IIE 2023

PARTICIPANT INTRODUCTIONS

IIE 2023|PARTICIPANT INTRODUCTIONS

Reg. No. Name Introduction
23005 Rohan Thaware Hi. I am Rohan. From Nagpur. Currently doing PhD in Biotechnology and also, I am
teaching PG Students. I believe that the fundamental duty mentioned in Article
51a(h) of our constitution should be taken seriously by the teachers and implemented
in their activities. I love biology, especially microbiology, and am always excited to
observe and study diversity. I did my first teacher's induction at IISER Pune where I
attended Mohanan's class in 2018 and I am curious to learn more from him and Team
ThinQ since then.
23006 Aashraya Krishnani Hey there!
My name is Aashraya (Ash) and I'm here to find a balance between actively engaging
with amazing people like you, and sincerely dedicating time for individual practice
and reflection.
An 18 y/o student about to enter college, I partake in scientific study and strive to be
equally open to other beautiful fields including literature, history, music and different
arts.
I have been blessed to experience a decent academic life through God's loving grace
and the freedom offered by my parents to explore life without fear.
I take interest in meditation and being in silence, trying to see beyond the endless sea
of thoughts to find peace. I also love listening to devotional music and chants;
participating in soulful kirtans.
In my early teens, I heavily suffered from addictions mainly due to my inability to
handle academic stress. Yet I'm extremely grateful for having received guidance from
loving knowledgeable mentors who showed me how to live and enjoy a dutiful life.
Currently, I endeavour to devote my time and energies towards fulfilling my duties.
Exploring this sense of inquiry and integration as a human being and practically
applying it feels really exciting to me :)
Thank you!
23009 Abhijith Varma Introducing myself hasn't been an easy task for me all my life. And I don't think it's
because I have less things to talk about, actually I don't know what it is. Anyway, I'm
Abhijith, pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Information Technology. I am very
passionate about learning new stuff, especially about technology and such, purely just
out of curiosity. I enjoy exploring the nuances of how things work. In my free time, I
try to explore what's new and trending.
23011 Adithya Varma I am a retired AGM from SBI, retired in Feb 2023. I think I will be the oldest
participant in this group. I am a post graduate in Physics and I wanted to do research
in Physics. However, due to various reasons I had to join and continue with the Bank.
But Science is still a passion for me. After joining the Bank, I completed MCA, CISA
etc. and used to grab every opportunity to learn something new. I have developed
interest in areas like Genetics, Psychology, waste management etc., of course at the
layman level only. I always enjoyed teaching which was started during my graduation
days. I am convinced that every child has immense potential to learn. It is the present
education system which limits their capability and suppresses all their creativity.
Now I am retired, relieved of all the official preoccupations and stresses. I want to
devote hence forth for the cause of education. My son Abhijith Varma, who is studying
for his B.Tech. (IT) has also enrolled for this course.
23013 Akash Bhor I did my graduation in Engineering but then I thought that contributing towards
solving social issues around us will be more meaningful than doing a corporate job.
So, I started working in the development sector.
Many students drop out of school and cannot do better in academics because they lack
basic Language and Mathematical skills. For the last five years, I have been a part of
projects aimed to solve this issue. Currently, I am working with QUEST for a parent
education program for early years.
I think, along with foundational literacy and numeracy skills, critical thinking and
rational enquiry are also important skills for one’s life. This course will help me in my
educational journey and understanding the world around me. Also, I would like to
help students & teachers for improving these skills.
23015 Alok Dwivedi I always liked sitting in classes, taking notes, textbooks, and particular favourite –
exams. My school trained me (and my other classmates) how to excel in exams. I

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 think that I cleared the IIT JEE partially because it is considered as one of the
toughest exams. Even though I got into IIT for the wrong reasons, I learnt a lot there.
Most of all, the warmth of friendship and joy of companionship. I got the habit of
watching movies there which developed into appreciating creativity and efforts of
people behind the scenes.
“It is possible to believe in something, and still fail to live up to it.”, a quote from my
favourite TV series. I believed that education was all about excelling in exams which I
later realized is far from the truth. Life is full of learning opportunities and many of
the very complex concepts need not to be taught in complex manners. So, I am
working in the education sector to help students ask questions, find out the answers
(or at least how to find answers) on their own, and in doing so appreciate the real
learning.
23019 Anand Kuppuswami I am an IT architect. I never liked studying, not because I didn't like the subjects, but
because of the way they were taught. Their real-world relevance was an aspect never
touched upon and the only way it was projected was “if you study well, you will be
well settled”, but again “well settled” was never defined. Of course, I never thought it
should be questioned or that it can be questioned. I strongly believe in smart working
and never worked “hard”. I used to study aiming only for 75% and in most cases
obtained ~80%. I have been spiritual and philosophical from an early age. I believe
everyone has a purpose in life other than standard occupation and family, but haven't
found my one yet. I feel every aspect of life has a perspective and it is never an
absolute right or wrong. I used to question all our customs and traditions, not to
trivialize them, but to understand them more, but never got an answer, but I didn't
possess the good habit of reading books, so I used to come up with logical answers
myself. Off late, I have started reading books and with ThinQ, I feel it will help me
find answers for all the questions I still have lingering in my mind.
23021 Aniruddha Patil After studying an engineering for 6 years (Diploma + Degree), I have realized
that I didn't get what I have expected. That has triggered the thought process in my
mind to search the answer for this gap between the expectation & reality. The answer
that came up in my mind was to increase the practical part in engineering by actually
working with industries to learn the specific subjects. Also, there was a 'what next'
thought process in search of the goal for my life which led me to choose the path of

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 serving society instead of just earning the money. After an immersive experience of
working in a rural area I have decided to work for the betterment of society with 'for
the people & by the people' way. Working in school education with activity-based
learning techniques & constructivism, I have realized that scientific temperament has
been developing within myself. So decided to work with the students from rural India
to develop their scientific temperament by forming an NGO with the name 'Mil Ke
Chalo Association’.
23024 Anupama Anand School was a chore that I endured. I always wanted something different, not sure
what. Simply put I was a confused, complex, and inhibited child filled with dilemmas
and questions with no answers. I thought I had found what I wanted when I pursued
computers as my career line to quickly lose interest in the real-world tedium of
machines. Marriage, family, and responsibility brought within me a sense of stability
and patience to gradually explore and steady myself.
My foray into psychology was the first step. Counselling and working in a school
opened me to observing, learning, and working with children and adults and that
gave me a sense of purpose. My future slowly unravelled before me as I developed the
clarity, curiosity, and confidence to take opportunities whenever they presented
themselves. Today as a Counselling Psychologist, Facilitator for Workshops, and an
Online teacher for psychotherapy courses on the professional front and the mother of
2 young adults at the personal end I have really come a long way. Learning has been
my constant companion and am so looking forward to ThinQ to see how I can imbibe
change in myself and the world around me.
23025 Anusha Ramasubramoney I see myself as someone who is curious, an explorer of all worldly (and not-so-worldly
things) things, impulsive, creative, honest and a lover of learning. I am fascinated by
everything to do with humanity, but especially those things that have the ability to
foster an intimate connection with people around me - languages, and music, my two
greatest loves. I tend to develop intense interest in something new as fast as I lose it,
and lack of self-discipline is one of my greatest challenges. I have terrible short-term
memory, which is perhaps why I manage to remain an optimist. I am a musician, a
research student, an events wrangler and language learner. I am currently super
interested in how language speakers sound - in their intonation - while speaking a

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 new-to-them language, and the musicality of it. I also can’t wait to explore as many
waterfalls as I can in Maharashtra during monsoon this year.
23026 Arunesh Kumar Hello, I am Arunesh, a research scholar based in Chennai, and I specialize in English
Language Teaching. Beyond my occupation, I see myself as a curious and passionate
learner with a keen interest in critical pedagogy. I am particularly interested in
learning autonomy and teaching-learning experiences. My special interests include
exploring different pedagogical approaches and methodologies to help students
become more engaged and motivated learners.
My most important preoccupations include contributing to society by creating a more
equitable and just education system. I am excited about exploring new ways to help
learners become more autonomous and motivated, and I believe that critical pedagogy
can play a key role in achieving this goal.
Looking forward to getting a lot of learning triggers!
23028 Atri Anand My name is Atri Anand. I am 13 years old and am studying in the ninth grade.
I have always been a questioner and I generally don’t hesitate to ask questions. That
doesn’t mean I always ask productive questions. Sometimes, my parents point out
that I should listen better before asking questions and at other times, they point out
that I should try to think of possible answers to these questions myself (before
asking). In school, I learn to understand and apply concepts. I keep asking questions
to get a better understanding of these concepts and my teachers like that habit.
In this way, I use questions throughout my life to extract knowledge. However, it
didn’t occur to me (as much) that questions could also be opportunities to think and
build knowledge by myself.
This practice started when I joined ICT (Inquiry and Critical Thinking) ThinQ. Since
then, I have been learning to ask fewer but more appropriate questions and to find
suitable ways to answer them via inquiry. I hope to learn a lot more on these terms by
participating in IIE.
23029 Avani Mantri I am an artist and a badminton player. I am good at chess and I love to solve
problems.
23031 Avinash Pandey I was always an average student in my formal educational pursuits. I tried hard but
hardly ever ‘excelled’. I have learnt the most while teaching. I enjoy teaching and

