 During the year 1997 I was a
visiting fellow at the Queen Elizabeth House, at Oxford, for one academic year. While
there, I was to study ‘political empowerment of women’.The Queen Elizabeth House (QEH), located at No. 21, St. Giles, can
truly be described as the original Commonwealth Institute. It used to be involved in the
research about the erstwhile colonies. During the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, the
reigning Queen of England, it was dedicated to her, as she is the head of the
Commonwealth. Today, it is a department of the Oxford University.
The Director of the Institute, Professor Frances Stewart, a
woman of substance, is a distinguished scholar and an expert on Africa. The programme
co-ordinator, for visiting fellowship programme, Professor George Peters is also the
Deputy Director of Queen Elizabeth House and an Agriculture expert.
 Apart from the visiting fellowship programmes, QEH runs a prestigious
‘programme for Diplomats’ and M. Phil. programmes in ‘Refugee Studies and
Development Studies’. One of its unique contributions to Oxford is its ‘Centre
for the Cross-cultural Research in Women’. At a time when women’s research was
not really considered important in the male-dominated Oxford, the feminist scholars first
started it as a seminar on "Women’s Anthropology" in the 70s. It was made a
full-fledged centre, in 1983.
The centre still continues as an NGO, totally run by the
Volunteers. Shirley Ardener, O.B.E., my teacher in Oxford was its founder Director.
Presently, an outstanding feminist scholar Cathy Lloyd, who also teaches at Warwick
University heads the centre. In spite of its voluntary status, the centre has published
over thirty volumes in women’s research and has become known around the globe.
The centre has been holding its seminars every Thursday at
2 p.m., for nearly thirty years. These seminars are very popular and scholars from all
over the world come to present their work. These are followed by tea and sandwiches and a
chat with the speaker, which adds to the popularity of the seminars.
 For the seminars during 1997-98, the theme was ‘Tourism and Women’. The
subjects were as varied as ‘English female tourists staying back in Turkey to marry
Turkish men.’ Mobile and free Muslim nomadic women, in the Nile delta, becoming
confined to home and losing freedom of movement after their men enter the tourism industry
and a settled life style. At this forum I also presented a paper on ‘Women-driven
Tourism at Taragambadi in Tamil Nadu,’ which was a small success.
My friend Maria presented her outstanding work about the
‘Muslim women Imamas in Communist China. There was an equally interesting
presentation by a Pakistani journalist about ‘Honour killing of women of
Pakistan’. This centre which is older than the Women Studies Department of the Oxford
University has truly fostered feminist research world wide.
I also used to attend the 1 p.m. lunch-time seminar held
every Monday, upstairs, in a small dinning hall of QEH. The subject was usually Africa and
the Director was invariably present.
 In fact, there was so much going around in
Oxford that we never had enough of it. My favourites were night talks held in the Oxford
Union. On one occasion, we met the first woman ‘Chief detective’ of UK and heard
about her life long pursuit of a criminal, who she suspected to be a rapist and a serial
killer. It was an enchanting tale of persistence and danger.
Oxford is a ‘citadel of Human Rights. I always made it
to the human rights seminars held at St. Antony’s College. But the big day was when
Mary Robinson (ex-president of Ireland and now Secretary General for the Human Rights
Commission of UN) spoke in ‘Sheldonian Theatre’ on the subject of human rights.
She was brought into the fourteenth century theatre, in a procession, by the
Vice-chancellor and other dons dressed in their full academic regalia.
The great excitement was caused when Stephen Hawkins was to
speak in the Town Hall, on the subject of ‘theory of everything’. Every one had
to pay five pounds to enter. Still you could not control the crowds. It was amazing to see
him communicate with the help of computer-voice systems. He still teaches at Cambridge and
is currently holding the chair once held by Issac Newton. It was an important day for him
as he had become a grandfather on that day.
In the tradition of Oxford, one is expected to attend the
guest night dinners every Thursday at QEH. These were excellent five-course meals complete
with wine, cheese & chocolates and exotic deserts prepared under the able supervision
of Ann Clayton. One is truly introduced to the English cuisine and the table manners on
these occasions. Professor Frances Stewart, the Director, normally presides on the high
table. Occasionally, there is a visiting professor or a dignitary present and delivers an
after-dinner talk. While I was there, several dignitaries including the Indian Ambassador
came to dine at QEH.
In the QEH, we had parties all the time. From welcome
parties to book release parties to summer tea parties. However, the most memorable was the
Christmas dinner party, when Ann introduced us to the ‘stuffed turkey with cranberry
sauce’ and the ‘mince pies’. There were caps for everyone and the gifts
(which came out of the crackers). Ann was not only in charge of the food but also the
upkeep of the house and controlled it in a most orderly fashion. During lunch time, the
QEH dinning hall was kept open to all scholars and Ann served lovely lunches to which we
could bring our friends. That way QEH has always kept its doors open to every visitor to
Oxford.
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