Energetic, Erudite, Encyclopedic Enigma - Attili Padmavathi

 

Padmavathi lost in thoughts!

 

"The present generation depends on Google for information, we depended on the encyclopedic  Mrs R.S.Padmavathi for information."

Last week, I had a very strange experience with which I am still coming to terms. Mrs Padmavathi was very active on Facebook as also Whatsapp. Last Wednesday, I realized that there had been no messages from her since 12 May. I tried calling her but there was no response. Last Sunday, 30 May 2021, the urge to contact her was so strong that I reached out to one of her FB contacts with the same surname through messenger since I did not have an alternate phone number. That contact happened to be her grandson Attili Rajesh, who gave me the sad news. I subsequently reached out to her daughters and I reproduce below their tribute to her.  

 Tribute to a Mother - Mrs. Attili Padmavathi,

                                    Former Librarian,

                                    St. Joseph’s College for Women,

                                    Vishakhapatnam

Padma – how do we even begin to speak about her in the past?

Padma – The journey of a life from a slate/chalk to an iPad and smartphone

Padma - the Energetic, Erudite, Walking Encyclopaedia

The hard-working, loving wife, caring mother with a big, warm heart, generous, and a conscientious colleague - ever ready to help, anyone who crosses her path – attained the Lotus Feet on Sunday, 30 May 2021.

From a humble beginning at Roman Catholic Mission School, Visakha Tutorial College [High School], Mrs. AVN College, Andhra University, she made her way to join the prestigious academic institution, St. Joseph’s College for Women, as Librarian. She took tremendous pride, fierce loyalty and cherished every bit of her working life as a librarian. Being affiliated to a prestigious academic institution for 35 years, she was incredibly proud to be a part of a closely knit family of outstanding colleagues, whom she cherished every moment of her life. 

For her, the world was her stage. She had a vibrant and commanding presence wherever she went and with whomever she interacted, blending effortlessly with acquaintances and strangers alike. She was a perfect companion to talk, share, discuss, debate, and delve into any topic under the sun. She endeared herself to friends, colleagues and family members with her incomparable talent to interact with different age groups.

She had boundless love for photography, nature, books, and the arts, thus pushed herself to engage in creative pursuits.   She had a spirited passion for languages and formally studied Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, and Russian, way back in the 1960s.   She had excellent command over her mother tongue Telugu language as also English. Her enthusiasm to foray into various streams of revolutionary ideals epitomized a newfound willingness to challenge corrupt practices, ritualistic traditions and state ineffectiveness hoping that she could eventually  abolish them. She was passionate about women’s empowerment and economic development,

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she ventured into creative enterprises by translating of a few stage plays. She chose to work on the award-winning Marathi playwright Shri Jaywant Dalvi’s Sandhya Chhaya and another iconic theatre personality, Shri Badal Sircar’s, Juloos. She did some excellent translations, retaining the cultural and language nuances for Telugu audiences. Many literary giants commended her for the careful transliteration of the plays Sandhya Chhaya and Uregimpu, staged by Natya Bharati. This is just one of the many extraordinary trips she undertook, even as she dabbled with work and family responsibilities. She associated herself with Natya Bharati for about three decades and performed in more than 2000 shows. In addition, she provided editing support for Prof Attili Krishna Rao’s several play lets and ideas for the stage arrangements of his theatre performances. 

Her voracious reading and exposure to theatre arts by her husband Prof. Attili Krishna Rao shaped her into an activist. From a very young age, she had the innate desire to be independent and productive.  She shared her thought processes at various public forums. A regular conversation with her was in itself an exercise in awareness-raising, protest, and political comment. She cared deeply about the daily reality of the ordinary people, corruption, discrimination, power politics, struggle, disillusionment, hope, battered idealism, confusion, and questions that all of us go through as we grapple with the everyday problems.

She is truly a larger-than-life personality who has touched so many lives in many spectrum, and her love for Vizag and its people knows no bounds. Everyone has a tale to talk about their experiences interacting with her. An avid reader of The Hindu national newspaper, she developed a passion for touching every subject area with extensive evaluation and assessment, especially the editorial columns, among many other newspapers and magazines. And the exciting part is she loved sharing the same with one and all. She was the go-to person for every topic, be it quiz or debates or essay writing and research.

