Kendra Sahitya Academy awardee Bolwar Mohammed Kunhi, who was felicitated at a programme jointly organised by Mysuru Zilla Sahitya Parishat and Bearys Welfare Association at the Institution of Engineers-India (IEI) on JLB Road here on Saturday, is seen with Kannada Sahitya Parishat Mysuru President Dr. Y.D. Rajanna, Treasurer Rajashekar Kadamba and others.
Mysuru :
Expressing concern over some persons making controversial remarks on holy books, Kendra Sahitya Academy awardee Bolwar Mohammed Kunhi has said that knowledgeable persons won’t make comments that divide the society and hurt religious sentiments.
He was speaking after receiving felicitation at a programme jointly organised by Mysuru Zilla Sahitya Parishat and Bearys Welfare Association at the Institution of Engineers-India (IEI) on JLB Road here on Saturday.
Taking objection to recent statements of some that Hindu women used to jump into the pyre of their husbands (Sati system) in order to protect themselves from Muslim men, he said that Madri jumped into the pyre of her husband King Pandu in Mahabharata. But as per his knowledge, Muslims came to India about 700 years ago and Mahabharata was written thousands of years ago, he pointed out.
He also said that one must not make any insulting remarks on sacred and holy books as it is bound to create tensions in the society.
Referring to Pejawar Mutt Seer, he said that Sri Vishveswara Teertha Swamiji used to treat him as his son. Blaming the media for seeking the opinion of the Seer on almost every issue, Mohammed Kunhi said that the Seer cannot alone bring about changes in the society. He further said that the Swamiji must be left alone to carry out his rituals and not to draw him (Seer) into controversies.
Retired Professor Dr. H.M. Krishnaswamy spoke about Kunhi’s work ‘Swatantrada Ota,’ which earned the veteran writer (Kunhi) the Kendra Sahitya Academy award.
Journalist B.M. Haneef, Bearys Welfare Association President N. Mohammad Haji, Kannada Sahitya Parishat Mysuru President Dr. Y.D. Rajanna, Treasurer Rajashekar Kadamba and others were present.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / January 23rd, 2017
V Shoba follows the footsteps of a warrior king and listens to the voices of admiration and anger that echo his still volatile legacy
————————————————————–
In the green, hilly tracts of Kodagu, a small district in Karnataka bordering Kerala, the past is urgent, pressing. A king’s ghost has been summoned again, so his story can be rewritten to suit the age. Tipu Sultan. Perhaps no other Indian king has been mummified by as much subjective judgement. Invariably, he is either a justified villain or an unjustified hero, a tele-serial star or a wanton killer of Hindus. In Kodagu, where Tipu is believed to have put thousands to the sword, a destabilising interrogation of his legacy recently claimed two more lives, over 200 years after the king perished in the British siege of Srirangapatna in 1799. Even as the Karnataka government’s plans to celebrate Tipu Jayanti on Deepavali day—10 days ahead of his date of birth, 20 November—predictably met with opposition from Hindu organisations, the Muslims of Kodagu, many of them descendants of migrants from Kerala, appropriated him as their hero overnight.
DS Kuttappa’s widow Chinnamma and son Dani
On the appointed day, the communities clashed violently in the tourist town of Madikeri, the headquarters of the district, resulting in two unfortunate deaths: 65-year-old DS Kuttappa, the district organising secretary of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, was killed when he fell or was pushed from, depending on who you believe, a height during the riot; and 22-year-old Shahul Hamid from Siddapur was shot while returning in a truck from Madikeri. Observers blame the deaths on police and administrative negligence, but the reality of the unrest in Kodagu runs deeper.
Naseer and Kulusu, Shahul Hamid’s bereaved parents
From his perch in Srirangapatna near Mysore, Tipu Sultan—and before him, his father Haider Ali—had repeatedly attacked Kodagu in the 1780s in order to secure free passage to Malabar. His incursions into Coorg, replete with the plunder and destruction of temples—a common practice in medieval times even among Hindu rulers—were time and again thwarted by native Kodava warriors, but the region eventually succumbed to the assaults. According to historical accounts, Tipu then ordered ‘both the slain and the prisoners, with the women and children, to be made Musalmans.’ “Kodavas were deeply scarred by Tipu’s excesses but they did not give up. They had their tiri-toks—country guns—and they were skilled at guerrilla warfare. For Tipu’s army, the leeches alone proved a deterrent,” says Addanda C Cariappa, a writer, actor, theatre person and former president of the Karnataka Kodava Sahitya Academy, who is working on a book in Kannada on Tipu Sultan. His pride in the community’s martial heritage and its achievements in the military soon dissolve into alarmism as he talks about the shrinking Kodava population. “We are a dwindling race with a population of just 1.25 lakh. Soon, we will be the Kashmiri Pandits of south India. The religious turbulence of Tipu’s reign is partly to blame,” Cariappa says.
