Dr. Tanvi Pokhare

As the famous writer Joseph Campbell observes ‘The job of an educator is to teach students to see vitality in themselves.’; I strongly believe in empowering students through avenues of interesting subjects like Communication Skills, English literature, Indian Knowledge System and allied subjects in my best possible way.

I was born and brought up in the City of Lakes, Thane to a humble middle-class Maharashtrian parent and eldest of my siblings. Along with being naturally inclined towards teaching; hailing from a family who are into teaching and school-college administration instilled more love for teaching and education in me. Like all Indian parents, my parents too tried their best to give me best of learning opportunities as per their capacity. My interest in reading, elocution, theatre and movies was nurtured and supported by them in a great way.

With natural inclination for humanities kind of subjects; language learning and social studies education always fascinated me as a student. I have fond memories of being Class monitor and other such leadership roles in primary classes but drastically got in studious mode in secondary classes with aspirations to get into reputed colleges of suburban Mumbai. After excelling in 10th board with distinction; with peer influence I selected Commerce faculty. However, my interest towards social sciences and languages; didn’t allow me to enjoy debit-credit world of commerce. In this crucial transition period; it helped me to understand better my calling for humanities learning and teaching. Immediately, for HSC I took admission to famous Vaze-Kelkar College of Mulund, Mumbai. It is over here, that I was blessed with numerous Subject-stalwarts and life mentors who shaped my personality to a large extent with their love for knowledge and extremely down-to-earth attitude. I graduated with major in English Literature with first class and further pursued post-graduation from University of Mumbai, Santacruz for further enrichment of subject and qualification.

Life took another interesting turn after my marriage with an intelligent, smart techie and was delighted to have experience of living abroad in Arizona, USA for couple of years. We experienced an independent and enriching life with all its ups and downs. Along, with experiencing life-away-from -home; I was fortunate enough to meet some learned and friendly Indian diaspora friends over there who made me feel at home by allowing me to participate in various social cause groups like SEWA foundation and Optima Toastmasters Club of Arizona. We travelled extensively from New York, Los Angeles and amazing National Parks in USA. I was also enthralled to experience rich library culture in USA with wide variety of books, journals and online resources. This USA-Phase of my life helped me to devote myself fully for pursuing my Ph.D.(Humanities) in Disability Studies from literature perspective and was awarded the degree in the year 2019 with support of all my family members and well-wishers. My personal association with disability arena of started by seeing my father managing with his Parkinson’s disability challenge for more 25 yrs or so. Life further blessed me with cute twin boys who are truly my ‘sun’(son)shines ; who bring joy to my life with their innocence and love.

Also, I will be thankful to various guiding mentors that I met as senior-faculty members and colleagues of various institutions where I have worked previously; before joining prestigious Vidyalankar Institute of Technology. I see an immense scope of development and learning in my teaching career with the service to this top-notch engineering institute; with their approach of giving application-based and latest knowledge in every sphere of learning and education.