Scotland

 In Scotland Gretna green is the first town that one comes across while coming via road from London. I have been to Scotland twice earlier via Air and this is my third visit and one via road. My advise to a travellers here is please avoid air travel if possible and go via road for the beauty of Scotland can be seen in its immense green panorama. The huge green mountains, the mountains filled with rodendran forests, the streams, the lakes, the Fir tree Jungles can never be seen via air. It is good to have a journey come to an end but it is the Journey that matters in the end and this is true as you travel across Scotland. In 17th cen there was a law in England that stated that one could not marry with out one's parents permission and had to be of a certain age for marriage and hence many couples eloped to Gertna Green in Scotland to marry. A blacksmith who was in the business of making horse shoes found an opportunity in this and converted a portion of his workshop into a hall to commemorate marriages and the Shed stas here with a museum and its history. Today also thousands of marriages take place here every month and it is a favourite destination for taking the vow. One can see building with Boards 1751, 1753 as the year of establishment.Krikstone Pass and Ullswater lake: While we were still carrying the enchanting serenity of the lake district and Windermere, we headed for another mesmerising creations of nature the Krikstone Pass. After an hour of road ride on the banks of Ullswater lake, it started raining, that set the perfect English weather and we were at the mouth of the famous Krikstone Pass. It's silence and the greatest spread of green meadows miles together amongst undulating hills, dotted with wooly sheeps, brooks and fragile rocks are simply enchanting. Driving on the banks of Ullswater lake and stopping at the wide opening of the serpentine road with hair pin bands in it self is an adventure. The panoramic view is unmatchable and a life time experience.

Loch and Glen's of Scotland. As teenagers when I had read English poetry two words that often occurred were Loch and Glen. Today the second day in Scotland in Glasgow saw us visit many Loches and Glen's. Loch is the Scottish word for a piece of sea or a water body that is land locked and Glen is the deep valleys amidst mountains. Today we saw many of these. As we moved towards the Highlands with many Scottish mountains and the green panorama the first stop was at Loch Lomond.

The Indian Parliament

 Thanks to a very well connected friend working in the Parliament, I could finally visit the parliament. There is a lot of security which is understandable and so no mobiles, phones etc are allowed but being with this friend, we had the privilege of having our pictures clicked, going around the building, admiring it and the well laid gardens and meeting various people working there. We also stood in front of the plaque that had the names of martyrs who laid their lives while protecting the Parliament. We could see the bullet marks etched on stone walls. Finally we reached the Lok Sabha and took our seats to watch the proceedings. The session started and slowly our Ministers and other dignitaries came in. Saw Owasi, Mulaayam Singh Akilesh, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sashi Taroor. Jayram Ramesh, Ravi Shankar,Nirmal Sitharaman, Harsimrat Kaur Badal,Kiran Rijihu and other whom I did not recognise. Mr. Modi and Amit Shah did not attend the session much to my disappointment for would have loved to see them also along with the other dignitaries whom I have never met in person. When Mr. Om Birla, the speaker came and sat in his chair the opposition as if in a pre planned move all rushed to the well and a lot of shouting and commotion took place. They had banners of Shah Resign, Amit Shah shame, shame, Amit Shah go back and what not. I found it strange that Rahul, Sonia, Mulayam, Owasi did not waste their energy shouting and all the others whom I did not recognise did all the shouting and screaming. A lot of paper was torn and thrown while all thesse other leaders sat with a stoic face. I felt bad for the lady who sat below the speaker's chair and pitied her for the noise pollution that she had to deal with and go through. It became unbearable after twenty minutes for the shouting and slogan raising continued and few bills were passed with the, BJP members presenting their case. I just could not bear this din any longer and we came out and had lunch at the beautiful canteen for MLA's where even the crockery had a symbol of the Parliament engraved in it. The Lok Sabha was meanwhile adjourned. When we finished lunch and went in again it began but the same drama continued and the session was adjourned once again. I thought to my self we teach children in school and Colleges to maintain discipline and behave but the highest body of the country does not follow any decorum for protest and goes with the issue of just blocking the proceedings.I imagined the cost to the exchequer, the public money being blown in the name of democratic rights and what not. The whole scene looked like an unruly class which I had never encountered in my life but saw it in few movies. We went around a little bit more,saw the library, the publishing section, the various rooms alloted to MP's. Though one has watched the proceeding often on Television, a live experience is a very different experience. A very fruitful day and indeed a very high powered visit to the capital as I leave Delhi to return home.

