The correct number would be closer to 4,500.There must be as many or more women out there, who deserve to be in here. But since we are celebrating our 45th anniversary this year, we sifted through the young and upwardly mobile to find 45 women, who are making their presence felt on the fast track.

Mind our words, we know how to spot talent. We have done it for 45 years. And today, most of the ones who have stood the test of time, from a Shobhaa De to a Poonam Sinha (nee Chandiramani) to a Madhuri Dixit and a Sushmita Sen will vouch for the fact that they were celebrated by Femina much before they became full-fledged celebs in their own right.

We've scanned various disciplines and scoured the length and breath of the country to shortlist 45 fine young women who will burn bright in the coming years. Whose grit, determination and inner strength, combined with their vision, will shape their destinies and that of their universe too.
More power to them!

Yamini Reddy
Emerging as: A naturally talented Kuchipudi dancer, the next generation from the Reddy 'gharana'.

Lineage: Daughter of Raja and Radha Reddy, virtual institutions in Kuchipudi. But while there are many who shy away from what their parents excel in, Yamini took to it because, "Dance was part of my life, my growing up. I'd come from school and eat my lunch in the practice room and see what they were doing. When I took to it, I never realised I was dancing. To me, it was as natural as eating, drinking...."

Why we think she's special: Young Yamini has drawn applause at major dance festivals including the Parampara National Festival of Music and Dance, 2003, Delhi, and the Elephanta Festival at Pune. She has extensively toured abroad, performing in the UK, Europe, the USA and Dubai. Recently awarded the 'Yuva Ratna Award' for the performing arts, Yamini is also the proud recipient of the Key to the City from the Mayor of Dublin and Fort Lauderdale.

Miles to go: "Art is something that you can never master, you'll have to keep learning, keep practising. I would like to be one of the top dancers and carry my parents' teaching forward."

Ujjwala Raut
Profession: Supermodel, much sought after by international couture and cosmetics houses. Just graced the cover of 'Time' magazine.

In 1996, Femina unleashed the then 17-year-old Ujjwala on an unsuspecting world as the Femina Look of the Year winner. Since then, she has regularly notched up one success after another.

Why we think she's hot: Ujjwala has walked the ramp for names like Emmanuel Ungaro, Roberto Cavalli, John Galliano, Angelo Tarazzi, Paco Rabanne, Veronique Leroy, Chanel, Claude Montana, Hugo Boss, Bally, Michael Kors, Victoria's Secret and was selected the face of YSL cosmetics last year.

Winning attitude: "It's not easy to survive there, but it isn't impossible."

Konkona Sen-Sharma
Family tree: Daughter of filmstar-director Aparna Sen and writer-editor Mukul Sharma. Grandpa is well-known film critic and filmmaker Chidananda Dasgupta.

Profession: Acting
Why Konkona is a hot bargain: She picked up a national award for her very third film, 'Mr & Mrs Iyer'. For this, mommy sent her off to South India to learn the way the Iyer women live their lives, their English accent and the Tamil tongue. The hard toil paid off, though she admits, she was the most scolded person on the set.

Present project: 'Page 3', almost near completion
Life so far: Childhood was spent mainly at school or travelling with mommy to film festivals, reading or hanging around on film sets and being thrown in to act in a scene because the child artiste didn't show up...

Neha Nagpal
Favourite song: 'Arms Wide Open' by my favourite band Creed, and 'Hero' by Mariah Carey
Sings: Like a dream. Cut her first album two years ago titled 'If I Could Dream', for which she wrote the lyrics for a number called 'Can you feel it?'

Why we think she's a big deal: She's hit the music marquee with her lilting husky voice, which incidentally has trained only in Western classical music, with a hip-hop pop album 'Man Doley'. Signed on by international star manager Richard Grabel, (he manages careers of pop icons Madonna and Ricky Martin) at the MTV Summit, Neha would probably even sing something for a Hollywood film! She was also approached by Fat Music in London to do a few song recordings, and it was this exposure that led her to form her own favourites - "I like world music, the spiritual kind, or gospel music fills me with excitement. I've sung alternative kinds of music, besides pop.''

Purva Dhanashree
Why we think she is making a splash: As a Bharatnatyam dancer of repute, she has been marked out as one of the most outstanding Bharatnatyam dancers of generation now.
Purvadhanashree is also one of the youngest 'A' grade artists of Doordarshan. She was judged the best dancer at the Spirit of Youth concert 1999 and walked away with the MGR award. She already has under her cap the title of 'Nrityashree' from the Saregamapadhani Foundation. And in 2001 the Kala Bharati Foundation, Montreal, Canada awarded her the Oniel de Memorial Fellowship.

