A night’s stay in the hotel, which is set to open later this year, might cost up to Rs 8 lakh.
A view of the Great Scotland Yard (Photo | http://www.twenty14holdings.com)
Kochi :
Malayalee billionaire Yusuff Ali, who bought the Great Scotland Yard, which served as headquarters for the Metropolitan police in London, has converted it into a luxurious 5-star hotel. The renovation that cost Rs 685 cr. (£75 Million) was done in 3 years.
The business tycoon, who is chairman of Abu Dhabi-based retail giant LuLu Group had earlier bough the iconic building in 2015 for Rs 1000 crore (£110 Million). The renovated hotel is all set to open later this year and will be managed by the Hyatt Group.
When asked about the property, Yusuff Ali said: “This is a very prestigious project for us as this is one of the most well-known property not just in the UK but around the world. We have not left any stones unturned to make this the most sought-after hotel while retaining the essence of the original building, so that each of our guests get a truly memorable experience”.
Great Scotland Yard has special relevance in UK history as it was chosen by the then Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel as the headquarters for the Met police in 1829. Even after the renovation, the essence of the original building has been preserved.
The hotel will have 153 rooms and the tariff per night is expected to go up to Rs 7,79,842 (10,000 euro). These suites offer guests picturesque views of Nelson’s Column, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace, making it one of the most unique locations in London.
The luxury hotel that is steeped in British political history will include references to the famous criminals of the time gone by. In a secret whisky bar, a decadent chandelier made of glass shards will be a nod to the Forty Elephants, the 19th-century gang of women known for smashing shop windows to steal jewellery. There will also be artwork by prisoners and old military uniforms.
Adeeb Ahamed, Son-in-law of Yusuff Ali and the Managing Director of Twenty14 Holdings, the hospitality arm of Lulu Group said, “Renovating the Great Scotland Yard building and unveiling the UK’s first Unbound Collection hotel will bring a truly individual and world-class hotel to London.
“The Great Scotland Yard is really an important part of the fabric of London and it is a great opportunity for us to be a part of the culture and legacy of this great city and help in its development. The Great Scotland Yard will be an enriching landmark in Westminster as a high-end luxury boutique hotel that recaptures the history, culture and essence of the London of yore.”
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / March 26th, 2019
Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman has created India’s Marvel anthem for the release of “Avengers: Endgame”
Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman has created India’s Marvel anthem for the release of “Avengers: Endgame”.
Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman has created India’s Marvel anthem for the release of “Avengers: Endgame”. It will come out in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
Marvel India has teamed up with Rahman for the track, which will be released on April 1, according to a statement.
“Being surrounded by Marvel fans in my own family, there was too much pressure to come with something really satisfying and apt for ‘Avengers: Endgame’. I hope Marvel aficionados and music lovers enjoy the track,” said Rahman.
There is much anticipation for “Avengers: Endgame”, especially after the success of “Avengers: Infinity War”
“‘Avengers: Endgame’ is not just a movie, it’s an emotional journey for fans everywhere in India. An original composition by Oscar winner A.R. Rahman was the perfect way to celebrate the love for Marvel among fans in the country.
“This is our small way of thanking the fans here for their extraordinary support”, said Bikram Duggal, Head – Studios, Marvel India.
Kevin Feige has produced the movie, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. The movie will release in India on April 26 in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
source: http://www.news18.c0m / News 18 / Home> News18> Movies / by IANS / March 25th, 2019
The urs of Mughal emperor Shahjahan will be observed at the historic Taj Mahal for three days from April 2 next. Entry into Taj Mahal will be free for visitors after noon on April 2 and 3 while it will be free for the entire day on April 4.
Lakhs of devotees will throng the 17th century monument during the three-day event and will pay homage at the graves of Shahjahan and his wife Mumtaz, in whose memory the Taj Mahal was built.
On the last day, a ‘saptrangi chadar’ (multi-coloured bedsheet ) will be offered at the graves as part of a ritual. Sandalwood powder will be sprinkled on the grave too.
The urs of the Mughal king Shahjahan is celebrated on the 25, 26 and 27th day of Rajab, which falls of April 2, 3 and 4.
The Shahjahan urs committee will meet here on March 8 to decide on the arrangement and preparation to be made for the urs.
