The VISAGE : UNMASKED is a book published by Nation Press and is categorised under ‘Children’s and Young adults, Family, Personal & social issues’. This certainly decreases the set of potential readers for a book I suppose most of the parents and young adults should read. I picked it because the daughter of one of my ex-colleague (Ira Bhattacharjee) is one of the contributing authors.
My expectations of the book were absolutely simple. They were, after all, teenagers working with some counsellors. No one prepared me for the deep dive into a world where people struggle to find solutions. The teenager perspective wanting to be accepted as and what they are. The screaming thoughts that at times find a voice that is misunderstood and sometimes silently stifled permanently. The internal fights chained and constrained by the acceptation within the society.
Come to think of the various fronts the teenagers are fighting a battle of balance and acceptance. There are parental constraints, the peer pressure, the fantasy, the self-deprecating thoughts, the need to fit in and then to stand out, the pressure of success and the need to excel.
It is at times dark, and it forces you to suddenly take notice of the surrounding. Maybe opening up your aperture for signals that could be the difference between is and was.
The book is a result of efforts by Student Mentors Yashi Shukla and Anjana Anand (professional and experienced career counsellors). They are the founder of FYC Global Career Guidance Company (www.fycglobal.com) empowering young students to make well-informed career choices and helps them carve out a meaningful career path.
Seven students who were selected through a contest co-authored “The Visage: Unmasked” based the ‘Seven Stages of Grief’.
Each of the teenage authors takes you on a deep dive into one particular stage of grief to reach the final stage- acceptance. The chapters are all about the journey towards acceptance. Written by teenagers, they can hopefully portray reality and everyday struggle.
The six co-authors are Darshini Shah, Ira Bhattacharjee, Nandini Shukla, Navya Sheoran, Sadhika Anand, Samira Bhayana. They are passionate teenagers wanting to remove the taboo around the mental health issues that today’s teenagers have to deal with.
It would have been tough to complete the project from a very teenager point of view, that too without allowing perceptions to be adulterated with reality. The book is edited by Anoushka Ray, an IBDP student in Gurgaon, Haryana with a passion for literature. Anoushka has first-hand experience with anxiety, depression and ADD. Not surprisingly, it motivated her to be part of the project and keep the reading relevant.
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