Mari Chenna Reddy HRD Lecture

 The beginning of my summer holidays saw a series of lectures at the Mari Channa Reddy Human Resource Developement  Institute on Indian history and culture. This was a course from 15th April to 20th July, 2019. This was a group of sixty three Group A officers from the Military Engineering Services, mostly boys and only about three to four girls. They were from all over India. None had paid any attention to history for they were all from engineering background. My lecture was on 21st May, 2019. It was fun discussing about Indian Cultural heritage and the officers made beautiful presentation on different aspects. Shri A. K Goel, the Special Chief Secretary, Shri B. P. Acharya, the Director General, Sri Harpreet Singh, Additional Director General, Dr. Mohammad Abbas Ali, Ms. Sridevi Ayaluri, the Director of IT are all taking so much interest in Indian History and culture that it brings a great joy to me. Suresh and I had a lovely time meeting every one and interacting with the young officers.

Capacity Building programme at ASCI

 On 12th April, 2019, addressed the senior level women Mangers from City and Industrial Development Corporations ( CIDCO), Navi Mumbai, in the Capacity Building Programme organised by Administrative staff College of India (ASCI),. The women very proudly told me madam what ever you see in Navi Mumbai today is because of us and introduced themselves as Head of Transport department, Gardens, Administration, Airports. They were all heads of the different departments. My heart fills with joy when, I see so many women in top positions and coming for a management capacity Building training. Pictures courtesy my daughter in law Nidhi who accompanied me for the lecture.

Proud Moment for the University of Hyderabad

 Indeed a very proud moment for us who have seen the growth of the  University from  the beginning in the 1980's to this day. Hoping it will soon find its name in the  first place.

Voting for Democracy

 Did my teeny weeny bit for democracy on 10th April, 2019.

Safety for Women and Girls

 On 6th April, 2019, the Centre for Women’s studies, organised a meeting on theme Safety for Women and Girls.  This event was organised  in collaboration with Dean Student Welfare(DSW) and Internal Complaint Committee (University of Hyderabad) and  the  All India’s Women’s Conference (AIWC), Secunderabad and Hyderabad Branch. Dr. Padmaja welcomed the group and  Ms. Supriya Bhalerao, then introduced the AIWS. This  organisation works in  Hyderabad and Secunderabad and focuses on issues of development as well as child education child development, health , education and upliftment of women . Professor Rekha Pande,  Head Centre for  Woman Studies, spoke on the issue of cyber crime and women. She spoke of how throughout history the modes of crimes against women were changing. Today with the emergence of a new knowledge era and cyberspace the forms of violence against women have also changed and assumed new forms. New technologies enable a transgression of the boundaries of “physical” or “real” identities, and in these fluid spaces, individuals forge new relationships and networks, navigating new, and often times, multiple identities.  She discussed how, while women benefit from using new digital and Internet technologies for self-expression, networking, and professional activities and yet women become targets of cyber crimes like adult bullying, cyber stalking, hacking, defamation, morphed pornographic images, and electronic blackmailing. Dr. V Uma  from the Internal Complaints Committee ( ICC) ,  spoke about how ICC,  deals with the issue of harassment of women and girls in the workplace. She discussed various cases and how they tackled them.  She also stated that  it is a very complex matter to solve intricate relationship issues and often these issues when relationships break up cases of sexual harassment are filed.  Mr Umapati, DIG Police,  addresses and introduces  the audience to  the various legal issues by reciting different cases, slogans, and gave some suggestion on how to be alert and have self defence in a complicated situation. He also informed about filing  cases under 490, the IPC act, POCSO acts. He shared important phone numbers to be contacted at the time of emergency such as She teams, Cyber crime numbers. He also  spoke of other   He emphasised that with  Freedom comes with Responsibility. The three talks were followed with a lively discussion, touching upon various issues related to gender violence and safety of women.

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.