Officials said that a notification was issued by the ASI on the urs of Shahjahan. The administration will prepare a fool proof strategy to ensure full security to devotees attending the urs.
source: http://www.dailypioneer.com / The Pioneer / Home> State Editions> Lucknow / by PNS, Lucknow / March 06th, 2019
For World Wildlife Day on March 3, photographers speak of what attracts them to the wilderness
March 3 is World Wildlife day, as declared by the United Nations. A day dedicated to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild fauna and flora.” Images go a long way to celebrate wildlife and foster love and concern for it.
But for the wildlife shows on TV, most of us haven’t seen animals in the wild. The beauty of the wilderness would have been lost to us had it not been for the photographers who spend enormous amount of time in waiting patiently to capture that one shot that will make us fall in love with nature and the jungle. Wildlife is a subject of interest to many photographers because they feel it is their way of capturing the beauty in their most natural mood and habitat.
An eagle flies away with her next meal, a piece of fresh fish | Photo Credit: MASOOD HUSSAIN
Phani Krishna Ravi of Hyderabad Birding Pals, feels birds don’t bother humans if we just let them be. “It is the pattern that we need to learn. Wild birds have a pattern for everything — for eating, breeding, nesting and resting. Understanding their pattern needs patience. The process of understanding actually brings us peace of mind. To be a part of the wild, we need to sync with it. That is when we can understand them better and work to protect them.”
This year’s theme for World Wildlife Day 2019 is: ‘Life Below Water: For people and planet.’ Overfishing, acidification and pollution threaten life below water. The battle to clean our rivers and oceans is a long one. Activities are taking baby steps beginning with a ban on plastic straws, sunscreen lotions and finding the best solution to save marine lives.
Many examples of sea clean up and conservation of marine life can be seen the world over. A few efforts have paid dividends; a good example of this is the return of the sea turtles to Versova beach. The Versova cleanup came to be known as ‘world’s largest beach clean-up project’ by the United Nations. The beach’s dramatic transformation soon saw return of the sea turtles to the beach after 20 years. Naturally that news and videos went viral.
Does that mean we can overlook our forests this year? Are things any different on land? With shrinking habitats, our wild animals are an endangered lot and sanctuaries are the only spaces that provide them with a safe haven. ? Masood Hussain interest in wildlife photography stems from his dissatisfaction with his pictures when he was shooting people, places and festival moods. “I was only repeating what others have already done, I wanted different,” he says.
He adds, “Wild animals need their space. In the wild you can see them in their element. It’s very different from what one sees in a zoo. The wild is their natural habitat, they aren’t used to cages and small confinements. After going to the wild for photos, I feel sick if I don’t go back and spend a few days there; it is my medicine. When I go to the jungle I go with preconceived ideas of my shots. I go with the wish to capture a bird or an animal in a particular place. The only way to achieve that is to sit patiently and come back with an almost-there shot. The photo gives joy no doubt, but it also makes viewers want to be a part of it, to take care of it. It makes me happy when I see people enthusiastic about going to witness the wild. When one sees an animal in its natural habitat a sense of responsibility for their conservation comes in, it a natural thing to happen.”
Masood cannot pick a favourite photo from his own collection because each photo comes with a story to narrate.
Every photographer who goes to the wild says its beauty is fascinating and not even the hardships they face in the wild can stop them.
Professional wildlife and nature photographer Ismail Shariff who just returned from an expedition to photograph snow leopards at Spiti in Himachal Pradesh says, “When you are scouting for a snow leopard in the vast mountains and huge gorges of Kibber, completely disconnected with everyone but the ones around you, there is a sense of attainment, which get extrapolated when you actually see one. While sitting at the top of the mountain ridges surrounded and covered in all white, its not just about the fauna around you, but the feeling of calmness and satisfaction to the soul, for just being there. It’s an unexplainable feeling to be associated with such pure nature.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Environment > World Wildlife Day / by Prabalika M. Borah / March 01st, 2019
From the desk of Sunday magazine to a celebrated chef now on Netflix’s Chef’s Table, Asma Khan’s story is one of strength, confidence and ambition
The first British chef to make it to Chef’s Table, Asma Khan is also opening all-women kitchens in conflict zones in Syria(Ming Tang-Evans)
It is a funny feeling when a colleague from decades ago becomes a success in a totally different field. And it feels even stranger when you find yourself writing a profile of somebody you once knew as a sub-editor.
