Tokyo Olympics: Anurag Thakur to launch official Team India Cheer song for Tokyo Games created by A R Rahman, Ananya Birla [Pic credits: India Today]
Tokyo Olympics: Anurag Thakur to launch official Team India Cheer song for Tokyo Games created by A R Rahman and Ananya Birla – The Indian Olympic Association will launch the official l Team India Cheer song for Tokyo Games created by A R Rahman and Ananya Birla on Wednesday at 3.30 PM. Sports Minister Anurag Thakur (Union Minister of I&B and Youth affairs, Sports Minister) will launch the official song in presence of IOA President Narinder Batra, Rajeev Mehta (IOA secretary) and MoS for home, Youth affairs and Sports Nisith Pramanik. The event will live stream on Team India and SAI.
Music maestro AR Rahman has teamed up with young singer Ananya Birla to work on ‘Hindustani Way’, a song that aims to boost the morale of Indian players who are all set to participate in Tokyo Olympics 2020.
“All of us are really excited to have made this special song and hope our athletes can feel the entire nation rooting for them, the Hindustani way, when they hear it. It was a pleasure working with Ananya on this project and we hope to convey all our support and best wishes to Team India through it! Jai Hind,” Rahman, who has composed the track, said.
Tokyo Olympics: Anurag Thakur to launch official Team India Cheer song for Tokyo Games created by A R Rahman and Ananya Birla
The track is jointly written by Ananya, Nirmika Singh, and Shishir Samant.
Expressing happiness on singing such an inspiring song, Ananya said, “It is a true honour to write and sing a song to cheer our Indian Olympic contingent at Tokyo 2020. The grit and fortitude of the Indian Olympic team in the face of such a challenging year is inspiring.”
“It was surreal to have had the opportunity to collaborate with my role model, AR sir on such a prestigious project, from whom I have learnt so much. We are here cheering, the Hindustani Way,” she added.
The Tokyo Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 8. The event was slated to be held last year, but it had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
#Cheer4India | Launch of The Official Team India Cheer Song for Tokyo 2020
(with ANI inputs)
source: http://www.insidesports.co / Inside Sport / Home> Latest Sports News / by James Kuanal / July 13th, 2021
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist was covering the situation in Kandahar over the last few days.
Noted Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was killed on Thursday night during a clash between the Afghan special forces and Taliban attackers . Tolo News, a leading news channel of Kabul, reported that Mr. Siddiqui, working for Reuters news agency, was covering the clashes between the two sides in Kandahar over the last few days and he died in Spin Boldak district, which has a contentious international border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In a statement, the Ambassador of Afghanistan to India Farid Mamundzay conveyed his condolences to the Siddiqui family and Reuters. “Deeply disturbed by the sad news of the killing of a friend, Danish Siddiqui, in Kandahar last night. The Indian journalist and winner of Pulitzer Prize was embedded with Afghan security forces. I met him 2 weeks ago before his departure to Kabul,” he said.
Mr. Siddiqui was travelling in an armoured humvee with Afghan soldiers and he had shared videos over the past few days that showed the vehicle coming under attack on several occasions. In his last report filed on July 13 from Kandahar under highly difficult circumstances, Mr. Siddiqui had recorded the experience of Afghan commandos who conducted a raid to save a kidnapped policeman. The border crossing in Spin Boldak had hit the headlines after the Taliban reportedly occupied it temporarily. In response, Afghan forces launched attacks which soon escalated into a war of words between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Reporters of news channel France24 said that the injured Taliban fighters were being treated in Pakistani hospitals.
Compassionate coverage
Mr. Siddiqui was known for his compassionate photographic coverage of current developments in South Asia. In recent years, his photographs of the Rohingya refugees who were displaced by the Myanmar military from the Rakhine province, drew global attention to the plight of the displaced community that is currently living in camps in Bangladesh. The photographs of the Rohinyga refugees was recognised with a Pulitzer Prize.
Earlier this year, he used innovative methods like drones to capture the scale of the second wave of COVID-19 in India. His photographs that showed funeral pyres burning in open spaces drew global attention to the tragedy that India faced during March-May 2021.
