Women Intellectual Society: Famous Personalities

Chandramukhi Basu:

Chandramukhi Basu (Bengali: চন্দ্রমুখী বসু) (1860 – 1944) who was a Bengali speaking Christian from Dehradun, which was located in the (then known as) United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, was one of the first two female graduates of the British Empire. Along with Kadambini Ganguly, she received her Bachelor's degree in Arts from the University of Calcutta, India in 1883. Miss Chandramukhi Basu passed the F.A. of the Calcutta University in 1880 as a student of the Free Church Institution (now Scottish Church College)[1] followed by bachelor's degree from Bethune College, an affiliated women's college of the University of Calcutta, and an MA degree in 1884 at the University of Calcutta.

The daughter of Bhuban Mohan Bose, she passed the First Arts examination from Dehradun Native Christian School in 1880. [2] Till then Bethune School did not admit non-Hindu girls. The rule was relaxed and she was admitted for the degree course, along with Kadambini Ganguly. [2] After her graduation, she was the only and first woman to pass MA from Calcutta University in 1884. [2]

She started her career as a lecturer in Bethune College (it was still part of Bethune School) in 1886. The college was separated from the school in 1888. [2] She became the principal, thus becoming the first female head of an undergraduate academic establishment in South Asia.

She retired in 1891 because of bad health and spent the rest of her life in Dehradun. [2]

Two of her sisters, Bidhumukhi and Bindubasini, were also renowned. Bidhumukhi Bose and Virginia Mary Mitra (Nandi) were among the earliest women medical graduates from Calcutta Medical College. They passed out in 1890. Thereafter, Bindubasini Bose passed out from Calcutta Medical College in 1891.

Kadambini Ganguly

Kadambini Ganguly (Bengali: কাদম্বিনী গাঙ্গুলি) (18 july 1861 – 3 October 1923) was one of the first female graduates of the British Empire along with Chandramukhi Basu. She was one of the first female physicians of South Asia to be trained in European medicine.

The daughter of Brahmo reformer Braja Kishore Basu, she was born at Bhagalpur, Bihar in British India. The family was from Chandsi, in Barisal which is now in Bangladesh. Her father was headmaster of Bhagalpur School. He and Abhay Charan Mallick started the movement for women's emancipation at Bhagalpur, establishing the women's organisation Bhagalpur Mahila Samiti in 1863, the first in India.

Kadambini started her education at Banga Mahila Vidyalaya and while at Bethune School (established by Bethune) in 1878 became the first woman to pass the University of Calcutta entrance examination. It was partly in recognition of her efforts that Bethune College first introduced FA (First Arts), and then graduation courses in 1883. She and Chandramukhi Basu became the first graduates from Bethune College, and in the process became the first female graduates in the country and in the entire British Empire.[1]

Ganguly studied medicine at the Calcutta Medical College. In 1886, she was awarded a GBMC (Graduate of Bengal Medical College) degree, which gave her the right to practice. She thus became one of the two, Anandi Gopal Joshi being the other, Indian women doctor qualified to practice western medicine. Abala Bose passed entrance in 1881 but was refused admission to the medical college and went to Madras (now Chennai) to study medicine but never graduated.

Kadambini overcame some opposition from the teaching staff, and orthodox sections of society. She went to the United Kingdom in 1892 and returned to India after qualifying as LRCP (Edinburgh), LRCS (Glasgow), and GFPS (Dublin). After working for a short period in Lady Dufferin Hospital, she started her own private practice

In 1883 she married the Brahmo reformer and leader of women's emancipation Dwarkanath Ganguly. They were actively involved in female emancipation and social movements to improve work conditions of female coal miners in eastern India. She was one of the six female delegates to the fifth session of the Indian National Congress in 1889, and even organized the Women's Conference in Calcutta in 1906 in the aftermath of the partition of Bengal. In 1908, she had also organized and presided over a Calcutta meeting for expressing sympathy with Satyagraha - inspired Indian laborers in Transvaal, South Africa. She formed an association to collect money with the help of fundraisers to assist the workers. In 1914 she presided over the meeting of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, which was held in Calcutta to honour Mahatma Gandhi during his Calcutta visit.

As the mother of eight children she had to devote considerable time to her household affairs. She was deft in needlework.

The noted American historian David Kopf [2] has written, “Ganguli's wife, Kadambini, was appropriately enough the most accomplished and liberated Brahmo woman of her time. From all accounts, their relationship was most unusual in being founded on mutual love, sensitivity and intelligence… Mrs. Ganguli's case was hardly typical even among the more emancipated Brahmo and Christian women in contemporary Bengali society. Her ability to rise above circumstances and to realize her potential as a human being made her a prize attraction to Sadharan Brahmos dedicated ideologically to the liberation of Bengal's women.”

for more details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadambini_Ganguly

Kalpana Chawla - the First Indian Woman in Space

Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian-American woman in space and the first Indian-American to fly the space shuttle. She was one of seven astronauts killed in 2003 when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere.

