‘When patients know their rights, hospitals will be more receptive to their demands’
Dr. Mohamed Khader Meeran with a copy of his book ‘Patients rights in India.’
A medical graduate-cum-public rights activist in the city has brought out a handbook to raise awareness of patients’ rights, in the hope that people and healthcare providers can resolve issues amicably.
Mohamed Khader Meeran, 27, who completed his MBBS degree from Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sevagram, in Maharashtra in 2020, and is a NEET aspirant for postgraduate studies, was inspired to write ‘Patients’ rights in India’ to specify the legal means of redress available in the wake of rising number of complaints related to hospitals and treatment options, especially during the pandemic.
He has been in the news for his advocacy work, notably for filing a public interest litigation (PIL) in Madras High Court, to launch online right to information (RTI) filing facility in Tamil Nadu State’s government departments in 2017. “Last year, there was a lot of misinformation being circulated about COVID-19. Patients’ health status details, which were meant to be confidential, were leaked through social media. Many hospitals were overcharging. Initially I was getting calls from within Tamil Nadu [for help], but as I had studied in Maharashtra, and was part of many student unions, we began coordinating with doctors there, to arrange for beds. This is when we felt that a handbook would be useful to tell patients about their rights,” Dr. Meeran told The Hindu .
Among the issues covered in the book are right to information; safe and quality treatment; seeking a second medical opinion, and so on. Initially published last year in Tamil, the English version of ‘Patients’ Rights …’, which was launched in October this year, is more detailed, with sections on government-sponsored health insurance schemes and contact details for grievance resolution.
“There are both legal and ethical angles when a patient comes for treatment. Since ethics is a vast field, I have narrowed it down to specific issues, such as cost of definitive treatment for ailments according to the patient’s paying capacity. We are focusing on how financial compensation can be accessed by patients,” said Dr. Meeran.
In real world
Case studies and legal rulings on medical issues help readers to understand how these rights work in the real world.
A chapter on alternative medicine calls for greater understanding between practitioners of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) and modern medicine. “There are evidence-based treatments for some ailments in both systems, but alternative therapists should understand their limits, and advise their patients to seek assistance from modern medicine when necessary,” said Dr. Meeran.
When the patients know their rights, hospitals and medical authorities will be more receptive to their demands, he feels. “Patients’ rights are not taught in medical schools, because of which violence against healthcare professionals is rampant in India. This book could help reduce such instances,” he said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Tiruchirapalli / by Nahla Nainar / December 03rd, 2021
Propeller Technologies’ Youth Innovator Programme is enabling children from different backgrounds to bond together over science
A student with a prototype of a robotic animal at Propeller Technologies, Tiruchi.
On this sunny Friday afternoon, the classrooms of Propeller Technologies in Tiruchi’s Karumandapam area is packed with dreamers and thinkers. Children from government and private schools are huddled around workstations, trying to create products that may one day change the world.
The Tiruchi-based edutech company has been conducting outreach programmes for school children in rural areas to increase awareness about STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) concepts and their use in the real world.
Aided by the launch of Atal Tinkering Labs in schools, and a desire to make the city a hub for regional innovators, Propeller Technologies has teamed up with bigger educational and scientific institutions to actively promote STEM education through its Young Innovator Programme.
Students from private schools in Tiruchi — Montfort School, Kamala Niketan Montessori School, Sri Sivananda Balalaya, Alpha Wisdom Vidyashram and The Indian Public School — are collaborating with kids from Thiakesar Alai Higher Secondary School, Manapparai; Government Higher Secondary School, Thanjavur; Government Higher Secondary School, Manachanallur and Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Ariyalur, as part of the summer outreach programme.
“After interacting with thousands of students from government and private schools, we have realised that there is a wealth of talent among rural communities. And to ensure that promising rural candidates get an equal opportunity to grow, we have requested parents with children in city schools to sponsor them, and follow their progress alongside that of their own kids,” says Aashik Rahman, founder-CEO, Propeller Technologies. “Our in-house team of engineers will be mentoring the children in the projects.”
A student working on a project.
“I am part of a team designing robotic animals, and I got interested in this field through the Atal Tinkering Lab in our school,” says Lingesh Kumar, a 17-year-old student of Thiakesar Alai Higher Secondary School in Manapparai. The youngster, whose father runs a teashop, has been travelling 40 km from home everyday during vacations to work on creating a robotic dog.
With the extension of the programme to Saturdays, the students can keep working on their ideas on the weekends.
“Studying how animals move their limbs is crucial to understanding how they can be made mobile and agile. Our robotic dog could be a pet animal or a mechanical bodyguard for those living alone,” says Lingesh.
Eight-year-old S.N. Shayan, got inspired during the lockdown to start working on an autonomous delivery drone that could help people get medicines or food from nearby shops without human interaction.
“Our drone will be able to hold 200 grams of food and fly in the range of 25 km. We are still calculating how the load can be adjusted to the mechanism’s movement. It can be programmed for pre-set flight distance and destination, but we will also have a person monitoring the drone’s progress from the ground,” says the precocious Shayan, an alumnus of The Indian Public School.
R Boobathi Raj, 16, (Class 12, Thiakesar Alai Higher Secondary School) and A Aadhav, 13, (Class 8, Kamala Niketan Montessori School) are working on a hybrid e-bike that will run on both petrol and electrical charge. “The driver can shift fuel options according to their travel requirements on our bike. The main challenge is to find the space to fit in all the components in the chassis,” says Aadhav. “We are now actively looking for spare parts that can be used in our vehicle, on authorised online dealerships.”
