Nikhat Zareen, 27
Two-time world champion boxer
ROLE MODEL
Muhammad Ali. "When I started boxing, I'd see his videos and read stories of him"
PRE-BOUT RITUALS
Praying, listening to motivational, Punjabi and patriotic songs during warm-up
BIGGEST WEAKNESS
Food. Biryani, butter chicken and Chicken 65 are favourites. Also, Salman Khan
GUTS AND GLORY
ACCOMPLISHMENT
One of India's most decorated boxers, she is a symbol of hope for Indian women and an idol for Muslim girls
WHEN A 13-YEAROLD NIKHAT ZAREEN first sparred with a boy in boxing class, she returned home with a bruised face, a bleeding nose and a bloodied tee. Seeing her, her mother broke down, worried about her daughter's marriage prospects. "Mummy aap tension kyon le rahi hain, naam hoga to doolhon ki line lag jaayegi (Why are you worried? When I'm famous, boys will queue up to marry me)," Nikhat told her. The young Nikhat turned out to be clairvoyant. Today, she is a famous sportsperson, who continues to win laurels―two World Championship titles, a bronze at the Asian Games and gold at the Commonwealth Games, among others.
How Nikhat took up boxing is a story in itself. Already a sprinter, she noticed how the stage at the Collector's Ground in Nizamabad used for boxing bouts had no girl. Curious, she asked her father, Mohammed Jameel Ahmed, why this was so. He told her girls weren't deemed strong enough for boxing. That became Nikhat's early motivation to take up the sport. If her mother was worried about her marriage prospects ear lier, now her father began to be told that if something were to happen to her, her two elder sisters, too, would not find suitable matches. Boxing, they droned, “just wasn’t for girls”.
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Denne historien er fra January 01, 2024-utgaven av India Today.
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He gave the beat to the world
He would pick up the rhythms of each experience of mobility and weave them into his taals. Thus it was that he reflected joy and laughter in rhythmic cycles...such was the magic of Zakir's fingersText and photographs by Raghu Rai
KERALA TOURISM CAMPAIGN, 1989 - TICKETS TO PARADISE
All it took was a catchy tagline-'God's Own Country'-for the world to discover Kerala's wealth of natural beauty. It remains among the best tourism ad campaigns, earning the state a place among top 10 international destinations
SPIRITUALITY - THE GURUS OF COOL
Among the cult Indian gurus, no one had a bigger hold on western minds than 'Osho' Rajneesh. He's also perhaps the role model for the enterprise-building gurus of today
RETAIL SHOPPING - THE MALL MANIA
Shopping malls, a 1990s innovation in India, changed the way the Indian middle class shops. Their success now lies in being 'shoppertainment' destinations, offering something for everyone
CULINARY RENAISSANCE, 1978 - TANDOORI NIGHTS
ITC's Bukhara and Dum Pukht turned the world to tandoori cuisine and had an enormous impact on the F&B industry. Decades on, they are still a pit-stop for celebrities and heads of state visiting Delhi
INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH - REVENGE OF THE NATIVE
Rushdie lit the way but Indian writing in English has taken a life of its own in the past few decades, with translated Indian fiction most recently having its moment in the sun
INDIAN ART - A BRUSH WITH GOLD DUST
The 1990s economic liberalisation came as oxygen, lighting up the Indian art scene. Today, artworks by established masters routinely go for astronomical amounts
FESTIVAL OF INDIA, 1982 - CULTURE CAPITAL
The Festival of India grew into a symbol of our 'soft power', introducing our art and aesthetics to a global audience while also helping rebrand our domestic products
THE INDIPOP TREND - DISCO GOES DESI
For ages, the film song ruled. Nothing else was audible. Then came Nazia, charioteered by Biddu, and Indian ears went into a pleasant madness. Literally, Disco Deewane. A whole genre was born
SHOLAY 1975 - THE BIRTH OF THE FANDEMIC
India had seen hits before. But Sholay seared into its collective psyche like a badland bullet. The effect was on a scale never seen before- one film creating a new mass folk culture. And a trail of monster blockbusters that still continues