There is no love lost between Kodavas and the erstwhile ruler of Mysore: they will tell you that Tipu was no son of the soil; that he preferred Persian to Kannada and wanted to propagate Islam across south India; and that his epitaph in Srirangapatna and the inscription on his sword commemorate him as a sultan who lived and died for the faith. This, then, was the majoritarian cultural sentiment that formed the backdrop of the Tipu Jayanti celebrations in Kodagu. The Siddaramaiah government has been accused of inciting riots for political gain in a district where all the legislators—two MLAs, KG Bopaiah and Appachu Ranjan, and Prathap Simha, the lone MP from Kodagu—belong to the BJP. Conspiracy theorists go to the extent of alleging that a law-and-order crisis was precipitated by the Siddaramaiah camp to show the new home minister of the state, G Parameshwara, in poor light. Whatever the provocation, the celebrations marked a dark day for communal harmony in the state.
A scuffle breaks out during the Tipu Jayanti celebrations in Madikeri (Photo: KPN)
It is dark when we halt at Kuttappa’s house near Madhapur, about 20 km north-east of Madikeri, at the end of a long, snaking drive through banana and paddy fields. The sitting room is bustling with local reporters, Sangh Parivar activists and Kuttappa’s scampering grandchildren. His son Dani wears a dhoti and an unreadable expression. His mother sits unmoving in a corner, her long hair undone,face buried between her knees. “Father knew his life was in danger. But anything could have happened in Madikeri that day and he could not stay away,” says Dani, who works at a factory in Madikeri and is an RSS activist. “They beat him and stoned him, then pushed him to his death. There are eyewitnesses who saw what happened near General Thimmaiah Circle.” The police are awaiting the autopsy report that may throw light on the cause of his death.
On that Tuesday morning, a few thousand people carrying Tipu flags marched towards Town Hall, where his birthday was to be celebrated. The 2,000 policemen who were later deployed to keep vigil over the small district—4,100 sq km of it—had not yet been called in; the district administration was wholly unprepared for trouble. As supporters of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Sangh Parivar activists hurled stones at one another, the situation quickly spiralled out of control and the police resorted to a lathi charge. “The Muslims came armed with stones and swords,” alleges Dani. Soon, he is no longer talking about the death of his father, but building a case against “radical Muslims” who, he alleges, have destroyed the peace of the region.
Kodagu is a peaceable place where enmities that lay buried in the dim mists of the past are not easily kindled. Before the flare-up around Tipu Jayanti, the Sultan’s exploits here were largely forgotten—although, if you visit enough Kodava homes, you will have occasion to pet dogs named Tipu. The last time there was a Hindu- Muslim clash in Kogadu was in December 2001, when miscreants vandalised the Harishchandra temple at Palur, about 20 km from Madikeri. Angry Hindu mobs gathered in town, blocking roads and attacking Muslim worshippers; Section 144 was eventually imposed. Like most riots, the 2001 incident reeked of political opportunism and widened the space between Kodagu’s communities. This is happening again now, thanks to a king who has captured the fancy of a nation in search of heroes. Tipu introduced land reforms and modern banking. He abolished alcohol and donated to temples. He was the last Indian ruler to consistently rebel against the British. Yet, large sections of Kodavas do not hesitate to judge an 18th-century ruler by 21st-century morals. “He killed Hindus and converted them. These people who want to celebrate him—what are they celebrating exactly?” Dani asks.
“The problem is that people think in terms of religion in this country,” says actor and playwright Girish Karnad, who received a death threat on social media after remarking that Bengaluru International Airport would have been named after Tipu Sultan, and not after city founder Kempegowda, had the king been Hindu. “It is not as though our politics has changed in 200 years. We still see leaders using atrocities to build their careers. At least Tipu Sultan did not commit these atrocities against his people. I can’t see how what he did was more condemnable. The people of Mysore were happy with him,” he says.
A memorial at Ayyankeri, a Karnataka village 6 km from the temple town of Bhagamandala, marks the location of Tipu Sultan’s alleged massacre of Kodavas (PHOTOS: DIPTI DESAI)
On the banks of the Cauvery at Ayyankeri, a village 6 km from the temple town of Bhagamandala on the road to Madikeri, is a patch of flat forest land planted with kodampuli (Malabar tamarind) trees. A barbed wire fence separates it from private land where rising water levels have made cultivation difficult; consequently, a lush pastoral meadow stretches all the way down to the river, its waters screened from sight by a thin line of trees. Inside the fence stands a small, rounded black stone with the date ‘13.12.1785’ painted on it, next to the words ‘Holocaust of the Humans’. Visiting what is described to me as the Auschwitz and Jallianwala Bagh of Kodagu, I am struck by the absence of history around it. No one in the neighbourhood has heard of Devattiparambu, the grounds where Tipu Sultan is said to have massacred over 30,000 Kodavas on a single day after inviting them to a feast. Yet, Kodavas like Addanda Cariappa are convinced that this is where the king all but wiped out a thriving, fearless people. Cariappa’s book is to be released on 13 December to commemorate the incident. “We used to call this area periya parambu (big ground). The NCC camped here in the 1950s to build a bridge,” says Abdul Rahman, a villager who owns some land next to the river, speaking in Malayalam. “A couple of months ago, some people from the Codava National Council [which has been campaigning for ethno-linguistic tribal minority status for Kodavas] came and looked around for a place to install the memorial. Since this is forest land, they thought it would be safe here,” he says. Rahman and his neighbours attended the Tipu Jayanti celebrations in Madikeri because they were puzzled at the calumny suddenly hurled at their village. Tipu allegedly converted thousands of Kodavas, whose descendants are now known as Kodava Mappilas. Muslims living in Ayyankeri, however, say their ancestors migrated from Kerala. “We have a mosque here that is said to date back 300 years and there are no records of conversion by Tipu Sultan in these parts,” says Rahman. “Nor is there any proof that this was Tipu’s killing field.”