"Dance was my calling. Dance should be part of one's life and psyche but I would also like to extend my interests to social issues."

Joshna Chinnapa
What she does: Is a squash champion
Why we think she's a champ: She ranks at second place in the world in the under-19 group and is number one in Asia (also U-19). She's the youngest National women's champ (a feat achieved by no woman in squash for 48 years) and recently won the gold at the 9th SAF games. She was the first Indian girl to win the British Squash Championship in UK, and held the senior national title at the age of 14. Her other conquests include wins at Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Scotland.

Why she's so hot at her 'job': She's a 'cool' dudette. And obviously in love with the game. She's confident but not arrogant. In fact, she's embarrassed with the attention she attracts. She comes from a long line of squash players - her father, his father, his father's father... you get the drift. Of course, she also brings in her talent and relentless practice. There's a combination for a world ranking if there ever was one...
Winning attitude: "I try preparing mentally and physically before a tournament. I talk to myself a lot on the court - as part of maintaining a strong mental edge. "

Anju Bobby George
Loves: Breaking world records
Coaches: Mike Powell and husband, Bobby George
Jumps: Into every record book in the country and is aiming for the ultimate jump of glory - The Olympic medal. She came one step closer to this Olympic dream on August 30, 2003, a day she will always remember - she jumped 6.70 metres to clinch the bronze medal at the World Athletics Championships in the Stade de France, Paris.
Winning attitude: "I want the whole world to stand to attention to our National Anthem at the Athens Olympics. My inner strength will come from a billion Indians praying for my success. For all aspiring athletes, my message is that you have to stick it out and give it your best shot. I have."

B R Lath
She is: India's only 'kanjira' player.
Why we think she has promise: Hear this: "My proudest moment came when I played for a year, for different concerts with M S Subbalakshmi. It was thrilling. My other memorable performance was playing with Dr Balamurali Krishna, who also encouraged me. And of course when we played for both ex-prime ministers P V Narasimha Rao, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee; the latter came up and told me, "Itni choti si ho, lekin itna achha bajati ho?''
And she has plans: She travels abroad for many concerts and is already booked to perform in London next June. Her aim, like her father's, is "to get more women into the field of music. Both my father and I have set up the Karnataka Mahila Laya Madhuri, a platform that promotes women percussion players, and organises performances all over India."

Jhumpa Lahiri
She is: A fiction writer who won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for her first published book of short stories titled, 'Interpreter Of Maladies'.
Work: 'The Namesake', 'India Holy Song', 'Interpreter Of Maladies', 'A Temporary Prayer: What Happens When The Lights Go Out', 'Sexy' and 'The Third And Final Continent'. All published in 'The New Yorker'.
Favourite writers: Many, amongst them who influenced her writings are James Joyce, Virginia Wolfe and Chekov.

Favourite book: 'Midnight's Children' by Salman Rushdie, which as Jhumpa herself states, "Undoubtedly, remains the best book I have read.''
Flashback: "I didn't grow up there (Kolkata), I wasn't a part of things. We visited often but we didn't have a home. We were clutching at a world that was never fully with us. No country is my motherland. I always find myself in exile in whichever country I travel to, that's why I was tempted to write something about those living their lives in exile.''

Last quote: "What used to be a mere pastime seven years ago has metamorphosed into a serious passion, an inseparable part of my life.''


Aparna Popat
She is: The reigning national badminton champion, who is quietly empowering herself to play a mean, tough game at the Olympics this year.

She's a winner because: Like her coach says, "She's got it in her to be a winner.''
Winning attitude: ''My form is quite good. And I've had a couple of good wins the last year over players in the top 20 bracket (Aparna's rank is 23 in the world). But I need to improve my mental stamina. Right now, it's practice and more practice. I'm training to focus my mind in a controlled way. Indians score by using complex wrist movements, and our mental state of mind is more focused on the game. We make for stable, committed players as a race, which is good.''

Honey Kalaria
Who is she: A dance trainer in the UK.
Her journey to fame: At 13, she could perform a plethora of dance styles including Indian classical dance, disco, Latin American, rock 'n roll and belly dancing. She began by starting her own academy out of her garage. Today, she has 11 schools across London, training students in modern Indian dance, There's more: Nominated for the 2003 Asia Businesswoman of the Year Award, Honey also owns and runs an agency, Diva Entertainment, which choreographs the London concerts for Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Govinda and others.
Honey has also produced and presented for a programme on the Namaste television channel and worked as on-air presenter for a local radio station.

