Rajesh Tedia, Growth Strategies of Girls & Women

 A half day workshop on, Growth Strategies of Girls & Women was organised by the Centre for women's studies on 20th September, 2019. The keynote speaker Mr Rajesh Tedla,  the Executive Director of the VRT Management Group, USA.  is currently an Executive Director, a certified coach, trainer and speaker with the “The John Maxwell Team”.  Mr. Raj is also very active with Marshal Goldsmith Coaching and is part of MG NYC 50 coaches. He is also the founder and chairman of the ICAN Foundation, which is dedicated to helping underprivileged children in rural India to gain access to higher education. Raj received TTI’s Chairman’s award in Jan 2010 for his outstanding services to the community. In 2006, Raj was awarded GE’s most prestigious “Gerald L. Phillippe Award,” for his outstanding social contributions and community leadership.

Mr Rajesh Tedla began the session on a lively note and raised certain key issues and what one must do in order to realise their goal.   His emphasised as to how one can achieve the goal by putting the right amount of time and effort into it.  It is for an individual to decide what success is and no one else can  tell them  what it is. To get to success- Persistence, clarity and what one  wants to work with is important. He stated that, IQ does not define success but focusing on the  goal is more important.

Mr Tedla listed how certain key issues which have always been a hurdle in realising one’s goal and moving  forward in their life, which he headlined as “Behaviours that Keep Women Stuck”. The session was followed by a lively Q&A session in which certain issues such as the importance of a female role model, the idea of working as a team and also what if one stranded in their field all by oneself. These issues though addressed to Mr Rajesh Tedla were answered by many, something which the workshop has focussed upon; bringing out the confidence and ability to ask questions. The discussions was very lively and some of the  conclusions that were reached were as follows. 

Everyone has a different journey and thus it is very hard to find someone to help in your journey. That’s when one  realises that we  need to be persistent and determined to reach our goals. And there emerges the need for a mentor who makes one  realise their  position and give  helping hand.  How necessary is it for a girl to have a role model for women? Well, it wouldn’t really matter what is the  sex of a role model, the thing that matters is how you look up to him/her. Change is scary due to uncertainty of what you really want in your life. Be consistent with your life and always ask what new you can learn from this new change. Positive thinking is not only thinking everything will be fine and but also to do something about it. Positive thinking should not be confused with Wishful thinking i.e. sitting idle and expecting that something goodwill happen.

In the end Mr. Raj Tedla gave away two prizes, in the form of the  book, Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith ( 1988), How women rise , Penguin Random  House, U.K. to two students who had actively participated in this workshop and had asked various questions which were very important.  The prize winners included, Dr. Manu Jayas,  a post Doctoral student from History and Maria Lisbeth Antony from MA History.  This was a very interactive workshop which made the students think about issues of leadership, their future goals, define success and  how to achieve it.Thanks Rizwan for the pictures.

Pressing for Progress, Physics Department

 The department of Physics in the University of Hyderabad and the Indian Association of Physics, organised a very unique programme, Pressing for Progress, 2019, a three day Conference on Gender Equity in Physics, where a large number of physicists from abroad and India came under a roof to discuss gender issues. Prof. Bindu Bambah is a rare physicist who is now the Dean of the Physics school and she is very much interested in Gender questions. She was a joint faculty in the Centre for Women's Studies and had  earlier taught a course on Gender and Science to our Women's Studies Students. She is also guiding a Women's Studies student for her Ph. D. It was really nice to see a main stream discipline like Physics talk of Gender issues. The highlight of the Conference was, the honouring of Prof. Bimla  Buti the first Fellow of Indian National Science Academy, INSA. Prof. Bunti  had also received the Vikram Sarabhai Award for Planetary Science and  did her Ph. D under Prof. Subramaniam Chandra Shekhar from the University of Chicago, who had won the noble prize in physics in 1983. It was a very emotional moment  when Bimla Buti cut the cake as it was her 86th birthday today and the whole hall exploded with singing a happy birthday song. Thanks a lot Bindu for bringing out gender issues related to science   and in this Conference  organising workshops under the themes of, Gender Equity, Barriers, Bridges and stepping stones, Understanding sexual harassment dynamics and exploring personal agency and power, Challenging gender stereotypes in daily living. Indeed our Universities are now changing. Few years back gender issue was one concerning only social scientists by and large and Humanities scholars and it was believed that Sciences are gender neutral. We need more such programmes. Met many earlier students and faculty. Prof. Bhatnagar who was also our VC and very sensitive to gender issues. Indeed a great and unique Conference.

