About Me
I completed my BA and MA in English from Jadavpur University, Kolkata and then went on to do a second MA in Performance Studies from New York University (NYU) where my area of focus was examining the therapeutic potential of performance for survivors of abuse who identify as female, for which I received an international fellowship from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and a tuition scholarship from the Department of Performance Studies at NYU. After I returned to India, I worked for several years as a drama therapist with Kolkata Sanved, an NGO that uses dance and movement therapy to empower marginalized communities and individuals. I completed a certificate course in counselling from Jadavpur University in 2011 and have been facilitating private drama therapy and counselling sessions for individuals and couples since 2015.
As a drama therapist, I have also worked extensively with other NGOs including CHIP (Children in Pain), Hamari Muskan, Sanlaap, schools like Sri Sri Academy and Jadavpur University School of Media, Communication and Culture in association with UNICEF as part of their radio journalism training programme for community youth. I have conducted sessions at the American Center for their outreach programmes, for organizations and networks such as India Autism Center with parents and special educators, The Creative Arts Academy for their women’s theatre course, and the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) in Dhaka. The integration of drama therapy with theatre training is something I’ve become especially interested in after the deeply fulfilling experience of directing a play at the Asian University for Women (Chattogram/Chittagong) in 2023 with eight students where I taught them theatre techniques and helped them develop and write their script, Home, culminating in a stage performance.