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 being in the classroom environment with fellow learners (teachers and students). So, I
guess being a fellow learner in a classroom can be said to be my primary identity.
However, I have been painfully conscious of my limitations in being able to
meaningfully participate in the teaching-learning process. We expect education to
drive social change but I have come to realize that the culture of formal education is
extremely conservative in nature and it is quite difficult to change classroom
practices.
A classroom as an exciting and subversive arena thriving in the interstices of dogma
and tradition is currently a utopian dream for me. However, I am aware that
approximating such a dream is crucial if we wish to create individuals who can think
for themselves and chart their future paths without feeling the need to be
infantilized. I am unhappy about the ways in which we are organized as a society and
this sense of unhappiness drives my desire to work towards creating a more
democratic culture around me.
23032 Balasenthil Duraiswamy I started my work life as a Software Engineer some 20 years ago and continue to be
so. I like designing and building software. In between, I took a break from work life
and volunteered at Isha Foundation for about 3 years. In my free time, I spend time
playing tennis, that I started learning recently and following custom mechanical
keyboard community.
23035 Chaithra N I'm Chaithra, put up in Bangalore, a Physics Post Graduate. It's been 2 years in
Agastya International Foundation as a Content Creator for Science Model Manuals.
Interest in the field of Experimental Physics and the urge to work in the field of
science has made me involved here.
Observing the night sky, trying to join the stars which form constellations is one
interesting thing. 3 years of REAP course in Nehru Taralaya (Jawaharlal Nehru
Planetarium) gave me a strong basement towards science.
Working with Agastya has made me to think in a wide variety conceptually. While
creating manuals several doubts arise, which are discussed with our subject experts,
clears the doubts and gives a new vision to build the content.
Exploring new versions of old topics in the way of conveying the subject to the school
kids is challenging as well as exciting.

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23036 Chinmay Kalel I'm a student studying in grade 9th. I'm a student from Jawahar Navodaya
Vidyalaya-Pune. It took me a lot of effort to be here, because to be in Jawahar
Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) you need to be selected. Only 80 students are selected
from 20 thousand other competitors. That's around 250 students struggling for 1
seat!!! I'm quite an introverted guy who mostly likes to study more than to play.
Maybe that's the reason for me being at the position at which I'm right now. I scored
overall 98% in my 8th grade and ranked 1st in my school. That most of me you should
know. Thank you.
23037 Chirantan Shah During my schooling years, education for me was just a competitive process in which I
had to do well so I could read my novels in peace while pretending to study. That said,
I had a few wonderful teachers, to whom I shall always be grateful for developing
morality, an interest in reading and debating in me.
While Engineering and MBA happened in the background, I spent most of my time
reading fiction (I had the good fortune of having access to books by Bronte, Dickens,
Dahl among others right from school days) or being involved in college politics.
I have been fairly dissatisfied in my various roles as a civil engineer, software
developer, journalist, consumer research, sales manager, brand manager unable to
derive any meaning from my work. In 2017-18 I tried to co-found an interviewing
organisation to provide a platform to people on the fringes. We couldn't make it
financially viable and I got drawn towards primary education as a possible solution to
my discomfort with India's socio-political situation (my volunteering experience with
education NGOs suggested the same) and as an enterprise with the potential to move
our society towards being more ethical, just and egalitarian.
I have been with my organisation Gyan Shala for five years now (haven't yet
graduated out of Kindergarten as far as understanding of the Education sector is
concerned). I am interested in understanding how education can help in developing
rationality, autonomy and virtues like courage, integrity and justice. My motivation
behind joining IIE is to become more rational and to understand how education could
develop reason and a commitment to reason.
23038 Datta Dandge I did my primary schooling in a zilla parishad school in a small village, secondary and
higher secondary schooling in a small city and higher education in UDCT, Mumbai

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 (now called ICT, Mumbai) and then post graduate education in IIT Mumbai. I
attempted to do a PhD two times but couldn't make it.
All through, I longed for learning on my own and at my pace and in the light of the
questions I found pressing while I was trying to learn. For the last more than thirty
years I have been teaching core UG courses in Chemical Engineering. I have been
trying to promote learning the way I dreamt for myself. But I find that every student
is different in their academic conditioning and capacity to learn on their own. Most
common weakness of them all was that they were never ever ready to challenge
anything that was meted out to them by the academic authorities. Be them the
teachers, textbook writers or their better performing peers...! This lack of 'ability to
question anything that is established' (my idea of critical thinking!) becomes a crucial
bottleneck in true learning. I mean learning to understand and add value and not just
to get "placed".
My motivation to join this course comes from the concerns above. I hope to explore
answers to my own questions such as "Is critical thinking a skill that can be
transferred?", "Is it more of an attitude than knowledge?", "How do I teach my
students how to learn on their own?" and so on. Moreover, I look forward to the joy of
learning in the company of genuine and "critical" learners. 👍🏼
23039 Devyani Modi I have always been a student who aims for a full score in exams, especially
mathematics. I think of myself as a student who is more capable of doing self-study
instead of taking any coaching and I see myself as a person who is very introverted
and prefers to do activities involving less communication with other people. I face this
challenge a lot as when I step out in the world, I find this as one of the most common
traits one should have i.e., communicating with other people which in my case is
difficult. Going through this challenge I have realised that I am improving on this
over time. I love solving various puzzles in my free time or when I am taking a break
from my studies.
23040 Dhanya K I am a quiet and observant person who enjoys watching myself. I have a background
in science and education. Apart from enjoying teaching and learning, I am interested
in gardening, reading, and occasionally sketching. I believe that I am not a
conventionally bright person, so I use my hard-working nature to move forward in
life. Lately, I am preoccupied with thoughts on research in education, particularly on

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 questions relating to student voices (questions) in the classroom and how a teacher
can encourage this process. I am also interested in understanding the role of affect in
science education.

23041 Dimple Shalini Sakhrani Hello everyone, I am Dimple Shalini Sakhrani, a homemaker now in search of a
newer identity.
Before COVID I found a part time job where I taught Sindhi, which is a different
script that goes from right to left. I found it fun but couldn't continue, because of
family commitments and also it was a standstill period for many. Recently in
November 2022, I started teaching at Wordly wise and I found I enjoyed being among
young children and it was a substitute placement for a teacher who came back. I have
also lost 25 kgs weight, and I am under different mentors to improve my perspective
towards life. I am committed to my family and I love making friends and talking to
people. I love dressing up though it's on special occasions now. I am fond of music,
Bollywood songs, bhajans, healing meditation music. I have a son who just started
working and my husband deals in electronic parts. Meeting cousins and parents is
what I look forward to most.
23044 Gargi Navani Hello, my name is Gargi and I have been on this Earth for about 15 years. I am an
extroverted person and love socializing with others and getting to know more about
them. I tend to remember details of every topic that I like and am passionate about
my interests. Being an almost complete list, I tend to finish the tasks I have started
at that very moment. As a partially independent person my traits include being open-
minded, well I am trying to be, standing my ground in an argument, living my life to
the fullest and trying to accomplish all the dreams I ever had as a kid and will
continue to have as a teenager and adult. Curiosity has never failed me in terms of
always ending up learning something new, resourceful and in terms of utility. In
terms of my education, I had always despised math and physics. I learned to like
Mathematics but haven’t yet been interested in Physics. Subjects like Political
Science, History and Psychology have always grabbed my attention, due to which I’ve
been reading and watching more things related to these topics. Recently, I had
started reading the newspaper and am happy to report that by doing so I've built my

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 own set of opinions and have gained more knowledge about the things happening
around me.
23046 Hameet Gill Throughout my life, I have always been eager to explore and discover new things.
However, I often felt restricted by the gender stereotypes that expected girls to be
quiet and obedient. Despite having numerous questions and ideas, I hesitated to
speak up. Despite the expectations of my elders to pursue a traditional career, I chose
to silently rebel by pursuing a career in computers. While I have achieved success in
this field, I still feel a sense of unfulfilled curiosity and a desire to explore.
Although I appreciate the simple pleasures in life and miss the close-knit community
of my small hometown, my priorities have shifted as life has become busier. It was
only when I became a parent that my passion for questioning and learning was
reignited. Despite facing resistance from others who view too many questions as a
nuisance, I encourage my child to be curious. This has prompted me to reflect.
Currently, I am on a journey of discovery, focusing on learning more about Indian
civilization, innovative teaching methods for children, and sustainable living. I am
enthusiastic about gaining a deeper understanding of myself and learning from others
along the way.
23052 Ignatius Kanickaraj A determined 25-year-old who is currently in his final year of pursuing BBA. Up until
my undergraduate program, I was a rote learner who struggled to understand
concepts in detail. He often found himself doing things mindlessly and experienced a
lot of anxiety when it came to academics.
I found inspiration from a YouTube professor named Dave and Sheldon Lee Cooper
from the popular TV show Big Bang Theory who have taught me that mathematics
and other disciplines are connected and developed fondness for learning them and
making sense of the world. I am very much excited about mathematics and other
fields and I want to explore as I journey my life in the world.
23054 Ira Bhagwat My name is Ira Bhagwat. I am in std 8. I am always open to new knowledge and
experiences. I enjoy reading all sorts of books. I love to study about different animals.
When I grow up, I want to be a veterinary doctor. I love animals. I also like to study
Chemistry. I love to see scientific experiments and also conduct them. I enjoy
studying history as well.

