Beyond BACAS: Guides and Gurus:: Installment 4

Welcome to our fourth installment of Guides and Gurus! (We're on a roll this week!) Enjoy another introduction to one of the friendly, familiar faces in the lives of ISP students. 

We're fortunate enough to be blessed by quite a large number of wonderful people!

Poornith sporting a traditional Kerala mundu, known as a 'lungi' or 'dhoti' in other parts of India.

Name?

Poornith Ninan Joboy

What does it mean?

I don’t know what my second and third name meanings are, but my first name is from a Sanskrit word which means complete. Poornima is the female equivalent.

What's your hometown?

Kottayam, Kerala.

God’s own country?

They say it’s the first literate town in India.

And you grew up in?

Muscat, Oman.

Does your family live in Oman?

I spent about 17 years there growing up. Now, my family is spread across- my sister is in the States, brother is in Dubai, and my dad is here in India.

What is your major and year?

BBM (Bachelor of Business Management), in my second year.

Life goal/ ambition/ what do you want to be when you grow up?

I want to be a philanthropist. An entrepreneur and a philanthropist.

As a philanthropist, who do you want to help or serve?

I’d like to devote equal amount of time to ministry: spreading the word of God, and to providing people with the basic necessities of life: food, clothing, and I'd like to set up educational institutions that provide free education. Lots of children have the gift and ability to study, but have no access to education. 

Do you have any idea where you'd like to work in ministry and philanthropy?

I prefer to be a globe trotter: to travel across the world.

If you could travel to any country in the world, what would it be?

My first choice would be Germany, followed by the States.

Why?

Germany because I’ve always been fascinated by the technology they come out with. They also seem to  like having fun, and I want to see what their country is more about. They also have something called the Autobahn; something like highways without speed restrictions. I’d like to try those roads!

Pensive Poornith: sometimes he thinks sittin' on trains.
Please get that joke.

And right now you have a small business?

Yes. Flights, buses, trains, package tours. I also assist with visas for people leaving India. I like to call it a complete travel solutions provider.

What are you excited about this semester? (Anything, or something specific to ISP)

I think what really excites me about this semester is it’s the first time I’ve been assigned as a peer mentor. By nature I’m a shy person. Being a mentor helps me speak to people, especially girls. I usually don’t talk much. Through being a mentor, I'm discovering a new side, how to interact with others. It's very exciting. I used to think, "God, I won’t be able to talk to someone, until someone talks to me I won’t be able to make conversation." Now I can see I’ve been slowly changing.

What was your reaction when you were assigned as a peer mentor? 

First what I came to know was there were 10 girls and one guy. When Joanna Ma'am (the BACAS staff person in charge of the Student Services Center) told me I was assigned to the one guy, initially I was like, 'why me? the others were assigned girls!' Later on when she gave me details about Jacob, I was glad that there are some things we have in common. Now I’m really happy I’m mentoring Jacob. It as helped me interact with him as well as with the girls on an equal basis. Now I don’t feel left out! I’m able to see a lot of similarities between me and Jacob. I’d say it was God who assigned me as peer mentor!

What are your hobbies?

I like to travel. I like following technology and the happenings in the automobile world. I like experiencing other cultures. Most importantly, I like trying new foods and new cuisines!

Favorite Indian dish?

It would be chicken tikka masala.

And you mentioned that you like food from other cultures. What are your favorite non-Indian foods?
I like hummus. I love that. That’s one thing. And the other? Turkish shawarma.

Poornith looking sharp!

What about the ISPers makes you laugh or confuses you?

There’s nothing that confuses me, but what I really like is each and everyone [the ISP students] is very enthusiastic. There is always a smile on your face, you always want to learn about different things in our culture. I feel that you’re very outgoing in a sense that, personally I feel very comfortable in a sense. It’s easy for me to talk to you, though we [Indians are] usually conservative in nature. I personally feel you’re outgoing, so it’s easy for me to interact with you.

On Shamini's comments about Americans yelling all the time:

Usually people say I’m loud. Today someone asked if something was wrong with my voice- 'why are you shouting?' When Indians speak it’s little like they’re yelling at you. You usually can’t tell if they’re making conversation or shouting.

Is there anything else the world should know about Poornith Ninan?

::shakes head:: Maybe that I may not take the initiative to talk to you, but if you can start a conversation with me I’m sure you’ll not regret it.

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We hope you enjoyed this conversation we started with Poornith. :) Not only is he great to start a conversation with, he's also a fantastic travel agent! We've thoroughly enjoyed his company this semester, and look forward to seeing more of him in the days and weeks to come.

