Ravi Narayanan (Founder Trustee)
Trustees
Ravi Narayanan, holds a postgraduate degree in Social Psychology from Mumbai
University. After 22 years of service, Ravi retired in 2021 under the VRS scheme as
Deputy General Manager, Sales Planning and Logistics at Tata Motors to dedicate
himself wholly to the Trust’s work. Apart from being immersed in social work,
Ravi is also an entrepreneur with a small startup and runs his own Eshaku Coffee.
With a flair for poetry in three languages, in 2016, along with Shital, he published a
tri-lingual book which is a compilation of their poems titled ‘Do Kavitayein’. He is
also passionate about music, being a percussionist himself.
He finds it most fulfilling working with children in workshops. He is passionate
about getting our Indian Knowledge Systems [IKS] its due recognition and for this
he dedicates a lot of time attending courses, reading and researching, his aim being
to take this concept to young minds and ignite interest in them for this subject.
Thus, the Trust’s ‘Pudchi Peedhi Pudcha Paaul’ and Punascha Bharat are his dream
projects too.
A most unassuming and quiet person, Ravi spearheads all the different projects of
Saaraakassh be it of education, health and sanitation, women empowerment,
temple restorations and so on. When he is not doing anything, which is rare, he
either listens to music or cooks for his family & friends.
Sheetal Ravi (Founder Trustee)
Shital Ravi, a postgraduate in Counseling Psychology from Mumbai University has
been a practicing psychologist for the last 26 years working extensively with
children, adolescents and adults. She is the Co-Founder of Disha Counseling
Center. She is a Mindfulness practitioner and a storytelling therapist. Her belief
that our ancient Indic wisdom is a way of life to be benefited from has led her to
continuously pursue studies in spiritual, philosophical & meditative disciplines,
such as Understanding the Bhagavad Gita, Yoga, Vipassana, Omkar Sadhana, and
so forth.
A seasoned classical danseuse too, she holds a ‘Sangeet Alamkar’ in Bharatanatyam.
She has won National titles, is a Doordarshan graded artiste, and is the recipient of
the prestigious “Central Government Scholarship” of the Dept. of Cultural Affairs,
GOI. A prolific writer, Shital has widely written on mental health, parenting, and
related topics and has featured regularly as a columnist in leading dailies and
magazines such as DNA, Yuva Sakal, Mind Diaries and so on. A poet who writes
in 3 languages and a story writer, her poems and stories too have been published in
various magazines and forums. She is also trained in both Hindustani and Carnatic
music.
Compassionate by nature, Shital knew it was time for seva, thus co-founding
Saaraakassh Trust in 2015. Her endeavour is to bring her experience of counseling,
performing and creative arts, to help the Adivasi children to seamlessly integrate in
mainstream society through the program named Pudchi Peedhi Pudcha Paaul. The
other endeavour close to her heart is Punascha Bharat, the research wing of
Saaraakassh, the vision of which is to promote IKS, our cultural heritage and
especially the knowledge and wisdom that is part of the vanvasi world.
Shilpa Ranjan (Founder Trustee)
Shilpa Ranjan holds a B.SC degree in Zoology and has done MBA in Marketing
and HR from BGIMS. She also holds a diploma in Interior designing from the
Garodia School of Design. She has been a National level Karate gold medalist.
As a professional, Shilpa has immense corporate experience having worked in
organizations like ORG MARG, Ogilvy & Mather, Eagle Films Ltd & The Bombay
Stores, in different capacities, finally becoming an entrepreneur herself. She is one
of the founder trustees and treasurer of Saaraakassh Trust.
A self-taught analyst, who does not claim to be a political expert, Shilpa has also
authored a book “Who hacked my brain” which is a collation of all the eco-
political happenings witnessed as a passive observer. She calls herself a commoner
who is trying to solve a few modern-day mysteries by joining the dots.
Her expertise in design, her business acumen, her eye for detail and her ability to
call ‘a spade a spade’, helps the Trust immensely. Her ability to objectively sieve
through multiple viewpoints when it comes to people and multiple dimensions
when it comes to a problem makes her the “go-to person” for all the trust projects
& problem solving.
Padma Polekar (Founder Trustee)
Our septuagenarian founder trustee, Smt. Padma Polekar worked as a stenographer
and typist in her younger days working in prestigious organizations such as Murphy
Radio. For more than 40 years now she has been a homemaker. Coming from a
generation which has seen not only the nation’s multiple struggles post-
independence but also of the families having lived through the wars fought, the
Emergency, the acute food grain shortages faced, she naturally understands what it
has been to be a ‘have not’.
Thus, she is the voice of reason and caution. Her experiences of life itself make her
patient in her outlook seeking always to take the slow and steady approach. Her
experiential wisdom gives appropriate direction to the Trust’s activities.
Jayashree Narayanan (Founder Trustee)
Jayashree Narayanan holds a graduate degree in Chemistry and has a background
of IT & web designing. She is also a classical dance and music exponent. She has
corporate experience having worked with an MNC, E-serve for several years
before foraying into working with NGOs.
Jayashree has worked extensively in the field of Social work, having been associated
in various capacities with esteemed NGOs and social work organizations such as
Childline, Aim for Seva and St. Catherine’s home. This led to a natural progression
where she became one of the Founder trustees and Secretary, of Saaraakassh Trust.
Jayashree is a Reiki Master and Trainer with a decade of experience in the field.
Over the years, she has helped numerous individuals address various issues
through the integration of Reiki, meditation, and mindfulness techniques.
Currently, her focus is on researching diverse health concerns and applying her
expertise in therapy and Reiki to assist people in overcoming these challenges.
Her rich experience of having led several large-scale projects in NGOs that she
worked with, & her expertise in the field helps the Trust be more systematic and
organized in its processes and project implementations.
Sahana Kumar (Trustee)
Sahana K has done her BFA & is a programmer & software designer. She is
currently also pursuing her MBA program in Fintech. She has designed websites,
and also assists her father in his ERP software business.
Sahana became a trustee in 2020 and is the youngest amongst the Trustees. She has
been associated, though, with the trust work since its inception in 2015. In fact, she
was part of the team which did the first ever Annadanam carried out by the Trust.
A dynamic and sincere person, Sahana brings in the Gen Z outlook to the Trust
giving valuable inputs for increasing the presence in the ever growing digital and
virtual world. She actively spearheads many a project on her own, where she
coordinates with donors carrying out the end-to-end coordination till the
donations reach the villagers’ doorsteps. One of the key campaigns that she led
has been the ‘cycle distribution’ which helped many Adivasi children to become
mobile helping them