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23055 Ishan Parasnis Throughout my schooling career, I was considered a bright student by my teachers. I
did my homework on time, got good marks and always helped my friends. My friends
also consider me smart, because I was really into cubing. But from Standard IX, I
faced an issue. I couldn't think properly and give answers to my teachers which
affected my concentration and studying.
In my opinion, ThinQ would change my way of thinking. I was always preoccupied
with something, anything; like thinking about my career, my school, badminton, etc. I
have also faced many challenges in my life which I have to overcome whatsoever. I
expect that the ThinQ program would help me overcome these challenges and my way
of thinking!
23057 Jayashree Kadam I see myself as an introvert, listening to everyone’s opinions and advice but finally
taking action after introspection.
Good in academics, I wanted to become a doctor. But fate had some other plans. To
help my family financially I had to take up various admin jobs after completing my
B.Sc. (Microbiology) . I realized my interest in teaching while working as a Trainer in
a company. I completed M.Ed. and finally landed as a science and mathematics school
teacher. Since then, I am very excited about my profession and always think of
innovative ways of teaching and learning process.
The Internet is full of teaching- learning material/ideas. I spend a lot of time reading
the material. The challenge is to be satisfied with whatever lesson plan I have
selected. My question is how do I know whether the learning outcomes are achieved. I
wonder if I am going overboard.
I always feel that my students should enjoy their school life along with academics. I
try to give them the freedom of expression.
Through IIE, I am looking for the ways to be satisfied with my lesson preparation and
also achieve the desired education/ learning outcomes.
23058 Jolene Fernandes I am Jolene Fernandes, a neurodivergent 33-year-old with Graduate education in
Clinical Nutrition and Sociology. I also maintain an active academic interest in other
fields within the humanities and aspire to be a lifelong learner.
My interdisciplinary training greatly aids my practice as an Integrative Health
Consultant and through this course, I hope to build the skills to assimilate and
integrate cross-disciplinary knowledge, especially with the purview to help build

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 better education and healthcare systems that are flexible and adaptable, and which
enhance well-being and quality of life for individuals and communities.
23059 Joyeeta Dasgupta I hated school. Fourteen years of school was a brain-numbing, boring, torturous
journey. Never did well in school-end, college-end exams. Yet I was always a creative
person, capable of original thought, loved doing research. I was pretty low on
confidence by the time I passed out of college, especially because I am from a family of
super achievers and I kept comparing myself unfavourably with them. However, as
soon as I started my work life, I became successful and happy. I became a star
performer wherever I went...as a reporter in Business Standard, as a software trainer
at MicroUniv, as a Mathematics teacher and then as a Principal. I was respected as a
valuable resource wherever I went. I want to delve deep with this course to
understand how I can ensure that no child ever goes through school feeling dumb and
bored.
I am an avid reader. Love to write. Love road trips. Love theatre (performing as well),
love to attend musical concerts and dance recitals, love watching movies. I love a good
"adda" - which is a deep intellectual discussion over tea or drinks among a small
group of people. I am a great leader, coach and mentor. I have two amazing college-
going kids, a wonderful loving husband and some incredible friends who make my life
worth living. I am also an overweight diabetic who loves food. They say my laughter
can be heard a mile off and my warmth is worth travelling miles for.
My special talent is a strange one - I am able to ask incisive questions in any
situation.
23060 Moksha Jain I’m a tattoo artist and a primary school teacher in the making, currently working as a
Teaching Assistant. As a kid, inquisition came to me just like it does to any other
child but it was rarely encouraged. I slowly started fearing if what I say/ask is going
to be "wrong". So, I continued being an all-conforming, no-questions child who was
great at everything in school and got applauded for it. I did what was asked of me
until 11th grade when I began to realize that the pressure to “excel” is doing nothing
for my knowledge and perspectives. In college, on joining B.Arch. is when I realized I
needed to take control of my own learning. Coming from an institutionalised
educational system, dropping out of college was not an easy decision. However,
joining a self-designed learning programme in Udaipur exposed me to diverse

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 alternative worldviews in varied disciplines which changed my life forever. I pursued
my passion for art and tattooing whose exploration took me to doors of teaching. I fell
in love with the idea of nurturing and influencing kids’ minds and understanding
them for the welcoming, deeper beings that they are. I hope that this course aids me
in always seeking better and beyond as a learner as well as facilitator.
23061 Kamal Singh I am a post graduate in Physics from Uttarakhand University. I am passionate about
teaching Science which made me join Agastya. I am a hardworking, honest individual
always willing to learn new skills. I am friendly, helpful and polite, and have a good
sense of humour. My dream is to visit all the 7 wonders of the world. My effort
towards sparking curiosity, nurture creativity and instil confidence among
disadvantaged children and teachers. Emphasizing questioning skill among students
by critical thinking activity. Improving the quality of educational processes and
practices within schools across a district through capacity building of teachers, head
teachers, resource persons, and education functionaries.
Designing and facilitating creative approaches to teaching and learning through in
their chosen subject. Building networks of like-minded teachers and head teachers
working in the same subject area.
23063 Karnam Jhaveri Hello! I am Karnam Jhaveri. I am in the 9th grade and I'm 14. Being an introvert in
my childhood, I did not have many friends. This opened up a lot of time for me to
follow my passions. I was extremely focused on Science and Math from the 5th grade.
Honesty, dedication, commitment and hard work were few of the building blocks of
my success in competitive examinations. The goal of my life is to became an
entrepreneur and own a startup. I want to make the world a sustainable place
through my inventions and innovations. I love making best out of waste and
inventing new ideas and machines and discovering new theories. I like reading
Science and Math books and I love to play the drums. Robotics and coding are my
hobbies. I am a fan of cricket and I also enjoy cycling on the road. The biggest
challenge I have ever faced is the scheduling of exams. I used to give many
competitive examinations from my 4th grade till the 7th grade. The dates and timings
of these examinations, most of the times, would clash with my school exams. I would
be in a state of pressure and stress during these times. But by working smartly and
compromising on school exam preparation a bit, I was able to do well in the

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 competitive examinations. I achieved many feats in competitive exams and learnt a
lot during this period. Nowadays, a lot of my time goes in studying for school exams. I
also do Karate to bust my stress. I also work on my other hobbies in my free time and
on weekends.
23064 Keshav Kansal I still remember, it was 7 am in the morning. It was the first day of my 3rd grade
exam when my eyes were watering, my brain was shut and my hands were shivering.
I always hated schooling and felt like it was a torture. That was the day my life began
when my father miraculously told me while I was stepping out of the house that,
"Beta, no need to go to school anymore". Since then, I have been exploring a variety of
things like Yoga, Sustainability- went to Sadhana Forest Auroville, Spirituality- have
done various courses, won a prize in drawing, just played cricket and football for three
years straight. As 10th was nearing, I joined an alternative school called Pathashaala
KFI situated in a village near Chennai to pursue my education. I started again in 8th
standard. Currently I have finished my BBA in marketing. Now I have quit my
corporate job to start my own business and also, I work part time with a collaborative
coach.
23066 Kislaya Bahuguna I look at myself as an ordinary person with average intellect for whom fathoming and
synthesising has been tough all these years. As "knowing" is important to humans,
“knowing better" is even more as it enriches one's life (of-course for those who think
so). I still intend to think, reason, evaluate and rationalise better so that I end up
"knowing better than before". I am excited about ideas dealing with "Cosmology",
"Human Consciousness", "the nature of human mind", "meaning of life" and
"enlightenment". I run an experiential marketing “Startup" in Delhi for my routine
living. My other interests lie in music - singing, playing musical instruments and
composing and I can do the former two in some capacity. I am hopeful that the IIE
program will help me learn the right tools to function more effectively in real world
situations and find relevant answers to questions that one is excited about."
23068 Kunal Pardeshi I am an artist at heart, who enjoys poems, films, calligraphy, reading and extensive
travelling. I work in the development sector where the water issue is a subject of my
interest. While coordinating a series of camps namely ‘Fight with the Drought’ across
Maharashtra, I could understand the seriousness of the water problem with respect to

14
 villages. To further explore water issues, I volunteered in the Paani Foundation for 6
months. This experience reinstated my belief in Shramdaan and people's
participation. Along the journey, after living three and half years in a tribal village as
a part of one fellowship, helped me to unfold the concept of development, community,
with the people approach and sustainability. This experience of staying in the village
was not easy, but with the help of friends, books and villagers, I could survive. Based
on these learnings & experiences, my further endeavour will be to practice
sustainability more seriously and explore social research to map the change.
23070 Lakshmi Suresh It is when I started teaching that I got clarity on concepts. When I was in school, I
learnt what was taught, not questioning, not thinking, just mugging. Later when I
took up teaching as a profession, I realized that asking questions is an art. Having a
set of curated questions really makes the learners think. I have taught from
kindergarten to middle school. I find that the kindergarteners are the ones who ask
the most number of questions. They are so curious about everything. The questioning
skills keep diminishing as the children grow up. I have always wondered why? Is it
because as toddlers, children are not worried about the teacher and peers judging
them when they ask questions? Or is it because as we go up the grade the teachers
are more focused on completing the curriculum giving no room for children to think
and question?
I have been in the field of education for the past 17 years. I believe in the inquiry
model of teaching and have been trying to implement active learning strategies in my
class. I am also passionate about collaborating and sharing my knowledge with my
colleagues. When not reading up about the latest research in the field of education or
planning lessons, I am either cooking, listening to music or drawing 'Kolams'.
23072 Maahi Shinde Hello! My name is Maahi Shinde. I am in 9th std. and I study in Dr. Kalmadi
Shamrao High School. I think I am a creative person. I like to draw and paint and
also dance, they are my hobbies. I am good at both of my hobbies too. I think I get a
little shy when it comes to answering in the class so I think I will improve that but
otherwise I am good at talking to people. I talk politely and I have patience. I am
looking forward to participating in this program and learning many things from it.

