Category Archives: Karnataka (under research project)

Maratha blood and Persian veins

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Karnataka (under research project), Leaders, Travel & Tourism, World Opinion, , , , ,

KARNATAKA :

A detail of the ‘House of Bijapur’ genealogical painting depicting most of the rulers of the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
A detail of the ‘House of Bijapur’ genealogical painting depicting most of the rulers of the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
  • Although the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur was formally Muslim, it was influenced by multiple religions and different identities
  • Such complicated realities were not unusual in the subcontinent, from Vijayanagar in the south to further north in Kashmir

In 1680, a few years before emperor Aurangzeb swallowed up the sultanate of Bijapur, two court artists in that city produced a striking genealogical painting. Rich in quality, with ink, watercolours, as well as gold and silver generously employed, the picture shows all the rulers of the doomed Adil Shahi dynasty, save for one who was blinded and discarded for not being up to the mark.

In the centre, on the throne, for instance, sits Yusuf, the man who sailed from Persia and founded the house with his Maratha wife in the 15th century: In a mark of the kingdom’s allegiance to the Shah of Iran (as opposed to the Mughals), Yusuf is shown receiving a key of sovereignty from the Iranian emperor. Then there is Ali, who appears in armour—a symbol of the role he played in the defeat of Vijayanagar in 1565—just as there is the boy-king Sikander, the smallest figure in the group, who would spend much of his life as Aurangzeb’s dethroned prisoner.

Created on the eve of the kingdom’s demise, the painting is at once a family tree but also, as one scholar puts it, a “painted curtain call” for the extraordinary Adil Shahi dynasty.

But the portrait is significant also in another way, in that it depicts the contrasts that can develop in the same ruling house and in interpretations of its official ideology. The Adil Shahi state was formally Muslim. From the start, however, it was influenced not only by multiple religions but also by different identities. So, for instance, Ismail (reign 1510-34) chose to highlight the family’s Persian heritage—he made his troops wear Iranian uniforms and himself adopted the 12-pointed cap, a reference, as the scholar Deborah Hutton notes, to the 12 imams of Shia Muslims.

Ibrahim II (reign 1580-1627), on the other hand, was Sunni and is depicted in a style associated with the Indian faction at court, a reflection of his own attitudes. He was, for example, not only a lover of Marathi (much to the horror of a Mughal envoy, who found Ibrahim’s Persian weak) but also a great admirer of Hindu traditions. It was he who proclaimed himself son of Saraswati and Ganapati, studied Sanskrit, and went to the extent of renaming Bijapur “Vidyapur” to honour his favourite goddess.

Only two generations divided the orthodox Shia Ismail from Sunni Ibrahim (who was rumoured to be secretly Hindu) but there was a world of difference in their outlook.

The Adil Shahs certainly presented themselves as good Muslim rulers—indeed, even Ibrahim’s grave carries an inscription denying rumours that he was an apostate, affirming that he was a true believer of the Prophet’s message. But as this column showed previously in the case of Hindu Vijayanagar, official identity and self-image did not preclude the absorption of multiple influences, or even contradictory practice. The Adil Shahs, even as Muslims, alternated between Sunnism and Shiism, and it was their latter identity that often supplied the Mughals an excuse to invade in the name of religion—this when even Aurangzeb, who led the final charge against the “heretics”, was himself the son of a Shia mother. Add to this a give and take of culture from not only the Marathas (including Shivaji’s father, who served the Adil Shahs) but also Ottomans, Europeans and African grandees at court, and Bijapur was confirmed as an eclectic, mixed universe—one where the king had a formal identity that he could interpret strictly or with deliberate laxity, depending both on his predilections and official necessities.

But in this the Adil Shahs were hardly unique. The rayas of Vijayanagar shaped their self-image in Sanskritic terms and declared themselves consciously Hindu. And yet, one of them sought a marriage alliance with Catholic Portugal; many of them used the title “sultan”; and their sartorial tastes and everyday lives were influenced visibly by Persian culture. A raya might keep the Quran in court so that his Muslim nobles could prostrate before it, even as he destroyed mosques in enemy territory—policy depended on the context in which the king found himself. Further north, in Kashmir too, as Richard Eaton shows in his India In The Persianate Age, we witness such ironies.

Sultan Sikander (reign 1389-1413), for instance, was a destroyer of Hindu shrines and burner of Sanskrit books. But his son Zain al-Abdin (reign 1420-70), officially as devout a Muslim as his father, implemented the opposite policy: Not only did he resume temple grants, but under him the court also witnessed an unprecedented production of Sanskrit literature, as well as translation of Hindu texts into Persian for the ruler’s edification.

The greatest controversy, of course, arises in understanding Tipu Sultan of Mysore. To some, he is a giver of grants to Hindu temples and a protector of his non-Muslim subjects. Others cite his cruel conquest of Malabar, where Hindus were forced to renounce their religion, their temples demolished. But, simply put, the question is not one of either/or: The same king could act in opposite ways in different settings.

In Malabar, its chiefs and people were “infidels”, but in his settled territories in Mysore, Tipu had no qualms employing “infidel” Brahmins (including the celebrated Purniah) as officials. One was a land of conquest, where destruction of significant shrines was, to him, legitimate, while forced conversions were a method of flaunting to the Islamic world his commitment to their faith; but in his home territory, he was king in a broader sense, accepting of the land’s realities as well as its people. A villain in one reading, he could be a hero in another, employing his religious identity in different degrees, determined largely by the contingencies of politics.

It was this complicated reality that the painters of that Adil Shahi family portrait inadvertently conveyed in their work: a house of Muslim kings with Maratha blood, who cheerfully switched sects as they desired, and whose dynastic roster included all types—those whose faith guided them to extremes, and others for whom religion was more a formality, engaging as they did with a land of diverse realities.

Medium Rare is a column on society, politics and history. Manu S. Pillai is the author of The Ivory Throne (2015) and Rebel Sultans (2018).

