Meri Zindagi are unlike other Indian girl bands, which perform covers of film songs. Members of the all-female rock band are on a mission to use music as a tool to raise awareness about gender inequality and empowerment.

Salvation comes to those who die in the holy city of Kashi because it breaks the eternal cycle of life and death, Hindus believe. Hostels such as Mukti Bhawan serve as short-stay accommodation for guests at death’s door.

Tim Grandage was so shocked by the child poverty he found when he was posted to Kolkata 32 years ago he founded a charity, Future Hope, to rescue street kids and give them a better shot at life.

In India, nearly 200 million people have mental health problems and there is fewer than one psychiatrist for every 100,000 people. Juno Clinic, a start-up, offers easy access to online counselling from professionals.

The Durga Puja festival is devoted to Hindu goddess Durga who was created to vanquish a buffalo-headed demon. A time of exuberance, food and laughter, people from all walks of life mingle freely on the streets for the whole 10 days.

With high rates of poverty, childhood marriage and illiteracy, girls in Jharkhand have few prospects. An NGO uses soccer and education to empower impoverished girls and give them courage and confidence.

After losing her leg in a horrific robbery in her native India, Arunima Sinha refused to give in to despair. She decided to climb Mount Everest and is now ready to tackle the last peak of the Seven Summits Challenge

The annual Evolution Asia Yoga Conference features more than 165 lectures and workshops. Meet the gurus who will be hosting workshops to help you zap workplace stress.

The Robin Hood Army was founded five years ago by three Indians as a volunteer-based organisation fighting hunger in the country’s communities. It has since gone global.

Sri Dharma Mittra, Noah Mazé and Christopher Wallis have a combined 110 years of yoga experience and will be leading sessions at the conference. The annual Evolution Asia Yoga Conference features more than 165 lectures and workshops.

Briohny Smyth and ‘Action’ Jacquelyn Umof, who will hold sessions live in Hong Kong this month at the Evolution Asia Yoga Conference, talk about their favourite poses, why they practice, and the results that can be achieved.

The skateboarding craze is sweeping India, and prompting cultural change. India’s first professional skateboarder Atita Verghese wants girls to use the sport to break down social barriers, and have fun doing it

Michael Cartwright took up running at 44 to lose weight, but thought marathoners were crazy; after completing one in 2006, though, he caught the marathon bug. Now 60, the retired Hong Kong police officer offers his tips on running 42.1km.

The history-making Filipino Dynamos team can only train once a week, and depend on sponsors to cover boat hire and race fees, but are undaunted. They practice paddling, do yoga and strength training, and through it all build camaraderie.

Entire towns come together on Holi to splash and smear each other with coloured powder, paint and water, a tradition believed to have come from a boyhood prank that the god Krishna played upon Radha, his beloved.

Hong Kong’s Yama Foundation teaches yoga to children and adults with disabilities and chronic illnesses who might otherwise not get to practise it at all. Since 2016, it has provided more than 450 free classes to 900 people.

Star ultrarunning coach Jason Koop shares insights on why more people are getting hooked on endurance running, and tips on how to succeed at it. Plus seven tips on how best to recover.

Indian-Canadian actress Lisa Ray has worked as a top model, Bollywood actress and television host, but she is also a cancer survivor. Now based in Hong Kong, she speaks about her battle with multiple myeloma.

Angry at the quality of Alzheimer’s information available online after her mother was diagnosed with the disease, Deborah Kan set up her own website, Being Patient, to provide the answers people were looking for.

Hong Kong-based working mum Ming Chen runs marathons for fun, averaging more than two a year for the past 30 years. In training for her 65th marathon, she thinks she’ll stop at 88.

Sumit Nanda had constant headaches and bad digestion, until he saw an Ayurvedic doctor. Despite his scepticism, he found the treatment worked so well, he now runs an Ayurvedic company.

Hong Kong-based pair talk about their high-altitude trek around revered – and still unclimbed – mountain in Tibet, the pilgrims they passed, and how to prepare physically for the challenge.

Hongkonger Bhakti Mathur learns there are no short cuts to running marathons faster; ultrarunners advise her to run more, do strength training and lose weight ahead of a race to improve her times

John Wood, then a Sydney executive, was appalled when he visited a school in Nepal on holiday and saw only three books there; he returned with 3,000, and helped set up an education charity that has reached 12.4 million children in 20 years

Refugees in Hong Kong face a hard life and uncertain future as they await recognition of their status before heading off to a third country to be settled. We talk to members of Run, a non-profit group that aims to rehabilitate them through treks, runs, training and by offering online study opportunities

Bullet damage, a fractured spine and scoliosis; three people who were suffering from pain and lack of movement turned to a form of yoga taught by B.K.S. Iyengar, and improved the quality of their lives immeasurably