GUWAHATI, April 24 - The life story of every person is a kind of social documentation which can, in turn, becomes valuable resource materials for the reconstruction of the history of an era, of a region.
Releasing a book titled Siddheswari Talukdar: Dharmaprana, Dhrihamana � a felicitation volume compiled to mark the 96th birthday of social activist Siddheswari Talukdar � at a function held here on Monday, litterateur and critic Dr Govinda Prasad Sarma said the contributions of certain individuals leave a lasting impact on society.
�Talukdar had lost her husband at a young age but she made all her five children well-established in life. She also found time to get involved in the woman empowerment movement in Assam,� said Dr Sarma.
Talukdar was a close associate of Chandraprabha Saikiani, the firebrand woman�s rights activist of Assam, and was the founder president of the Tihu Mahila Samiti, besides being associated with various socio-cultural and religious organisations of Tihu.
Speaking as chief guest at the function, linguist and author Prof Ramesh Chandra Pathak expressed concern over the increasing neglect meted out to elderly parents in society.
�A community that does not respect the mother, mother tongue and motherland cannot move forward in the right direction,� he said.
Speaking on the occasion, author and journalist Anuradha Sarma Pujari said it is always the mother who plays the pivotal role in shaping the lives of the future citizens.
�Families are generally known and identified after the name of the male head of the families. But it is the mother who actually binds the members of the family,� she added.
While veteran journalist DN Chakravartty presided over the meeting, others who spoke included Jogabrata Dutta, Dr Mridula Das and senior journalist Samudra Gupta Kashyap. Earlier, poet Deva Prasad Talukdar, who is also the youngest son of the nonagenarian social activist, gave the welcome address.
