Preeti Shree Venkatram

Interview Summary (00:00:40) Early years, school life and developing an interest in nature Ghazala Shahabuddin shares that she was born in Caracas, Venezuela. Her father was a diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service and her mother was a homemaker. They moved to India in 1975 and her father became a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament. She says she has five siblings. She talks about being in Delhi till her post graduate studies, for which she went to Pondicherry University. Her earliest memories are of Algeria- a...

Interview Summary (00:01:09) Place of religion/faith in Shahabuddin’s life and three major influences on her work Ghazala Shahabuddin shares that she comes from a conservative Muslim family in North India, but she rebelled against the restrictive nature of the religion. While religion was not a significant part of her life before, she feels the need to revisit it now as she believes the Quran is a progressive document with many valuable lessons, and she wants to understand it better. She cites three major...

Interview Summary (00:01:12) Council for Social Development, the Sariska project and interactions with colleagues and collaborators Ghazala Shahabuddin talks about facing difficulty in finding a teaching position upon her return to Delhi. Despite being qualified, she did not get the assistant professorship she applied for. Instead, she decided to freelance and continue her research. She then came across an opening in the Council for Social Development, which was starting an environment department and wanted a...

Interview Summary (00:01:24) Conservation worldview With reference to her conservation worldview, Ghazala Shahabuddin shares that it has remained largely the same since her involvement in various campaigns and projects since high school, but she now realises the complexity of conservation and the need for a wider framework of understanding, including social and government policies. She emphasises the importance of working with people and communities to bring about change locally, but also recognises the...

Interview Summary (00:00:27) His name, parents, schooling in Bombay and siblings Joshi talks about his name stemming from the naming convention in Maharashtra, and shares those of his parents as well. He talks about being born in Belgaum in 1951, and shifting to Bombay. He talks about initially being in a Gujarati medium kindergarten school in Malad, but then switching to a Marathi medium school in Dadar, and then again to another school in the higher classes. He shares that his father was initially a...

Interview Summary (00:00:30) Follow-up from last session and what his siblings have pursued NV Joshi shares the name of the singer he was unable to recollect in the last session who was a student of his father’s. In addition to cricket and reading which he mentioned last time, he shares that in his school days he was also into physical exercising and table tennis. He goes on to talk about what his siblings pursued academically and professionally, including his brother’s time at TERI. He remarks that his...

Interview Summary (00:00:20) Structure and process of PhD and Joshi’s supervisor Joshi talks about his time pursuing a PhD degree at the MBU at IISc and what it entailed, highlighting the absence of present-day structured arrangements like seminars and regular meetings. He details the defence and examination process as well. He describes his interactions with his PhD supervisor, what his inputs were and speaks about his gentle and friendly nature and commitment towards his students.(00:07:47)...

Interview Summary (00:00:32) Interest in programming, programming languages and location of CTSJoshi talks about how his interest in programming developed after joining for his PhD degree and taking a course taught by C Ramakrishnan. He mentions the programming languages that were being used at the time. He also says where CTS was located initially before it moved to being opposite the Mathematics Department.(00:04:35) Formation of CES Joshi sheds light on the circumstances around which CES was...

Interview Summary (00:00:55) Last three years and early collaboration with faculty at CTS and CES Joshi shares that the three years since the last session, which coincided with the coronavirus pandemic, were most comfortable for him and he had no problems with being isolated. He speaks about how his collaboration with Raghavendra Gadagkar came about in the 1970s and how he was introduced to the Centre for Theoretical Studies (CTS) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). He talks about the work he did with...

Interview Summary (00:01:14) Parents, interests as a child and studying at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay Sharachchandra Lele was born in Pune, Maharashtra, but moved around due to his father being in the Navy. He lived in Delhi and Jamnagar before returning to Pune. His mother was a homemaker from a politically active family. He went to IIT Bombay for his undergraduate studies. He says he was not pressured to pursue a specific career. Lele talks about his childhood and what enabled him to...

Interview Summary (00:01:14) Developing an understanding of and interest in the environment Sharachchandra Lele highlights several key turning points in his life that shaped his understanding of the environment. These include attending a nature camp during the 12th standard, encountering the State of India’s Environment report during his IIT career, and participating in an interdisciplinary programme at University of California, Berkeley [Archivist’s note: Lele refers to it as State of Environment report,...

Interview Summary (00:00:37) Navigating engagement on committees as a non-domain specialist/expert; challenges, opportunities and learnings Sharachchandra Lele discusses his experiences on committees related to coal mining and the Karnataka Elephant Task Force, highlighting the challenges and opportunities he faced as a non-domain specialist. Despite lacking extensive knowledge, he used various strategies to learn and familiarise himself with the subject matter. In the coal mining committee, Lele, an...

Interview Summary (00:00:37) Challenges in producing impactful knowledge Lele discusses the process of producing impactful knowledge and the challenges involved. He emphasises the importance of starting with a problem-driven approach rather than being driven solely by theory or methods. However, defining the problem itself becomes a dilemma, as it can be influenced by those in power and may lack broader relevance. Lele gives the example of his work on forests and the need to understand the relationship...

Interview Summary (00:00:33) Childhood, family and memories from the freedom struggle Rai talks about her childhood years, growing up across various cities of India because of her father’s transferable job. She speaks about her parents, siblings and grandparents. She recollects memories from her childhood and also those from the freedom struggle. She says she owes her journalism to her maternal grandfather who used to bring out a literary magazine in Telugu. She also recounts being neighbours with...

Interview Summary (00:00:45) Marriage, divorce and its effects on her children and her career and asking for maternity leave Rai speaks about getting married to Raghu Rai. She describes writing an article on the hopes and expectations of a marriage as being cathartic for her and how it was received. After her divorce, she shares that she has continued to be in touch with her ex-husband professionally and for their children. She talks about how her divorce affected her professionally. She shares about her...