Appreciation occasions
Five occasions for saying thank you and recognising people, from International Women's Day to the everyday thank-you and congratulations, with what to write.
Three international days and two things you can send any day of the year.
International Women's Day on 8 March is the largest of them, and in India it is marked in offices, colleges and government programmes alike. The International Day of Rural Women on 15 October recognises the women who do most of India's agricultural labour and own very little of its land. International Men's Day on 19 November focuses substantially on men's health and suicide rates, which is worth knowing before writing anything glib.
Thank you and congratulations have no date at all. They are for whenever someone did something.
The corporate Women's Day problem
Every 8 March, a large number of Indian workplaces hand out roses and post a graphic. Every year, a large number of women point out that they would prefer the pay gap addressed.
You do not have to solve that in a card, but you can avoid the worst version of it. Write to a specific woman about specific work rather than to womanhood in general, and if you are posting on behalf of an organisation, say what you are changing rather than how much you value everyone.
Thanking people properly
The rule that fixes most appreciation messages is two sentences: name the thing the person did, then say what it changed for you.
"Thank you for everything, you're amazing" has neither part. "Thank you for taking the client call on Thursday, I know it cost you your own deadline" has both, and it is the message people keep.
Thank-you messages goes into this properly, including why the phrase itself can land oddly inside an Indian family, and congratulations messages covers recognising someone's win.