IndiaWest

Shantha Mohan’s Book ‘Roots and Wings’ a Collection of Inspiring Stories of Indian Women in Engineering

India-West Staff Reporter Jan 9, 2019

If you are looking for stories of courageous women or just some inspiration, then look no further than Indian American engineer and author Shantha Mohan’s book, “Roots and Wings: Inspiring Stories of Indian Women in Engineering.”

This book chronicles the lives and careers of 29 women who graduated from the oldest engineering college in India, College of Engineering, Guindy, in Chennai, sometime between 1943 and 1971.

This was a difficult time for these pioneering women to pursue their chosen path, yet they all went on to make their mark in their unique ways in various fields of work in India as well as in the U.S., says Mohan in the author’s note, adding that overcoming several obstacles in their careers, these women managed to find a good balance between family and work.

A few were, and are, also great community leaders, she writes, highlighting that their lives are models of courage, initiative, perseverance, innovation, entrepreneurship, resilience and flexibility.

Mohan explains that if anyone wonders whether a woman can pursue a successful career in technical fields while enjoying a satisfying family life and still find a way to make meaningful social contributions, then this book, which chronicles the lives and careers of women who managed to do just that, is the one to read.

Mohan, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, is herself a role model. She graduated from CEG with a bachelor’s degree in electronics and communication engineering in 1971. After working for few years at Electronics Corporation of India-Hyderabad, she got married, had a child, and moved to the U.S. She went on to receive her doctorate in operations management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Since then, she told The Hindu, she has worked in the field of software product development and engineering, and co-founded a retail analytics company. In 2017, she started mentoring at the Silicon Valley campus of Carnegie Mellon University.

Mohan told the publication that it was while teaching young women that she realized they didn’t have exposure to female role models in technical fields. “Around the same time, the scarcity of female presence in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, was becoming a hot topic in the U.S,” she was quoted as saying. “Attending CEG as one of eight girls in my batch of hundreds sparked the idea of writing the stories of the women who came before me, hoping to inspire girls to take up STEM education, and succeed in engineering careers.”

One of the stories in the book is about R. Sulochana. Her father pushed aside opposition from the extended family and insisted that Sulochana get a professional education. Her ambition was to become an engineer, following in the footsteps of her brother who was four years older than her. She had a very successful career in civil engineering in the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, becoming their first woman chief engineer in civil designs, retiring in 1999 after 37 years of service.

100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of these books will go toward supporting girl education in India through Rotary Club Madras East.

THE BETTER INDIA

This Amazing Book Celebrates India’s Pioneering Women Engineers. About Time!

Authored by Dr Shantha Mohan and published in 2018, Roots and Wings is a book that chronicles the lives and careers of early women engineers of India.

by Lekshmi Priya S January 10, 2019, 2:44 pm

There certainly exists a vast gender gap in the field of engineering, not just in India but across the globe.

It is not that women are not interested in the field. In fact, I’ve personally met several who were quite passionate about becoming engineers and went on to become successful ones too.

But not every girl in this country receives the motivation and opportunities that my friends did. Often, discouragement and the fear of society leads to dreams being nipped in the bud, which, sadly, explains the skewed gender ratio in technical fields.

Now, think of a time in India when the concept of a working woman in any field, let alone in the engineering sector, was inconceivable.

However, history is a witness to the fact that there have always been women who refused to be slowed down and soared free to chase their dreams.

Authored by Dr Shantha Mohan and published in 2018, Roots and Wings: Inspiring Stories of Indian Women in Engineering, is a book that chronicles 29 such women.

Interestingly, all of them had graduated from the College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG) in Chennai, between 1943 and 1971. For the uninitiated, CEG is the oldest engineering college in India.

From A Lalitha, who is celebrated as the first Indian woman engineer, to Mallika Chellappa who worked as a researcher for the prestigious defence development labs of the Indian government, the book offers its readers a glimpse into the lives and careers of these women as they pursued their chosen path.

Dr Mohan is a renowned name in the field of software engineering and operations management expertise, and this is her first literary work.

“Overcoming several obstacles to their careers, these women managed to find a good balance between family and work. A few were, and are, also great community leaders. Their lives are models of courage, initiative, perseverance, innovation, entrepreneurship, resilience and flexibility,” shares the author to The Better India.

Making an excellent read for those interested in the history of pioneering Indian women, Roots and Wings isn’t a book that you just recommend to just women or girls.

