Avvantika Rehani is the Lead Literacy Facilitator at the Healthy Planet Library & Imagination Studio, Noida, India.

1. What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Our library is the heart of the community level at the Healthy Planet TGA Early Years School. We are all aware of how much an early years teacher means to their students—whatever they say is either set in stone or the holy grail. However, as a literacy facilitator, the feeling I experience from the kind of fan following and adulation received daily from our children attending the library is unmatched by any other. This one time a child left behind a gratitude note addressed to me as part of our follow-up activity. It read, “I am grateful that Ms. Avvantika reads such beautiful stories to us all the time.”

2. What/who inspires you?

My now 5-year-old daughter Annahita is my inspiration; my moral compass at all times and the protagonist in most of my dreams and vision in life. She is my friskiest and most grounding friend. Together we enjoy reading books last thing before bed. Her twinkling eyes and loud giggles are my daily food for the soul. It reminds me to do better and be better. 

3. Which living person do you most admire?

The women in my life—my mother Seema, my mother-in-law Kalpana and my sister Pooja. They are all heart, endlessly generous and nurturing, firmly rooting for their family at all times, and always in step with the changing times. Amongst us four, I am the only woman pursuing a career after having a child. And these women, and my husband and lifelong hype man Akshat, so effortlessly applaud, encourage and support me in unfathomable ways.

4. What is the best part of your day? 

There are two best parts in my day—the first is when I am met with smiles when I first walk into our magnanimous building with sunlight streaming down the atrium and downstairs to the library. My second favourite moment is when I am met with Annahita and Akshat’s even warmer smiles once I return home. 

5. Which talent would you most like to have? 

I would like for my face to not give away what I might actually be feeling in the moment. I would also when required, like to learn to be more tactful and less transparent in the way I interact with people. One more talent I would most like to master personally is to eliminate the time between the ideation and the execution of my most brilliant ideas. 

6. What is your favourite thing about the country you live in now?

My favourite thing about India has got to be its global presence currently witnessed by the world. We are a factory of go-getters and story-shifters in every realm I can think of. It brings to mind an ignorant question that a classmate in high school asked me when I first moved to New York in 2004, “Do you guys really commute on elephants?” It now gives me pleasure to imagine/see the wonder written all over the faces of those not so well-informed after all. 

7. What do you consider your greatest achievement? 

I felt the need to justify to my parents my transition from lawyering for 10 years to now edifying our young ones in the most unique ways. Needless to say, being an advocate of the law is perceived to be a position of prestige and stature. While Akshat was blindly supportive from the get-go, as he always is, the rest of my family members had their doubts about the career switch. They wondered what it is that I do exactly and how is it that I am always so happy to go to work. Then my father visited the campus last December and was blown away by the whimsical ways we incorporate in our daily workings. He video called me all teary-eyed on his way to the airport. He said he was relieved that I followed my instinct and took the leap. So in short, finally taking my gut most seriously and bringing tears of joy and pride to my father’s eyes are my greatest achievements.  

8. What part of the COBIS network do you value most?

What I value most is the genuine sense of connection—no set mould, just educators uplifting each other across continents, all rooted in shared purpose and authenticity. 

9. What advice would you give your younger self? 

To start disagreeing sooner with what did not sit well with me. 

10. What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?

I was a die-hard fan of Bollywood actor Fardeen Khan during my adolescence—posters, interviews et al. It feels surreal to say this, but we have randomly crossed paths not once, not twice, but three times! The most incredible moment? Pooja was working at the Indian Embassy while in New York. One day, Fardeen Khan visited the embassy to report his lost passport. I was in AP Chemistry when I received a text message from her asking if I can make it post lunch as he was going to return to pick his new passport. No points for guessing who cut classes for the rest of the day! He actually walked me three blocks to the subway station before hopping into a cab to continue his day. We chatted the entire time and the hand he shook, I didn’t wash it until the next morning. It was straight out of a film.