Beautiful Memories of Kokrajhar in Assam

 Some beautiful memories of the NAAC visit to Kokrajhar in Assam. I have been gifted a beautiful book on the History of the Bodos writen by Bakul Chandra Basumatary and this traces the history from the beginning to the modern period. It talks about Indus valley, Mauryas,  Sungas, Guptas, Hunas  and Palas. For the first time , I heard something called the Mech Dynasty of Cooch Bihar, The Kacharis . I have yet to read it but what ever I read is very interesting. There is so much history that we do not know about our own country, of the distant regions and we think that the history of mainland India  in the indo Gangetic plain is the only history worth reading.

Bodo Dress

 Attempting to try on the Bodo dress over the regular saree. The Bodo dress is called Dokhona and the shawl, Indi Jwmgra. Also trying the Assamese traditional dress, the Mekhela Sadar. Looking at the hundreds of beautiful girls all wearing these dresses and the teachers all dressed in colourful Dokonas and Mekhela, is a treat to the eyes. The girls come to school in pink coloured dokhanas and mekhalas or salwar kurtas.

NAAC Visit in Bodoland

 In Bodoland for a NAAC Visit. The four districts in Assam on the foot hills of Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh have been constituted into BTAD, Bodoland Territorial Area District. From Hyderabad to Gauhati was a very bumpy and scary two and a half hour flight. After this we had to travel about four and a half hour by road into the interiors of Assam to Kokrarjhar, where the College is located. This is mostly a backward region with a huge chunk of tribal population but the girls are beautiful and very bright. We were welcome with the traditional beating of drums and the girls welcoming us with a dance. In the evening a, cultural programme was presented and we saw beautiful dances of the region, such as Bagurumba Bodo, Bihu Assamese, Garo, Bengal. The girls have a natural talent for dance and the steps are so graceful. It is really nice to know that some of the areas like this one have preserved their cultural dances.

Key Note Address St. Anns College

 Was invited to deliver the key note address in St Ann's College, Mehendipatnam, Osmania University in the National Conference on, Cyber crime and victimisation of women on 17th March, 2019. As gender studies people we have always discussed and worked on Gender violence which is one of the greatest impediment in the empowerment of women. With Globalisation and extensive use of information technology, the forms of violence are also changing and today we have new kinds of violence like cyber staking, cyber trolling, cyber pornography, morphing, email spoofing that have become very crucial for our understanding of gender issues. Technology has empowered women and society and  has many plus points but it has also a negative aspect that needs to be dealt with. It was a good Conference and met friends like Asha Shukla, who was the Guest of honour, Sudeshana Mukherjee, Hiranmayee Mishra who were Plenary speakers and who had a lot of interesting material on this issue.  St Ann's is doing a great job and their young and dynamic Director Popy Nath has put in a lot of efforts in the Centre. It was great to meet others in St. Ann's, Sister Amrita, the Principal, Smita Astana their Dean, Meeta Joshi their head for History and many more faculty. St. Ann's College is one of the good and upcoming colleges for girls in Hyderabad. I have always found this College very interesting for by and large the management is Christian, the faculty Hindu and students Muslim. A perfect example of our secular values.

Impress Project

 Very happy to share that IMPRESS Projects  from ICSSR has approved my Project on   women,aging and health. This study will be carried out in Telengana and Uttarakhand. i receivd this letter on 14th march 2019. After my small study of Widows of Vrindawan which has already been published as a  book chapter, in Multi cultural perspectives on Gender and aging, edited by me and Prof Theo der Vander and published by  IGI Global, Pennsylvania, USA, this issue interested me. I am joined in this Project with Dr. Padmaja from Health Psychology and Dr. Anupama a medical doctor. It is high time we focus on this issue of Widows, elderly and single women who are never part of the mainstream in the Women's movement.

Validectory Address at Mhow

 In Mhow, B. R. Ambedkar University of Social Sciences, delivered the validectory address on 9th March, 2019, at the National conference on Women's Empowerment. In the morning I chaired a very interesting session on Globalisation and impact on Women's Empowerment. It was great to connect to so many friends. Mhow is the birth place of Ambedkar and hence the University is known as B. R. Ambedkar University of Social Sciences, BRAUSS in short.

International Women's day, 2019

 Wish all my friends, well wishers and family members a very happy International Women's day. May the world be a beautiful place where gender justice is achieved. Spent the International Women's day at the B. R. Ambedkar Social Science University in Mhow, Indore, Madhya Pradesh in a Conference on Women's Empowerment. Also gave a lecture for the Faculty improvement programme. Indore is such a clean city that it is very soothing to the eyes.