Malvika Iyer is the essence of courage and optimism. At 13, a freak accident caused her to lose both her hands and severely damaged her legs, raising serious doubts about whether she would ever walk again. But young Malvika braved the odds and emerged victorious. Today she is a dedicated social worker, a motivational speaker and model for accessible clothing …

Narendra Jadhav — Growing up in the heart of a Wadala slum, eight-year-old Narendra Jadhav knew what he wanted to be when he grew up: a gangster. Somewhere along the way he changed course and ended up as chief economist of the Reserve Bank of India and then vice-chancellor of Pune University, a chair he currently holds. This prestigious post …

Nandini Satpathy (born: 9 June 1931 – 4 August 2006) was an Indian politician and author. She was the Chief Minister of Odisha from June 1972 to December 1976. Nandini Sathpathy Nee Panigrahy was the daughter of Oriya writer, Kalindi Panigrahy. Her father, an influential writer, had founded the socialist Samajbadi Society and started the Oriya daily Dharitri in 1974. She …

Nandan Nilekani was born in Bangalore, Karnataka, as the younger son of Durga and Mohan Rao Nilekani. His father worked as a General Manager of Mysore and Minerva Mills. His father, who subscribed to Fabian Socialist ideals, had an influence on Nandan during his early years. He has an elder brother, Vijay, who works in the Nuclear Energy Institute. He …

Nammalwar was a Tamil Poet, regarded as one of the twelve Alwars in India. He is quite renowned for his beautiful hymns dedicated to Lord Vishnu. The main aim of Nammalwar’s life was to serve the Lord, love Him, praise him and surrender to Him. Even though he was originally from southernmost part of India, he won the hearts of people …

Nagarjuna — Perhaps no man in his time has more tales spun around him than Nagarjuna. He was said to be in communion with gods and goddesses, to have the power to change base metal into gold, to know the secret of making the “elixir of life.” He was famous and people looked on him with awe mingled with fear. …

Nadira was born as Farhat Ezekiel (some suggest Florence Ezekiel) on December 5, 1932 into a Baghdadi Jewish family in Nagpada, Central Bombay, a predominantly Muslim and Jewish locality. Her parents divorced when she was just four years old and she and her brothers were raised by her grandmother. She was still in her teens when she was spotted by …

Archimedes, the renowned Greek scientist who lived from about 287 to about 212 BC, was asked to find out whether the King’s crown was made of pure gold or of gold mixed with a less valuable metal. The story goes that one day, preoccupied with his seemingly impossible task, he filled his bath to full and the water overflowed as …

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovski was born in Russia in 1857. He spent his life teaching in school and doing practical and theoretical research work in the fields of aeronautics and astronautics. In 1883, long before the first aeroplane had been built, he began to consider the many different factors involved if man were to journey into space. In so doing, he …

Muttiah Muralitharan (born 17 April 1972), often referred to as Murali, is a Sri Lankan cricketer, who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack in 2002. Muralitharan is the highest wicket-taker in both Test cricket and in One Day Internationals (ODIs). He took the wicket of Gautam Gambhir on 5 February 2009 in Colombo to …