Pandemics and the City: Past and Present with Shreelata Rao Seshadri

We all have our stories of how we coped and survived during the last two Covid years. But do you know that Bangalore has been through pandemics before? During this session, you will get a chance to share your stories - how you spent your day, whom you met, what you did to balance your home and work life, what you ate, whom you turned to for comfort and strength during such a difficult and strange time. And in the process, you will get to contextualize your stories with experiences from the past - how did people cope 100 years ago, and what can we learn from them? How did society change then, and how has it changed now?

Our facilitator, Shreelata Rao, has spent the last couple of years researching and reflecting on these ideas through archival material, literature, oral histories and more. So, come and be a part of this brainstorming session with her, and explore how things sometimes stay the same, but sometimes they change in fundamental ways!

Prof. Shreelata Rao Seshadri brings a truly eclectic set of interests to her involvement with EncounterEclectic With a Ph.D. in Health and Human Services from the Pennsylvania State University, USA, she has spent the better part of the last 30 years working on global public health across India, other parts of South Asia and Africa. During this time, she has engaged extensively in policy and project work, research and teaching, and has an impressive set of academic publications. In addition, Prof. Shreelata Rao Seshadri has consistently extended pedagogic boundaries by exploring creative ways to communicate with multiple audiences. Her efforts at using games, stories, artefacts, narratives and films to foster conversations and nurture learning have found an international audience. Apart from this, Shreelata is an award-winning author of children’s fiction; she has also published several crime novels and taught crime fiction to university students. She is an accomplished potter, and has been selected into several juried shows.

What is EncounterEclectic? EncounterEclectic believes that learning is an on-going and lifelong journey. Many of us would like to learn more about a diverse range of subjects – from art to literature to history and cultures to astronomy – but not in a formal classroom, nor to pass an exam. Do you just want to explore a topic or discuss an idea? That’s where EncounterEclectic comes in!

EncounterEclectic is the brainchild of a group of people deeply engaged with higher education, with decades of experience in teaching at premier universities. They have curated over 75 extramural courses focused on continuous learning, supported by a team of experienced facilitators from diverse fields.

Sometimes provocative, but not controversial or contentious; not too academic yet not superficial – EncounterEclectic is a space for ‘learned leisure’.