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Wednesday, 27 January 2016

Republic Day: A Day to Re-love the Nation

India's 67 th Republic Day was celebrated with a lot of national fervour and patriotism at R.B.V.R.R Women's College. Life, as a citizen of this great country of ours, can be quite tumultuous on most occasions. What with the humongous size and the vivid cultural diversity that somehow melts into one Incredible India, there is sure to be multiple controversies brewing at every other turn in this journey to greatness that we are on. 26th of January allows us all to forget our differences and remember that we are all proud and dedicated citizens of India. The happiness with which our hearts swell when we belt out the national anthem at the unfurling of our national flag, is just one of the many reminders of our riotously beautiful history that this day gifts us with. 

This year's Republic Day was momentous, also, for the Quills Literary Club, as its member and student co-ordinator Ms. Srinidhi Gavaraj delivered a sterling speech, which reminded everyone about the importance of being a republic nation and the responsibilities that we have as citizens to work hard in order to ensure that we uphold the values listed in our constitution.



Srinidhi's words for the nation. 

India is a self governing country since the 15th of August 1947 which we celebrate as Independence Day. However, on the 26th of January, since 1950 we celebrate Republic Day as the constitution of India came into force. This year we are celebrating the 67th Republic Day.

      'Republic' means supreme power of the people living in the country and only public has rights to elect their representatives as political leaders to lead their country in right direction. So, India is a republic country where people elect its leaders as  a President, Prime minister. Our great Indian freedom fighters have struggled a lot for the “purna swaraj” in India so that the future generations may live without any struggle and lead our country ahead. 

     Our great leaders Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Lal Bahadur Shastri fought against British to make India a free country. We need to remember them and salute them.

     Our first President late Dr. Rajendra Prasad said, "we find the whole of this vast land brought together under jurisdiction of one constitution and one union which takes over responsibility of the welfare of more than 320 million men and women who inhabit it". How shameful it is, to say that we still are fighting with crimes, corruption, violence in our country. There is a need to get together and save our country from such crimes as it is pulling our nation back from going to its mainstream of development progress. We youth should be aware of our social issues as we are proud citizens and back bone of our country's future and solve them to grow. Our Prime Minister has introduced many programmes like swacch bharat, make in india, swayam, nayi manzil, beti bachao, beti padhao, pradhan mantra fasal bhima yojana, to name a few. We as citizens of India should take advantage of these various programmes for the development and progress of our nation, and make our country a proud place to live in. 



Tuesday, 12 January 2016

When QLC Met HLF- (Phase Seven)

A few more engaging sessions from HLF 2016

Panel Discussion: Writing Cricket

V. Ramnarayan, Vijay Lokapally, Harimohan Paro

This session gave us an insight on what good cricket writing is all about.

Here are some of the major takeaways from the session:

V. Ramnarayan: Good cricket writing is all about style, keeping it simple and bringing players alive on paper.

Vijay Lokapally:One doesn't need to be a player to write well. Cricket journalism is complex. Technical expertise goes hand in hand with journalistic skills. One should stick to facts and avoid getting fancy. Writing can either be descriptive or analytical.

V. Ramnarayan: One needs many years of watching and understanding the game. Although it does help to have played the game, some of the best cricket writers have never played cricket at the highest level. Good cricket writing can inspire a young mind. 

Vijay Lokapally: Cricket is a game that inspires poetry, as is evident from the phrase "Whispering death" that was used to describe the great West Indian fast bowler, Michael Holding.

Decoding the Art of Cricket Writing

When QLC met HLF (Phase Six)

In this post we bring in a few more highlights of the day

Meeting Poilie Sengupta after an engaging session on Indian Drama!



An Interesting session on Gender and Identity




Minions on the block




Art Lovers!

Food on the Block!

With eminent dancer, Ananda Shankar Jayant

When QLC met HLF (Phase Five)

Some more sessions attended by members of QLC

Poetry Reading Session: 4-4.50 p.m


Kirpal Singh, Meena Alexander, Sudeep Sen



Kirpal Singh awed the audience with his onomatopoeic poem: the saga of slap/turn between a couple...




The lovely Meena Alexander read poems from her new collection, Atmospheric Embroidery (2015).
She captured the spirit of contemporary India in poems
like "Nirbhaya" and "New Mysore CafĂ©." 