Minister’s condolence
In a message of condolence, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur shared an image captured by Mr. Siddiqui during his assignment covering the Rohingya tragedy. “Danish Siddiqui leaves behind an extraordinary body of work. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography and was embedded with the Afghan Forces in Kandahar. Sharing one of his pictures below. Sincere condolences,” said Mr. Thakur.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> International / by Special Correspondent / New Delhi – July 16th, 2021
Azhar says he was poor himself when he started the initiative. He is still working from Hyderabad because he feels that hunger has swelled after the lockdown.
Azhar Maqsusi, a social activist from the city, whose initiative ‘Hunger Has No Religion’ by Sani Welfare Foundation feeds about 1,500 people every day in five cities across the country was granted the United Kingdoms Commonwealth Points of Light Award recently. The award recognises outstanding individual volunteers – people who are making a change in their community.
“Azhar’s contribution to society is incredible and has meant the difference between a meal or no meal for millions. There are many similar missions of selfless sacrifice and service, some emerging as a result of the pandemic, but the powerful ‘Hunger has no Religion’ has run for eight years, reaching the most vulnerable and delivering a powerful underlying message to all. I cannot be happier for him and members of the Sani Welfare Foundation,” said Dr Andrew Fleming, British Deputy High Commissioner, Hyderabad.
“I am thankful that I have been chosen by the almighty to feed people. I have fed the poor for 10 years now and will continue this until hunger is eradicated,” Maqsusi said. “I am also thankful for the support of my family, friends and others who have recognised my service,” he added. Azhar says he was poor himself when he started the initiative. He is still working from Hyderabad because he feels that hunger has swelled after the lockdown.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Express News Service / July 06th, 2021
Noor Ayesha, Founder-CEO, Iqra International School
“Women should give themselves a chance, there’s so much that they are capable of, we need to leave behind a legacy and contribute to our ummah and the world at large.”
Noor Ayesha is an award-winning educator, an empowering leader, a mother of three, and the founder of a school that nurtures more than 650 children. Iqra International School – awarded the ‘Most Promising school for Quality Education in Bangalore’ was founded by Noor Ayesha with the aim of delivering value-based education in order to cultivate in each child, the aspiration to ‘learn and live values’.
“To be a great leader, you have to be a great reader,” says Noor Ayesha. She believes that Muslims moved from the golden age to the “dust age” due to the gradual fading of value-based education guided by Islamic principles.
Noor Ayesha was conferred with the Rashtriya Shiksha Ratan Award by The Indian Society for Industry and Intellectual Development and the ‘Fakhr-e-Watan’ Award for her academic and social services. She has been a speaker at the Eldrok Summit 2019, Early Childhood Association Summit 2019, Asia Education Summit 2016, Asia Leadership & Services Awards 2016, and at various MFERD conferences. She has also been chosen as the Global Goodwill Ambassador of India for Global Goodwill Ambassadors (GGA).
She believes that one must always have goals – professional, personal, and spiritual. “When you have determination and passion, Allah makes ways. Always,” she says.
Ayesha, along with her team at IIS has disproven the prejudiced notion that the niqab and hijab are obstacles to development and that veiled women are incapable. “We are proof that Muslim women are no less than anyone,” she asserts. She also strongly believes that there is “no shortage of capacity in the Muslim society but there is a need to unearth it and move forward.”
She efficiently managed the school single-handedly for many years, with the support of her team, comprising only of women. “Many of them who thought nothing of themselves are now leading the institution and representing Iqra at various conferences.” Ayesha gladly affirms. “Women should give themselves a chance, there’s so much that they are capable of, we need to leave behind a legacy and contribute to our ummah and the world at large.”
She points out that the inherent flaws in the existing education system have resulted in educated individuals leading privileged lives but vehemently failing in giving back to society, which she believes is the primary purpose of education. At Iqra, students are instilled with a sense of responsibility towards society, along with the quality education they acquire.
Iqra International School is a dream come true for Ayesha’s father, who has always envisioned being able to educate the children of the community. “We felt that a mosque’s imam would be better at his role of a leader if he was additionally equipped with worldly knowledge,” she explains. The school was set up as a result of Ayesha’s commitment to fulfilling her father’s dream and the dire need for a school that would nurture students with Islamic values along with quality education, with the added advantage of facilitating students with a campus that is within the city.
