Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 26 Mar: ‘The Literary Table’, an initiative of Arogya Wellbeing Trust, celebrated Women’s Day by organising a programme honouring the voices of women. The event was held in the auditorium of Antara Senior Living and commenced with Dr Aloka Niyogi inviting the audience to stand and cup their hands, symbolising the theme for International Women’s Day 2026. “When we give, we give from the heart,” she remarked, noting that true giving requires both open hearts and minds. The programme was divided into three segments.
Following the introduction, the Emcee of the event, Jasleen Kaur, invited nutritionist and author Roopa Soni to begin with a workshop in which she took the audience through a wellness plan for seniors. She emphasised the importance of a balanced lifestyle through nutrition and exercise. She pointed out how millets can play an important role in maintaining health by regulating one’s blood sugar and satiating hunger. She also advised the audience to do strength training to build up muscle strength, which we tend to lose as we age. This, combined with yoga, daily walks, hydration and sunlight, would help everyone to stay fit even in old age.
Dr Geetika Mathur moderated the next session with Anju Rana, who has written a book called My Tryst With Cancer. She is also the author of a collection of poems. Answering Dr Mathur’s questions regarding the inspiration and courage behind writing a book about her successful battle with breast cancer, the author revealed that she was a sportsperson in her younger days and was used to challenges. After marriage, she lived in some remote corners of the Northeast, which threw up another set of challenges. Those experiences helped her to treat cancer as another challenge that she had to overcome. Her disciplined lifestyle and spirituality acted as a scaffolding during her treatment. She had a rare form of triple negative cancer from which she recovered by treating it as a phase that will pass and doing her best, leaving everything else to God. She never allowed herself to be overcome by depression and remained cheerful throughout the tough regimen of chemotherapy and radiation. She stuck to her disciplined lifestyle even during her treatment, doing yoga and walking around inside the house. She kept herself happy and engaged by playing with her grandchildren. The audience was riveted and inspired by her story of courage and resilience.
In the third session, Aloka Dasgupta Niyogi, the author of The Inheritors of Silence: Four generations and a forgotten homeland, was in conversation with Pooja Khanna. She revealed that it took her almost five years to write the book. The book has a dual timeline, with the narrative shifting between the past and the present. Answering Pooja’s question regarding how memories and family history shaped the narrative of the novel, the author said that she grew up listening to stories about her family’s aristocratic roots in Bangladesh and felt compelled to dig further to unearth her family’s history. While doing so, she stumbled upon some startling facts. The book also brings out the various kinds of discrimination a modern-day woman faces, be it due to her skin colour or her role as a wife. Even seemingly progressive households exercise patriarchal control over a woman, stifling her freedom and voice. When asked what message the book conveys to a woman reader, the author replies that Anurima breaks her shackles and establishes herself as a woman to reckon with.
The afternoon concluded on a resonant note of nostalgia, leaving the audience inspired and eager for more. Both the books were alike in their message of resilience and courage. Besides the residents of Antara, the event was attended by eminent citizens of Dehradun: Usha Guha, Geetikaa Kakkar, Harry Sethi, Priyakshi Rajguru Goswami, Sunil Khanna and others.
