Budhavari majhi

Kho Kho World Cup: As the lamps of Diwali flicker across India this year, from the tribal heartlands of Odisha to the sandy villages of Rajasthan and the chawls of Pune, some families are celebrating a new kind of Lakshmi Puja, one not marked by gold coins or rituals, but by pride and tears of joy.

Their daughters, once told that sports were no place for women, have become symbols of fortune and empowerment through the game of kho kho.