Kalaburagi teen is a master of 60 skills

KALABURAGI: Akansha Puranik is 17 but knows to play the harmonium, tabla, keyboard, tamboori, sitar, guitar and dholak.
No, this isn't even half the things she can do. She can sing in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Marathi. She can paint, make rangoli and mehendi art, dance Bharatnatyam, sing bhajans and kick-box.
This list isn't exhaustive, but sure is exhausting for anyone, but Akansha.She can easily list all the 60-plus talents she has.
In Kalaburagi, she is the personification of the Kannada idiom: Adu muttada gidavilla, Sarvajna tiliyada vishayavilla. It means there is no plant left untouched by the sheep, and no knowledge unknown to the philosopher Sarvajna. For the people of Kalaburagi, there is no skill that Akansha Puranik cannot master.
Akansha is a face in every competition of every hue in this city.
She has over 600 certificates, 300 medals and 200 shields to prove that.
Akanksha is the daughter of Pramod and Rupali Puranik. Pramod works as a technician in a dental college and hospital in Kalaburagi.
Rupali was once a school principal but quit her job to focus on Akansha after realising that she had an uncanny ability to learn new skills.
Akansha started learning music at the age of five and has not stopped learning new skills and crafts since.
Her focus on her many talents, however, does not mean that Akanksha is academically indifferent. She scored 90% in her SSLC examination.
While Rupali has taught her daughter several skills, Savithri Thite is Akansha's teacher in Hindustani classical music.
Akanksha has won at the district-level in high jump, long jump and 100 m sprinting. She will participate at the national level in a kick-boxing championship in Kolkata on December 22.
She won the state championship in Mysuru a month ago.
Akanksha is interested in appearing for the UPSC exams.
Her mother, Rupali, told TOI: "We have applied for the Limca Book of Records."
Oh, and did we mention that she can swim and is a black belt in karate.