Meet Shalini Saraswathi: The Fastest Woman on Blades, India's Pride at the Asian Games| Exclusive

Oneindia

Shalini Saraswathi, known as the fastest woman on blades, represents India's resilience and determination at the Asian Games. Her journey from a life-threatening coma to becoming a champion para-athlete is truly inspiring. Despite facing significant physical challenges, Saraswathi has overcome adversity to excel in her sport. Her story showcases the power of human spirit and perseverance, making her a source of pride for India.    #ShaliniSaraswathi #AsianGames #Coma #BladeRunning #BladeRunner #ParaAthelete #Sportsnews #Indianews #Oneindia #Oneindianews                  ~HT.97~PR.320~GR.124~ED.102~

Transcript

00:00A warm good evening to all the viewers of MyKLN1 India, today we have a very special

00:18guest, a special individual who is full of positive adjectives, a brave heart, a fighter,

00:27inspirational, witty, and the list will go on. And like a real fighter, she also had to go through

00:33a lot of obstacles in life, not that she didn't feel the pain, she felt the pain, accepted the

00:38pain and moved on and moved on really well to be doing some great stuff in life at the moment.

00:45Back in 2012, when she was on a holiday in Cambodia, when she was expecting,

00:53she was also celebrating her fourth anniversary, expecting a job promotion as well, that's when

01:00she had to suffer a bacterial infection which led to her losing her baby and also that also

01:08led to the unfortunate incident of her losing her four limbs. But hold on, since then

01:15she has rediscovered herself, she has new innings to her life and when she started running,

01:22that was for general fitness and health which led to her completing the TCS 10k marathon in 2017.

01:31And then she went on to become the national silver medalist and national gold medalist at

01:36the national para games in 100 meter sprint and at the Asian games at Hangzhou in 2023,

01:43she also held the Asian record for the fastest women on blades in the T62 category.

01:51Apart from that, she also has been doing her corporate talks at big corporate houses like

01:57Biocon, Tesco, Xiaomi, Dell, Microsoft, Wipro and many others. Welcome to our show Shalini

02:07Saraswati, thank you so much for taking all the time, thank you so much for coming in. Thank you

02:10so much, thank you so much for having me. Thanks Shalini. So of course, there's a lot to chat

02:15about you, about your journey so far but first of all, on a positive note, your experience at

02:22the Hangzhou Asian games, I'm sure that must have been some of the best days of your life

02:27as an athlete because you've got to meet so many different athletes, different countries,

02:34totally different environment, away from the home country, there somewhere there and then

02:39meeting all those different athletes, sharing different experiences, how was it like?

02:45It was absolutely, I think like the cherry on the cake, I would say like it was

02:53absolutely a life experience especially for someone who comes from an absolutely non-sporting

02:59background. It's not like I was ever into sports or any of that, so I got into sports

03:06as well post my disability. So no reference points and I never when I

03:14was able-bodied ever thought of being at any athletic event. So from there to then transition

03:20to be at the Asian games was absolutely awesome and it was great to be able to represent

03:26the country, the experience of having to meet so many people in different countries and different

03:32athletes and I think the experience is also when it's people with disabilities, I think it's a lot

03:38more different than able-bodied athletes as well and it was just it was nice, I mean it

03:44was just like one big family, you're meeting people, you're talking to random people and

03:49they had this, I never knew this, you have these India tags, you're given these

03:55clip-on tags, so the whole thing is that you try and exchange it with other countries and you get

04:00on your tag as many other countries as possible. So it's like almost like you're like

04:05these drug dealers in different places where you're like saying I have this, do you want this or

04:10not? So you end up having a lot more of conversations with a lot more of people

04:16because you want as many badges as possible and I kind of got a lot of

04:22countries on, so I think I more than the running, I actually enjoyed that. Absolutely, yeah of course.

04:28I've been talking about that as well, I mean how was your preparation like you said

04:34you were a non-athlete to start off with then you evolved as an athlete so to say,

04:39so how is the preparation like because going into a big event no matter what even though you

04:43might not have that many expectations from yourself because you just evolved

04:48as an athlete of course by now you are more pro than ever. So how was the preparation like I mean

04:53on what term did you really practice? I think see it took me, I started my like to even start

04:59trying to run like the first time I ever went to Kondirwa Stadium in Bangalore is in April 2014.