Tutors at the academy say that the courses can be challenging on many levels, especially for children who have never owned or seen a computer. “The first few weeks are spent in orientation, literally from how to switch on the machine,” says Salman, one of the mentor-engineers. “Then to keep the interest levels high, we set aside some time for practicals before going on to the theoretical part of the project. The transformation you see in the students is rewarding in itself,” he adds.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Technology / by Nahla Nainar / June 23rd, 2022
Thanks to social media, former car driver Rasool Kareem has discovered a completely new calling in Qatar
Rasool Kareem (left) with Qatari cast members of Kareem Time channel. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
When 35-year-old Rasool Kareem set out to support his family by taking up a driver’s job in Doha, Qatar in 2007, little did he realise that his career as a social media star in the Gulf country would literally turn his life around in the most unexpected way.
With a YouTube channel called ‘Kareem Time Official’ that has 1.9 million subscribers and 537,894 followers on Facebook, besides 70,6000 more on his Instagram account, the native of Woraiyur, Tiruchi is a recognised public figure in the Arabian Gulf’s social media space.
Kareem’s work stands out because he makes videos on the life of South Asian (majorly Tamil) expatriate workers in the Gulf, with a cast that is made up of both Qatari and Indian amateur actors.
His content is available in Arabic and Tamil, and uses observational comedy to lampoon people’s foibles, while conveying an underlying serious message.
“It is not right to vilify people or countries blindly. There are good and bad persons in every community, and sometimes comedy becomes the best vehicle to spread tolerance, especially in places that rely on expatriate workers,” says Kareem over a WhatsApp interview call. “Most of my Arabic videos are uploaded on YouTube and Instagram, while the Tamil ones, which I produce with the help of a creative team in Tiruchi, are on Facebook. The comedy skits have slapstick and physical humour to appeal also to viewers who may not know either language,” says Kareem.
A star is born
Like the millions of blue-collar workers who head out to the Arabian Gulf countries in search of work every year, Kareem had a family to support back in Tiruchi. “I haven’t studied much, and spent much of my youth working at odd jobs. Since I was the eldest in my family and needed to support my parents and siblings, my father made me learn driving and got me a visa to work as a chauffeur for a Qatari family. When I had enough in my kitty, I decided to return to Tiruchi for good in 2010,” he recalls.
Kareem’s interest in acting led him to spending a year in Chennai, struggling to get roles in Tamil cinema. “By the end of 2011, I realised that my acting career was a non-starter, so I decided to return to Qatar and become a driver again,” he says.
Migrant workers in Qatar function under the ‘kafala’ (sponsorship) system, where a resident Qatari national is made in charge of the foreign worker’s visa and legal status.
Kareem’s Qatari sponsor (and employer) Naif al-Malki got interested in the driver’s Kollywood audition clips and asked him create something for him. “I sang an Arabic song in my Tamil style, which he uploaded on his Instagram page. We did not expect it to become a viral hit all over the Gulf countries. My first real fans were Arab children, who loved my stuff,” says Kareem.
The song started off his career as a social media star in 2013, as he began to upload videos that were largely mono-acts filmed on his mobile phone, with the active encouragement of al-Malki, who is now his business manager.
Content is king
“I realised that to be taken seriously, one had to pay attention to the content, so I started looking for actors who could join me in my videos,” he says. He found them in Qatar’s amateur theatre circuit and assembled a typical Gulf ‘family’ with his actors. “Today, Khaled al-Rubya, Huda al-Malki, Zahara al- Ansari, Tamim al-Malki and Abu Vinish are all part of Kareem Time videos, along with me. Sometimes we get mistaken for a real family,” he laughs.
Kareem tends to play the driver in most of the skits, but in real life has stopped working as a chauffeur after his social media career took off. “During one vacation, I actually wanted to quit my driver’s job and stay on in India because it was getting difficult to manage content creation with my regular work. But Mr. Naif persuaded me to return to Qatar and develop my social media work, because he felt it had great potential,” says Kareem.
The team shoots three videos per week, and uploads them periodically. “None of us gets paid for the in-house productions. But we allow the actors to state their preferred salary for commercial promotions, which we have started getting from local companies. I use my savings to fund the video production costs,” says Kareem.
For the more sober Tamil content, Kareem tends to highlight the socio-economic dynamics of migrant labourers within their families and society.
The father of two has learned to take the brickbats in his stride. “Thanks to social media, strangers walk up to me and request me for a selfie with their children because they have seen my work online. It’s the best endorsement one could get,” he says.
Kareem and co-star in a scene from his YouTube channel’s skits. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Metro Plus / by Nahla Nainar / September 22nd, 2022
India and Qatar celebrate their age-old maritime ties by showcasing a handcrafted dhow at the FIFA World Cup, as part of the Gulf Arab nation’s traditional boat festival.
P.O. Hashim, MD, M/S Haji PI Ahmed Koya, Kozhikode, handing over the dhow made by their company to Ahmed al-Hitmi, director, Katara beach department, in Doha, Qatar. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
India is reiterating its age-old maritime ties with Qatar, at the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022, through a handcrafted dhow made by M/S Haji PI Ahmed Koya, a family-run shipbuilding company in Kozhikode.
Held under the patronage of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Emir of Qatar, and organised by The Cultural Village Foundation Katara, the 12th edition of the Katara International Dhow Festival in Doha is one among the many off-field events scheduled by the FIFA World Cup. The festival, held between November 20 and December 18, features dhows — boats with a long and thin hull, and one or two masts for sails, commonly used in southern Asia and eastern Arabia — from nine countries, including India, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Greece, Zanzibar and Turkey.
The Indian pavilion is exhibiting two 20-foot long boats, in addition to displaying boat materials and models, which are for sale.
“My grandfather started this company in 1885, and we have been making boats to order for clients in the Gulf countries for over 130 years. It is a special year for us, because we have built a baghlah dhow for the Qatari government using vintage technology. It showcases our boat-building heritage on an international stage,” says PO Hashim, managing director of the firm, who is in Doha for the handover.
