Hello dear ELSAs!

These are trying times and we hope all are safe and indoors and provided for. These times too shall pass. We need to ensure that we ride out this phase as best as we can. Reach out, if you need anything. Reach out, if you know anyone who needs something. Take out some time to try and connect with those who are alone. Give yourself time and care and tons of love. Sending you tons of love and hugs from the EC team!

To keep us all connected and together, we are trying to figure out how we can make things happen, using the social media to connect. If you have ideas, send them to us. We would love to hear from you. Many heads are better than some!

Here’s sharing with you, what has been happening till now.

The times we are seeing, are not normal times. We have not seen such uncertainty and such despair. We are grateful that we can afford to be safe and provided for. In such times, some ELSAs across the cities, have been working diligently, on the ground and otherwise, to provide relief and requirements to those in need. They are part of organisations that are working tirelessly to ensure that those who need, have food, have basic provisions. We salute those ELSAs!

Some ELSAs have also put together a list of resources that can be used by any person or organization, who needs to connect or reach out to. The same has been provided for, in the google drive, the link to which is:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1PQ6cdUaCtHi5JDxPDT_dGneMFCmc3C8c

All ELSAs are welcome to access and share these contacts to ensure that no call for help goes unanswered.

- ELSA #shareyourgift series

Amidst lockdown, isolation and social distancing, ELSA EC sought this as an opportunity to bridge this distance through a new initiative – Share your gift. We believe everyone has a gift to share and therefore, ELSA EC has designed a unique concept to bring together ELSAs from all parts of the world in these times and facilitate the sharing of the treasure trove of talent that lies within all of us.

#share your gift series gives an opportunity to ELSAs to come forth and share their knowledge and talent over a 1 hour Facebook Live session. We have had some sessions till now, each one interesting, informative and engaging. The sessions have ranged from Urban farming to making Tangerine pickles to discussing Parenting! Till now, 7 such FB live sessions have been conducted and there are more to come!

The #shareyourgift series were started off with a Poetry Reading session by Mugdha Sinha, it was wonderful – listening to her reading poems by poets many of us remember as having touched a chord in us, but we have forgotten them somewhere in our lives. The poems, the poets and the way she shared them, were just fabulous! Enjoyed every minute of it! You never know, the session may just have woken up poets in some of us!


Aditi Aggarwal did a session on Urban Farming. Given the trouble with use of pesticides on our fruits and vegetables, this was an important session to understand how we can grow our own requirements in our own little spaces. The session truly pulled the attention of some of us towards how this can be done sustainably.



Then we had a story telling session by Vineeta Dhaundiyal Bhatnagar, which put hope and resilience into the hearts of ELSAs, facing the new challenges of the global pandemic and lackdown. Her two stories from a collection by Cassandra were so inspiring. Shingtiz, refused to be afraid of the Chilly North winds, used innovtion along with psychological strength, gained by singing gleefully to overcome her fear. Also Varsaliza, a Russian motherless girl heard the voice of her conscience and worked diligently to get the light, her success eventually. Inspiring indeed!


A Live Webinar on Covid 19 – A Psychological Experience by Kanika Ahuja, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, LSR college, talked about the research done by the college Psychology department on the Psychological effect of Covid on over 1000 people pan India. She used the acronym of VIRUS to speak about the kind of stresses one was under - V-vexation, mainly due to others not following rules, I-immediate concerns, R-routine disturbances, U- uncertain times, S - systemic stress of watching migrants walking, future recession. She also suggested great coping mechanism like having a prob solving approach, seeking social support, meditation, chanting praying. Well we definitely felt better prepared to face the uncertain Covid times after hearing Kanika.


In the next session, Seema Uppal took us through the process of making tangerine pickle. These times have seem so many of us becoming chefs and whipping up magic in our kitchens.

But sometimes, a little help, in figuring out what new thing we can make, and how it can be made, goes a long way! And tangy, sweet, simple to make tangerine pickle was just the right thing for these hot, hot summer days, to tingle the palate! Many of us are sure to be making this delicious and simple pickle!


A beautifully done session explaining a well known katha from our scriptures, was done by Annu Kalra.

“A Tale of Divine Winsome” was a riveting introduction to a different perspectives of stories in our mythology, which we have all grown up on. The signs and messages given therein, we held in our hearts and minds much after the session was over, pulling us towards exploring more.



Aditi Misra’s session on Parenting in times of Covid 19 and Beyond, touched a chord in each parent who attended the session. The session covered all age groups, from infant to teenagers, touching upon pointers that parents can draw upon, to make their parenting more sensitive and responsive. Not just in these times but beyond too.