Twitter – @UnamPillai

source: http://www.livemint.com / Live Mint / Home> Explore> Medium Rare / by Manu S. Pillai / September 05th, 2019

COVER STORY : Travelling in tandem

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Karnataka (under research project), Leaders, Travel & Tourism, World Opinion, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :

Anjum is a self-confessed foodie, and loves cooking. In fact, she recalls, it was this love and talent that led to her meeting Omer at the restaurant: “I used to bake a lot, and market my cakes and pastries to earn my pocket money, to spend on music and clothes”

He is a descendant of the royal families of Bhopal, Pataudi and the Paigahs of Hyderabad, she is the sister of the tycoons who run one of Bengaluru’s biggest realty companies. They have now joined hands to raise the level of living in the Prestige Group’s apartments and resorts-she designs and executes the interiors, while he has set up and runs the group’s hospitality vertical

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Nawabzada Omer Bin Jung and Anjum Razack met on a blind date. Well, not exactly a blind date, they say: “Actually, we were set up!” says Anjum, and Omer agrees. “But she picked me up!” he adds, with a twinkle in his eye. He is being literal: “I had no car, and used to roam around in buses and auto-rickshaws when I was working with Wipro.” So this young woman whom he had never met came to his office and gave him a lift.

Recalling the incidents of more than a decade ago, husband and wife keep bickering good-naturedly and correcting each other over details. The story that emerges is that a friend of Anjum’s said she wanted to meet her-at Casa Piccola, a restaurant to which Anjum used to supply cakes she baked. “And will you please pick up this guy Omer on the way? I want to meet him too,” she said. So an unsuspecting Anjum drove an equally unsuspecting Omer to the restaurant, where they sat and waited for the friend. When some time passed and she didn’t appear, they realised what had happened.

Was it love at first sight? “I don’t know if it was love, but I knew immediately that this was the guy I was going to marry!” she says. “My mother had always told me: ‘You should know what kind of boy you should bring home to meet me!’-and that afternoon I told her I had met the right man.”

Omer, for his part, “Enjoyed being the hunted, for a change”. They didn’t meet, or talk, for a month; but one day-just before Valentine’s Day, Anjum remembers-she and her friend were driving somewhere, when they spotted Omer walking. “We stopped, said ‘Hi!’ and gave him a lift.”

Things didn’t take very long after that. “My family doesn’t have the time for trivia!” Anjum explains. “I told my mother as soon as I got home that I had met the boy I was going to marry. I mean, we were two eligible young people in the same town. He was not of our caste of traditional business people, which was actually a plus point in his favour! Our families met, and I went through the various shredders his family put me through, then picked up the pieces-and we got engaged, then married in the next eight months.”

“We were two eligible young people in the same town. He was not of our caste of traditional business people, which was actually a plus point in his favour! Our families met, and I went through the various shredders his family put me through, then picked up the pieces−and we got engaged, then married in the next eight months.” − Anjum

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A few months before the marriage, they went to see Omer’s grandmother: “That was the first time I took a break from work,” she says. “Morph was still a one-person company, with only a set of carpenters to supervise. When we came back, I was broke, and went straight back to work. Side by side, I set up home and pottered around there, too.”

Anjum, the sister of the Razack brothers who run Bengaluru-based construction major Prestige group, is an entrepreneur in her own right: she set up Morph Design Company (MDC), which she runs as its Managing Director. Omer, who heads Prestige’s recent diversification into the hospitality business, comes from a long line of rulers-from the Paigahs of Hyderabad on his father’s side to a royal pedigree on his mother’s. “I have an interesting and diverse lineage. My maternal grandmother was the ruler of Bhopal with its matriarchal system. She married the Nawab of Pataudi, which was a much smaller kingdom, but both became our family’s houses. My father’s people were Prime Ministers to the Nizam of Hyderabad.” The Paigahs are a family of the senior aristocracy of the erstwhile Hyderabad State, with each of them maintaining his own court, individual palaces and a standing army of 3,000 or 4,000 soldiers.

Anjum, on the other hand, was what she calls ‘a one-woman army’ in a male-dominated business when she joined her brothers in 1993 and set up MDC. That ‘one-woman army’ has grown in 23 years to a Rs. 200-crore, 30-member team; but she continues to work hands-on with every project. “They are a bunch of kids-we are a young, growing office,” she says. “Besides, I love what I do-and I always put in 100 per cent into any assignment, because you always get only what you put in. I am also an obsessive perfectionist and would never deliver to a client what I wouldn’t live in myself.”

She had found, when she finished school, that she was in a ‘strange situation’ with not too many career options for a girl of her background-a Kutchi Memon in a typical business family, but one whose father had believed in education for his daughter as well as his three sons. “My parents have always been very aspirational for all their four children,” she explains. “We were all given education, encouraged to travel and grow-all against the norm in our community.” So after her B Com, she did a course in interiors with paint manufacturer Jenson & Nicholson. She then got a job with an interior designer in the early 1990s before joining the family business. “I jumped into the ocean headlong, without even knowing how to swim!” she says. “It was only the challenge that kept me

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MDC, which she established soon after that plunge, not only creates all the interiors in the Prestige Group’s developments, but also offers consultation, comprehensive planning and end-to-end design solutions for a range of other select clients for both their existing structures and new projects. She is also rightfully proud of the fact that her brothers Irfan Razack, Chairman and Managing Director of the Rs. 4,700-crore Prestige Group, and Rezwan Razack, who is Joint MD, never gave her any special privileges in business. “Even though we are a very close-knit family,” she says. “Morph is my very own, Prestige is my client. I charge design and project management fees, and for the furniture and other material I supply from either my own manufacturing units or those from whom I source them.” She does, however, describe working with family as putting her ‘between a rock and a hard place’ very often.

“My big idea was to reach out to the discerning interior design market, be it luxury or aspirational, and provide my clients with a lifestyle that they would enjoy,” is how Anjum how explains the way she approaches her work. “I wanted to introduce discerning customers to living spaces that represent and reflect their individual taste and stay relevant through changing times.” Designing an interior space, she points out, presupposes that “A design metaphor will reveal itself in every object, colour, finish and patina”. Obviously, when the idea finds expression and rhythm in such detail, the natural outcome would be a space made distinctive by its very uniqueness. “That,” she adds, “is why I do not just stop at designing the experience of an interior space, but also construct or create most of the objects that shape the design.”

