A graduate of commerce from Mumbai University, Kapil has completed his diploma in Journalism from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. While freelancing for two major regional daily newspapers, he also participated in the PUKAR Youth Fellowship project over a period of two years; once as a youth fellow and next year as a catalyst and that experience inspired him to join YF as a coordinator.

He believes that as a coordinator of Youth Fellowship, the combination of his journalistic skills and his research skills would help him to spread this movement farther and deeper.

“In the previous two years as a youth fellow I was on one side of the table enjoying the process at a personal level. Since I have become the coordinator, I am on the other side of the table, where my sense of responsibility has been acute and that of enjoyment is different. Now instead of personal enjoyment I must make every effort to enhance the enjoyment for others. That is indeed a difficult task!”

kapil@pukar.org.in

Amrapali has completed her post graduation in Social Work in the year 2000 from Tata Institute of Social Sciences; with specialization in Criminology and Correctional Administration. She has been part of interventions on various social issues with a rights based approach. She has more than 10 years of experience of working with various groups in difficult life situations and facing discrimination due to societal structures, where her role varied from volunteer, case worker, group worker, community worker, trainer and team leader.

amrapali@pukar.org.in

Marinha, a commerce graduate, worked briefly in the field of development before deciding to pursue a Masters in Social Work from Nirmala Niketan’s College of Social Work, in Bombay. On being awarded her postgraduate degree, she worked at the Vincenta Maria Children’s Home in Byculla for two years. Her work here involved educating children and teens, especially young girls coming from troubled and underprivileged backgrounds.

It was her desire to actively intervene in the social life of Bombay and to learn more about it that led her to PUKAR, where she was the Action Research Project co-ordinator for a year, before joining the Youth Fellowship team in July 2009.

One of Marinha’s passions is the city itself. She has always been a life-long, enthusiastic student of Bombay, a fascinating subject with all its crowds, filth, chaos and colour. She has found PUKAR to be an ideal place to explore the different facets of Bombay—to understand the various urban threads that connect public spaces, civic and cultural lives.

Bharat has been with PUKAR since its inception. After finishing two years of commerce from University of Pune, he joined PUKAR's Tarunai project as an assistant researcher and later he was promoted to become the office manager for the Youth Fellowship program. In addition to many administrative responsibilities, Bharat also is the official photographer for all PUKAR events. In January 2008 his photographs of the Mill Land were exhibited in Mumbai.

“I had heard of many universities and the education which is imparted there. But in the University called PUKAR I got an opportunity to learn about research”

bharat@pukar.org.in