Madras Univerrity

Gave two lectures in the Refresher Course organised by the Department of History, Madras University. Since the course was on Trends in the writing of history, I spoke about the historiography of the Bhakti movement in the first lecture and writing of Women's history in the second. I really enjoyed this webinar because all the participants had their videos switched on and I could address the group of participants from different Colleges and Universities in India face to face. In many of the webinars due  to unstable internet and other issues the participants are asked to mute themselves and their video is not visible and I speak to a screen but here I was addressing a group of teachers from India and they were paying attention to what I was speaking. The discussions at the end were also very fruitful.Congratulations to the University of Madras for this and the internet is stable here. Yes, the online technology is now developing fast and the internet is also becoming stable in many parts of the country. A welcome development indeed. 

lagan Patrika Celebration of Pavthra

 Today evening, along with my  Colleague Rajesh and our student Rizwan Ahmad , I attended the Lagan Patrika ceremony of my Ph. D. student Pavithra. This ceremony is before the wedding and is the day when the marriage invitation is  written and the first copy is offered to the Gods, the Kuldevta seeking the blessings for a new beginning. It was after ages that this occasion gave me an opportunity to dress up and go out of the home and interact with the world outside. It is really sad to see the new normal, women dressed in all their finery and South Indian silk sarees and wearing a mask, which all of us did and only removed it for the photo session. It gives me a great pride in seeing Pavithra now settle in life. She has been with me since her MA days. After her M. Phil she joined the Ph. D under me. Few days back her Ph. D has been submitted online and she has got a job and joined the  Telangana government. I have seen her grow and become more confident in front of me. I wish her all the happiness and best wishes for a new beginning in life.

ligarh Muslim University

 Two lectures were delivered by me in the refresher course on Gender organised by the Aligarh Muslim University on the themes of Gender violence on the first day and the impact of covid 19 on Gender. It was nice to interact with the participants who were teachers from different Universities and Colleges and they shared their experiences and difficulties with online teaching and the difficulties they had with the students who were not connected. Whether we like it or not, the reality is this pandemic has created an economic and gender divide and God knows when it will be bridged.

Lady Shri Ram College for Women,

 A symposium on 5th November, 2020,  at Lady Shri Ram College for Women,   Department of History, University of Delhi on the theme, Married to Gods: The Devadasi Tradition in India. 

Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh

 A National Symposium at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh on, Working Women's issues.It was a really wonderful and interesting interaction with Prof. Ipshita Bansal and myself as two academicians, Vimla Mehra a very senior  IPS office who was an IG and Dr. Ahluwalia, Stuti Kackar Ashima Singh from the  IAS .Many of these women had headed many positions. These  officers  brought in a lot of experience from the field with regards to women and work issues. Thanks Dr. Khan and Faiza Abbasi for inviting me to this symposium. I could connect to old friends. I was very happy to see Ashima Singh who has been the Director in the Railways there.  Ashima and I are friends and we were neighbours and as students in the 1970's we would roam around in our cycles  discussing and debating on every thing under the sky, thinking  about what future had in store for us. Today we were discussing in a formal setting and I felt very nostalgic.

TAFFD interview

TAFFD is conducting an interview with me. TAFFD, a magazine in the USA has selected me  from among the few who are shortlisted around the world for the award of a Certificate of excellence. After few rounds of interview with the  US group, this interview was conducted by Dr. Mehzabeen Sadriwala from Saudi Arabia. Though the award is not yet announce, I would like to share this interview about my life with my family, friends and students.  It was great going back into a review of my life and work

New book, Gender and Globalization

 Today morning, I received a copy of the book, Gender and Globalization edited by myself, Sita Vanka and Jeevanandam. It took us six long years, mails being sent up and down to authors, lots of corrections and the lockdowns and the Carona virus, closing the press.Finally this book in the series of the Women's World Congress, has seen the light of the day. Doing an edited book is not an easy task and every time, I tell myself this is my last one for it is easier to write my own book than dealing with a multitude of authors. Many authors never respond to mails on time, carry out the revisions in a timely fashion and one has to deal with many issues.  Finally, all this is behind me and I am happy to see the book in my hand. I keep telling my students that holding my own book in my hands is akin to the thrill and excitement of holding my new born child for the first time in my hands. Indeed a great feeling.