Beyond BACAS: Guides and Gurus:: Installment 3

Welcome to our third installment of Guides and Gurus, where we introduce you to some of the familiar, friendly faces in the lives of ISP students. To read other Guides and Gurus posts, click here.

As with our first two faces, our third face is that of peer mentor Shamini Manoharan. We love her for a lot of reasons, and the first reason that comes to mind is because she's sweet and sassy at the same time!

World, meet Shamini.

ISP Staffer Kandyce Pinckney and ISP Social Media Intern Celiz Aguilar sat down with Shamini this morning to ask her a few questions.

Name?

Shamini Mano Haran

Mano is your middle name? 

Yes. It’s also the first part of my dad’s name.

On Facebook, your last name is Manoharan?

Yeah, well, Facebook...

Hometown? You're from Coonoor, right?

No, I studied in Coonoor. I'm basically from Kanyakumari. 

What's the name of the place?

Nagercoil.

What are you studying at BACAS?

B-com (bachelor of commerce). I'm in my second year.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Mmm actually I wanted to… I have no idea. I want to do photography. Journalism. 

And you're studying commerce, not communications or writing?

I also wanted to do my international business degree.

What are you excited about this semester?

Umm… ::laughs:: Actually… mmm. Short term? Long term? ::thinks for a minute:: I am excited about going for consultancy and learning what I have to do to get my MIB (international business degree). 

Ashleigh, Jessica, Shamini and Hannah at the recent fashion show.

Is this an internship?

No, not an internship. I want to take up a course after this [completing studies at BACAS] for strategies for MIB.

What was your reaction when you were assigned as a peer mentor? 

SO excited! So happy, because I get to interact more with the foreigners. It's good exposure. It's good for language [learning], too.

What are your hobbies?

Basically... reading. 

Dancing?

Dancing! Singing in the [college] choir. Participating in extra cirriculars in college, everything! Except studying. That’s one thing I dislike.

Favorite Indian dish?

Naan and paneer butter masala.

MMMM.

Yes, I know.

What about the ISPers makes you laugh? Confuses you? Is there anything they say or do that makes you sit back and ask, 'what does that even mean?'

When you guys try talking louder than normal people (Normal Indians.) I think, 'Oh, she’s SHOUTING!' Especially Celiz. But it's ok, it’s really good to be loud. I like it. Because I’m always loud. Even in classrooms.

We'll call this Shamini's "fun-loving person" face!

Is there anything else you'd like the world to know about Shamini Manoharan?

Shamini Mahoharan? Such a boring person. ::laughs:: She’s just a fun-loving person. That’s it. Who wants to move around [and interact] with everybody in this world. Yeah!

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You can look forward to more on homestay weekend and our weekly 'breakfast for dinner' club later this week. Thanks for reading! 

Beyond BACAS: Guides and Gurus:: Installment 2

Welcome to the second in our series called "Beyond Bacas: Guides and Gurus" where we introduce you to some of the familiar, friendly faces in the lives of ISP students. Our second face is another of our peer mentors, the group of BACAS students paired with ISP students for the semester, who can often be found in the company of our first featured face!

We'll call this one Deepni's "model" face. :) She's modeling a traditional salwaar kamiz!

Name?
Deepni Pradeep


Aren't you on Facebook? I tried to find you, but you weren't there.
I was, but then I spent all of my time there. I'd get up in the morning and forget to brush my teeth because immediately I'd be on there, and then I'd get to school and realize I never did brush my teeth but just wasted my time.

Hometown?
I was born in Coimbatore and brought up in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. My family still lives there. I came back to Coimbatore to take care of my grandparents.

Oman! Do you speak any Arabic?
A little. I can get by. For emergency!

What are you studying here at BACAS?
I'm doing Viscom [Visual Communication] final year.  

What do you want to do with your degree?
I want to be a sound engineer, for Christian albums. 

Great! So you and Fabian can work together?
Sure, I will record Fabian's album! 

What was your reaction when you were assigned to be a peer mentor?
My first thought was, Oh my god. I thought I'm going to America. But then they were coming here, so I thought it would be nice to make friends, so when I travel to America I'll have friends. I'm happy, excited, yay!

What are you particularly excited about this semester?
I'm going to finish! I'm also so happy that ISP students are here. Before I didn't have free time, but this semester, now I have some. I enjoy getting free time to spend with ISP, I went on the Pollachi trip [for Pongal], which was amazing. Next week we've got the FACE competition and I'm singing 3 songs, and rapping two more. And, at the end of January I'm going to Muscat. I'm going for 8 days. I want to see my mom so badly. I miss her! I can't eat [without her cooking]. I can't sleep. Nothing else will do!

