Dear ELSAs!

How are you doing? Have you started stepping out more freely? Or still practicing caution. We hope you are stepping out only when essential. And are otherwise safe, healthy and happy. Look after your mind and heart too, while you are looking after your body!

August has been a busy busy month too. Let us share with you what all has been happening!

Elsa Talks with Yumna Harisingh Jawa was about Promoting the arts, artists and raising awareness regarding the plight of artists, especially in the times of Covid. The discussion wove around the need for recognising the importance of the arts in maintaining the sanity and humanity in society, especially in trying times such as these. The current times had thrown up numerous proofs of the refuge that humanity has sought in the arts, in order to deal with the anxieties and loneliness that the current times have thrown us into. In the discussion, appeals were made to those attending, to donate towards the arts, whatever they were comfortable with. In the absence of a robust government system that could look after them, artists, dependent on performances for their survival, needed us to extend all the help that we could. As a regular practice.

The discussion also attempted to share information regarding the Glass House Poetry awards, the deadlines for which had been extended in order to include more and more participation by ELSAs.

The Greenhouse Poetry Awards were to be given in English language poetry, which would be judged by a panel of Indian and international poets and litterateurs. It was very exciting to know that Swastika Jajoo, an ELSA, won the second prize for her poem “Smell of Lemons” while ELSA Manjul Bajaj received an Honorable mention. Congratulations to both of them!


Katha of the Putlis

Under the #Herstory series of ELSA Talks, we had Anurupa Roy, ELSA History Hons, Batch of 1998, sharing with us her story of her journey into the world of puppetry and puppet making in the session on “Katha of the Putlis”. It was fascinating to hear how her journey began in college itself and how it blossomed after that. She introduced us to various forms of puppetry, information that most of us don’t have and don’t even know of. From shadow puppets to local puppets, she told us about how rich our culture is, in the form of puppetry. She also shared with us anecdotes of her life in puppetry and the importance of building a resource centre for this art, since none exists right now. We look forward to her building this resource centre and will follow her in all the performances. We wish her foundation – Kat Katha Foundation, all the luck in their endeavors.

Another interesting session under ELSA Talks, was the one on Tips for healthy eating with Shruti Aggarwal.

She shared with us, the various factors we should keep in mind, while planning our meals – like where are we getting our daily share of proteins from, etc. With the current emphasis on health, all over the world, the session was extremely interactive.

Those listening to the session asked her various questions regarding the right time to eat, how to take care of bone health, about super foods, etc. she also addressed a really crucial area – of the type of oils to use for various types of cooking, the types of salt to use, and others.

The session left all of us wiser and more aware about what goes onto our plates.






We had a special ELSA Talks session with Pratishtha Deveshwar, a 3rd year student of LSR, Political Science (Hons). Pratishtha has just graduated and has got entrance into Oxford University for higher studies. Despite the fact that an early accident left her paralyzed waste down, Pratishtha never stopped believing in her dreams. and it is her dream to study in Oxford University. However, the only thing coming in the way of her realizing her dream, is the cost factor. She is unable to meet the expenses needed for her to study in Oxford. Hence, she approached ELSA EC, which was very eager to help her in any way possible. Thus, the ELSA Talk was organized, to give Pratishtha a platform to speak with all ELSAs and make an appeal to contribute into the realization of her dream. She spoke from the heart and her bright, cheerful, never say die attitude touched the hearts of all ELSAs who attended the session. While she has been trying to gather resources even through crowd sourcing, she also reached out to ELSAs to become the wind beneath her wings. And ELSAs rose to the task again. Individual as well as group donations came from all parts of the world – from all over India to all the way from Singapore and the Bay Area, America. It has been wonderful to see ELSAs come together to help a fellow ELSA realize her dream. We hope more ELSAs will donate and we thank all those who have! A big thank you!

Shapped by Stories

In yet another talk, ELSA alumnus Rituparna Ghosh brought forth the power of storytelling while taking us on an imaginative walk through our alma mater. A storyteller by profession (wouldn't we love to put that on our resumes) she'd put together a little piece about starting college, her first day in fact, at LSR. What was striking was how deftly she linked her first day at college to where she was coming from in life that day and to where she was going. Through her experience, we went through our own first days in our heads. While she spoke, we realized that our stories too were worth sharing. The thing to remember was how we chose to narrate them.

She gave us the chance to experience this in breakout rooms of our own. And we learnt that the way we narrate our stories changes them and how we live our lives. When we narrate something, it gives it power. The stronger the story that we tell, the more profound an experience it has the potential to be. It's all about how we choose to look at an experience after all, isn't it? With Rituparna we entered memories of a place that intimidated us badly on our first day there but we left clutching some of our most vulnerable memories and formative experiences of life: good, bad and ugly (boyfriends). In short, she showed us, we all have a story to tell.


Chai for Cancer

A Chai for Cancer session was conducted Pan ELSA on Zoom by ELSA Mumbai, in order to raise funds for the Chai for Cancer initiative which is run by an ELSA-Viji Venkatesh, as a part of her efforts to raise funds for cancer treatment in Max Foundation, which may not be within monetary reach of some people. The foundation extends monetary and other help to such beneficiaries.

The fun evening was organized as an online Antakshari session, where all those who sang, were to contribute 100 INR for each song that they sang. Not only did ELSAs participate in all their spirit and enthusiasm in this fun program, their generous contribution also enabled a collection of 52,500 INR in a period of 1 hour!!!