Was Tipu really a monster of ego and a jihadist? Or could he have liberated India from the imperialists? “How does it matter? Lives have been lost,” says Abdul Naseer, the father of Shahul Hamid. “We have lost our only son.” In a small house with green walls, Naseer and his wife Kulusu contemplate their misfortune. “Shahul worked at a Toyota showroom in Bengaluru. He had come to Siddapur to apply for a BPL card so that we could get a discount on his sister’s kidney stone surgery in Mangalore,” says Kulusu. “He did not know a thing about Tipu. He just hitched a ride back home from Madikeri.” About 300 Muslim youth from Siddapur, Kodagu, attended the event, and most of them have since fled the area fearing arrest. “There are no youth in town today. There is fear. The police keep coming back with inquiries,” says Naseer. Police have made over 60 arrests so far and filed 35 cases. A magisterial probe has been ordered. “The people who killed my son go scot free even now,” Naseer says. He flew in from Dubai, where he works as a driver, when he heard his son had been shot. “I remember thinking, ‘It is a bullet to the head, he won’t make it’,” says Naseer, who has no plans to return to the Middle East. “There is no one to earn for,” he says.
While the Madikeri incident may have been precipitated by an unmindful government decision, there is a discernible trend of Muslim radicalisation in Kodagu, says KB Ganapathy, editor-in-chief of Star of Mysore, a widely- read evening newspaper. “I grew up in Kodagu. Muslim women never wore burkhas until a few years ago. Just two years ago, a women’s college in Virajpet took issue with students suddenly appearing in burkhas. The women in turn asserted their fundamental right to wear them, and eventually the parties came to the compromise that they could wear the burkha till the college gate but no further,” he says. “In this situation, the Congress may well be trying to capture the Muslim vote.”
In Srirangapatna, the anniversary of Tipu Sultan’s death is celebrated with much gusto. Followers waving banners with his emblem—a blazing sun amidst tiger stripes— participate in a procession from his mosque to his grave, where they smear sandal paste on the tomb. “I have attended many of these processions—called urs—and they have been peaceful. It is when you politicise the celebration that problems occur,” Ganapathy says. He has argued against idolising Tipu over other kings who fought the British. “Why doesn’t Mamata Banerjee celebrate the birthday of Siraj-ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal? He lived before Tipu’s time,” the editor says.
Tipu was a multicultural icon, a proto-nationalist who understood the future and respected other religions, says leftist historian KN Panikkar, who wants the country to remember him “not as a Muslim ruler but as a ruler of Mysore who gave us an anti-imperialist legacy”. Must we celebrate kings in democratic India? A king is not a perfection of noble qualities. He may fight an intercontinental cast of foes, but he is first and foremost fighting for his territory. “Freedom as we know it today was not part of Tipu Sultan’s imagination,” says Addanda Cariappa. “Just as it was not part of the imagination of the Peshwas or the Rani of Jhansi. They all fought for themselves.”
‘Happy is the country that needs no heroes,’ wrote Bertolt Brecht. Let us live up to the perils of the era and not drag a long-dead ruler to court with us.
source: http://www.openthemagazine.com / OPEN / Home> Cover Story / by V. Shoba / November 27, 2015
Shabuddin Shaik, research scholar, department of Zoology, Acharya Nagarjuna University, has been conferred with young scientist award by Dr. K.V Rao Scientific Society in the stream of biological sciences.
Mr. Shaik’s paper ‘Enigmatic Indian Cave Biodiversity,’ under the guidance of Professor Emeritus, Y. Ranga Reddy, won him the award, a citation and a cash award of Rs.10,000.
He received the award from the Director, National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram at the 16th Annual Science Awards function at B.M Birla Science Centre, Hyderabad on June 11.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Guntur – June 14th, 2016
“While I offer this service for free, I do ask for something in return from my students – a promise that they will pass on the kindness by helping other needy students. It might surprise you, but I don’t have to spend a single rupee on faculty as all my past students are training my current students,” says Professor Hidayat Saiyed of Ahmedabad who believes that if you have knowledge, you must share it.
From a time when he could not succeed in a competitive exam because of the lack of money to afford proper guidance, to today when he is guiding students free of cost, in 13 centres all over Gujarat – this is his story:
Meet Professor Hidayat Saiyed who is an epitome of kindness. He runs Sarovar Education Society. The social work he has been doing since last one decade is beyond appraisal.
