By TCN News
Women alumnae of Aligarh Muslim University reunited at the hotel Radisson Blu in Lucknow on Monday. It was the second get-together organized by the ‘Beauties of AMU’ after its successful launch in Delhi last November. As envisioned by its founders Iram Raza and Saba Qasim on the first meet in November last year, this group is harnessing the educational and financial resources of its members to bring an overall positive impact on the society.
This meeting witnessed the distribution of Rs 10,000 each to four needy housemaids. Pre-owned clothes were collected from the members, which will be distributed through an NGO ‘Shoulder to Shoulder’ among the needy.
To share their ideas, three distinguished achievers among the alumnae were invited as speakers. Asma Hussain, a fashion designer and founder director of AIFT, Sabiha Ahmad, a social activist and Tahira Hasan, Vice President of AIWPA.
“The most astonishing part is that this group is still in its rudimentary stage and within a stipulated period of just four months, seventeen thousand ignited minds have been registered to enlighten the society at large,” said the press statement released.
The statement further claims that ‘Beauties of AMU’ has members from all across the globe.
Tahira Hasan from 1983 batch warmly participated in the Lucknow event and expressed her desire to have a university like AMU in every state. Being an active social catalyst, she expressed her desire to mobilize AMU alumnae to work for the cause of education of girls in the society.
“My connection with AMU is very brief but very memorable,” stated famous fashion designer Asma Husain, who joined AMU with the hope to become a doctor.
Women interacted and strategised how to further use their education from AMU for the betterment of the society. Another alumna, Farah Sarosh, who runs a trust ‘Nurture Life in Lucknow’ highlighted the importance of mental health among women. She told participants that mental health does not mean an absence of psychological problems but a happy state of mind. “And we should come out of stigma associated with mental health in the society,” press statement quoted Farah Sarosh.
Sabiha Ahmed spoke about her research work where she has compiled a list of government schemes (at the state and central level) for women. According to Sabiha, she wants to develop an app for it which would make things easier for unprivileged females who want to avail the schemes.
She also urged AMU alumnae to spare at least an hour to work saying that it is not necessary that we help the needy financially. “We can help weaker section of society in tasks they are incapable to do like helping them with Aadhaar card, voter id, bank accounts and other paper works,” said Sabiha.
Talking about the founders of ‘Beauties of AMU’, Iram did Masters in Journalism and Mass communication from AMU in 2006 and Saba Qasim is an MBA (2011) from AMU. The idea cropped up with seeing most of the women from AMU sitting at home after marriage.
“I am in touch with many girls and at some point or other, and we all come across identity crisis in such set-up. The idea behind this group is first to stir up all the beauties of AMU and then to harness their power of the brain to do something for the betterment of society and for them as well,” commented Iram.
The founders have also launched a website which will provide a platform for women to express their views and use their talent on the website. “We have many ideas for our folks but there is a process to everything and we are progressing towards it,” said Saba.