While most Class 12 students are preparing for board examinations and planning their next academic step, Kerala teenager Raul John Aju has been building artificial intelligence (AI) tools, running a technology education platform and conducting AI workshops for students and professionals.

Known online as “Raul the Rockstar” and often referred to as the “AI Kid of India,” Raul has pursued technology despite studying Commerce rather than the conventional engineering or computer science stream.

From self-learning at nine to building AI tools

Raul's interest in technology reportedly began when he was around nine years old. What started as independent learning and experimentation gradually developed into AI projects and educational initiatives.

A Plus Two Commerce student at North Edappally GHSS, Raul is also associated with AIRealm Technologies, where he describes himself as founder and CTO. His projects include AI-based tools such as ThinkCraft, RESQ AI and MeBot.

He is also the founder of ThinkCraft Academy, an initiative focused on helping students and professionals understand and use emerging technologies.

Taking AI beyond the classroom

Raul's work extends beyond developing technology. He has conducted workshops and awareness sessions on AI for students, teachers and professionals, with an emphasis on making the technology accessible to people without a technical background.

His public profiles state that he has delivered eight TEDx talks and conducted sessions at IITs, universities and schools. He has also built an online following of more than 500,000 people, where he shares content related to AI and emerging technologies.

His approach is centred on experimentation and hands-on learning rather than relying exclusively on formal qualifications.

Using technology to solve real-world problems

An account of Raul's journey also highlights his curiosity about solving practical problems using technology. In one reported incident, he investigated a suspicious scam message instead of simply ignoring it, attempting to understand how the scam worked.

Such experiences appear to have reinforced his interest in using technology as a problem-solving tool.

Can Commerce students build careers in AI?

Raul's journey challenges the perception that careers in AI are limited to students pursuing engineering or Computer Science.

While advanced AI research and development require strong foundations in mathematics, programming and computer science, the wider AI ecosystem also needs entrepreneurs, educators, product developers, designers and domain specialists.

For Raul, the journey into AI began with curiosity and self-learning rather than a conventional technical degree.

His experience highlights how hands-on experimentation, independent learning and the willingness to build can open alternative pathways into the technology sector—even for students studying subjects traditionally considered unrelated to AI.

What began with a Rs 300 oven in a Ludhiana home has grown into a listed food company with a market capitalisation of around Rs 7,890 crore.

Rajni Bector, who started making ice cream, cakes, cookies and buns at home in the 1970s, is today behind Mrs Bectors Food Specialities, the company that operates the Cremica and English Oven brands and supplies bakery products to major quick-service restaurant (QSR) chains.

The company's journey began after Bector developed an interest in baking following her marriage and the birth of her children. She enrolled in a baking course at Punjab Agricultural University and started preparing ice creams, cakes and cookies for friends and acquaintances.

Encouraged by the response, she bought an oven for Rs 300 and began producing baked goods at home. She also made ice cream in her backyard.

Her first attempt at selling ice cream, however, was not profitable. Bector sold products at local fairs but priced them below their production cost.

Her husband, Dharamvir Bector, encouraged her to approach the venture commercially and provided Rs 20,000 in 1978 to establish an ice-cream manufacturing unit.

From Home Bakery to Manufacturing Business

The business gradually expanded beyond ice cream. In 1985, Bector established a bread manufacturing unit in Punjab, initially producing around 5,000 loaves a day. The plant's capacity eventually increased to approximately 50,000 loaves daily.

The business operated under the Cremica name and subsequently expanded into biscuits, bakery products and institutional supplies.

A major turning point came when McDonald's entered India in the 1990s. Cremica was selected to supply burger buns and liquid condiments to the fast-food chain and began supplying buns to McDonald's by 1996.

The company later entered a joint venture with Quaker Oats through Quaker Cremica Foods, producing products such as ketchup, mayonnaise and milkshake syrups.

Supplying McDonald's, KFC and Burger King

Mrs Bectors Food Specialities eventually expanded its institutional business and began supplying buns and other bakery products to major QSR chains, including McDonald's, KFC and Burger King.

Alongside institutional sales, the company built its consumer brands. Cremica became its packaged biscuit brand, while English Oven focused on bread and premium bakery products.

The company has also expanded internationally, with its products now sold in more than 70 countries and reaching international customers and retailers including Walmart and Lulu Group.

Rs 541 Crore IPO

The company was incorporated as Quaker Cremica Foods Private Limited in 1995 and was later renamed Mrs Bectors Food Specialities.