The company also maintains a Dhow Museum of equipment and memorabilia related to the wooden vessels in Kuttichira, Kozhikode.
The dhow built by M/S Haji PI Ahmed Koya, Kozhikode, seen in the boatyard before despatch. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
How to stitch a boat
The baghlah (Arabic for mule), measuring 27 feet, is an example of a sewn boat, where craftsmen thread wooden planks together using special coconut-fibre ropes. The technique predates the era of metal fastenings, and samples of sewn boats can be seen in many ancient civilizations, each using a different methodology.
Good quality timber and skilled shipwrights made Beypore in Kerala a magnet for Arab countries, attracting craftsmen from Yemen’s Hadrami tribe and the Omanis from the 15th century. Known as uru in Malayalam, the Beypore dhow was the main form of transport along the spice routes of Malabar and Arabia.
“We were inspired to make this dhow after seeing a similar model made in Oman decades ago,” says Hashim. The Qatar-commissioned boat being displayed at the festival was manufactured at the company’s Pattermadu dhow-making unit at Chaliyam village in Kozhikode.
Over six to seven months, from November 2021, craftsman Gokul Edathumpadikkal and a team of shipwrights were busy assembling the six-foot deep and seven-foot wide vessel, using teak sourced from Nilambur. Most of the carpentry and detailed carving on the outer planks have been done manually.
A dhow is typically built from the outside hull inwards. Shaped planks of wood are connected at the edges in a clinker style, and the overlapping sections are sewn together with coir to form a flexible structure. Internal framing is provided for additional rigidity.
Hashim says that their dhow is made with 2,300 hand stitches of fibre ropes through 5,000 holes to secure the planks. It was shipped by container and handed over to Ahmed al-Hitmi, director, Katara beach department, in Doha, last week.
“Qatar has been actively promoting the dhow as a symbol of the country’s culture and economy before the oil boom. We have been participating in Qatar’s annual dhow festival for 10 years,” he says.
Sailing away
The work of the special dhow using coir rope in progress at Chaliyam. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
At one time, there were some 80 types of dhows in the Arabian Gulf and Oman but only about six are still in use today, albeit with engines rather than sails. “There were many types of sailing dhows, ranging from big ocean-going vessels to small inshore fishing boats. They were used for trading from the Arabian Gulf to countries as far away as China, where pearls were exchanged for silk and other luxury items. Each year, fleets of dhows set out for the pearl-fishing grounds in September, returning three months later. The last of the sailing dhows were replaced by engine-powered boats in the 1950s,” says writer Fran Gillespie, who has authored several books on Qatar’s history, culture and archaeology.
Traditionally built dhows, powered with engines, are still in use in the Arabian Gulf for fishing and tourist excursions.
Katara, a sprawling beach promenade in Doha, will be the venue for marine shows, competitions, workshops for children and craftsmen in addition to special performances and operettas by folk troupes through the month as part of the festival.
For the World Cup, flags of the nations of the 32 qualified teams will be put on dhow masts to sail past the Doha Corniche and Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) reaching there by sunset on all days.
“The dhow festival, based on Qatar’s pearl-diving, fishing and maritime history is deeply intertwined with emotion and pride in the hearts of several generations,” says Salem al-Marri, Director of public relations and communications, Katara.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society / by Nahla Nainar / November 28th, 2022
Chennai-based businessman pays homage to his deceased mother with Mughal-style funerary complex in Tiruvarur village.
A view of the marble mausoleum resembling Agra’s Taj Mahal built at Ammaiyappan in Tiruvarur. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
A near-replica of Agra’s Taj Mahal has been making news this week, as reports about the marble mausoleum built in Ammaiyappan village, Tiruvarur, by a son for his mother who passed away in 2020, have been going viral online.
“My four sisters and I were very young when we lost our father, a hardware merchant in Chennai. Our mother Jailani Biwi, who was just 36 then, brought us up single-handedly, and stayed by our side through thick and thin. After her demise at the age of 68 years in December 2020, we felt her presence should be an enduring one. So with my family’s consent, I decided to build this mausoleum for her on a one-acre plot in Ammaiyappan,” Amruddin Sheikh Dawood, told The Hindu .
Constructed over two years, the complex houses a mosque and madrassa (school for religious instruction), besides the grave of the deceased on 8,000 sq ft, and was built at a budget of nearly ₹5 crore.
Intricately carved trellis panels and water tanks are part of the edifice, bringing an exotic look to the structure in this rural setting.
Mr. Dawood, who is a rice merchant based out of Chennai, said that the resemblance to Taj Mahal was almost incidental. “We simply wanted a building that used elements of Mughal architecture, but the designer we consulted in Tiruchi suggested that our idea was very similar to that used in the famed monument, so we just went ahead,” he said.
“Since Taj Mahal was the inspiration, we felt that white Indian marble rather than granite, would be ideal. We sourced 80 tonnes of marble from Rajasthani quarries,” Mr. Dawood said.
North Indian artisans worked alongside local labourers to complete the building, which was formally inaugurated last week to visitors of all faiths.
Countering critics about the scope and budget of his dream project, Mr. Dawood said that the building was a symbol of the family’s love for their matriarch. “A mother’s affection is priceless, and in our family, she was the one who held us together all her life. This mausoleum is a humble gesture to show our respect for her, and also to inspire others to cherish their parents,” he said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> India> Tamil Nadu / by Nahla Nainar / June 13th, 2023
Kilakarai (Ramanathapuram District) , TAMIL NADU :
Legends abound in Tamil folklore about the ‘merchant prince’ Shaikh Abdul Qadir, popularly known as Seethakathi. He was one of the earliest regional traders to do business with the Dutch and the British in the 17th Century. A generous patron of the arts, he supported poets Umaru Pulavar, Padikasu Thambiran, Kandasamy Pulavar, and others.
