When a TikTok user who goes by the name "Danny B" hosted an online talent show, he probably wasn't expecting to be blown away by a nine-year-old, but Megan Rakesh, from Bengaluru, managed to do just that. Megan, who has been singing with her father since she was two, took everyone by surprise with her rendition of Fallin' by Alicia Keys. Footage that has gone massively viral online shows the talent show hosts reacting in shock and surprise as the nine-year-old girl began singing, while her father accompanied her on the guitar. Her powerful rendition of the Alicia Keys song reached the American singer herself, who gave her a shout-out on her Instagram Story this weekend.

An Instagram account dedicated to Megan, which is managed by her parents, also shared the video

"Alicia Keys shared it," her parents wrote while sharing the video, adding that their daughter had "dreamt of this moment a million times and the feeling is unreal."

"Thank You so much @ohitsdannyb for posting this on TIKTOK... (1 Million plus views in 24 hrs)," they added.

Philem Rohan Singh is a 24-year-old social activist who cycles across India to feed the poor amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Through his “Feeding the Hungry” campaign, Philem Rohan Singh cycled from Kolkata to Delhi, covering Chennai and Bengaluru, to feed the poor amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. During his first cycling excursion called “Pollution Free India” in January 2018 from Delhi to Imphal, he spread awareness on how people can contribute towards a cleaner and healthier environment and make a pollution-free society for the next generations. About a year ago, when the pandemic was at its peak, Rohan started a 'Feeding the Hungry’ campaign in Manipur, providing food to 50-60 people each day. In February 2021, he decided to expand this campaign to four major metros — Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Delhi — feeding more than 4000 people in two months. In his two-month-long journey — from February 5 to April 8 — Rohan traversed over 5,000 km, starting from Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and finally, ending it in Delhi.

To sustain his energy during the journey, he pedalled according to his convenience and travelled about 90-100 km a day, and focussed more on interacting and feeding people.

Creative minds often collaborate with others on the same wavelength as them, in order to bring their vision to life. When Hyderabad-based singer Peekay aka Pranati Khanna, planned the release of her new single ‘You Don’t Have To’, she immediately knew she wanted the clothes she adorned for the video, to be from the sustainable, made-from-waste label Cancelled Plans, also based in Hyderabad. The final result is a striking and creative look that makes a strong impression.

Check out conversation with her!

Juhi Sharma is the founder of Light Up (EMF) and Unbottle Emotions. She is also an entrepreneur and educator. Light Up is one of the first few social ventures that is focusing on harnessing the emotional intelligence (EI) of children, parents and, teachers by developing their social and emotional competencies, and providing them with tools necessary to form a cohesive, collaborative, non-violent, and caring community.

Unbottle Emotions, which is an extension of Light Up (EMF) hosts workshops that are experiential in nature and all about addressing one’s emotional health. Unbottle Emotions focuses on advocacy and awareness of practicing Emotional Intelligence in one’s daily lives that enables one to experience emotional freedom.

Juhi holds degrees in multiple fields - a graduate degree in B Com from Delhi University and a master’s in fashion marketing from Pearl Academy - and has been an Entrepreneurship and Innovation Fellow from Stanford Graduate School of Business. She constantly engaged with community work and was involved in doing field work and visiting various communities, local schools, and government offices while working on various development sector projects in the area of Water, Sanitation And Hygiene (WASH), Education, and Health.

Jay Alani is a renowned Indian full-time paranormal investigator. He has investigated over 100 haunted locations like Bhangarh fort, Kuldhara, Lambi Dehar Mines in Mussoorie, etc. Jay Alani’s podcast ‘Paranormal Reality’ streaming over popular platforms like Gaana, Spotify, iTunes, Wynk etc. has been heard over 12 Million times and counting. He has also created a two-season non-fiction horror web-series ‘Dark Destinations’ streaming on the OTT platform ‘Watcho’. Jay Alani’s book ‘Haunted’ co-authored by Neil D’ Silva and published by Penguin India, talks about his real-life encounters with ghosts and spirits. He has also initiated a paranormal volunteer programme targeting over 1000 volunteers in India to spread awareness about the paranormal reality and the real truth behind the paranormal world to protect people from falling in the trap of black magic, witchcraft and such Babas, Tantrik and Ojha.

The NGO, Humane World For Animals was founded by Nikitha and co-founded by Bindu Rani, Shivendra Prathap Singh, and Akash Kumar as a rescue and rehabilitation centre for sick, injured, and abused homeless animals. It is working to create a compassionate community by encouraging people to take care of the animals in their surroundings.

