Academically I am zero,” says Pradeep Lokhande. We laugh thinking it’s one of those things people say, upon which Pune-based Pradeep tells us, “No, it’s true. Also, I come from a very humble background,”  but that hasn’t stopped him from his cause of bringing over 3,640 libraries to villages. In fact, the 54-year-old feels this lack of opportunities is what drove him to achieve things in life.

Pradeep was in Hyderabad a few months back to deliver a talk at T Hub, Telangana’s incubation facility. He travels all around the world to talk - from Singapore to IIMS and speaks about his experience, “which is what drives me,” he says. VillagewiKY, a platform of key and feeder villages of the country and Gyan-key libraries, “which I aim to open three every working days,” are causes which are currently close to his heart. He pauses and asks us if he is sounding too hopeful? When we tell him of course not, what else is there in life but hope, he laughs and says, “Precisely!”