THE NEW SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE VOICES ANAND NEELAKANTAN DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE AJAI SAHNI RAVI SHANKAR DR RAMYA ALAKKAL SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA BUFFET PEOPLE WELLNESS BOOKS FOOD ART & CULTURE ENTERTAINMENT AUGUST 9 2026 SUNDAY PAGES 12 The Brain Game Brigade Young Indian STEM prodigies on global shores are pushing the frontiers of science and showing the world what’s possible T By SURUCHI KAPUR GOMES he human brain is a chimera of untapped potential. For the exceptionally gifted, genius is the ability to see the world differently and connect disparate dots to draw patterns others cannot see. Especially for the barely adolescent innovators who see crossing unknown frontiers as the ultimate reward for curiosity. Schoolgirl Tejasvi Manoj began coding before adolescence. Gitanjali Rao found a method to combat lead contamination in groundwater. Anirudh Rao invented a tornado alert system while still a junior. Sirish Subash patented PestiSCAND, a device to identify pesticide residue in the earth at 15 years old. Madhvi Chittoor rallied for environmental reform and has influenced legislation since she was eight. Swara Patel advanced conversations around menstrual awareness when she was a teenager. Tenith Adithyaa already has 19 inventions to his name and is on the way to more. They are the STEM generation: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Yet the deeper distinction between them and their adult peers lies elsewhere. Their work is defined by enduring impact as disruptors challenging existing systems. Among this remarkable cohort of young Indian-origin innovators across the globe, this duality is not theoretical. They work across continents from suburban Texas to laboratories in Colorado and rural Tamil Nadu. The owners of these minds—which cannot strictly be called desi—do not operate in isolation. Theirs is a shared pattern: early curiosity, sustained inquiry, and a stubborn refusal to accept the world as it is. Time Kid of the Year Gitanjali Rao’s Kindly app, designed to combat cyberbullying, is now recognised as a UN Public Good initiative, while the newest Time Kid of the Year (2026) Tejasvi Manoj’s mission is to protect senior citizens from cybercrime as digital arrest has become a serious danger. There is Sirish Subash who is developing a diagnostic cancer-detection tool. Anirudh Rao wants to solve the battery waste crisis; he has four inventions already in patent stage. Meanwhile, Madhvi Chittoor’s climate activism is reshaping environmental policy in the age of global warming denial. Swara Patel focuses on oncology and also women’s health. Tenith Adithyaa innovation ecosystems will nurture emerging talent in multiple fields. Individually, they are exceptional but taken together they signify a larger trend of a generational shift from just learning systems. They represent the idea that possibility shaped by curiosity, and reinforced by parents who nurture their potential, and sharpened by access to STEM ecosystems, is a rewarding pursuit. India is only beginning to be open to the culture of questioning followed by the STEMsters. Sirish, Gitanjali, and Madhvi’s brains cause outlier connections to emerge because their brains retain concepts of possibilities longer. Tejasvi Manoj The Eagle’s Code S ometime in 2024, Tejasvi Manoj learned her grandfather almost lost his savings to online scamsters. He knew little about cyber cheats—surveys have found nearly 75 per cent of Indian senior population has no idea of how the internet works. Scamstsers got away with $3 billion in 2024 alone. Her grandfather’s case was the catalyst for designing Shield Seniors, an app designed to protect older adults from cybercrime. Her Indian immigrant parents—her father is from Maharashtra and her mother is from Chennai—are software engineers who moved to the US in 2000. “They let me figure things out myself,” she says. By middle school, Tejasvi was a regular at coding clubs and competitions. “Programmes like Girls Who Code opened up the space,” she says. Tejasvi, now 17, found coding as an experience of imagination and never just a technical exercise. “I could build entire worlds, games, inventions just by typing a few words,” she says. Her equally strong instinct for service led her to volunteering for Feed My Starving Children in eighth grade. She is involved with Vibha, a mentoring organisation based in the US and India to teach Bhutanese refugee children maths