In December 2020, Mrs Bectors Food Specialities launched its initial public offering (IPO), raising around Rs 541 crore. The issue was reportedly subscribed nearly 198 times.

Its market capitalisation reached around Rs 2,500 crore by November 2021. As of August 24, 2026, the company's market capitalisation stood at around Rs 7,890 crore.

The transformation from a home-based baking venture to a listed food company has made Rajni Bector's journey one of India's notable women-led business success stories. What started with a Rs 300 oven eventually developed into a business serving consumers, global QSR chains and international markets.

For many UPSC aspirants, cracking the Civil Services Examination requires years of preparation. For IPS officer Simala Prasad, the challenge was even greater—she prepared for the examination while already serving as a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP).

Prasad cleared the UPSC Civil Services Examination in her first attempt, securing All India Rank (AIR) 51 and earning selection to the Indian Police Service. She prepared through self-study without joining a coaching institute, making her journey an interesting example for aspirants considering an independent preparation strategy.

Her career has also extended beyond policing, with interests in acting and writing.

IPS Simala Prasad's Family Background

Born in Bhopal on October 8, 1980, Simala Prasad grew up in a family associated with public service and literature.

Her father, Dr Bhagirath Prasad, was a 1975-batch IAS officer who also served as a Member of Parliament and vice-chancellor of two universities.

Her mother, Mehrunnisa Parvez, was a prominent Hindi writer. She received the Padma Shri in 2005 for her contribution to literature.

Despite coming from a family with strong connections to public service and literature, Prasad developed her own professional journey through competitive examinations and later explored creative fields.

From Commerce Graduate to DSP

Prasad completed her graduation in Commerce before pursuing a master's degree in Sociology.

She subsequently appeared for the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission (MPPSC) examination and cleared it, becoming a Deputy Superintendent of Police.

It was while working as a DSP that she decided to attempt the UPSC Civil Services Examination.

How Simala Prasad Cracked UPSC Without Coaching

Preparing for UPSC while working as a police officer meant that Prasad had to balance professional responsibilities with an intensive study schedule.

Rather than joining a coaching institute, she relied on self-study to prepare for the examination.

Her strategy eventually delivered results. Prasad cleared UPSC in her first attempt with AIR 51, securing her place in the IPS.

Her journey demonstrates that UPSC preparation can take different forms and that aspirants who cannot commit to full-time preparation can also pursue the examination with disciplined planning and consistent study.

Prasad has also been selected for the President's Medal for Meritorious Service and is sometimes referred to as the 'Lady Singham'.

IPS Officer Simala Prasad's Acting Career

Prasad's interests extend beyond civil services and policing. She developed an interest in acting during her college years in Bhopal, where she participated in theatre.

She made her film debut with Alif in 2016 and later appeared in Nakkash in 2019.

In June 2026, she appeared in the crime thriller The Narmada Story, playing the role of a sub-inspector.

Her acting career has developed alongside her work in the police service, reflecting her interest in the performing arts.

Following Her Mother's Literary Legacy

Prasad has also explored writing, following another creative path associated with her family.

Earlier in 2026, she authored the non-fiction book She Goes Missing, drawing on her experiences and presenting her perspective on them.

Her professional journey therefore spans several fields—from policing and civil services to acting and writing.

UPSC Success Story: Key Lessons for Aspirants

Simala Prasad's journey stands out because she did not prepare for UPSC under conventional circumstances. She first cleared MPPSC, became a DSP and then prepared for one of India's most competitive examinations while continuing to work.

Her AIR 51 in the first UPSC attempt highlights the importance of disciplined self-study, consistency and determination.

For aspirants who are balancing preparation with jobs or other responsibilities, her journey offers an important takeaway: a demanding schedule can make preparation more difficult, but with a structured approach and sustained effort, it does not necessarily make the goal impossible.

A BBA second-year student from Bengaluru spent his three-month college vacation working as a Rapido captain, earning around ₹1,200 on a good day. What began as a temporary side hustle after his first-year exams gave him a first-hand understanding of the opportunities and challenges associated with gig work in India.

The student shared his experience in a Reddit post, detailing his daily routine, earnings, fuel expenses, customer interactions and the uncertainties that gig workers face.

BBA Student Worked 8.5 Hours a Day on Rapido

The student said he typically started work around 8 am and returned home by 4:30 pm, spending approximately 8.5 hours online.