“I went to boarding school at Sanawar, then Hindu College in Delhi and the London School of Economics. When I came back to India, I decided to move to Bengaluru instead of Hyderabad−it was a new city as compared to Hyderabad, and I could do anything here with its own level of decadence! Besides, my elder brother was here too” − Omer

“Good taste in interiors has come of age. The challenge lies in the fact that often, the notion of interior design stops at the placement of attractive objects in a well-designed room. While that is a mandate we can serve with ease, we challenge ourselves to give our customers much more. This we do by shaping their experience of interior space, through manipulation of spatial volume, as well as surface treatment. So, while apartments today are predicated on the optimal use of space and uniformity, our challenge is to create a unique interior space in a structurally similar landscape,” she says.

“We have also integrated backward to create a super-large vertical, with project management, sourcing and a trading company-and now even furniture manufacturing. We create 90 per cent of all the furniture that is provided in any Prestige construction.”

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From its beginnings as an in-house interior design subdivision, Morph has morphed into a fully integrated interior design firm that executes and handles projects for external clientele, too. It provides a one-point solution from design, creating a portfolio of work across apartments, villas, clubhouses, spas, resorts and hotels. Hotels, resorts or serviced apartments. “All of these need to be addressed very differently from one another,” Anjum explains. Along the way, the company has worked with globally renowned architecture firms like Dileonardo, Woods Bagot, HBA, MAP and SRSS, and executed projects as large as 2.5 million sq ft (nearly a quarter million sq m). “We have also won a lot of awards, in different areas of our work. My brothers look at me differently now!” she adds.

Describing herself as an entrepreneur at heart, not satisfied with interior design alone, Anjum says this is why she vertically integrated the manufacturing process by setting up state-of-the-art in-house factories over two decades ago, to cater to the different design sensibilities of customers, from traditional, classic to the more contemporary, experimental and eclectic. “Our products are also designed to give our clients great value for money across the entire product spectrum,” she adds.

“From a process perspective, everything from concept, drawings, prototyping, to the final production of each and every piece of furniture that we use in our projects is backward integrated,” she explains. “Our external dependence is minimal and allows us to achieve unmatched quality giving us the ability to create truly bespoke interiors, where each detail is created by us. Having control over customisation and production, we ensure that our design process is a constantly evolving and dynamic one”

“The journey has been tough-but a good tough!” Anjum smiles. “The biggest chip on my shoulder is that I didn’t go to design school. But I love working, and I have been loyal to my work.” She did, however, take a course in designing at Cornell University. “I firmly believe that you must always start from the back operations to be strong. There was a sad lack of originality and quality in the market-that’s why I started my furniture business with visits to China, Italy, Germany, Austria and Burma, getting the best rates at which I could import what I needed for each project.”

With this bottom-up organisational design approach, Anjum has been responsible for business development, strategic planning, diversification, and project management along with all other key executive functions. Her work is inspired by a diverse set of influences, both traditional and contemporary, and she references the Deco and Nouveau period styles as being particularly impactful. Firmly believing in the importance of constant evolution for prolonged success, she doesn’t hesitate to incorporate innovative materials into her projects, work with young artists and experiment with all aspects of execution.

“Some things are non-negotiable! For instance, no phones are allowed at meal time. The kids get a platform to talk to each other and us, about things that would otherwise get buried in their busy lives. There are some ground rules, and they stick to them” – Omer

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“My two new factories involve a huge investment, which means I will probably be able to break even only two or three years,” says the businesswoman, now 49. “The state-of-the-art factories have been conceived with a lot of mechanisation-manufacturing wooden joineries, handcrafted furniture, modular furniture, wardrobes, windows and kitchen assemblies. MDC also has a unit which specialises in developing soft furnishings.” Today, Anjum can proudly claim that she has nurtured MDC into one of the country’s most respected décor studios with globally recognised clientele and numerous national and international awards to its credit.

Talking of challenges, Anjum says the biggest one has always been the debate between functionality and design and how to marry them: “The aspirational customers have a relatively limited budget and want products that are aesthetically pleasing, have longevity and are easy to maintain. We have strived to address the needs of this particular segment and are happy to say that we have managed to achieve it to a very large extent.”

The other challenge, she says, is to provide aesthetic designs to any area. “Everyone deserves appealing spaces, regardless of its size,” she says. “We, at Morph Design Company, excel in providing just that.” Pointing out that the business also involves effectively executing two opposing areas of demand: the high-volume kitchen and wardrobe assemblies on one side, and the need for personalised and exclusive products that cater to the individual versus the mainstream on the other, she credits the nature of these challenges is what keeps her and her team striving for excellence.

Anjum is a self-confessed foodie, and loves cooking. In fact, it was this love and talent that led to her meeting Omer at the restaurant: “I used to bake a lot, and market my cakes and pastries to earn my pocket money, to spend on music and clothes,” she says. “Casa Piccola was one of my biggest customers. And so, when my friend Goga suggested meeting her there, I didn’t think it was at all strange.”

She also reads voraciously and loves to travel-collecting art and antiques from the places she visits. Her husband shares her interests-and so they pack their bags and heads off to different locales in India and abroad. The couple began with a two-week honeymoon in Africa; and because he loves surprising her, he recently took her on a road trip from Budapest to Prague via Vienna-“He made me drive!” she mock-complains- so that he could treat her to a four-hour meal at a three-star Michelin restaurant on the way.

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Nawabzada Omer Bin Jung, formally designated Executive Director, Hospitality-Prestige Group, is also the Founding Managing Director of Prestige Leisure Resorts (P) Ltd. With three decades of experience in hospitality, he is currently spearheading the Group’s foray into hospitality. “I went to boarding school at Sanawar, then Hindu College in Delhi (where he was a gold medallist in his BA, Anjum intercedes) and the London School of Economics,” he says. “When I came back to India, I decided to move to Bengaluru instead of Hyderabad-it was a new city as compared to Hyderabad, and I could do anything here with its own level of decadence! Besides, my elder brother was here too.”

