Copywriter-turned-teacher Pinky Mistry has reinvented herself, providing interactive, fun-filled sessions to foster the reading habit in children and help them think out of the box. "But it’s the parents and their reading habits that have to be developed first,” asserts this 50-something mother of two who has witnessed firsthand a decline in the reading habit and the rapidly falling levels of correctly spoken English even in the best of schools, she notes in an email sent to Parsiana.
Pinky Mistry: thinking out of the box
This disheartening fact motivated her to channelize her energy to providing 45 to 75-minute online sessions for professionals. Using her creative writing expertise, she transports a homogenous group of like-minded individuals into a world of lateral thinking, helping them to unwind and rejuvenate after a tiring day at work. She claims this is a much-needed critical strategy for problem-solving and increasing productivity in our competitive times.
What gives these workshops an edge are her techniques which range from "boosting vocabulary and imagination to igniting a caring, more giving, philanthropic spark in each participant.” Her latest mission is "conducting meet-the-author events and getting corporates to dive into book-reading through mandates and never-before formats that will foster team building and make people bond over shared experiences” after reading one chapter at a time from a novel or a non-fiction book.
An animal-lover, Mistry has other talents as well which she describes thus: "You lose a dainty earring from the several pairs that you have, what do you do? Use the one you are left with to decorate a gift, a DIY (do it yourself) pen stand or as a door knob of your child’s dollhouse.” This and a passion for recycling has kept the Mistry household replete with "usual day-to-day objects rendered unusual, such as a wall clock on the back of a saucepan adorning the wall, sharing space with stuffed toys fashioned out of skirts, scarves, ghaghras and even grandpa’s ties.”