A Memorable Day in Every Way | Seminar @ Anna Adarsh College for Women, Chennai❤️

Seminar at Anna Adarsh College for Women, Anna Nagar, Chennai

A Report

22nd September 2025

#lovelymemories #rewardingday #AnnaAdarsh

I was so happy when Dr. Aparna Suresh, my very good friend, and an accomplished poet, invited me to give a Talk in the Seminar hosted by their Department. I gladly accepted the Invite. 

The Head of the Department, Dr. Soupraja also called me up soon after, extending a cordial invite to me. Last evening, the Vice Principal Dr. Meena Kumari had also called me up for courtesy, just to say a ‘hi’ and formally invite me.

I was touched by the courtesy, the cordiality and the camaraderie shown by the Department of English. It was so nice of them to call me up personally to invite me.

And this morning, - the red-letter day - sharp at 9.15 am, as promised, I was at Anna Adarsh College for Women.

The sprawling streets that lead to Anna Adarsh College are so elegantly adorned on either side with such sylvan avenue trees, that give the Anna Nagar streets their unique aura.

In fact, on an aside, Anna Nagar is one among the posh and elegant localities in the whole of Chennai, with well-maintained parks, huge streets, high-end houses, and neatly designed sidewalks.

It was such a joyous festive spirit in the Department. The entrance to the Seminar Venue was so beautifully decorated in pink. The organising team was also gracefully attired in pink.

Added, the entire vicinity was adorned with such beautiful decorations, balloons, rangoli and the ceremonial decorative trays at the Reception Desk.

What arrested our attention and struck us all bigtime was the beautiful rangoli, at the entrance to the Seminar Hall. It was so beautifully done, that we all stopped to take a few pictures with the rangoli.

After the ceremonial lighting of the kuthuvilakku, and the inaugural ceremony, we were all entertained with a lovely Mime performance by the students of III BA English Literature.

After the Mime, we had my Talk on the topic, Textual Praxis: Gender, Justice and Resistance in Literature.

I spoke on the importance of Textual Praxis and its importance to literary studies, giving the students a simple formula on Textual Praxis, with gleanings drawn from Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Paulo Freire etc, as follows –

Praxis = Reflection + Action + Transformation

Dr. Meena Kumari, the Vice Principal, a long-time friend and a wonderful human being, gave the Conference prologue. The HoD Dr. Soupraja then gave a very insightful introduction to the theme of the Seminar, following which Dr. Aparna introduced the Speaker of the Day. I felt so happy when Dr. Aparna said a few lovely words about our academic blog – a space for deep living!

Extremely happy to note that, my talk was followed by a lot of insightful questions from students. We had almost six questions in quick succession. Bespeaks to how well the students had keenly followed my Talk.

After the Talk, we had a theatrical performance on ‘Bayen’ by Mahaswetha Devi, a powerful play about Chandidasi, a woman from the Dom (cremation attendant) community who is wrongly accused of witchcraft, or “Bayen”. The play explores themes of social exclusion, gender inequality, and the oppression of marginalized women in a patriarchal society.

It was a mind-blowing performance that the students had aced with such passionate acting.

So happy to note that Dr. Aparna had directed the Mime and the Play. So proud of you Dr. Aparna.

After the Q & A, we had the Certificate and the Prize distribution ceremony.

Hearty congratulations to the organisers on hosting such a memorable and rewarding Seminar. 

A memorable day in every way!