Port Blair, June 20: The Lt. Governor has given a clarion call to all the people of these Islands to live in hope and urged them to look beyond self; in the longer interest of the society and the nation. He was speaking as the chief guest of the inaugural ceremony of a ‘Wellness Conclave’ at the JNRM auditorium here this morning. The unique proactive well being conclave was organized by the Directorate of Social Welfare, A&N Administration in association with Sleepwell Foundation, New Delhi, to celebrate International Day of Yoga which falls tomorrow (June 21).
Addressing the gathering, the Lt. Governor complimented the organizers for conducting the conclave at Port Blair and said it is a very topical seminar and aims to benefit the Islanders. “The wellness conclave is happening on the eve of Yoga, which itself is a great way to achieve wellness. Complete wellness encompasses the human being and his environment. It has to look beyond body and touch minds and souls too. “Life is not a race, pause for a while; catch your breath & look at the beautiful moments that surround us. Live in hope rather in despair. Don’t let your ego drive your discourse”, said the Lt. Governor asking people to come out of negative discourses leading to despair, “it should be positive discourse leading to hope”, he advised.
The Lt. Governor also requested people to care for the less fortunate ones in this world and lend them a helping hand too. “Share and care should be the motto to follow. Give more than you receive; to your family, friends, society and the country at large”, he said.
Speaking about the society of A&N Islands, the Lt. Governor said, the society of A&N Islands is still evolving and developing. “People have an Island mentality of isolation and have issues like high rate of suicides; to handle here. The literacy rate of the Islands is very high; so is the case of unemployment. Though Govt. is the major employer and is responsible and accountable for the people and their well being, it alone cannot achieve all the goals”, said the Lt Governor urging the society of these Islands to realize their responsibility; help others and better each others’ lives. “Do not live in a status quo”, said the Lt. Governor asking the people to be agents of positive changes for the overall development of these Islands.
The Lt. Governor expressed happiness that there is hope amongst the younger generation today who march ahead with the motto of ‘I can, I shall, I will’ and the nation has great hope from this generation under the dynamic leadership of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi.
The Lt. Governor concluded his speech by narrating a quote of Swami Vivekananda- “Life is a series of struggle and we have to overcome it”.
Earlier, the Lt Governor also released a quarterly magazine on A&N Islands brought out by A&N Administration on the occasion. He lauded the efforts of the Secretary, Social Welfare, Smt Rashmi Singh in bringing out the magazine in a short span of time.
The Commander-in-Chief A&N Command Vice- Admiral, Vimal Verma, the Chief Secretary (i/c), Shri Raajiv Yaduvanshi, senior officers from Defence and Civil Administration, civil society groups also attended the inaugural ceremony of the conclave.
In her introductory address, Ms. Namita Gautam, Managing Trustee, Sleepwell Foundation, said, Sleepwell Foundation team is delighted to be in Port Blair and hopes to make these Islands more beautiful with mantras of proactive wellness. “Our mission is to sensitize and positively impact lives of Youth of India, especially the women through Awareness Programmes, Actions and Advocacy on Wellness (Proactive Wellness), Clean India, Skill Development and Education. We dedicate ourselves to help Young India unlock it’s true potential”, she said. This conclave is an important one as it coincides with the International Day for Yoga tomorrow, she added.
In her welcome speech, the Secretary, Directorate of Social Welfare, Smt. Rashmi Singh expressed her happiness that the Department of Social Welfare succeeded in organizing this prestigious wellness conclave in Port Blair. She further stated that wellness conclave is not just a one day event but it is a drive against negativity and is aimed at overcoming negative thoughts. This conclave has been organized in partnership with Sleepwell Foundation to improve the overall well being of the people of these Islands, she added.
The inaugural session was followed by two programmes in the morning. Accordingly, a lecture cum demonstration of ‘Yoga on Holistic Wellness’ was presented by Dr. Sadhna Gupta, Integrative Health Sciences & Yogacharya which stressed on the need for a holistic wellness in order to be happy and healthy in life. She demonstrated yoga steps; on how to be in peace with oneself by incorporating peace & calmness in our daily activities. Dr. Kapil Bajaj, Master in Yogic Science demonstrated yoga steps on holistic development.
This was followed by a session on emotional wellness in which the resource person, Ms. Arvinder J. Singh, a Corporate Trainer & Physiotherapist, threw light on how to connect oneself with emotional wellness. She said, connection of relationship is the greatest wealth and one must appreciate the person within oneself. She also dwelt on ‘roles of problems in our lives’ and how we must maneuver our way through, with a positive attitude. She urged one and all to celebrate the survivor hood within each of us. Ms. Arvinder also demonstrated a few mantras on progressive relaxation to the participants.
In the post lunch session, an interactive session on ‘Creative & Intellectual Wellness’ was held in which, Ms. Shubhra Gupta, Senior Journalist, Indian Express, Ms. Harmeet Bajaj, Designer & Businesswoman and Ms. Revathy Menon, Actor & Director shared their inspiring stories. They spoke about pursuing one’s dreams with a penchant, associating it with creative & intellectual wellness. They also touched upon the hamstrings of life and gave tips on how to overcome them. Leaving the audience with little take away messages on ‘Creative & Intellectual Wellness’, Ms. Revathy quoted Swami Vivekananda and said, “When you win, you can lead and when you fail, you can guide”. In the words of Ms. Harmeet Bajaj, “Whatever you do, do it with passion and let it overflow with positivity”. According to Ms. Shubhra, creative & intellectual wellness means to assure oneself “there is always a tomorrow and you can fight your way out”.
This was followed by a soul stirring Spiritual Wellness Session wherein a lecture-cum-demonstration of soulful music, dance & wellness presented by Ms. Rene Singh, a vocal artist, Ms. Avni Sethi, a dancer accompanied by Shri Kamal Ahmed, Instrumentalist (Saarangi) and Shri Chinmaya on Tabla, awakened the spiritual realms among the gathering with their beautiful rendition.
In his concluding remark, the guest of honour, Chief Secretary (i/c), Shri Raajiv Yaduvanshi stated that heart is the only way to experience the beautiful potential as a human being. It is in sharing, that we feel the bliss, he said adding that the positive experience one feels and radiates for the well being of others is the most blissful feeling. Life is a celebration, the beauty & joy is to be shared, he said.
The conclave concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by the Director, Social Welfare, Shri M.N. Murali.
