Dr. Ujwala Karande – Life Story of a Brilliant Brand Ambassador of Psychology

Today, let us take a look at the inspiring life story of Dr. Ujwala Karande, a 60-year-old retired Psychology professor. She always encouraged her students to be ambassadors of Psychology by trying their best to reach out to someone in need with a helping hand, along with being one’s own helping hand wherever necessary.

One of the walks of life that are increasingly needing attention is mental health. Life is just like that of tides. It uplifts us sometimes and sometimes drags us down. Some people have the determination and compassion to reach the depth of someone else’s mind beyond these tides. They accept this responsibility as their profession, thus becoming mental health practitioners. Some people contribute to shaping the personality of the ones who become successful mental health workers: their psychology teachers and professors.

Dr. Ujwala Karande – Psychology Professor

A psychology professor teaches the content of the syllabus and inculcates within the students the qualities necessary for maintaining the balance in their own life and empowering others to maintain that balance. Throughout her life, she has been deeply fond of psychology.

Dr. Ujwala Karande exclaims that psychology has indeed been her first love. She was primarily fond of both domains of language and psychology, but then she decided to continue with her formal education through Psychology. She had a passion for understanding people and emotions. Also, psychology is a subject that is very close to life. One can effortlessly apply what he learns and can be a behavioral engineer.   

Her childhood, especially her school life, was challenging. During her school times, casteism dominated society. Despite being a talented speaker and singer, she wasn’t given any opportunities to express herself. Due to the same reason, she had also experienced exclusion in her childhood.

As a child, she was very innocent and didn’t understood what to do, and thus endured all the pain silently. Gladly, things were quite different for her during her college days. In her college times, she got lot many chances to showcase her talent. She even became the favorite student of her teachers. She was happy as she was getting recognized for the skills and talents that she had nurtured. Despite the hardships and challenges she faced in school, she did not understand bitterness towards her school later in her life.  

Dr. Ujwala Karande has indeed been a role model, not just for her students but also for her colleagues. She carries that profound and influential presence with her. Her role model during her college times, the one she used to look up to as an inspiration, was Professor Sudhir Phadke from S.P. college of Pune. Dr. Karande was inspired by his way of convincing people and enriching the lives of others. When she started teaching, she noticed that her body language and way of talking were unknowingly matching to that of Professor Phadke. Later she developed her style and natural way of teaching, communicating with people, and enriching their life.  

The beginning of Dr. Ujwala Karande’s journey as Karande madam was surprising for her. Both her parents were teachers, but she saw her mother shouldering a burden of many responsibilities while balancing work and family. It made her decision during her masters that she would look after her family and won’t do a job. But life offered her a job as a professor in K.V.Pendharkar.

She comments, “Despite me deciding not to do a job, a job came looking for me.” She gracefully accepted her role as a professor. Her interest and passion for teaching grew as her journey continued. Dr. Ujwala Karande had inherited the qualities of being an excellent professor, as both her father and mother were in the same profession.   

Dr. Ujwala Karande holds a doctorate in psychology for her interdisciplinary research. The brand ambassador of psychology was keenly interested in both the subjects of psychology and literature. She was especially fond of the Marathi language, and her thesis is one of the few interdisciplinary psychology theses written in the Marathi language.

Initially, during her Masters, she had never thought to venture into the field of research. But her seniors encouraged her to do so. She used to teach the subject of social psychology and hence had an in-depth understanding of the concepts like gender equality, glass ceiling, and glass cliff.

Also, she used to read autobiographies of many people who had left an impact on society. Doing research was also an excellent chance for her to club together with her passion for literature and psychology, and hence, Dr. Karande decided to do interdisciplinary research. She chose to study women’s self-concept (an individual’s overall idea about oneself) as it reflects in their autobiography as her research topic.

Throughout her tenure of teaching, she came across some interesting hurdles. Her first challenge was her height and young age, which contradicts an image of a typical professor. She was stout, and she would seem more minor like a professor and more like a student in between the students! The only distinguishing feature was her usual attire, which was a saree. Even during the annual social functions, some funny events used to take place. In one such event, the girls came together, and one of them placed her arm on the shoulder of Dr. Ujwala Karande while asking how her dance performance was.

She then had to remind the student that she was their professor! Gradually, Dr. Karande realized that it’s not the height in physical terms but the height of confidence and skills that matter. Another hurdle in the way of Dr. Karande was about the language of students. She realized that students didn’t use to take an interest in reading. Thus, sometimes she used to go out of the way and encourage children to read a book and discuss it or read some newspaper article and then summarize and present it.

Along with language, Dr. Ujwala Karande was interested in letting students nurture their talents through various extracurricular activities by conducting many programs via the art circle. Her guidance was limited to Psychology or Arts students, but she welcomed students from other faculties and disciplines. Dr. Karande believes that where there is a will, there is a way. Indeed her will for letting the art of her students shine found its way through her activities.