15
23073 Malini Desai I am a very enthusiastic person, happy and smiling most of the time. I care for people,
especially children. I have done B. Pharmacy and B.Ed.; I have worked more than 15
years in the education field. Currently working as QA manager in Agastya
International Foundation. I like to work in the education field and with children. I got
the opportunity to work with Agastya, so I am with this organization. My interest is
to develop children into more responsible and self-confident. I tell stories to children,
love to sing songs and read books.
Balancing work and home is very challenging for me, I am finding solutions in
different ways and I do experiment new things to overcome this and try to satisfy
myself.
23074 Manasi Thapliyal Navani I was born to parents who were first generation in their family to reach university. I
grew up being fascinated by how much there was to know about the world, and often
got overwhelmed by questions about the span of the universe and meaning of life. I
was a born storyteller, and it was ironic that my house did not have anything to read
(including newspapers) and I went to a school which did not allow children to access
the library. Yet I managed to reach books at an early age and dreamed of owning a
library. My quest for learning and curiosity about the world was tagged as “academic
brilliance” by school and parents and I was forced to study Science. Yet, I
spontaneously gravitated toward the History and Literature section in senior school
and college. Stories tugged at my heart as I spent 5 years studying Physics and trying
to keep depression at bay. I felt like a dead fish being resuscitated when I left the
Physics Department, started eking out my own learning path, reading Philosophy of
Science and Education for Teacher Education course. I taught myself political theory
and philosophy drawing on the intellectually stimulating environment of university
where I found work as a teacher.
23076 Manjiri Ambewadikar Greetings! I am Manjiri Ambewadikar, and I am delighted to make your
acquaintance. I am a teacher by profession but my favourite role is that of a mother. I
love drawing, painting and creating rangoli designs. During my leisure, I indulge
myself in reading books and listening to music. My core values are hard work,
honesty, and a passion for learning. I am excited to embark on this journey of
exploring and nurturing my curiosity.

16
23080 Megha Desai During my schooling, I was very bored of studying mathematics, social studies and
physical subjects and I did not like studying those subjects at all.
When I was studying in the second standard, I had an accident and, in that accident,
I was hurt a lot. The injury reached my brain, so the doctor said that This girl can't
study much and she can't handle too much stress, load, and pressure.
But I continued studying and decided to become a doctor in sixth standard and
promised my dad that I would study and My degree will be written before my name. I
didn't like to be an engineer at all but due to some obstructs & circumstances I could
not become a doctor and finally I became an engineer.
My journey with the education system started from Gyanshala. I was selected for the
elementary program of Gyanshala. At that time, I thought that this is very easy, but
when I started the topic Design. Then 1 to 10 days remained blank. I did not
understand at all. When I started designing, I realized that sound simple elementary
programs are hard and difficult. It is too hard and difficult to explain to little
children.
My leader Mrs. Sejal Parikh has played a huge role behind my good subject designing.
She has always guided and encouraged me. Mrs. Sejal Parikh’s one thing is the
reason behind my good subject design that she never gives a direct answer or does not
help, she always passes through the process and concludes it.
I have started working on education from Gyanshala. This is the first time I have
participated in IIE Education Course. I am very passionate about getting better
knowledge of my learning, teaching process, and critical thinking.
Intelligence Information, Investigation & Research, Intelligence Department, I have a
strong desire to work in one of them during my lifetime. That is my next goal.
23081 Megha Kaulgud During my academic years, I excelled in school and achieved decent grades in Math. I
soon changed my mind from pursuing Commerce to taking up Science at my uncle’s
suggestion. I then went on to pursue a B.E in Computer Science and worked in
various cities across India and abroad in the corporate IT sector. While I had a
passion for reading during my school and college years, my reading habit has since
diminished, with digital media taking over. Nonetheless, I still enjoy reading and am
always curious about learning new things. Additionally, I have developed a strong
interest in travelling to offbeat locations and continue to do so whenever possible.

17
 Currently, I have taken a hiatus from the corporate world and have become an
educator in an alternative learning space in Pune. I have found great joy in teaching
Math, a subject I have always enjoyed, and aim to make my learners happy by
teaching in a manner that resonates with them.
23082 Mihir Kulkarni My name is Mihir Kulkarni but I am remembered by most people as an active cricket
fan or a cricketer. In school I am seen as a man who concludes the discussion with the
right answer and thus, I am the final and the last guy to answer. I may have
inherited the interest of cricket from my father; who is a huge fan of the sport but
also, I have been playing cricket for so many years for the satisfaction which I get by
playing it. My ambitions often motivate me to study and stay ahead of the portion. I
like and play all sports like football, basketball but cricket is the utmost. I like
scientific stories and to know how science developed. Solving the toughest of the math
problems has always been my keen interest and I always look forward to solving more
unique questions. I always wish and think myself to be a programmer for which I
have tried to explore programming languages, software and hardware backups' think
the biggest power of humans is' creation' and I have also taken an active part in the
Atal tinkering lab for this. Instead of developing an invention again and again, I
believe in changing it with a new and better invention and thus look forward to new
and unique ideas always. I am interested in space and astronomical ideas [space cars]
and software ideas [programs and algorithms to eradicate depression in human
beings].
23083 Mitali Tantri Hello, my name is Mitali Tantri. I am currently in 8th STD studying in Kalmadi
Shamrao High school. Education is tool for learning and first step for our success. I
usually like to be unique and inspire learning. I like being creative and seeks
innovative ideas to be experimented. I am a very inquisitive person and see the world
in a new way. My passionate about music and learning it for 6 years. My favourite
subjects are History, Science, Maths and English. I always seek motivation from my
role models - 'Parents'. I am because of them and I also thank ThinQ for this
opportunity and glad that I am part of IIE course. It gave me an opportunity to
present my inner liking. Thank you once again.

18
23085 Monica Zutshi I am “hybrid” in many ways. My parents belong to different communities. Since our
home was a cosmopolitan space, I am uncomfortable identifying myself as either
Kashmiri or Mangalorean. Given my unusual surname, I have often been mistaken
for a Muslim or Parsi. That is fine with me because I identify with being Indian.
I did my B.Sc. in Chemistry and M.A. in English. I completed my M.Phil. in English
years ago. Now I find myself drawn to completely different disciplines: Linguistics,
English Language Teaching and Education Studies. I am somewhat daunted by my
own plans to read for a dissertation in a subset of these areas. I try to draw comfort
from the fact that not only do I have an excellent academic record in two very
disparate disciplines in the past, but also that recently I have performed well in the
certificate and diploma courses in English Language Teaching at EFL University, and
that my paper at the International AALA conference last year was well-received.
I am interested in meditation and energy therapies. I enjoy writing poetry and fiction.
Currently, my professional preoccupations are how to serve my students well, and
working towards a PhD.
23086 Moumin Bin Zacharia I believe that all past moments of my life are interconnected and thus equally
important. But for the sake of introduction, I take two.
I am good at math and love solving puzzles and stuff. So, I opted Computer Science
and Engineering. Joining the college and staying at the hostel, being away from home
for the first time, made me realize my comfort zone. Suddenly, life had life in my
thoughts. Not having a passion, dream or goal troubled me more than ever. Many
questions of life and existence got in me. I was really confused. Still, I have no precise
answers or a great one passion.
Last year, I got admission for a PG Diploma in 'Islamic Thought and Social Process.' I
was Opened! Opened to new disciplines and unlearning many things, I got to view
things differently. Even sense and think differently. ThinQ too is one such opening.
Introduced to Sociology and realizing Science is just a way of knowing like many
others, I'm now interested in Anthropology and Science & Technology Studies (STS). I
love stories - meeting people, hearing from them, reading books, watching movies and
stuff - more than anything.
23087 Mrudula R I am a science enthusiast, wanting to explore the inexplicable mysteries of science
which are the core to everything. I love reading, which is absolutely the most basic yet