If you want to do anything new—break new ground, fight the odds or persevere to reach your goals—regardless of your gender, these are stories you must read for the requisite dose of inspiration.

What is more, all royalties from the sales of the book will be routed to Rotary Club Madras East (RCME) to support girls’ education in India.

DT NEXT

Tracing roots of 29 women graduates from College of Engineering, Guindy

Published: Dec 15,201807:15 AM by Merin James

Shantha Mohan’s book Roots and Wings chronicles the lives and careers of women who managed to do just that — these 29 women graduated from the oldest engineering college in India sometime between 1943 and 1971.

At the end of 2016, Shantha Mohan retired from the company she co-founded in the Silicon Valley and decided to spend her time mentoring, and giving back to the educational institutions that gave her the strong foundation for her career. “I started to become very active on the professional social networks as well as my alumni network. While doing my undergraduate, I was oblivious to the rich history of my alma mater, and the special place the very few women in college held among the thousands of male engineering students. While reading about alumni of my undergraduate Alma Mater College of Engineering (CEG), I came across an article about the first Indian woman electrical engineer, A. Lalitha in an article in Swarajya. The debate about women and STEM education was gaining momentum around this time. I wanted to put female role models in front of girls and women to promote STEM education, especially engineering and decided a good way to do that was to write about the CEG alumnae who started it all,” says Shantha.

Though she graduated from CEG with a bachelor’s degree in electronics and communication engineering in 1971, Shantha managed to collect the information of 29 women mentioned in the book. “The vast alumni network of CEG was extremely helpful in collecting the information. I got in touch with some of my former batch mates and seniors and started to build a list of women who graduated from CEG. I decided to publish each story, as I was completing them, in a blog, as well as on LinkedIn. After seeing my blog, family members of some of the women reached out to tell me about their mothers and aunts. Once I had the names, I spent countless hours researching on the internet, following threads that sometimes were dead-ends, but other times lead me to a family member who was willing to talk to me,” says the engineer.

Women make up half of the entire world population. Yet, you don’t find many women in engineering. “While the enrollment in engineering colleges has changed from a handful to almost equal representation of women in some geographies, it doesn’t translate to equal participation in the workforce. Critical events in women’s lives — such as marriage, babies and elder care — all interrupt women’s work life. Coming back to work from that interruption in these fast-changing days is hard. I wanted to change that by showcasing the lives of women who not only graduated with an engineering degree but went on to have fulfilling lives, balancing family and career,” explains the author.

The 29 women mentioned in the book can be divided into three categories — those who were no longer living, those who are old and retired, and those who are still active in their careers. “The hardest ones to write about were the ones who are no longer alive. I was quite methodical about keeping a list of the current and copious notes on my research in order to write about them. Writing about A. Lalitha, the first woman electrical engineer, was probably easier in some sense. Her daughter Syamala handed over to me numerous clippings from the press and was willing to talk about her mother.”

The engineer-author says that each of the stories touched her heart in different ways. “Some of the women had to overcome the conventions of the time to forge a path for themselves; some of the women embody the epitome of resilience by overcoming severe family and personal tragedies to become successful in their careers; some of the women showed incredible flexibility in how they navigated their careers. They are all very dear to me,” she sums up.

The Hindu

On the first women graduates of the College of Engineering

Deepa Alexander

The red brick façade of the College of Engineering has been framed by the Guindy forest for nearly a century now. But, its roots go back to 1794 when it was first founded as the School of Survey, making it India’s oldest technical institution and the oldest outside Europe. In its long march of 224 years, CEG has gone from detailing the geography of the subcontinent to exposing its graduates to every conceivable branch of engineering.

For nearly 150 years, it was the men who held fort; in 1943, the first group of three women — A Lalitha, PK Thressia and Leelamma George — graduated. By 1971, 35 of them had made their mark as pioneers in telecommunications, civil, technical education and research, and went on to head several Government agencies.

It is some of these women that Shantha Mohan, herself a CEG graduate, throws the spotlight on in her book Roots And Wings . The book that took a year to write is significant for the fact that it celebrates women who held jobs in rare fields at a time when they were hardly part of the structured workforce.