Cultural confluence: The prayer hall of the Grand Jumma Masjid, which is central to the landscape of Kilakarai. It was built in the 17th Century in the Dravidian style of architecture. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
In Tamil, Seethakathi is a byword for philanthropy. The adage ‘Seththum kodai kodutthan Seethakathi’ (Even in death, Seethakathi donated generously) is often used to refer to a person’s exemplary munificence. But who was Seethakathi, or rather, Shaikh Abdul Qadir, who also sported the title, Vijaya Raghunatha Periyathambi Marakkayar, endowed by Kilavan Sethupathi?
Legends abound in Tamil folkloric narratives about this ‘merchant prince’ of the coastal town of Kilakarai, in the present day Ramanathapuram district, whose name is variously spelled as ‘Seydakadi’ or ‘Sidakkali’. Actual evidence of his enterprise and influence, however, has survived only in a handful of records and inscriptions of the late 17th Century.
In memoriam
Kilakarai continues to commemorate its famous son. The main thoroughfare here is called ‘Vallal Seethakathi Salai’, and a grand memorial arch in his name on the outskirts welcomes visitors. An annual ‘Seethakathi Vizha’ is organised with panegyric poems and speeches in his honour.
Central to Kilakarai’s landscape, though, is the Grand Jumma Masjid, built in the Dravidian style of architecture, where Seethakathi is interred.
The mosque, said to have been commissioned by Seethakathi or built during his lifetime in the 17th Century over two decades, also houses the graves of his elder brother ‘Pattathu Maraikkar’ Mohamed Abdul Qadir, and the domed mausoleum of the saint-scholar Shaikh Sadaqatullah (known locally as Sadaqatullah Appa), to whom Seethakathi was close, both as disciple and friend. Seethakathi also commissioned the grave of his younger brother Sheikh Ibrahim Marakkayar in Vethalai.
“This mosque has 110 pillars made with stone quarried from the seashore in Valinokkam village. Its style is typical of southern Indian buildings of its time, and is of great interest to researchers because of its unique structure. All the pillars are embellished with floral patterns, and some of them are naturally embedded with seashells,” A.M.M. Kader Bux Hussain Siddiqi Makhdoomi, the town Qazi and ‘Mutawalli’ (administrator) of the Grand Jumma Mosque, told The Hindu.
Blending with locals
According to research by S.M. Hussain Nainar (1899-1963), who was a professor of Arabic, Urdu and Persian at the University of Madras and Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Arabs and Persians had been trading with the Indian peninsula even before the advent of Islam. Over time, the Arab traders settled along the coast of southern India, and with the coming of Islam, became assimilated with the local population. Most Tamil-speaking Muslims in these regions have Arab ancestry.
Islam’s influence in the Deccan has been noted from the end of the 13th Century, but it peaked only after the mid-17th Century, in the reign of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (1658-1707).
Born to Malla Sahib Periya Thambi Marakkayar and Syed Ahmed Nachiyar, as the second of three sons, Seethakathi hailed from Selvarkulam. The Marakkayars (an abbreviated form of Marakala Rayar) were one of the five early Tamil Muslim communities (the others being Sonakar, Labbai, Turki and Rowther) mentioned in historical texts.
The Marakkayar community was known for its maritime trade, and Seethakathi made his fortune in dealing with pepper, rice, pearls and handloom textiles, among other commodities.
Seethakathi was a close friend of Vijaya Raghunatha Thevar, or Kilavan Sethupathi, a loyal vassal of Chokkanatha Nayak, who helped Thirumalai Nayak in his war against the Mysore army.
Sethupathi cut off ties with Madurai in 1792 and built the Ramalinga Vilasam palace to fortify his position in the region. The palace, set in the middle of a moated campus, has a stone tablet that bears Seethakathi’s name.
The title, ‘Vijaya Raghunatha Periya Thambi’, denoted the affection and trust that Seethakathi enjoyed of his royal friend.
Mughal ‘khalifa’ in Bengal
It is also said Shaikh Sadaqatullah’s mention of Seethakathi’s generosity and character to Emperor Aurangzeb resulted in the ‘merchant prince’ being sent to Bengal as the Mughal ‘khalifa’ (regent). However, Seethakathi decided to resign after a while, as the new environment did not suit him.
Seethakathi’s acumen helped him become one of the earliest regional traders to do business with the Dutch and the British in the 17th Century. He is known to have maintained ventures from the Coromandel Coast to Sri Lanka (Ceylon). The British made contact with Seethakathi in the mid-17th Century.
Nainar’s 1953 book Seethakathi Vallal refers to the correspondence, in 1686-1690, between Seethakathi and the British East India Company’s agents William Gyfford and Elihu Yale negotiating trade in pepper and rice. The Dutch, too, interacted with Seethakathi, first as business rivals, and then as collaborators.
Patron of arts
Seethakathi was a generous patron of the arts, with poets like Umaru Pulavar, Padikasu Thambiran and Kandasamy Pulavar among the many supported by him.
Umaru Pulavar wrote the Seera Puranam, a 5,000-stanza verse biography of Prophet Muhammad in Tamil. Nainar’s book also contains two extant literary works about him: Seethakathi Nondi Nadagam (a Tamil mono-drama) and Thirumana Vaazhthu (felicitation written for Seethakathi’s wedding).
