About Smokey Pande

Yesterday our dog Smokey Pande died.The children are inconsolable.He was a street dog that was hurt very badly and was nursed back by Suresh and  my children.He refused to leave the house after this.I did not allow him inside but he stayed in the verandah.He was with us for nearly eight to nine years and was getting old.When ever Bittu , Tarun or Varun would come back from abroad there would be a gift for him in the form of a shampoo, soap or collar . When Tarun came back from China he told me Smokey is looking weak and I said that I was feeding him.He then told me you need to also talk to him with love affection which you never do and spend time with him. I really do not know if this is true but Smokey became healthy after Tarun shifted to Hyderabad. During the eighth navaratri on 1st October he just disappeared and we could not trace him for 

the last three days and we kept searching.Finally the watchman came and told he was dead since few days in the open space behind the colony.As soon as my car would turn in the colony he would come running and I was so afraid he will come under the car. Though I am not such a great dog lover like my husband and children it was difficult not to like Smokey.Now I can understand why people love dogs.They just give you all the love and affection with out expecting any thing in return.

Who is a teacher?

 My students are going to love this.

News Paper Coverage of 12th Women's World Congress

 The University of Hyderabad is hosting 12th International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women from August 17-22, 2014.  This is the first time that this Congress is being held in India and the University had won the bid in 2010. The theme of the Congress is “Gender in a changing world”. About 850 panels and abstracts have been brought in from Brazil, USA, UK, France, Germany, Korea, Nepal, Bangladesh, Canada, Israel and across the county on varied themes such as gender and culture, gender and history, gender and management, violence, digital divide, globalisation, women and work and gender and law. Workshops will be held on topics like trafficking of women, new reproductive technologies, role of education in empowerment of women, feminist research and empowerment of women and the Women’s World Congress –impacts and lessons learnt during the last 33 years of its history. Esther Eillam, from ‘The Hebrew University in Jerusalem’ is the oldest participant at 75 and who has not missed a single congress till now. The scholars will share their research, learn some new approaches, hear about others' experiences and pass on their knowledge and experience on to others. Government officials and policy makers will learn about the best practices, policy frameworks from across the globe; network with other policy makers and NGOs working in the field of supporting and enhancing gender (the mission). NGOs will network with other international NGOs, get through possible donors and colleagues from around the world and share achievements and strategies with others. Students will get to meet fellow students around the world, learn about how gender issues are dealt with across the world and how to make a contribution. Company representatives will get a chance to learn more about the importance of permanent education in achieving the high performances of their organisation, meet other colleagues, exchange ideas and establish new connections and partnerships. The congress will provide unlimited resources and opportunities to interact with prominent leaders in the field of leadership and women studies and greatly expand global network of scholars and professionals.

This congress was well covered by the localnewspapers .

My student Ashita

On 21 st June, 2014 evening my Ph.d student  Ashita invited me and Suresh for dinner.We all celebrated three happy events and had a lovely evening together.Ashita got married, her husband an old student of our University has joined our University as a faculty in regional studies and soon Ashita will be submitting her Ph.d.

About Birthdays:

On 6th June, I celebrated my birthday. I would like to thank my children, students, friends, relatives for making my birthday a very special one. Today due to face book, Google, Linked in  and the different kinds of networks that we have I had so many people wishing me a Happy birthday that I am very touched. The celebrations started at midnight when my son and daughter in law and my younger son called from the US and wished me a happy birthday at 12.00 mid night. I was woken from my sleep and told them could you not wait till morning. Why did you have to disturb my sleep. At this age who wants to get up at mid night . But the sad part was they told my other son to wait for their call and they will connect him and they will all wish me together at midnight. In their excitement of wishing me they completely forgot what instructions they had given him. So Maryland, Bridgeport got connected but my son in Delhi stayed awake till 1.00 at night. When I told him he could have called me he said he was not sure if I would get up at this hour to answer him. Then I got a call from a friend Manjeet  in Japan, then Aneeta rang up from US and she makes it a point to sing the Happy birthday song in full over the phone. She has such a lovely voice that one would want to keep hearing her sing for ever. The whole day I had so many calls from friends, Jayant, Neeru, Chavi, Renu,Heramb   and students who I thought would not remember me.

Birth days were so much fun in school especially till your primary school and I always regretted it that my birthday would come in summer holidays, when the school would be closed. On the day of the birthday the birthday girl would wear a civil dress. She would be called in front of the assembly and the whole school would sing a birthday song for her. She would then distribute sweets, toffees or chocolates to the class and go around to different teachers giving them sweets. She would have two or three friend who would hang around with her throughout the day making her feel very important. At that age one did not even think much of the fact that these friends would then hang out with another birthday girl the next day. I like to think that almost every child loves celebrating their birthday at school. They enjoy bringing treats to class, handing them out to their classmates and taking “extras” to the other teachers. Their teacher would make them  a paper crown or give a small gift and make every one in the class sing  happy birthday and somehow they always manage to be the “class leader” for the day. Indeed, it is a very special day for them. So today as I got so many wishes , I went down my archives a picked out few photos

With Mother Teresa and others

When I was a student of the Undergraduate at Allahabad University the ,   Gandhi Bhawan had organised a n International Essay Competition. I won this and got a gold medal. This was given by mother Teresa and after this I got to spend three days with Mother Teresa. This was before she had received the noble prize. From Allahabad , in a car I traveled with Mother Teresa to Lucknow, Kanpur, Benares. The  Principal and  a Father from San Joseph some Father John Dsouza also accompanied us. I was very much touched by Mother Teresa and her concern for people. In our journey we visited many orphanages, schools, homes and in between in an orphanage  a couple was married and blessed by mother Teresa. We spent a lot of time chatting in the car and mother Teresa wrote on my scrap book her address and asked me to come to Calcutta.Those days photographs were so precious that I only have the ones which were published in different magazines and news papers.   I published an article in the daily Newspaper, Northern India Patrika on my trip with mother Teresa. She touched me so much that I came home and told my mother that I wanted to go and join her. Meeting her will always stand in my mind though later on in life I interacted with many other celebrities like Tony Blaire, Magret Alwa and Amol Palekar. Tony  Blaire and his wife came to   Hyderabad and wanted to meet some feminists  and we all met them amidst a lot of drama concerning security.  But  my prized moment was when I met my teenage Idol Amol Palekar in Poona for a seminar and could chat with him one a one to one basis.

 

Salzburg, Austria

Salzburg is famous for two things, the house of Mozrat and the Julie Andrews film, Sound of Music, the well known film of 1965 on the life of the Von Trapp singing family, Thousands of tourists visit this beautiful place surrounded by green valleys and snow covered mountains. The city is selling the Sound of Music in a big way and there are various tours organised to take you to places where the film is shot. Everyone tries to take a shot in the grden where Do re me was shot or I am 16 going on 17 or these are a few of my beautiful things. The hotels also show the film Sound of Music and if one stays in Salzburg there are weekly tours organised in the outskirts where the other scenes of the film were shot. Some of the famous locations include,
• Mirabell Gardens and Pegasus Fountain (dancing scene with Maria and the children)
• Leopoldskron Palace ( The residence of the family in the film)
• Hellbrunn Palace (I am 16 going on 17 song scenes)
• Nonnberg Convent (where Maria lived as a young novice)
• St. Gilgen / Wolfgangsee (opening scene in the movie)
• Mondsee Church ( Julia’s wedding scene )