When he first joined the platform, he had little understanding of how ride demand worked. Over time, however, he began identifying locations and time slots where demand was higher and learnt how to use the platform more efficiently.

On a good day, he could earn around ₹1,200. During periods when bike-ride demand was lower, particularly between 12 pm and 3 pm, he said he also accepted food delivery orders to make better use of his time.

His experience highlights how gig workers often have to understand demand patterns and constantly adjust their working strategy to maximise earnings.

'I Didn't Really Take Breaks'

The student said his experience also changed how he viewed people who depend on gig economy jobs as their primary source of income.

While he was online, he was generally either completing an order or waiting for the next one. He said he did not really take regular breaks during his working hours.

However, there was one major difference between his situation and that of a full-time gig worker: he could simply stop working and return home because the job was only a college vacation side hustle.

For someone dependent on gig work to meet household expenses, that flexibility may not be available.

Ratings, Cancellations and Platform Support

The student also highlighted some of the challenges associated with working through app-based platforms.

He claimed that customer cancellations could affect a captain's rating, even when the cancellation was outside the worker's control. He also said that getting adequate platform support when problems arose could be difficult.

At the same time, his experience with passengers was largely positive. While working around busy Bengaluru locations, including Majestic and railway stations, he interacted with several passengers and said he did not have a negative customer experience during his three months on the platform.

What ₹1,200 a Day Really Means for a Gig Worker

The student's biggest takeaway was the difference between treating gig work as a temporary side hustle and depending on it as a full-time livelihood.

For him, ₹1,200 earned on a good day represented additional money during his college vacation. For a full-time gig worker, however, a similar amount may need to cover fuel costs, daily expenses and household bills.

His experience also exposed the less visible aspects of gig work, including waiting time, fuel expenses, fluctuating demand, customer cancellations, restaurant delays, ratings and platform policies.

The BBA student's account offers a snapshot of the realities of India's growing gig economy, particularly for young people who increasingly turn to platform-based work for temporary income.

He concluded his Reddit post by asking full-time workers associated with Rapido, Swiggy and Zomato to share their experiences with earnings, ratings, cancellations and platform support.

For many engineering graduates, landing a job at a global technology company like Intel is a dream come true. But for Hemant Kumar Bhukar, an engineer from Rajasthan, a successful semiconductor career was not the final destination.

After nearly three years designing semiconductor chips at Intel, Hemant decided to pursue his long-held ambition of becoming a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). He eventually secured All India Rank 7 (AIR 7) in the selection process for Scientist 'A' at ISRO.

His journey is a lesson in balancing a demanding job with focused preparation—and in staying committed to a goal even when taking the safer career path would have been easier.

From a Rajasthan Village to IIT Delhi

Hemant's journey began in Gothra Bhukran village in Rajasthan's Sikar district. His academic performance eventually took him to IIT Delhi, where he completed his BTech before pursuing an MTech in Semiconductors.

His specialised academic background helped him enter the semiconductor industry, where he joined Intel as a design engineer working on semiconductor chip design.

By conventional career standards, he had already reached a coveted position. Yet his interest in research, public service and India's space programme pushed him towards a different goal.

How Hemant Prepared for ISRO While Working at Intel

The biggest challenge was preparing for the ISRO selection process while working full-time.

Hemant was putting in around 7-8 hours of work each day, leaving little room for the kind of preparation schedule followed by full-time aspirants.

Instead of waiting for ideal conditions, he used the time available to him. Early mornings, evenings and weekends became important parts of his preparation routine.

His experience in semiconductor engineering also gave him an advantage. The technical knowledge acquired through his IIT Delhi education and professional experience at Intel provided a strong foundation for his preparation.

Rather than treating his corporate career as a distraction, he was able to build on what he had already learned.

From Intel to ISRO: A Career Decision Driven by Purpose

Hemant's decision to move from a stable corporate career to a highly competitive government scientific role was not an easy one.

His story demonstrates that a career change does not necessarily mean discarding everything achieved along the way. His experience in the semiconductor industry became part of the technical foundation with which he approached his ISRO preparation.

His eventual AIR 7 in the ISRO Scientist 'A' selection process turned a long-term ambition into reality.

Hemant's Message to Engineering Students

One of the strongest lessons from Hemant's journey is the importance of consistency, discipline and patience.

Preparing for a competitive examination while working full-time meant that he could not depend on long study hours. Instead, he had to make consistent use of limited time.

