursue his passion for the arts. “You can call it my first love,” he says.

As a school boy, Dhan Prasad often visited the Jawahar Bal Bhavan in Nampally. The Bal Bhavan, with its high ceilings, yellow walls and large play area was created to be a place where children could hone their talents in the arts, learning music, dance, and, of course, drawing and painting. Here, he trained under artist and National Film Award winner, Thota Vaikuntam, whom he describes as his role model, guru and inspiration. “He used to encourage me by giving me big drawing charts and colours.” Dhan Prasad re-entered university in 1995, this time as a fine arts student at the Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University. His art, mainly sketches and acrylic, portray scenes of men and women, often at work, and always in conversation. The paintings are on large canvases, and though they have some of the stylistic attributes of Madhubani art, they are strikingly unique. The Bal Bhavan he went to is still active today and caters to around 3000 children in spite of being under-funded, and sharing its space with a local fire department.

“It was very tough to manage my work and my painting,” he says. Dhan Prasad was juggling university work and his job at the Krishna simultaneously at this time. As the pressure mounted, he was informed that he had been chosen to be Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of catering in the Indian Army, a proposition that comes from the desk of the President of India. Dhan Prasad describes joining the army as a bold decision. He remembers thinking, “I cannot ignore this opportunity to serve my country.” So he, in his words, left his white chef’s robes and donned the olive green of the Indian army.

Glad to have the opportunity to serve his country with his culinary abilities, he worked in the army for 19 years, serving in its storeyed institutions across the country and even abroad. Dhan Prasad was among the forces sent from India to be a part of the UN’s mission to maintain ceasefire between Syria and Israel. “My most memorable days were as kitchen manager of an international kitchen at UNDOF (United Nations Disengagement Observer Force), Israel,” he shares. “My most challenging work was at IMA (Indian Military Academy), Dehradun and OTA (Officers Training Academy), Chennai.” In these kitchens, Dhan Prasad organised meals and hospitality services for 2000-2500 people every day. Standing in charge of these large operations gave Dhan Prasad an understanding of the workplace, responsibilities and leadership, which make him revered by those who work under and alongside him.

“Being an army man he brings discipline to our catering,” says Head of Operations at AKA Hyderabad, David Roy. “He’s always on the dot.” Dhan Prasad and David work very closely, and often under high pressure. “In three years, we have never missed catering at a single event, and this is because of our excellent kitchen, its staff, and of course, Dhan Prasad.” It is a great compliment to him that in spite of the demanding nature of their job, Dhan Prasad has created an atmosphere of conviviality in the kitchens and among his support staff. “He understands his job, his responsibilities,” says David. “But the problem with him is that he doesn’t say no to anyone!”

The demands of the Academy’s kitchen are different from those of a military kitchen, and Dhan Prasad relishes the challenges that come with this job. “The diversity [in the students, faculty] gives me an opportunity to challenge myself and be innovative and creative in our day to day catering services,” he says. Dhan Prasad also looks forward to the holy month of Ramzan and being able provide for fasting students at the early hours of dawn. “The Global Encounters holiday camps offer other opportunities to test our calibre,” he adds.

Working at a school, Dhan Prasad believes learning about the mammoth effort that goes into their meals could be beneficial to students’ education. “Students need to have responsibility toward their food." He wants students to be informed about the processes of the food & beverage industry and also about etiquette. “Our students are future ladies and gentlemen who will go out internationally and later become responsible citizens of the nation. Table manners count for a lot when it comes to the personality of an individual.”

At 17, Dhan Prasad knew he wanted to be in hospitality. Today, he is a chef, an artist, and a retired Subedar Major. The praise heaped on him is the kind that Swiss watchmakers pine for. He is efficient, dependable and yet creative. “Art is long and life is short,” he muses. “Cooking is an art and science, it never ends and we can’t master it. The only thing we can do is try, practice and keep doing good work.”

