Lalita Prasida Sripada Srisai was the youngest winner of the NDTV-L'Oreal's Women of Worth Awards.
Highlights
- Lalita Prasida Sripada Srisai found a cheap way to clean waste water
- In it, corn cobs are used which absorbs impurities
- "I wanted a way to that even the poor could afford," she said
At 14, Lalita Prasida Sripada Srisai was the youngest recipient of the NDTV-L'Oreal's Women of Worth Awards on Monday. But the young scientist's youth showed only when she was asked how it felt to take the award.
"I don't have words to say... It is really unimaginable for me... I don't think I deserve it," Prasida gasped.
Asked to explain why, she said, "It is such a platform where so many women are honoured," gesticulating at the hall. The presence of a number of celebrities including Katrina Kaif and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan had her completely overwhelmed.
Prasida had received the award for developing a cheap method of cleaning waste water, which uses waste corncobs as a key ingredient.
Asked to explain her idea in simple terms, she was suddenly calm and collected.
"When I started the project, I wanted a way to purify water that even the poor could afford," she said.
The scientific principle behind the project is based on physical absorption, she said. "Whenever there is oil spill in the sea, we can throw corn cobs and they will absorb the oil."
In her experiment, Prasida found that waste corncobs are able to absorb contaminants like salt oxides, detergent, suspended particles, coloured dyes, oil, grease and even some heavy metals.
Her explanantion had actor Sonam Kapoor and lyricist and screenwriter Prasoon Joshi, who handed her the award, spell-bound.
"At her age, I was only thought which boy will sweep me off my feet," laughed Ms Kapoor.
But Prasida had the last word. "Once I saw Sonam Ma'am, I haven't even looked at my award," she said.
Prasida was among the eight women to win NDTV-L'Oreal's Women of Worth awards on Monday.
The others included Sreemoyee Piu Kundu for literature, Vani Kola for entrepreneurship, Neha Kirpal for art, Pwilao Basumatary for sport, Ajaita Shah for environment, Suparna Gupta for social work and Safeena Husain for education.