Mizoram University

 The Department of History and Ethnography at Mizoram University is revising its courses and they have introduced a new MA history  programme in  Tribal history and culture. As a member of their  Board attended this and met many teachers from different colleges. Very happy to see two of my  History students from Hyderabad University teaching here and they bring in a lot of our courses experience from HCU into their teaching programs. Very happy to see a number of courses on Gender history, religion and society, Tribal culture, environment history, ethno medicine being offered here. When I landed in the airport it was raining and was dark and I could see the mountains filled with mist and looking very beautiful. It was difficult to capture it on my mobile.in contrast, the next day turned to be  a very sunny day. This is a young department and it is great to  see the enthusiasm of all the faculty.

Mari Chenna Reddy Debate Competition

The Mari Cheena Reddy Institute of Human Resource Development where 140,  would be officers of the IAS  are under training  till November had organized a debate Competition and invited me as a Judge. First they divided all these candidates into seven groups and with an in-house competition selected two speakers from the group. I was involved in the final selection. There were two topics, Why did I choose IAS as a Career and Why is history important for a Civil Servant. It was amazing to listen to the fourteen candidates and it was very difficult to decide as to who would stand first, second or third. I felt so happy to see these candidates and told them I felt very proud of the fact that our country is in able hands and our future is secure with their vision. It was also very heartening to hear to stories of struggle, faith, hope, aspirations. Son's of Constables who had made it to the Police service, another who had given so many attempts, son's of farmers, candidates who had left cushy  jobs in the Corporate sector and many more such stories. The way these candidates analysed their vision and mission  was great. Indeed a very enjoyable day and thanks,MCRI for inviting me.

 

National Commission for Women Invitation

 Very happy to share that the National Commission for Women has invited me to join a group of National Experts as a Resource person for Gender Sensitisation and Gender development.

Teachers day, 2019 and Full Bright to Parul Srivastavs

 A very happy Teachers day to my teachers and students who are teachers. Today from morning I have got so many phone calls and messages and felt so happy.The day started with an old student Joseph who must have been a students in the 80's call me and share his progress in life. This was followed by many others. However, a, very happy moment came when Parul Srivastava, rang up and informed me that she has got the Full Bright fellowship. For the past so many decades, I have had so many students come from the US and work with me for Fulbright and I have helped with their applications and proposals and many have gone back and still remain in touch with me. . This year also I have a, student working on Reproductive health and I have asked her to add  surrogacy to this and she welcomed the idea. She  just landed two days back from the US in   Bangalore  and called me last night with a lot of excitement and we spoke on the phone for nearly an hour. I used to dream of a day when our students from India will get the Full Bright. Parul, you have made me proud and made my teachers day. A big congratulations and I wish you a very bright future ahead.

Ganesh Chaturthi , 2019

 A, very happy Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations for all my family, friends, students and well wishers. Ganesh, the beloved Hindu God, referred to as the Elephant headed God in English, is  the remover of obstacles and brings in good fortune. He is worshipped through out the country starting from today  for ten days with a lot of prayers, music, dance and celebrations and there is a festive environment all around. It was Bal Ganga Dhar Tilak who was responsible for making this very private household Ganesh Chaturthi celebration in Maharashtra  into a public event to be celebrated all over the country as a mark of  nationalism and pride of our culture to face the British. The British described him as the Father of Indian unrest.Starting in 1893,Tilak had started  the Ganesh Utsav by organising huge pavilions for the worship of Ganesh and also a meeting point of all Indians irrespective of caste, creed and religion to come together when public social and political gatherings were banned in the country. We continue to celebrate this till today and hope this brings people together. It is beautiful to look at the various Ganesh statues all over the city. Again seeing so many eco friendly Ganesh being sold is also a positive move for people are becoming aware of the environment. I am very happy that this has given jobs to so many artisans. I have always collected different statues of Ganesh from all over the country and I have a huge collection of these of every shape, size and material, made in Stone, brass, arecca nut, marble and many more material. I have these statues all around my house, at the entrance, in my study, book shelf and other rooms. It is very difficult to resist purchasing a Ganesh idol when ever I am touring with in the  country. Each region has its unique interpretation of Ganesh in its handicrafts in its own unique style.