After a couple of years in the finance department of Wipro, he joined his brother who has a resort in Bandipur. “Actually, it was a just a Club House; now it has been converted into the Northwest County resort,” he explains. In 1997, three years after he married Anjum, he floated the idea of helping his brothers-in-law take their construction business into resorts. “There has been no looking back since then,” he says. “We also have food courts in malls, we run franchises for Subway, Falafel and others… it’s a good mix.”

Adds his Begum: “It wasn’t an asset class at all – it was Omer’s brainchild.” He explains that because the business was totally in real estate, it had no assets on its balance sheet because all its projects were sold. “Assets are always good to have,” he says. “That’s where the discussion started. And we began to become more asset heavy.”

And so, having established Prestige Leisure Resorts, Omer now aims to set up international spas, city hotels, resorts and food courts all over India in the coming years. He is amply qualified: besides his gold-medal BA and his post-graduate Diploma in Business Studies from LSE, he also has a post-graduate Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a specialisation in Marketing, as well as a Certification in Strategic Management by Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, US.

“To excel in any field, one needs to be a team player. Managing people and ensuring employee and customer satisfaction is an integral part of being a success. We are a service-oriented industry and it is our team’s talent that decides the success of our work” – Anjum

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At Prestige, Omer has been instrumental in conceptualising and tying up with Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, Singapore, for one of Bengaluru’s most beautiful spa resorts the world-class Angsana Oasis Spa & Resort; the Angsana Oasis City Spas at UB City; Hilton International for the Conrad, Bengaluru; Oakwood Asia Pacific for the Oakwood Premier Serviced Residences at UB City and the Oakwood Residences-Forum Value Mall, Whitefield as well as the 3.4-hectare Sheraton Grand Whitefield Hotel and Convention Center in the group’s Shantiniketan project; the JW Marriott Hotel in Prestige Golfshire below the Nandi Hills and the 23-storey Conrad Hotel overlooking the Ulsoor Lake. He is also the brain behind the Transit food lounge at The Forum, Koramangala.

“We have introduced some of the most reputed international brands in the world to South India, such as the Hilton Group and Marriott International for hotels; the Banyan Tree for resorts: our Angsana Oasis Spa & Resort is managed by Banyan Tree Hotel & Resorts, Singapore. We also have the Oakwood Premier Prestige Serviced Residences in our landmark development, UB City, as well as in Whitefield,” he points out. We launched our hotel, ‘The Aloft’, in Prestige Cessna Business Park in 2014 in association with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.”

Anjum also shares some of the secrets for her success: “To excel in any field, one needs to be a team player. Managing people and ensuring employee and customer satisfaction is an integral part of being a success. We are a service-oriented industry and it is our team’s talent that decides the success of our work. Therefore, it is very important to ensure that your team is motivated and happy. Finally, it is crucial to have in depth knowledge of both the industry and the products, which is only possible if you have a genuine passion for your work, as only then will you constantly strive towards perfecting your art.” Apart from this, it is paramount to believe in yourself, your abilities and objectives and have the right conviction. Life is full of complexities. Keeping things simple and using a straightforward approach helps unravel intricacies.

Her role models are her father Razack Sattar, an enterprising entrepreneur who started Prestige Fashions way back in 1956; and after his passing, her three elder brothers Irfan, Rezwan and Noaman have been her mentors, propelling her to success. “They have inspired me to keep pushing myself to achieve greater heights and are a source of constant motivation for me,” she explains. She too wants to carry on this culture of helping others: “I want to create a platform for young interior, product and furniture designers whom I will launch and mentor, to help hone their skills and realise their dreams,” she concludes.

The Jungs’ daughter Zara was born in 1999, and their son Ayaan five years later. “Kids never worried me, I enjoy them at all ages,” Omer says. And Anjum gives him ‘100 per cent for being an outstanding father’, saying: “He handles the children so well. Till date, he puts Ayaan to bed every night. He also takes his just-into-his-teens son on a fishing and hunting trip for two weeks every year.”

How did they manage everything: work, which is often 24×7, parenting- which is 24×7-and getting away for holidays? “We have a very good support system in the family,” Anjum says. “My mother has always been a big help, even though she was looking after my father who fell sick in 1995 soon after our marriage, and never recovered till he passed away in 2004. But I too never thought of multi-tasking-handling work, kids and home-as a problem. Of course, we had good staff: our maid and driver are very devoted to the family.”

Both of them are religious, and practise their faith: “We pray, fast, and go for Haj,” Omer says. Adds Anjum: “My mother was very pragmatic in her approach to Islam, though my father was more ritualistic.” According to Omer, their prayers are more for thankfulness than to ask for something. “We are so blessed,” he points out. “We have been to Arabia few times. So yes, we practise-but at the same time, we question.” Says Anjum, simply: “I like the balance.”

And the children are, fortunately, not yet growing away from their parents: Zara has her own life, but is at the same time totally plugged into the concept of family. “Some things are non-negotiable!” says Omer. “For instance, no phones are allowed at meal time. The kids get a platform to talk to each other and us, about things that would otherwise get buried in their busy lives. There are some ground rules, and they stick to them.” They are not totally happy going away on their own, but can still manage independently all over the place. Zara, for example, went to Oxford on her own for a summer course, Anjum points out. “She organised her own travel, and did very well there too-she came first in her class.”

All four of them spend a lot of time together as a family, even on holidays. “We don’t need to go out and mingle, we are very content by ourselves,” she says. “Three holidays every year are a must. We go away for the summer, Dussehra and Christmas vacations.”

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Last year, Ayaan came up with a surprising question: “Why must we always fly abroad? Why don’t we take a holiday in India?” Says Omer: “Both of us had found it very difficult earlier to wrap ourselves around a holiday in India. But after my son asked this question, we decided to go to Rajasthan-it was fun. We like our luxuries-but besides the Michelin restaurants, we also like to eat local food in different places. For example, we had a great meal of daal-bhaat at a truck stop in Rajasthan.” They didn’t of course, exactly rough it out in the desert: his royal connections ensured that they had the best hospitality in the local palaces. “India is brilliant!” Anjum says.