“Over time, many myths have become attached to Seethakathi. As archival documents show, he was a successful businessman and ‘rental farmer’ for the powers of the day. More systematic research of old records would help to highlight the role of Tamil Muslims like Seethakathi in Indian history,” said J. Raja Mohamed, historian and former curator of Pudukottai Government Museum.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> India> Tamil Nadu> In Focus / by Nahla Nainar / October 27th, 2023
Camellia Biswas and Ajmal S. Rasaq, who won the EARTH scholarships, on how they moved to studying the environment and sustainability through various perspectives.
Recognising the impact of climate change. | Photo Credit: Freepik
Two Indian doctoral researchers, Camellia Biswas and Ajmal S. Rasaq, have been awarded the prestigious EARTH scholarships funded by British Council Scotland and delivered by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities. It supports early-career researchers from around the world studying environment and sustainability through the Arts, Science, and the Humanities.
Biswas, who is in the Humanities department of IIT-Gandhinagar, specialises in ecological anthropology, human-animal studies, disaster studies and participatory research methodologies. Her Ph.D thesis focuses on mapping the dynamics of human and non-human interactions in the Indian Sundarbans, under the larger discourse of the climate disaster. In 2022, she was named British Council’s Women Leadership Fellow.
Rasaq, who secured the first rank in B.A. Political Science from St. Thomas College in Palai, Kerala, and pursued M.A. and M.Phil. degrees in Political Science at the University of Hyderabad and Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, switched over to climate change studies in his Ph.D course in IIT-Guwahati.
Since April, they have been undertaking in-person and hybrid exchanges in Scotland, which would go on until June in environmental arts and humanities. During her scholarship period, Biswas will collaborate with University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) in Inverness, while Rasaw is affiliated with the University of Glasgow’s Human Geography department. They shared their experiences over an e-mail interaction. Edited excerpts:
From left: Ajmal S. Rasaq and Camellia Biswas, winners of the Earth scholarship winners. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangment
What inspired you to take up your field/subject of study?
Camellia Biswas (CB): I am deeply intrigued by the ever-changing realm of interactions between multiple species in the context of climate change. In this project, my focus lies on the study of zooarchaeology entwined with cultural and political ecology. I will be utilising a deep-time perspective to explore the implications of climate change. Specifically, I am examining the ecological-cultural evolution of human-seal relationships in the Northern Scottish Islands, from past to present, to comprehend climate emergency and conservation action.
Ajmal S. Rasaq (ASR): My Ph.D. project looks into how the changing weather conditions, particularly unseasonal precipitation and cyclones, impact the socio-economic relations in Chellanam, a coastal suburb of Kochi in Kerala. Though my academic background is in Political Science, I shifted to human geography in my Ph.D. programme after seeing significant weather events in recent times, such as the devastating floods of 2018 and the Ockhi and Tauktae cyclones (in Kerala). Over time, I came to recognise the profound impact of climate, which I had until then seen only as a background for agricultural and fisheries production.
How can the EARTH scholarship help you to enhance your understanding of your subject?
CB: The programme will enrich my understanding of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) education in Scotland, and I hope to bring some of these learnings to apply in India. I’ve realised that topics across Humanities have implications for my own work. Scotland is very rich in visual narratives such as storytelling, folktales and myths embedded in historical records. Therefore, this will be very useful for my research. During my time here, I’m learning that topics across Science and Humanities are all connected. Scholars can help each other through different expertise and subjects.
ASR: I had already spent over a year collecting data through ethnographic fieldwork before joining this programme in April. This is an opportunity to connect with leading professors and other fellow scholars for three months. The training programme offered during the initial two weeks of the scholarship helped me to look deeper into the data. My mentor, Dr. David Featherstone at Glasgow University, has also been helping me in enriching my understanding in my area of research.
Any advice for students who may wish to apply for such programmes?
CB: Students who are interested in these scholarships must stay alert and proactive by subscribing to notification pages and newsletters. Also, customise your applications to align with the specific requirements and goals of the scholarship(s).
ASR: Start early and allow sufficient time for the application process. Begin by identifying a potential supervisor who aligns with your area of research. In the proposed application, it is vital to emphasise the anticipated impact of the research. Applicants must highlight how their work can help in fostering cross-national collaborations in future.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Education / by Nahla Nainar / June 24th, 2023
An online database, it is a collection of qawwalis in cinema, from talkie days to the present.
The popular qawwali, ‘Teri mehfil mein kismat azamakar’, from Mughal-e-Azam | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The qawwali, a musical genre closely associated with Islamic Sufi tradition, has evolved over the generations to include not just devotion, but romance, comedy and even social commentary in its fold.
Its journey from the courtly environs of erstwhile princely salons, to the dargahs, and then into the Hindi film industry, has largely gone undocumented, though the transition is still in progress. However in recent weeks, the Cinema Qawwali Archive, an online database curated by Delhi-based independent filmmaker and researcher Yousuf Saeed, has been reviving interest in this pop culture import.
“Qaul means a saying or spoken phrase [in Arabic and Urdu]. Those who sang a qaul were called qawwals. All qawwali lyrics may not necessarily send you into a trance, some can also be subtle. But the singing style is surely bold. Off-hand, most people can recall only around 10-20 qawwalis in Hindi cinema, but the actual number is much bigger,” says Saeed in a phone interview.
‘Parda hain parda’ from Amar Akbar Anthony
Working on the database for a decade, Saeed has compiled 800 qawwalis so far, with the earliest going back to the 1930s, and latest, until 2022. “The ‘talkie’ pictures came to India in 1931; though the original movies from the early 1930s are lost forever, I did manage to find some from 1936, with unusual names like Miss Frontier Mail (starring ‘Fearless’ Nadia), and the 1939 film Brandy Ki Botal,” says Saeed.