19
 most important thing of our lives. Apart from reading I love to sing, paint, and
discover. It is my passion to become a scientist in the field of chemistry. Since my 1st
grade I have been participating in Science Olympiads and have always won the Medal
of Excellence. This year I was delighted to get the Gold Medal. During my School’s
Science Fair this year, our Team’s project – Engineering challenges won the 1st place.
I enjoy exploring and discovering new things. Thus, to end I would like to say “Things
don’t turn up in the world until someone turns them up”.
23089 Mudit Verma This being is known as Mudit among the current set of human beings. I have been an
explorer throughout my life, from dreaming to be a treasure hunter in the childhood
to taking 2.5 hours to imagine my mission to the moon with every minute details in a
3-hour entrance exam of ISRO. Ambitious, YES. Brave, sometimes. Courageous,
always. Currently reimagining education in the foothills of Himalayas.
23091 Nagaraj Pandian Hi, I am an admin in charge of 13 schools. Mostly I handle finance matters. I have
completed my UG in commerce and persuading my PG in the same subject. I like to
teach children more of applied subjects than theoretical. But when I go in front, I am
alone always speaking instead of making them speak/ think. I have achieved less
when it comes to dealing with human beings.
23092 Nagesh Waikar At school level I was fearful about mathematics.
Through workshops of Navnirmiti I got a new vision of mathematics that is do,
discover and learn. Any subject could be learnt through constructed activities, self-
learning and understanding only by enquiry-based approach.
This course will help me a lot to change the classroom environment for critical
thinking.
23095 Navedita Singh I consider myself the first student in my own classroom, driven by joyous wonder and
immense curiosity for possibilities. While growing up, it was almost effortless to enter
the world of possibilities even under the schematic pressure of my socio-economic
identity and that has fuelled me to work with children from diverse backgrounds.
After completing a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts from Delhi University, the curiosity
about fertile learning environments took me to an unconventional field of knowledge
at Swaraj University, Udaipur, Rajasthan for a “Self-Designed Learning Programme”.
My interest in pedagogy and psychology exposed me to Waldorf and Krishnamurti

20
 Philosophy of Education, receiving experience in several modalities like Nonviolent
Communication, Art of Hosting, Mindfulness based Counselling and so on.
So, I challenged myself to join a full-time job at a school even when I knew I resisted
the repetitive nature and the value system of it. Through my last 2.5 years of
commitment to children at school, I have grown, stayed and creatively made efforts to
improve the quality of learning within the existing norms of imparting education and
intend to continue to do so.
23096 Neelapagari Jayaram I am an Optimistic person who is a keen listener, always keeps smiling and thinks
Divya positively in any situation. Today's me is the product of my grandfather and parents'
words and actions. I grew up watching them how they stood up despite all the
challenges they faced from our childhood. I love learning new things. The biggest
challenge I have faced is being independent. I was a girl who grew up in a traditional
family where my parents didn't want their princess to work hard & when I finally
convinced them to do a job that was the greatest achievement in my life. There are
many but the 1st step I took always reminds me that everything is possible if we try.
23097 Neeraja K Hello everyone! My name is Neeraja, I'm a woman with a passion for learning and
exploring, I approach every opportunity with enthusiasm and a positive attitude. As a
yoga practitioner, I value the importance of mindfulness, self-awareness and physical
and mental well-being. I have a deep interest in spirituality and ancient sciences,
always seeking to uncover the hidden reasons behind them. One of my greatest
strengths is my ability to remain stable under pressure. I thrive in a high stress
environment and can analyse situations and people's behaviour effectively. These
analysing skills made me successful in my career path of career mentoring. My strong
work ethics allows me to work well under stress, delivering results even in
challenging situations.
23099 Nikhil Joshi I am Nikhil Joshi, an engineering post graduate by training. But like most engineers
in my circle, I have travelled across multiple disciplines like IT, health, youth
development and environment.
Currently, I am working with Paani Foundation whose mission is to create people's
movement to fight the problem of drought and climate change. At Paani Foundation I
get to dig deeper as well as traverse across the disciplines to curate the knowledge on

21
 critical environmental problems like improving soil fertility, reducing use of
pesticides, understanding competition for Ground Water. I also get to design sessions
in which we take this complex technical curated knowledge to the villagers in
entertaining and storytelling form. I am proud to be a part of the vibrant, creative
and democratic team.
Though working on environmental issues is my passion, professionally I started
working on these only after 30 years. Leaving the much-travelled path of the IT
industry to work in Gadchiroli based NGO SEARCH has been one of the most
important decisions in my life which took me closer to my passion.
Introvert, creative, art loving, privileged, jack of all, patient listener are some of the
adjectives that have stuck to me over years.
23100 Nitin Mohan It is difficult for me to introduce myself as I do not have a definite answer to the
question of who I am, beyond my profession. The journey so far makes me believe I
am a constant learner, open to new ideas, trying to bring together different
perspectives to understand the concepts more comprehensively. I did my bachelor’s
and master’s degree in physics, got a PhD in Nanotechnology, and pursued post-
doctoral research in Biophysics. The concept of light-matter interactions has always
been a fascination, perhaps it started from understanding how those beautiful
rainbows were formed. In the pursuit of developing new optical methods for
visualizing biology during my PhD, I got a chance to see a human cancer cell, all
lighted up under a fluorescence microscope. From that moment I knew, I could just
watch them for my entire life, and seek answers to those many questions on the inner
workings of the cell. This motivated me to take up the job at IIT-Kanpur as an
assistant professor at the biological sciences department, where I develop advanced
optical microscopy methods to study cell biology.
23102 Omm Jena Namaskar to the ThinQ group. Am Omm Prakash from the capital city of Odisha. I
gave my 10th boards this year and I will be starting my 11th from the 19th of June in
a school located in Andhra Pradesh that is Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School. I
came to know about this really great course from my father. My father is a self-
independent education consultant. His works include educational research, teacher
trainings and many more. Basically, he is based on the education sector. So, I have
been listening to all kinds of educational talks of his from the very beginning and at

22
 first, I found them really boring but later I gained interest and I was able to make
something of my own perspective on what education is, how it should be, how it
should work, how should things be taught and many more. I believe learning should
be based a person's own thinking. Our Indian Education System is based upon the
rote learning process where we need to learn, understand, remember and write them
in our exams. We don't question and are not allowed to think for ourselves which
reduces our analysing and thinking capacity and makes us uncreative.
But thinking, discussing, asking questions, finding solutions to the questions
ourselves, applying our knowledge to daily life, I think all these makes the learning
process effective and helps the learner to learn through his own questions and
answers and also makes him/her creative. Therefore, I look forward to attending this
really great IIE 2023 cohort which would help me to learn and study more effectively
in my future.
23106 Pravin Shinde Hello! This is Pravin working as a teacher. I have thirteen years of teaching
experience. Now I am working at my fourth school. Before, I worked in three different
schools. During this, I encountered diverse students. Each school has its strengths as
well as its problems. Among them, Jarewadi School was a turning point in my
teaching profession. As a teacher, I had the opportunity to enrich myself. In that
school, I was teaching science for grades six to eight. And during teaching, I learned
how to deal with science subjects as a teacher. I was trying to develop the culture of
"doing science instead of learning science," so we created a science lab for each
student. Students enjoyed the science experiments by using low-cost materials that
are actually easily available in the surrounding area. Students were doing amazing in
the science subject. I can do a lot of new activities related to my subject.
I contributed to government programmes like Shaala Siddhi, Bridge Course,
Worksheets, Swadhyay, Diksha app creation, review of the contents, writing of
articles, etc. Every time I try to give my best, I think I am quite curious about
everything; that's why I joined IIE course, and I hope it will definitely be fruitful for
me and my teaching profession.
Thank you...!

23
23107 Preeti Desai Growing up across cities in India, made me open to adaptability and also made my
thinking radical. I loved the freedom of overcoming any kind of challenge with a
newer challenge. I focussed on pursuing Psychology as an Honours subject at the
undergraduate level and followed it up with a degree in Education. I also had the
privilege of being surrounded by our own pre-school, which followed the Montessori
methodology and gave me a direction to pursue. With my own children, I encouraged
them to think radically and beyond, out of the box. Then moved to teaching and there,
inculcated the habit amongst my students to nudge, question and arrive. Thereafter,
I ventured into the corporate world, which taught me the nuances of the corporate
world. Came back to the education domain to head an IGCSE school. Here I used my
potential to create systems, write books and create higher order thinking syllabi to
raise the bar. But joining IIE has got me excited as I am back to learning after so
many decades. Today I look at learning from my granddaughter, my two sons and of
course life. I believe in being positive and in gratitude always.
23111 Rajesh Khar I believe that I am a simple, close-to-nature person who, like a child, is drawn to
everything that is beautiful in life. I have tried, and been aided by nature, to move
along the path of life, (or is it time?) in a zig-zag route, exactly as its curves and bends
required me to- sometimes happily and sometimes willy-nilly.
I have always been a boy with a slightly grown-up attitude, even in my school, who
was not up to any mischief; but running, laughing, playing yes, a plenty. Am quite a
sensitive person with a scientific temperament type from within who has been
polished and sharpened into this present state of being by my parents, teachers,
peers, co-workers and friends apart from the circumstances of my life.
I have worked in product and communication designing, print and electronic media,
early childhood and primary education, social research, training and editing and
translations. Literature, performing and visual arts and mother nature are closest to
my heart. On the way of leading life, I have gathered a graduation, a PGD, an MBA, a
working doctoral degree and yet find myself the same old naïve boy who doesn't
understand much. I am persevering to lead a simple, loving, fulfilling and a content
life.