“Even though both of us are busy, we like to invest time in the kids as well as for ourselves together,” Omer says. “Of course, there is always a trade-off, in terms of earning less than we could if we concentrated only on our work or business. The question of what has priority in our lives keeps changing. But health, time with the children, family time, religion-they all take precedence.”

In addition to all this, Omer manages to find time to play cricket-coming as he does from a cricketing family-and golf, besides his angling and hunting which again is a throwback to his family’s traditions. “He is a ‘renowned shot’!” Anjum says with obvious pride. That, he explains, is a qualification that enables him to participate in national shooting championships. He is also interested in football, and took his son to watch Manchester United play a home match on Boxing Day last year: “There must always be an element of surprise in what I do,” he grins. “I had planned the itinerary for that trip with a gap of one day, which the rest of the family were clued in that they didn’t even notice! That was the day I just took off with Ayaan for the match.”

“We have introduced some of the most reputed international brands in the world to South India, such as the Hilton Group and Marriott International for hotels; the Banyan Tree for resorts: our Angsana Oasis Spa & Resort is managed by Banyan Tree Hotel & Resorts, Singapore” — Omer

How have they found the much-vaunted “entrepreneur-friendly” systems introduced by the government, especially that of Karnataka where they operate? “Well,” starts Omer, “When we started the hospitality business, we needed a total of 29 licenses… But today,” he pauses dramatically, and adds: “We need 29 licenses, still. The license raj has not gone away, it is only that we have learned to handle it more gracefully. The pain is still there. But we had the luxury of assets like easy access to loans and, our families.”

Anjum’s story is slightly different. “I started as a woman entrepreneur,” she explains. “That angle worked for me.” She still loves to cook; and, Omer says, “People love to be invited to our home for a meal.”

“We never have the time to get bored,” Anjum says. “We’ve practically grown up together, through our 23-year marriage. Both of us are the same age, so that’s almost half our lives. We have so many things in common; like, we were reading the same translation of the Quran, or The Little Prince, at the same time-but we are still as different as chalk and cheese. Of course, his stupid sense of humour sometimes irritates me, but…” To which her husband grins. And she adds: “I promise you, I wouldn’t want to grow older with anyone else but Omer.”

source: http://www.corporatecitizen.in / Corporate Citizen / Home> Cover Story / by Sekhar Seshan / Vol.3, Issue No. 2 / April 15th, 2017

Deccan’s heritage on display

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Karnataka (under research project), Travel & Tourism, World Opinion, , , , , ,

Kalaburagi (formerly Gulbarga), KARNATAKA :

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From coins to paper currency, books, radio, telephone, gramophone and old cameras, one can find a wide variety of antiquities at Ayaz Art Gallery in Kalaburagi. Detailed information about each item exhibited here makes this collection a heritage enthusiasts’ favourite. The credit for developing this intriguing collection goes to Mohammed Ayazuddin Patel, who is a photographer by profession.

After the completion of his education, Patel worked abroad for six years. In the meantime, he developed an interest in Deccan’s heritage. As a professional photographer, he has extensively documented the region’s ruined monuments.

Collection of coins and currency at Ayaz Art Gallery in Kalaburagi.
Collection of coins and currency at Ayaz Art Gallery in Kalaburagi.

Patel has collected the antiquities from various places, urban and rural. There are instances of him finding value in an item that others would discard as scrap. Apart from objects, he also has a good collection of rare books published during the British and Nizam rule. Some of them are printed at Oxford Press.

Coins and currency form a major part of the collection. The coins from Satavahana, Rashtrakuta, Chalukya, Hoysala, Nagas, Gandhara, Khilji, Lodhi, Tughluq, Mughals, Bahmani, Wadiyar, Kalachuri, Tipu, Qutb Shahi, Nizam Shahi, Adil Shahi, Barid Shahi,  Imad Shahi, Malwa, Kashmiri, British, and present coins and notes of Indian government are available with him.

Being an artist, he has exhibited the collection aesthetically, with all the details like the currency name, country, capital of country and country’s population on display. Presently, he is having about 275 countries currency notes in his collection which can be treated as the largest collection in Karnataka.

Many research scholars visit his art gallery to get information about the region’s history and heritage.

He has travelled to 26 countries to present the cultural beauty of the Hyderabad Karnataka region. While returning, he picks each country’s flag. Such flags are displayed neatly at the gallery.

Apart from this, he has exhibited his work of digital art, attended seminars, art camps and got honours for the same. Some of the unique pieces found in the gallery include an old lantern used in the ship; an ink bottle of 1855 AD used for fountain pens ; metal locks from Bahmani to Nizam period and terracotta plates and bowls of Nizam period.

Property and other agreement bonds written in Arabic, Parsi, Halegannada, Sanskrit and other languages find a place in his collection. The stamp papers of Jodhpur State and Bikaner State, Jaora State under the of Iftikhar Ali Khan Bahadur, Bhopal and Burma Government both, British India, Travancore and Dewas State, Rajgarh State, Government of Madras, Government of Mysore and Indian non judicial paper are in his collection.

After practicing photography for many years, he started digital art using his photos that portray the heritage of Hyderabad Karnataka.

Mohammed Ayazuddin Patel
Mohammed Ayazuddin Patel

He acknowledges the support extended by his parents. His mother used to collect coins and antiquities as a hobby. And his father, Mohammed Khaja Naveed Patel, was a Munsi and was an expert of history. “Kalaburagi has a rich history and heritage.  It is everyone’s responsibility to collect and preserve these objects,” Ayazuddin says.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Spectrum> Spectrum Statescan / by Rehaman Patel / August 17th, 2019

All eyes on antiques here

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Karnataka (under research project), World Opinion, ,

Kalladka (Dakshina Kannada), KARNATAKA :

Yasar01MPOs27sept2019

After his dream to become a kabaddi player was crushed by his ill-health, Yasar Kalladka turned to another area of interest. Collecting antiques. The man from Kalladka, in Dakshina Kannada, began this journey in 2003.

Yasar02MPOs27sept2019

It has been a great one so far, he says. In his museum is a massive collection of rare coins, notes, agrarian equipment etc. A series of currency notes from different countries that carry their ministers’ and freedom fighters’ faces are arranged in order of their date of birth.