In 1990, when I edited Sunday magazine, a young girl came to see me to ask if she could try her hand at journalism. She worked at Lintas, the ad agency, she said, and wanted to do something different but not entirely unrelated.
I hired her on the spot and all of us in the office thought she was very bright and articulate. Then, a few months later, she announced that she was getting married, resigned from her position and went off to live in Cambridge with her new husband.
And that, I thought, was the last I would hear of Asma Khan.
Wrong, very wrong.
A few years ago, she sent me an email. She was now a chef in London, she wrote. Not only did she organise private dinners at home but she was also running a pop-up in a pub in Soho. Why didn’t I drop in and try her food?
I had to search my memory to remember Asma (time to be candid!) and when I asked old colleagues from the Sunday days, they said that they found it hard to believe that she was now a chef.
Then, in 2015, my friend Fay Maschler, London’s most influential critic, wrote about Asma’s pop-up. It was an unqualified rave review and she rated Asma’s little restaurant serving Kosha Mangsho and Kathi rolls ahead of most of London’s fancy Indian places.
The day the review came out, there was a line outside the pub where Asma ran her pop-up. It began raining but the people still continued queuing. Asma and her cooks were stunned. But like good Indians, they felt bad for the crowds. So they made little bowls of rice with dal and distributed them for free to those lining up. The gesture did not go unnoticed and every night after that, the small restaurant was packed. It became the cool place to go for people who wanted real Indian food.
“Fay Maschler changed my life,” says Asma now. And indeed, the changes have been dramatic. A year and a half ago, the owners of Kingly Court, a new development off Carnaby Street in the centre of London, offered her a dream deal on a site for a full-fledged restaurant. The restaurant opened to glowing reviews and became a symbol of the new London. Nigella Lawson came. Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, praised it. And Asma appeared on the list of the 100 most influential people in food in the UK.
Fay Maschler, London’s most influential critic, discovered Asma
But a few months ago, Asma received her biggest accolade yet. The Netflix series Chef’s Table has featured some of the world’s greatest chefs. It has the power to turn a chef’s life around. Gaggan Anand says that even more than all the honours and awards he has earned (two stars from Michelin, number one restaurant in Asia for an unprecedented four years in a row etc.), it is Chef’s Table that made people from all over the world fly in to Bangkok to eat at his restaurant.
There has been much heartburn in the UK that no British chef has ever made it to Chef’s Table.
So when Netflix announced that it had finally selected a British chef, there was much anticipation. To everyone’s surprise, they chose Asma.
The show airs later this month and as I told Asma, her life will never be the same again. She will soon be one of the world’s most celebrated chefs, the best known Indian chef in the UK and perhaps globally, with the exception of Gaggan.
Chicken samosas served with spicy sesame and red chillies chutney, and tamarind chutney ( Ming Tang-Evans )
As wonderful as all this is, a little voice inside my head kept asking, “How did Asma, the same old Asma from the Sunday desk end up becoming one of the great chefs to be featured on Chef’s Table? Had she been a secret cook all along even as she laboured over copy? Had she worked at some of the world’s best restaurants? Had she reinvented classic Indian dishes?”
The answer: none of the above.
The Asma story is so incredible that if you made a movie with this plot, you would be accused of asking too much of the viewer. Suspension of disbelief is okay, but Asma’s life takes us far beyond that.
Darjeeling Express started as a dinner for 12 guests at home and is now a hugely successful restaurant ( Ming Tang-Evans )
She was born in Calcutta to a family with roots in nawabi culture (what we would call landed gentry, I guess). She had a standard middle-class upbringing (La Martiniere and Loreto) before going out to work (Lintas and then Sunday). Her parents introduced her to Mushtaq, a brilliant Bangladeshi economist who was a don at Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge. Asma and Mushtaq had, what was for all practical purposes, an arranged marriage and she moved to Cambridge.
Beetroot chops, Bengali spiced croquettes made with British beetroots ( Ming Tang-Evans )
She was miserable. “I thought the Quran had it wrong when it described hell,” she recalls. “Hell was Cambridge.” She hated the cold, the greyness, the drab English environment (especially after the sights, smells and sounds of Calcutta).
