The route from Calicut to Wayanad District

 The route from Calicut to Wayanad District and Chethlayam is filled with so many beautiful spots, lush forests and dense trees that it is a treat to the eyes.

Institute of Tribal studies and Research at Chethlayam in Wayanad District

on 30th January, 2019,   I was invited to the Institute of Tribal studies and Research at Chethlayam in Wayanad District, to give the special valedictory  address on the last day of  the Three day National Seminar on, Politics of Representation, Dalits, Adivasis and minorities from 28th to 30th January. I also had to  Chair a session, on, Exploring Representations in Historical writings. I was happy to meet many young history scholars from Kerala such as K. S. Madhavan, P. P. Abdul Razak,, M. D. Manoj and E. K. Rajan and enjoyed the session and learnt many new things about Kerala history. We started from Calicut at six in the morning and the journey to Wayanad was amidst lush green forested region. Waynad District is in the North East of Kerala. Waynad means village of paddy fields but now I could see that all the paddy fields are replaced by spice, plantains and rubber trees. From Sultan Bayhery we travelled to a region of  high altitude for Chethlayam in about 12 to 13k.m.from here. This is a college  for tribal boys and girls and a young dedicated staff stays here and they stay in the same hostels as students and do not have any separate housing. Many girls came up on the dias to speak and I found them very bold and confident, unlike the other tribal girls that I had interacted with in other parts of the country the North East being another exception. Thanks Molly Kuruvilla for taking me here and we enjoyed the journey too with so much to talk and share with Women's Studies being the bridge that connects us.

Calicut University

 In Calicut University, Kerala on 29th January, 2019, invited for a Ph. D viva, an open defense, as it is called. I found the whole structure very interesting. Unlike our University where there is a lot of informality in the whole process, here it was almost like a seminar with the examiner, Head, Supervisor and student on a dias. First the Head, welcomed every one and then the Supervisor, Prof. Molly Kuruvilla, introduced me with a detailed C. V. and the I had to make some remarks on the thesis. This was followed by a power point presentation by the student. Then question  answers by the expert followed and then after I had finished it was open to the others and finally, I had to declare the result. The student Seema, did a good thesis on Role Conflict of women Managers in Higher edu action in Kerala. She had taken both teaching and Non teaching managerial level women for data collection. The fact that she could find many , Deputy Registrars and Assistant Registrsars in these positions and a Pro Vice Chancellor and also few Muslim women in these positions  came as a surprise to me. We continue to learn so much every day and my admiration  for Kerala has only increased.

The ICRISAT Alumni Association

 The ICRISAT Alumni Association had a get together on 27th January, 2018 and  invited former employees along with their families. It was a fun filled day with meeting a large number of former friends who have settled all over India and abroad, some games and eating and drinking. In the evening  went around the huge experimental fields, laboratories with friends Rajan and Shivali Sharma. I was very happy that my daughter in law could see this Institute where Suresh Pande has spent forty years of his working life. We could still see a large number of papers, books and poster written by Suresh which adorned the book shelves and walls of the labs.There is a beautiful temple in the ICRISAT Campus where a tree has grown around the temple. It has three beautiful lakes and a large number of peacocks that roam around. The highlight of this event was my elder twin Tarun who refuses to come with us and prefers his own space also came to this event.

Prof. Shamita Sarkar,

 Indeed great to meet in person Prof. Shamita Sarkar, who was known to me only through Facebook till now. She being a history Professor at Vidya Sagar  University and with the common love for history, we had so much to share and talk and time just flew.

Gender Sensitisation workshop at National Geophysical Research Institute ( NGRI) Uppal

 A Gender Sensitisation workshop was organised by the  National Geophysical Research Institute, Uppal, Hyderabad on 25th January, 2019. This was a concluding program of their meeting to look into the Project proposal made by Women  scientists all over India. I was invited to address these scientists and it was great to interact with a large number of them. A lot of discussion took place on  the problems faced by women scientists in advancing their career paths. There was a discussion as to how now the number of girls in STEM branches is declining. Even among Sciences, women opting for Geo physical sciences or earth sciences are few. A wonderful interacting with women scientist across the country.