Hyderabad: Targeting unspoken teenage issues

Hyderabad: Lalita Anand, wife of Cyberabad police commissioner C.V. Anand, is trying to do her bit for teenagers through Teenage Solutions Inc., a workshop that addresses a lot of issues you wouldn’t be told at home or college. She has a group of teenagers in her team, as she believes that it’s a teenager who can best connect with another teen.

The team includes Aishwarya Gunnala, Vedika Sultania, Pulin Singh, Nitya Reddy, Aditya Ram and Lalita’s son, Nikhil Chama.

It was during Lalita’s stint at corporate colleges in the city, where she used to teach Intermediate students, that she noticed that a lot of students succumbed to peer pressure and many had also been forced by their parents to take up a path that led to engineering, without paying heed to what they actually wanted to pursue.

“Children are constantly pressurised to study. They need to realise that marks and qualifications are not everything in life. It depends on how smart and how balanced you are,” says Lalita, who aims to conduct 10 workshops this year at various schools.

“A risky activity during teenage years can end your life. I attempt to put them in the right direction,” adds Lalita, who is currently writing a self-help book for teenagers.

Through the workshop, which lasts for six hours, the team address important topics like cyber bullying, social networking addiction, peer pressure, pros and cons of using a cell phone, the bane of rash driving among others, which are relevant to the lives of every teen. She also gives interesting anecdotes, real life examples and organises innovative games, connecting it all to the important points that she wants to make. The workshop also includes a yoga and a zumba session.