Asma’s book, a collection of authentic Indian recipes
Though her mother had run a catering business in Calcutta, Asma did not know how to cook. She could read copy, she could give clever headlines. But she had no kitchen experience. Fortunately Mushtaq had no interest in food.
So she turned to studying. She got a law degree, and then decided to do a PhD in law. By then, Mushtaq had shifted to the School of Oriental and African Studies in London so she applied to King’s College at London University. She talked the dons at King’s into letting her go directly to a doctorate without a Masters.
Black chickpeas (kaala channa) cooked with ginger and dried red chilies at Darjeeling Express ( Ming Tang-Evans )
She chose, for her thesis, a subject that was as far removed from Calcutta as possible: how the UK handles the separation of Church and State. But even as she was discussing whether the British monarch should be ‘defender of the faith’, a hitherto undiscovered cooking gene deep inside her reasserted itself.
Chef Vivek Singh offered Asma a pop-up at Cinnamon Club
She began to make the food of her ancestors, going back to old family recipes. Eventually, cooking became such an obsession that she started hosting pop-up dinners. Her husband disapproved of the idea so she cooked the dinners when he was travelling. (“We cleared up the house so well,” she laughs “that usko pata hi nahi chala!”)
But her two children, who were not happy with having the house taken over by strangers, complained to their father and soon the jig was up.
Asma is nothing if not super confident, so she called such famous London chefs as Cyrus Todiwala and Vivek Singh to her house for dinner to try her biryani. Even though none of them knew her, they came anyway. They were kind and encouraging. Vivek Singh was so impressed that he offered her a pop-up at his The Cinnamon Club restaurant. She took her all-women team of cooks and won over the all-male Cinnamon Club kitchen team. (“I will always be grateful to Vivek for that,” she says.)
The all-women kitchen team at Darjeeling Express, London
That gave her the credibility to do a full-time pop-up. Word of her skills got out. Fay discovered her. And the rest is the stuff Chef’s Table episodes are made of.
Now, with the success of Darjeeling Express, Asma is well-known in London. People make much of her nearly all-women team. (My wife, who came to lunch at Darjeeling Express with me, loved the female energy; she was sold on the restaurant even before the first dish arrived.) Asma is overtly political, speaking out about sexual harassment in restaurant kitchens, breaking the conspiracy of silence that women in the business have gone along with and has become a symbol of the success that Asian women can find if they overcome prejudice and their own apprehensions.
But ultimately, I judge chefs by their food not by their stories. And Asma’s was terrific. We had puchkas, Bihari phulkis (like pakoras), Kosha Mangsho, a Calcutta mutton chaap, kaalachanna, chicken samosas, beetroot chops and so much more. None of it was molecular or clever, clever. It was just excellent.
You will hear more about Asma in the months ahead.
After Gaggan, she is Kolkata’s second contribution to the global food world.
And you will hear about her in non-food contexts. She is opening all-women kitchens in conflict zones in Syria. As she says, “I don’t want to be remembered as a great chef. I want women to come to my grave and say ‘she changed my life’; that’s what matters.”
She is not short on confidence and ambition, our Asma. And I have a feeling that she will end up being the most successful person to ever emerge from the offices of Sunday magazine!
From HT Brunch, February 24, 2019 / Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunch /Connect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch
source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Brunch / by Vir Sangvi, Hindustan Times / February 24th, 2019
A view of Nagore Dargah, in Nagapattinam | Photo Credit: B. VELANKANNI RAJ
Cutting across faiths, sailors pray to Nagore Miran for a safe journey
“There are so many boats named after ‘Nagore Andavar’ in Kasimedu (a fishing harbour in Chennai). Don’t hastily jump to the conclusion those are owned by Muslims. They actually belong to our people,” cautions Manoharan, to me and writer Nivedita Louis. We were at his residence to record songs on Nagore Andavar as sung by Manoharan, aged about 80 and a retired fisherman of Olcott Kuppam in Chennai. Though the Nagore Andavar he refers to is a 16th century Muslim Sufi saint who transcended religious divides, it still comes as a surprise to know that Hindu fishermen living some 300 km north of Nagore where the Sufi lies buried, name their boats after him.