Shantha graduated from CEG in 1971 with a degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering. “I spent a few years at Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL) Hyderabad, married, had a child, and moved to the US,” she says via email. She received her doctorate in Operations Management from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. “Since then I have worked in the field of software product development and engineering, and co-founded a retail analytics company. In 2017, I started mentoring at the Silicon Valley campus of CMU.”

Shantha says it was while teaching young women that she realised they didn’t have exposure to female role models in technical fields. “Around the same time, the scarcity of female presence in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), was becoming a hot topic in the US. Attending CEG as one of eight girls in my batch of hundreds sparked the idea of writing the stories of the women who came before me, hoping to inspire girls to take up STEM education, and succeed in engineering careers.”

Researching for a book based in India was not easy. “There was a brief article in Swarajya about A Lalitha, India’s first woman engineer. There were a few Malayala Manorama articles on PK Thressia, the first woman Chief Engineer in India. There was a news article about May George in The Hindu, written by historian S Muthiah. But, for the most part, nothing is known in the public about the women in the book. My batchmates helped me put together a list. I was able to connect with some of these women. For others, I reached out to their relatives. I emailed editors of newspapers. On LinkedIn and Facebook, I reached out to complete strangers who, I thought, could be relatives of the women. I also was able to talk to their former colleagues to piece together their career highlights.”

The book follows a linear narrative, briefly describing who the women are, their experiences in college and at work, and their family backgrounds. But it is some of the photographs that capture your attention — the class photo with a single woman in pigtails surrounded by a sea of men in ties, a sari-clad Kalpathy Sarada perched on a ladder, setting up an instrument at the National Physical Laboratory, visiting avionics labs and setting the stage at AIR, family photographs of stern fathers and laughing children — portraits from lives crowded with achievement.

Shantha, who divides her time reading, teaching and being a grandmother, says, “I didn’t realise what many women go through to balance their careers and families. It takes a supportive family structure to do it well. And, it can be done. I hope this book helps girls see that they can have a successful career in the technical field, while nurturing families.”

Royalties from the Roots And Wings sale will fund girls’ education through the Rotary Club Madras East. Available online for ₹350.

K. Subramanian

Blazing a trail

September 18, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

A fascinating read of the stories of the first few women engineers in India. The author, Dr. Shantha Mohan, has done an incredible job of painstakingly researching the lives of each one of them (around 30) and giving us a coverage of their lives from childhood through college, professional and family life to post-retirement. Each of these stories can be read independently and you can read as many as you want to, but the author ties them all together nicely into the common themes of – these women following their passion unmindful of the stereotype of the day and succeeding at it through determination and discipline.
The other commonality among the 30 engineers featured in the book is that they all graduated from the College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai (See photo above in this review). Chennai is thought to be more conservative than other metropolitan areas, but the earliest women engineers in India have been from this institution. We have all seen the pictures of the women engineers in Sarees working in ISRO celebrating the successful Mars mission. This book is the story of how it all started.The stories of these engineers is relevant not just for those interested in entering Engineering. If you want to do anything new – breaking new ground, fighting the odds and persevering to your goals – regardless of the gender, these are the stories to get inspired from. The author deserves kudos for bring us these.

Customer Review

Amazon Customer

Roots and Wings” by Shanta Mohan makes for delightful reading

3 October 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Roots and Wings” by Shanta Mohan makes for delightful reading.
The book details Indian Women’s journey into Technology from the beginning i.e. 75 years ago.
These women pioneers’ lives sure has motivated several.
This book would now help motivate so many others, not just in India but also in Several conservative societies in the world, especially so in all developing and underdeveloped economies
Ms. Shanta Mohan needs to be thanked and complimented for this publication.
G Narayan Rao

Customer Review

CNKrishnaswamy

Roota and Wings

October 20, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

So absorbing. It is always a reader’s delight when the contents of a book is well structured, well researched, and well-written. Good bowling/pitching, good batting, good fielding, and a knowledgeable commentator makes an enjoyable ballgame.

As an alumnus of CEG, I always wondered how these women pioneers felt in the then male-dominated institution. It is so gratifying to read they each had an illustrious engineering career. When I visited the CEG campus in 2016, it seemed so co-educational. One more proud feather in the cap of our visionary poet Bharathi who was w.a.a.a.y ahead of his time in every one of his passionate predictions.