05:06That's when I mean I had prosthetic legs and when I got there and I met my coach BPI Appa,

05:15I don't think we ever thought about running at all, it was just to be able to

05:20make sure that I could walk back and just kind of accomplish the very basic things in life

05:26and then we kind of figured we could run and we started to run and we did the TCS like you

05:31said earlier, we did the TCS in two consecutive years over 16 and 17 and that was

05:38when we got the blades and then coach said that we should try professionally and

05:42when I started out, I don't think para-athletics was as big as it is today. It was

05:48still a very nascent sporting field, people were still figuring out what it was. So I kind of got,

05:54I think I got a bit lucky because I was one of the people that were there at the start of it

06:00and you know and I was also one of the only blade runners in India and the only quad amputee even in

06:06Asia that ran. So you know the most amount of disability people had like even at Asian Games

06:15were a single leg amputee, so there wasn't anyone that ran with me. So I think the whole experience

06:22of training to get to that point has been very different because A, was that coach himself had

06:28never trained a person with a disability, he was never into para sports. So we had to really

06:33adapt from like even coach had to learn how to teach someone to run on blades. So we had to do,

06:40go back to a lot of research in terms of what other people were doing, what they look like.

06:45You know we went through various phases of trying to get something for the hand support to kind of

06:50do my start. So we went through various stages trying to figure out how we could even start

06:55running right, like especially as a 100 meter sprinter, your start is very important.

07:01It's very important. So you know we really struggled with because there was no way I could

07:05do a block start with both my hands pinned down, which is what most people do.

07:09Because again I had a disparity in the way my hand length were. So you know we made

07:15something where I could rest my hand, from there we then kind of transitioned to various techniques

07:20and then we found some video of someone who just stood straight into that and then we said okay

07:26we're going to try that. So it's been a very trial and error kind of a process for us right, where

07:31we've learned unlearned things over a period in time. And you know I then went on to peak

07:39performance, which is my sports and physio place that I work with. And then you know I had a whole

07:45lot of people then that did a lot more of research in terms of how do you train a person with a

07:50disability, what exercises I could do. So it's been a lot of work for the people that have worked

07:54with me as well right. So it's been intensive, it's been a lot of training and it took me what, it took

08:00me nine years to get to the point to go to Asian Games. So it was nine years of

08:07being at it every single day, it's about being at practice every single day. And we did a lot of,

08:14we did a couple of international competitions as well. We did Dubai, we did Sharjah, we did China.

08:20So we peppered that and we did all of the Indian competitions as well. So the prep has pretty much

08:25been a lot of exploratory, it has been a lot of trying to understand what we could do and what we

08:31cannot do. And then over a period in time I think we found other people with prosthetics and you

08:37know we've tried to learn and adapt from them as well. So it's been a lot of intense hard work

08:43and tears and falling and all of that as well to learn through right. So yeah, it was tough but

08:52it was worth every bit of that I would say. I'm sure, I'm sure. Yes, it's one of a lifetime

08:58moment right for you. Yeah, sure. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Yes, yes. Now talking about the Paris

09:05Olympics, I mean Paralympics that is still on. Yes, yes. So how much do you think we have

09:11evolved as a country? Of course, we have got some great athletes, you know world record holder Sumit

09:16in javelin. Then we've got somebody like Avani, you know parachuting. Then we've got Krishna

09:22Nagar in para badminton. Of course, you know also earlier we had Deepa, you know. So

09:28yeah, we've got a lot of good world-class you know para athletes so to say. But how much do

09:33you think we have evolved? Of course, a lot goes. I absolutely think it's like in my own

09:39like through my own eyes I'm seeing how much I think there's a lot more of

09:43funding that is going in there. There's a lot more and I think with the para athletes winning

09:49more medals than the able-bodied athletes in Paris or in Asian Games has really brought the

09:54sports to the forefront. And I think there are a lot more of people with disabilities

09:58wanting to give a try at it which I think is great. And I also see like in terms of how the

10:03nationals are held to the various. I think we've gotten cleaner, slicker over a period in time.

10:10And today I think the issues that I think we're far more people with disabilities competing to

10:16want to get there. So which I think is a good problem to have. And I've seen how it has

10:21evolved over a period in time like I've seen it over the last. I ran my first official race I

10:28think in 2017. That was the first time I ran the nationals. And when I compare that to what

10:34happened maybe in 2022 I think it's far more well organized. It's you have a lot more clarity

10:41in terms of what categories you belong to. I think you know earlier it was a lot of speculation in

10:47terms of what category you would belong to. And that's the crux of para athletics right.