Continues Manoharan, “When the sea gets turbulent and we feel our lives are at risk, it is to Nagore Andavar that we plead, through songs to rescue us. And miraculously the winds will change, push us to the safety of the shore,” he says. He immediately breaks into a song in Tamil that pours out their fears and pleads for their safety from the wrath of the sea. A hundred km away from Chennai, fishermen at Veerampattinam of Pondicherry, praying for their safety before sailing into the rough sea, make their offerings to Nagore Andavar at Nagoorar Thottam.
Interestingly it was not just fishermen of the Tamil coast, but anyone who left the Tamil coastline in the 19th century placed their faith in the saint to safely cross the seas, and wherever they landed, they built a memorial or shrine for him. Those shrines today stand as testimony to the path taken by the Tamil Diaspora across continents, from maritime traders to indentured labourers. From Penang in South East Asia to the Caribbean in the Americas, with recent additions in Toronto and New York, the influence of Nagore Miran as the Sufi is also known, can be seen.
Nagore Miran, the 16th century Muslim Sufi saint, buried, as the name suggests in Nagore in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu was born as Sahul Hameed in Manikhpur in North India. He took to spiritualism early in his life and travelled through West Asia to Mecca and to Burma and on to China before touching Ceylon and the South Indian coast. Travelling through the Tamil country with his band of followers, local lore has it that the Sufi cured an ailing Achutappa Nayak, the ruler of Thanjavur, and a grateful Nayak gifted land for the Sufi to stay at Nagore. Interestingly, the Sufi arrived at at a time when the Indian seafarers, particularly the Tamil Muslim ship owners, were being harassed by powerful Portuguese naval fleets.
With the hostile Portuguese at Nagapattinam, the presence of the Sufi at nearby Nagore was a great solace not just to the harassed maritime traders but to the sea faring fishermen. Among the miracles attributed to him, it was widely believed by the fishermen that, the Sufi, while residing at Nagore was able to plug the hole in a ship which was otherwise sinking off the coast.
His mysticism touched the lives of people across faiths — from Kings to commoners. They flocked to him and after his death to the Nagore dargah where he lies buried. The dargah received endowments from the Thanjavur Nayaks, Marathas and Nawabs. One of the five minarets at Nagore dargha, the tallest at 131 feet, was built by the Maratha ruler Maharaja Pratap Singh Bhonsle in the mid-eighteenth century. Govindasamy Chetty, Mahadeva Iyer and Palaniyandi Pillai are some of the donors.
In the late 18th century when the British founded Penang in Malaysia as the fourth presidency, it attracted considerable Tamil Muslim traders who were already doing business in South-East Asia. Mostly known as Chulias (those from the land of the Cholas), they became one of the earliest settlers in Penang. By early 19th century, when the settlement had grown considerably, the Company enabled them to build the Kapitan Keling mosque. They built a memorial for Nagore Sahul Hameed at the junction of Chulia street and Kings street. Similar memorials were built across South-East Asia, in Aceh, Burma, Vietnam, Ceylon, Singapore and many other parts of Malaysia wherever the traders went.
However unlike the Tamil Muslim traders, who traded within the Asiatic region, the indentured labourers were taken to distant continents by the colonial rulers, to work in the new plantations. In the early 19th century, as ships set sail from Nagapattinam, the indentured labourers, placed their faith on Nagore Miran for their safe journey across the turbulent seas. The labourers reached lands as distant as the Caribbean Islands. “When in early 20th century they moved to better pastures in Canada and the U.S., Nagore Miran along with Madurai Veeran, Mariamman and many other gods and saints found place in the newly constructed temples at Toronto and New York,” points out Prof. Davesh Soneji of University of Pennsylvania.
If the Muslim traders treated Sahul Hamid as an Awliya, the Hindu indentured labourers, used to idol worship, gave him a form and placed him in the sanctum along with other Hindu deities such as Madurai Veeran, Muneeswaran and Mariamman. “…this divinity is an integral part of most of the ‘Madrassi’ or South Indian Hindu temples in this region. In French Caribbean Islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, Nagore Mira is worshipped in the form of a Boat and mast decorated with colourful flags. 786, the sacred Islamic number, can be found engraved on the boat,” writes Suresh Pillai, an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of arts, archaeology, and cultural artefacts to locate material history and empirical knowledge among living cultures.