“After completing my college I decided to appear for competitive exams but I couldn’t afford private coaching classes and nobody was their to guide me. Lack of proper environment and guidance made me fail in exams just by few marks. This incident left a big impression on me and I thought that there would be so many young and bright students who want to appear for career-oriented examinations but do not have the financial means to secure admission in coaching classes. And soon I decided to start this social activity to train students for exams without charging a penny from them.
I started training my first batch of students for Gujarat Public Service Commission exams in the year 2006 in a small rented house and to my surprise out of those 24 students, 18 cleared the prelim exams and 1 of them got selected for the job. This gave me a big boost. Soon some young boys who were doing odd jobs in our locality came to me and said that if we get proper guidance than even we can clear such competitive exams. This success boosted my desire to set up an institute where I could give free guidance to needy students.
So in the year 2008, I officially started this Institute and at present we have 13 centers all over Gujarat with 1000 students being trained for the competitive exams. While I offer this service in free, I do ask for something in return from my students- A promise that they will pass on the kindness by helping other needy students. It might surprise you, but I don’t have to spend a single money on faculty as all my past students are training my current students.
In our community usually girls don’t come out and appear for such exams but I am proud to say that I’ve managed to break that stereotype and today 60 percent of my students are girls and remaining are boys. There are girls who have been posted in different parts of Gujarat and are getting finest of jobs. Those who get selected for jobs donate reading material and have even helped set up a well-equipped library for students.
My classes are open for anyone who cannot afford coaching. There was this one time a female student in my class had reached the final stages of a competitive exam when her parents decided to get her married. Two years later, she delivered a baby but her husband died in a road accident and she returned to her parents’ house here. She was shattered and upset. Her mother brought her to me and I encouraged her to resume studies. Soon she passed four competitive exams and today she works with Employee’s State Insurance Corporation. So what I am trying to say is that students dedication and professors proper guidance can change students lives. Every young fellow has an undying desire to study and get a good job, it’s just that they don’t get a helping hand.
Any Message?
If you have knowledge then share it among the students. If you have money then put it for the good use. Make the best use of what you have and try to help as many people as you can. You only get one life, don’t waste it on useless thing instead be useful to others. ”
source: http://www.thebetterindia.com / The Better India / Home> Education> Unsung Heroes / by Tanaya Singh / 2016
Mirza Miyani Jani, 60, offers prayers in front of one of Alinaqipalem’s two mosques, holding on firmly to his tools of trade. Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar | Photo Credit: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar
A village in Andhra Pradesh where every family is Shia and everyone is a mason
Every day before the sun rises, almost all the villagers of Alinaqipalem in Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna district set off for work with their lunch boxes and tool kits. Work could take them to Vijayawada, Challapalli or Machilipatnam, where they will lay stone and cement for homes and buildings all day and return home by sundown. They have been doing this for generations now, for Alinaqipalem is a mason’s village, with almost all the 450-odd families here involved in construction work. In fact, till a few years ago they were all masons without exception, but slowly they are beginning to take up other professions.
The remote and idyllic Alinaqipalem has another distinction — the village has only Shia families. Surrounding villages call it ‘Turakapalem’ or the village of Muslims.
According to oral history, Abul Hasan Qutb Shah or Tani Shah, ruler of Golconda and the last of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, invited Mullah Mohammed Ali from Isfahan in Iran to come to India to teach his children. This was some 330 years ago. The mullah’s eldest son Haider Ali Naqi Isfahani and two families later settled down in this part of Krishna. They were soon followed by more families and a small hub of Shias emerged gradually. The village derives its name from the first settler and is called Alinaqipalem or Ali Naqi’s village.
Over the years, the villagers married local people, lost their Iranian features and forgot their mother tongue. Today, no one understands or speaks Persian or Arabic, except the two imams who offer prayers at the village’s two masjids. Both men are in their mid-40s and they went to Isfahan and Najafi, respectively, for their training.
The villagers speak Urdu, liberally laced with Telugu. Nothing of Iran remains, either architecturally or culturally: they have neither the multi-storeyed buildings made of red clay as in Iran’s Abyaneh village nor the yellow clay-coated buildings of Masouleh. The only thing remotely Iranian are the occasional posters of Ayatollah Khomeini that I came across every now and then on the walls. “Khomeini is our religious leader. So the photographs,” said Mirza Mohammed Ali, 69, a village politician.
Girls cycle to school wearing colourful hijabs in Alinaqipalem. Photo: Ch.Vijaya Bhaskar | Photo Credit: Photo: Ch.Vijaya Bhaskar
Most of the villagers I spoke to didn’t remember how and when masonry became the village’s chief occupation. And then I found 57-year-old Mirza Javad Hussain, headmaster of the local school. We sat in the balcony of his neat, double-storied building covered with printed tiles and he told me the story of how some 120 years ago, one Azgar Ali from Pedana village, not so far away, introduced masonry work here.
“Until then,” said the bespectacled and bearded Hussain, “the villagers here worked as carpenters and ironsmiths.” Hussain is one of the few villagers with a modern connection to the Middle East — he was one of five persons from India to go to Baghdad in 2013 to participate in Jashn-e-Sabr-o-Wafa, the birthday celebrations of Imam Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet.