Customer Review

T. Sridhar

Fascinating compilation

October 8, 2018

Format: Kindle Edition

This book is a must read – the author has painstakingly put together the stories of the women engineers who were trailblazers. I liked the pictures that were part of the stories as they provided additional perspective. These engineers inspired multiple generations and they did it with no fanfare – just doing their job and giving back. A valuable addition to a bookshelf.

Customer Review

Nancy

For all girls who striving to be more

October 3, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This comprehensive review of the 29 women who succeeded in engineering from 1943 to 1971 should inspire any girl in any country to keep trying to meet her dreams even in “male” pursuits. These are lives of inspiration, courage, flexibility and initiative in a culture that certainly didn’t encourage women. I wish it had existed to give to my sister-in-law who was the first woman engineer in a small college in Texas in the early 60’s….

Customer Review

Shruthi

Very inspiring book !

October 22, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book records Indian women in engineering , their achievements and life story. Reading about the struggles they went through to become an engineer in a then male dominated field is extremely inspiring. Kudos to the author for documented this for future generations to understand the struggles and accomplishments. It is a must read for all aspiring engineers and those who have crossed that path.

Customer Review

Fatima Peter

For anyone who strives to do more

October 22, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This book is a wonderful read of stories of the first few women engineers (about 29) from 1943 through 1971 who graduated from College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai known as CEG. The author has done a great job of researching the lives of each one of them and giving us a coverage of their lives from early childhood through college, their professional accomplishments and family life to retirement. It is well structured (almost Wikipedia style), well written and each of these stories can be read independently or as many as you wish. I liked the pictures provided as part of the stories.
As an alumna of CEG, I often wondered how the women ahead of me fared in their professional and personal lives. Further, it was nostalgic to read about the stories of my immediate seniors and hostel mates, Nalini Uhrig, Shantha Mohan, Radha Murthy and Rajeswari Mariappan.
Kudos to the author for documenting these stories for future generation to emulate. The stories of these extraordinary women is relevant to not just for those interested in entering Engineering or for just for women, but for anyone keen on making/breaking new ground, to reach one’s goals against all odds regardless of gender if one shows courage, determination, discipline and resilience just as these women did. This book should be a recommended book for school and community libraries.

Customer Review

Balasubramanian

A great book about the pioneering Women Engineers from India

22 October 2018

Format: Kindle Edition

This book, Roots and Wings : Inspiring Stories of Indian Women in Engineering – is a great compilation of inspiring stories of women Engineers who graduated from College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai. The best part is that each story is narrated so well, making the book engaging like a novel. There are many interesting facts and personal stories. Young people who are curious to learn about how it was to become an Engineer in those days, particularly women – must read this interesting book. Well researched and the author, Dr Shantha Mohan, who is also an alumnae of College of Engineering, Guindy, has taken pains to contact so many of them and elicited interesting anecdotes about these women’s journey. This book is a record of history which has to be present in all the libraries so that the future generations would learn about the ladies who took the less travelled path, early on and contributed significantly to the society.

Customer Review

avid reader

Important Slice of History

January 18, 2019

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

As a woman STEM professional whose mind has turned towards the history of feminism in India, I approached this book from a slightly different perspective. The exhaustive research done by Ms. Mohan does more than tell inspiring stories of individual women. Taken together, the stories shed light on an important time in Indian women’s history.

During the years just prior to Independence and soon after, India went through a renaissance. It was about questioning conservative ideas and discarding the ones that were seen as damaging. Some of the women profiled in this book came from families where fathers, and often also mothers and grandmothers (most of them illiterate), supported the education of their daughters. Usually, they did this despite the opposition of relatives, neighbors, and other community members. There was a great deal of risk and sacrifice, but the education of women was seen by these pioneers (families as well as individual women) as an unadulterated good — for the individuals, their families, their communities, and the nation.

The women students knew that a lot was riding on their shoulders and they made it their mission to make the most of the opportunities available to them, and to make the same available to the women who came after.

In hindsight, success seems inevitable. But, when in the trenches, it is not so. The profiles in this book bring out the truth of this observation. So, hats off to these foremothers of today’s Indian women engineers.

The photo attached to this review is of present-day women scientists who took India to space. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-38253471

One final note – the feminism a reader will encounter in this book is of a different nature than its better known Western counterpart. It is like Indian culture and worked well in Indian culture — adaptive, determined, and less confrontational.

Anyone who has an interest in how social change started and how it succeeded in India will enjoy reading this book.

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3 October 2018

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