What will you do after graduation?
Next year I will go to Pune, in Maharashtra, to continue in my education. Then I'll get a job in sound engineering.

What are your hobbies, now that you have free time again?
I love singing. I love singing along with karaoke, it's my favorite. Then, I like to write lyrics and poems. I enjoy cooking, but my grandma doesn't allow me to here because I keep burning her [cooking] vessels! Also, I have my own car. I like to take my car and camera and go around and talk to people. I prefer to meet villagers and I like talking to them with no agenda, no proper subject. Usually, they are happy to share things with me, and I share about my life with them. I take pictures of them and love photographing them. I also enjoy photographing landscapes. There's a lot of things I like to do, just now I can't think of any: if I get time, I just do it. I keep the writings from my village visits and the photos for myself now but I used to upload to Facebook, when I had it. Now I just keep them for myself. But when I had Facebook, I had an album called "Smile." I even have in there some grampas with no teeth. They're really cute. In the album I would tell the story with the pictures, and the whole time you looked at the album you felt like smiling the whole time. Like that. 

What's your favorite Indian dish?
Well, ::big smile:: it's dosa! Ghee roast. But then I love biryani, too. Chicken biryani.

Beyond BACAS: Guides and Gurus

For those of you reading outside of our fair city, we wanted to take some time to introduce you to some of the folks who teach, love on and help our students adjust to their new homes here. Most of them are from Bishop Appasamy College, or BACAS. They'll range from professors to peer mentors to student guides, as well as neighbors and other familiar faces around Coimbatore. We're calling this series "Guides and Gurus", and we hope to make it a regular feature here at Riding in Rickshaws.

 Each of our students at ISP is paired up with a peer mentor for the length of the semester; someone who shares lunch at the mess, introduces our students to local restaurants and shopping hot-spots, extends invitations to clubs and other events and is generally just a friendly face with which to share in different aspects of life in India.

The black text is Kandyce, ISP Program Assistant speaking, while the grey italics is Fabian. 

Enjoy our first installment!

Name?
Oh come on. Fabian Percival Netto.

Percival?
After my grandfather, Thomas Percival.

Hometown: where are you from?
Podanur, Tamil Nadu

What are you currently studying?
Social work, 3rd and final year. I'm aiming to study at BACAS for my masters in social work because I love the college so much! 

What do you want to do with the rest of your life?
Social work + singing. I want to use my talents in singing and also somehow use social work. I love performing!

What are you excited about this semester? Are you graduating? Is that exciting?
I'm actually not that excited about graduating. I'm quite sad. I love this college. I'm really looking forward to all of the shows and cultural programs this semester. I have a lot of chances to sing!

Why are you a peer mentor?
When I was assigned as a peer mentor, I was really excited. Really excited indeed. I love interacting with people from different states. they find it more comfortable to speak to me, probably because of my knowledge of slang. I also love to entertain them. I also wanted to make new, real friends.  We don't many western people, here so I wanted to get to know them. I also am excited about hanging out, showing them cheap shopping, and learning more about their culture. 

Hobbies?
Singing, listening to music, writing songs. I'm also the chairman of student government at college. I also love to travel to the hills and go hiking. Shopping. Exploring new places.

Who's your musical idol?
You know who my idols are. 

OK, but for the blog? Can you give me names so I'm not just making stuff up?
Mariah Carey, Celine Deon, Akon.


How did you become interested in singing?
My mom was an inspiration. She always used to encourage me. I was definitely more of a bathroom singer. No professional classes, nothing. But mom sings well, so had to follow in her footsteps. I got good genetics! My sister, younger brother and dad dance, so I can dance a little, but I'd definitely rather sing!

One last question: would you spend your life savings to attend a concert by anyone in particular?
Celine [Deon.] NOT Justin [Bieber]. Definitely not Justin. Also, Whitney Houston.


Ok. And one more. I know I said that was the last one, but what's your favorite Indian dish?
Basically, dosa. 

What kind?
Ghee roast. The big ones they make. ::Fabian launches into a description of how to make a stuffed ghee-mushroom dosa, while we look on pretending to understand his instructions:: MMM. They're my favorite.

Now I have a question for you: Why did Jon, Kandyce and others become such a great fan of Fabian? Probably because the Titanic song is my specialty. 
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Thanks for reading. We hope you enjoyed getting to know Fabian via this interview even just a little bit as much as we've enjoyed getting to know him in person!