Mohammed Abbas is 22 and a mason. He dropped out of school as a teen. Ali Haider, who taught him in school, remembers him as “enthusiastic and eager to learn new things.” But Abbas is happy with his lot. “My grandfather used to be taapi maestri (mason). So was my father and now I am one too,” he said with a laugh. Others have been more ambitious. About 60 to 70 of his peers have gone off to West Asia to work on building sites.
***
According to revenue records, Alinaqipalem is really only a hamlet within Choragudi village. The families here don’t own any land and don’t farm. A couple of small shops stock all their needs. Mantada, 15 km away, is their closest transit hub. They take a share auto or bus from the Alinaqipalem junction to get there. The roads are not great and the bus services infrequent.
The nearest government health centre is at Veerankilakulu, 7 km away, and pregnant women are rushed to Uyyur, 22 km away, for an obstetrician. For everyday illnesses, there’s a registered medical practitioner who visits every day.
Sarpanch Ali Akbar says Alinaqipalem has been neglected. “We are trying to develop the village with available funds.” He complained about wanting a Shia qazi and is proud that the mosques were not handed to the Wakf Board but are managed by the villagers.
Alinaqipalem looks reasonably prosperous. Almost all the houses are brick and mortar (with cement bags as window curtains!) and there are only a handful of thatched roofs in sight. Those who can afford it, engrave their doors with quotes from the Koran. Every home has a television while some also have air-conditioners and two-wheelers. The headmaster has a car, and many homes have grapevines and flowering shrubs. The two mosques are well maintained, each with a pond stocked with fish. Each year, fishing rights are auctioned and the funds go to the mosque. Every villager pays Rs. 200 for the imams’ upkeep.
The newer mosque is shaped like an old three-paisa coin, a hexagon that fits the dimensions of the land available. Indeed, villagers now call it the ‘three-paisa mosque’. “The design was approved as the Qibla is the direction that should be faced during Salah prayers,” said Ali.
The Islam preached here is moderate and modern. The imams ban neither Western dress nor television. “Without television and knowledge of the outside world, they will remain ignorant,” said the imam, Mirza Ibrahim Ali Isfehani, “But I ask them to avoid serials and focus on the news.”
Elderly men wear dhotis and a local adaptation of the kurta, but the younger generation is in jeans or trousers. Women wear saris and don headscarves when they venture outdoors and cross the road when men walk by.
Ali Isfehani himself is resplendent in a long, white thobe flowing from shoulders to ankles, an imamah or white turban wrapped flat on his head, and the aba, a black, sleeveless, open cloak that is mandatory for an imam. As he spoke to us, couplets or noha in praise of Imam Hussain wafted from his tape recorder. Two steel cupboards were lined with religious texts, a few rosaries and phials of ittar.
Even though most of the villagers are school dropouts, they appear to have imbibed some progressive thinking from the mosques. “We are even advised informally to practise family planning,” said Ali. And long before the government came up with the Dulhan scheme, the villagers had drawn up their own plan. Elders and religious heads convene a meeting when a marriage is arranged in the village and everyone makes a contribution to the girl’s family towards wedding costs. In fact, in recent years, girls have completed schooling and a few are employed as teachers in neighbouring villages.
Alinaqipalem is a tiny bit of Iran that has now become completely Indian, whether in clothes, customs or even the villagers’ facial features. Sadly, not a trace remains of Iranian cuisine, with the only giveaway being the rotis the villagers eat a couple of times a week.
Soon, it might cease to be a mason’s village too. Already, a few of the younger men have studied engineering and medicine and are working in countries like Canada. Some have become teachers, some have joined the police. For the time being, however, masonry remains their mainstay. I asked Abbas if, given a chance, he would resume studies. He smiled shyly and said, “I get Rs. 400 to Rs. 500 a day now. What job will fetch me this kind of money?”
subbarao.gavaravarapu @thehindu.co.in
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> Cover Society / by G.V. Subba Rao / January 20th, 2017
Poet Asrar Jamai, 75, says, “I am alive, but no official knows of it.”Photo: Maria Abhraham
Asrar Jamai, a 78-year-old poet, is fighting a bizarre battle for survival. For the past one-and-a-half years he has been making the rounds of the Social Welfare Department office to prove to the officials that he is alive, but no one seems to believe him.
According to Mr. Jamai, the department has declared him “dead” because of some confusion and has stopped his old age pension. He says he has submitted all relevant documents — PAN card, Aadhaar card — but they do not seem to be enough to change his “dead” status.
“I told the officials that I am standing in front of you, what else can be the biggest proof?” he says. “The official replied that he knows I am alive, but not other official knows of it.”
Mr. Jamai survives on the money he earns from his recitals at Mushairas. He lives in a small, rented room in the ever-crowded Batla House locality in Okhla. He has penned three books in Urdu and many of the unsold copies are stacked neatly in one corner of the room next to his cot where a collection of black fur caps are lying next to the pillow. A black Sherwani hangs on the electric wire that lights the only bulb in the room. He says he pays a little over Rs.1,000 as monthly rent for the room.
The pension he received was Rs.1,500 every month. “It may seem little for others but at least I could pay my rent with it,” he says, adding, “But now it’s not about money, it’s about my existence.”