10:52I think it's a little more organized and people kind of know and I think with the constant

10:55exposure that people are having to it. I think it's evolved and of course we have a long way to

11:01go as well. But I think we you know surely we're heading in the right direction.

11:07Yes it's really you know glad to know about that because it's high time that you know we

11:12evolve overall as a sporting nation. Be it you know able-bodied Olympics or Paralympics.

11:19You know that's the way to go. Coming out of your I mean of sports a little bit and

11:25coming to general life. I mean life in general. How much do you think India as a country has

11:29evolved in terms of you know disabled people you know getting the inclusiveness in

11:36a society. I'm talking about inclusivity in a society in terms of they getting government jobs.

11:39Of course it could also lead to a very basic thing like a sitting arrangement in a park or

11:46maybe in a bus. How much do you think we have really evolved when it comes to inclusiveness

11:50as a society for disabled people out here in India. Of course there's still some way to go but

11:56how much we think. In some way, a lot. Infrastructure wise I don't think we're anywhere

12:02close to where we need to be. Like if you're talking about public transport today.

12:07I don't think anybody with a disability can today confidently get onto a bus or a train

12:13and travel. I think there's really a long distance to go there. I think infrastructure in

12:19terms of like cities and maybe some buildings a lot of corporate organizations you know the ramps

12:27and all of that is there. So you know those are probably a bit more accessible but I also feel

12:32it's a function of privilege. If you are in an affluent family and you come from a

12:39certain amount of money and have that then I think it becomes easier as a person with a disability to

12:44get your life around and go. But the stark reality today is that a large percentage of people with

12:50disabilities are in the rural areas and are absolutely disenfranchised. And I don't think

12:56they have the infrastructure that they need or even like forget infrastructure. I don't think

13:01they have access to prosthetics or orthotic devices. I don't think they have access to schools.

13:08You know one of the most basic things or even to the healthcare systems right. So today I work

13:13I work for Rise Bionics and we're in the space of making orthotics and prosthetic

13:17devices. And one of the things that you know we have CSR programs and I see that one of the

13:22things that we're trying to today give is give free prosthetics away to children with disabilities.

13:26And the thing that we're trying we're really struggling is to find these children not that

13:30they don't exist today. But the point is that they're so disenfranchised that we're not

13:36able to they're not even in the system for us to track them around. So I think definitely there's

13:41so much more to go and there's a really a long distance and of course a social stigma that is

13:48there as well right culturally as well. We're not very open to having people with disabilities and

13:54we're definitely looking at them as more a burden than being empowered individuals. And I think that

14:00comes with and you backtrack that it goes back to being having an education and being financially

14:05independent neither of which are happening. So the minute that too is out of the picture

14:11there is no way you can be empowered if you're not financially independent. So I definitely

14:16think that there's a huge space that needs to be filled in there. I think the policies to a large

14:23extent are there but I think the proof of the pudding is always in its eating. I don't think

14:27we're able to deploy those policies as well as they should be right. There are policies to say

14:34that you'd have to give jobs to people with disabilities and there have been so

14:39many and I think there have been places as well where I've read that those roles which are

14:44opened up for people with disabilities are intentionally kept open. So and after a period

14:48in time they're filled with able-bodied people. So I think those are problems. So policy-wise

14:56I think the policies are there but I think implementation we have a really long way to go.

15:01Now talking about a prosthetic implants the blade that athletes like you use.

15:06One is how do you actually source the thing and also secondly for example I play tennis.

15:10So basically the rackets that is used by a power heater for example that's different from somebody

15:17who use a lot of spin or stop spin. So likewise do you have different again sorry for my ignorance

15:22and again do you have different prosthetic implants in terms of the body type say for

15:29example of course it depends on the potential energy bounds and stuff like that or is it

15:33regular for almost everybody. No so your prosthetic though it's weight driven right.

15:41So there are different kinds of prosthetics and they will choose a prosthetic basis your weight

15:45that's the first one that goes through and of course the first question that your prosthetics

15:50really asks you is what kind of usage do you want right. So do you want to just walk, do you want

15:55it to be essentials, do you plan to be a heavy user, do you want to use it for sports. So I think

16:01the prosthetics vary from each version of that right. So your prosthetics vary in terms of costs

16:08basis where you want to be. So even in terms of blades what you would use for running will be very

16:14different to a blade that you might use for javelin for example. The requirements are very different

16:20because you might need to pivot when you do a javelin or throw a discus or any of that right.

16:28They need to have the pivoting but when if you're wearing a prosthetic

16:33for running it's to ensure that you're moving forward. So obviously the prosthetics are very

16:40different and they come in varied types, forms etc but they are extremely expensive.

