For the first time in the university's history and despite roadblocks, Women's College Students' Union of the Aligarh Muslim University hosted the Women Leadership Summit. On the panel on the second day of the event was Arundhati Roy who read passages from her Man Booker prize-longlisted book The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.

During the discussion there was a power cut, but that didn't change anything as the students in the auditorium held up their phones and shone light to help Roy continue her speech.

Power Cut in Aligarh as ARUNDHATI ROY speaks at a Women’s College yesterday. The students use their phones to light the hall. Arundhati silhouetted at front.#UtmostHappiness pic.twitter.com/t1cSMXOXXO — Simon Prosser (@HamishH1931) 28 March 2019

The picture was posted on Twitter yesterday by Simon Prosser, Publishing Director: Hamish Hamilton & Penguin Books. He wrote, "Power Cut in Aligarh as ARUNDHATI ROY speaks at a Women’s College yesterday. The students use their phones to light the hall. Arundhati silhouetted at front."

The picture (in the tweet) soon went viral with more than 1,000 likes and 400 retweets. Here's what people had to say:

#1

Power cut means darkness, but this is a celestial light house.... — Mahmood Arif (@ArifMah48958702) 28 March 2019

#2

What a beautiful sight. Shadow of light before hope. — Ahmad Rajwana (@ahmadrajwana) 28 March 2019

#3

What an event ..

Tremendous event management 😉😂😍 — shashi kant baranga (@Baranga104) 29 March 2019

#4

This is a piece of art. — Nidhi Mahajan ندھی مھاجن (@NidhiMahajn) 28 March 2019

Roy's book The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness is the second novel by Indian writer Arundhati Roy, published in 2017, 20 years after her debut The God Of Small Things. The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness collates stories of people from the most violent periods in Indian history.

Arjumand Ara, who translated Roy's book from English to Urdu, with the title of Bepanah Shaadmani Ki Mumlikat was the other panelist at the event.

According to this report, this was the first time that an event at AMU was organized without any corporate funding and pulled of by the undergraduate female students of the university.

The three-day-long event from March 26 to 28, was held in the university's iconic Kennedy Complex, with other prominent figures like Vrinda Grover, Teesta Setalvad and Najeeb Ahmed's mother Fatima Nafis making an appearance.