Narrating his ordeal, he says that it took him more than five years to get registered with the department and start getting the pension. His passbook shows he starting receiving the pension from March 5, 2011 and the last time it was credited to his account was on April 22, 2013. “Since then I am fighting to prove that I am alive.”
According to officials, the department conducts a survey every year to ensure that the pensioner is alive and stays in the city. Moreover, the pensioner has to fill a form every year. “It seems either Mr. Jamai did not fill the form or there is an error from the department’s side. We will get it checked and if there is an error from our side, we will get it rectified,” said an official.
The area MLA, Amanatullah Khan, said he will take up the matter with the department.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> New Delhi / by Maria Akram / New Delhi – September 28th, 2015
Educational Excellence Celebrated at AFMI’s Silver Jubilee Convention in Delhi
American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin’s Silver Jubilee convention held at the Kedar Nath Sahani Auditorium in New Delhi Dec.31-Jan.1st celebrated the accomplishments and marked a milestone in the organization’s history. The convention was held in co-ordination with the Delhi Youth Welfare Association.
More than 120 Muslim students from across India were awarded with gold, silver, and bronze for attaining meritorious distinction in the board exams. In addition, the prestigious Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Award conferred about leading Mumbai philanthropist Dr. Abdul Kader Fazlani Sopariwala. The Mir Taqi Mir Award was given to Mr. Sanjiv Saraf, founder of the popular web portal www.rekhta.org, for his contributions in promoting the Urdu language. The website now features more than 22,000 titles of Urdu books. Excellence Awards were given to former Chief Electoral Commissioner S.Y.Quraishi and the historic Anglo Arabic Senior Secondary School.
Sanjiv Saraf accepting his award from Justice Sachar
In a first for AFMI convention all the medallists were interviewed by Dr. Fazlani’s philanthropic organization and scholarships worth Rs.4 crore were pledged.
Awards to top students were given at the hands of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. He praised the work of AFMI and that more such efforts need to be undertaken to uplift the society. He mentioned that education remains the top priority of the Delhi government with as much as 25% of the state government’s budget dedicated to it.
AFMI’s flagship awards program has been instrumental in spreading awareness about educational excellence and empowerment across the country. Dr.A.R. Nakadar, AFMI’s founding trustee, said that the fruits sown by AFMI at its inception are now bearing fruit. He said that due to such efforts there has been a remarkable improvement in the educational scenario of Indian Muslims. Citing the latest census reports, published in Indian Express, he stated that there has been a 98.8% increase in the number of Muslim graduates between 2001 and 2011. During the same period the Indian Muslim literacy rate has increased from 59.1% to 68.5%. He said that the day is not too far when, through the collective efforts of all, AFMI’s dream of 100% literacy will be realized.
Dr. Nakadar urged the students to not to rest on the laurels but to use the award as a motivational tool to attain even grater heights of educational excellence. He also asked them to not to forget those who have been left behind and to spread the message of educational empowerment everywhere.
AFMI’s incoming president Dr. Khutb Uddin, a practicing psychiatrist from Indiana, in his remarks applauded the students for their hard work. He urged them to not to be distracted by negative thoughts and to focus on their education. He also pointed out that everyone from the individual to the government should be involved in raising the quality of education in the country and that it should be everyone’s top most priority.
The inaugural session of the convention was addressed by Justice Rajinder Sachar, Mr. Anil Swarup, Secretary Education & Literacy (Government of India), Mr. Naseem Ahmad, Chairman of National Commission for Minorities, and convention chairman Mr. Mohammad Naeem, president of Delhi Youth Welfare Association. The session was ably moderated by AFMI Trustee and leading scholar Dr. Aslam Abdullah.
The convention was also addressed by Prof. Akhtarul Wasey (Vice Chancellor of Maulana Azad University, Jodhpur); Mr.Siraj Hussain, IAS, former VC Jamia Hamdard, Dr. S.Y.Qureshi (former Chief Election Commissioner), Justice Fakhruddin, Mr. Ali Quraishi (New Mexico), Mr. Tayeb Poonawala (New York), Mr. Siraj Thakore (Canada), Mr. Farhad Rahmani, Mr. Ayub Khan, Prof. Janaki Rajan, Dr. Shabistan Gaffar, Mr. Mohsin Siddiqui, Mr. Suhel Tirmizi (Editor, Gujarat Today), Dr. Husain Nagamia (Florida), Mr. Shafi Lokhandwala (Detroit), Mr. Khalil Ahmad, etc.
The convention also featured an AFMI Alumni session in which previous year’s medalists spoke on their experiences after winning the award. They also offered their guidance for the students in choosing their career pathways. Among those who addressed this session include Dr Nurul Islam (pediatric cardiologist), Mrs. Darakshan Khan (IT consultant), Dr. Suhail Qureshi (oncologist), Dr. Naseem Ahmed (Orthopaedic surgeon), Dr. Nabeel A.K., Ms. Samreen Siddiqui, Mr. Uzair Khan, among others.
