Past EventsKolkata

The Ladies Study Group had its change of guard at the Annual General Meeting on 18th May 2022. President, Mrs Sumita Roy's* completed her impressive term and handed over the baton to incoming President, Mrs Sucheta Merh and Vice President, Mrs Bhawna Agarwal.

It was an afternoon to reinforce legacy that Ladies Study Group holds dearly within its auspices over several decades since it’s inception way back in the 60s to give a platform to the women of Kolkata a place to be heard and seen in their own capacity.

Mrs Sumita Roy the outgoing president spoke about the afternoon’s talk with Mr Jawahar Sircar.

“I am happy to conclude my tenure with the topic of our civilization, which is both ancient and unique. This vast country got united partly by the narratives of the 2 epics, the Trading groups and the Holy rivers. The well researched views and thoughts shared by Jawhar SIrcar made us feel proud of our Indian heritage.”

Mrs Sucheta Mehr, the incoming President, in her speech encouraged the members to renew themselves and create a fresh synergy amongst themselves. - “After the unsure times we have gone through let us Enlighten emerge and engage ourselves”. She inspired the ladies by creating the theme for her promising term - Enlighten, emerge and engage.

The Ladies Study Group AGM is a looked forward to event with many stalwarts of the club gathering together to celebrate the new order and fresh beginnings of another illustrious year led by president Sucheta Merh and her vibrant team.

According to Mr Jawhar Sircar, Rajya Sabha MP and former CEO of Prasar Bharti, trade, spirituality and co-dependence have connected India intrinsically for centuries; way before we won our Independence from the British rule. LSG Past President, Mrs Mukul Agarwal, who is also a Founder Trustee of Calcutta Heritage Collective, moderated his talk.

Outgoing President, Mrs Sumita Roy said, “I am happy to conclude my tenure with a talk on our civilization, which is both ancient and unique. We were reminded today how our vast country has remained united by the narratives of our two epics, the trading groups and the holy rivers."

While taking over the helm, incoming President, Mrs Sucheta Merh, encouraged the members to create a fresh synergy.“Let us - Enlighten, Emerge and Engage ourselves”, she said, when sharing the theme for her forthcoming term.

For LSG members, this was an occasion to reinforce the legacy of the past, celebrate another illustrious term just completed and look ahead to fresh beginnings.

Mr Sircar believes that “success of India is based on a history of management of contradictions, which has held together 1400 diverse ethnic groups. It's a story of coordination, amalgamation and a voluntary union of these maddeningly impossible ethnic differences”. - Mr Jawhar Sircar

The heart to heart conversation between Barkha Dutt, Television journalist, author and owner of YouTube Channel Mojo Story and LSG’s Past President, Diya Jaiswal on her newly released book “Humans of Covid To Hell and Back” was in parts eye opening, informative and also heart wrenching!

Instead of the firebrand journalist we met a mellowed emotional citizen of India who had traversed the entire nation during the pandemic and was moved by the plight of ordinary Indians beyond measure. We came face to face with a daughter who had lost her father to the virus, struggling to cope with the loss still, yet living in hope for herself and for her nation. The journey from the story teller to being the story herself was indeed poignant. Barkha spoke about her struggle through these recent years with personal loss as well as as a chronicler of the extreme tragedy faced by so many people. Her mission to record as many stories not just of loss but of so many incidents of exemplary courage and help from all walks of life, touched a chord of one and all.

As expected, stand up comedian Anuvab Pal's The Nation Wants to Know exclusive show for Ladies Study Group members, was a very happy and roaring success! Though there definitely were more giggles than roars! Arguably one of India's most intelligent comedian, Anuvab had his audience either in splits or else trying hard not to laugh out loud at his perfect caricatures of their own community eccentricities. Accents, pretensions, mannerisms, naivity and of course he himself, were all the butt of his ribbing or satire. He didn't even spare his mother - an LSG member, sitting bravely in the audience!

For the Ladies Study Group members, it was indeed the best way to come out of the pandemic years and have a wonderful afternoon in the company of friends. An activity they had missed so dearly.

"Mums are the best chefs in the world ......" believes Chef Clement D Cruz. He and Chef Kausik Kumar Saha tried to showcase their culinary journey, their passion for food and the belief in using local produce to create delightful dishes. The IIHM house of hospitality natures the young aspirants and helps them fulfill their dreams.

The short demos by the chefs were informative, focusing on useful tips and interesting ingredients. IIHM's tagline - locally meets globally - aims to keep India in the world map of cuisine.

A rich, lavish spread for the guests, all prepared and served by the student chefs, was a sumptuous way to close the event.

The LSG members' 5th March visit to the old Governor General's house at Barrackpore, was a wonderful experience in learning about our rich colonial past. It was an honour to be welcomed in the newly renovated, stately Ball Room Hall of Lord RC Wellesley, former Governor General of Bengal. The almost 350 acres Barrackpore Park, as it was known in those days, was a vibrant weekend country retreat by the river Hooghly of the Governor General and later the Viceroys and other British administrators till the last years of British rule.

