Celebrating alumni connections in India

Delhi

We started in Delhi, where we heard from Shannon West, Deputy Director, British Council New Delhi. I was honoured to present Rajesh Talwar (LLM International Human Rights Law, 1997) with his Your Nottingham Alumni Award. Rajesh studied on a British Chevening Scholarship and has served the United Nations for over two decades across three continents.

Assignments include working as Executive Officer, chairing the Secretariat to the Human Rights Advisory Panel for the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Rajesh has also written 42 books, spanning multiple genres, including “The Witch, The Princess and The Tower of Doom,” which reimagines the classic tale of Rapunzel through a vibrant Indian lens.

Rajesh shared how his work experience has influenced and enriched his writing – noting that while the life of a full-time writer sounds appealing, literary festivals aren’t necessarily the real world! Rajesh also highlighted the breadth of careers alumni and friends could pursue with the United Nations, pointing out that the organisation recruits doctors, engineers, teachers, town planners, architects and other commercial roles, such as procurement and contract managers.

Hannah presents Rajesh Talwar (LLM Human Rights Law, 1997) his 2025 Your Nottingham Alumni Award

Mumbai and Pune

In Mumbai, we heard from Sharlene Chichgar (Environmental Science, 2007; Renewable Energy and Architecture, 2009), a Senior Environmental Specialist at the World Bank. Sharlene discussed her journey, from graduating during a recession to her current role, where she works with investors, financial institutions, governments and regulators to address sustainability challenges while reducing risk and creating long-term value for bank-financed investments.

Sharlene manages a portfolio of over US$500 million in multisector investment projects, spanning clean energy, energy efficiency, green finance, electric mobility and climate-smart agriculture. One example includes leveraging investments for air quality improvement projects.

We welcomed a surprise guest – Dan Perry (Economics with French, 2002), who happened to be on holiday in Mumbai and staying at the hotel where our alumni meetup was taking place. Dan spotted our UoN banner and came along!

From Mumbai, we travelled to Pune (stopping for vada pav on the way!). We have enjoyed seeing the growth of the alumni network in Pune - our intimate alumni dinner turned into a joyous meetup of 17 guests.

The final event took place in Bangalore, where we enjoyed our first ever alumni event singalong, instigated by alumnus Johnson Crasta (Entrepreneurship, 2011)! Johnson and his wife, Kamalkali Mukherjee (Business Administration, 2012) both completed their MBAs at Nottingham after getting married.

As students, they each raised money for the University of Nottingham’s scholarships and research - but Johnson admitted that Kamalkali raised more than he did! Johnson and Zubair Khan exemplified the Nottingham alumni spirit with their wonderful harmonising!