The school was conferred with the ‘Best Innovative International Preschool in Bangalore’ award at the Asia Education Summit & Awards 2016, the ‘Most Promising School for Quality Education in Bangalore’ award at the Asia Leadership and Services Awards 2016, ranked No.1 in India for “Individual Attention to Students” at the India School’s Merit Awards 2016, ranked No.1 in India for ‘Holistic Development’ at India’s School Merit Award 2017, awarded Excellence in Flexible Education Programme at The India K12 Awards 2019, declared “Brand of the Year” in National Brand Awards 2019, and was conferred with the International School Award 2019-2022 by the British Council.
“As a school, we are in no competition with any other Islamic schools, as we are all working towards the same beautiful cause – ‘nurturing children to learn and live Islam’,” Noor Ayesha asserts. “We just do our very best and leave the rest in His (God’s) hands.”
Iqra International School provides quality education with the IGCSE curriculum, seamlessly integrated with the QIAS (Quran, Islam, and Arabic Studies) curriculum. They also have an intensive hifdh program for students who perform exceptionally well in the Quran classes. The school also has 25- 30 students from other faiths, who have no problem with learning the Quran, the Arabic language, or using the Islamic salutation of peace.
“Alhumdulillah, two years ago, 3 of our brilliant students became huffadh. All 3 students were excellent in the IGCSE academics as well. I must also mention how good they were at football. Most of our football championships were won with two of them scoring the highest goals. Pursuing religious knowledge only makes it easier to become brilliant at gaining worldly knowledge. A balance between the two could be gained and this was proven by these children who made it possible,” she narrates.
The majority of Iqra’s staff have their own children studying at Iqra. “Even before a problem gets addressed by parents we would’ve already found a solution to it or in many cases solved it because we are all mothers ourselves with our own children studying at our school”, Ayesha says.
They also make sure students get ample exposure to other global cultures and beliefs by conducting inter-faith programs, inter-school competitions, Mock United Nations (MUN), and other such activities.
Before establishing Iqra, Ayesha conducted extensive research in the field of international education, particularly Islamic education, including the works of Dr. Dawud Tauhidi’s Tarbiyyah project that elaborates the purpose of Islamic education – its ideal impact and practicality.
“It’s not just the name ‘international’, our school has been international in all aspects from day one, from the research to the books and the curriculum,” she says.
The project has been completely funded by her father, from its inception until recently. Ayesha explains that the biggest challenge they faced was the difficulty in finding experienced teachers. In order to solve this, they set up ISTARI (Iqra Staff Training and Research Institute), as a result of which, they’ve been able to train and hire passionate and well-trained teachers.
“The trust and support from our school parents and the entire Iqra community, in general, has been immense right from the beginning, and that has helped Iqra reach wherever it has today, Alhumdulillah,” she contends.
Currently, Noor Ayesha is the Founder-Managing Director at Iqra International School, Director at Fantasy Group, Founder & CEO at OURAH, Director at Iqra Games Village, Director at the Centre of Integrative Medicine and Clinically Applied Hijamah Therapy(ICAHT), and Vice-Chairman in the Universal Educational Trust.
She is also the Member of the Advisory Board at Aspire Residential Public School, Kochi, Patron Principal at Early Childhood Association (ECA), Member of the Advisory Board at Eastern Public School, Bhopal, Member of the Islamic Educators Communication Network operated by Islamic Schools League of America (ISLA) and Council of Islamic Schools in North America(CISNA).
She completed her schooling in Baldwin Girls’ High School, Bachelor in Computer Science Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University, and MBA in HRD and Project Management from Cardiff Metropolitan University, Wales UK. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy from July 2021 at the University of Toronto, Canada.
source: http://www.thecognate.com / The Cognate / Home> People> Rushda Fathima Khan / July 12th, 2021
Television actress Aalika Shaikh, who rose to fame from Star Plus show ‘Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya’, is seen as Kesar in the second installment of the popular drama series.
She has been a part of the industry for almost a decade now and has starred in shows like ‘Tumhari Pakhi’, ‘Tum Hi Ho Banhu Sakha Tumhi’, ‘Pardes Me Hai Mera Dil’ and more.
While Aalika has finally gained fame and appreciation for her work, her journey has proven to be an uphill battle.
Aalika Shaikh had to choose between her acting career and her conservative Muslim family.
The actress, who decided to go against her family’s wishes and pursue a career in showbiz, shares, “I changed my name because of my family, I never had any mental or financial support from them.”
