A runner's question about safety

Kridha Gupta, a class 12 student, wanted to exercise seriously but her mother was uncomfortable sending her to a gym with few women. Outdoor exercise felt unsafe after dark in poorly lit spaces.

“Access to fitness should not depend on how safe a woman feels occupying a public space.”

RunX begins with five runners

Instead of trying to change the entire city, Kridha started RunX, a women-only running club in Ambala. It began with just five or six women running together.

The group grows and talks safety

As RunX grew to more than two hundred members, conversations about fitness brought up the roads women avoided and what made them uncomfortable. Poor lighting was one barrier they identified.

Reading the city through running routes

Kridha realised she could not redesign Ambala's infrastructure overnight. But she could create a community where women felt comfortable exercising together and use that platform to approach institutions about safety.

Eight lakh rupees for five streetlights

Through RunX, Kridha raised close to eight lakh rupees, which helped support the installation of five streetlights along poorly lit routes in collaboration with Resident Welfare Associations across Ambala.

The Mayor's office takes notice

The initiative's advocacy reached the Ambala Mayor's office, where proposals for additional lighting and safer public spaces reportedly entered the two thousand twenty-six civic policy agenda.

Learning how to build a movement

Kridha organised the Ambala Martyrs Run with the Indian Army, bringing together around four hundred runners and raising approximately one thousand dollars for families of martyrs.She learned that a meaningful cause alone is not enough.

“A good idea is not enough; you also have to understand how to bring people into it.”

From running to rural education

The Mayor nominated Kridha to the Chief Minister's Good Governance Associates Programme. She conducted workshops across more than twenty government schools, reaching over seven thousand students on higher education, careers, leadership and gender equity.

Knowing when to ask for help

Kridha organised RunX herself but larger events, institutional partnerships, permissions and legal documentation required adult support. Her parents helped her navigate these processes.

“I do not think asking for help makes a student-led initiative less student-led.”

Helping athletes build careers

Through Khel Vikas, Kridha worked to help former athletes turn sporting experience into professional opportunities. The initiative certified forty former national-level athletes as high-school coaches and organised more than ten skill-building sessions.

Start small, then build bigger

Kridha's advice to other teenagers is to begin with the smallest workable version of an idea. RunX did not start with hundreds of women or streetlights. It started with five or six people.

“If you care about something, begin with five people. Begin with one street, one classroom or one weekend.”

One teenager, many changes

Kridha's work shows how a concern can become a starting point for action.Making roads safer requires better infrastructure, responsive institutions and changes in attitudes.