MY Dearest Dr. Revathi Balakrishnan

I gladly jumped when i got a photograph fromfao.orgDr. Revathi Balakrishnan  was my teacher when i was studying for my graduation in Home science then she had gone to US for her Post graduation in Home Science. Then  she joined back in the year 1982 in the Deptt.of FRM,CCSHAU,where I was working as Research Associate.. It was a great experience working under her guidance. Not only because she supported me in preparing for higher studies, in spite of my lacking of good grades in my graduation. For her support and inspiration, I feel very much in debt with her. Later on I did my Masters and my post graduations too. She is  Regional Rural Sociologist and Women in Development Officer in FAO Regional Office for Asia and the PacificBangkok, Thailand . 

Dr. Revathi Balakrishnan (standing)

I found some information in the report given  in fao.org, I am posting  medicinal uses of plants i have in my balcony ...You the readers can be benefited by practicing them.........more plants and their medicinal uses click the link given above.

Have a read!!

LEISURE AMONG FARM WOMEN OF HARYANA

Research was done using protocol provided by the ICAR.

Many women don't know they have problem. If your grandmother got up and put a pebble in her shoe every day, and your mother did the same thing, you're going to put the pebble in your shoe too, and not think about complaining.

Leisure being a necessary part of life in every human being- as it provides a chance to relax and recover from the stress and fatigue of everyday life. Rural farmwomen of Haryana have their own ways of enjoying leisure and recreation despite the scarce means, hard work, and everyday struggle involved in a subsistence-oriented life style. They have an amazing capacity to turn some of their routine work into avenues of recreation, and thereby, transform some of the most mundane and dry work into rewarding leisure experience.

Farm women have developed the skill to carve out pleasure from their meetings during everyday work, chatting with friends and relatives during their social visits and festivals, visit to market after sale of crops, their food preparation and their handicrafts. Farmwomen’s leisure activities mainly are: Embroidery, knitting, sewing, crocheting, dari making, kitchen gardening and preparation of special food item for their families.

This article has attempted to show that women of the farm families of Haryana, enjoy recreation and leisure in their own unique way as they they don’t know they have problem with lot of work and no formal leisure and recreation means. It is significant to note that they found some ways of stealing away from the mental sense of obligation and pressure generated by their cumbersome daily work performed in a largely hostile and disadvantageous environment, and of creating their own mental worlds of joy within their daily struggle.