How did the politics of the Ram temple and the demolition of the Babri Masjid secure support for the militant Hindu nationalistic idea?
In this episode of ‘In Dino’, Mahtab Alam interviews senior journalist and author, Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay on the impact the Ram Janmabhoomi-Ayodhya movement had on India polity and society.
Mukhopadhyay in his latest book, The Demolition and the Verdict: Ayodhya and the Project to Reconfigure India (Speaking Tiger: 2021) analyses how politics of the Ram temple and demolition of Babri Masjid secured support for the militant Hindu nationalistic idea and the long-term implications of the imminent construction of the Ram Mandir.
source: http://www.thewire.in / The Wire / Home> Books / by Mahtab Alam / December 20th, 2021
Rashida Be Khatri, a craftsperson of Bagh Print, has been selected for national merit certificate for 2018 by Union Ministry of Textiles.
Bhopal :
Rashida Be Khatri, a craftsperson of Bagh Print, has been selected for national merit certificate for 2018 by Union Ministry of Textiles.
She has been selected for Bagh handblock print bedcover. In the bed cover; she has done fine work using natural dyes. Rashida has been working in the field for more than 30 years in Bagh village in Dhar district of the state.
She is the only woman to have been received two state-level awards in 2012 and 2014. She is wife of late master craftsman Abdul Kader. Rashida did not lose hope after death of her husband on May 12, 2019. She took care of her sons Arif, Hamid and Ali as well as the craft. Her sons are also working under her guidance to promote the craft.
Her designs are inspired by ancient monuments of Dhar district including Mandu Nilkanth besides Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Agra Fort etc.
source: http://www.freepressjournal.in / The Free Press Journal / Home / by Staff Reporter / October 31st, 2021
After a near-death experience, Badrunissa Irfan, wife of Irfan Razack, CMD of Prestige Group, has put paintbrush to paper, expressing all that she’s been through.
Bengaluru :
11 years ago, Badrunissa Irfan was in a comatose state for almost a month. Doctors had lost hope but Irfan pulled along.
Today, over a decade after the incident, Irfan is sharing what she experienced for the first time, through her art works. Titled ‘Freedom of the Soul’, 35 paintings of Irfan will be on display at Sublime Galleria in UB City through the month of June.
Picking up her acrylic paints after a 20-year break, Irfan questions what a soul is through her paintings. “I had a near-death experience where I was in a state of coma for 23 days and was declared clinically dead twice. But I came back to life and what I witnessed during those days is what I have painted now. I want to convey the message I received from the Almighty through my art.”
While she took to art at a young age, her passion took a backseat when life and responsibilities took over. “It was my daughter Uzma [Uzma Irfan, director of Prestige Group], who encouraged me to pick up the brushes again. When I told her that my body cannot do what it used to before, she sent her daughter (my granddaughter) Alayna Zaid (who is also an artist) to sit with me while working,” she says, adding that she started work on her paintings in January this year.
Talking about her paintings, Irfan says, “You’ll find that most of my paintings are of open skies, mountains, gushing streams, animals and birds.”
Starting at `75,000 and going up to `1,40,000, all proceeds from this show will be donated to charity. She recalls how she couldn’t hear anyone except her daughter reading verses from the Quran every day.
“In my unconscious state, there was a scenario where I felt like I was looking at my own body from the outside,” she says. Every experience that she went through during that period comes to life in this series. “The colours that I use depend completely on my mood. I spend about two hours in the afternoon and another two in the evening and finish one painting within two days. It might take a little longer if it’s a bigger one,” Irfan adds.
Irfan believes she ‘came back to life’ to share what she has seen and witnessed. “I personally feel more connected with nature, animals, birds, flowers and fruits. I feel humans are hypocrites and so I use my art to share the beauty I believe in,” says Irfan, who is also the author of cookbook Duniya-e-Ziyafat.
(Freedom of the Soul will be showcased from June 1 to 30 at Sublime Galleria. All proceeds from this show will be donated to charity)
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Anila Kurian , Express News Service / May 31st, 2022
The couple decided to donate its 28-cent ancestral land to LIFE Mission, the Kerala government’s flagship housing scheme for the landless.
Haj (Photo | PTI)
Pathanamthitta :
Aranmula residents Jasmine and Haneefa were making arrangements for their long-cherished dream of going on haj and were prepared to sell their land to raise funds for the trip when they had second thoughts.
Instead, the couple, married for over three decades, decided to donate its 28-cent ancestral land to LIFE Mission, the State government’s flagship housing scheme for the landless.
The couple’s decision came after it saw the plight of a neighbour-family living on a rented premises and found it difficult to cremate the body of a family member who died recently.
“We were planning to sell our property and use the funds for haj pilgrimage. But, in the past couple of months, we saw some incidents in which certain families find it difficult to cremate their family members as they don’t own a property. Such incidents made us rethink our Haj plans,” Haneefa told PTI.
