College at 39!

Hema_playing_sitar

College at 39!

There is no age for starting afresh. You don’t get old with your age. Vivacious and poetic Hema Subramanian is one such example who reinstates our faith on the belief that age is just a number. A loving daughter, dearest wife, mother of two and now the founder of The Orange Wedges Inc. Mumbai, has set an example of how to break the glass ceiling in the second innings of life. Read her journey here as we know many of the mothers would get inspired by the same. Here she goes,

The Beginning

At 21 you dream
That life will take
The predictable turns
And at will it twists and turns

Plans set for
Marriage and kids by 28
Get back to college with faith
Of a career soon thereafter

In the churn of life
Rosy dreams they drown
Plans need rework
And stride ahead I did

Marriage & Kids

Finally, after settling down post marriage ,going through a process of progeny the difficult way and moving every couple of years, it took a good 18 years of my life to figure out time for myself. After the mad rush around my family a lull hit me hard on my face! The whole house empty , spic and span with all work done by 10 a.m. left me twiddling my thumbs post that.

Turning Point

One frustrating morning, at the age of 39, took me walking to the nearest college inquiring for a course and with a bit of ado I was enrolled and on my way roaring through a course of B.Ed. Then in natural progression followed an internship in Chinmaya mission CBSE school and later a job in an ICSE school . One year into it I realized I can do more and learn more. The quest led me to becoming a PYP teacher in Oakridge International school. The next two years were mind blowing. Learning , changing perceptions, discovering, going through aaha! moments , building new ideas and experimenting! It was the opening of a Pandora’s box of ideas. The two most cherished years of my life as of date.

Back to Square One

Transfer and relocation landed me back to square one. In a buzzing city as Mumbai, with growing up teenage and preteen boys , opportunities for win win situations were rare. Initially started working for an after school program offering Speech and Drama and creative writing, seemed interesting.

Being An Entrepreneur

But the mind was abuzz and raring to go. So the small venture a step in to entrepreneurship entailed. Pentalk the creative writing class was born. It was a small tentative step, but was fortified by my son creating a logo for it and it led me into serious work. A summer camp introduced a lot of children into my concept of developing thinking skills through fun activities while exploring their writing skills. And the sessions were officially launched. A yearly program was born. First for a couple of levels and then it gradually grew for many levels. It was a one man show and quickly I realized it was not sustainable to be a Lone Ranger. So the search for a suitable facilitator began. On board with a regular one and my younger one becoming independent of me, led me to explore more.
And Trinity College London became visible. Initiated the process of becoming a trainer and on my lap landed a school with 700 children taking different levels of GESE ( Graded Exam in Spoken English ) with the Trinity College London.

Looking the Challenges in their eye

A brave heart that I am with a never die attitude , I took on the challenge. I soon was training the children in the school in the morning, and evenings were reserved for creative writing classes.Inroads into Trinity brought in more work and a selection as an examiner on the Indian panel of GESE examiners for Trinity College London .

The Orange Wedges Inc. -My Brain Child

The next step in progression lead to taking in a partner and developing the business further. And The Orange Wedges Inc was born. The idea of the whole company was to introduce new wedges in to the existing wedges of Creative writing and Trinity training. So a reading program, an expat English language training program and Spoken English empowerment program for the not so privileged was introduced as the new Wedges. The going has been good.After 7 years, with a team working for you, is something I am happy about.
The latest introduction to the wedges have been theater and Storytelling wedges.

Phoenix rises from the ashes

It’s time for a change and reinvention after about of a few set backs. Looking forward to exciting times ahead.
The Phoenix rises slowly but steadily.

We wish Hema the very best in all her future endeavors. Inspiring story! Isn’t it? We would like to hear your story . Each one of us can learn from the experiences of others. Hope you have a great take away.

Snehal Joshi
mugdhaaa@gmail.com

Snehal is a Certified Nutrition Coach by National Academy of Sports Medicine. She is writing about her persuits of Nutrition Science since last 4 years.

3 Comments
  • Prachi chaube
    Posted at 18:29h, 19 September

    Courageous , strong and big hearted, that’s Hema, keep nourishing your heart chakra Hemzu.

    • Hema Subramanian
      Posted at 15:15h, 20 September

      Thank you Prachi! Love you ❤️

  • Meher Gehi
    Posted at 22:44h, 20 September

    soooooo inspiring !! it was amazing to read your story!