Cut to the Chase with Amit Chaudhuri, Award-winning Writer and Professor of Contemporary Literature

In Cut to the Chase, our weekly interview series with professionals about how youngsters aspiring for that profession can better prepare for it and the promise that profession holds, this week we chat with Amit Chaudhuri, a multiple award-winning writer (that includes the Sahitya Akademi award) and a well-known favourite on the critics’ choice circuit (he often sits on Man Booker panels), Amit has been acclaimed by the likes of Guardian, The Village Voice, The…

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Why do adolescents love taking risks? Understanding the Adolescent Brain

Adolescence, which starts at the onset of puberty and is now considered to go on till mid 20s, is usually considered a potentially troublesome age. Research bears this out - reckless driving, social media indiscretion, dangerous YOLO dares, crime, binge drinking, unintended pregnancies, attempted suicides and drug abuse incidence can all happen at this age. Everyone concerned is happy if the adolescent makes it through unscathed!No doubt adolescence is a period of vulnerability but it…

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Cut to the Chase with Education Evangelist Prof M.M. Pant

In our weekly interview series, Cut to the Chase, where we chat with Professionals at the Peak of their Game on what advice they have for young people, this week we are in conversation with Prof M.M. Pant, a master of many disciplines - a physicist who taught at IIT Kanpur, former Director of Computing and Pro Vice-Chancellor at IGNOU, a CEO and a lawyer! An evangeliser of new education models using emerging technologies and…

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Cut to the Chase with Deepa Krishnan, banker turned entreprenuer

In Cut to the Chase this week we chat with Deepa Krishnan, who after 18 years in the financial services and banking sector, quit and moulded her passion for responsible tourism into her vocation. Deepa is the founder-owner of Magic Tours of India, an enterprise that partners with non-profits to upskill and employ students from low-income neighbourhoods. Deepa is also an award-winning travel blogger. http://bit.ly/deepakrishnan

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This week we chat with Amitabh Pande a consumer insights maestro, who has recently quit PepsiCo to strike out on his own as an independent consultant. Amitabh explains how data has become a commodity and it is the ability to derive insight from information that is truly of value today. But what sort of formal and informal education, mindset, qualification and experience helps a young person succeed in this field? Read this interview to find…

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Cut to the Chase with Alka Nalavadi, Partner at AZB & Partners, a prestigious Indian law firm

In Cut to the Chase this week we chat with Alka Nalavadi, Partner at AZB & Partners, a prestigious Indian law firm - http://bit.ly/alkanalavadiCut to the Chase is our weekly interview series with professional at the top of their game and we hope these interviews help our young audience make wiser career choices, more aware about the 'future-self' in a particular profession.

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Cut to the Chase with Rajeev Joshi, Senior Engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

This week we interview Rajeev Joshi, Senior Engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Rajeev was a member of the flight software development team for the Mars rover Curiosity and, since landing, has been supporting the surface operations team - http://bit.ly/rajeevjoshiCut to the Chase is our weekly interview series with professionals in different fields, who are an inspiration to the community of youth Timeless Lifeskills wishes to reach out to.

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Cut to the Chase with Vandita Pant, Business Treasurer, RBS

We are starting a new initiative at Timeless Lifeskills – Cut to the Chase – weekly interviews with professionals in different fields, who are an inspiration to the community of youth we wish to reach out to.We want to give our young audience a sense of what a typical and a not-so-typical day feels like in that profession, how can a young person prepare for entering that profession, what formal and non-formal education they should…

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Role Playing to become Aware Citizens of a Democracy

A student giving his campaign speechLast December Atul was back at Jeevanshala school in village Maram in the Himalayas. Earlier, in July '14, Atul had introduced project-based learning and grade 4 and 5 students had visited a local ‘naula’ (traditional water source) and created a newspaper based on their findings (see our earlier FB posts). Atul was pleasantly surprised that the students had since created half-a-dozen newspapers on different topics.This time the focus was on…

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This new year… may you learn and flourish!

A hearty welcome to our new readers on Facebook – thank you for joining in! And to all our readers, best wishes for a great year ahead – may you learn and flourish!We urge you all to consider making a new year resolution – to learn something new, something different, or something in–depth. According to Benjamin Franklin, "An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest." How true!Learning is indeed same as making an investment.…

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This Children’s Day – Foster a Yearning for Learning

At Timeless Lifeskills, we're bringing in Children's Day this year with a bang of a book - the only way we know how! Celebrating the joy of learning for the sake of learning such that it helps you grow and flourish in the 21st century and beyond, Yearning for Learning: The Adventures of K is what you should be getting your intelligent yet distracted (read: wired) children. Plus, it's Pay What You Want! To download your…

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Online Course on Self-directed Learning

With eminent Indian educationist Professor M.M. Pant we have launched a pilot online course on self-directed learning. Over the next six weeks we will be looking at various aspects of self-directed learning - why has it become imperative in the 21st century, what are the dispositions of an autonomous learner, how can these be imbibed, what leads to the a-ha moment, trends in online education like OERs and MOOCs and what should be the end-game…

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Jeevanshala Field Trip to Almora

Many of the children at Jeevanshala, the tiny primary school in village Maram in the Himalayas, have never gone beyond the villages in their vicinity. Thus, with a lot of support from well-wishers like Mr Ranjan Joshi, a 3 days field trip to Almora, one of the major towns in the region, was organised by Timeless Lifeskills from 23 to 25 June, 2014.Twenty children, ranging from 6 to 11 years and three Jeevanshala teachers came…

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Timeless Lifeskills Workshop at Jeevanshala primary school, village Maram

Field Trip to Sudana Naula At Jeevanshala, a tiny primary school in village Maram, 50 k.m. from Almora the focus of Timeless Lifeskills workshops was on self-directed learning, critical thinking, creative expression and multimedia skills.One of the projects we did was on ‘naulas’, a traditional source of water in the mountains. Water pipes and taps are now much prevalent in Himalayan villages and naulas are no longer being properly maintained. However, when there is a crisis,…

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