Lifelong Learning Tips with Hamsa Ravikiran

In this conversation, Hamsa Ravikiran and Sivaguru exchange Japanese language and Sanskrit snippets as Hamsa shares her stories on

• Working after her BE and getting exposure to a breadth of software development from coding and testing to project and program management at Exim Soft
• Taking a break, doing an entrepreneurial program at IIM Bangalore and getting the first prize for her business idea
• Joining IBM to conceptualize and implement a knowledge management system
• Taking another break and starting a company to deliver marketing services, by women working from home
• Discovering Youth for Seva an NGO, and finding her calling
• Working with corporate CSR’s on awareness around waste management & segregation
• Hooked onto learning Sanskrit since 2013 and conducting workshops on spoken Sanskrit to doing her MA, MPhil and now planning to do her PhD in Sanskrit
• Experiences working from home and finding a balance between remote and in-person working & setting boundaries when working from home
• Contrasting being an entrepreneur and a project manager in a corporate setting
• Relevance and applicability of techniques learned as and entrepreneur and/or working in corporates, to the social sector to help sustain those activities
• Continuously motivated and challenged while learning Sanskrit
• Translating principles from the Ramayana by examining its stories like case studies to apply in daily life, today
• Finding one’s calling or purpose in life and a message in Sanskrit 

An engineering graduate who joined the IT industry as a programmer,  moved on to become project manager working in Indian software company  and later an MNC. Hamsa completed the Management Program for Women Entrepreneur (MPWE ) from IIM Bangalore and  co-founded an IT & Marketing firm named AddTo . She then worked with an NGO called Youth For Seva as a coordinator for Environmental issues and Corporate Social Responsibility. She took up Sanskrit Studies, conducted  spoken sanskrit workshops, organised exhibitions and events to teach and promote sanskrit . Hamsa completed her MA - Mphil in Sanskrit and is currently pursuing a Phd in Sanskrit.

Hamsa can be reached through her email hamsa.ravikiran@gmail.com