24
23113 Ramkumar Nagabhushana I am a person who loves the sunset, loves open spaces and likes to learn new things
Rao from people. I can easily converse with strangers whom I am meeting for the first
time. I am an imperfect person striving for perfection, but I do not know what
perfection I am moving toward and judge myself harshly on the mistakes I commit. I
expect so much, I think big, deliver little in terms of practice and sometimes worry
about what other people think about me. I enjoy poetry, and like to express beauty in
my own Kannada words but I love to keep this poetry to myself. During the
pandemic, I started practising yoga, walking and meditation and I have been
consistent with these new habits as they are part of me. I am entering the ThinQ
course with anxiety, fear of the unknown, courage to make mistakes with my fellow
participants and most importantly understanding myself and developing new skills
and knowledge through practice.
23115 Ravikant Patil Experience. Create. Contribute. This has emerged as a guiding principle for me in
life. Experience as many different things as possible - convert those experiences in
some creations - ensure that these creations are contributions to something (family,
community, domain knowledge, strangers etc.). In other words, 'Learn. Apply. Be
useful.'
Academically, I have studied bachelors and master’s degrees in Electronics and
Wireless Engineering. Have worked with big MNCs, small startups, co-founded a
startup, and worked as an individual consultant. Each of these work modes exposed
me to different worlds, where I tried absorbing as much understanding as I could.
Then switched domain and worked as a software maker in the development(social)
sector for a few years now.
Software maker, product maker, org strategist, wireless network guy, open-source
guy, trekker, traveller, cyclist, sketcher, tea-admirer are some of the roles I enjoy
playing. Find sheer joy in the serenity of Rehman’s voice. A curious soul(?) at the core.
:)
23118 Rishit Pandhare Myself Rishit Pandhare from Dr. Kalmadi Shamrao High school studying in class 9. I
like studying languages, history and maths. I hate science as it is very much
complicated. There is an ATL lab in our school. I love doing various projects there. I
like to watch and play cricket. My most favourite thing is to wake up early in the
morning and go cycling with my friends. I like to travel a lot. In my last project for

25
 ATL, I got to know about climate change, global warming and net zero. I made a
prototype for waste management but I would like to work more on this topic. I would
like to work on such ideas.
23119 Riya Sharma Hello everyone!
My name is Riya Sharma and I am a PhD student. I have been on a very conventional
academic trajectory over the last decade, doing my Bachelors, Masters, MPhil, and
now PhD in the social sciences. I am training for a career in Anthropology, and with
that comes a lot of anxiety about “gatekeeping” of knowledge and knowledge-creation:
What counts as an original contribution to human knowledge? Who is worthy of
getting (increasingly scarce) research funding? Who gets to teach? Who gets to
publish? … And so, lately, I have been struggling to stay in touch with my love of
learning, teaching, and research beyond these pressures of external validation. I have
joined this course in the hopes of rediscovering my love of learning and critical
thinking with the help of a (refreshingly) diverse group of peers and instructors.
I first attended a workshop by ThinQ for educators in 2016 and was thrilled to find
that teaching and learning do not have to repress our natural creativity and doubt;
On the contrary, the very point of education is to hone them. I have since been
following ThinQ’s social media and am delighted I could avail of this opportunity.
23120 Robert Wasserman My life can be best summarized by a 1968 song by the Byrds, “Wasn’t Born to Follow”.
As a baby boomer, I grew up during the Vietnam war, the civil rights movement and
the rise and fall of the Hippies and flower power. In 1970 I was first exposed to
Eastern thought and religion and by 1972 was doing yoga and became a vegetarian.
At that time, people considered me a complete kook and told me I would die if I did
not eat meat. I always sought my own path in life and not once have joined a cult,
religious order, or political party.
In fact, the profession I chose, chiropractic, was certainly not mainstream back in the
late seventies. It was this choice of vocation that led me to meet Tara and Mo back in
1992. Tara was one of the first patients to find her way into my little office that I set
up in Singapore that year.
Soon we became best of friends and spent many a Sunday morning in Singapore’s
“Little India” pondering the universe while we munched on idlis and dosas. To this
day, I have valued having them in my life.

26
23126 Samiksha Bajpai I am a late bloomer. 😊
I began my primary education in Germany, learning by observation and
experientially. After moving back to India, I became the teachers’ pet: reproducing in
exams every single word they had uttered in class. At no point did I realize that I
never thought about or questioned what I had ‘learnt’ although I grew up in an
academic family. The trend continued through my undergrad in the Sciences and my
postgrad in Linguistics.
It was only during my Ph.D. and when I began teaching that I started thinking about
the nature and validity of knowledge. Many of these originated from the questions my
students and children posed.
On a more personal front I love travelling, being on my own, listening to music, am an
Indophile, and a handloom and handicraft aficionado while my favourite identity is
being a ‘mother’.
23130 Sanvi Kulkarni I am Sanvi. Probably an ideal student in school. Writing this self-introduction is
pretty difficult for me. I feel consistency and a positive approach is what is very
important in learning anything, be it a skill, a language, an instrument. Anything.
Along with this, I feel confidence is also very important to express ourselves and
showcase our talents… I feel this is again a very important aspect of learning, which
unfortunately, I lack. This made me sign up for this course. Besides, I am a person
who loves challenges and something which would make me think, brainstorm. And
the learning triggers in this course would be like the perfect food for my brain. So I'm
looking forward to having a good time in this course and taking loads from this
course. I hope I wrote well!
23131 Saransh Agrawal I chose the Science stream after my 10th Standard. Ideally, I would have liked to
study English Literature, Psychology, Philosophy and other such courses from the
Arts stream as well, but mainstream education didn’t allow me to do that. After
coming to study undergrad science in IISER Pune, I got exposed to Mo and other
people from ThinQ which made me unabashedly proud of my engagement with a
diverse bunch of subjects. I was reminded of my disposition as a child of being a
passionate learner and questioning everything I saw and am trying to cultivate that
into my personality again.

27
 The most fun parts of my day are having debates and discussions on both academic
and everyday topics with people who don’t get offended when I try to prove them
wrong. My current research direction seems to be in studying the Oceans and other
fluid phenomena which are entirely (and perhaps naively?) fuelled by my aesthetic
appeal of them. Right now, I am dealing with the AI existential crisis and trying to
develop skills that I think a machine won’t be able to do even 10 years down the line.
23133 Sasha Ganesh Kumar I used to love math when I was little. I even signed up for classes to do higher-order
thinking in math. Although I owe my mother for pushing me to take a step forward
and engage in difficult problems, I always liked that breakthrough when I solved a
hard problem. There was a point where I'd hear a problem and start visualizing an
answer. These days people ask me where that bright little girl went, and I can't seem
to find an answer. Over time I grew disinterested, and everything started feeling a
little repetitive. So, I abruptly quit and decided to take a break, whilst I felt a lot
better there was also something missing... Of course, I engaged in physical activities
like gymnastics, horse riding, basketball, etc. I tried almost every sport available and
I'm passionate about some of these sports that I took up as a hobby. Since I'm in
grade IX everyone says it's time, I focus on my academics more and that I shouldn't be
as socially active as I am but I'm not the kind of person who can sit and study all day,
I find it hard to be that involved in something I don't have a deep interest in. In my
eyes, math taught in schools is just following a formula to get an answer and I know
that's enough to score well in exams, yet I find myself wondering why the formula
works and what correlation it has to the problem itself.
These days I find myself interested in botany, chemistry, solving cubes, sports,
playing poker (legally), traveling, and photography.
23134 Satomi Chida Satomi is a Japanese and a language enthusiast living in India. My home town is a
rural town in Chiba, Japan. I have always dreamed of living abroad. I majored in
German literature at university and studied abroad in Germany for a year. However,
after an internship in Kolkata, India, I decided to shift to India after my graduation. I
have been living in India for 13 years now. I am currently studying linguistics. My
research area is a contrastive study of Marathi and Japanese. The most exciting
moments for me are when I work with people from different backgrounds to
accomplish something. In the process, we have to share our values and overcome

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 many barriers. Having grown up in a monolingual, monocultural environment, India
is a fascinating world to me!
23137 Seema Khare I did my engineering in computers from Pune university and was working as SAP IT
Professional for 10 years. After the birth of my second son, I left the IT industry and
started my own coaching classes of mathematics and science. And I was completely
overwhelmed by reading all those academic textbooks from a totally different
perspective. Being in the tutor chair, I always try to explain the concepts from books
in a simpler language which my students can understand and while doing so I
stumble upon some "Why" questions for which I do not have any technique to find the
answers. So, I am very much looking forward to this course to help me in finding the
answers to those "Whys???"
23139 Shailesh Jadhav Working in social sector have provided me with opportunity to interact with people
with varied background. This exposure was really helpful for me to work on my
thinking process. I have realized (though nothing new) that thinking is a tiring task.
It drains your energy and many people tend to avoid thinking and plainly accept
things as they are. Critical thinking is a step ahead. I believe that a lot of personal
and social issues will be resolved if people start thinking and reflecting critically. The
problem with this is our education system, culture, exposure do not equip us with
critical thinking. I think critical thinking will help me grow as a person, professional
and I can contribute better to society. For this reason, I have joined this course.
Hoping to learn from you all.
23141 Shankari Rao I see myself as a sincere, hardworking and a joyful person and a very good observer. I
was not great at studies, but good at cocurricular activities like singing (Hindustani
classical vocal), managing small school events with teachers which gave me an
opportunity to be a member of a student council, this helped me to develop my
leadership qualities. My parents wanted me to be a doctor, but I could not achieve it. I
did my B.Sc. (PME)and later joined as a maths and science teacher in a school. This
school gave me an opportunity to recognise my strengths in teaching. Later I did my
B.Ed. and for the past 12 years I have been in this profession. I always remember the
words said by my father- “This is a noble profession, don’t worry about your monetary
growth, but you will be remembered by your students throughout their life, so bring

