Woman – this very word holds a lot of meaning.This very word reflects a lot of roles played in the society – a mother, a daughter, the unsaid head of the family – a wife, a sibling and much more. But even men play these same roles.Then what makes a woman different? A man can be a professor, a lecturer, a teacher by profession but being a teacher is so natural in a woman that so many lecturers can come and go in your life but your first teacher will always be your mother.
Even now women are considered an asset. Even now in financially underprivileged families with a son and a daughter, it is the son who gets the education because they can afford the education of just one of their children and not the daughter because she will anyway marry and go to another family. They are oblivious of the fact that educating a son is education to one human being, while educating a woman is educating an entire generation. Qualities of emotional balance, maturity, handling and nurturing a family and at the same time giving her hand in earning the bread of the family are all HER capabilities and not an asset. SHE is a very powerful word that we all have to be proud of. I am really proud of being a woman and so should we all.
It is high time we stop trying to be like the son that our parents have ever wanted and start being the best daughter they always had. It is time we stop waiting for people to fall in love with us and start falling in love with ourselves. It is time we start celebrating the very US.
This, my dear friend, is the motive of WOMEN AT WHIRLDATA, a celebration of Women at Work, which is very much needed at the moment in the society.
I,MadhumitaGowrishankar, a proud woman working as a Data Analyst in Whirldatawish all the women out there a very happy Women’s Day.
Women’s Day celebrations at Whirldata was a combination of learning, self-realization, encouragement to give back more to the society, dancing, singing, workouts, self-defense classes and much more.
So what did we exactly do on Women’s day?
It all started around 11 am with 3 beautiful and inspiring personalities gracing
Dr.VijiBalasubramanian, MD, Ph.D.
Dr. Viji has spent the last two decades of her life marrying the fields of medicine and engineering. She has worked in many prestigious institutions in the USA and published in pedigree journals such as Nature Medicine and been awarded prestigious research and teaching grants. Her key strength has been in the development and empowerment of students and faculty in various stages of their lives, fueling in them an aspiration for excellence. After her move to India in 2010, she combined her passion for the development of professional excellence with all her global experience in the role of a Professional Coach. Viji has given many thought leadership and empowerment seminars in the city of Chennai.
Ms. Usha Devi Venkatachalam
She is the CEO & CTO of Krishi Janani, a social enterprise in India that is aggregating farmers’ purchasing power to reduce expenses. CEO of Appropriate IT, a social enterprise harnessing technology to advance social justice, equitable access, & inclusive international development. She has 15+ years of experience in implementing ICT (information and communication technology) solutions. She has conducted capacity building training in over twenty countries. She has finesse expertise in finding culture-specific & locally-appropriate solutions for resource constrained environments. She is also the co-author of Making IT Our Own: Information & Communication Technology Training of Trainers Manual, which has been adapted and translated into Arabic, French, and Russian.
Dr.M.H.Abinaya
Dr.M.H.Abinaya is a skilled specialist in Fertility, Obstetrics and Gynaecology with more than sixteen years of experience. She provides guidance and solace to couples struggling with infertility through various procedures from Ovulation Induction, IUI and IVF. Dr.Abinaya is a believer in patients having normal deliveries and is known for providing sensible and comprehensive guidance to her patients. She has a proven track record of dealing with critical issues during Pregnancy such as heart disease, anaemia, antepartum bleeding and postpartum bleeding. Dr.Abinaya completed an advanced Fertility Course in Singapore and a certificate in Ultrasound Imaging. She completed her DNB (OG) from Apollo Hospitals and MBBS from Trichy Medical College.
These 3 beautiful personalities graced our workplace as our CEO Mr. Ara Ramalingam launched the W@W initiative with a stirring opening speech. Through his speech, he wonderfully communicated that behind every successful woman there is herself and that the company is striving to achieve a 50-50 balance in the ratio of male and female employees to improve balance in work culture and at the same time to provide more opportunities to every woman out there aiming for a career in AI, DATA SCIENCE and ML.
With the Launch of W@W, Ara gave the floor to the ladies to take over.
Moving forward the Women at Whirldata had an interactive session with our special guests.
To start with Dr.Abhinaya, gave us a lot of information regarding different types of problems faced by working women and how to prevent those. She also gave both married and unmarried women strong tips and advices on how important it is to take care of our health first before anything else and how too much stress can eventually increase the chances of having cancer in women. She also emphasized on how working out in simple ways between our work time every day and eating a lot of nutritious food can help us overcome an array of major problems. She alsopointed out that diet does not mean starving at all but actually means eating the right quantity of nutritious food at right intervals of time.
Dr. VijiBalasubramanian, introduced herself as a dancer and then went ahead and started narrating her own story to us. The story included the struggles that she went through, the battles she won and how she decided to craft the personality she is. This empowered us with strength and power to decide what we need and what we don’t. She also taught us the powerful art of learning to say ‘no’.
Last but definitely not the least was Ms. Usha. She enlightened us with her story and her trail of thoughts on how life is a full circle that she is now working for the farmers she once used to be. According to Ms.Usha, life is not just about working to earn money but to give it back to the society. She insists on analysing every problem to understand what we can do to serve or help the people better.
With such great thoughts filled in our minds and hearts it was time for a lip-smacking lunch. So we headed toSavya Rasa, a restaurant in Kotrurpuram, Chennai. It had a great ambience, beautiful dine area with soft lights and dark antique wooden furniture, which were quite impressive. After relishing the delicious South Indian Thali andclicking a gallery full ofpictures, we finally came back to our workplace.And once we entered, we were greeted with a surprise in the shape of Mr. Anand.
Mr. Anandis a certifiedCrossFit&Zumba trainer. He is also a certified pound rack trainer. We had very little knowledge of Zumba, but he explained and guided us with care as we swayed our way into sheer happiness. Between the rigorously entertaining Zumba sessions, he also shared several tips on correct postures and diet. With that pulsating session that put a smile on our faces, the celebrations reached its sweet end.
I, on behalf of every working woman at Whirldata, thank all the special guests and our CEO Mr. Ara Ramalingam, for making us feel special and empowering us throughout.
Thank you!
-Madhumita Gowrishankar