“I changed my name because I come from a Muslim family and in my family girls get married at a very early age. I neither wanted to choose that path nor did I want them to be answerable to people who they thought they would be accountable to, so I changed my name,” she adds.
The actress made her debut with a play on Doordarshan.
She reveals that she first started her career as a real estate investor. However, Aalika, at a friend’s behest, decided to try her luck in acting and gave an audition for ‘Air Hostess’. She was selected for the role of Pia and received a lot of praise for her enthralling performance.
Talking about how difficult it was to follow her dreams, Shaikh says, “It was challenging for me at first because I didn’t have a godfather in the sector and didn’t know anyone who worked in it. It was challenging to carve out that space, get my name out there and have people recognise my work, but once you get into the swing of things, people come out in droves to support you as friends and it becomes a bit easier emotionally and mentally to fight harder and live your dreams.”
Even amidst the personal turmoil, Aalika says that she never felt like giving up on her career.
“When I had detached from my family I tried to focus on work as much as possible, tried to discover new projects and my desire to be successful and recognized kept me going,” she says.
Shaikh reveals that her family eventually reached out to her and they decided to sink their difference.
“My family had contacted And I have accepted them and so have they. All this while, I have been supporting (financially) them,” reveals Aalika.
Asked if all of this has affected her faith in Islam, Aalika states, “I was born into a Muslim household and am a practising Muslim who offers namaz on a regular basis, yet I am a very liberal person who respects other religions. That isn’t to say I don’t respect or believe in other religions… I do, and more than that I believe in and follow the religion of humanity.”
Aalika, who is in a live-in relationship with Rohin Robert and often shares loved up pictures with her beau, seems unperturbed by trolls.
The actress says, “I wouldn’t say much about the trolls or assaults because everyone has their own life choices and rules. So, I choose to stay grounded and I am pretty much proud of the choices I’ve made in life relating to work and profession.”
When asked if she has an advice for aspiring actresses who are afraid of pursuing a career in acting, Aalika says, “I won’t be able to send a message to young girls who are afraid to pursue their dreams because of their family or religion as everyone has different circumstances in life that forces them to make decisions and take steps.”
“I just have one piece of advice: If you truly want to achieve something from the heart, don’t give up,” she concludes.
source: http://www.freepressjournal.in / Free Press Journal / Home> Television / by FPJ Web Desk / July 10th, 2021
The Padamsee extended family with Ebrahim Alkazi and Alyque Padamsee standing second and fourth from left, respectively | Photo Credit: From ‘Enter Stage Right – The Alkazi/Padamsee Family Memoir’ . courtesy the Alkazi Theatre Archives
The Alkazi and Padamsee clans have played, and continue to play, an extraordinary role in the history of modern Indian theatre
“Oh god, it’s a page turner!” That was the cry from various family members on reading the first draft of Feisal Alkazi’s family memoirs published earlier this year. Titled Enter Stage Right — The Alkazi/Padamsee Family Memoir (Speaking Tiger, 2021), it is an irresistible, exciting read. The narrative details are gripping, the pace exciting, and viewing the times described in the book of the two families in pre- and post-Independence India through the lens of Feisal allows us to enter a world that we can relate to from stories that our parents and grandparents told us of the times they lived through.
Legendary names
Both names are legendary; the Alkazi and Padamsee clans contributed hugely to the formation and recognition of modernism in both Indian theatre and art. It all started when Bobby, or Sultan, Padamsee, the eldest Padamsee brother — the two families had 17 siblings between them, several of whom would distinguish themselves in theatre and the arts — had to return to Bombay after just six months as a student at Oxford due to the outbreak of World War II. What followed was a period of creative efflorescence as
E. Alkazi weds Roshen, October 1946 | Photo Credit: Photo Credit: From ‘Enter Stage Right – The Alkazi/Padamsee Family Memoir’ . courtesy the Alkazi Theatre Archives
Bobby penned more than 100 poems, drew, painted watercolours and, one day in 1943, gathered a group of keen college students around his mother, the Padamsee matriarch Kulsumbai’s, horseshoe-shaped dinner table weighed down with mouth-watering Khoja cuisine. Bobby announced a plan to launch their own theatre group, the aptly named Theatre Group, as an alternative to commercial theatre, inspired by the group theatre movement of 1930s’ New York. One of those in attendance at that dinner was the young Ebrahim Alkazi.