Currency notes of more than 200 countries that carry images of iconic buildings, birds, animals are also in the museum.

A Karnataka map studded with 879 coins of 50 and 25 paise value, and an India map studded with 1,020 coins draws many visitors.

There’s an album that identifies on currency notes the dates of birth of presidents and prime ministers of India. Yasar has spent seven years to make a 50-feet-long chain using 999 10-rupee notes.

RBI-issued coins that mark important occassions can be seen in Yasar’s museum. The currencies issued by China, made of bamboo during the second world war; coins from dynasties like Maurya, Mughal, Pallava, Keladi, Chola, Kadamba, Chalukya, Hoysala,  Nizam, The East India Company etc, and medals of soldiers are now owned by him. Signatures of Gandhi, Lata Mangeshkar and Kapoor families are also found in his collection. In his newspaper clippings collections, the focus is on the deaths of personalities like Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Nehru etc. Road maps, tissues of different countries, perfumes and one-inch holy books also find a place in his museum.

Yasar03MPOs27sept2019

For Yasar, his main source of information are the contacts he has built over the years.

His collection has grown when relocating families have given him antique materials. Once, a woman from England visited his museum and gave him an uncut currency sheet of 30 dollars from her collection.

His networking on social media also fetches him clues to source for his collection.

Sample this, a board he found in a junkyard turned out to be a piece of evidence to prove that the Panemangalore bridge was built by the British in the year 1914, that it has now crossed more than 100 years. “Young people need to understand the value  of the collections,” says Yasar.

He has bagged many awards for his passion including the Aryabhata Award for his collection of coins and currencies.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Spectrum> Spectrum Statescan / by Deepa Kamila / September 14th, 2019

This Bengaluru Ola cab driver’s heartwarming gesture is going viral on the internet

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Karnataka (under research project), Transport, Travel & Tourism, , , ,

Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :

When it comes to taking cab rides, there have always been many bad experiences for the commuters compared to the good ones.

Bengaluru Ola cabbie Khateeb UR Rahman (Photo | Facebook and PTI)
Bengaluru Ola cabbie Khateeb UR Rahman (Photo | Facebook and PTI)

When it comes to taking cab rides, there have always been many bad experiences for the commuters compared to the good ones.

Two of the dominant cab aggregators Uber and Ola are no different as they have also been in the wrong side of the news in the past.

But this time around it was an Ola cab driver who is in the news for all the good reasons. On September 17th, a Bengaluru based man took to Facebook and shared a heartwarming story of an Ola cab driver.

The commuter, Sayuj Ravindran, said that the cab driver returned valuables and gadgets worth Rs 2.5 lakh to him after he had left them behind in the cab.

He wrote, “Returning after my cousins wedding, I took an Ola cab (with my family) from KR Puram railway station to home at around 3:30 am. Halfway down, the car tyre got punctured. The driver requested me to book another cab since it will take some time for him to replace the tyre. I got another one in 10 mins and I was about to reach home when I got a call from the first cab driver informing that I left a handbag in the car. I then realized it was my laptop bag which also had some valuables in it. He said he will wait for me right there. I took my car from home and rushed back. He was kind enough to come a little further towards my home. We met at the Marathahalli bridge and he gave me the laptop bag.”

Sayuj also mentioned that the cabbie refused to take money from him as a favour.

“Meet Mr Khateeb UR Rahman, who returned my bag (with stuff worth Rs 2.5 lakhs approx). He refused to take any money from me in return of the favour and got back into his cab. But I did manage to slip in the money to his jacket pocket forcefully. Please reward this gentleman for what he has done, ” he said.

The post had gone viral with over 10,000 people liking the post and over 2,600 people sharing it.

The RT Nagar Old office (SGP Group), who came across the heartwarming act of the Khateeb UR Rahman rewarded him with a cheque of Rs 25,000.

This heartwarming gesture once again proves to be an example of how one will be rewarded according to his/her act.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Online Desk / September 25th, 2019

“Tipu Sultan – Patre, Hukum Name aani Itihasache Sadhne” (Tipu Sultan – Letters, Orders and History materials).

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Books (incl.Biographies - w.e.f.01 jan 2018 ), Freedom Fighters (under research project), Karnataka (under research project), Leaders, , , , , , , , ,

Solapur, MAHARASHTRA :

TipuSultan01MPOs22sept2019

In an attempt to highlight Tipu Sultan’s personality, diplomacy, relationships with other rulers, foreign policies and other facets of his rule, two youths from Solapur city, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Wayez Sayed are bringing out a Marathi book named “Tipu Sultan – Patre, Hukum Name aani Itihasache Sadhne” (Tipu Sultan – Letters, Orders and History materials).

TipuSultan02MPOs22sept2019

About 415 letters and 10 orders (Hukm name) of Tipu Sultan have been collected by these two youths and translated into Marathi.

The book containing Tipu’s written material is ready for release and will be published by Adv. Gaziuddin Research Center, Solapur, Maharashtra. This research centre has released five books on Tipu Sultan.

Speaking with Twocircles.net, Sarfaraz Ahmed informed that they worked for nearly six years to translate this 300-page book.They had to travel across India to collect these 415 letters written by Tipu which have been preserved  in different libraries of the country, he added.

“These letters show that he had very good relations with Maratha Sardars of Maharashtra, Nizam II of Hyderabad and other Indian kings. He also contacted foreign rulers, including Napoleon Bonaparte and British rulers as a part of foreign policy, ” Ahmad added.

TipuSultan03MPOs22sept2019

Come author Sayed Shah Wayez said they had to work hard to translate these letters because they were written in seven languages since Tipu Sultan used to communicate with other rulers in their mother tongue only.

