Saying Good Bye to my office staff

 The most difficult moment to say good bye was to my office staff. I owe so much to Prasad, Dharavath Yugandhar and Kotiah. What ever little I could achieve,a major share if the credit goes to these three. Prasad has been with me in this Journey for Women's Studies right from its inception. Prasad had joined my Centre for Women's Studies in the office in 2007 and I was not even having a room for the Centre. My history office worked as an office for the Centre too. Slowly, I could get a small room and Prasad, put a table and chair and we could get a desktop. Slowly we started admitting students into the Ph. D program and I could see how students flocked to him for all their work.What ever seminars and Conferences we organised he was central to the organisation of logistics from booking the Conference hall, making arrangements for tea, lunch etc. Then we moved to a bigger space and Prasad continued to be an asset for he did not shirk work and did what ever was told with a lot if sincerity. He had no hickups of even bringing tea cups inside and serving and I had to tell him not to do this for that is not his job and the canteen person can serve it. Prasad was in the journey when we got money to have our own building and finally have a separate Centre , the Malladi Subamna Centre for Women's Studies. In my forty years of experience in three Universities, Allahabad University, Maulana Azad National Urdu University and Hyderabad University, I have found him to be the best office staff one can dream of. Slowly in 2013 Yugandhar and Kotiah joined and even today most of my history students come to the Women's Studies office to get clarity. In the pandemic many call them too when they have an administrative roadblock and yesterday a history student called me from Jammu on some issue and said, Mam, I have spoken to Prasad Bhaiya and this is what he said.....Yesterday, they refused to leave me, they were so emotional, followed me to the Deans office and while I sat inside for more than half an hour taking to him, they waited outside. They were in tears and came to see me off near my car. I was very normal but you three moved me to tears and I finally realised that this inning has come to an end. They gifted me a beautiful Ganesh statue, knowing my fondness for Ganesh. I owe a lot to you three in all the administrative work that you carried out so efficiently and especially Prasad, words fail me. We as Heads and in other high positions get all the laurels and we hardly give credit to the people who help us from behind. You all are the silent workers and we cannot achieve much with out the force and support that you provide silently.Prasad, I will always remember with fondness your contribution to the Centre for Women's Studies in the University of Hyderabad. Yugandhar was posted to the main administrative building to work and Prasad,you were alone out here. You were my one man army.

My last day officially after forty years in Academics

 Thanks to all my students. I am what I am because of you. My, my, what a day, it was. The last day of my official duty and due to the pandemic, I thought, I will go quietly sign few papers and return home to get ready for the evening webinar at four. But, my students Rizwan Ahmad, Pavithra Molugu and Manu DrManu Jayas had different plans. Pandemic or no pandemic, they were not going to let me have a quiet exit. I do not know, how the students manage to organise but they were able to get a cake, cold drinks some eatables and a big bouquet to the Centre for Women's studies. I really did not want them to waste their money but I knew there was no point telling them any thing for they will never listen to this. We had a grand party and I could see the history department also come and join. My Colleagues, Mnrajesh Mnrajesh Rajesh, Bhangya Bhukya,V.J. Varghese, Anindita were all there. My students made me so emotional. I am so touched and, really it is moments like these that make me proud that I am a teacher and have been able to touch few lives.

Time to hang my gloves Officially!!!!!

 After forty years, time to hang my gloves officially,  though not sure about unofficially!!!!!!

Allahabad Department of History in 1977

 A class mate of mine Yogeshwar who was Head of the Department of History at Allahabad University and now the Director of Gandhian Studies sent me this photo of the History Department from Allahabad University the batch from 1976-1977.I  can see our teachers Chandra Pant, Rekha Joshi, Uma Mam, Radheshyam, Sushil Srivastava, Farooqi sir, C.B. Tripathi sitting in the chairs. We never wore sarees to the University but for the photo we wore a saree. Not sure if we were asked to wear one or we wore it on our own. I am in the centre in a  favourite black  colour saree and standing with three dear friends, Renu, Mohini David and Niharika. I can see Rajeev Kala, Sanjay Chandra, Yogesh sitting in the front. A great memory and thanks Yogesh for sharing this.

National Webinar on Missing Girls

 The Centre for Women's Studies at the University of Hyderabad organised a second national webinar on the Missing girls. After introducing the topic and going back into the history, I spoke of how our society has always been patriarchal and there is always a desire for a boy child. Sabu George  and activist gave many examples and looked at the  declining sex ratio. Varsha Deshpande a lawyer spoke about their various efforts they had undertaken to bring to the law the various doctors that were following the sex selection tests. Then Dr. Nelam Singh a  practicing Gynaecologist  spoke about her experiences as a doctor and how many doctors were practicing sex selective abortions. This was an interesting mix of academicians activists, lawyers and doctors who discussed this very important issue that impacts our society.

National Webinar on Missing Girls

 The Centre for Women's Studies , University of Hyderabad is organising a National Webinar on, Missing girls , on 26th June, 2020.  at 10.30. Please listen to Academicians, Activists, lawyers and Doctors who have been involved with this issue for more than three decades.

On line webinar, CWS

 We at the Centre for Women’s Studies today organised an International Webinar  and this was our first experience. It is so easy when one is invited to speak in a webinar. I have been going and speaking on webinars and have had no tension, but today since we were the hosts we were very nervous. From the morning it was raining very heavily and the current was in and out and this kept me on tenterhooks. However, by God grace, the internet connection  and the electricity department  everything went well.  The theme was on ‘Transnational Widening Gender Inequalities amid Covid-19 Pandemic Lockdown. In the introduction  I spoke on how  Women’s Studies started in India and gave a short history of the C.W.S.in the University of Hyderabad. Sheela  Sarvanan , then introduced the theme and gave an introduction to the Speakers. This webinar explored few  case studies from different parts of the world (India, Austria and Australia) that intersects several sectors. Monika Banerjee, Research Fellow, Institute of Social Studies Trust, spoke about the Situation of Women Waste Workers in Delhi . Melinda T Reist, Author and Advocate for young people, Collective Shout, Australia discussed about COVID-19 and the Sex Industry Virus. Kristina Hametner, Head, Vienna Program for Women’s Health & Public Health, Austriadiscussed about, Corona as Crisis for Women’s Health in Austria . The aim of this webinar was to explore how women and girls’ lives have changed in times of COVID-19 lockdown and I think it served this purpose. Covid-19 lockdown has deepened pre-existing gender inequalities as evident in several sectors; economic, health, gender-based violence and home front. Thanks a lot Sheela for all the hard work and Pratisha Kumari an old student from 2007 batch in history, who  now runs a professional IT company in Guwahati  and provided all her inputs and technical support as a labour of love.  Thanks a lot Pratisha. My what’s app is filled with a large number of messages from different participants and they have appreciated this. The icing on the cake was when my student Atoosa Bahduri  from Iran sent me a message as to how much she enjoyed being part of the Centre once again and attending the webinar.  Great to see so many connections across different geographical regions across the world. Indeed the world is one and the issues we face are almost similar.

Online talk in central University of Karnataka

 The Department of History and Archeology in the Central University of Karnataka is organising an online three days workshop on, Research methodology with the title, India from pre history to medieval sources and methods. Today morning, I gave a talk on Research Methodology in history. The other speakers besides myself in the morning session were, Dr. Varsha Shirgaonkar, former Head of the Dept of History, SNDT University and Dr. Vishi Upadhyaya curator of Patna Museum, Bihar. So many students can now connect to Zoom and I was told they had participants from abroad too. Thanks Arjun Rao and Mohammed Nazrul Bari for making me part of your Workshop. I wish you all the best.