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 that change in them”. This is a motivation for me and teaching has become my
passion. When students call me first to share their successes, I am the happiest
person. Through this IIE program I want to learn and achieve skills which will help
me to enhance my teaching.
23142 Shikha Choudhary I have always been a sincere student, following the rules and listening to what my
teachers had to say. Little did I know that learning is similar to kaleidoscope and that
it never stops. My life has been a great teacher.
I was intrigued when I went through the course structure of IIE and what caught my
attention was the term 'Learning Triggers' leading to collaborative learning. The line
which says 'Teachers and students are co-learners', this line resonated with what I
believe and how I think learning should be. I truly believe in collaborative learning. I
thank ThinQ for this opportunity and look forward to an awesome session.
23144 Shilpa Gore I am Shilpa, a teacher and passionate to learn new things, to share them with new
learners. I am very curious to learn how the brain works. I have been reading a lot
about neuroscience and have done some short online courses about it. Here I am sure
I will explore curiosity in a new dimension. I have published papers on ‘Emotional
Intelligence’ and ‘Creativity Awareness’.
23150 Shruti Ghosh I have always done things with the notion "Hard work is the key to success!"
However, smart work is equally important for your efforts to turn into reality. I have
always been an academically profound child. Constantly being one of the top students
of my standard, loved by teachers and peers etc. However, I always felt a void in my
"PERFECTLY" pictured "self" image. I was never a part of extra-curricular activities
or courses - like IIE!
With this feeling, I entered the pandemic. Lockdown was a golden opportunity for me!
During this period, I began my self-discovery journey. My intuition and curiosity were
the captain of this ship of self-discovery. They constantly attracted me towards
finding more information about the new topics I came across. Thanks to the various
internet sources such as videos, interviews, articles, books and my family for being
available to quench my thirst for more knowledge. Overall, the lockdown helped me to
enhance my ability to ask suitable questions, increase focus level, discover helpful
study methods, improve the ability to explain to others.

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 Post pandemic, with my improved skills, I found myself easily multi-tasking between
academics and extracurricular. This made me more confident and I was able to even
focus on my personality building. Earlier, when I tried so hard to get selected in
different activities, I wasn't able to. But with a clear understanding of my strengths
and application of smart work, I am effortlessly getting selected into courses and
activities which I always dreamt of! I am really looking forward to this course!
23151 Shubham Patil I passed a competitive examination to be admitted to an IISER after putting in a lot
of effort in studying for this exam. In high school and college, I had always been at the
top of my class. However, I soon came to understand that simply having academic
talent does not imply having the skills and qualities required for conducting research.
It was K P Mohanan's guest lecture that got me to question how I was acquiring
knowledge. Further, Introduction to Research (ITR) provided me a perspective on the
process of scientific inquiry, instead of the results of the scientific research.
Challenges - managing relationships, being a gullible person.
In a chemistry lab, I feel at home. I aim to develop experiments that are beneficial to
the environment as a whole. I’m an avid reader of books and hope to create useful
knowledge from them - like writing their summaries for the general public. Going
with the flow against setting clear goals in life, as well as certain philosophical
writings like the Taoist proverb "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is
accomplished," are examples of paradoxes in life that make me uneasy and drive me
to seek understanding of their meanings.
23152 Shubhra Sharma I have been a rebellious child and always wanted to get answers to my questions. I
chanced upon ThinQ because of this very reason. I was trying to find a resource or
website which would help me think in a wholesome manner. Being a facilitator, it is
imperative to answer questions or rather point in the right direction which would
help learners.
I hope I am able to gain more insights on how to think, inquire and question.
23154 Siddharth Nahar I've always been that above-average person; better than the majority at many things
but just short of exceptional. This led to the formation of a highly competitive spirit
and the desire to be at the top of something. I’ve had accomplishments while playing
the piano and cricket. But the fact that I couldn’t touch the ceiling in either of them

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 made me swerve towards “competing” in education. It was the environment of my
school. I wouldn’t say it was necessarily a bad thing. It did teach me how to think
differently in order to be at the top but it meant having to sacrifice my hobbies. I have
rarely pursued my creative hobbies in the past 6-7 years while I was completing my
formal education.
Some deep self-reflection in the past 2 years has made me rethink all of this. Instead
of finding joy in competing, I’ve found joy in improving myself and learning new
things. Having completed my education, I have slowly started making time for things
that actually make me happy. It has given me a new outlook on life and I hope to
expand on the joy of learning in IIE.
23157 Sonit Sisolekar The ‘identity’ of a single person comes in many different forms. However, I can always
see myself as ‘A mere zero* exploring infinity’. I feel like a tiny particle - existing for a
negligible time-frame in this seemingly infinite cosmos - which is trying to explore the
world around him, zero by zero, up to whatever extent he can. Since my childhood, I
have been curious about the world around me: finding patterns, questioning how they
were formed, what they mean, and how things work. My father used to take me to the
nearby hills, and once told me that all the huge black rocks were lava flows; it
fascinated me! My interest in geology kept growing ever since then.
I started doing research in the field at the age of 11, when I discovered two lava tubes
(caves) near my home. Under the guidance of Dr Raymond Duraiswami (Professor,
Savitribai Phule Pune University), I did research on lunar sinuous rilles which I
presented at the Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference, 2021, an international
NASA conference. I co-authored a research paper on the Sylhet aTraps of Meghalaya,
published in the Journal of Geological Society of India. I am also an IESO 2022
(International Earth Science Olympiad) gold medallist, and have done research on
geological carbon sequestration as a part of it.
Apart from this, I have been learning Tabla for 10 years. Creating and finding the
musical patterns of nature has always been the foremost preoccupation of mine. I
believe that science is nothing but the art of looking for rhythm in the universe or
part of it.
*Referring: https://youtu.be/Gmy0XjnWqKA"

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23159 Srikanth Gelivi Every day, we learn, and learning is a never-ending process. True to this statement
my learning is happening as I'm growing up. Each stage of my life is teaching me new
perspectives and sometimes unlearning to relearn is really exciting.
For me, the real learning happened a decade ago in the field of education (I worked as
an Academic Director in a School) when I attended an educational conference in
Ahmedabad. That workshop enlightened me, raised curiosity and changed my
approach towards education.
The experience in the field of Education has given me a different dimension of life -
especially interactions with young minds, intellectuals around made me to be updated
always. Also understanding the scenario from others point of view to solve real life
problems/situations at root level was my key learning. Earlier my focus was on selling
the product/services but later realized we need to give solutions to the people who are
approaching us instead of just selling the product/services. This approach makes the
real difference in other's lives and it's the Success mantra which I'm following now.
With respect to my educational background, I'm a technical graduate and later
finished my master's in management studies.
I feel creativity and curiosity are the key ingredients to excel in any field and this
made me drive towards this IIE course. I'm really excited and hopeful that I can align
myself with the IIE course for the next few weeks.

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23160 Srimathi Krishna Kumar Ever since childhood, I have been having this habit of questioning the why part of
everything I was told to do. Since I was young, my parents had a tough time in
answering my questions such as why the vehicles are parked in the walking path, and
why the roads are full of trash when the dustbins are empty. I was given the title of
"Miss doubtbox" by my teachers during my 10th farewell. With this exploratory
mindset, I decided to pursue my integrated masters in biotechnology (even though I
come from a family of accountants and commerce teachers), and later join a scientific
informatics company 3.5 years back. I started as a developer and now have moved
into the role of business analyst now. Parallelly, I have been learning Carnatic music
for a long time, and have ventured teaching the same for a few kids for the past 4
years.
I officially got introduced to critical thinking in the workshop conducted by
Vigneshwar sir during my college days in SASTRA University, and that experience is
still fresh in mind. I am eagerly looking forward to what this course has in store!
23162 Subhashree Bharathan I was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and grew up in different cities. For the love of
biology, I pursued a course in Biotechnology during my undergrad at SASTRA
University, Thanjavur.
My teachers always regarded me as a model student and a near ideal daughter to my
parents. Constant striving for perfectionism led me to sometimes either spend longer
than required hours on work or over-commit. The outcome, however, is not always of
superior quality as intended. This came down as a rude shock when I realized in
focusing on perfection, I either tend to lose the big picture or make the process less
enjoyable.
I am a curious person by nature and always try to understand why or how behind a
topic at hand. Being a Life Science IT professional, I have little to no room these days
for such explorations, although I try incorporating these when driving corporate
training.
Both my parents are teachers and I aspire to pursue a career in this line of work in
the future. I firmly believe one is a learner forever and one must not lose any
opportunity to achieve it.
On a side note, I enjoy baking, cooking, dancing, and reading.

