A Chat with Deshna Ravisankar

Yes, 20-21 has gone by; slowly and steadily 21-22 has bloomed; but we are still looking out for the end of the darkest tunnel of history that people of all strata of society – people of all ages have been travelling through. Mankind has been facing an unprecedented bio war waged by nature. But yes, inspite of everything everyone had to wade through the rough waters to try to reach the shore safely, be it daily cooking or purchasing or marketing or banking or office or business management or schooling…. why even the tiny tots of the nursery had to go through new methods of online learning. But mankind’s fight against natural calamities is not yet over. When this new academic year should have started by now – 10th -12th exams should have been over – results should have come out – admissions should have started by now…. we are still waiting with hope and continuing same as 20-21, but yes we have decided with hope and prayer that we will have less fear and anxiety, more hope and prayer. It is said that the next academic year’s plan is already hatched and children – school students and college goers have started with redoubled vigour. Yes, life has to go on… So we from Nungai Times decided we will chat with students of various levels regarding many issues, plans and decisions that they had to take during these tough days. Sharing ideas, ideologies and experience is certainly the best tool to diffuse tension and fear; not only this but it certainly will help one to develop a positive attitude to march towards a bright future.

18 year old Deshna Ravisankar was a student of Commerce and Computers from Chettinad Vidyashram school at Chennai. She is presently a Second year student of Vels University at Pallavaram, Chennai with Animation as the main subject.

Here goes our chat with Deshna Ravisankar:-

Deshna! quite a rare name.. what does it mean?

Hi mam, it’s so nice to chat with you through Nungai Times. Deshna literally means ‘A Gift’. My mother Mrs. Asha Ravisankar (like all mothers) tells me that I am god’s gift to her. My mother being a trained classical singer she loves the name Desh included in my name (Desh is a raga in classical music).

That’s interesting. When many students are chasing degrees in Engineering, Medicine, IT, Accountancy etc. how and why did you choose animation as your main subject?

From my very early years I had taken a very keen interest in drawing. I could draw for hours together and still not get tired of it. I remember, like most children I was very keenly interested in watching cartoons. And then I stumbled upon this Japanese concept of cartoons called “ANIME”. I started getting totally involved with Anime. Anime is also the reason why I started taking art seriously and watching more and more of it motivated me to take up animation as my main subject. This is how I should have decided that it was my calling in life.

Tell me about your college and college life?

Once I decided to take Animation as main subject, when I started applying, we found that not many colleges in Chennai offered Animation as the main subject. But out of the few colleges, BSc Animation in Vels University, Pallavaram run efficiently by Mr Isari Ganesh provided a very attractive syllabus which suited my goal.

Yes I had been waiting eagerly to experience life as a college student. Hardly for a month I had been to college. As we all know the present pandemic has frozen life so to say. Then started the new experience of online classes.

You must have missed one year of college life. What are the positive aspects of online learning, being at home.. what did you learn from this experience?

I honestly didn’t mind staying at home thus saving energy from tiring travels. Thus I had more energy to spend in serious learning. The nature of the subject is such that it was not difficult for me to do classes from home. But I did miss actual socialising with my friends. But it did give me lot of time to be spent with my parents.

That’s a very new concept, yes there are many new subjects that are coming up these days as against medicine and engineering. All these subjects are as interesting and as lucrative when you take up a job. I think children are now trying to make use of their diverse interests to become masters of that particular subject.

What exactly do you learn and do in this subject?

It’s a three year course. You sharpen your art skills and observational skills, you learn to animate, sculpt, rig and edit. At the end of third year, we would pretty much be ready to create an animated reel. If we had been going to college for the past one year we would have had more practical knowledge of many aspects of animation.

What is your future ambition after completing the BSc in Animation?

To become an animator, freelancing artist on the side, as well as a live streamer!

Tell us about your interest in Japan

I mainly learnt Japanese and took an interest in Japan because of Anime. I studied Japanese on my own, practiced by talking to Japanese people online. My art style is very similar to anime, and overall I just feel like I would fit right in if I went to Japan.

What are your other interests and hobbies?

I really enjoy live streaming online, voice acting (in Japanese), learning non-Indian languages and singing Japanese, Korean and western songs and playing games.

Thank you Deshna for that very interesting and informative chat. After this chat I am sure many youngsters would be juggling with ideas of making animation as their main subject in college. But ofcourse a skill in drawing is a must.

Thank you mam for giving me the opportunity to participate in this chat time. It was indeed a pleasure to share my thoughts and views on various issues related to the student generation.