On 30th October, 2016, celebrated Deepawali the festival of light.It was a fun filled Deepawali though one does miss the fact that none of the children are at home to celebrate this with us.This lacuna is filled by my students and it was nice to have all the students around to celebrate this day with us.
On 26th October, 2016, there was a memorial service organised for Snehlatha Bhoopal who passed away on 19th of this month by her daughter Anuradha Reddy.Snehlata was the first feminist I met when I came to Hyderabad and we developed a very close bond and shared many things in common.She was a very witty and humorous person.When my husband would be on his long tours I remember her taking my kids and me to her farm which she managed herself and my kids who were young used to have a good time going around and spending the whole day out there in the midst of cattle and nature while we discussed women's issues and many other things under the sun.Snehlatha would for weddings wear very expensive sarees Kanjeevaram silk, south silks and wear white sports shoes with it ( Mind you this was the early 80's).She would tell us for we were much younger those days just try these and you will forget your high heels. You do not know how men have fooled you to wear such uncomfortable Sandles. I could never agree with her then. She introduced me to the women working at the grass roots in Hyderabad and would translate all the discussions taking place in Telugu so that I could follow.I attended many conferences organised by Malladi Subbamma along with her. I met her for the first time when she came to the University in connection with the with dowry death campaigns.We worked together to organise a Streemela Conference in early 80's and had a series of meeting planning this.She helped me meet all the women during the Anti arrack movement.In her youth she was a good player of tennis and very forward looking.She had fought the feudalistic structures of her family.The last meeting we had was during the organising of the Women's World Congress for she was slowly withdrawing from a very active life. Her wit and humour was very much intact and we had a great time reconnecting.Snehlatha you will always be missed.They no longer make feminists like you now, one who was a good mix of the traditional and the modern.You will always remain in my heart.
It is always fun to listen to Kamla Bhasin and went to attend her talk on 21st October, 2016 at Maulana Azad national Urdu University with few of my students. She is so full of life, down to earth, humorous, a great speaker and has the ability to make even the most complex concept easy and relate to our day to day life. The Centre for Women's Studies at MANUU organised a talk by Kamla on Gender,Society and Violence.I attended with some of my students and I am sure they enjoyed the lecture as much as I did. An important quotes for the evening included,"Not love of power but power of love"."
It is amazing to see Gujarat during this period.I do not have much idea about other times but it becomes so vibrant during navratri. I found young girls going out on scooters and scootees all alone at night around 12.30 to 1.00. Many a times you see two young girls going out alone on a scooter either going to attend a graba or returning from a garba celebration.I wish all other states in India could boast of such security for women.There is garba in each colony and every one including men, boys ,girls and women participate. There is such a cohesive, community feeling and there is a lot of mixing among different boys and girls.Even the servants who come to work have been provided one bedroom houses near colonies and they have their own garba dances and come to work the next day having danced late night the previous day. Each and every society has its own garba celebration and one can hear a lot of music through out at least till 1.30 or 2.00.It is fun to be in Gujarat during navratri and there are some lessons for the rest of the country. Here is a video of the garba in a society where my sister lives.
On 7th October, 2016, had a wonderful time attending the inauguration of the World cup Kabbadi match in Ahmedabad.Abhisekh Bacchan and Sunil Shetty were present through out.Lovely environment and a lot of energy with 12 teams from the world participating.It was sad though to see India loose the first match to South Korea.The next match was between Iran and USA and Iranians were playing very well. Iran won the match.Yahoo! India takes the Kabbadi world cup.Iran played well but it was no match to India. India World Champions. Feeling thrilled and very happy with 39 to 29 as the final score.
The Eighteenth Convocation of the University of Hyderabad was held on 1st October, 2016. Today the University celebrated its eighteenth convocation. Among the 1564 students who graduated I was very proud to see that the first K.S.Lal Memorial gold medal for the best M.Phil thesis was received by my student,Karan, Kalu Ram who worked with me on the women Bhakti saints. Karan Palsaniya I hope you make me proud with your Ph.D work also.A large number of history students also got their degrees and a proud moment for any teacher.I wish all my students a bright and prosperous future.