Interestingly in Tamil Nadu itself, every year, at the beginning of the Kandhurior Urs festival in honour of the saint, festooned boats resembling ships, adorned with various flags, navigate their way through the streets of the old harbour town of Nagapattinam, before cruising through the national highway leading to Nagore. “It is really surprising how these big boats squeeze themselves through the narrow streets of Nagapattinam and Nagore before finally halting at the saints abode. After which the flags are raised on different minarets of the dargah on the first day of the Urs,” says Harini Kumar, a research scholar on Tamil Islam. Typical of the syncretic nature of the Sufi shrines, as the festival gathers momentum, various communities pay their respects to the saint, with specific non-Muslim families, including the fishermen, accorded hereditary honours.
While the syncretic nature is a common thread that runs through the Sufi beliefs, it is Nagore Miran the Sufi, emerging as the patron saint of the seas, enabling us to trace the path taken centuries ago by the Tamil Diaspora, that seems unique.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> History & Culture / by Anwar’s Trails / by Kombai S. Anwar / March 07th, 2019
History professor Seema Alavi from Delhi University addressing an international history seminar at Farook College on Monday
Two major colleges of Malabar are jointly hosting an international history seminar in honour of well-known academic P.P. Abdul Razak, who is retiring soon from P.S.M.O. College, Tirurangadi, as its History Department head.
Calicut University Vice Chancellor K. Mohammed Basheer inaugurated the seminar on ‘Early modern and colonial in history: concepts and cases in South Asia’ at Farook College on Monday.
Dr. Basheer called upon historians and researchers to take a diversion from the traditional methods of historiography. He exhorted them to widen the study of history by including the colloquial languages and local history.
“History should be linked to the lives of ordinary people,” he said. Several reputed historians, including Seema Alavi from Delhi University, Mahmood Kooria from Leiden University, Nirmal Renjit Devasiri from Colombo University, K.N. Ganesh and K.S. Madhavan from Calicut University, are attending the two-day meet.
Farook College principal K.M. Naseer presided. T. Mohammedali, head of History Department at Farook College, welcomed the gathering. Kerala History Congress general secretary N. Gopakumaran Nair, Farook College History Old Students Association president P. Ramdas, Vijaya Lakshmi from Malayalam University spoke. K. Lukmanul Hakeem from Government Arts and Science College, Kozhikode, proposed a vote of thanks. While Farook College hosted it on the first day, PSMO College, Tirurangadi, will host the proceedings on Tuesday.
The National Higher Education Mission is supporting the seminar jointly organised by Farook College and PSMO College in association with the Social History Collective, Kozhikode.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by Staff Reporter / Malappuram – March 05th, 2019
An anthology of Urdu verses and proverbs, all on eyes, was launched recently
Eyes are a mirror of the soul, it is said. Some eyes are sly and roguish, some serene and shining, a few, seductive and mysterious. Prod Dr Abdul Moiz Shams and he reels out details about a variety of eyes and their intrinsic worth. He should know considering he is an ophthalmologist by profession, but then Dr Shams also has a keen eye for Urdu poetry.
During his long service as an ophthalmologist, he has looked into innumerable defective eyes holding a little flashlight. While restoring vision, he has also looked beyond, into the soul. And what he has come up with is a book titled Aankh Aur Urdu Shayeri.
Inki aankhen ye keh rahi hain Faraz
Ham pe tasneef ek kitab karo
(Her eyes tell Faraz
Write a book on us)
Dr Shams has compiled a 389-page book containing couplets of different shades and emotions on eyes. It’s a treasure trove for connoisseurs of poetry. From Mirza Ghalib, Allama Iqbal to Meer, Sauda, Shaad, Faiz, Majaz, Jigar Muradabadi, Ali Sardar Jafery, Parveen Shakir — a whole lot of Urdu poets and their verses on aankh have been listed.
The book is divided into three parts — the first one contains couplets beginning with aankh, the second one has verses which are allegorical in nature and the third part has proverbs containing the word aankh, listed topic-wise. The book is a ready reckoner of sorts, on eyes. This is perhaps the only book of its kind where all the pages are full of verses on one body part.
