Dr. Kavita Sharma President of South Asian University & Advisory Council     For me to think of Indian women is to dialogue with myself.   What are the influences that I grew up with in post independence India?  What are their sources?  What are the contemporary images and ideas that I absorbed, puzzled over, accepted or rejected? There was my mother from a small village of U.P. without even a school, whose father defied convention, refused to marry her off at the age of nine, was condemned by the community for his pains, but who succeeded in making her a doctor and begin practice in 1946.   There was her struggle with…

Dr. Kavita Sharma President of South Asian University & Advisory Council     Religion has been one of the most dominant forces in India, since the beginning of time.  According to Sri Aurobindo and many scholars, the key to India’s culture and civilization lies in its spirituality.  A book was published by Sir John Woodroffe, a scholar and a critic, called India Civilized as an answer to the negative criticism of Indian culture by the English drama critic William Archer.  Sri Aurobindo was in broad agreement with Woodroffe so he used  the occasion  for reflections on Indian culture and civilization published as a series of articles on Indian Art, Architecture, History,…

Dr. Kavita Sharma President of South Asian University & Advisory Council     Canada and India present several points of convergence and divergence in the expansion of higher education and its financing. Many of these arise out of federal and provincial jurisdictions.  While education is a provincial subject in the Canadian Constitution, it is on the concurrent list in India.  This has certain implications.  While in India, the bulk of higher education takes place through state universities; in Canada, it is the provinces that are primarily responsible for higher education, and the federal government negotiates post-secondary education through areas of federal responsibility like national defence, Indian affairs, the territories, external affairs…

Dr. Kavita Sharma President of South Asian University & Advisory Council     The pivotal movement in Mahabharata is the game of dice.  Several questions arise: why should a game be a part of a ceremony as solemn as Rajsuya Yagya?  Even if  there has to be a game why should it be a game of dice rather than a game of skill and valor?  Further, why should the whole action turn on the outcome of this game of dice?.   One reason could be that the game of dice represents the unforeseen challenges that a king must endure during his reign.  India. Significance of a Game or a Sport A sport…