Pensha

Did this story for the Sunday supplement --- For Dr Malati Shendge, life has been an ongoing intellectual exploration. For almost five decades now, research has been an integral part of this scholar’s life. The city-based Indologist, who has been associated with various academic institutes in India and abroad, is a Ph.D in Buddist Tantrism and now claims to have deciphered the Harappan script. Campus calling “I was sitting in the B J Wadia Library of Fergusson College, poring over my notes, when suddenly the thought came from nowhere. ‘I should do research’!” No wonder the place is special to her. “I did my BA in English Literature in Fergusson College from 1951-55. I had no clue what research meant and how one was supposed to conduct it. I then approached my mentor, Dr Rangdatta Vadekar, Head of Sanskrit Department, for guidance. He suggested that I should conduct research in the Harappan civilisation,” she recalls. Overwhelmed by the advice, she however chose to follow her i...

I came across this story which I did long back for the kids supplement. -- Contrast these images. Crowded Pune, big hoardings, cars, bikes zooming past, cell phones buzzing, malls teeming with life...with a village consisting of just 50 houses, narrow paths winding through jungles and no transportation. Even to visit an ailing relative in another village, one has to walk for one whole day! In this particular instance, the village, we are talking about, is Punyabhumi in Changlang district in Arunachal Pradesh, India’s north-eastern state. YB had an opportunity to meet 15-year-old Birurani Chakma, a student from Arunachal Pradesh, who is in Pune and get to know what life is like in that farflung state. Comparing her village to Pune, 15-year-old Birurani Chakma says, “There is not even 1 per cent of Pune’s traffic in my village. It’s very quiet there. Roads are kaccha and we have to find our way through jungles. The sun sets very early and by 5.30 pm in the evening it’s completely d...