He said recently, a person passed away in his locality and a community leader donated his four cents of land to that family to conduct last rites and cremation.
“After that incident, we decided to make use of the land to help the needy instead of going for haj,” Haneefa said.
Local Self-Government Minister M V Govindan hailed the decision of the couple and said it was an inspiration to society.
Minister Govindan said the couple was an inspiration to the forward journey of society which needs to embrace every human being.
“People like Haneefa and Jasmine have set an example of humanity and are role models for society,” Govindan said.
Health Minister Veena George on Sunday visited the house of 57-year-old Haneefa and received the agreement to hand over the property for the Life Mission from the couple on behalf of the Aranmula Grama panchayat.
The land, owned by 48-year-old Jasmine, was received under the ‘manasodithiri mannu’ campaign of the Left government, Govindan said.
“Till now, the government has received 926.75 cents of land in 13 locations for the Life Mission scheme. Also in 30 locations, 830.8 cents of land have been assured for the Life Mission. The project has also received a sponsorship of Rs 25 crore to construct 1,000 houses,” the Minister said.
Govindan said he hopes more people would come forward to help the poor and draw inspiration from the couple.
The Left government has till now handed over 2,95,006 houses to beneficiaries under the Life Mission scheme, he said.
He also added that 34,374 houses are currently under construction.
There are 27 housing complexes that are also under construction, he said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by PTI / May 29th, 2022
Pa Gopalakrishna Memorial Award 2018 for ‘Best Rural Reporting’ was presented to Journalist Imtiaz Shah Tumbe at Patrika Bhavan.
His article on Kodagu natural calamity, published in Vartha Bharati, was selected for the award.
Shah, a sub-editor in Vartha Bharati, said he had stepped into the field of journalism without any proper background. He said his parent organisation had honed his skills and provided him with an opportunity. “I feel privileged to receive the award.”
Dakshina Kannada District Information and Public Relations Senior Assistant Director K Rohini presented the award to Shah.
Speaking on the occasion, Rohini said the family members of veteran journalist late Pa Gopalakrishna, who had instituted the award, had set an example for others.
DK District Working Journalists’ Association Srinivas Indaje presided over the programme. Secretary Ibrahim Adkasthala, Mangaluru Press Club President Annu Mangaluru, Patrika Bhavan Trust President K Ananda Shetty, Pa Go’s spouse Savitri and senior journalist Manohar Prasad were present.
source: http://www.megamedianews.com / MegaMedia News / Home / March 02nd, 2019
The Imperial Sweet House in Hyderabad’s Sultanpur area was started by Nafees and her daughter-in-law Nasreen Hussaini in the 1960s. Over the years, they’ve expanded their business across India and the world.
A paradise for food lovers, history geeks and street shopaholics, the Charminar city of Hyderabad has a special place for everyone. Being the soul of Hyderabad, Nawabi dawats (delicacies) like Biryani, Qubani ka Meetha and Kaddu ki Kheer are certain to tickle the taste buds of tourists and locals alike.
But among the popular dishes, there is a lesser-known sweet dish called ‘Badam ki Jali’ that often goes undetected by foodies. Primarily made with almonds, cashews and sugar, the recipe of this confection is known to have been passed on from one generation to another.
However, according to reports, there are only a handful of families left in the city that serve Badam ki Jali, which originated in the old Madras and Acrot areas of Tamil Nadu. It travelled to Hyderabad through inter-community marriages, where brides also had their closely guarded recipes in their elaborate wedding trousseau.
One of the few remaining families that make this dish in its authentic form is the Hussaini. As per the family’s accounts, Syeda Aijaz Fatima brought the recipe with her when her family moved to Hyderabad 60 years ago. She passed her recipie to her daughter-in-law, Nafees.
She would make the dish during family gatherings, festivals and weddings but she never considered selling them or making a business out of it.
Cut to 2022, the women of the house run a successful store, ‘Imperial Sweet House’, in the Sultanpur area near Noorkhan Bazar. With an average daily turnover of Rs 20,000, the family supplies their best seller Badam ki Jali and other sweets not just across India but the world.
A Woman’s World
The Hussaini matriarch turned into homepreneurs in the ’60s when their community and the society was reluctant to see women of the house earning money.
It was with the entry of Nafees’ daughter-in-law, Nasreen, that they decided to sell the sweets during festivals. They converted the ground floor of their house into a store to save money on rent. This also ensured they were able to manage both household work and sweet making.
Recalling the early days of their business, Nafees says, “It is a Nawabi mithai that we made accessible to everyone. Initially, we started with a few orders of 1-2 kg and gradually increased to 10 [kg]. I still remember that cashews were priced at Rs 8 per kg and almonds were Rs 10 when we started. The help we hired 50 years ago is still with us. But nowadays there are grinders to grind almonds and cashews but back then it was a tedious process.”
