International Women's Day celebration at Guwahati Refinery

GUWAHATI: International Women's Day was celebrated at Guwahati Refinery with a day-long programme on Tuesday.

Barnali Sharma, Inspector General of Prisons, Government of Assam, attended the program as the chief guest whereas Parbati Barua, an animal conservation activist and a mahaut, was the guest of honour. The programme began with lighting of ceremonial lamp by the dignitaries followed by a cake-cutting ceremony, stated a press release.

Speaking on the occasion, Barnali Sarma threw light on how certain societal factors and attitudinal changes contribute in ensuring gender quality in the true sense. Sharing some of the experiences of her life, Sarma exhorted how support and empathy from both family and colleagues play an important role for every woman to contribute her best towards the family, organization where she works as well as to the society at large. With emphasis on mental independence of a woman along with economic independence, Sarma spoke about how the former contributes in making a woman realize the true essence of her existence, thereby leading to the growth of the society at large.

Parbati Baruah shared how mental strength and proper understanding of oneself helped a person to excel in one's chosen field. On the occasion, a magazine titled Women of GR Write was also released. Earlier, an awareness session on mental health was conducted by Dr. Nimmi Borgohain, senior consultant psychologist. The day-long programme also included a number of cultural programmes put up by the female employees.

On the other hand, the Mahabahu Brahmaputra River Heritage Centre witnessed the celebration of International Women's Day by celebrating women authors from across the country and beyond. The celebration was graced by the presence of various dignitaries from the world of literature, including IPS officer Indranee Baruah, motivational speaker and author Tinat Atifa Masood, author Namrata Talukdar, Padmashree Arup Kumar Dutta, senior journalist Wasbir Hussain, retired Prof.Amlandeep Das, renowned poet Saikh Md. Sabah Al-Ahmed and author Nilutpal Gohain.

The way of Women's Day celebration was releasing four different books, all written by women authors. Author Sangeeta Saikia Pathak released her second book Butterflies, Love & the Rains in the presence of Indrani Baruah, Tinat Atifa Masood, Arup Kumar Dutta, Wasbir Hussain, Amlandeep Das. The book is a collection of 10 award-winning short stories published by a Delhi-based publisher, Zorba Publishing.

Jyotirupa Kalita made an entry into the world of literature with her debut book A Silver of Hope released in the presence of Namrata Talukdar, Saikh Md. Sabah Al-Ahmed, and Nilutpal Gohain. The book, published by Guwahati-based publishing house Wissen Monk is a collection of 30 poems already loved by many poets from across the country.

Uma Chandrasekar, an author based in Chennai also joined the celebration virtually on the LED screen installed on the stage to release her first poetry book Chromatic Moods published by Wissen Monk.

Two more women, Adeela Hameed from Srinagar, J&K, and Gargi Bandyopadhyay from Singapore joined the event virtually with their presence on the LED screen to release a Women's Day specific anthology by Wissen Monk. The book titled You Can't Make Me Fall is a collection of stories of struggle and oppression. The 10 women authors have written about their personal experiences like cyber defamation, sexual abuse, inequality, stalking, threats, and more in the book.

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