Renowned activist Ram Punyani, who has written the introduction for this book, lauded the efforts and the hardwork of Sarfaraz and Wayez.

source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Historical Facts> Indian Muslims> Lead Story / by Imran Inamdar, Twocirlces.net / September 22nd, 2019

For this topper, ‘S’uccess stands for parents’ support

Education, Karnataka (under research project), Science & Technology, , , , ,

Mangaluru, KARNATAKA :

Dr Safwan Ahmed, Best Post Graduate Resident in Neurology, with his mother and wife at the 24th convocation of Nimhans. dh photo
Dr Safwan Ahmed, Best Post Graduate Resident in Neurology, with his mother and wife at the 24th convocation of Nimhans. dh photo

Every time his father and Safwan Ahmed passed by Kasturba Medical College in Manipal, his father would say that it was his dream to see his son study there some day. He was only a child back then. It was not too long after, that Ahmed’s father died  of a heart attack. A student of class 11 then, he decided to live his father’s dream and graduated from there.

On Monday, he was among the 14 meritorious students who got recognised for their achievements at the 24th convocation of Nimhans.

He was awarded the Dr Anisya Vasanth Memorial Award for the best postgraduate resident in Neurology. “I dedicate this award to my mother. Every time I burnt the midnight oil, she was beside me. She would wake up along with me, even if it was 3 am and has been my strong support,” said Ahmed. He recollected that most of his education was in government school and college and that merits and scholarships have helped him adequately.

“I want to start a new sub-speciality centre in cognitive neurosciences in Father Muller College in Mangaluru, where I work at present,” he said, when asked about future plans.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State / by Reshma Ravishanker / DH News Service / September 16th, 2019

The last Nizam’s indelible imprint on Kalaburagi

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, Karnataka (under research project), Leaders, Transport, Travel & Tourism, World Opinion, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hyderabad / Kalaburagi (formerly Gulbarga) , KARNATAKA :

AiyaneShahiMPOs17sept2019

The city has many structures built during the time of Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur

A kilometre away from Kalaburagi railway station is Aiwan-e-Shahi, a magnificent stone structure built in early 19th Century. For political leaders and bureaucrats visiting the city, it’s the most preferred accommodation.

Kalaburagi has several such architectural remnants of the times of the Nizam rule, uniquely Indo-Islamic in style, and still in use. Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur, the last monarch, who ruled the province between 1911 and 1948, stayed in Aiwan-e-Shahi when he visited the city and is today a government guest house. The Nizam used to travel in his own train from Hyderabad to reach the palace in Kalaburagi and a special railway track was laid up to the entrance of the complex for the purpose.

Like most buildings constructed during the Nizam’s rule, the Aiwan-e-Shahi portrays a rich and imposing architecture synthesising medieval and modern styles. It is constructed using local white stones, popularly known as Shahabad stones, abundantly available in the surrounding area. The front view of the palace was greatly inspired by Gothic style architecture.

Kalaburagi-based heritage collector and artiste Mohammed Ayazuddin Patel has copies of some rare photograph of Nizam. In one of them, he is the Nizam is seen playing tennis outside the Aiwan-e-Shahi palace complex. His train is also visible in the background. The picture was said to have been taken by Raja Deen Dayal, the official photographer at the Nizam’s court.

The Nizam, known as the architect of modern Hyderabad, left an impression on Kalaburagi too. The building now houses the tahsildar office, zilla panchayat and central library. The entrance arch gate of Vikas Bhavan, the mini Vidhana Soudha that has the district administrative complex and one of the entrances of Mahbub Gushan Garden in the heart of the city were built during his time. There are several private houses across the city that were built for the families of Deshpande, Deshmukh, Mali Patil, Police Patil, Jamadar, Mansafdar, Pattedar, Inamdar, Jagirdar, Kulkarni, Hawaldar – the official and administrative titles given by the Nizam.

“At least, the Aiwan-e-Shahi should be included in the protected monuments and converted into a museum to showcase the region’s cultural past,” says Rehaman Patel, Kalaburagi-based researcher and artiste. According to him, the Nizam had expanded public spaces such as parks, lakes, town hall, and gardens in the city engaging several engineers. Mahbub Sagar (now called Sharnbasweshwar lake) and Mahbub Gulshan Garden continued to be used by the public. The town hall is used by the Kalaburagi City Municipal Corporation as a conference hall.

The Filter Bed built for providing pure water to the residents continues to supply drinking water to parts of the city. The Mahbub Shahi Kapda Mill that produced high-quality cloth and supplied it not just to various cities across India, but to other countries as well, was in operation till the 1980s. The Nizam had also established Asif Gunj School and MPHS school, the oldest educational institutions of the city.

“In the early 1930s, he formed the Hyderabad Aero Club and built Begumpet Airport for his Deccan Airways, one of the earliest airlines in British India. He had the distinction of employing, perhaps, the world’s first woman commercial pilot, Captain Prema Mathur, during the late 1940s. The other airport built in Bidar in 1942 is now used by the Indian Air Force to train its pilots. The Nizam was also credited for renovating several monuments belong to Buddhists, Jains, Chalukyas, and Bahmanis. The renovation and excavation of the caves of Ajanta and Ellora was undertaken with the funds of the Nizam government and supervised by then archaeology director Ghulam Yazdani,” Mr. Rehaman said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Kumar Buradikatti / Kalaburagi – September 16th, 2019

Reflections on a time and space

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Books (incl.Biographies - w.e.f.01 jan 2018 ), Community Involvement / Social Issues, Karnataka (under research project), , , , , , ,

KARNATAKA :

BookRahamathTarikereMPOs13sept2019

Nettara Sootaka by Rahmath Tarikere is a collection of articles written for different occasions in the last five to six years on contemporary writers and issues

What it means to write in Kannada at present as an intellectual or, to be more specific, as a literary and cultural critic? Keeping this question in mind, I would like to introduce Rahamath Tarikere’s Nettara Soothaka: Dharma, Rajakarana, Samskriti, Sahitya (Spectre of Bloodshed: Religion, Politics, Culture, Literature), a collection of articles written for different occasions in the last five to six years on contemporary writers and issues.

Rahamath Tarikere, one of the makers of cultural criticism in Kannada, has been a prolific writer. His research into the culture of Sufis, Nathapantha, Shakthapantha and Moharum of Karnataka is an exemplary field-work investigation in Kannada scholarship. Apart from travelogues, his scholarly engagements encompass writings on literary texts and cultural issues, literary criticism, research methods, edited volumes on Kannada literature, and interviews of intellectuals among others. He works largely in the field where literary and cultural studies intersect.