Health is of paramount importance. Now and always.
But specially in these times, when anxiety, stress are hounding us. To enable us to take our basic health in our own hands, Smita Mankad did a DIY Hand Reflexology session for us and our family.
Teaching us the points on our hands that we can press to get the toxins moving, to relieve our headaches and our back aches, pointing out which point on our hand corresponded to which part of our body, the session was an information and knowledge packed one. At the end, many of us felt relaxing sleep wanting to claim us, a telling sign in these times, when sleep seems evasive to many.


A session on “Staying Positive and Coping with the New Norm” was conducted by Saveera Duggal Bahl. In the most relaxed manner ever, she gave us helpful pointers on how we can absorb our time, in these days, in activities that we do not otherwise have time for. Picking up an old hobby that we had always wanted to pursue, learning a new skill, that we had always wanted to, but never had time for. Interesting ideas, such as doing a music evening on our balconies, to be participated in, by our neighbours. All in all, the session was a treasure trove of ideas!


Most of us who love pets, talk to them as if they understand us. And they do. But do we understand them as well as they understand us? Nilu Kulkarni, ELSA Bangalore helped us understand what our pets were trying to communicate with us, through her session on Communicating with our pets.

She spoke about seeking permission from your pets before taking them to the vet, or before deciding anything concerning them. Just like we would with our children. Very informative session, and very touching too.

We are grateful to each ELSA who shared her gift with us. We thank you for taking our time to share your gift and your love with us.

Looking forward to more ELSAs coming forward to #shareyourgift! If you want to #shareyourgift, please get in touch with Archna Kapoor Puri (9871563990) or Sunetra (9818093595). Looking forward to your session!

At ELSABangalore, the ‘irrepressible ones’, kicked off another journey with three activities to choose from for this time –

1) Opt for fun challenges for 21 days, so that everyone connected virtually
2) Revisit the #60DayChallenges incase one participated it and talk about what worked what didn’t and where one was today with one’s goals and
3) Start a new #21daychallenge by revisiting the ethos of the #60daychallenge.

So, ELSAs in Bangalore designed the #21daysofmarchmadness as they step into an uncertain future. And these challenges had wonderful outcomes! For her 21 day ‘sound’ offering, Malvika sang and posted a song everyday. Nalina completed her cross stitch project, left pending since the year before last! Nilu created a new cookbook, while Yumna created a virtual platform to share creative learnings.

Smita and the team at her NGO Sampark posed and rose to the challenge of raising 1.5 lakh a day in order to provide food to the migrant workers, by raising 35 lakhs in a week!

Vinita faced her challenge of working in the health sector in these times, with her own #21daychallenge of immersing herself in beauty, art and nature and sharing the same with others.

Vandana set up ELSAConnect a virtual platform for Elsas in Bangalore to share their experiences in the face of the lockdown. Each varied session was curated and designed and areas of expertise lead to innumerous learnings

To be a part of elsachallenge, one cant just one on instagram

In this time of social distancing, Elsas in Bangalore made some time to grab a virtual cuppa together.

It started as an Elsachallenge that Vandana Sarin took for 21 days, which grew organically to 4 weeks and now it happens thrice a week. Elsas drop in as they’re able and grab some time with the sisterhood. These sessions are varied in the topics they cover - tech learning, financial planning, Zumba, yoga, embroidery, how to handle anxiety, animal communication and many more. In the initial sessions, ELSAs shared their Covid challenges, from being stuck alone to managing a small baby, to others. The sessions also see sharing of life, music, poetry.

In keeping with the LSR ethos of Leadership with Social Responsibility the ELSA CARES award aims to support the work of Trusts/Societies registered in Karnataka, founded and/or run by ELSAs, which work to effect social change through education and empowerment of the marginalized and disadvantaged and benefit women, children, youth, the elderly and the differently abled.

Bangalore ELSA invited applications in March for the Elsa Cares support grant. This being the introductory year, the committee worked on designing the process of evaluation and through thorough analysis and discussions with applicants and understanding of projects, finalized the criteria for evaluation. For the first edition of ELSA Cares award 2019-20, members of the committee included Bangalore Elsa EC members Vandana Sarin and Sahana Das, Elsas Vanita Vishwanath and Geeta Verghese, and the External Member Mr N E Sridhar, AVP and CSR Head Titan.

Every individual entry was discussed based on the basic purpose of the award. After due deliberations, evaluation and interactions with the participants the Elsa Cares committee recommended the following two entries for the award.

Swapaksh Learning Foundation and Sampark.

Congratulations! Ajanta Purkayastha and Smita Premchander. You do us proud and we Elsas look forward to hands on engagement over the year!

At the start of this year you have attended webinars on topics related to career, mentorship, essential skills, we continue to do so going forward too. So, wait for more communication on ELSA e-talk as we come up with new topics and sessions on our E-Talk series.

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!