On the 5th, they visited the Psychology Department of Banaras Hindu University and attended two
lecturesthere. One was by Prof. R C Mishra, Professor Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, on the
topic of Culture and Cognition where he talked about culture sensitive psychology and the various
ways in which a country’s culture can impact the psychology of its people. He also discussed about
his work on cultural psychology with the Adivasi (tribal) community in various parts of Northern India.
The second lecture was on Cognitive Psychology in India: Past, Present and Future by Dr. Tushar
Singh, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University. Dr. Singh discussed how
various aspects of society influence the cognition of people. He also discussed his study on
MaghMela and how the findings have helped him understand the social aspect of cognition. After
these two lectures, the delegation also interacted with the students of BHU. They also visited the
Shiva temple situated on the BHU campus and learnt the religious proceedings that are carried out in
a Hindu temple and their symbolisms and importance.
The team visited the Mumukshu Bhavan situated in Varanasi which is a place where people above
60 years of age live and dedicate their lives to spirituality. These people live there in order to wait for
death as it is believed that dying in Varanasi helps a human to achieve salvation. The delegation
interacted with the people living there and understood their perception of life, death and spirituality.
After that, they had an enriching and spiritual experience in the Ganga Aartiatthe Dashashwamedh
Ghat in the evening. They took a boat to the Ghat and experienced the MahaAarti (Hindu ceremony
in which lights with wicks soaked in ghee are lit and offered to God), and learnt about its importance
and practiced the rituals associated with it. They also witnessed the crowd that had come to bathe in
the Ganga after visiting the Kumbh Mela (a Hindu festival where pilgrims bathe in the waters of the
Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati Rivers) in Prayagraj and the process of Hindu cremation being
performed at the Ganga Ghat.
On the 6th day, they departed from Varanasi to Hyderabad. They visited the Osmania University for a
distinguished lecture on Higher Education in India by Dr. Naveen Mittal, Commissioner, Collegiate
Education & Technical Education at Government of Telangana and Prof. S. Ramachandran, Vice
Chancellor, Osmania University. They both discussed about the history of Hyderabad and the current
position of its education, industrialization and economy. Dr. Eyal Grignart, Prof. Nigam Dave and Dr.
Ritu Sharma talked about Perspectives on Higher Education (India-Australia Relation) with respect to
the relation between Edith Cowan University and Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University. Dr.
Sharma and Dr. Gringart also talked about the 1st, 3rd and 6th Study in India Programs organized by
PDPU for delegation from ECU and its growing success. Session was coordinated with the support of
Dr. Ram Reddy from SLS.
On their 7th day, they visited Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies (RCUES) to
attend a workshop by Dr. Udaykumar Reddy, CEO of Stress Management Lab Pvt. Ltd. and
President of International Stress Management Association, India on Stress Management. This one-
day workshop focused on discussing the various aspects of stress management. Sir discussed
various techniques used for stress management in India, including the Yogic practices for stress
management. He also discussed the concept of Stress Safety Net which is a holistic stress
management tool which includes stress audit, stress coaching and stress counselling for the
members of an organization. The students were informed about the various technological tools
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