When Usha Ramakrishnan realised that education and life were two completely different things, she discovered the importance of imparting life skills to youngsters in colleges and schools. This also led her to write Rise In Love —An Eye-opener On Teenage Romance . The book was launched in the city recently.
Usha, who was a banker for 15 years, is now a life skills trainer with schools and colleges. She is a guest lecturer at MOP Vaishnav College for Women and also runs the NGO Sahayata. “After so many years of teaching, I find that teenage love is a rather sensitive subject. We can’t ignore it, but we are unable to talk freely about it either,” she says. “There must be more awareness on teenage romance. That’s why I wanted to write this book.”
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The book deals with a variety of issues under nine headings, sprinkled generously with real-life stories. “I only reach out to about 500 students, and this book might help take the message to more. It has a lot of stories through which I try to tell the students to take control of their lives. There are both positive and negative stories so that the students can relate to and gauge situations better,” the author explains.
The first chapter, for instance, is about self-love. “When we are not confident about ourselves, how do we fall in love,” asks Usha. “These days, college students, some coming from small towns and other cities are faced with an unfamiliar city and place. On top of this is peer pressure. They must first learn about themselves. In another chapter, I talk about disciplining one’s life and how those choices will help one choose better partners.”
Among the most important chapters in the book is the one on relationship itself. “It’s about not jumping into a relationship immediately. I’m trying to tell them to start off as friends. Have a lot friends, meet new people, develop healthy relationships. Make sure all these culminate in love,” she says. Usha has previously authored books in Tamil and has also written a pocketbook called
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Rise In Love is available for Rs. 100.