16:47So it's not something that a lot of people in India can afford and I think that is one of also

16:54one of the biggest challenges that we have today with being able to give allow allowing people to

17:00have a dignified life. A person with a disability is purely a factor of that it comes at a very

17:06big expense and it's not something most families can afford. So yeah so even with your

17:13prosthetic legs you know the ones you can have something with torsion you can have

17:19a lateral they can allow you to climb stairs they don't then you have the very basic Jaipur

17:24leg which is given away in India which is basic wooden legs. So I think it all varies from

17:32what your usage is and what your weight is and obviously you know they recommend basis

17:37what that needs to be from different companies. So in India in terms of manufacturers I think

17:44there is just one or few companies that do that the most high-end prosthetics that you can buy

17:50and which you would see that most of the athletes that use are typically Acer or Autobox and that's

17:55German and Icelandic companies. So you know that's what most of us in India use if you have the money

18:00that is. I guess again with import duty stuff like that I guess but that's fair.

18:08And the most terrible part is that we have GST on them which again is a ridiculous thing for

18:14us to do policy wise because here is a prosthetic device it's not a luxury and you know people

18:20should be allowed to have. I guess a lot has to change the policy level that's when you know

18:29things will change automatically. Talking about your training I guess you train at

18:36peak performance Yash Pandey. I do both, I do train at peak performance. I train with

18:41Dipali Pandey, the better half of Yash Pandey and I have my

18:49trainers as well. I have Pawan as well as Harish that I train with. So it's like a team there are

18:54three of them and they take turns to kind of make my life as miserable as they possibly can

19:00and then I train with BPI. It was my sprinting coach.

19:06So typically, what would be your training schedule? I mean how do you I'm sure it's a

19:11little bit different from a regular training. So how do you actually approach maybe you approach

19:17when you are towards the fag end of a tournament I guess your training schedule also change but

19:23typically in a normal day how do you approach your training because one is your regular training at

19:28peak performance which is strengthened. I do that thrice a week. I do the strength and

19:34strength and conditioning happens thrice a week which is the Monday, Wednesday and Friday

19:38and the other three days which is the Tuesday, Wednesday. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and

19:43Saturday is at Konderava Stadium. So the running is on those four days but like we said like if

19:48you're getting competition ready then it's very intense and it's

19:53hardcore because you're training to run better, you're training to make sure

19:58you have better strength training, you're focusing on particular muscle groups, you're

20:02focusing on your glutes, you're focusing on your quads and your hamstrings to make sure that you

20:07can run better. It becomes very intensive like that when you're doing strength and conditioning

20:12because you're focused completely on making sure that you get power with your legs to be able to

20:16propel forward and of course your arms as well and then for me it's additional because I

20:20use the blades. We do a lot of functional training to be able to hold your core, to be able to balance

20:26better because as you're on a blade especially when you're increasing at very high intensity

20:33especially what will happen is that even a little bit of wind can shake you up. So it's very

20:37important to have very good core strength and having better stability as well because that's

20:43the only way you can control the blades. Then for the blades to control you it becomes

20:48very important for you to be able to control the blades. Oh, that's interesting.

20:53So that means you've got no off day, I mean both people. Yeah, you don't have and

20:58you also want to make sure that you're not falling flat on your face.

21:04Now talking about, I mean I know whatever you're doing, you're doing it for

21:12yourself and rightly so. We all do whatever we do, we do it for ourselves but at time I'm

21:16sure for example at peak performance when you're training for yourself, somebody

21:24again he's entitled to feel tired, he might sit in some corner and then he'll just

21:28take some rest and then might get inspired by you. Okay, she's still doing it. Does it put

21:34a little bit of pressure at all certain times even though it's a positive pressure but I'm sure

21:38there's no pressure on me, it's always the other people

21:43more pressure than I have because it's easy. I'm a person with a disability, I can always

21:50sit down and say listen this is so tiring but no, like I think I have a great team at

21:56peak performance and I don't think they give me an option to say that it is not possible

22:04and I think it's what I really love there as well is the fact that they keep it very varied,

22:10they understand what my needs are and there's a lot of option in terms of what we want to do and

22:14there's a lot of thinking that goes in as well. So if you look at the videos that I have on

22:19Instagram as well, it's a lot of adaptation, it's things that we have done. So I remember like two

22:25weeks back I was training with my trainer and they had a new person that had joined in

22:30and we did one session where we did weights and we did like a lot of hardcore things and

22:35the new girl then turned around and said I was thinking that how you're going to be

22:39able to do all this and I'm thinking like I didn't know that we could do all this

22:43with you. So I think like and I was saying that you know we've transitioned over the last

22:49six, seven odd years even at peak with how we started our exercises to then

22:54figuring out how much we could push myself. So I don't think and I don't think people

23:00around me also are pressured I think. I think we're fairly okay, I think we give off

23:07good energy to each other and sometimes you're just there to do your own thing.

