Lalit Modi: The Cricket Administrator Credited With Turning the IPL Into a Global Sporting Phenomenon
Lalit Modi, the IPL’s first chairman and commissioner, turned T20 cricket into a global sporting spectacle. The league he built is now worth over US$4 billion and inspired T20 leagues across the world.
Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale at the Asian Games: How India’s 43-Year-Old Veteran and His Partner Fought Back to Win Gold
On 30 September 2023, Rohan Bopanna, 43, and Rutuja Bhosale, 27, won the Bopanna Asian Games gold in tennis mixed doubles in Hangzhou. They beat Chinese Taipei’s Tsung-hao Huang and En-shuo Liang 2–6, 6–3, 10–4, giving India its only tennis title at the Games.
Ranjana Sonawane: How India’s First Aadhaar Number Went to a Farm Labourer in a Remote Tribal Village in Maharashtra
Ranjana Sonawane, a tribal farm labourer from Tembhli village in Nandurbar, Maharashtra, became the first person in India to receive an Aadhaar number on 29 September 2010. India’s first Aadhaar number went to a remote tribal village, not a city.
Lobzang Yangchen: The Spiti Woman Leading an 11-Member Team in India’s Snow Leopard Survey
Lobzang Yangchen, a mother of two from Spiti’s Kibber village, had never used a computer. Today she leads an 11-member women’s team that helped process over eight lakh camera-trap images for Himachal Pradesh’s snow leopard survey.
Arati Saha: How a Kolkata Girl Who Lost Her Mother at Two Became the First Asian Woman to Swim the English Channel
The 19-year-old Arati Saha became the first Asian woman to swim the English Channel on 29 September 1959, crossing from France to England in 16 hours and 20 minutes. She was the first Indian sportswoman to receive the Padma Shri.
Jayshree Vencatesan: The Chennai Wetland Scientist Who Became the First Indian to Win the Ramsar Award for Wetland Wise Use
Jayshree Vencatesan, co-founder of Care Earth Trust in Chennai, became the first Indian to win the Ramsar Award for Wetland Wise Use in March 2025. She mapped the shrinking Pallikaranai Marsh using little more than a rope, a compass and a pair of binoculars.
Anchal Bhateja: The Blind Advocate Who Became the First Visually Impaired Woman to argue a case in the Supreme Court
Anchal Bhateja lost her eyesight before her Class X exams. In 2023 she graduated from NLSIU Bangalore, and on 6 June 2025 she became the first visually impaired woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court of India.
AstroSat Space Observatory: How India Joined the Short List of Nations Studying the Universe From Orbit
The AstroSat space observatory lifted off from Sriharikota on 28 September 2015, making India one of the few nations with its own space telescope. Built by ISRO with institutes across India, it carries five instruments that study the universe in ultraviolet, visible and X-ray light at once.
Ansh Mishra: The Indian Traveller Who Turned Hitchhiking Into a Journey Across the World
On World Tourism Day 2026, meet Ansh Mishra, popularly known as Indigo Trekker, an Indian traveller and filmmaker who turned hitchhiking into a remarkable journey across India and beyond. From travelling across Indian states through the kindness of strangers to exploring Africa and documenting remote communities, cultures and hidden destinations, his story is about discovering the world beyond the conventional tourist map.
The Inspiring Journey of Mihir Sen, the First Asian to Conquer the English Channel
Mihir Sen became the first Asian to swim the English Channel on 27 September 1958, crossing from Dover to Calais in 14 hours and 45 minutes. He once knew only how to dog paddle in a pond in Cuttack. After a failed 1955 attempt, he returned to make history. In 1966, he swam five major waterways across five continents in a single year.