Poet, Sudeep Sen read from his new collection, Erotext
The poet read sensual poems like Gajar Halwa. 
However, the poet found the audience uncomfortable talking about sexuality in poetry. On a lighter note, he observed that it was ironical that in a country where epics and ancient poetry celebrate sex, contemporary India was reluctant to even listen to it in public domains...






Posing with Poets!



Monday, 11 January 2016

When QLC Met HLF(Phase Four)- The Workshops



The Hyderabad Lit Fest was not all about listening! The visitors got an opportunity to try their hand at a few interesting workshops that covered some very innovative features from the field of art and literature.

Here is a glimpse of the workshops:

In the words of Ms Mukherjee herself, "My workshop Self Boxed was conceptualised so that visitors to the HLF could connect with their creative self. It was specifically for adults who think they are not creative. Through the workshop they will get to experience colour, texture and materiality of things and how all these could be made to convey one's reflections."

Moments from this intriguing workshop:

A checkpoint on Art Street!

Engaged Participants

Colorful Creations


Ms. Koeli Mukherjee guiding young artists

Rediscovering that Artistic Touch!




Workshop on Cow Dung Toys by Naina Arora:

This workshop titled, "SvabhAva",  was an interactive installation which centred the spotlight on art that can be created out of simple things like cow dung. It aimed at impressing upon the audience the idea that beautiful art can be created without the use of expensive technology, which often comes at the cost of our environment. 

Naina Arora is a city-based artist, pursuing research studies at the Center for Exact Humanities, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad.

Pictures from SvabhAva :



SvabhAva: Aesthetic and Environmental-Friendly!

Multitudes of Innovation.

Naina Arora: The Protagonist of Creativity!




When QLC met HLF (Phase Three)


The sights and sounds of HLF never seemed to end!
After a quick lunch party arranged by the loving faculty members of our department, we headed on for the next session.

Panel Discussion: Reel and Real Lives
Panelists: Anu Agarwal, Maithili Rao and Rinki Bhattacharya Roy. Moderator: Prof. Tutun Mukherjee

A heart-felt discussion by three women on their books:

Anu Agarwal's Anusual: Memoir of a Girl who Came Back from the Dead (2015)

Maithili Rao: Smita Patil: A Brief Incandescence (2015)

Rinki Roy Bhattacharya: Bimal Roy's Madhumati: Untold Stories from Behind the Scenes (2014)

Here are some of the pictures of the session


The Session is on!

Her Father's Daughter


Three Super Creative Women
Rinki Bhattachraya (Extreme left) Maithili Rao (Center), Prof. Tutun Mukherjee(right)

QLC with Anu Agarwal

With Rinki Bhattacharya Roy

When QLC met HLF(Phase Two)



After attending the morning session, members of QLC decided to explore the fest!
Here are some of the events that caught our attention
Walking across the creative wall

The Kindle zone



What books to buy?


The Sankranti mood is on!!!

Organisers and the Paparazzi 

The Beautiful Hyderabad Public School

Cracking a quick joke!

Films, series, creative thoughts!

Visitors at HLF

The QLC team!

Sunday, 10 January 2016

When QLC met HLF(Phase One)


Q.L.C.'s quest to broaden the literary horizons of its members, took us all to a new destination- the Hyderabad Literary  Festival, 2016.
On a lovely honey-coloured day, under the pale blue skies and warm winter sun, we experienced the joy of creativity and free thought. It was a truly enlightening experience and we not only got to listen to some wise minds speak on various issues, but also got a chance to mingle with lovers of literature from around the country. A few workshops on arts and craft and an exceptionally executed play by some talented deaf artists rounded up the perfectly creative and innovative quotient of the day.


8 January 2016


Session one:

Free Speech and Censorship: Nayantara Sahgal, Tongnam Rina and Urmila Pawar.

The speakers, eminent personalities in the fields of literature and activism for women's rights, made poignant points on the issues of the freedom of speech, thought, choice and action of every individual. They strongly condemned the discrimination faced by women writers in the literary sphere. The recent attacks on various writers in our country also found a mention, as the speakers called for freedom to be able to write for the authors and for protection in case of any threats from any factions of the society.

 Nayantara Sahgal's final word: "censorship should be done at an individual level and shouldn't be forced on the society by any body, let alone the government."



QLC members with Nayantara Sahgal




 A few more pics from that session 
QLC members with renowned theater actor, Mohan Agashe
Colour Burst
QLC all over

Attentive members of QlC
Mohan Agashe raising a question