and English. Before that, she had to go through endless YouTube tutorials, trial and error methods to study AI-driven systems. Her family describes her drive to the strong foundation of balance and grounding received at home. “ her commitments grew, there was a conscious effort As to keep her centred—reminding her to return to the core purpose of her work, prioritise academics, family time, and rest,” says her father, Manoj Ganapathy . BESIDES: She is an Eagle Scout who proudly wears her “eagle,” badge. She is a violinist, and an avid reader. Tejasvi’s inspiration is Ada Lovelace, who is widely regarded as the world’s first computer programmer. “Women aren’t always taken seriously in coding,” she says. Her advice: “advocate for yourself” Sirish Subash Swara Patel Cell Detective Free Period I S wara, born in Mumbai and living in America, and now headed to Harvard Medical School to pursue an MD, is from a family of healthcare professionals. When she got her first period, her mother gave her a sanitary pad and a list of instructions: ‘you can’t go to the temples during periods’, ‘do not touch other people while on your period’, ‘period blood makes you dirty’, and many more. The pivotal point in her life came when she was volunteering at a paediatric oncology ward in Mumbai and met a woman on her period who was being forced to go around the city for money for her son’s chemotherapy; she wasn’t wearing a sanitary napkin because she couldn’t afford to buy one. Swara founded The Period Society in 2018, and has reached tens of thousands of women through menstrual health education while distributing sustainable hygiene products. Her organisation, which has 35 chapters across India—and global chapters in Singapore, Dubai, UK, and the US—continues to meet the monthly menstrual hygiene needs of thousands of women. The Society is also the only Indian organisation to have been represented at a private roundtable hosted by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during the One Young World 2022 summit. “Biologically it is such a sophisticated and elegant proc, ess—and yet still so stigmatised,” she says. In spite of her first experience with a sanitary pad, she thinks her parents are the most open and supportive people she knows. “It was primarily my father, a physician, who showed me that women can truly have it all,” she recalls. The General Motors and Ashoka Global STEM for Changemaking Challenge winner is preparing for Harvard while vowing to read as many books as possible along the way . BESIDES: Trained Bharatanatyam dancer. Enjoys reading, and trying out new bubble tea places t was the grapes that did it for 13-year-old Sirish Subash. One day his mother asked him to wash a bunch of the fruit well. He wondered how to know if the grapes were really clean even after washing? In a few months, he found a solution: PestiSCAND, a handheld scanner that informs buyers when residue of potentially harmful pesticides remain even after the fruit or vegetables are cleaned: the AI-powered device is awaiting patent. “I build systems at the frontier where early signals are hardest to detect.” It is a bold claim, one he is steadily living up to. He was named “ America’s Top Young Scientist” after winning the 3M Young Scientist Challenge and $25,000 as the grand prize. His new project is developing an early cancer-detection tool at a STEM-focused school in Lawrenceville. “You try fail, get stuck, and find your way through,” he grins. His mother, an , elementary school teacher, and his father, a software engineer, moved to the US from Ariyur when Sirish was three. His father, Subash Arumugam, recalls six-year-old Sirish watching a documentary on climate change when others his age watched Cartoon Network. During Covid-19, he was moved to build a contactless delivery robot after watching a librarian struggling to carry books in freezing weather. “Understand the space first,” he says. “Then solve.” His current focus is on early cancer diagnosis. At 10 years old, he wrote the Carbon Block Puzzle for young readers. When he turned 12, he created a graphic novel to make biochemistry more engaging for his friends. His core philosophy: science is not merely about getting answers but asking better questions. BESIDES: He enjoys reading biographies, narrative nonfiction, and science writing. He is a violinist with a fondness for Paganini’s La Campanella. He is also teaching himself the guitar. His favourite motivational phrase: “pleasure of finding things out and playful curiosity”