The Eighth Zamira Begum Rahman Memorial Lecture was delivered by Dr Akshata Narain, media personality and film producer.
Rahman was a school teacher and a naturalist who had championed for the education of the girl child. She was born on Dec 10, 1946 in Shillong. After completing her BA (Hons) in Education from St. Mary's College, Shillong in 1965, she did her BT from Gauhati University in 1967 from the Post-Graduate Training College, Shillong. She had specialised in Mental Hygiene and Child Guidance as part of her BT. She started her teaching career at Laitmukhurah Shishu Vidyalaya from 1965 to 1970 and then taught in Loreto Convent, Shillong from 1970 to 1972. Then she joined Sumer High School, Meghalaya as the Headmistress in 1973. She nurtured the school from a Middle English (ME) to a High School (HE). She was an active member of Sumer Mahila Samiti and worked for the empowerment of the local women. She had her own herbal garden that was full of medicinal plants. Later, shifted to Guwahati and joined CTPS High School, Chandrapur, Assam. A kind-hearted woman, she was active in community activities. She was also a memory keeper as she collected all kind of materials, books, magazines, textiles, stamps, coins, postcards and photographs. She passed away in 2007 after a prolonged illness.
Narain spoke on the topic, 'The Key to a successful life' at Don Bosco Snehalaya Centre for Child Rights at Paltan Bazar in Guwahati. Dr Akshata Narain who started her journey in the Assamese media industry five years ago, has managed to establish herself as an entrepreneurial leader. A dental surgeon by profession, followed her familial legacy, she associated herself with M/s AM Television Private Limited as the Vice President to head four Assamese channels – Prag News, Prag Channel, Prag Cinema, and Rengoni. Her ambitious pilot project was to provide an appropriate platform to homemakers to break the glass ceiling and prove their worth. Titled Grihini Super Star, which she herself conceptualized and hosted, the reality show reverberated with the aspirations of women across every household in Assam. There has been no looking back for her since. As a member of the prestigious Prag Prerona Awards committee, she partakes in the annual tradition of taking cognizance of women with expertise from all walks of life and honoring them with due recognition. She is also actively associated with Prag Cine Awards, the first and only award ceremony in the entire Northeast India honouring cinematic brilliance of the region. She spoke about how she struggled against all odds to step into a male-dominated terrain and produced television shows and rejuvenated the monthly entertainment magazine ‘Geet’. She had launched the only multilingual news channel in the region, NE News. In 2019, under her aegis, AM Television also acquired two important properties. The first of these is 70mmFlix, the first video streaming platform of the North East, exclusively dedicated to regional cinema, shows, and web series. The other is Upstream, an integrated marketing agency that provides a host of services that include digital marketing, event management, IT solutions, and video production. She spoke about how success has different meanings for everyone, big and small.
Narain said, 'I take one day at a time and have daily short term goals and if I am able to achieve them, it is a a successful day for me. You can shape your career even sitting in your bedroom with the advancements in technology.' she also urged the children to think positive. She said, 'Your energy levels will rise the moment you think positive and the moment you have negative thoughts, your energy will fail you. There is nothing that one cannot do.' She also mentioned that she was ready to support and work with the children of Snehalaya. Speaking on the occasion, Father Lukose Cheruvalel, the founder of Snehalaya spoke about how Snehalaya started as a small shelter home for boys and has now has grown into a big tree with five Child Care Institutions (CCI) for both boys and girls. Don Bosco Snehalaya supports children in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection. He spoke about their project called Child Friendly Guwahati”, a Community Outreach program that commenced in 2013 and is a focused civil society campaign to create a city wide movement of citizenry for children, especially those belonging to the marginalized section of the society to ensure their basic Rights to Survival, Protection, Development and Participation.
Poet Madhu Raghavendra, author Indrani Raimedhi, pathologist Dr Shabnam Ahmed, economist Dr Swabera Islam, dental surgeon Dr Shabnam Choudhury and writer Rhinusmita Kakoty Lahkar were also present on the occasion. Over 100 children from the communities all over Guwahati took part in the event
