A recent survey by the National Sample Service Office (NSSO) stated that India’s unemployment rate hit an alarming 6.1 per cent in 2017-18. Hence, competing for the few jobs available is largely dependent on the extent of experience that a student has acquired over his college years. This experience is most often attained through part time jobs.
Despite this, the idea of sending a college going son or daughter to earn for themselves while they also juggle studies, doesn’t exactly sit well with Indian parents. Even when students manage to convince their parents, they often venture into the mainstream options that are easily accessible like working at fast food chains for paltry pay. However, breaking away from this conventional path are a few youngsters from across Bengaluru.
When you walk into a store and look at soaps, do you wonder how much chemicals it probably contains? Well, this 22-year-old student of filmmaking, Sanjana Singh guarantees you that you don’t have to think twice when it comes to the soaps that she makes. She is the founder of Handmade by Sanjana. “I make glycerine soaps from organic ingredients. I took a gap year after school and wanted to do something productive, that’s how soap making happened. Now it has become more than just a part time job. I also take soap making classes, making me the youngest soap making instructor in Bengaluru”, she quips.
Vanessa George
Breaking a couple more stereotypes is this 21-year-old from Mount Carmel College ,Vanessa George. She is a bouncer and a strong voice who vouches for body positivity and curbing gender discrimination. “I got an opportunity to be a bouncer for a company called Ladies finger and that is where it all started for me. Balancing college and work is not that easy, considering late night work and early morning classes. Added to it are people who do not take me seriously because I’m a female bouncer. But it is also other people in my life like my parents who encourage and keep me going.”
You can be many things at once, proves Niharika Shantharaj, a student entrepreneur. “Now is the time to experiment and learn and give back to the world. That’s why I started working with things that can be recycled. I turn cardboard boxes, take away containers and old soft toys into props for plays and garden décor. Apart from creating recycled art pieces, I also do commissioned art and wall art for restaurants. Recently, I was asked to paint media artiste, Sagar Gururaj’s face for a music video for the movie Gara. It is not easy juggling it with college, but it sure is fulfilling”, she says
Niharika
James (name changed), a 20-year-old student, who is excited to start work as a gym fitness leader with Decathlon says, “We’ve all reached a point where we no longer want to live on our parent’s money, so we seek for part time jobs. Times are tough and nothing comes easy, so we take the opportunities that come our way. I am into fitness and when Decathlon offered to let me be the gym fitness leader, I took it up. Before this I was a part time chef at a renowned café here in Bengaluru!”
If you look carefully, options are available to students, not in the form of the conventional and ordinary, but rather, down the untrodden paths like entrepreneurship, dog walking, commissioned art, pottery and photography among many others. This will, in a way prepare students to overcome the larger issue of unemployment once they graduate.
—Angel Maria