In his closing remarks Dr. Nakadar thanked all the organizers and volunteers of Delhi Youth Welfare Association, under the leadership of Mr. Mohammad Naeem, for organizing a very memorable convention.
A seventeen member delegation of the American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin, led by Dr. A.R.Nakadar, met the Vice President of India Mr. Hamid Ansari on January 2, 2017 and appraised him of AFMI’s activities. Mr. Ansari appreciated the efforts of AFMI and the concerns and care of NRIs for improving the quality of education in India.
An AFMI delegation met the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Mr. Manish Sisodia on January 3rd and discussed the current situation of education in Old Delhi.
AFMI’s Regional Awards Program in Mewat
AFMI held its regional awards program in Nuh, Mewat in coordination with the Human Welfare Foundation. One of the key organizers of the program is Uzair Khan, a former AFMI medalist, who is now carrying its message to the interiors of Mewat region. He is presently pursuing MBA from Jamia Millia Islamia.
Reviving Delhi’s Educational Institutions
AFMI’s NRI delegates visited a number of educational institutions in Old Delhi which have held aloft the banner of education among trying circumstances. The schools visited include Anglo Arabic Senior Secondary School, Mazhar ul Islam School, and the Fatehpuri School. AFMI’s governing board will soon formulate a a plan for help in the revival of these historic institutions.
source: http://www.milligazette.com / The Milli Gazette / Home> Online News> Education and Careers / January 23rd, 2017
Together for food : From left, Sajida Aslam, Ruqia Suhaib, Nazia Tamir and Munira Munir from ‘Cutchi Kitchen’. Photo :Thulasi Kakkat
‘Cutchi Kitchen’ documents Kutchi cuisine through memories and recipes.
Almost 200 years ago, Sajida Aslam’s grandfather moved to Alappuzha from the Kutch region of Gujarat. Seventy-five years ago, her father moved to Kochi, where she was born among the growing community of Kutchi Memons in the city. Today, Sajida’s daughter, Shazia Wahid, is the founder of ‘Cutchi Kitchen’ — an initiative that documents through history and memories, the rich cuisine of the migrant community.
‘Cutchi Kitchen’ runs a website and a catering service primarily of Kutchi delicacies, with world cuisine as well. While Shazia runs the website from her present home in London, her mother Sajida, aunt Munira Munir Sait, sister Nazia Tamir and cousins Ruqia Suhaib and Sabiha Munir man the local orders from their homes in Ravipuram and Kaloor. “Shazia was inspired to begin ‘Cutchi Kitchen’ after she left the country,” says Ruqia, “She gave us all the first big push and we’ve completed almost a year now.”
‘Cutchi Kitchen’ opens with Shazia’s tribute to her ummima’s (maternal grandmother) special Kutchi chicken biryani. It is a detailed affair with three layers of rice sandwiching chicken in between, and served with raita. This recipe has been a favourite in our family for three generations for its minimal standing-by-the-stove time, writes Shazia. While two generations of Sajida’s family are involved in the daily workings of ‘Cutchi Kitchen’, Ruqia and Nazia say their children have taken a keen interest too, often chipping in with the preparations and tasting.
‘Cutchi Kitchen’ now has an active Facebook presence with over 3,000 fans and several followers on Twitter too. “We try and post at least once a day — either tips, or full recipes,” says Nazia. Thus far, they’ve had two online competitions too — the more elaborate one after they completed 100 recipes.
Their popularity rose most during the Ramzan fast, when they put together nine special Iftar menus, each with six dishes from starter, drink and main course to dessert. One of the highlights of these menus was their falooda recipes. While Sajida created an unusual falooda pudding made from China grass and cut into diamonds once set, Munira prepared the falooda drink, served cold and with jelly or ice cream. The menus were then released as an e-book.
The fasting season also brought with it almost daily orders for homemade frozen chicken fillets, samosas and rolls that only have to be fried before consumption. Their most ordered dish was also ‘Cutchi Kitchen’s’ most prized recipe — the goond jo laddoo, a powdery, sugary dessert served for auspicious occasions, given to brides before weddings and to mothers after deliveries. Explains Sajida, “The goond (acacia gum) has medicinal properties, and though the recipe for the laddoo is simple, it takes years of practice to get the mixture to hold right without giving way or being too sticky.” Sajida and Munira are the only ones in the family who prepare the laddoo, even today, as the next generations are still grasping the knack.
Changing rituals
Time has changed much among the Kutchi Memons, says Sajida. Old, prolonged rituals have turned brief, and with it, the associated foods have morphed too.
For example, by tradition, the peeti (haldi) ceremony for brides lasted several days and the household favourite was muthiya, a steamed rice dumpling dish that could be served dry or with gravy. “I remember my ummima sitting and shaping the muthiyas all by herself, not trusting anyone to make them correctly with her special mix of spices and ingredients,” writes Shazia. Peeti ceremonies now are associated more with quicker dishes such as kaaja (a badusha-like savoury) and paalchaya, a condensed milk-based drink. Hot favourites are also the Kutchi koottan (a dal curry served with pathiri), beef kofta (boneless beef meatball curry), buttery, cookie-like nankhatais and mitta ghatia, a deep-fried flour-based snack.
