On 8th of March, International Women's Day, I had the privilege to attend and cover the Tumi Annanya Awards held by Beyond Dreams at the Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad.
The aim of this award show was to honour several female achievers, to give them prominence in this male dominated world and encourage others of this clan to come to come forward and shine bright in their life.

That this show is of a different kind was proved by the inauguration ceremony itself. It is an award show for celebrating women, and what better defines women than mother nature herself. So instead of lighting the customary diyas on a dais, the show started off with the watering of a plant, symbolizing the need of both women and nature in an environment where both of them are deeply neglected.



The first awardee of the night was Agnimitra Paul, awarded for her Excellence in Fashion Designing. Having catered to all the three strata of the film industry (Tollywood, Bollywood and Hollywood as well), she gained immense popularity, but her work doesn't end there. In spite of having such a star studded clientele she also focuses on creating designs that her next door neighbour can wear and more importantly, afford as well. So she is not only a designer for the celebrities, she is also a designer of the masses. Rarely do we see a designer who has once reached the stars, think about the people who live and breathe beside her as well.



Up next, the rockstar of Kolkata, Usha Utthup took the stage and did she rev up the crowd or what! Such an amazing stage presence she has. The sharp and witty emcee, Ms.Madhubanti said that had Usha di not stayed back in Kolkata and moved up to California or New York, which she could as a matter of fact, given the timbre of her voice, her shelves would be stocked with Grammys instead of the Tumi Annanya award and she couldn't be more correct. The entire audience whole-heartedly seconded her words. Once on stage, wearing her trademark kanjeeveram saree and sneakers made of kanjeeveram too, she said 'Munni toh badnaam ho gayi, I called Sheila lekin uski jawani chali gayi, Anarkali toh disco chali gayi, Chikni Chameli, Jalebi Bai koi nai ayi, lekin aap logo ki Darling reh gayi (the song Darling in the film Saat Khoon Maaf was sung by her)' and after this she sang a couple of lines from Darling and the crowd went berserk! Kamran Khurshid, a singer of soaring popularity, came up on stage to do an impromptu performance with Usha Utthup and sang Senorita with her. The crowd cheered on immensely and the audience clapped to the rhythm. There wasn't any soul in the audience, young or old, who didn't tap their feet or hoot for the duo. She was presented with the Tumi Annanya Award for Excellence in Music.




Tanushree Shankar, the popular veteran of dance, was awarded the Tumi Annanya Award for Excellence in Dance. A very reserved and charming lady, she stuck to saying a few words in her soft voice.




Next we had Alokananda Roy on the stage for receiving the Tumi Annanya Award for Excellence in Social Service. She has been in the industry of performance for about six decades! Being an incredibly humble personality, she said that the most important duty of a woman is being a mother, irrespective of the sex of her child. She said that through her art, she has been a mother to hundreds of both boys and girls, and jokingly said that she has crossed the record set by Gandhari. What she believes is that all a child seeks is acceptance without any conditions, and any lady who can provide that is a successful mother.





If women don't help women, then who will? This question is best understood by Ms. Saira Shah Halim, a lady who has dedicated her life in improving the life of many unprivileged girls and intends to do so further.  Tumi Annanya Awards gave her the trophy for Social Activism.

An extremely dignified personality in the domain of theatre, Ms. Dolly Basu, graced the stage and told the audience that everyone sitting in the audience was entitled to freedom of choice, but then there are so many who don't have this basic right and it is our duty to do help those who don't. She was awarded the Tumi Annanya Award for Excellence in Theatre.



Koel Mullick, seconded Ms. Dolly Basu's notions, as she came up next to receive the award for Tumi Annanya Award for Bengal's Madhubala. She said that she belonged from a family where she wasn't treated differently just because she was a girl. She was given every possible freedom and says that she feels unbelievably lucky  as she shuns to think what her life would have been had she not been allowed to do so.





One of the awardees, a lady who needs no introduction at all, we have seen her on the silver screen and seen her work behind the screen as well for decades, Ms.Aparna Sen received the Tumi Annanya Award for Excellence in Direction. Unfortunately she wasn't able to grace the show with her presence due to other commitments, but her husband Mr.Kalyan Ray, who has spent twenty-five marvellous years with her, was too happy to take the award on behalf of his wife. He said that in the interim that they have been together, he has seen her take on the role of an actress, a director and a mother with equal panache, and it surprises him to no extent, as he wakes up every morning to see and be amazed by the zeal with which his better half thinks of new ways to improve herself even now.




A lady who made women a force to reckon with in the world of media, is Ms. Rita Bhimani. She was given the Tumi Annanya award for Excellence in PR and Corporate Communications, as she has been running a successful PR agency called Ritam for the past fifteen years. When you see her speak her mind with clarity at a soft yet firm voice, you cannot help but appreciate this lady who has gained prominence in a sector where even men consider it difficult to firmly find their feet.

Many of the awardees of the night said that a feminist cannot only be a woman. A feminist goes beyond the boundaries of gender. A feminist is any person who supports and works for the rights for a woman and gives respect to a woman.

So the next awardee of the night was Ms.Manabi Bandopadhyay, a person who is seen as a transgender in the eyes of the world, but is a person who strongly believes in the fact that her soul is that of a woman. Going beyond the perceptions of the superficial society, she is a professor and is known to be the first transgender in India to receive a Doctorate in Philosophy. Here we are in a world where we fight for letting girls go to school and colleges, and here is Ms.Manabi who firmly states that the right to education is not entitled to just a boy or a girl, it is entitled to anyone who dreams and craves for education. She was awarded the Tumi Annanya Award for Excellence in Education.



As we said that feminism isn't something that only women support, Mr.Utpal Chatterjee, another personality renowned in the world of journalism and feminism rights, was honoured with the Tumi Annanya Award.



This award is to state that if you are working for the upliftment of women in this world, then you will be acknowledged, irrespective of whether you are a woman or not. This award was a representation of humanity. Humanity that should go beyond the gender biases of man and woman, as after all we are humans and first, and a boy or a girl later.


It has been my honour to be present among such eminent personalities and I give Beyond Dreams my heartiest congratulations for holding such an outstanding show. The execution of the Tumi Annanya Awards has been phenomenal, but as it is said, that it is the thought that matters - it is great to see that minds are finally coming together to uphold womanhood and the idea of it hasn't just remained as a seed, it has finally bore some fruit. Here is to hoping that Beyond Dreams manages to continue this in the coming years.