Rashtrapati Bhawan and The Mughal Gardens

 A visit to the Presidential palace our own Rashtrapati Bhawan and the Mughal gardens. A very amazing day visiting the building designed by Edwin Lutyen, it's huge entrance, the pillared columns and the huge darbar Hall and the Ashoka Hall. Also saw the dinning room where the dignitaries including Trump recently are served dinners. A beautiful museum of Old carpets adorns it and one can see the dress of the first Lady after independence in gold and silver thread work. The Mughal garden is a feast to the eye . Spread over fifteen acres it combines the Mughal and the English horticulture tradition. While one can witness the terraced steps, the fountains reminding one of Agra and Kashmir garden laid down by the Mughals.It also has huge lawns and beds of flowers in the English style. A variety of roses, tulips of different colours and hues adorn it. The roses of different colours are soothing to the eye. The one which caught my fancy is called ice berg and is pure white. The round garden adjoining it is a beauty. Indeed a beautiful day spent in admiring the Rashtrapati bhawan and it's environment.

Endowment lecture at South Indian History Congress and Pichavaram.

 

I was invited by South Indian History Congress, on 31^st January, 2020.to deliver the   Endowment Lecture: Prof. Peddarapu Chenna Reddy & Dr. Subhashiniin the  40^th Session being held at the University of AnnaMalai. My endowment kecture was on, ,  Rethinking Women’s history and women in the margins.  It was such a great joy to see my earlier studetn of the 1990's now a Professor in the department of History. After the  address we  found time to go to Pichavaram Mangrove near Chidambaram along with two of my students Jeevanandam and Rizwan. Spread over one thousand one hundred kilo meters this mangrove joing the Bay of Bengal and has a large variety of flaura and fauna. This is regarded as one of the largest forest mangroves along with Sunderban. One could see few species of birds too. Many films are shot in these mangroves. It is a beautiful experience, boating under the mangroves, ducking your head often to avoid hitting it with the overgrowth and the thick sticks growing downwards, the cool breeze blowing into your face and the vast and enormous panoramic view of the sea. We found a very interesting boatman who gave us a lot of history of the place and told us about the films being shot here.

The British Library

My, My !!! The pleasures of being in London. Just being able to work in the British Library is every thing one could ask for. When, I was in Maulana Azad National Urdu University, MANNU, we were working on a Project on Madarsa education and in the State Central Library we came across some reference to memoirs of a Miss Wyld. She had come to start the girls school in Hyderabad. I had desperately searched for this, down the years in many libraries but never found it. Sitting with a friend at Birkbeck, I just mentioned this and she opened the mobile phone and looked at the catelog and reserved this for me. I was not sure but the second day, I went at 9.30,I was told that, I will get this at quarter to twelve and lo they handed me a box with about 450 documents and said, I was to go and sit at the tables with yellow signs. This meant, this was precious and I could not take photographs but notes I could take, and never leave this material unattended and had to hand it back to the desk, even if I left for few minutes. They in turn kept my Library card with them. The green desks meant you can take pictures through your mobile. I looked at the box with amazement and in front of me were typed papers in a much faded yellow colour. Miss Wyld had come to Hyderabad in 1909, having to run a girl's school which had started in 1907.She found that except for the building nothing existed and this is an excellent memoirs of hers on her difficulties, an unmarried women, the issues she faced in an alien country and its culture, climate, language and how difficult it was to make sense of many practices. But she loved the school, she adopted it and ran her school efficiently starting with four students to increasing this to 100 with in a span of a short time. She talks of festivals, fairs, transport, disease, health, schooling, purdah, nautch, life of a woman,floods in Musi, coronation of the Nizam and many more incidents. There were 42 Chapters and I could read only half of this. This memoir was written when Wyld became blind at ninety and learnt to touch type. It is an amazing account of her recollections with such a sharp wit and tendency to note the details and the beginnings of girls education in Hyderabad. I had not carried my lap top on the first day, so I returned back around 1.30,making some notes. Today, I was there at 9.30 with my lap top and did not move till they announced at 4.30, that now all the manuscripts have to be handed over. I could not but help smiling as, I read her account of how when the correspondence became increased in Urdu, she asked the

Government to appoint a Babu. After a month of following it up, she finally got a Babu, after all the paraphernalia of maintaining Purdah and seeing that he does not come in contact with any Muslim girl or women. She asked him what his name was and what he had studied. He said very proudly that he was BA Fail and she said, she was so sorry that he had failed and hoped he would pass soon or next year. She found that the Babu was very offended and it was only later that she understood how great an achievement this was and some thing of an accomplishment that he was distinguished enough to have had at least given the exam. There were so many other incidences talked about and I must have looked crazy to others for I kept smiling at many places in between as I read the manuscript. This took me into a flight of imagination as to how Hyderabad must have been in 1909.I am so over whelmed with the staff that is so helpful and eager to help.