Alok Sinha
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| Alok Sinha |
Lucknow-based Alok Sinha (29) is nonchalant about the managing director tag he wears. But there is nothing casual about what he does in Psycon India, a consultancy firm which provides psychological counselling services to corporate houses, schools and non-government organisations. A trail blazer in a city which has rather antiquated notions of mental well-being, Sinha, an alumnus of Lucknow University fell back on psychology as a career option quite by chance.
In September 1998, 13 days before a graduation parade which would have marched him into the officer corps of the Indian Army, he was diagnosed with a tendency for stress fractures which disqualified him from a career in the defence services. Switching tracks he completed a Master’s in psychology and started counselling students for psychometric tests and interviews. As his reputation grew, Sinha signed up for a training programme with the Christian Counselling Centre, Vellore in January 2000 and followed it up with a course in HIV/AIDS counselling from the State AIDS Control Society. "That gave me direction and confidence. It also made me appreciative of human diversities — that each human being is unique and gifted with development potential," recalls Sinha.
Today, besides being the in-house counsellor for a prominent local school and a popular choice for teacher-training workshops, Sinha convenes HIV/ AIDS workshops for jail inmates in five districts across Uttar Pradesh. "The idea of Psycon India grew out of an awareness that there was no common platform for academicians, counsellors and human resource trainers to share their experiences, views and resources. Today over 120 professionals in diverse, far-flung locations nationwide are part of the Psycon India network," he explains.
According to Sinha, Psycon India is "an empowerment movement to bring together thinking people who wish to innovate in the teaching-learning experience". This objective is being achieved through programmes that focus on teacher training, psychological and career counselling, besides parental guidance and development workshops. Psycon’s agenda also includes organisational programmes such as employee counselling and recruitment consultancy.
Next on Sinha’s agenda is a database of NGOs working in different areas so that a support network can be built. "We want to highlight and publicise ideas that have worked and the people behind them, so that their ideas gain currency and are adapted to suit peculiar conditions. Much too often a good idea perishes because it isn’t propagated. The great challenge is to transform Psycon India into a self-sustaining vibrant organisation independent of powerful, driving personalities," says Sinha.
A self-description, no doubt.
Vidya Pandit (Lucknow)
Shilpa V. Rathnam
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| Shilpa V Rathnam |
Fun loving and gregarious Shilpa V. Rathnam, a class XII student of the National Public School, Chennai, bagged the Jury’s Special Mention Award in the nationwide Classmate Young Author Contest held in Delhi earlier this year (February 4). Sponsored by the cigarettes, hotels, paper, ready-foods and infotech behemoth ITC Ltd, in association with The Activity, Chennai, to encourage young talent, the contest attracted 15,000 students from 500 schools in eight cities (Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Cochin and Mumbai) across the country. Shilpa (16) survived the tough selection process and emerged one among eight national awardees for her short story entry Reasons to Smile.
Understandably, this youngster is proud and enthusiastic about her achievement. "This is the first short story I’ve written. I felt greatly humbled and overwhelmed at receiving the award from noted author Ruskin Bond who headed an eminent jury, which included satirist Jug Suraiya, writer Anita Nair, Rupa co-editor Indira Khanna, and filmmaker Sandeep Ray among other distinguished personalities. I had the opportunity of interacting with these veterans and getting to know them," says Shilpa who received a Rs.10,000 gift voucher and the Classmate range of notebooks for her winning entry. Now she’s looking forward to seeing her story in print with Rupa & Co planning to publish the entries of all the 24 finalists.
A voracious reader of thrillers, novels and classics, Shilpa loves to lose herself in the books of her favourite authors — Jeffrey Archer, J.K. Rowling, Jane Austen, Mary Higgins among others, whenever she is not "hanging out with friends or partying". A top-ranker in school and student leader, Shilpa is also an active participant in debate, elocution and essay competitions many of which she has won. Despite her gruelling school routine, she freelances regularly for Seventeen India, The Hindu Young World, Vibes among other publications. She is also a budding poet and her deepest feelings are expressed in the 50 plus poems she has written so far, ten of which have been published.
Right now, Shilpa is focused on her school-leaving (class XII) studies as her future plans are to read law at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore which admits only 80 of the very best students in the country. "I want a career that’s intellectually stimulating and compatible with my literary interests. Hence the law," she says.
Given her social confidence and multiple skillsets, Shilpa seems well cut out for a legal career and several other careers as well.
Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)