[7] Her social activism started here when she protested against the allegedly discriminatory treatment meted out to Hindu students by the hostel superintendent.

[1] She refused to honour her parents' commitment to marry her off to an elderly person[10] and got engaged to Dandinath Kalita, an Assamese writer.

[7] She was reported to have faced strong opposition from the conservative society in bringing up her son as a single mother but her life in Tezpur brought her opportunities to meet and interact with social and cultural leaders such as Chandranath Sharma, Omeo Kumar Das,[11] Jyotiprasad Agarwalla and Lakhidhar Sarma.

[12] In 1918, at Tezpur session of Asom Chhatra Sanmilan, she was the only female delegate and addressed a huge throng on the harmful effects of opium eating and asked for its ban.

Affected by the rise of nationalism in 1921, she joined the non co-operation movement of Mahatma Gandhi and worked to spread the message among women of Tezpur.

[1] Returning to her village, she joined Kaljirapara school as a teacher but resigned her job when she was denied permission to attend the Guwahati session of the Indian National Congress.

[8] Saikiani published her first short story in a local magazine, Bahi, in 1918 aged 17 followed by several novels such as Pitribhitha (The Paternal Home) (1937), Sipahi Bidrohat (Sepoy Mutiny), Dillir Sinhasan (Throne of Delhi) and Kavi Anav Ghosh.

She served as the editor of Mahila Samiti's Assamese journal Abhijatri for a period of seven years[1] and also headed the Al India Assam Peasants' Conference.