Dear ELSAs!

Spring came and is slowly sliding into hot summers. Thankfully it brings with it mangoes! Hope you celebrated spring in your own way, welcoming the blooms and blossoms and the rise of new life. Hope your holi was safe, yet colourful and fun and may the colours run through all days of the year ahead.

At ELSA spring meant getting ready for our annual bazaar, to promote women entrepreneurs, specially ELSAs, to give them a platform to showcase their brilliance and provide for them a niche market to own. This time our bazaar had a new name – PHAGUN PHUHAAR and was held at the Bikaner House on the 20th & 21st of March, 2021. ELSA entrepreneurs added colour and beauty to the bazaar with their unique products and many ELSAs came to encourage them with their presence. We hope you also participated, even if from a distance, in spirit and in thought and virtually, through our posts on social media.

Phagun Phuhaar 2021


March has always been a month of great excitement, due to the annual bazaar that ELSA hosts each year, to promote women entrepreneurs. However, given the times that we are living in currently, there was much apprehension about whether we should consider doing it only virtually. But then, the joy and energy that comes from all the ELSAs getting together, was something we could not let go. Hence, after much deliberation, we decided to go ahead with holding the bazaar physically, while taking all precautionary measures for those who set up the stall, as well as those who would come. With temperature scanners, sanitisers, masks in place, the Phagun Phuhaar 2021 was held in Bikaner House, New Delhi, on March 20th & 21st, 2021.

And what a success it was, and what fun! There were products ranging from beautiful designer cotton outfits, to handcrafted jewellery. From silver and semi-precious jewellery, to pickles and sweets. We had it all!!! Besides loads of exciting creative handmade stuff there was lip smacking food and dance performances by Srijanatmak Manushi Sanstha NGO kids! We are deeply grateful to Roli Singh, Principal Resident Commissioner and an ELSA, for her tremendous help in organising the Phagun Phuhaar Bazaar. We also thank all the ELSAs who took out time to come, enjoy and encourage all the ELSA entrepreneurs. What would we do without you?

They say a picture speaks a thousand words so we present before you these snapshots of the various stalls that were there at the bazaar and the special guests who graced the event!

WELCOME ELSA JAIPUR!

It is with great pride and jubilation we announce the formation of our ‘ELSA Jaipur’ chapter. After the formal chapter of Bangalore and two informal chapters of Mumbai and Gurgaon, this is ELSAs 4th chapter. A great step for ELSAs worldwide!

To mark the launch of the chapter, we had a formal zoom inauguration followed by warm, friendly chit chat with the bright, young and accomplished ladies of the Jaipur chapter, including some well-known names such Chhavi Rajawat. The excitement to do something together was palpable. We thank Mugdha Sinha, our EC member, for making this possible.

Chapters are the only way forward, to link with local ELSAs in various cities. The requirements to become a chapter can be enquired about, from any of the EC members. We look forward to the ELSA bond and organisation expanding further with other cities also coming forward and becoming a chapter.

ELSAReels watched Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and enjoyed a robust discussion, as per usual, augmented by a film nugget on mise en scène. In March, ELSAReels watched Court and discussed its nuances and directorial choices, in a discussion led by our own award-winning film-maker, Sandhya Kumar. The nugget as usual was brought to us by Preeta Dutta and focussed on Production Design.



ELSAConnect had a succession of talented, accomplished ELSAs sharing their lives. Chandrima Sanyal Dutta regaled us with her prodigious talent and high flying adventures through music. Garima Goel took us through her entrepreneurship journey to making her mark in the discerning world of décor, fragrances and aromas. Indira Herbert shared her offbeat adventures and her professional joy as a teacher and Special Educator. Rashmi Verma revealed her spine of steel as she drew back the curtain on her years as a bureaucrat. Catch up on all these sessions and more at https://bit.ly/ELSAblrYT

ELSAConnect in March had a month that brought us Bollywood star Rasika Dugal charting her path from LSR to the bright lights and all the unmissable characters that have been brought alive through her work. Kiran Bhatia facilitated the Empathy Gym, an interactive session for us to reflect on the meaning and value of empathy in our daily life; mulling its distinction from sympathy and how empathy transforms our interactions, strengthens kindness and builds caring relationships. Mumukshu Mohanty lit a fire in each of us to take on The Art of Storytelling, by illustrating how to leverage this timeless form of human expression and so, write our own stories. Catch up on all these sessions and more at https://bit.ly/ELSAblrYT

ELSA Bangalore is proud to announce the winners of the ELSA Cares Awards 2020:

Sethi Foundation's Hear a Million Programme by Shalini Sethi Vishwas, the Counselling Centre project by Kamla Venkateshwaran

Congratulations to both organisations and we look forward to our intense engagement this year.

On March 27, Gracious Suman Marwah opened her blooming spring garden to ELSA for a pre Holi Chaat party. It was fun to meet in person, across batches and the outdoors were beautiful! We had Bhavna Kapoor -a health coach , Isha Vaish -running an NGO for water conservation , Chandni - running the Kasiga School, Surya - having her own farms and orchards around Doon, Parul Suneja Goel - Associate Director at Summer Valley School, Nupur- running her own catering supplies business, Anchal Sondhi - teaching at Welham Boys, Surbhi Gupta - an educationist, Rupa Bishnoi- a special educator, Suniti Khanna Nanavatty , Rajni Sharma and Suman Marwah.

We look forward to meeting up more often and have our circle growing slowly but steadily!

The times continue to be uncertain. It is better to be safe and cautious ourselves. So, while we recaliberate our minds to staying at home as much as possible, this year too, ELSA will attempt to keep our webinars and other virtual interactions going, so keep a look out for those. Look out for our announcements on Facebook and Instagram, about ELSA Talks. And yeah, do join in, in the events that are being organised in various cities, wherever you are. And of course, if you have ideas, send them to us. We would love to hear from you.

ELSA also welcomes its new members! Here’s to growing from strength to strength and forming a network of powerful, positive women across the country!

On behalf of the ELSA family we warmly welcome our new members

Let us stay safe. Let us stay together. Let us be kind and make the world a better, gentler place.