His journey also carries a message for students from small towns and rural India who may feel that their circumstances limit their career options.

Hemant's path—from a village in Rajasthan to IIT Delhi, then Intel and finally an ISRO Scientist 'A' position—shows that ambitious career goals can be pursued through sustained effort.

A Scientist's Success Inspires His Village

Hemant's achievement brought pride to his family and his hometown.

His father, Shishpal Bhukar, works as an Additional Chief Engineer with the Public Works Department (PWD) in Bikaner, while his mother, Sushila, is a homemaker.

For young engineering students, his journey offers a simple takeaway: there may be no shortcut to a dream career, but consistent effort can make even a difficult career transition possible.

What happens when a teacher refuses to let disability determine the limits of a child's future? For Professor Hemachandran Karah, the answer is a remarkable academic journey that took him from the Little Flower School for the Blind in Chennai to the University of Cambridge and eventually to IIT Madras.

Today, Karah is an Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Madras, where his work focuses on Disability Studies, accessibility, aesthetics, literary criticism and audio description.

But his journey is about more than academic achievements. It is also about challenging the assumptions surrounding disability and demonstrating what becomes possible when students are given opportunities instead of limitations.

A teacher who encouraged him to dream bigger

Among the teachers who influenced Karah during his school years, Vincent Sir holds a special place.

Rather than allowing Karah's visual impairment to define what he could achieve, the teacher encouraged him to think beyond the conventional boundaries often placed around students with disabilities. He even encouraged Karah to consider studying abroad.

That encouragement stayed with Karah as he continued his education and eventually earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge in the UK.

For Karah, the experience reinforced an important lesson: the first barrier a student with a disability may have to overcome is sometimes not a physical barrier, but the belief that a particular dream is unattainable.

From Cambridge to IIT Madras

Karah is now working to address some of the barriers that students with disabilities continue to face in education and society.

He is a founding member and principal investigator of IIT Madras' Accessibility Research Centre (ARC) and played a key role in securing CSR funding for the centre.

The ARC works on practical questions surrounding accessibility and inclusion. Its initiatives include developing teacher tutorials on disabilities and academic disciplines and exploring ways to make museums and other knowledge spaces more accessible.

For Karah, accessibility does not mean lowering expectations for people with disabilities. Instead, it means removing the barriers that prevent people from meeting those expectations.

Inclusion should mean independence

Karah also views education as an important pathway to independence.

He has described the role of a teacher as being more of a guide than a parent. In his view, universities must do more than help students earn degrees. They should create environments where students can participate fully in academic and social life.

For students with disabilities, meaningful inclusion cannot simply mean providing separate facilities or placing them on the margins of campus life. It means ensuring that they are part of the university community on equal terms.

His own career reflects what can happen when opportunity replaces assumptions about what a person with a disability can achieve.

Challenging conventional ideas through blind photography

One of the distinctive areas associated with Karah's work is blind photography, which challenges conventional ideas about the relationship between photography and sight.

Photography, he argues, does not necessarily have to begin and end with visual perception. It can involve sound, touch, conversation, technology, collaboration and individual interpretation.

For visually impaired people, photography can become both a creative and therapeutic activity. It can offer a way to document places, moments and memories, sometimes with the help of sighted collaborators or “co-creators”.

The idea also raises a larger question about participation in visual culture: who gets to create, interpret and experience images?

Taking accessibility beyond the classroom

Karah's academic work extends beyond IIT Madras. He co-edits the global section of the Review of Disability Studies and has published peer-reviewed essays in academic journals and books.

He has also received an Indian Foundation for the Arts fellowship for a collaborative project on theological accessibility. Earlier, he was involved as a principal investigator in a global COVID-19 and mental-health project organised by Ohio State University.

His work also includes teaching Disability Studies courses through NPTEL and contributing to research and academic discussions around accessibility.

At the centre of his work is a simple idea: knowledge and opportunity should not be restricted by assumptions about disability.

Karah also sees students as an important part of his own intellectual journey. Their questions and interactions, he has said, help him refine his expertise across Disability Studies, aesthetics, literary criticism and audio description.

From a school for blind students in Chennai to Cambridge and IIT Madras, Professor Hemachandran Karah's journey demonstrates the transformative power of education and encouragement. It is also a reminder that accessibility should not mean lowering ambition. It should mean creating the conditions that allow every student to pursue it.