Sajida counts among her most prized possessions, a kombi, a 100-year-old bandini shawl bordered by gold, traditionally placed over the bride’s head at weddings. What they also cherish is their Kutchi language — a conglomeration of Sindhi, Gujarati,Urdu and Hindi, reflective of the community’s wide travels.
“We still speak it at home and though it has no specific script, all our children have learnt it too alongside Malayalam, Hindi and English,” says Sajida in fluent Malayalam. Someday, they hope to bring out a book of their family’s recipes. For now, ‘Cutchi Kitchen’ conducts workshops on their food, alongside those on Arabian recipes and world cuisine. Find the ‘Cutchi Kitchen’ at www.cutchikitchen.com
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Food / by Esther Elias / November 14th, 2013
Sarfaraz Ashraf recorded incredible figures of 6 for 0 for Young Pioneer CC in a KSCA T20 tournament fixture, held at the Aditya Global grounds here.
Sarfaraz Ashraf, who recorded incredible figures of 6 for 0 for Young Pioneer CC in a KSCA T20 club tournament fixture. – SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Sarfaraz Ashraf recorded incredible figures of 6 for 0 for Young Pioneer CC in a KSCA T20 club tournament fixture, held at the Aditya Global grounds here. Ashraf’s heroics helped his team coast past Mercara Youth CC.
Ashraf, a left-arm chinaman bowler, stated that he took five wickets in the first over of his spell. This included a hat-trick, which came in the final three deliveries of the over. His final figures read 3-3-0-6. He also scored 40 as Young Pioneer put up 264 for four in its 20 overs. Mercara Youth CC was bowled out for 57 in the chase.
The 27-year-old has represented Jharkhand in List ‘A’ and Twenty20 matches. In the 2013-14 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, Ashraf picked up 11 wickets for Jharkhand, in eight matches.
“I am from Bengaluru, but I had moved to Jharkhand a few years ago because I got a chance to play at the national-level. Now, I have moved back to Bengaluru,” Ashraf said.
Ashraf was also part of the Hubli Tigers side which competed in the Karnataka Premier League last year.
The score:
Young Pioneer CC 264 for four in 20 overs (Sarfaraz Ashraf 40, Deepak 74, H.B. Kiran 70, Sunil 33 n.o.) bt Mercara Youth CC 57 in 14.3 overs (Madan 3 for 21, Sarfaraz Ashraf 6 for 0).
source: http://www.sportstarlive.com / Sport Star (Sport Star Live) / Home> Cricket / by Ashwin Achal, Bengaluru / January 16th, 2017
At 92, Shah Alam Khan visits his office daily and tries his best to preserve Hyderabad’s culture.
Shah Alam Khan, one of Hyderabad’s royals who is still referred to as ‘Nawab’.
At 92, Shah Alam Khan, one of Hyderabad’s royals who is still referred to as ‘Nawab’, is gracious enough to stand up to welcome you into his study at the Hyderabad Deccan Cigarette Factory in Musheerabad. What’s more, he eloquently reminisces on the “good old days” when Hyderabad was still ruled by the Nizams.
“Life was not expensive at all. I once saw a goat being sold for four rupees… four rupees!” he says incredulously. With seven sons, Alam’s family has, over the years, expanded their businesses in various fields but one thing that they all take pride in is ensuring that the Nawabi and Hyderabadi culture isn’t forgotten.
Alam’s son Mehboob Alam Khan is a well-known food historian and connoisseur who has helped preserve the Hyderabadi Mughlai cuisine that the city is famous for. Working with various restaurants, Mehboob helps them maintain authenticity in their recipes.
“Hyderabad was known for two things — biryani and sherwani!” says Alam, and says that training today’s chefs is all that is required to bring back the lost culture. “The cooks in our city know only a little bit of this and that. But our womenfolk know a lot of recipes,” he says.
Sipping a typically Hyderabadi cup of chai, he talks about growing up in the Cantonment area in Secunderabad and moving on to study at the Jagirdar College — what’s now known as Hyderabad Public School. “We had the best of Continental as well as Mughlai food. Even the schools served amazing food, that we didn’t even get at home!” he remembers.
Alam then pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from Osmania University, where he says his professors helped mould his life: “I can’t forget the way my English teacher, Prof Doraiswamy, taught us. When the results came out and I passed, I went to his house and fell at his feet.”
The lessons came in handy when he took over the reins of a cigarette factory from his wife Begum Abida Khader’s father in 1945. “When I used to hoist the flag during ceremonies, I’d tell them that this is the place where you as well as me fill our tummy. If there’s a quarrel in the house between the husband and the wife, then your house is not good. If there’s a quarrel in the factory, it’s not good for the industry,” Alam explains.
Alam still goes to office every day but has one regret: Not doing enough to preserve Hyderabad’s culture — “I once had the opportunity to address the old boys’ association of Osmania University in Karachi. And I told them with tears rolling down my cheeks that I can’t believe that the association is here… it should have been in Hyderabad. And with it, you have also taken away our culture.”
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Lifestyle> Viral and Trending / Deccan Chronicle – by Christopher Isaac / March 18th, 2016
