Lahore To Chennai - A Journey Called Life  (Hardcover, Visharda Hoon)

Lahore to Chennai - A journey called life traces the roller coaster journey of a feisty, politically conscious young woman born in an elite, progressive Punjabi family from Partition-torn Lahore to tranquil Chennai over more than sixty years.

One of the few female Masters degree holders educated at the famed Government College and Kinnaird College Lahore before Partition, she played a pioneering role in the post-independent Indian schooling system as the founder Principal of Adarsh Vidyalaya and kendriya Vidyalaya Gill Nagar, Chennai and as the Principal of several other schools.

This autobiography of pioneering educationist, geographer and community leader seamlessly weaves personal and family history in the public history of partitioned lives, the Indian education system, the Punjabi diaspora in Chennai, the emergence of geography as a discipline and female empowerment.

Freedom-fighter, homemaker, teacher, educator, globetrotter and social activist, Mrs Hoon has worn many hats with such ease and grace that is a testimony to her 'never die' spirit. The autobiography stands out for the wealth of detail, sharpness of observation and most of all, for the author's generosity.

About the AuthorBorn in Model Town, Lahore on June 20, 1926 to Rai Sahib Swami Das and Vidyapati Visharda Hoon graduated from the famed Kinnaird College in 1945. She went on to do a masters in Psychology from Government College, Lahore which she completed in 1948, losing a year due to the Partition. Forced in migrate in 1947, her family travelled to Delhi and then to Calcutta. She married Shri Ranjit Singh Hoon in 1948 and finally settled in Madras in November 1953.

It was here, that she toop up her career as an educationist when she became the founder Principal of Punjab Association's Adarsh Vidyalaya (1954). Continuing with her pursuit in education she completed teacher's training from Lady Wellington College of Education (1958) Madras and later a PG Diploma in Geography (1965) from Madras University.

Awarded with the Fulbright Scholarship for International Teacher's Development Programme in 1965, she studied at the Graduate School of Education Harvard University, Cambridge Mass, USA, for a condensed course in School Administration.

Visharda joined Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan in 1965 where she served as the Principal at Gill Nagar, AFS. Tambaram, IIT, Kathmandu (Nepal) and CLRI, finally retiring as the Education Officer of Sangathan, South Region in 1986. She also served as an Advisory Board Member for Social Sciences in NCERT, New Delhi and Mother Teresa Women's University.

She remained as an honorary Correspondent of Adarsh Schools from 1986 to 1996. Now, she leads a semi-retired life in Chennai where she bonds with her three children, five grand children and four grand children whenever she meets them.