Now 87, Nafees credits her husband, Syed Mohammed, who supported her dream to expand the store’s business.
“Whether it was completing an order of 52 trays of Badam ki Jali, delivering the sweets on his way back from work or working overnight while streaming movies on VCDs [to accompany the sweetmakers], he always helped,” she adds.
As part of their expansion plan, Nasreen introduced new colours, shapes and sizes like stars, betel leaves, flowers and fruits, to the recipe with help from her husband, Mansoor. Meanwhile, Nafees added an ‘ashrafi’ design, which is achieved by pressing the dough between two Nizami coins to get their inscriptions.
Explaining the process of preparing Badam ki Jali without revealing much, she says, “We soak almonds in hot water and then dry it. Cashews and almonds are then ground into flour and then made into dough with sugar. The mould is then given different shapes and kept for baking. The whole process takes around 4-5 hours. The texture of the sweet is like cookies but the taste is similar to Kaju Katli.”
Nafees passed down the recipe to her daughter-in-law Nasreen who then taught her daughter-in-law, Aisha. Under the late Nasreen, the orders multiplied and she was the one to get new machines like grinders for easing the cooking process.
To ensure the quality of the ingredients, Nasreen and Nafees would themselves visit the Begum market to taste cashews and almonds.
When Aisha, the fourth-generation entrant, took over six years ago, she expanded the deliveries outside the city and country. She used online platforms like Whatsapp and social media for marketing. She was also instrumental in customising trays to get special shapes.
“Currently, our selling capacity is 300-400 kg per month. We also make Puran Poli, Gajar Halwa and other sweets. Every dish is made fresh and if there is an exhibition in the city, we do not sell in bulk and make fresh sweets if they get over. Although the shelf-life of this sweet is four to five days if covered in butter paper and packed properly. In case a customer is unhappy with the quality, we replace the entire order. We care about our reputation and family legacy more than anything,” says Aisha, who is a software engineer.
Over the years many competitors have arrived who make the same dish but the Husaainis are not worried.
“We prefer forgoing profits over compromising on taste and consistency. My grandmother, Nafees taught us this. It is due to these principles that we have a global footprint. Even actor Dia Mirza Rekhi had ordered our Badam ki Jali for her wedding last year,” says Ali, Aisha’s husband.
Both Aisha and Ali left their respective jobs in Dubai to continue the family’s legacy.
“The women of this house have a business acumen without having any business-related degrees. They hold magic in their hands to be able to make thousands of people smile with delight with their Badam ki Jali. So leaving a job abroad was totally worth it. We hope our next generation continues the family tradition,” he adds.
When the businessman, Yusuff Ali, paid a visit to the palace in 2012 Marthanda Varma had expressed his wish to gift the car to him. A year later Varma died (December 16, 2013) and the transfer was delayed due to many reasons.
Earlier, the German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz came back to Marthanda Varma with an offer of two new high-end cars, but the royal entity refused to part with his favourite vehicle. (SOURCED.)
Marthanda Varma’s favourite car — a 1955-model Benz nicknamed “Mile a Minute,”– will soon join the fleet of well-known business tycoon MA Yusuff Ali. Varma was the patriarch of the erstwhile Travancore royal family.
The royal family and Uthradam Tirunal Marthanda Varma Foundation have said the late royal figure’s announcement in 2012 in this connection will soon be fulfilled. Many vintage car collectors and businessmen have eyed the vehicle for quite some time. Even the German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz came back to him with an offer of two new high-end cars, but the royal entity refused to part with it.
What is amazing is that the old beauty had travelled 40 lakh miles, a rare achievement for a vehicle. People close to the royal family said he bought the car when he was 38, in 1955, and he drove a major portion of the miles it covered on his own and the rest as a passenger. Built in Stuttgart in Germany, Varma bought it for ₹12,000 and got it registered in Karnataka, CAN 42. It got its nickname “Mile a Minute” after it used to cover one mile in one minute.
When the businessman, Yusuff Ali, paid a visit to the palace in 2012 Marthanda Varma had expressed his wish to gift the car to him. A year later Varma died (December 16, 2013) and the transfer was delayed due to many reasons. Though delayed, the royal family members decided to fulfil his desire and informed the business magnate about it. He is yet to react to the royal offer.