Human angle
The group would flourish over the next few years, and court controversy with productions like an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé, in which Bobby’s 19-year-old sister, Roshen, performed the risqué dance of the seven veils. Bobby would die by suicide aged just 24 in 1946, but the group went on, reaching its zenith in the coming decades, and three of his disciples married his sisters to found a cosmopolitan clan — including Ebrahim, who married Roshen. These were heady times of enormous intermingling, set in the dying days of the Raj and the dawn of Nehruvian India. The search for a new way of living creatively through a rich cultural life that was looking for a unique national identity drew in a very intense and close-knit community and family theatre with a galaxy of close friendships between authors, poets, painters, musicians and actors. As Feisal comments in the memoir, “Going to London together in 1947, there was a Roman Catholic like [F.N.] Souza, a Muslim like my dad, a Jew like Nissim Ezekiel, great friends like Krishna Paigankar and Akbar Padamsee, the idea that they were from different communities was not in anybody’s mind at all… we were always in and out of each other’s houses as well, in my family it was all the artists as well as the theatre people. We grew up with that — it gives a human angle to all these great giants that art historians write about.”
The cover of ‘Enter Stage Right — The Alkazi/Padamsee Family Memoir’
After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in 1947, Ebrahim returned home and rejoined Theatre Group. However, following a rift with others in the group, he left and founded his own Theatre Unit company at the Bhulabhai Desai Memorial Institute in the 1950s. The Institute played an important role in nurturing modern Indian art and drama, and Ebrahim
found a space for uninhibited creativity there, before he moved to Delhi in 1962 to head the National School of Drama for 15 years. Over the years, his contribution to widening the scope, subject matter and audience for Indian theatre would be extraordinary, as would those of his brother-in-law Alyque Padamsee, Mahesh Elkunchwar, and Safdar Hashmi. Alyque, known for directing productions ranging from the English version of Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq to Jesus Christ Superstar, has also been called the father of Indian advertising, and played Jinnah in Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi. His first wife was Pearl Padamsee, a stage and film actor, director — her oeuvre included Godspell, the first big musical produced in Mumbai — and producer. Their daughter, Raell Padamsee, runs her own production house, ACE, in Mumbai.
Home to stage
The rich family legacy also continues through Ebrahim’s son Feisal, who started devising plays with friends in Barry John’s Music Theatre Workshop in the early 80s. Although theatre is his first love, Feisal wears many hats — theatre and television director, author, educationist, counsellor, filmmaker and founder of Ruchika Theatre. His works include Noor, a sympathetic, gendered lens on Noor Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal; A Quiet Desire, the story of Rabindranath Tagore and of his brother and sister-in-law Kadambari; the adaptation of Kipling’s The Jungle Book into a coming-of-age story, retitled Yeh Bhi Jungle, Woh Bhi Jungle, in which the character Mowgli epitomises every important transition of adolescence in his search for identity.
E. Alkazi as Macbeth in a production directed by him | Photo Credit: From ‘Enter Stage Right – The Alkazi/Padamsee Family Memoir’ . courtesy the Alkazi Theatre Archives
Along with his sister, Amal Allana, and her husband, Nissar Allana, Feisal has strongly believed in the mixing of generations in creative work. “I make it a point that the infusion of the next generation in all the years of Ruchika is so crucial. All our kids are there and the people who started it… to keep the generations going and learning from each other.” Radhika, Feisal’s wife, an accomplished actress and arts educator, says, “It was so new to me, this world — in the family, in the home, in the drawing room — your furniture would be on stage, your clothes would be on the stage.” When Zohra Sehgal worked with Feisal in the Ruskin Bond serial Rusty, she found herself wearing a costume that was from Radhika’s trousseau. Feisal recalls her saying, “Hamare gharon mein aise hi chalta hai” (This is how it is in our homes).
The story of these two families, who played such a vital role in the history of theatre and art, is an imperative chapter in the country’s socio-cultural history.
The writer is a Delhi-based artist, arts educator, curator and researcher.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> Spotlight / by Kristine Michael / July 10th, 2021
Mohammed Shameer Katipalla has been appointed the president of Surathkal Block Congress minority wing.
He is the son of P Basheer Ahmed, a former corporator of 3rd ward, Katipalla.
He is the owner of Saheb Contractors and Builders as well.