Having a particular deep concern and passion for the well-being of elderly persons, she voluntarily donated essentials to old-age homes and orphanages regularly. Her continued donations for several welfare initiatives for the underprivileged have substantially impacted several families. Her well-accomplished children include son, Sudhakar Rao, IPS Officer, and daughters Madhavi, Director of Parinaama Development Foundation, Sangeetha, Founder Director Zoelle Events, and Samatha, Senior Policy Officer, Department of Home Affairs, Government of Australia.

Samatha  Madhavi Padmavathi

 Looking forward, may we always remember her for her compassion, kindness, the warmth she exuded with every interaction.

To paraphrase the words of Robert Frost:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

And SHE took the one less travelled by

And that has made all the difference.

 

రమ్యమైన రమణీ The Beautiful Ramani

Transcript of Personal Felicitation  by Dr.Suguna Kannan

Nearly twenty years ago, when a lecturer retired, I cannot recollect who it was now but I vividly remember that we had all gathered in G6, Ms Ramani Dhanraj delivered the Felicitation address as she always did since she was a talented Wordsmith and poetess. Afterwards, we were having lunch and teasing each other about what she would write for each one of us when we retire. At that time, I remember her saying, “Who will write when I retire?” I promised her then that I would come back to talk on the occasion though I do not have her skills of language or poetry. Unfortunately, I am unable to do it personally but hope this message will be read out to express the depth of my feelings for her and her service to the College. 

“To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind.”
― Pearl S. Buck

Who can be more beautiful than Ramani, who served the College and all the stakeholders with a whole heart, filled with joy and a free mind? Her parents were indeed uncannily foresighted…. for what name will suit her better than Ramani meaning “beautiful”.

రమైయమైన రమణి

రమ్యం తన మట్టాలు

రమ్యం తన నడవడిక

రమ్యం తన నవ్వు

రమ్యం తన స్నేహభావము

రమ్యం తన ఔదార్యము

రమ్యం తన సంగీతం

రమ్యం తన కళాశాలకు అంకితభావం

మొత్తంమీద రమణి రమైయమైన ఒక సృష్టి

రమైయమైన రమణి!

 I call her ‘Rum” since she was and is a truly exhilarating person to be around. When I

think of Ms Ramani Dhanaraj, there are five aspects of her which make her special to me.

• ·         She has not lost connect with the child in her so you find her bubbly, full of enthusiasm,  enjoying every experience that life throws at her whether it be delivering a lecture to an august gathering or playing with a colleague’s children or grandchildren. She is very comfortable with everyone no matter what their age or status, what language they speak, whether they are conservative or modern, and equally at ease with all topics under the sun. Her peals of laughter are so infectious and irresistible that even the grumpiest individual who comes in contact with her cannot remain grumpy for long. Those of you, who have seen the movie Sound of Music, will agree with me that she is exactly like Maria portrayed by the incomparable Julie Andrews “How do you find a word that means Ramani? A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the-wisp! A clown!.”  Wherever she goes, she makes a friend who will never forget her and who will be ever willing to oblige her. She has used this trait to help the College on several occasions.
• ·         She hails from a devout Catholic family and she is very dedicated to the church. She is truly Christian in her behaviour and personality but at the same time, she is very secular since she respects other religions. Unlike many Christian friends, I have and I have many, she makes it a point to visit temples wherever she travels with the same devotion as when visiting churches.  Being trained in Carnatic music, she sings Thyagaraja and other kritis or keertanas with the same devotion that she exhibits while singing hymns or participating in choir music.

·                       Her commitment to College is total and without limits. To her, College was a second home. Her devotion and dedication to students were unrivalled. I know of many students for whom she was an emotional mother. She gave 100% support to her little brood of Office Management girls worked for them without reserve but all the students of the College were hers too and she would never hesitate to discipline them or defend them as the situation may require.

       Her relation with the management was very special since she was a Catholic and she was skilful and talented. She has worked with three Principals, starting with Sr. Alice Marie. She drove every one of them up the tree with her proficiency as well as her procrastination. I particularly remember them tearing up their hair and going up like a volcano because she had not submitted a report and beaming the next moment, happy and satisfied with the perfectly perfect report that she had submitted. She was extremely knowledgeable, computer savvy, a wizard with words and language but slow as a snail until the mood hit her and then what she produced was out of this World. She exasperated them but her expertise and public relation skills were invaluable to the College.

         She was a wonderful teammate and extended her cooperation to all of St. Joseph’s family be it members of the Faculty or Office staff or supporting staff.

• ·         As a friend, she was par excellent. No one who goes to her for help, returns empty-handed, whether it be her students, her colleagues or the Bosses. 