The psychology teacher observed that, in between their education, many skilled and talented students, especially girls, dropped out of college. It was mainly due to their marriage. She then encouraged her students to stay dedicated to education by telling every batch the story of her marriage. Dr. Karande was exceptionally talented as a student and was adored by her professors in college.

Due to her marriage being on the day of her exam, she had missed two final exam papers of her masters. She was given the provision of the same exam on the next day. And thus, on the day after her marriage, she went from Dombivli to Pune and gave her exams. She had to return to Dombivili and be present for her rituals and reception the next day.

Even after giving two papers in this situation, she received a gold medal for her excellent performance in the examination. Thus, she conveys to her students that if they are indeed passionate about their education, let it reflect their behavior and attitude. Let others know that education is an essential aspect of their life. If the sincerity is genuinely reflected, they would be able to walk through any challenge to completing their education.

Dr. Ujwala Karande earnestly expresses that her journey as a teacher has given her lots and lots of contentment and happiness. College gave a stage to her for nurturing and showcasing her talent. She gladly reminisces when she was allowed to perform ‘vhay mi Savitri,’ a solo stage performance by the NSS wing of the college. Everyone appreciated her act, which made her very glad, but even a more wonderful surprise waited for her the next day.

The first-year students did a shower of rose petals when Dr. Ujwala Karande entered the classroom for taking the lecture. With admiration in their eyes, all the students began to say, “welcome, Savitri ma’am!” and came ahead to touch her feet. That was one of the most overwhelming moments for Dr. Karande.

“It’s not just the salary that good teachers earn, but the precious love of their students and respect from their heart,” she comments. Dr. Ujwala Karande firmly rejects the notion that no one asks a professor once after college is over. Instead, she thinks that a good professor can genuinely earn a treasure for a lifetime. When she launched her book, her ex-students whom she taught many years ago contacted and congratulated her after getting the news. That’s the treasure she had earned.

Dr. Ujwala Karande’s book ‘Ti cha manogat’ is a collection of articles rooted in her research. In her research, she witnessed the great potential of bringing about social change. Dr. Karande realized that it needs to be brought in front of society. Thus, she approached the ‘loksatta’ newspaper and started writing a column in ‘loksatta chaturanga.’ She wrote a total of 26 articles for the newspaper. Many readers and influential social figures were impressed by the articles, and hence they advised her to compile them. However, during that time, she didn’t get a chance due to workload and other responsibilities.

Finally, her book got published by ‘Unmesh Prakashan,’ and the book launch ceremony was held in February 2021. She believes that the book can bring about a change in the mindset of the readers. Whoever would read would pause in between and reflect upon himself, what ideas he holds about womanhood, society, family, and marriage. Not just a man, but a woman too, would introspect on whether she is a carrier of the social stereotypes that exist.

Harmony between man and woman would enrich the life of both, thus making togetherness a blissful experience. It is the change that the book assures to bring.

Dr. Ujwala Karande has a lot of hobbies. Apart from teaching and writing, she loves to read, do theatre performances, and sing, music, and dance. She accepts every opportunity that comes in her way and prepares well for presenting however little the opportunity be.

Lockdown was an excellent chance for her to nurture her hobbies. She gave various speeches, wrote articles, and made efforts to bring attention to people’s psychological immunity, thus keeping up her task as the brand ambassador of psychology. In the future, she plans to give herself a chance to explore various hobbies left behind till now due to the responsibilities of life.

As a professor who has worked for over 38 years and devoted a long span to youth development, Dr. Ujwala Karande has some wisdom for today’s youth. Firstly, she suggests that in this fast-paced world, boosted by the wings of technology, one should take a pause and reflect upon the point that for what purpose is the technology serving me? Is it some life-fulfilling purpose? What role does it have to play in the long run?

Secondly, she encourages the youth to discover their passion and what they are best at. Also, she believes that one should try to achieve excellence first, and success would follow it. Thirdly, she points out that the youth needs to earn merit and not just merit certificates. Whenever we make use of opportunities, we learn and enrich our experience. We get acknowledged for our contributions, and our contributions come through the efforts that we make.

Dr. Ujwala Karande believes that sincere efforts and being loyal to opportunities consistently achieve excellent positive results. Lastly, she suggests that one needs to explore more and more and grab every possible opportunity they get, and stop grumbling about not having one.

One of the saddest and traumatic events of Dr. Ujwala Karande was the death of her husband. It was indeed a difficult phase of her life. But over time, she successfully crossed over the grief and trauma. She came up with a profound life lesson that others cannot take someone out of trauma. It is the spirit of oneself or the inner strength that guides one to cope with the trauma.

Through careful introspection, one can discover their true potential. Dr. Ujwala Karande has an inspiring and meaningful tale to share from every walk of her life. Her life’s most important lesson is that we can become our friend, philosopher, and guide as we introspect and communicate with ourselves. With that, we can build on our solid philosophical base of our own, and thus, no challenge would ever be able to stop us.

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