Tarikere has kept his writerly life alive by contributing pieces to journals and periodicals, and the present book, the sixth of his collected writings, consists twenty-two articles. Six articles in the early part of the book are reminisces of writers after their death.

Among these, Tarikere’s observations on the life and works of U. R. Ananthamurthy, Gauri Lankesh, Vasu Malali and M.M. Kalburgi are worth reading.

“Ananthamurthy: Kashtakalada Naitika Dani” (Moral Voice of Hard Times) — one of the best tributes to Murthy I have ever read in Kannada — delves deep into his intellectual and political complexities. Tarikere is at his best in identifying the archaeology of Ananthamurthy’s thought as ‘resistance’ (to structures of power and fascism), ‘dialectical mode of analysis’ (Right-Left, Kannada-English, Brahmin-Shudra, etc.), ‘dialogic’ and ‘transgressive’ (going beyond). Similarly, “M.M. Kalburgi: Kalakelagini Agnikunda (Fire-Pot beneath Feet)”, written in academic style, explores the philosophical underpinnings of Kalburgi’s research work against the larger backdrop of violence and intellectual life today.

This is a major point of departure for those interested not just in Kalburgi’s work but in Kannada research in general. Further, the portraits of writers and other eminent personalities including Dr. Rajkumar, celebrated Kannada film actor, Jawaharlal Nehru, N. K. Hanumanthaiah, B. M. Rasheed, Ramadas, H. S. Raghavendra Rao and A. K. Ramanujan have been sketched informatively in plain and clear prose.

The articles on Muslim and Sufi culture give a detailed account of the Muslim way of life in India. “Muslimarigobba Ambedkar Agatya” (Muslims Need an Ambedkar) and “Muslim Samudayada Sankathanada Tathvika Nelegalu” (Philosophical Foundations of Discourse on Muslim Community) and “Muslim Samskrutikalokada Swarup”(The Nature of Muslim Cultural World) unfold the dynamics of Muslim identity politics, socio-historical problems of Islamic culture and the formation of different discourses on Muslims. Those interested in understanding the nuances of Sufism and Islam will find these articles enormously useful.

One more article which deserves our attention in the collection is “Hyderabad Karnataka Sahitya: Chaharegalu” (Literature of Hyderabad Karnataka: Traces). It raises an important question about literary culture: what is the relationship between literary expression and its geo-political conditions? While sketching the uniqueness of literary culture in the region of Hyderabad Karnataka, Tarikere shows how it is unique and different from literary cultures in Dharwad and Mysuru regions. His insights in this article open up further scope for in-depth investigations into Kannada Literary Studies.

Overall, the articles in the book try to diagnose what ails our times, particularly how writing and intellectual life have become vulnerable. As the title of the book suggests Tarikere grasps it with the metaphor of bloodshed, modelled on how Sharanas problematized the interconnectedness of experience, acts and speech in ‘Nudi Soothaka’ (Spectre of Speech). The practice of Fearless Speech, according to Tarikere, has become the target of violence in the 21st century. In tune with this perspective, the book is dedicated to Dabholkar, Pansare, M.M. Kalburgi and Gauri. Throughout the book the reader can experience the author’s anxieties, concerns and aspirations about our socio-intellectual life in India. The book certainly contains some insightful articles which Kannada readers should not miss. However, some articles could have been left out from the selection. What is the rationale behind bringing out a collection of articles written for different occasions? A careful selection of articles, rewriting some of them when they go as part of a book and a long introduction that connects these articles on different themes would make the anthology more useful than merely compiling hitherto published articles.

Rahmath Tarikere’s prose, though wanting in liveliness, does not fail to convey what it intends to. However, his mode of analysis still remains largely ‘ideology criticism’, the modernist reasoning scrutinizing all types of issues. We need to go beyond the Marxist- ideology-critique and explore different forms of analytics as the nature of evil we are confronting today does not reveal itself easily to worn-out tools of analysis. It might be useful to examine cognitive structures of contemporary society, instead of resorting to ideology criticism. In this respect, a scholar like Tarikere can bank upon his own studies on Indian intellectual traditions such as Sufism, Nathapantha, Shakthapantha, etc. to develop new tools of analysis and grasp the reality differently, if not from the informed understanding of the western scholarship available in English.

If this project, further, calls for thinking how to shape the Kannada critical thought, I could not help but invoke the writings of, just to mention two critically important forerunners among several others, D. R. Nagaraj and Keerthinath Kurthkoti. The present Kannada literary and cultural criticism can fruitfully learn from their art of thinking, making powerful narratives and analysis.

Rahamath Tarikere also belongs to this tribe, and his individual talent certainly promises new modes of thinking and renewing this tradition.

source:  http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books> Reviews / by N. S. Gundur / September 05th, 2019

100 to get Kempegowda award

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Books (incl.Biographies - w.e.f.01 jan 2018 ), Community Involvement / Social Issues, Karnataka (under research project), , , ,

KARNATAKA :

Despite a self-imposed limit on the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Award 2019 to only 70 people, the BBMP announced 100 recipients of the same on Tuesday.

Senior Kannada writers Chandrashekhar Patil, Keshavareddy Handrala, Abdul Rasheed, Pratibha Nandakumar, actor-politician Mukhyamantri Chandru, singer Manjula Gururaj, educationist Gururaj Karjagi, Dalit activist Mavalli Shankar and senior advocate Ravi Verma Kumar are among the awardees.

IPS officer M.N. Anucheth, the chief investigation officer in the Gauri Lankesh murder case, and six members of his team, have also been given the award for the successful probe that eventually led to breakthroughs in three other murder cases.

Another IPS officer D. Roopa is also on the list of awardees.

While 10 women, including social activist and JD(S) leader Leeladevi R. Prasad, have been awarded the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Sose Mahatyagi Lakshmidevi award, five organisations including Bosco Mane, that helps children, have been awarded the Paramapoojya Dr. Shivakumara Swamiji award.

Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa will present the awards on Wednesday, observed as the 508th Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Jayanti.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Staff Reporter / Bengaluru – September 04th, 2019