gouri ayyud

Gauri Ayyub (1931 – 1998) was a social worker, activist, writer and teacher based in Kolkata (Calcutta) for most of her life. Married to the philosopher and literary critic, Abu Sayeed Ayyub[1] (1906–1982), Gauri was a writer in her own right, and is known for her short stories, translations, and numerous articles on social issues. She is recognised for her role in the propagation of communal harmony in Bengal, active assistance to the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 and vocal opposition to the curbing of human rights during the declaration of emergency in India in 1974. She assisted writer and social worker Maitreyi Devi in founding Khelaghar,[2] initially as a shelter for Bangladeshi children orphaned during the war of 1971. After Maitreyi Devi died in 1990, Ayyub took charge[3] of Khelaghar and it still runs as an orphanage that follows the educational principles of Rabindranath Tagore, emphasising holistic development of children in a natural surrounding. Gauri Ayyub studied philosophy at Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan and education at the University of Calcutta. During 1963–91, she was a professor and later the head of the department of education at the Shri Shikshayatan College, an affiliated college of the University of Calcutta. Though stricken with rheumatoid arthritis early in her life, she carried on her numerous activities in spite of often severe pain and disability, in addition to caring for her ailing husband, bedridden for the last decade of his life.