Travelling across India conducting workshops on combating gender-based violence we reached Chennai on the 21st of September.
The sessions on standing up for what’s right and combating violence against women have had us travel extensively across different state universities in India. After successfully conducting sessions with the youth from Maharashtra (Pune), Uttar Pradesh (Kanpur & Prayagraj), Bihar (Purnea), West Bengal (Kolkatta) and Boko (Assam) we reached Chennai on 21st September. A beautiful sculpture of Devi Ma welcomed us at the airport and the resolve to visit Kanchipuram Shaktipeeth to offer our gratitude to her for being able to do this work became stronger.
My gratitude also for the opportunity to both JOSH TALKS and TVS Radar, for conducting these sessions. Vanshika (Interning with JOSH TALKS ) continues to manage and coordinate with the colleges ensuring all goes smoothly. She also adds the much-needed perspective of a student (of sociology) herself which further connects with the audience we are addressing.
The SRM UNIVERSITY has a large campus that can qualify as a small town itself. It houses Asia’s largest library and offers all undergraduate and post-graduate courses barring marine engineering and Veterinarian sciences, as I was informed by the dean of Management Studies, Dr Subhashree Natrajan.
Interaction with the faculty before the actual session always orients us to the cultural and regional nuances that the students are exposed to. The students are conservative here, the dean apprised me. But violence and discrimination are rampant. While the campus itself is safe, I was told of an incident that happened on the campus by an outsider who beat up a girl! The student had not complained as it was something she had, alarming, grown to accept. While other cities across Tamil Nadu also experience gender-based violence, Coimbatore, in particular, is notorious on this front, shared the dean.
The session was attended by 300 plus students including both girls and boys. I realised soon enough what the Dean had prepared me for, the students were indeed shy. However, while they were distracted, to begin with, the faculty including Dr Sriram M stood testimony to the rapt attention and pin drop silence throughout the 90-minute session. Dr Sriram over lunch (at the hotel management wing) later, vouched to include gender sensitivity in his teaching or at least orient it such that the students felt comfortable to confide in the faculty with any issues relating to the same.
The sun is definitely harsh in the afternoon in Chennai, but that didn’t dampen our spirits to visit Kanchipuram after the session. Vanshika (A young student intern with Josh Talks) and I tried booking a cab through the app and realised soon enough that most cabbies solicit passengers using the app but negotiate later for a higher price and cash payment. This seemed to be an unwritten norm given the huge transaction fees the apps charged and the high diesel prices as explained by our cabbie en route to Kanchipuram, Kamakshi ShaktiPeeth.
The Shaktipeeth are 51 places across the country where different parts of Devi Ma’s energies are revered as the mother and creator of the universe. Given our 3rd consecutive visit to her Shaktipeeth, we are blessed in gratitude for her to choose us for this work to make for a safe and peaceful world for all.
If you would like to have us conduct this 90-minute session in your college or company just drop us a mail with the details of the institution and the prefered dates at suparnaa@simplysuparnaa.com.
Links for further study
To read about the Prayagraj Chapter click here>>
To read about Assam Chapter click here>>
To read about Kolkatta Chapter click here>>
To read about the Kanpur Chapter click here>>
To read about the Purnea, Bihar Chapter click here>>
To read about the Pune experience click here>>
To know more about the online session experience read here >>
PS: if you stand for what is right – team SABERA (Annual Awards and Summit by the Simply Suparnaa © Media Network) jury is looking for you Register here>>
