Prutha Goa

Incredibly confident and light-hearted in her manner, Kanan Tandi is an advocate of understanding people through their body language and, very significantly, detecting and appreciating different types of intelligence. She posits her own case where she began with the sciences, although she despised mathematics, and switched to the arts and humanities for her undergraduate degree. She says, ‘Because I wasn’t good at maths, I was told I was dumb.’  Earlier, mathematics held her back, but as an arts student she was able to fulfil her potential in history by earning a 2nd rank at the Utkal University BA examinations. This impressed Kanan’s father to such an extent that he shipped her off to Delhi to prepare for the IAS examination.  Delhi had different plans for Kanan as she wandered into radio jockeying but had to give it up owing to lack of funds. She began dabbling in tarot card reading and numerology. Her tarot mentor piqued her interest in body language as she was guided to adjust her

By Shruthi Bhandary Chodankar As a counselling psychologist, I have encountered many children who avail of counselling for various reasons. Some children are not scholastically inclined and have trouble catching up with the rest of the class. Others have anxiety and anger issues. Victims of bullying and children with behavioural problems come to seek counselling. Children with suicidal thoughts, who cannot speak to anybody else of their fears and sadness see a counsellor as confidant. A few children even confess about problems in their relationships with family as well as friends (as commonly observed in students of Std VIII, IX and X). Recently, I found an emotional love letter with a child who is in Std V. Disconcerting as it may be, who is to take responsibility for this sort of behaviour in such young children? It is easy to begin blaming the media and technology, but it must be accepted that many of our young children go astray due to the wrong approach of the parents to handling

By Maya Lin Noronha (Counsellor) Children spend a considerable amount of time (about 14 years) of their young lives in school. Therefore, it is important to understand the environment in which they learn. The school system includes children, parents, teachers, community and school administration of which teachers and students are the two major players. A school environment conducive to learning, helping a child make a smooth adjustment to the system and bringing about the all-round personality and mental development of the child, is the need of the hour in this time and age. Young adolescents need a nurturing and secure environment at school, accompanied by adult guidance. If problems are not prevented in these years, there may be significant social consequences. As they move into middle-grade, students experience school competition, social comparison, and self-assessment. The school emphasis on discipline and teacher control, and its limited opportunities for student decision making,

By Maya Lin Noronha 'Don’t tell me you’re going to college dressed like this.’ ‘Yes! Why?’ 'There is no way you are stepping out of this house wearing such a cleavage revealing top!’ 'What’s wrong with it?! All my friends dress like this. Stop being so old fashioned!’ 'I don’t care about how everybody else dresses up. You are my child and you will dress modestly. Go and change right now!!’ 'Just because you dress like a relic from the Dark Ages, don’t expect me to follow suit!’ A conversation like this is enough to suggest the presence of a teenager in the home. You can blame it on the turmoil of hormones, peer pressure or anything else but the adolescent years spell a period of emotional tumult and chaos for both parents as well as teenagers. Theirs is a different world and unravelling the mystery of adolescent angst poses a mighty challenge to most parents. Stepping in tune with your resident teen can be the equivalent of scaling Mount Everest. In the 21st Century