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BITSIAN WOMEN - YOU GO GIRL!
BY
Himabindu Chitta ('02), Krithika Kalyan ('00), Bharathi Balakrishnan
('00), Deeptha Ganapathy ('95), Aditi Pany ('00) and Dileepan Narayanan
('00)
Creative Arts
India
has always been well renowned for its culture, art and architecture.
Recently the West has also seen the success of the “Indian
Engineer”. A union of these two phenomena has led to the
emergence of a new breed of individual – the creative intellect.
To explain this new breed of individual, we must explore the nature and
definition of creativity a little further.
Creativity is defined as the ability to produce new things or new
knowledge. One of the principal ways to be creative is to look for
alternative ways to view phenomena or for alternative ways to ask a
question. Robert Sternberg's theory attributes several factors that
influence creativity - Intelligence, Knowledge, Thinking Styles,
Personality, Motivation and other Environmental factors. Maybe
creativity also requires a touch of eccentricity and stubbornness.
Voila! Is this not the environment in BITS, Pilani in a nutshell? Be it
OASIS, APOGEE, plays by drama clubs, music nites or any other cultural
event in BITS, we have had the opportunity to explore and nurture our
creative side. Let me illustrate with some highlights from our own
BITSian women who are prime examples of success in creative arts.
Anuradha Gupta
(nee Sharma) who has a MMS degree from BITS (‘86-‘90) and
an MBA from Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi is the author
of three books. Her first book was a book of philosophical short
stories and poems for limited circulation, called, "The Quest for Life"
that dealt with primarily social themes. The second book, "Memoirs of
Army Days" was about her experiences as an Army Brat, reliving the
nostalgia and joy of Army Life.
The third book, The Green Dragon is a book that marries the mythology
of dragons with children in India in an attempt to sensitize children
to all possible environmental issues. It has received good reviews from
The Hindu and the Free Press Journal. It is listed on Amazon.com.
Her fourth book (nearing completion) is a semi-fiction book dealing
with bipolar disorder, with the objective of getting rid of the myths
and stigma surrounding mental disorders. She is also co-authoring her
fifth book with a BITSian writer; this will be her first novel.
Anuradha is on the Editorial board of Sandpaper and on the Executive
Committee of a New York based non-profit organization, Lend-A-Hand
India.
 Rashmi Datt
is the author of the well-known book “Managing Your Boss”.
This book, published in 2005, is a practical guide to constructively
managing the relationship with your boss. The book provides insights
and practical tips with the help of case studies and examples based on
real life experiences of middle and senior managers. Rashmi graduated
from BITS in 1984 with a MMS degree. At BITS, she was the Cultural
Secretary of Meera Bhavan in 1982. She worked for 8 years with Pfizer,
Mumbai in Training before starting Dialog. Dialog, is a learning
services delivery consultancy, which offers workshops towards personal
and organizational development. Rashmi tells us “We are owners of
talent and potential. Using it is up to us.”
Anuradha Haasan
('88 Physics MMS) has featured in many movies and TV series in Tamil
and Telugu. She is also part of the Malayalam mega-serial "Vivahita".
In 2001, Anu won the Best Supporting Actress award for her TV role in
"Anbulla Snehgidhiye" based on Chitra Banerjee's award winning novel
"Sister of my heart". Her movies include Priyanka (1994), Indira
(1996), Alavandhan (2001), Run (2002) and Nala Damayanthi (2003). She
won the Tamil Nadu Government's Best Character Artiste (Female) award
for 2002 for her role in the movie “Run”. Anu Haasan also
shares production credits in the film “Mumbai Xpress”
starring Kamal Haasan.
 Divya
graduated from BITS with a Mechanical Engineering degree and took up a
career as an actress. Although she had featured in the movie
“Five star”, she waited until her graduation to take on
more projects. She was Miss Madurai in 1999 and the runner-up in 2001
at the Ms. Chennai pageant. Her accomplishments include receiving the
TN State Award for Educational Excellence in 1999. Know as Kanika or
Kaniha (Tamil) and Sravanthi (Telugu & Kannada) on screen she has
featured in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam movies. Her list of
films includes Ottessi Chepputanna (2003 in Telegu), Annavaru (2003 in
Kannada), Autograph (2004 in Tamil), Aethiri (2004 in Tamil), Dancer
(2004 in Tamil), Ettinum (2004 in Malayalam) and Godfather (2005 in
Tamil).
Padmini Chettur
is a choreographer and dancer. She studied in BITS between 1987 and
1991 and several BITSians who were on campus then remember her well
from her performance in the EDC plays. After graduating from BITS, she
joined the dance company run by Chandralekha. Padmini has created her
own identity and style, drawing from her early training in the
traditional Bharatnatyam dance style. Her first solo work 'Wings and
Masks' (1994) was followed by 'Brown' (1994). She collaborated with
Krishna Devanandan for the duet 'Unsung'. Her other works include
'Soliloquy' (1996), 'Fragility' (2001) and ‘Solo’ (2003).
Her most recent work 'Paper Doll’ premiered in Netherlands in
2005. In ‘Paper Doll’, performed by Padmini Chettur's
company of five dancers, she examines the chain of paper dolls cut out
of a piece of paper. The dolls were identical representing perfection
but two-dimensional and attached only at the arms. In an article she
wrote about the show and her work, she says “I represent an India
still in the process of assimilating urbanity into its culture, an
India where the ‘body’ still longs for freedoms it
doesn’t yet have.”
 Shanti Sharma
(nee Vaidhyanathan) is one of the finest classical vocalists in India.
She graduated from BITS in 1978 with a Masters in Chemistry. She learnt
music under Pandit Amarnath in Bharatiya Kala Kendra, Delhi. She later
went on to become his assistant. In an interview with The Tribune, she
says “I am happy I have stuck to music and not given into the
temptation of earning quick bucks by becoming a science teacher. Music,
for me, is a vocation. God’s gift, which I humbly accept and
nurture.” Shanti has won many awards and has been instrumental in
the success of many artists who were her students. A deeply
philosophical person, she says “my manzil is to reach the heights
of sublimity in singing”.
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