23:11The rest of it really doesn't matter. By default, the environment that is

23:19created is good for everyone around. So that's true. So I mean you are also at the same time

23:26a poet, of course you are an articulate person, you have held a lot of corporate talks.

23:32So is it something that you already always been doing right from your

23:38school days, college days or you evolved as a you know over time?

23:45I mean school and college, you know you do your debating and you do your theater and

23:50I mean I was always on stage but I was more a singer and more a dancer

23:56all of those things like more arty than sporty. Oh my god, that rhymed.

24:05So you know it was all that and sports was very like I think you know like I've always said this

24:09as part of Blue House and you ran I think I did the relays and things like that in school but

24:15you never ran in school because you were best, you were the best of the worst because nobody

24:19knew to do anything, right? You just had to get your points for your sports, for your house

24:25and I think it was just that. Yeah, exactly and then I think I did like I was again part of the

24:31volleyball team in school but I think even when we did the volleyball as well we only got into

24:36it because you know I studied in a convent so we were a girls-only school. So it's the only

24:41opportunity to go to another place and meet some boys. I think it was just that and nothing more

24:45than that, right? So none of our intentions were ever any good. So I think we did

24:53so we just went in there to do and so we were all my friends were on the team and it was just

24:58we'll just go have fun kind of thing. So it was never anything serious at all.

25:05So yeah, why were we talking about this? Sorry, I forgot the question now.

25:09Yeah, I'm talking about you being a poet and also being you articulate and yeah.

25:14So I mean being able to speak and being very articulate always came very naturally to me.

25:21I've always loved reading so you know I've always loved the words and what it stands and you

25:28know all of that. I don't think the speaking bit it didn't come through like you know yes at work

25:35and all of that I've always gotten stage and it's not something that I'm nervous about. After my

25:40disability and after the stories came out of the running the first TCS was when you know I came out

25:46in the newspapers and there was a big splash and you know Facebook to this and that and articles and

25:54and then I think I had a couple of people who reached out to me to say that would you

25:59come out and speak to us and initially I actually didn't want to because I just thought

26:06you know it's absolutely about going in front of a bunch of strangers and talking about the most

26:12vulnerable parts of your life and to lay it in front of a bunch of strangers about probably

26:18one of the most toughest times of your life is not the easiest thing to do and I remember

26:24Amma telling me that don't do this for yourself but you never know who in the audience really

26:29needs to hear your story. So I think that was one of the primary reasons why I ever started out

26:35and I remember when I did my first conversation I did it with Tesco and I finished it and there

26:40were a lot of people that came and spoke to me and then I had this two women who stayed back and

26:45they waited till everyone went and then when they finished they came and said can I give you a hug

26:49and I said of course and they said that I'm going through a really bad time in my life but I feel

26:53like I can go back and deal with the rest of my life and I felt that was the the teaching moment

26:58for me right that said that yeah you know this kind of makes sense and then I love to talk

27:05so you know that kind of fitted in perfectly right and then I got to make money as well out

27:10of it so I'm like hey why would I not do this and then of course you get to stay in some fancy

27:16hotels and some of the most five-star places you can eat any food you can order some of these

27:22desserts which you can't even spell for heaven's sake so those were all the additional perks of

27:27having to do that so I thought yeah why not so it's been a career now of

27:33being a motivational speaker for a while now so yeah it's a combination of all the good things

27:39yes and like they say right you never really know I don't think I ever thought of all these

27:46things ever happening in my life right of ever getting into sports of ever running professionally

27:50of ever running into the Asian games of ever being a motivational speaker I think

27:56things have just happened in my life and I've grabbed on to everything that's come my way

28:02even without even with the hands missing I've managed to grab on to things yeah

28:06yeah absolutely yeah that's a mentality of a winner I guess

28:13so let's have a few rapid fire uh round

28:21is there a gift hamper yes yes that's when we meet you personally because now it's virtual

28:26otherwise I'm going to give you virtually very smart very smart at least you should show me the

