Pallavi Gaikwad is setting out on the journey of her life.

She is just about 24 hours away from a flight to New York where she will speak at the Clinton Global Initiative, on behalf of the NGO for which she works, making a pitch for partnership with prospective funding agencies and other organisations.

What makes this 26 year old different, from the starry panel at CGI, on which Bill Gates, rocker Bono and Bill Clinton sit, among others, is her story. Set in Ambernath.

The township of Ambernath is a far-flung, lower-middle class place that probably has just one thing in common with the glitzy Mumbai -- the suburban local that connects it to the city's train terminus.