The organisation is also working on animal birth control and an anti-rabies vaccination programme for stray dogs. It also started its own veterinary clinic for pets where a basic fee is charged for the services. The profits from this clinic are used for the treatment of the rescued animals.

Apart from all these, the team also regularly conducts awareness programmes about animal welfare in schools and colleges and gives guidance to local bodies to help them with issues related to animals. It also works with the police department to keep a check on animal abusers and those who harass animal caretakers.

Four Cyclists from Bangalore: Raghu Reddy, Rajaneesh KN, Vaibhav Shinde & Shankar, make up for the only team from Karnataka to have conquered the 3rd edition of The Great Himalayan Ultra Race brought together by Inspire India, which started on the 11th of September, 2021.  The Great Himalayan Ultra Race is the World’s highest Ultracycle race - A 600 km road race starting and finishing in Leh, Ladakh. It comprises solo and relay team categories. Solo is a RAAM Qualifier for racers, finishing within the cut-off will qualify for The Race Across America. The Relay team category is RAAM style. The Races are also on the Ultramarathon Cycling (UMCA) calendar. In the 3rd Edition - 2021, a 444 KM Self Supported race was also conducted from Leh-Kargil and back.

Raghu Reddy won the 2nd place at The Great Himalayan Ultra Race with a race time – 32 hrs 39 min and overall time - 35 hrs 39 min (including mandatory 3 hrs rest break) and is RAAM qualified. Rajaneesh KN finished 4th at The Great Himalayan Ultra Race with a race time - 36 hrs 20 min and overall time - 39 hrs 20 min and is RAAM qualified. Vaibhav Shinde became the first finisher of the Self Supported Category of The Great Himalayan Ultra Race, finishing 444 km in 2 stages with a total time of 26 hrs 2 min Race time - Leh to Kargil – 12 hrs 8 min Kargil to Leh – 13 hrs 54 min. Shankar had a race time of 33 hours in the 444 km solo self supported category race.

Audrey Maben  set a record for being the only woman in India to fly solo for 2400 kms in 5 days on a Microlight. In 1993-94 she was adjudged All India Best Glider Pilot at The Republic Day Parade. She went on to qualify as a private pilot. She co-founded aero sports firms, Mysore Aero sports Pvt. Limited and Bangalore Airports Pvt Limited. She is also a mother and an educator. She set a record in the the Air Race 2003 being the only woman flying as Pilot in Command, solo. In 2008, she became India’s first Microlight flying instructor. She logged 1,100 hours of flight time en route helping many others earn their wings along the way. She launched Mysuru’s first Cambridge International school, I can. She is also India’s first Motor Glider Pilot. She also earned a nomination to circumnavigate the globe on a Motor Glider.

In 2019, a year before the pandemic, entrepreneurs Amit Singal and Amit Vyas had started working on the digital transformation of the healthcare sector. Nexus Healthtech — popularly known by its product name Maatri — is a digital health platform to help mothers track the health of their children along with other family members.  It provides health-related update information, health monitoring, teleconsultation, and maintains health records, among others.

Maatri is divided into several segments. The CEO explains that it helps mothers with children less than five years to track their growth as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.  It acts as a personal paediatrician, where mothers can keep a tab on their child’s vaccinations, developmental aspects, generate health cards, and connect with doctors online, among others. The product also helps parents recognise any early signs of developmental conditions among their children via a screening test.  Besides, women can use Maatri during their pregnancy period to track their and their child’s health.

In fact, the product is not limited to just children. Women can also use Maatri to track the health of other family members. Not only human members, but Maatri also enables the user to add medical details about their pets.

The Dark Is Beautiful campaign was started in 2009, by Women Of Worth, a non-profit based in India, as an awareness and advocacy campaign to fight colourism.

It seeks to draw attention to the unjust effects of skin colour bias, shaped by societal attitudes and reinforced by media messages that are corroding the self-worth of countless people, young and old.

In the 10 years since its inception, the Dark Is Beautiful campaign has gained international recognition and garnered support from celebrities and recognition and mention in various major media publications in India and around the world.

Kavitha Emmanuel launched the DISB campaign on 2009 with a passion to address the issue of colourism in India . She was challenged by the lack of voice for those traumatized by skin colour discrimination. She recognised the need for a platform for people to connect, express and challenge this toxic belief that was stripping people of their true sense of worth.