Nandita Basu
Get To Know Her: A Delhi-based designer; works with Abhishek Gupta.
Why we think she's got it: Her fashion is cutting edge and contemporary with an excellent sense of fabric innovation, detailing and finish. All this is matched with enough marketing savvy that finds her collections release to coincide with global season timelines.
On the rocket trail: A concealed pocket here and an eye-catching feature there - that's her art! This NIFT graduate and student of Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, London, had a stint with Suneet Verma, one of our design gurus, for a period of five to six years. She later went on to launch her label.
Skirts, T-shirts, shirts, tops, jackets, coats, trousers... You name it and she
has it at her flagship store in Delhi or in other design stores in Bangalore,
Mumbai or Hyderabad. And she would craft them for you in fabrics like denim, lycra, cotton, silk, georgette, and even linen.
Her take on life: "Believe in yourself and the positive energies around you. Don't ever get bogged down by the low phases in life."


Rina Shah
What she does: Owns the designer store 'Rinaldi'.
Why we think she's a champ: Five years after she launched Rinaldi Design (the only label for designer shoes, handbags and belts in India), Rina has a roaring business on her hands. But that's not all that makes it so hot - she's a member of PETA and believes in non-cruelty to animals, so imports leather look-alike material for her designs.
Why she's so hot at her job: Trendy designs, durable quality and attention to detail have won her quite an impressive clientele - Urmila
Matondkar and Sonali Bendre, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, and Jackie Shroff. Rina recently opened Rinaldi in Soho, New York. That makes her one of the few Indian designers to have their own store in NY City. And this one's frequented by celebrities like Goldie Hawn and Naomi Campbell.

Monikangkana Dutta
Who's she? The supermodel-in-the-making that everyone is talking about. This half-Assamese, half-Marathi girl called 'Moni' has set the ramps in Paris on fire. After all, not everybody is 5.10" tall; boast a svelte figure, stunning features and a glowing - "I love my dusky complexion" - look.
In the footsteps of: But naturally Ujjwala Raut: "I love Ujjwala, she's my favourite model." Moni has made a right beginning in the same direction. During her short stay in Paris, she's walked the ramp for Chanel and Christian Dior, John Galliano.
What next? "I'd love to shift base to New York, I'd love to do the Milan fashion week."

Shibani Jain
Get to know her: An NID (National Institute of Design) graduate in graphic design, she is the CEO of Craftsbridge India, which designs and markets Indian handicrafts.

Why we think she's va-va-vroom: She turned around her dotcom venture (a victim of the late '90s dotcom bust) into a Rs 2.5 crore company within four years. Thanks to the design (NID and NIFT designers) and marketing (IIM grads) inputs, Craftsbridge is able to provide a contemporary edge to artefacts sourced from artisans at the grassroots level. Online shopping for handicrafts has never looked (and been priced) so good before. Thanks to its tie-ups with about 25 NGOs and its aesthetically designed webpage (www.craftsbridge.com), you can shop for those chic dhurries from your home.

On the rocket trail: Armed with a venture funding tie-up, Shibani plans to expand to other states (right now, it is in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Orissa) and export to the US and the UK. "I want to bring to the customer the best artefacts that our Indian artisans have to offer at the best prices, and provide the artisans with round-the-year employment."
She says: "Time is short; do the most you can with what you have."

Rajeshwari Ayyar Karthik
She is: A silversmith-cum-artiste who brings the yin and yang into her jewellery ever so subtly.
Why we think she's got it: She has won prestigious prizes for her design work, and has been finalist at the De Beers India International Jewellery Design Competition of 1998. Now that she's no longer heading the design studio at Carbon, and is an independent designer, she's often called on as consultant for her experience on the domestic and export jewellery markets.

Why her jewellery is special: It's in the texturing, where she uses techniques like granulation, twisting, surface texture creation and metal fusing. Rajeshwari explains that the fusion of sterling silver with 24K gold in her pendant is called 'knitting', which she does herself. She calls her collection, a reflection of her personality, which is mix of trying to make a bold, different statement, yet offering simplicity and grace to the wearer. "My aim is also to go beyond the two-dimensional look of jewellery.''


Anamika Khanna
Get to know her: Kolkata-based fashion designer who carries the she-dares-to-be-different image on her shoulders with flair.
Why we think she has it: From an ingenious blend of Indian and Western wear, she has done it all, in both natural and traditional fabrics.
On the rocket trail: She started with designing for herself and advising her friends. Then came along her Africa-inspired Shoowa line at the Damania Fashion Awards and the Kingfisher Designer Of The Year Award. Both catapulted her to stardom. Her flagship store in Kolkata and the off-the-shelf sales in the metros across the country speak of her success. Sure enough, Boho, a UK company, is offering to market her creations across Europe.
Her take on life: "Whatever you do, give it all you have and it will get you results."