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23163 Sugan Samy I'm Sugan Samy. In my school days, I excelled academically and secured merit
admission to an engineering program. However, my focus on results hindered true
learning, leaving me unfulfilled after four years of engineering. Seeking a change, I
pursued animation and experienced genuine learning for the first time. This led me to
become an animation teacher. When tasked with teaching photography, I embraced
the challenge, learning from scratch. It was then I discovered the joy of learning and
realized my limited mindset. Now, determined to break free from my self-imposed
boundaries, I'm here to open myself to learning in various disciplines, beyond my
personal interests.
23166 Sunitha Gedupudi I am an engineer, a psychologist, an educator and mother to 2 vibrant individuals. I
love travel, photography, good food and reading. I love to learn more about how to
ignite the curiosity and the love of learning in young minds. Thinking creatively and
critically is one important aspect of learning. So here I am :)
23168 Swara Rao I am a very cheerful girl. I like to play, dance and do everything. I have learnt many
things in my journey of 13 years. I am also interested in learning new things & I also
like to help everyone in my school and also, I love to make my life fun and easy. I as a
student like to study but not much and also, I want everything to work easy. I have
been learning kathak dance for 4 years and have learnt many things from it like
expressing, hand and leg movements and much more. I also like to learn things in a
fun way and my parents support me for this a lot. I also want to do a career in Kathak
and also want to continue it and further become a KATHAK DANCE TEACHER with
a degree. I always ask a question to myself that why is STUDYING IMPORTANT TO
DO ANYTHING and I found the answer that nothing is easier in life without studies
as we require math for calculations and science to know about something in much
detail and studies also will help me further in FUTURE. So that's it for today.
Thank You
23169 Swati Sharma Being a model student in school I always secured good grades and received
appreciation from teachers. Since childhood I had a questioning mind but the tough
competition to achieve better grades never allowed me to explore. I always thought
that I’ll clear all my doubts once I secure a good place for me for higher education.
This led me to Banaras Hindu University for a BAMS course in 2012. Ayurveda being

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 one of the most unexplored sciences gave me a quick start to follow my mind and look
deep down into different unrevealed matters. With this I completed my first semester
with average grades. Again the “fear of future” led me to follow the trend and hence I
passed my graduation with good grades and fixed my place for masters in Banaras
Hindu University. There comes the first time I decided to travel the road not followed
by many. Inference, I have chosen Ayurveda physiology as specialization rather than
opting other clinical subjects. My mentor Prof. Kishor Patwardhan normalized my
odds and gave me enough opportunities and freedom to work on areas of my interests.
Thus, I decided to pursue PhD expecting a lot more to learn and explore.
23172 Thomson Varghese I am a school teacher by choice. As a student, I was above average and did fairly well
in school. A major decision I took for myself was when unlike so many others around
me I decided not to take up engineering. College provided me the freedom and
opportunity to learn and explore. I had no other plans after post-graduation so when a
senior suggested that I join a school as a teacher, I did so. I loved it.
However, it was only a few years later, while working at another school that I got to
think of what I was doing as a teacher. The experiences there made me identify a
number of misconceptions that I had and re-evaluate my role as a teacher.
That was some years ago. I fear now I have succumbed to the usual routine. And yet,
the time I spend with my students is still the best time for me. But I know that much
of what I do in class, in terms of ‘covering the syllabus’, the students can do on their
own if they attempt to. I want the time we (students and I) spend together in class to
be meaningful and useful.
I like to read and watch movies and TV shows/series. I enjoy cycling. I am curious to
learn about technology. I think I have a fairly decent sense of humour.
23174 Udayan Deopujari Hi, I am Udayan. I’ve just passed my 11th examination.
I am really grateful for having the ability to think, for thinking is the most prized
value/ability for me. You’ll see me lost in my thoughts many times, often smiling to
myself… My mother says that what I do is not ‘thinking’, but merely ‘daydreaming’,
still, whatever it is, I like it, being lost in the thoughts.
I am currently trying a lot of new things, picking up new interests. For instance, out
of nowhere, I started learning flute and violin just a year ago, and have simply fallen
in love with it. I like reading. Origami, cooking, playing cricket and football are some

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 of my hobbies. Actually, studying physics, thinking of scientific explanations for
things happening around me is also turning out to be a great hobby for me… perhaps,
more than a hobby.
I sometimes like to portray myself as a tree that has just reached the canopy and is
simply fascinated by its first glimpse of the horizon.
I am beginning to understand what is so special about my age - ‘teenage’; I am
thinking like never before!
So yeah, eager to interact with everyone!
23176 Vidhi Dole HELLO IIE TEAM, this is me Vidhi Dhananjay Dole. So let me introduce myself to
all of you. I am a B. TECH First year student studying in Maharashtra Institute of
Technology, Aurangabad.
So basically, I am from Aurangabad. My hobbies are Reading, Painting. And I am
quite good at it. Basically, I love reading books, I love people who always suggest me
the books which I should read. I come from a good background, my parents are
hardworking, they work day and night to give me and my brother a good life. I am
super proud of them, and I think now it's my turn to make them super happy and
proud. I am kind of an emotional person, I get attached to people easily, many of my
close ones told me that I trust people easily. Which always creates a mess for me.
Anyways, I will overcome my emotions. In my teenage, I suffered from Anxiety issues
during covid period too. There were several family issues and educational issues, by
which I was kind of distracted from my studies. but it's okay thanks to god, I
overcame it all slowly TBH it is still in process but these are not the big problems,
when I saw people in my surrounding with bigger problems than that of mine and
they took it easily then why can't I? so, slowly I changed my POV towards things and
started taking it easy which helped me to stop overthinking.
I do love Astronomy and likes to research about universe and nature frequently,
I do play badminton. and I am excited about how the universe works. Is all this real?
Basically I wanted to become a neurologist but unfortunately, I couldn’t, which is
okay now. I am happy being a B.tech student and being an engineer to be. I am
excited to get placed in good companies and excited to work as an engineer.
I don't have much expectations from my life. I just want a straight life and fulfil my
dreams.

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23178 Vikram Patil I studied in a Non-English (Marathi) medium school till my 10th standard and grew
up in a town which is located in the coastal region of Maharashtra. My school library
and Marathi intellectuals through their writings helped me shape my thoughts
initially, which gave me enough courage to leave the mainstream education system
after my 12th standard. That time I felt that the then structure of the education
system was very unscientific in nature or at least for me it was uncomfortable to be in
and hence it was a hindrance to my learning. My educational journey after that was
mainly curiosity driven and was mostly outside the formal academic structures. It
was not easy to convince my parents what I was doing, but after some struggles I
could find some way out. I started earning by working in a bank as a clerk, so that I
could do my educational journey independently. Then I had a complex relationship
with the academic spaces. They enriched me whenever I was not a formal student in
those academic spaces and they became a hindrance in my educational journey
whenever I tried to become a formal student there. I did bachelors and masters
because I felt that having degrees with you makes your life easy, in this society. I quit
my bank job after working there for five years, but I kept getting some income source
or the other after that. My true learning so far has been by taking various
experiences, meeting people both outside and inside the academic spaces, discussing
with them, watching videos, reading, thinking with and without using pen and paper.
23179 Vivek Vijayan Long long ago (January 4, 1986, to be exact) I was born into a famous Warrier family
blessed with imminent doctors at Kottakkal. Life is never short of irony and hence I
was diagnosed with a genetic disorder (I don’t want to disclose the name because it is
irrelevant to the narrative). Yet, it served as a blessing for me because it made my
erudite paternal grandmother my dearest friend. The stories she narrated triggered
my creativity and I donned the role of a writer. I constantly created characters and
scenarios (mostly plagiarised from popular films and soap operas) and enacted them.
My mum witnessing it wanted me to be tutored by my erudite best friend in Sanskrit
and English. But my father was of the opinion that if I trod the aforesaid path, I
would spiral down the well of a secluded or cocooned life devoid of any exposure. And
thus, I was enrolled in NSS Karoyogam High School. The friends and my teachers
never treated me as differently-abled and that helped my confidence and I was able to
participate in the many events (literary in the cultural ones and chess, when it came

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 to sports) organised by the school till I completed my higher secondary education.
With the turn of the millennium, I was introduced to the world of Harry Potter by my
friend, which ignited the dream in me of becoming an author. I began with some short
stories but never published them. It was Filmmaker Jayaraj who motivated me to get
a work published and in 2020, I officially became a published author with my crime
novel, I Lie in Wait. Two years later, my tribute to my paternal grandfather Dr PK
Warrier; As Memory Unfolds, A Biography also was released. Mostly I live in the
world of books, movies and web series and seldom do I interact with the normal
world.
23184 Anvi Umrani I see myself as a keen learner, ready to take on new challenges. In the future, I want
to be able to think and act rationally and logically which will enable me to become a
better person and a citizen of this country. I am in 8th Std studying in Dr. Kalmadi
Shamrao High School, Ganesh Nagar. My mom is a CA and my dad is an engineer. I
am a Karate black belt and also enjoy other sports like swimming and badminton.
Also, I like to read and draw in my free time. I have taken part in many competitions,
camps and courses like Cyber Genius by KHS, Grampari (Rural Urban Connect), ATL
(Atal Tinkering Lab) marathon, etc.
23188 Veda Vidwat Throughout the journey of self-development, growth and making myself better and
better, we always need knowledge, focus, curiosity. Yes, it is all about me. It’s me
VEDA which means knowledge. I always look for knowledge which can enhance my
personality. I am in 8th standard and my hobbies apart from studies are knowing
about space, culture, knowing different people and last but not the least is playing
keyboard and have been pursuing exams for it. Music is always a stressbuster for me.
I have earned a gold medal for geo-genius Olympiad.
Stage performance is also one of the great pleasures to me. I was part of theatre.
Sometimes I prefer to be alone to know me better. Being a student of 8th, my nearby
goal would be to know and understand better career options.
Talking about weakness - believing in people very quickly is one of my weaknesses.
So, I am looking forward to learning, gaining knowledge with ThinQ (IIE). Thank
you!!

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