A young DJ whose great-grandfather caught and ate rats; the family that runs a mammoth university but started off as humble halwais, the PhD in Kannada literature who was once a mechanic. The outer accoutrements of newly acquired riches—the swanky cars, the LCD TVs, the English-educated children—are not important in themselves. They serve as milestones, pointing back to the great distances they travelled—in society and in their own minds. Here are some truly extraordinary stories. Taking what India tossed at them over 60 years, and adding to it their own initiative, their flight paths trace India’s new trajectories.