Mohammed Shameer Katipalla is also the secretary of Mohammad Salih Juma Masjid, Baikampady, president of Guys X1 Youth Council, Katipalla, and vice president of Katipalla Sangha Samstegala Okkuta.
source: http://www.daijiworld.com / Daijiworld.com / Home> Karnataka / by Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (ANK) – July 11th, 2021
Film stunt director Fayaz Khan wants to set up institute in Kodagu
HIGHLIGHTS
Fayaz Khan who has directed stunts and acted in 1,560 films in various languages wants to set up an institute to train youths in the art in his native Kodagu district.
Madikeri:
Fayaz Khan who has directed stunts and acted in 1,560 films in various languages wants to set up an institute to train youths in the art in his native Kodagu district. As small boy in 1980s, he sold peanuts in cinema halls to support his family in Gonicoppa, a small town in Kodagu district. Sounds like a film story? But it’s true. Fayaz Khan who directed stunts for 1,560 films till now once sold peanuts in cinema halls and never studied beyond class III.
Born in a poor family and fond of films, Fayaz Khan left home in 1985 and landed in Bengaluru in search of his dream. He came to Gandhinagara and begged film directors for a chance and got a small role in Tamil film Idiyadagam. After seeing his performance, many directors gave him a chance. However, his passion lay in stunts. Later he became a stunt artiste and worked for 1,560 films in various languages including Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.
Fayaz started his own stunt artists association and trained more than 1100 artists since the outbreak of Covid-19.
Apart from being a stunt master, he acted with such stalwarts like Dr Raj kumar, Vishnuvardhan, Rajanikanth, Salman Khan, Akshaya Kumar, Mammootti, Mohan Lal, Chiranjeevi, Punit Raj Kumar. Speaking to this reporter, Fayaz said that there is a good environment for films in Kodagu. “There is a lot of employment potential in film industry for youths from the tourism district if we train them properly,” he said and expressed his wish to open a film training institute in Kodagu to tap hidden talent.
source: http://www.thehansindia.com / The Hans India / Home> News> State> Karnataka / by Coovercolly Indresh / Hans News Service / July 09th, 2021
Forgotten amidst waves of bad news, including geopolitical conflicts, environmental disasters and the global pandemic, is the humanitarian crisis caused by a civil war that began in 2014 in the fabled country of Yemen. For several centuries, the southern Arab country was a bridge between Kerala and lands to the west such as West Asia, Africa and Europe.
It was enterprising merchants from modern-day Yemen who began to make use of the monsoon winds to come to Muziris. The word monsoon comes from the Arabic mawsim, which means season. These businessmen lived a pretty globalised lifestyle by splitting their time between the Malabar Coast and southern Arabia at a time when there were no identity cards, passports, visas or even a concept of a nation-state. Some of these Arabs chose to settle down in the Malabar Coast and marry local women.
In a paper for the Indian History Congress in 1976, noted historian S M Mohamed Koya was able to trace the origins of the Malabar Muslim community.
“Some of these Arabs may have come from Hijaz, Oman and Bahrain. However, they were chiefly businessmen from Yemen and Hadramaut and many .Mappila families, particularly those known as ‘tangal’ families trace their origin to this area,” Mohamed wrote.
Interestingly enough, at the time of their migration to India, these merchants probably spoke Hadramautic, a language that belongs to the Old South Arabian subgroup of Semitic. “A large number of Mappila families find their origin in the interior Hadramaut town of Tarim, a wealthy town dominated by Sayyids which was once the intellectual and religious centre of Hadramaut,” Mohamed, who was a professor at the University of Calicut for decades, added.
In the paper, Mohamed stressed the fact that the traders started coming to India well before the advent of Islam, but their presence and established relations with the people of Malabar helped spread the religion in Kerala. “As pre-Islamic traders, the Arabs provided a friendly situation that facilitated the introduction of Islam and as Muslims, they introduced the faith,” he wrote.
Ponnani’s Makhdum family
Ponnani, a historic town that was once a major trading port, is also linked to Yemen. The town, at the peak of its glory, was home to the revered Makhdum family of Islamic theologians. Under Zain-ud-Din Makhdum and his grandson Zain ud-Din Makhdum II, Ponnani became a major centre of Islamic studies and is believed to have attracted students from Java, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and Ceylon.
It was also in this coastal town that the Arabi Malayalam or Ponnani script was invented. Since only 28 letters of Arabic orthography were available for 53 phonemes of Malayalam, additional letters established for Persian were used for this script.
