GnkEnglsih News Desk
6 November 2022
A webinar on “Meet The Author Series” was organized by ELTAI Shimla Chapter in collaboration with Progressive Literary and Cultural Society (PLCS) on October 30th, 2022. At the start of the event, Dr Shamenaz, President and Founder of PLCS extended a warm welcome to all participants and executive members of ELTAI and PLCS. She apprised the participants about the main role and functions of PLCS and its motto, “Entire Universe is our Family.” She elaborated that PLCS is a non-religious, non-political organization that aims to promote literature and culture with special emphasis on latest innovations in literature. Dr Anita Sharma, Associate Professor, Government Degree College, Dhami and Convenor of ELTAI Shimla Chapter gave a brief about the various activities of ELTAI and about the learning experience that it aims to give to students by providing them with a solid platform. She also introduced all present to the moderator of the webinar, Dr Anshu Kaushal, Assistant Professor in English at RKMV, Shimla and whose field of interest include British Fiction and Children and Young Adult literature in India.
Dr Anshu gave a brief introduction of the Chief Guest of the event, Dr Usha Bande, who has more than thirty five years of experience in teaching, research, conducting workshops and acting as Resource Person for various Universities. Dr Bande, till recently a Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla and also Visiting Professor at Vishwa Bharati University, Shanti Niketan (West Bengal) retired as Principal, Government College, Arki (Himachal Pradesh). She has a number of research papers and more than a dozen books to her credit.
Dr Usha Bande thanked both ELTAI Shimla Chapter and PLCS for inviting her to the literary session jointly organized by the two entities. Thereafter, the field was opened for participants to pose their queries and enrich themselves with the experiences of Dr Bande in her literary journey of more than thirty-five years. Dr Bande replied to a range of queries related to differences in the thought process of a teacher, a writer and a translator based on her experience in all three fields and the challenges that she faced. She also elaborated upon her likeness for short story writing and that in other genres. She also shared some insights on few of the books authored by her particularly on the state of Himachal Pradesh and those on travel writing and journalism. She delved on connection between writings on gender issues and on psychological approach used in the works of some well-known women writers of India. Dr Usha Bande also highlighted her experiences of working in Indian Institute of Advanced Study and Shantiniketan- the two premier institutes in India and also about working with Dr Bernard J Paris, a prominent psychologist writer from the US. Based on the response of the participants, the entire session turned out to be both engrossing and enriching to participants who got a chance to interact with a literary figure of such high repute.
The webinar ended with a Vote of Thanks by Dr Suneela Sharma, Associate Professor, Government Degree College, Nalagarh (Himachal Pradesh) and President, ELTAI Shimla Chapter. She thanked Dr Usha Bande for sparing her valuable time to share her enriching literary experiences with the budding authors. She also had a special word of thanks for Dr Shamenaz, Dr Manisha Singh and Dr Anupama Sharma from PLCS. Dr Suneela also appreciated the efforts of ELTAI team in organizing such events and providing a learning platform to aspiring authors.