           Thiruvalluvar ‘s quote can be used to describe her role as a friend. He said
                    

                     ” udukkai izhandhavan kaipoala aangae,
                       idukkan kalaivadhaam natpu”                                         meaning
           A friend comes to rescue at the right time(without being asked) just as a person’s                hand reflexively comes to the rescue of the person whose  dress is falling off his/her              body, 

Many may recall Ms Ramani Dhanaraj helping us even without us asking for her help. She respected family relationships and would unfailingly address elders by the use of terms like Anna, Mama, Akka and so on.

•  I used to and still do envy her long plait and the way she was always impeccably dressed. As all of you know, dressing well has never been my strength. I have always been self-conscious about my complexion, my fatness etc so never bothered. Ms Ramani Dhanaraj on the other hand never let her complexion or her thinness inhibit her.  She always dressed to the T as they say ……I think it was my inadequacy that used to make me ask her to tone down her dressing.

I can go on and on about this lovely girl, who was the life and spirit of SJCW as no one else could be but I will conclude by using the words of Amy Tenney,

"The world needs strong women,

  who will lift and build others,

  who will love and be loved.

  who live bravely, both tender and fierce.

  Women of indomitable will."

Ms Ramani Dhanaraj is one such! I wish her all the contentment and happiness, she deserves, as she starts out on the next phase of her life, continuing to serve the Society in her impeccable style.

Prestigious Honour For Hindi Department

"Dr. P.K. Jayalakshmi, Head of Hindi Department of St. Joseph’s College for Women has been appointed as Visiting Professor at the University of Sofia, Bulgaria by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India for two academic years. She has been a teacher for the past 23 years and has published six books and delivered many lectures on her subject." - The Hindu 10.12.12

All the Josephines join in congratulating her and wishing her all the best! May God bless her with success and bring more laurels to her, the College and the Nation!

Are Modern Woman as Much a Slave as were Her Predecessors ?

Recently the engagement of a close friend’s son was broken much to our surprise since the couple seemed to be well matched – both being software engineers and educated in the same type of social milieu. It emerged that the boy had objected to his fiancé going out with her friends (male) to the beach and told her that she should go out only with her family members or girl friends. The bride was offended and called off the wedding in spite of protests by her family members. This piquant situation raised as expected many eyebrows but it also threw up several questions.
Why did the boy – ostensibly a modern one - react in such an archaic fashion?
Was the girl too hasty in her reaction? How is it that similar backgrounds resulted in such dissimilar thinking in the boy and the girl? And so on…
What was very interesting to me is that most of the older people (both friends and relatives) and not so old also supported the boy and found fault with the girl.
It appears to me that all the freedom that we desire for our women is only a superficial one. Educationally we want them to reach the heights; professionally we want them to break the glass ceilings (while ensuring that they do not surpass their husbands); economically they should contribute significantly to the family kitty.  So far so good but………… no further! Socially and at personal levels they should be self-effacing and emotionally mature enough only to say to her partner, “Yes your Royal Highness! Your will is my first command”. 

There can be no doubt that the modern woman is as much a slave to the modern man as were her predecessors. What Mahakavi Subramania Bharathiyar said in the 19^th century holds good even now in the 21st century, two hundred years later.
   “I am quite aware that we still retain something of the old idea that the mother must be looked upon as a goddess by her children…… But every woman is a wife before she is a mother; and the position of the wife, with us, is that of a petted slave-more slave than pet; she must not even speak to strangers; in the North she is not supposed to see men, except the prescribed ones…..The root evil is the idea that has almost become instinctive among our men-folk that a woman enlightened and liberated who can face the world boldly and treat all as her equals cannot remain chaste.”  



I do not blame the boy who behaved as he did – he is only a victim of the social system that perpetuates the inequality between men and women. This mind set is also responsible for the increase in the incidence of rapes in various parts of our country. As long as women continue to be treated as commodities and possessions of men to glorify their status, the dreams of reformers like Gurjada Apparao, Raja Ramamohan Roy and others will only be on paper to be used to pat ourselves about the empowerment of women while in reality women continue to be slaves to the whims of a man and his relatives.  

PS - I do not deny the existence of Supportive husbands but they constitute a very small minority and do deserve the appreciation and salute of the women folk.