Dr Monabi Mitra, Associate Professor of English, Scotish Church College, and a passionate conservationist with a keen appreciation of heritage and restoration, introduced us to the historic significance of Barrackpore in the 18th and 19th centuries. She also spoke about her experience during the restoration process.

We visited the museum and walked around the what is now the Swami Vivekananda State Police Academy campus with its centuries old banyan tree and lush landscaped gardens, park land, the English styled Lady Harding bridge over a stream and visited Lady Canning's tomb overseen by Lord Canning's statue.

Looking back 200 years into our rich and complex history was an experience that we will cherish for a long time.

Members and guests of Ladies Study Group watched the spectacular son-et-lumiere show of Victoria Memorial Hall on 8th February, 2022. On the lawns here, under a moonlit night, the projection on the majestic monument's facade, brought to life Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's fight for the country's independence and the story of India's freedom struggle. All new cutting edge technology has brilliantly showcased a part of India's history and for us it has been an experience to cherish.

The Ladies Study Group book club called The Dancing Words, was launched in 2016 and currently has almost 150 members. This year The Dancing Words was nominated as one of the top five book clubs in the country at the 4th India Reading Olympiad by the Food 4 Thought Foundation, Hyderabad.

The Dancing Words has helped our members recapture their enjoyment of reading. Additionally, enriching monthly discussion sessions have connected women through shared perspectives, often reflecting different points in the spectrum. Throughout the pandemic, our lively virtual sessions were graced by numerous authors like Anindita Ghosh, Farah Bashir, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Alka Joshi, Supriya Newar, Saumya Dave and others. Many of our members stepped up to moderate these sessions and engage with the visiting authors.

The diversity in the books we select is evident from some of the titles we read recently, like Rumours of Spring, A Childhood in Kashmir by Farah Bashir, The Illuminated by Anindita Ghose, The Last Queen by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer and Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, to name a few.

The Dancing Words has created a special space for women to read, discuss, learn, bond and grow together.

Coming Soon.

Dr Shohini Ghose, a quantum physicist, Director, Laurier Centre for Women in Science, Canada, spoke about the invisibility of women in physics and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects. She pointed out how biases and preconceived notions are ingrained in people’s mind; how parents worldwide (studies have confirmed this) do not encourage the girl child to study STEM subjects and how seniors (parents, teachers, bosses) tend to explain more and give more time to the male child/student/colleague than to the female. As examples she mentioned Vera Rubens, who discovered the existence of dark matter; Bibha Chowdhury, who discovered Mezon (miraculous cure for acid reflux and ulcers) and Cecilia Payne, an astrophysicist, who discovered that stars are made mainly of hydrogen and helium. They are pioneers but are not known outside their own sphere of work - invisible themselves, though their discoveries are highly commendable.

This interactive session was truly thought provoking as well as an eye opener.

“I was often the only woman in my class and sometimes the professor wouldn’t even notice that I was in the classroom. I felt kind of ‘invisible’ myself!” - Dr Shohini Ghose

It is daunting to try to capture in a few words the essence of the session we had with the eminent economist Dr Kaushik Basu, Carl Marks Professor of International Studies and Professor of Economics, Cornell University.

The former Chief Economist with the World Bank, began on a very positive note, pointing out that India is a global pioneer in data management. In his conversation with Dr Anup Kumar Sinha, Chairman, Bandhan Bank, Dr Basu shared some very insightful information on how India has emerged as a learned and respected nation globally and is looked up to in International summits like G20. The session generated a lot of queries by panelists, which were answered by him with masterly precision.

Dr Basu shared that it was his enthusiasm to understand the logical puzzles of economics, of prices, poverty and other issues, that drove him deeper into the subject and ensured his greater involvement with it. In 2009, he was appointed the Chief Advisor to the Government of India. Here he began maintaining a diary to record his objective view of Indian bureaucracy. The aim was to make the best policies possible.

The interaction was made more interesting and intellectually engaging with the participation of ICC President Pradeep Sureka and Past Presidents Rudra Chatterjee and Siddhant Kaul.

It is always a great learning experience to interact with eminent personalities like Dr Basu, who has worked with the 'movers and shakers' of the world.

“I was an obsessive researcher. It was the logical puzzles of the economy that fascinated me.” - Dr. Kaushik Basu

Funny Side Up was a much-needed winter evening event that was fun-filled and sometimes hillarious. Obviously, because our guest speaker was Cyrus Broacha.

Yezdi Karai, our moderator - a script writer, producer and theater actor - very efficiently maneuvered the event with Cyrus's constant quirky interruptions that kept the light-hearted tempo going on. Best known for his show 'Bakra' on MTV, Cyrus gave us behind the scene stories about this show and also about 'The Week that Wasn't', in his own satire flavoured version.

Questions from our members and a quick rapid fire round, were dealt with similar elan by Cyrus. It was a wholesome evening, well spent laughing and truly enjoying ourselves.

“It's taken me a long time to reach this far. All the teachers in my school, my sister, my neighbours, asked me to stop talking... and then I started getting work just by talking? - Cyrus Broacha