Kalpana Chawla Biography

Kalpana Chawla's path to become an astronaut began in Karnal, India.

"None of our astronauts traveled a longer path to space than Kalpana Chawla," U.S. President George W. Bush said. "She left India as a student but she would see the nation of her birth, all of it, from hundreds of miles above."

Chawla knew that she wanted to be an aerospace engineer at an early age. She was influenced by watching the planes from the local flying clubs and by her father.

"Every once in a while," Chawla said, "we'd ask my dad if we could get a ride in one of these planes. And, he did take us to the flying club and get us a ride in the Pushpak and a glider that the flying club had."

She graduated from Tagore School, Karnal, India, in 1976 and received a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from India's Punjab Engineering College in 1982.

Then, she moved to the United States to go to graduate school at the University of Texas-Arlington, where she received a master's degree in aerospace engineering in 1984. Then, she moved to Boulder, Colo., to pursue a doctorate in aerospace engineering, which she received in 1988.

Her career with NASA began in 1988 when she went to work for the Ames Research Center in California. Chawla's work at Ames centered on powered-lift computational fluid dynamics, which involves aircraft like the Harrier.

She left Ames in 1993 to join Overset Methods Inc. in Los Altos, Calif., as vice president and research scientist. She headed a team of researchers specializing in simulation of moving multiple body problems. Her work at Overset resulted in development and implementation of efficient techniques to perform aerodynamic optimization.

However, the successful career outside of NASA was brief. The agency selected her as an astronaut candidate in December 1994, and she reported to Johnson Space Center in March 1995.

Her first flight was STS-87, the fourth U.S Microgravity Payload flight, on Space Shuttle Columbia from Nov. 19 to Dec. 5, 1997. She was a mission specialist and operated Columbia's robot arm.

She returned to space in Jan. 16, 2003, aboard Columbia. She served as mission specialist during the 16-day research flight. The STS-107 crew conducted more than 80 experiments.

Chawla and her six STS-107 crewmates perished Feb. 1, 2003, over Texas as Columbia was re-entering Earth's atmosphere en route to a landing at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

Chawla is survived by her husband. Her interests included hiking and backpacking. She also enjoyed flying. She held a Certificated Flight Instructor's license with airplane and glider ratings, Commercial Pilot's licenses for single- and multi-engine land and seaplanes, and Gliders, and instrument rating for airplanes.

In a memorial service on Feb. 4, 2003, Astronaut Office Chief Kent Rominger said that Chawla loved her work and was respected by her colleagues.

"Kalpana, or K.C. to her friends, was admired personally for her extraordinary kindness and technically for her strive for perfection," he said. "She had a terrific sense of humor and loved flying small airplanes with her husband and loved flying in space. Flying was her passion. She would often remind her crew as her training flow would be delayed and become extended, she would say, 'Man, you are training to fly in space. What more could you want?'"

During an STS-107 preflight interview, she was asked who inspired her. She responded that she was motivated by people who are giving it their all.

"I think inspiration and tied with it is motivation," she said. "For me, definitely, it comes every day from people in all walks of life. It's easy for me to be motivated and inspired by seeing somebody who just goes all out to do something."

Chawla was a motivated person who made an impression on others.

"When the sad news reached her hometown," Bush said, "an administrator at her high school recalled, 'She always said she wanted to reach the stars. She went there and beyond.' Kalpana's native country mourns her today and so does her adopted land."

-Source: NASA Space Shuttle Columbia Crew Profiles

Sarojini Naidu

Born: February 13, 1879

Died: March 2, 1949

Achievements: She was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress and the first woman to become the governor of a state in India.

Sarojini Naidu was a distinguished poet, renowned freedom fighter and one of the great orators of her time. She was famously known as Bharatiya Kokila (The Nightingale of India). Sarojini Naidu was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress and the first woman to become the governor of a state in India.

Sarojini Naidu was born on February 13, 1879. Her father Aghoranath Chattopadhyaya was a scientist and philosopher. He was the founder of the Nizam College, Hyderabad. Sarojini Naidu's mother Barada Sundari Devi was a poetess and used to write poetry in Bengali. Sarojini Naidu was the eldest among the eight siblings. One of her brothers Birendranath was a revolutionary and her other brother Harindranath was a poet, dramatist, and actor.

Sarojini Naidu was a brilliant student. She was proficient in Urdu, Telugu, English, Bengali, and Persian. At the age of twelve, Sarojini Naidu attained national fame when she topped the matriculation examination at Madras University. Her father wanted her to become a mathematician or scientist but Sarojini Naidu was interested in poetry. She started writing poems in English. Impressed by her poetry, Nizam of Hyderabad, gave her scholarship to study abroad. At the age of 16, she traveled to England to study first at King's College London and later at Girton College, Cambridge. There she met famous laureates of her time such as Arthur Simon and Edmond Gausse. It was Gausse who convinced Sarojini to stick to Indian themes-India's great mountains, rivers, temples, social milieu, to express her poetry. She depicted contemporary Indian life and events. Her collections "The golden threshold (1905)", "The bird of time (1912)", and "The broken wing (1912)" attracted huge Indian and English readership.