Right from his student days Dr Shams had a love for poetry and when he became an eye specialist, his passion took a different turn. He started focussing on poetry of eyes. It’s no wonder that he has four other books to his credit: Hamari Aankhen, Jism-o-Jan, Jism-Be-Jan and Aab-e-Hayat.
“The eye is the jewel of the body. Its function is not just to see but to look beyond and sense colour, form, light and movement. That’s why I started collecting couplets on eyes,” says Aligarh-based Dr Shams who released his book in Hyderabad.
The insightful couplets are real eye-openers. Sample this couplet of Parveen Shakir.
Aankh ko yaad hai wo pal ab bhi
Neend jab pehle pehal tuti thi
Full-length ghazals of Ali Sardar Jafery, Khaisar Siddiqi, Hasrat Mohani and Basheer Badr, all on eyes, make for delightful reading.
Gulab aankhen, sharaab aankhen
Yehi to hain lajawab aankhen
Aankhen uthen to dard ke chashme ubal pade
Palken juhken to payar ka badal baras gaya
One can get an eyeful of couplets in this book which was released at the recent two-day National Urdu Science Congress at the Maulana Azad National Urdu University. “There is no dichotomy between science and literature. In fact they complement each other,” says Dr Abid Moiz, who is also a good humour writer.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style> Book / by J S Ifthekhar / March 06th, 2019
Out of 250 participants, seven home chefs made it to the finals.
From left) Bijesh K V, Manas Ranjan Raut, Dinesh Garg, Chef Shazia Khan, Fahima Zahid and Chef Abhijit Saha at The Cooking Studio.
On Thursday at The Cooking Studio, the seven finalised flexed their culinary muscles to impress the judges and take home the first prize.
The competition was judged by Masterchef and runner-up Shazia Khan, Executive Chef of Taj Vivanta Chef Selvaraju , Chef Abhijit Saha, Founding Director and Chef, Avant Garge Hospitality, and Dinesh Garg, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing, TTK Prestige Ltd.
After an intense 90-minute round of cooking one savoury and one dessert using the Prestige equipment, TTK Prestige announced Bijesh K V as Bengaluru’s best home chef 2019.
The IT sales executive also won a voucher of TTK Prestige products worth Rs 50,000.
Fahima Zahid, a homemaker, and Manas Ranjan Raut, ex-Airforce Junior Warrant Officer and fitness trainer, won TTK Prestige products worth Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 as first and second runner up, respectively.
The winning dish prepared by Bijesh was Spiced Kiwi Rice, Orange Chicken with a dash of honey and Choco Orange Mug Cake with an Indian spice twist. Fahima prepared Chicken Changezi and Coconut Pana Cotta with Mango Coulis.
Celebrating his win, Bijesh said, “This has been the most phenomenal learning experience for me. I have always been passionate about food and I am so pleased that my dishes were well appreciated.’’
Chef Shazia Khan said, “I was very impressed by the quality of dishes prepared by the participants. I was particularly struck with how Bengalureans have begun to experiment with different cuisines and embrace different kinds of food. It was a difficult choice as all the finalists were accomplished cooks, but our winners displayed risk, great technique and skill in their cooking, which ultimately enabled them to stand out from the others.”
Third anniversary of disability management programme
The Community Disability Management and Rehabilitation Programme (CDMRP), a unique outreach scheme of the University of Calicut implemented through the Department of Psychology, celebrated its third anniversary on Thursday. The programme is implemented with the the support of the State Social Justice Department.
The celebrations marked a special gathering of a large group of differently abled children and their parents on the campus. The children with different abilities won the heart of the campus by presenting their special skills without inhibition.
Vice Chancellor K. Mohammed Basheer inaugurated the celebrations.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Basheer underscored the need to provide equal status to the differently abled children by bringing them to the mainstream.
Onus on society
He said the onus was on society to bring the differently abled up to the mainstream by providing what they wanted, and not just sympathy.
Registrar T.A. Abdul Majeed presided. Pace Education Group chairman P.A. Ibrahim Haji was the chief guest at the function.
Executive director D. Jayan, CDMRP director K. Manikantan, Syndicate member K.K. Haneefa, Head of Psychology Department Baby Shari, and Kozhikode District Social Justice Officer Parameswaran spoke.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by Staff Reporter / Malappuram – February 01st, 2019