Tamarind Canopy at Crossroads

Having been away from the St. Joseph's College campus for more than two years after my superannuation, I am wondering what direction this blog should take. It is difficult for me to maintain contact with the latest developments of  the college and report on it. Nor do I want to move away from the original objective of using this blog as a connecting/meeting point for Josephines to interact, reminisce, share whatever is happening in their lives,  help their juniors by sharing their experiences in professional and personal life, ask questions for which answers are not readily available in spite of the World Wide Web and so on. I will use it to record random thoughts, ideas and suggestions of purely academic nature but hope the Josephines will contribute through the comments column of this blog to give a direction to this blog so that its original objective is achieved and i ma also kept busy trying to help the younger generation in whatever way I can.

Homescience - Need for a New Approach

What is Homescience? It is a multifaceted discipline comprising human development, Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics, Textiles and Clothing, Family Resource Management and Extension Education as well as subjects in related areas like physiology, biochemistry, sociology and others - all of which contribute towards enhancing the quality of life by optimizing the use of basic resources namely food, clothing and shelter. Though homemaking may be an ancient skill that may be imbibed by word of mouth, the increasing pressures of industrialization, urbanization and globalisation have disrupted the social fabric of family life thus affecting experiential learning of homemaking as in the past. With the breakup of the joint family system and dispersal of nuclear families, the traditional family life is slowly disappearing as is familial interactions with consequent learning experiences.  The discipline of Homescience therefore assumes greater importance during the 21^st century since it helps individuals and families to develop a sound philosophy with sustaining values.

Unfortunately in the public mind the stigma of “cooking and stitching” could not be removed and that is partly responsible for the decreasing admission into the Homescience faculty. It is this stigma, which makes the society, look at it with suspicion as a bid to use domesticity as a shackle on women’s opportunities. Many feminists denigrated this course and targeted it as an attempt to keep the women in the kitchen. Although dissenters have described Homescience as a “female ghetto”, the concerns of the homescientists were never confined to the home. They were always in the forefront of any community development program like the Tamilnadu Noon Meal Program, AP DWCRA movement and others.

At present there is a great and increasing need for Home scientists not only in the employment market but also in the area of self-employment since the young professionals from other fields are increasingly drawn into career concerns with little time for homemaking and family related activities.  Some of the areas in which home scientists can help by providing service and support include –

Ø      Development of new strategies to face the challenges of homemaking in the 21^st century.

Ø      Extension of these strategies to women and men struggling between the pressures of career and home in order to reduce their stress.

Ø      Care of the daily routine of running a home through agencies providing housekeeping assistance

Ø      Care of children either through counseling, setting up and running care centers for children of different age groups

Ø      Care of old, sick and other vulnerable groups

Ø      Dietary counseling and management of nutrition requirements of healthy and unwell people.

Ø      Guide educational and social development of children and others in the family.

Intervention in all the areas mentioned above and more can easily be accomplished by the Homescience graduates can step in and provide goods and services while in the process providing employment to others.

Strategies for Popularizing Home science:

Ø      Increase awareness about the course among the public

Ø      Offer the course in modules as Nutrition, Textile Designing and so on.

Ø      Provide expertise for starting entrepreneurial ventures.

Family is the unit of a society and if it is neglected in the rat race for materialism society will be decimated. It is only the faculty of Homescience, which can protect and preserve the harmony and happiness of the family.

Welcome to St. Joseph's College for Women, Visakhapatnam

As you step into St. Joseph’s College for Women, Visakhapatnam, you will be experiencing a variety of feelings.

Some of you may be awed by the tall buildings and the aura of history it seems to exude while some of you may be disgusted by the dust and degree of pollution that surrounds it.

Some of you may have come here willingly while others may have been forced by your parents to join this college.

Some of you may have studied in this school and may have automatically moved into the college out of habit not willing to leave the premises that you are so used to from childhood.

Some of you may have had dreams of going to a co-educational college where you could make friends with boys and here you are cloistered in a women’s college so you may be disappointed.

Some of you may have dreamed of becoming doctors or engineers but have had to settle for this as second best.

Some of you coming from smaller towns may have joined the college with dreams of achieving great freedom here away from the strict eyes of your parents.

Whatever your motive, remember that at the end of three years or five years if you continue here for PG, St. Joseph’s can become a home away from away as it has been to thousands of alumni who look back on their days in this premier institution with a lot of nostalgia and happiness. The college can contribute to your growth if you allow it to. Whether you benefit from this college or are belittled by it depends on YOU.

Do your best to embrace the culture of this college and you will reap rich harvest by way of success, achievements and fame!