Outspoken, affable and warm-hearted, she is the kind of person you'd want to run to for much-needed comforting during a crisis.

And as or member of the newly formed Manipur State Women Commission, Laaljan Begum is all set to carry forward her works for the welfare of women and society.

Laaljan was born on 11th November, 1940 as the tenth child among 11 siblings - of whom five are surviving. Both her parents Md Abdul Quadir and Me-herjan Begum of Hafiz Hatta Minuthong were teachers.

Together they taught young children in basic Urdu in their home - the boys taught by Md Abdul Quadir and the girls by his wife. Laaljan too studied Arabic and Urdu at home, along with the other girls.

After the initial home schooling, she then studied till Class IV at the only local school in Hatta Fai-zia ME Madrassa. However, she completed her class X from Ananda Singh Academy in 1956. She is among the second batch of Manipuri Muslim girls to complete their matric.

From there on, she went on to complete her IA (Intermediate) from Dhanamanjuri College, Imphal in 1958. She then shifted to Gauhati University to obtain her graduate degree in Philosophy in 1960 and Masters degree in Philosophy (with psychology) in 1963 from the university.

"Every step of my education was filled with obs-tacles, especially as education of girls in our community wasn't very popular. So after I pass each exam, I would be admitted to the higher grade only after much tension, hunger-strike and arguments. But I'm thankful that my parents were reasonable enough to let my love for studies continue to grew," she said.

As soon as she completed her masters, Laaljan joined Imphal College in 1963 as a lecturer in philosophy. The next year she shifted to DM college, and in 1965 taught at Govt Women's College.

But it was at Ghanapriya Women's College that she serv-ed her longest term, teaching there till her retirement in 1998. She also served as Principal of GP Women's College from 1995 to 1998 and also as superintendent of the GP Women's Hostel for about six years in the late 1960s.

Married in 1965 to Mohd Ali Jaenab Khan, a renowned educationist himself who retired as Additional Director of the State Education (U) Department, Laaljan Begum has five children - three sons who are engineers and two daughters who are doctors.

"Both my husband and I always gave first priority to their education, so that they should be independent. Our children are our savings, we don't need anything else," she commented.

After retirement, Laaljan had been to the holy Haaz Pilgrimage in Mec-ca, after which she spent some time fulfilling her familial responsibilities. However, she hadn't been neglecting her social responsibilities too.

She is the chairperson of the New Wave Vocational Centre at Hafiz Hatta Minuthong, Imphal - a centre which has been actively involved in giving vocational training such as weaving, tailoring, knitting and embroidery to minority women. Laaljan is also presently a member of the Women's Wing of the All Muslim (Meitei Pangal) Welfare Association, Manipur.

"The main problem that women in our community face is regarding access to education, healthcare and economic development, as also the consciousness for the need of these things," she said, adding, 'political consciousness is a far cry. That's why most of our awareness programmes are focused on economic upliftment, education and healthcare.'

Regarding the status of women, she said, 'According to Islam and Islamic tenets, Muslim women have a very high status.

But somewhere things went awry and our women are not able to enjoy that status" Laaljan Begum was also involved with various civil and social organisations working for the cause of upliftment of the society such as All Manipur Muslim upliftment Association and All Manipur Nupi Marup.

She loves spending time with her grandchildren and working in her garden during her free time.