28:30hamper no like that in how Karan Johar shows on his show this is the hamper then only I'll tell

28:36you the answers yeah yeah uh your favorite uh favorite restaurant in Bangalore you've been in

28:45Bangalore oh no that's that's a tough one I just way too many things that I like there are way too

28:51many things I like um I like paradise I like um I like China Pearl in Kormangala I like um I like

28:59a rice bowl in Laval Road um I love airlines um I like Koshy's uh I like the 13th floor I mean I

29:10can go I think we can stay on this call forever and tell you what all the places I like and then

29:14I also there used to be I also love the street food so I like the um the Thelewala Chinese and

29:22fried rice there used to be this guy in Indranagar uh on Indranagar 100 feet road

29:28there used to be this guy with this you could go late night and eat uh fried rice and there's

29:33Anna Lakshmi um opposite to emphasis in also that again small joint great food I mean just it was

29:42Anna Lakshmi and we used to call it Anna's in those times but yeah so you know anything I would

29:47yeah any food um anywhere I will eat I mean I mean with my training now I don't but like

29:54food is food is life life yeah yeah it's very MG road dominated rice bowl and uh your Koshy's

30:00yeah right actually a lot of those places yeah a lot of those places are actually

30:05more nostalgia because you know as growing up being from Bangalore um rice bowl and all was

30:11one of the places that you went like years ago and one of the most happening places it's so dark

30:16that you can't see anything I mean of course it's refurbished now but just a lot of those places are

30:21just good memories I think true true yes it's yeah craziest thing that you would have done with your

30:27friends oh that's a lot again uh as well uh I don't know how much of it I can say but um I think

30:36we used to do I think the craziest thing some of the I don't know if they're crazy but today in

30:40today's environment they're almost borderline um very very unsafe to do so I wouldn't recommend

30:46anybody does it at this point time but we would do these really late night uh car drives on the

30:54outer ring road okay and there were these small tailors at three o'clock in the morning that we

30:58would have chai okay um and they were just truck drivers around at that point in time I don't know

31:04what we were thinking and why we were thinking what we were doing yeah um I think sometimes um

31:10yeah I think those were some of the most craziest times because we would finish I worked I worked in

31:14the outsourcing space for the largest part of my life um so you know night shifts were a part and

31:19parcel of my life um so just getting out after your shift for a for either we would go to mg

31:26road severa and have coin paratha and chicken and and chicken or then have a chai in one of these

31:33places so um I think those are some of the most um I think today in retrospective kind of dangerous

31:41that uh like you said you know you didn't recommend at the same time I mean those are

31:45the times that we're going through yeah a tricky question um maybe I'm trying to put

31:52him in a spot your best friend uh no see it's like an open book

31:59I can no I think so so my friends I've had friends so I'm one of those very lucky people who've

32:07had friends from class one so my my friend that my best friend uh from class one is Sapna

32:13and we're a group of eight of us um that have stuck together from school from class five onwards

32:20um and we're a bunch of women that have been through thick and thin of life so there's Sapna

32:25there's Usha, there's Vani, there's Bina, there's another Sapna and then there is Vanita um and now

32:31I think there's an Anshu as well um so I think um I just have I mean I think I've I've been very

32:38lucky with my friendships in life so most of my friends that I have are people that have known

32:42from my teens so there's there's Prasanna, there's Satish, then there's people who have known all my

32:47lives and we're just a bunch of people that have held on to each other all my life so there's no

32:51tricky question of having one best friend I think there are I think that I think this is about it

32:56right like you have different friends for different things there are some things that you can tell

33:01some friends and there are some things that you tell other friends so I think for me I'm

33:06very lucky that I've had all kinds of all kinds of friends to cover up everything

33:09yeah.

33:14Thank you so much Shalini for all yeah for all the beautiful stories that you have and

33:22and wish you all the best for the rest of your journey and stay yourself and by default of

33:28course your positive energy only inspires so not that you have to try too hard to make to inspire

33:33anybody else it's just that you doing your own stuff for yourself it itself is a big story for

33:39others and you've already inspired me of course and that's why I made sure that you come here on

33:44on in my interview I didn't leave you I still remember I tried once I think one year back

33:50somehow couldn't bring you and then I've also been you know I think we chatted with each other

33:56and all yeses but I'm tenacious enough to finally bring you on board and yes I thank my stars for

34:03that thank you so much Shalini and thank you so much for having me thanks Shalini thank you so

34:08and keep on doing the things that you are you have been doing and

34:12stay true to yourself and be yourself thanks Shalini

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