Poetry of the past
Saeed began noticing the qawwali’s ubiquity in Hindi films while working on a series of documentaries on Sufi poet and musician Abul Hasan Yamin-ud-din Khusrau, also known as Amir Khusro (1253–1325 AD). “I realised that quite a few of his qawwalis had been lifted and modified for Hindi films, so I started noting them down, and soon, the list grew to 400 songs. I wanted to make them available on a common database in chronological order,” he says. Among these is the qawwali ‘Zihale Miskin’ sung by Lata Mangeshkar in Ghulami (1985). A simplified version of Khusro’s original, the lilting composition retains the poet’s penchant for multi-lingual lyric arrangements.
The inimitable Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan | Photo Credit: Getty Images
“’Zihale Miskin’ is very popular, and unusual, because it has one line in Persian and one in Brij Bhasha. Then there are many of Khusro’s Dohas (couplets) that are used in qawwali songs quite often,” says Saeed.
Qawwali, says the filmmaker, is a free-floating art that allows singers and lyricists to combine several genres and poetic forms in a seamless composition. Besides YouTube, Saeed has picked out his selections from DVDs and VCDs (remember those?). “I haven’t had a problem with copyright so far, since quite a few of the songs are already in the public domain. But it’s amazing how I keep discovering new qawwalis everyday. My latest is ‘Shikayat’ from last year’s Gangubai Kathiawadi,” he laughs.
Qawwali down the ages
Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle have sung some popular qawwalis | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
Saeed categorises the film qawwali of the 20th century into three periods. The first starts with the black-and-white films of the 1940s until the 1950s, when the lyrics showcased a literary flair for Urdu, by adding ‘ghazals’ into qawwalis. The second stage starts with the coming of colour films, when the qawwali too literally added some hues to its own repertoire. “A lot of things were happening in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s, when qawwalis became more of a device to move the plot ahead. In some films, for example, a qawwali would be staged to highlight comedy, in the backdrop of a fight sequence, or to convey romance between characters,” he says.
The mass entertainer Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), for instance, uses the qawwali both for fun (‘Parda hai parda’) and spirituality (‘Shirdi wale Sai Baba’), to good effect.
The third phase started in the 1990s, when Pakistani singer/songwriter Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and India’s A.R. Rahman brought in sea-change by modernising the qawwali with electronica and smooth singing.
Teri Mehfil Mein | Lata Mangeshkar, Shamshad Begum | Classic Duet | Mughal-E-Azam | Bollywood Song
Comment on society
Yousuf Saeed | Photo Credit: Sandeep Sharma
The qawwali has become a social marker of sorts in films, says Saeed, creating a Muslim stereotype where the singers wear slanted fur caps, a kerchief around their neck and clap in a certain style. The Bollywood ‘Muslim social’ film that featured stories with veiled damsels courted by sherwani-clad gentlemen (Mere Mehboob, 1963) was born out of this need to appeal to family audiences from this community.
Nutan in the famous qawwali, ‘Nigahen milane ko ji chahta hai’ from the film Dil hi to hai | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Female singers have also had strong showing in this genre, from ‘Aahen na bharin shikve na kiye’ (Zeenat, 1945), and ‘Aaj teri mehfil mein’ (Mughal-e-Azam, 1960) to Shikayat’ (Gangubhai Kathiawadi, 2022), all showcasing the skills of chanteuses Sudha Malhotra, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Shamshad Begum, and Archana Gore.
Linguistic gymnastics
The Cinema Qawwali Archive also helps visitors to understand the literary changes over the years. “It’s inevitable that the linguistic purity of the early qawwalis is no longer there. But new words like ‘Maula’ and ‘Allahu’ and Arabicised Urdu have become more common in film qawwalis, especially as a choral element. Off the screen, in private qawwali mehfils, singers are often known to sing certain words or phrases again and again on the patron’s farmaish (request) for him or her to attain ecstasy,” he says.
Music director A.R. Rahman gave qawwali a distinct twist with Turkish, Moroccan and Syrian Sufi rhythms. | Photo Credit: RAVINDRAN R
Rahman’s infusion of Turkish, Moroccan and Syrian Sufi rhythms into his songs has helped the qawwali reach out to both the South Asian diaspora and Westerners, says Saeed. “The film Rockstar (2011) made qawwali singers at Nizamuddin Dargah famous, with tourism developing around the shrine. But interestingly, cinema has also used qawwali for its own purpose, by taking it into a secular space,” says Saeed.
Hoping to publish a companion volume on the Cinema Qawwali Archive soon, Saeed says, “People think that the qawwali is dying out, but this isn’t true. They will continue to be written and performed because film directors find it a very fascinating and unique form. Qawwali weaves the story together and keeps it going.”
ROCKSTAR: Kun Faya Kun (Full Video Song) | Ranbir Kapoor | A.R. Rahman, Javed Ali, Mohit Chauhan
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Music / by Nahla Nainar / July 10th, 2023
Urdu-speaking Muslims in Vaniyambadi trace their roots to two historical periods: the Deccan sultanates that popularised ‘Dakhni’ and Tamil-speaking migrants who reached the town from Thanjavur, Madurai and elsewhere in present-day Tamil Nadu in the late 19th Century and took up the language for survival and prestige.
The Anjuman-e-Khuddam-ul-Islam and Islamiah Library houses over 6,000 Urdu books. | Photo Credit: Nahla Nainar
Surrounded by hill stations and on a route that puts it in close connection to Chennai, Bengaluru and the Kolar gold fields, Vaniyambadi in Tirupattur district is known as a hub of Tamil Nadu’s leather industry. It also enjoys a reputation of being ‘Aligarh of the south’, for its affinity to the Urdu language and the many educational institutions thriving here since the 19th Century.
Earlier this year, the National Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) held the 25th All India Urdu Book Fair at the Islamiah College in Vaniyambadi to emphasise this inter-mingling of culture and linguistics of north India and the Deccan plateau in modern Tamil Nadu.