Kudos, to the idea of having such a fun program for fund raising, and Kudos to all ELSAs for their generous spirits. As always!



ELSA Talk also organized a special session with Abhilasha Bisht, in the #herstory series. Abhilasha Bisht is the Additional Director General of Police, Telangana State Police, but you would have never believed this, by the squeals of joy and the laughing leg pulling that happened with a lot of ELSAs who were her friends and from the same batch as her. Because Abhilasha is an ELSA, Political Science (Hons), Batch of 1988. Abhilasha shared her story of getting into Political Science (Hons) in LSR, from a science stream, and then going on to write the civil service examinations. She spoke about the ease of women working in a typically masculine domain, like policing and whether gender continues to be a hinderance. She related to herself as a feminist, due to this experience of working in a gendered environment. She also said that she did not regret, even for one moment, any instance or moment in her life. Since each moment that had been, had flowed forward to place her where she was today and she would not want to change a thing. On that positive note, she urged all ELSAs that women should always earn their own money and to form and appreciate the strength of a sorority, which deserved respect as fraternity had. We wish Abhilasha all the best in her tenure and her work.

Coffee Conversations

The ELSA EC started a new initiative to reach out to ELSAs across the country. This initiative has been creatively called “Coffee Conversations”. On a date and time of convenience, the entire ELSA EC team meets online with ELSAs in some city or the other across the country. Yes, with coffee in hand J we have already had fun sessions with ELSAs in Mumbai, Pune and Mizoram. It has been great fun swapping stories, listening to what each ELSA has been upto, from the time they left college. Many ELSAs were seeing each other for the first time since having graduated! The nostalgia was palpable, as was the joy of being in the company of other ELSAs. These sessions enabled us to meet ELSAs who we would not have been able to connect with, even in normal times, given the geographical spread. But zoom, our new friend during Covid times, allowed us to go to each ELSA, albeit virtually, and connect.

We can’t wait to do the same conversations in other cities in the coming month!

ELSA Mumbai hosted Elsa Talks with six dynamic and successful ladies who have made it big in the media industry. Screen Girls was held on July 11, 2020 and was moderated by Nidhi Tuli (ELSA 1995), an Independent Film Maker. Nidhi traced the motivations, inspirations, connections and life stories of Anuraadha Tewari (ELSA 1992), Writer – Director –Teacher; Rucha Pathak (ELSA 1992), Producer; Nupur Asthana (ELSA 1992), Director – Screenwriter; Kanupriya Pandit (ELSA 1994), Actor & Theatre Artist and Shruti Mahajan (ELSA 2002), Casting Director, through honest and free-flowing conversations. Anu Misra and Gesu Kaushal (ELSAS 1993) hosted the event which was attended virtually by ELSAs across the country.

A recording is also available on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj6jujf0Pao

Chai for Cancer - ELSA Mumbai on Aug 15, 2020 organized a fund raiser by organizing virtual Chai For Cancer through an innovative idea of an online Antakshari. Every singer / participant pledged a Lin amount for every song that was sung. The funds were donated to The Max Foundation. In about an hour ELSAs generously donated more than 50 thousand rupees. The popular TV and film actor Maniesh Paul also joined in with a song and contributed to the cause.

The Conversation Series:

• In conversation with Baroness Manzila Uddin – the 1st Muslim and 2nd Asian woman to enter and sit in British Parliament. Elsa UK hosted a session with Baroness Uddin on August 9th. This was one power-packed virtual session to organise and facilitate with Baroness Uddin. She’s a #British life peer and community activist being the #first #Muslim and #second #Asian #woman to sit in the #Parliament of United Kingdom. In 2009 she was included on The Guardian's Muslim Women Power List for Britain. A real mover and shaker of a woman.

The hour spent with her was like a masterclass in #politics! #Bame #womeninpower #womenofcolour #conversationsthatmatter #womeninpolitics


• While eyes and ears globally are on the #big #news of when the antidote to the #corona crisis, a #VACCINE will be out... Elsa UK hosted a webinar where we got to hear about some behind-the-scenes- action from scientist Chandra Datta - Indian origin scientist at University of Oxford. Heard all about the challenges and #progress made with respect to vaccine to fight the ongoing pandemic. #elsauk #womenscientists #CoronaCrisis

The GCC ELSAS are a vibrant group and always rising to support one another. Though organising a meeting has been very difficult, either at home or outside, their group chat has anyhow remained very vibrant. Sandi Rich and Brinda Shroff were part of a virtual discussion on Financial Literacy for Millennials. A practical discussion to managing your financial life.

Our star this year has been Padmini Shankar. She authored her second book. The Mother of All Kitty Parties. The book is receiving rave reviews.

Membership drive
The current times are lonely and can make one feel all alone. In order the expand the Each and connect the Ex LSR Association, the ELSA EC ran a unique membership drive. With this drive, it was endeavored to expand the association and embrace more and more ELSAs into its fold. So that ELSAs could see that they were a part of a world-wide, vibrant, strong association, in which all ELSAs were there for each. This limited period membership drive offered lifetime membership to ELSAs at a discounted rate of 2500INR. At this rate, ELSAs could become lifetime members of the association and access the benefits that they therefore had access too.

We invite more and more ELSAs to become a part of the association, which is planning many members only events. Please spread the word among other friends and batchmates too.

New members
This time, Team ELSA EC has been able to get the maximum number of ELSAs to join forces with other ELSAs in the association. Our membership has grown exponentially now and we are that much stronger due to the multitude of talents now in the association. Here is more power to our sorority!

Welcome All!