Several old Mappila folk songs and works of literature were written in the Ponnani script, which stayed popular among Kerala’s Muslim community until the middle of the 20th century.
It has been on the wane since Indian independence and is taught mainly in a few madrassas in northern Kerala and the Lakshadweep Islands. There is no clear evidence though that this script has a Yemeni connection, but it was the script of choice for the Makdhum theologians.
This brilliant article by Kozhikode-based journalist Nijeesh Narayanan provides insights into the script, which is now in serious peril.
Zain ud-Din Makhdum II’s Tuhfat Ul Mujahideen chronicles the struggles between the people of the Malabar Coast and the colonial Portuguese. The book, originally written in the Ponnani script, describes the fierce resistance put up by the Kunjali Marakkar’s navy along with the Zamorin of Calicut against the Portuguese.
Culinary and cultural impact
There is little doubt that Yemeni elements have given an extra layer of depth to Kerala cuisine. Meen Pathiri and Irachi Pathiri are the results of Malayali and southern Arabic cuisine coming together.
Another dish that found its way from Hadraumat in Yemen to Kerala is Mandi or the famous Malabar Biriyani. Interestingly enough, the Yemeni version of the dish is usually made with chicken or lamb, and not with beef. If the Yemenis did bring Saltah, their delectable stew and the national dish, to Kerala, it did not manage to survive in its original form in the state, although many Malabari families have their own variations with different names.
Professor Mohamed in his paper wrote about how the mingling of the Yemeni immigrants with Malayalis has enriched the society of Kerala. He wrote, “Culturally the Malayalis were as far removed from the Arabs as the high topical scenery of Kerala is removed from the austere landscape of Arabia. But once wedded, the offspring of that union, the Mappilas have remained loyal to both parents.”
Before Yemen slipped into its latest civil war, there was a small and vibrant Malayali community in the country. One can only hope that the geopolitical puppet masters that have brought so much misery to the country allow it to once again live in peace. It is only when peace returns to the country that its millennia-old links to Kerala can be traced and re-established.
(The writer is the author of ‘Globetrotting for Love and Other Stories from Sakhalin Island’ and ‘A Week in the Life of Svitlana’).
source: http://www.onmanorama.com / OnManorama / Home> Lifestyle> Column / by Ajay Kamalakaran / June 28th, 2021
The right blend of star and actor, he was part of the discovery of cinema in India as a means of mass communication seen today
When Marlon Brando was struggling to find a footing in Hollywood, a shy Pathan boy from Peshawar was practising method acting in what was then the Bombay film industry, helping it come out of the Parsi theatre’s influence. As Dilip Kumar transcends to a new stage , the pole star of the golden age of Hindi cinema would be remembered for setting a template of acting for generations to come.
A veritable cultural icon who inspired economist Meghnad Desai to draw parallels between his films and the newly independent India’s tryst with socialism and capitalism in his seminal work, Nehru’s Hero: Dilip Kumar in the Life of India, there is a bit of Dilip Kumar in everyone’s life.
Discovered and later rechristened by Devika Rani of the famed Bombay Talkies, Dilip Kumar, along with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand, were part of the discovery of cinema in India as a means of mass communication as we see it today. They had had few examples to follow and perhaps it worked to their advantage as each one carved out his own niche.
Out of the three, Dilip Kumar’s naturalistic style never became stale or dated. The right blend of star and actor who could keep both the public and the purist engaged with his craft, he kept his performances subtle, understated but always believable.
Not just his younger contemporaries like Rajendra Kumar, Manoj Kumar and Dharmendra, generations of dependable actors, from Amitabh Bachchan to Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan to Irrfan, built edifices of their performances on the foundation laid by Dilip Kumar. Mr. Bachchan, who played Dilip Kumar’s son in Shakti, once said there was such finality to Dilip sahib’s performances that once he enacted a scene, there was no alternative to it. Irrfan once told this journalist that he often wondered when trained actors like him found it difficult to deal with scars left by tragic roles, how Dilip Kumar, who learnt the craft on his own, came to terms with it. Well, he did approach doctors in London, who advised him to consider lighter roles.