Urdu-speaking Muslims here trace their roots to two historical periods. First, the Deccan sultanates, notably Bijapur and Golconda in the 15th and 16th Centuries, that popularised ‘Dakhni’, an early form of Urdu of the region written in adapted Arabic script. Second, a sub-division of Tamil speaking migrants (earlier known as ‘Tamil Dakhni’) who reached Vaniyambadi from Thanjavur, Madurai and elsewhere in the present day Tamil Nadu in the late 19th Century and took up the language for both survival and prestige.
“Since Vaniyambadi was a politically vibrant place, Urdu gave people here a link to the north during the Independence movement. The leather trade took migrant Tamil leather merchants to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra, where Urdu was a necessity. Teachers from Deoband in Uttar Pradesh, at the seminaries and madrassas in this district, who spoke Urdu [with a north Indian dialect] also added to the predominance of the language,” says D. Abul Fazal, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Islamiah College.
A tool of assimilation
Urdu helped the Nawabs of Arcot make their presence felt politically with the British authorities. The Khilafat Movement (1919-1922), a campaign in India which opposed the British policy against Turkey during the First World War, also galvanised many Tamil-speaking Muslims to adopt Urdu and promote it as a pan-Indian language. “There are many families here who have a clear memory of their Tamil roots, before they ‘became’ Urdu-speakers, but most of the evidence is anecdotal. Over time, a social assimilation developed among the Dakhni Urdu speakers and Tamil Dakhnis,” explains Mr. Fazal.
In his book Dravidian Sahibs and Brahmin Maulanas-The Politics of the Muslims of Tamil Nadu, 1930-1967, S.M. Abdul Khader Fakhri notes that despite the internal tensions, “Tamil Muslims of the Arcot region were to make a major contribution to Urdu literature.” Writers such as Kaka Abdul Azeez Faheem (1898-1943), Lappai Khateeb Mohamed Azam ‘Maqbool’ (1898-1958) and Bangi Abdul Qadir Daanish Farazi (1922-1981) came up with a canon that has added heft to southern Indian Urdu literature.
Educational push
With Vaniyambadi emerging as the mercantile capital of the Arcot region during colonial times, wealthy businessmen started promoting both religious and secular education to improve social conditions. Madrasa-e-Mufeede-Aam, founded in 1887, is still functioning. The Vaniyambadi Muslim Educational Society (1901) established the Madrasa-e-Islamiah in 1903, with just three pupils. With its heritage redbrick building with vaulted arches and wrought iron spiral staircases, complemented by a new block, the school today offers classes to over 2,000 students in the Urdu, Tamil and English medium of instruction.
Islamiah College, mooted in 1916 by Vaniyambadi’s philanthropists, the Nizam of Hyderabad and the British, was founded in 1919 by local business leaders after the Nizam and the British withdrew their support. It is among the first Islamic institutions to offer “secular education” in the region.
Linguistic realities
Though Urdu swirls through conversations everywhere, with its typical Dakhni inflections playing off on Tamil (people take leave with the salutation aatun, quite similar to Tamil varen, roughly translating as ‘I will be back’), the language’s predominance is on the wane, says a section of residents. The Urdu mushaira (poetry gathering) remains a popular literary pastime in Vaniyambadi. But many Urdu speakers here do not know how to read or write the language. And a growing number has realised the importance of learning Tamil for reasons of employment and social integration.
“Until quite recently, there was a misconception in our region that only those who spoke Urdu were Muslims,” says A. Rizwana Shakil, an Urdu-speaking community activist and freelance journalist in Vaniyambadi, who writes in Tamil. A product of Tamil-medium education, Ms. Shakil says, “I have always felt Tamil, or for that matter any tongue, can be learned if one makes a sincere effort. Being bilingual has allowed me to translate manuscripts and also interact more easily with women from other communities,” she says.
“I learned Tamil after going to Chennai for my job. Everyone in Vaniyambadi, irrespective of their background, was always more comfortable speaking in Urdu,” says K. Ahmed Ehsan, who also chronicles the history of Vaniyambadi through his writings.
Literary heritage
The ‘K’ in Mr. Ehsan’s name refers to “Krishnagiri”, a nod to the migrant tradition of incorporating places or occupations in one’s official name. “You can find names prefixed with ‘Malayalam’, ‘Neyvasal’, ‘Madurai’ and ‘Cholavaram’, as also with professional labels like ‘yanaikar’ (elephant owner) or ‘kuthiraikar’ (horse owner) in the names even today,” muses Mr. Ehsan.
His great grandfather Krishnagiri Abdul Hameed was a well-known Urdu poet and one of the founders of Madrasa-e-Niswan (women’s school) in 1907.
Among Mr. Ehsan’s collection of rare books is Armaghan-e-Shaadi, (Gift from a Marriage), a travelogue compiled in 1927 by Dr. Khateeb Sir Ahmed Hussain, also known by his title Nawab Amin Jung Bahadur, originally known as Ahmed Hussain, from Vaniyambadi, who served the government of the Nizams Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI, and Mir Osman Ali Khan and Asaf Jah VII, of Hyderabad.
“The book describes the marriage of the Nawab’s son and the journey of the family entourage from Hyderabad to Madras for the occasion. With the dilution of Urdu learning, many such volumes that recorded social events of the time have also vanished,” he says.
The Anjuman-e-Khuddam-ul-Islam and Islamiah Library is home to over 6,000 books in Urdu on a wide range of subjects. “In its heyday, when at least 250 people used to drop by daily, we used to send back readers for want of space. But with people going online now, we hardly get 20 visitors these days,” says T.M. Abdul Ravoof Khalid, president of the library.