Written by Ajay Sundaram

Alisha Sonawalla was part of AKA Hyderabad’s first graduating batch, the Class of 2014. Since then, she has accumulated an extraordinary set of experiences during a gap year and subsequently at university in New York City before joining Microsoft in Seattle this summer (2019). These experiences range from heading projects geared at exposing girls in rural India to coding and internet technologies, to designing English language development programmes in Tajikistan, and most recently, to spending summers in Silicon Valley working on self-driving cars. 

Alisha is currently working as a software engineer at Microsoft (Seattle) after pursuing a dual degree – B.S. in Computer Science (from NYU Courant) and B.S. in Management Science with a concentration in Data Science (from NYU Stern School of Business). She has received the Dean’s Honour Roll for securing a Grade Point Average in the top 10% of the class. Outside the classroom, she has dabbled in multiple projects including building her own robo news-reader, and experimenting with developing a secure cloud sharing service. 

“The Academy helped me become comfortable with making mistakes and encouraged me to focus on identifying solutions instead,” explains Alisha. “That, and my gap year experiences ignited in me a passion for tech and an entrepreneurial spirit, and ever since, I have been excited about building products to push the frontiers of technology forward.” 

Copyright - GM/HondaAlisha’s internships at university have provided her with unparalleled opportunities to deepen her technical knowledge. In 2017, she did an internship at IBM, where she worked with machine learning algorithms to develop a predictive model that would help IBM use unstructured data to forecast revenues for subsequent quarters. And then last summer, she engaged with cutting-edge technologies as a software engineer on General Motors and Honda’s joint autonomous car venture, Cruise Automation. “It was an exciting time to be in in the Mecca of tech,” she reminisces. “I led the development of a large-scale mapping service to deliver real-time, preemptive updates to the vehicle, allowing them to make more efficient routing decisions and enhanced ride safety. As one of the early engineers in the self-driving car space, it was amazing to have the opportunity to contribute towards the future of tech.”

Copyright - Agastya Int'l FoundationAlisha’s technological accomplishments of the past and plans for the future are marked by a social dimension. Her work with Agastya International Foundation, the world’s largest hands-on science program, took her to a small, rural village in Southern India, and involved designing a programme based on Google Bus and Raspberry Pi devices. The programme encouraged 900 students to combine scientific concepts with technology to find a solution to a local issue, such as soil contamination or crop infestation. “The girls’ newfound confidence became my motivation as I travelled across India and to Tajikistan conducting sessions for women on STEM opportunities,” shares Alisha. She was also one of 25 female engineers globally who was awarded the Goldman Sachs Grace Hopper Conference Scholarship to attend the Grace Hopper Conference, the largest conference for woman in tech. 

 

In 2013, while still at AKA Hyderabad, Alisha travelled across four remote villages of Gujarat to document the livelihood and survival strategies of a lost community, the Devipujaks. Her interviews and field research was compiled into one of the only ethnographic studies done on this marginalized group of people, and she presented her findings at the National Conference on Human Rights organised by the Central University of Gujarat and the Government of India. 

“I do see myself returning to India at some point,” Alisha states. “I see a lot of potential for innovation in bringing the next billion users online, and I want to be a part of this tech revolution. With a growing population, the lack of an educated workforce could create the biggest hindrance to economic prosperity and therefore it is essential to focus resources on education. Once the workforce is educated, it will be important to open up avenues of employment. Though we have seen smart phones and access to cheap internet become commonplace in India, there are still large pockets of the country that can benefit from access to better technology infrastructure. This would allow more home-grown startups to flourish, and enhance the ease of doing business in India for foreign companies for whom the 1.3 billion consumer base is extremely attractive." In the meantime, Alisha is joining Microsoft as a software engineer on their AI & Mixed Reality team.

Alisha credits AKA Hyderabad with helping refine her value system. “The Academy gave me the space to develop my moral compass by taking on leadership opportunities and experiencing ethical dilemmas first-hand. Being faced with these ethical decisions on a small scale helped me develop a moral compass that guides me through major decisions even today. Moreover, living in a shared space taught me to adapt to different situations, lifestyles and people, which made my transition to NYU, a new city and a different culture seamless.”  

Written by Kamini Menon