The car is with his son Padmanabha Varma and in good road condition. Benz had presented many honours to the car and some of them are placed in front of the car and bonnet, said royal members. Palace old timers say even on his sick bed Varma used to watch his trusted companion. “He was so attached to it and looked after it as his progeny,” said one of them. A multinational businessman, Yusuff Ali, owns the Lulu group. He had a miraculous escape after his chopper crash-landed in Kochi last April.
source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Top News> India News / by HT Correspondent / April 04th, 2022
Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma felicitating homeguard Mohammed Ashraf Ali in Hyderabad on Friday. | Photo Credit: Arrangement
Justice Satish Chandra Sharma was impressed by Ashraf Ali’s commitment to duty
‘Arey maine ye kya kardiya?’ (What wrong have I done?) was relentlessly ringing in the mind of homeguard Mohammed Ashraf Ali (43) when the convoy of Chief Justice of Telangana High Court Satish Chandra Sharma started to approach him at a slow pace and stopped on Friday morning.
Mr. Ali, who works at Abid Road Traffic police station, was performing his duty at Babu Jagjivan Ram statue near Nizam College when he had a shock of his life as Justice Sharma himself got down from the vehicle and felicitated the officer with a bouquet.
Nonplussed by this development, the homeguard couldn’t believe what was happening in front of his eyes. A visibly impressed Chief Justice, while patting Mr. Ali, said that he had been observing him every day on his way to High Court and was pleased by his commitment and sense of duty.
“I see you every day. You are a good police officer,” Justice Sharma told Ali.
Speaking to The Hindu about the ‘once in a lifetime’ moment, Mr. Ali said that he was still in a state of shock and couldn’t believe that the Chief Justice took time from his busy schedule, and stopped the entire convoy to felicitate him, a homeguard rank police officer.
“It is a rare opportunity and a lifetime memory which I will recollect every single day and share with near and dear ones at every opportune time,” he said.
Mr. Ali’s family members and friends circulated his photo with Justice Sharma to every possible person they know and soon he was flooded with phone calls.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Telangana / by Abhinay Deshpande / Hyderabad – April 08th, 2022
One such is a miniature version that can be worn as an amulet
Ramzan marks the revelation of Koran and families go into a huddle reading it through the night. The Abul Kalam Azad Oriental Research Institute in Public Gardens is now hosting an exhibition of copies of some rare Korans.
One of them has been created in Hyderabad with Persian and Urdu translation and explanatory passages on the side. Another Koran is a miniature version which could be worn as an amulet. “This is among the 5,000 Koran amulets commissioned by Hasan Nizami, a legatee of Nizamuddin Aulia of Delhi. It is a priceless object as very few are in circulation,” informs S.M. Ahmed Ali of the institute.
Then there is a Koran which is a gift of Reza Shah Pehlavi, first Shah of the House of Pahlavi of the Imperial State of Iran, when his wife visited the city in 1960. It has the Persian translation along with the Arabic original.
A few facsimile copies show how different writing styles have evolved. A 7 th century Koran in Kufic script is without the diacritical marks. “This is one of the earliest copies and unique. It will be difficult to read as we are used to seeing the sound markers,” adds Mr. Ahmed.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Telangana / by The Hindu Bureau / Hyderabad – April 14th, 2022
Abu Dhabi-based dentist couple Abdul Rahiman Nizar and Simi are the latest recipients of the 10-year UAE Golden Visa.
Abu Dhabi :
Abdul Rahiman Nizar gained popularity for amassing a rare collection of all the teeth extracted so far in his career.
Abu Dhabi-based dentist couple Abdul Rahiman Nizar and Simi are the latest recipients of the 10-year UAE Golden Visa.
Dr Nizar has served in Abu Dhabi for 20 years, including 18 years at Ahalia Group. However, the Indian doctor gained popularity for amassing a rare collection of all the teeth extracted so far in his career.
“Teeth are the strongest part of your body. I have always liked teeth. And once into my job, I started collecting it. Soon, it became a hobby. And I began to have a varied collection, which has been helping students in their dental studies,” said Dr Nizar, who is from Kerala, India.
“Over the years, I have collected nearly 15,000 teeth. I clean each tooth with antimicrobial hydrogen peroxide and then treat it with disinfectant. Once dried, I preserve them in a box. I am aiming to see my name in record books,” said the general practitioner dentist.
Dr Nizar urges people to take care of their teeth and visit a dentist every six months.
“Early detection of any tooth decay will help to avert a situation of tooth extraction. I always try to save a tooth and opt for extraction only as a last resort,” he said.
Dr Simi, who works at Al Mafraq Medical Centre in Baniyas, has also been collecting teeth.
“We are very excited to have bagged the Golden Visa. During this pandemic, both of us served the community, sacrificing our off days,” Dr Simi said.
The couple have four daughters: Grade 12 student Neha, Naila in Grade 8, Naima in Grade 3 and Naira is eight months old.
Dr Nizar, who also holds a 10-year US visa, added: “We plan to spend the rest of our lives in the service of Abu Dhabi. I thank the leadership for this honour and our hospital for the support in building our careers.”
source: http://www.khaleejtimes.com / Khaleej Times / Home / by Ashwani Kumar / September 29th, 2021