Established in 1939, the Anjuman used to be a popular gathering spot for political activists and students, said Mr. Khalid. “There was a craze for the Jasoosi Dunya (Detective World) novels by Ibn-e-Safi. We also have books published by Aligarh-born scholar and printer Munshi Nawal Kishore,” he adds.
With many Qalami books (manuscripts handwritten in Urdu calligraphy) beginning to show signs of age, the library has started creating a digital archive.
No visit to Vaniyambadi is complete without sampling its famed biryani. The delectable preparation of rice and meat cooked in a savoury confluence of flavours is irresistible. And, quite untouched by linguistics.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Tamil Nadu / by Nahla Nainar / August 18th, 2023
On February 19, 1926, A.K. Abdul Hameed Baqavi started off on a journey that would take him over two decades to complete. His translation of The Quran, which is written in classical Arabic and organised in 114 chapters, took time. But the elegant style of the work, published in 1949, has made it one of the most enduring versions.
Painstaking work: The Tamil translation of The Quran by Islamic scholar and freedom fighter A.K. Abdul Hameed. | Photo Credit: M. MOORTHY
On February 19, 1926, Tamil Islamic scholar and freedom fighter A.K. Abdul Hameed Baqavi (1876-1955) embarked on a literary journey that would take him over two decades to complete. His chosen subject: translation of the meaning of The Quran from Arabic into Tamil.
Abdul Hameed was not the first; nor was he the last to attempt the Tamil translation. But his effort, published as Tarjumat-ul-Quran bi Altaf-ilbayan (Translation of the Quran with a Glorious Exposition) in 1949, was the first complete translation of the Islamic holy book into Tamil. The Quran, written in classical Arabic, is believed by Muslims to have been revealed by God to Prophet Muhammad through the Angel Gabriel over 23 years. It is organised in 114 chapters, known as surah.
Despite the presence of a sizeable Muslim population in southern India, The Quran was translated into Tamil quite late, at least a thousand years after Islam came to the region, mostly due to opposition from the ulema or scholars of the day on account of fears that a Tamil version might be wrongly considered a substitute for the original. Ironically, it is the ulema who later entered the field of translation.
Hybrid language
The earliest translations were done in the 17th Century, in Arabu-Tamil, a hybrid language that used a modified Arabic alphabet to express ideas in Tamil. Scholars began attempting fragmentary Tamil translations (of selected sentences or verses) in the 19th Century. Abdul Hameed Baqavi’s effort was noteworthy because it made Quranic study more accessible to both lay and scholarly readers. That is probably why it has been reprinted innumerable times, despite the presence of at least 17 complete Tamil translations done by other scholars after its publication.
‘Baqavi’ is the title given to students of Madrasa Al-Baqiyat-us-Salihat, a well-regarded Islamic college in Vellore established in 1857.
Abdul Hameed was born at Attur, Salem, and showed an early interest in writing on religious subjects.
The founders of Jamal Mohamed College in Tiruchi played a key role in getting Abdul Hameed’s translation project off the ground, funding the publication of the first volume, a copy of which is available at the college’s Centre for Islamic Tamil Cultural Research. “I began the translation project on February 19, 1926, after the Friday (Juma) prayers at the bungalow of Janab Khan Sahib and N.M. Khaja Mian Rowther in Tiruchi. It has been three years since I started it,” he writes in the foreword to the first volume of the translation, published in 1929. “If the first section can take me three years, readers may have to wait longer (at least 89 years) for each of the remaining 29 sections to be completed,” he adds. Imported printing equipment was commissioned by college founder M.J. Jamal Mohamed. The press, Islamiya Nool Prasura Sangam, at Palakkarai published the first volume, priced at ₹2.
Decades of work
It is a mystery as to why the translation that began in Tiruchi with much fanfare petered out after 1929. A. Nihamathullah, retired professor of English at Sadakatullah Appa College in Tirunelveli, who has done a comparative study of 12 Tamil Quran translations (including the Abdul Hameed version) for his doctorate, said a lack of documents in the public domain had added to the blind spot.
“In 1938, scholar Abdul Qadar Hazrat introduced Abdul Hameed Baqavi to Nawab Naseer Yaar Jung Bahadur, the father-in-law of the Nizam of Hyderabad. On the recommendation of the Nawab, the translation of The Quran resumed, with financial backing from the Nizam,” Mr. Nihamathullah told The Hindu. An office was set up for the project in Karaikal and the work was eventually completed in 1942. In order to get the Ulema’s approval, Baqavi approached his Vellore alma mater to constitute a panel of theologians to check the manuscript.
In the later stages, he was helped by his son, Indian Union Muslim League leader and Tamil writer A. K. A. Abdul Samad (1926-1999). However, it took five more years for Abdul Hameed to secure funding for printing. A contribution of ₹50,000 by Ceylon-based businessman Nagore Meera Mohamed Haniffa helped to publish the two-volume translation in 1949. As the project expanded, the printing unit was shifted from Karaikal to Chennai.
A winning combination
German scholar Torsten Tschacher, a Heisenberg Fellow of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and Tamil lecturer at the University of Heidelberg, said in an email interview that the popularity of Abdul Hameed Baqavi’s translation owes much to its presentation.
“It did not have any readings of The Quran that would have made the translation appear sectarian. The fact that [Abdul Hameed] Baqavi avoided giving too much of commentary, along with the translation, may have helped in this regard,” he said. “While the style may appear somewhat clumsy and old-fashioned, I think he hit the right spot between the exact translation and the quality of language. It was also important because it made The Quran finally accessible to non-Muslims who had not been able to read the earlier translations that used the Arabic script and a lot of Arabic vocabulary,” Mr. Tschacher added.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> India> Tamil Nadu / by Nahla Nainar / January 03rd, 2025
