For 17-year-old Janmoni Konwar, getting to a karate championship in Delhi looked difficult after floods forced her family out of their home in Assam. They were living on an embankment with a tarpaulin for shelter when PhysicsWallah founder and CEO Alakh Pandey met her family in Jorhat. Days later, Janmoni was in Delhi, where she won all three of her bouts and secured a gold medal with a 10-2 victory in the final.
From a flooded home to a makeshift shelter
Janmoni was preparing for the 20th All India Independence Cup Karate Championship 2026 when the floods disrupted her plans.
Floodwater entered her home on July 19, forcing her family to move to the Bhogdoi river embankment. Their house remained around 5 feet underwater, while the family stayed on the dyke under a tarpaulin.
For Janmoni, this was not her first national-level competition. The Class 12 student had already won national medals in 2024 and 2025 and was preparing to compete again.
But with her family dealing with the floods, travelling to Delhi for the championship had become a challenge.
Then Alakh Pandey met Janmoni’s family
Pandey was travelling through flood-hit upper Assam from July 30 to distribute relief when he met Janmoni’s family at their shelter in Jorhat on August 3. He noticed the medals Janmoni had won and heard about her ambitions in karate. The meeting eventually changed her plans for the championship.
“Pandey sir met my brother Krishnamoni and learnt about me. The next day I met him at our shelter,” Janmoni said.