At the age of 15, she met Dr. Govindarajulu Naidu and fell in love with him. a non-brahmin, and a doctor by profession. After finishing her studies at the age of 19, she married him during the time when inter-caste marriages were not allowed. It was a revolutionary step but Sarojini's father fully supported her in her endeavour. Sarojini Naidu had a happy married life and had four children: Jayasurya, Padmaj, Randheer, and Leilamani.

Sarojini Naidu joined the Indian national movement in the wake of partition of Bengal in 1905. She came into contact with Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Rabindranath Tagore, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Annie Besant, C.P.Rama Swami Iyer, Gandhiji and Jawaharlal Nehru. She awakened the women of India. She brought them out of the kitchen. She traveled from state to state, city after city and asked for the rights of the women. She re-established self-esteem within the women of India.

In 1925, Sarojini Naidu presided over the annual session of Indian National Congress at Kanpur. Sarojini Naidu played a leading role during the Civil Disobedience Movement and was jailed along with Gandhiji and other leaders. In 1942, Sarojini Naidu was arrested during the "Quit India" movement and was jailed for 21 months with Gandhiji. She shared a very warm relationship with Gandhiji and used to call him "Mickey Mouse".

After Independence, Sarojini Naidu became the Governor of Uttar Pradesh. She was India's first woman governor. Sarojini Naidu died in office on March 2 ,1949.

Kiran Bedi

Kiran Bedi is the first woman officer to join Indian Police Officer. She is India's first and highest ranking women officer. She joined the Indian Police Service in 1972, and has an expertise of innovative and welfare policing.

Kiran Bedi was born on June 9, 1949. She was the second of the four daughters of her parents, her father Prakash Lal Peshawaria, a landlord in Punjab and mother Prem Lata Peshawaria. Kiran Bedi did her schooling at the Sacred Heart Convent and joined NCC. She excelled at sports and took up tennis, a game which her father used to play. After school she went on to study Political Science at the Government College for Women, Amritsar.

Kiran Bedi started her career as a lecturer in Political Science. Soon she left the job after the selection in the Indian Police Service in the year 1972. In her more than 35 years of the police service she served in a number of different and challenging assignments. Kiran Bedi has greatly influenced areas like control of narcotics, traffic management and VIP security. She retired from IPS in December, 2007, after taking voluntary retirement.

She was awarded Ramon Magsaysay Award (Asian Nobel Prize) in 1994 for her prison reform policies. She has received several coveted awards. Kiran Bedi has been an author of several books, guest columnist in various magazines and newspaper and anchored several Radio and Television shows. She diligently worked for social-issues like prison reforms, crime prevention, drug abuse, police and women's issues. She's been involved in education, training, counseling, and health care to the urban and rural poor.

She has worked with the United Nations as the Police Advisor and represented India at the United Nations and in International forums. She has set up two voluntary NGOs, Navjyoti and India Vision Foundation, which works relentlessly in the areas of drug abuse treatment and schooling for prisoner's children.

Kiran Bedi is a gusty woman who fears nobody. She has been one of the most inspiring Indian figures and admired women.

Latha Mangeshkar

Lata has a voice that no Indian can forget ever,she is the heart of Indian music. Delightfully high, the notes rendered clearly to the last bar, the words pronounced with a rare panache - the voice has haunted Indians for over five decades. The 'masseuse' of this all-pervading music and the queen empress of India's immensely popular light music industry, is a portly, dark, camera-shy, plain-as-jane, woman, Latabai Mangeshkar, who, as a playback singer, enjoys today, a clout, which even the movie moguls of the country's film industry cannot dream of. Lata Mangeshkar's songs have captured the hearts and imagination of millions of her admirers around the world. They have become an inseparable part of the daily lives of Indians - wherever they may be. Words fail to express the depth and scope of Lata Mangeshkar's genius. Lata Mangeshkar has come to symbolise India in a way that no one else has, or ever will for years to come.

QUICK FACTS:

Lata Mangeshkar

Nickname: Anandadhan

Date of Birth: 28 september, 1929

City: Sikh Mohalla, Indore, Madhya Pradesh

Country: India

Mother: Shudhhamati

Father: Pt. Deenanath Mangeshkar

Siblings: sisters Meena, Asha, Usha and brouther Hridaynath

Favorite Literary Works: Khalil, Gibran, Chekov and Tolstoy

Favorite Classical Singers: Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Ustad Ameer Khan

Favorite Playback Singers: K.L.Saigal and Noorjehan

Favorite Film Makers: Guru Dutt, Bimal Royand Satyajit Ray

Favorite Movies: Padosan, Gone with the wind, Limelight and Titanic

Favorite Music Directors: Madan Mohan, Salil Chowdhary and Jaidev

Favorite Lyricist: Shailendra,Sahir Ludhianavi, Majrooh, Neeraj and Naksh Lyallpuri

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