Film historians often label the thespian as the tragedy king for his moving portrayal of a loner who loses everything in love in a series of films such as Jugnu, Deedar and Devdas, but the eight-time Filmfare Award winner was equally compelling as a winsome romantic in Shabnam, Azaad and Kohinoor. Not to forget his intense performances as a revolutionary in Shaheed and a trade union leader in Paigham.
Be it the lawyer who rapes a village girl in Mehboob Khan’s Amar, the journalist who becomes black-marketeer in Zia Sarhady’s Footpath, the atheist in love with a mendicant in Kidar Sharma’s Jogan or the wheel-chair bound Raja Sahib in Aadmi, a role earlier essayed by Sivaji Ganesan, the Padma Vibhushan constantly lunged for complex characters where he was expected to evoke multiple emotions in a single frame.
He experimented not just with characters but also directorial styles. Both Amar and Footpath deal with moral guilt but while Mehboob Khan visualised a mass entertainer, Zia’s treatment was neo-realist. With Tapan Sinha’s Sagina Mahto, he ventured into parallel cinema and earned praise from his contemporaries.
At the time of Mughal-e-Azam, he was the top draw, but the narrative demanded Kumar to play second fiddle to Prithviraj Kapoor, a senior and a friend of his father. He delivered a restrained performance, a subtle counterpoint to the bombastic Kapoor that is etched in the minds of cinegoers. The way he caresses the luminous face of Madhubala with a feather is perhaps the most elegant romantic sequence filmed without a dialogue.
The one that stands out and inspired many adaptations is the dacoit in Gunga Jumna, his ambitious home production where the sophisticated Kumar transformed into an Awadhi speaking rustic who’s forced to pick up the gun.
He played serious roles with such dignity that he didn’t need to be loud to make people laugh. He brought his craft to comic roles as well. In Ram Aur Shyam, the scene that still leaves everyone in splits is the one where Shyam starts playing a poor copy of Ram.
It is this constant urge for variety and chiselling of the craft that the megastar, despite the world at his feet, chose to do only around 60 films spanning over almost five decades. He refused Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa for he found the character similar to Devdas. He said no to David Lean for Lawrence of Arabia as he was not keen to commit the amount of time that the director was asking from him.
In a BBC interview, he once said that when the director came to him with a 30-year-old character, he tried to find and build the first 29 years of his life from the script so that, “I start identifying with the character. Often directors leave it to me to interpret the character.”
Known to help out his colleagues in finding a rhythm that suited the narrative, the actor is said to have ghost directed many films such as Gunga Jumna, Ram Aur Shyam and Aadmi.
He took the preparation for a character to a different level. For “Madhuban Mein Radhika Nache Re” from Kohinoor, where he played sitar on screen, he trained with sitarist Ustad Halim Jaffar Khan for six months.
It is said while filming for Dil Diya Dard Liya, he ran four rounds of the studio because in the next sequence he was supposed to snatch a rifle from Pran, playing the villain, in a state of breathlessness.
Even in his second innings, when his mannerisms became marked, he impressed with power-packed performances in Shakti, Mashaal and Karma.
Off-screen, as a philanthropist, he always maintained that “industrialisation has made us narrow-minded”. He would always say “being developed and being civilised are two different things”.
In the late 1960s, when an argument was made about films promoting alcoholism and that they could be used to promote population control, Dilip Kumar said he was for promoting good values through films but that didn’t mean films become “instructional” or a “vehicle for propaganda”.
A connoisseur of the finer things of life, he had an abiding love for poetry and literature. Often, when he had to sidestep a controversial topic, he would come up with an Urdu couplet that would capture his emotion on the subject. Once when he was asked about his relationship with Madhubala, Kumar invoked Sahir Ludhianvi: “Mohabbattark ki maine, garebaan see liya maine, zamane ab toh khush ho, zehar ye bhi pi liya maine” (Love I have renounced and sewn the collar [of the soul/ conscience] that was ripped; O world, now you be happy, for this poison as well I have sipped).
Deeply entrenched in Indian ethos, he never got over his childhood connection with his home town Peshawar where the young Yusuf Khan would be found dribbling a football or listening to stories at Qissa Khawani Bazaar. He remained a symbol of the undivided India as the Pakistan government bestowed upon him its highest civilian honour, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz. He wrote to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that if he considered it prudent, he would surrender the award. However, many feel it made his wait for the coveted Bharat Ratna longer.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment / by Anuj Kumar / New Delhi – July 07th, 2021
