“To monitor the Covid-19 situation, every night I used to visit safe homes and oxygen parlours to see if everything is in the right condition or not,” said chairperson of administrative board of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Firhad Hakim.
Kolkata, WEST BENGAL :
Chairperson of administrative board of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Firhad Hakim. (Express photo)
Firhad Hakim, chairperson of administrative board of Kolkata Municipal Corporation and former Mayor, speaks to Atri Mitra on his tenure at the helm of KMC and his vision for the city.
You became Mayor of Kolkata at a crucial juncture.
When I became Mayor, (in November, 2018) within a few months, Covid-19 came to India. After that, lockdown. Then Cyclone Amphan came. I faced the challenges one by one.
In the initial days of the pandemic, even ambulance drivers were wary of taking patients to hospitals. Dead bodies were dumped at hospitals. Residents around crematoriums objected to bodies of Covid patients being brought for cremation.
We started cremation at our crematorium at Dhapa but some local residents of Dhapa pelted stones. They ransacked a van. Kolkata’s image took a hit. But we then reached out to people slowly and ensured that the cremation of Covid victims was done smoothly.
We also started sanitisation work across Kolkata. [Actor] Amitabh Bachchan also praised our work and said, “if Kolkata can, why not Mumbai?”
What were the challenges posed by Cyclone Amphan?
When we are just recovering from the Covid situation, Amphan came and within one night, all of Kolkata was affected. We accumulated our entire work force in one place. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee requested Odhisha for help. They sent a team of experts. Then, within 3-4 days, we were able to restore normalcy in Kolkata. Many people can criticise us but they should understand that when Amphan happened, my mayorship was not completed one year and this type of cyclone had not happened in Kolkata in the past 100 years or so. But we fought it unitedly and succeeded.
What is the biggest challenge you faced during your tenure as Mayor?
There were several. Now, we are facing challenge of substantial rainfall. I tried to solve problems from the streets, not from my chamber.
To monitor the Covid-19 situation, every night I used to visit safe homes and oxygen parlours to see if everything is in the right condition or not. Whether people are getting proper service or not. A former mayor (Shovan Chatterjee) may criticise me sitting in his residence but no one knows what he would have done if he had been in my situation.
The opposition is alleging that this board did not do enough to tackle waterlogging in the city.
One has to understand that rain and nature seem to be changing pattern. In the past, we never saw such floods in Kedarnath and Badrinath. Never saw a situation where Chennai, Mumbai, and even Delhi and Ahmedabad are facing flooding.
You have to give time. We have been planning. We are exploring new ways to drive away water. We talked with irrigation department to dredge the canals, too.
If you are again elected as Mayor, what is your plan?
First, I aim to improve the city’s sewerage system and sort out the waterlogging problems. We will call up experts to review the sewerage system of Kolkata and then we need full-fledged planning for this.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Cities> Kolkata / by Arti Mitra, Kolkata / December 18th, 2021
Dr Sharmeen Mushtaq Nizami is a J&K-based philanthropist and adventure trekker who helps cancer patients, widows and orphans. (Waseem Andrabi)
Dr Sharmeen Mushtaq Nizami, a J&K-based philanthropist and adventure trekker, feels that a girl can do big things in life when her parents support her; she has set up a charity trust that helps cancer patients, widows and orphans.
Whatever life throws at Dr Sharmeen Mushtaq Nizami, she takes it as a challenge, overcomes it and moves on. She believes one’s life should be an inspiration for others.
Dr Nizami, in her early 40s, works at a Srinagar hospital and runs a trust for cancer patients besides pursuing her hobby of being an extreme mountain trail motor-sport traveller. Since childhood, she has pursued her passion whether it was studying medicine in the 1990s when militancy was at its peak in Jammu and Kashmir or her love for jeeps.
Her biggest challenge in life came when her husband was diagnosed with cancer and died in 2007 within six years of their marriage, leaving her to bring up their two children, a three-year-old son and a year-old daughter.
“It was a traumatic phase. I struggled but my parents supported me. Initially, being a single parent appeared tough but gradually I came to terms with reality,” she says.
As time went by, she decided not to remarry and moved back to her ancestral home in Srinagar from her husband’s house in Jammu.
Dr Nizami, who is now the medical officer in-charge at a Srinagar hospital and on Covid duties, says that her experience during her husband’s illness pushed her towards helping patients and the needy.
“Though we were relatively well off, we had to go outside for treatment as he was suffering from pancreatic cancer. We realised that the treatment is expensive and drains most families’ savings,” she says.
Even before her husband’s death, she would collect money from attendants using charity boxes outside OPDs. Later, friends and colleagues asked her to setup a trust with a separate account where people could donate money. “We get a lot of donations during Ramazan, which are primarily used to help cancer patients and those needing a kidney transplant. The trust also helps widows and orphans who have no source of income,” she says.
Nizami, the eldest of four siblings, says that her parents Mushtaq Nizami, a military contractor, and Shahida Parveen, a homemaker, have been her strength. “Any girl can do big things in life when her parents support her,” she says.
Ask her what got her interested in jeeps, and she says, “I have imbibed my father’s passion for driving jeeps. In 2018, I came upon some videos of the Kashmir off-road club which organises competitive events and overland expeditions, and decided to participate in a snow-race event (Frozen Rush) at Gulmarg.”
Nizami, who always wears a hijab, was the only woman to participate in the adventure sport and created quite a buzz on social media. “I hadn’t realised that I was breaking stereotypes , until I saw people’s reactions,” says Nizami, who has since participated in dangerous events like mud race and river crossing.
“Some people tried to dissuade me saying it was risky, but I remained unafraid,” says Nizami, adding that she gets a lot of messages from young girls who admire her.
She says her faith in the Almighty has never wavered despite the many challenges in her life. “Not just driving, but life in general throws a lot of challenges at us. We have to accept the challenges and move forward,” she says.
source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Cities> Others / by Ashiq Hussain, Srinagar / September 16th, 2021
A bunch of Bohra women harness the power of social media to ace their careers, clad in their colourful traditional wear
The rida is the traditional attire of the women of the Dawoodi Bohra community, a sub-sect of the Shiite Muslims.
After an adrenaline-charged skydive from 15,000 feet in the USA, everyone around Arwa Merchant was in awe, not because of her daring performance, but for her insistence on doing so in the rida. She wrote about this in a blog post for Dawoodi Bohra Women’s Association for Religious Freedom in October 2019.
The rida is the traditional attire of the women of the Dawoodi Bohra community, a sub-sect of the Shiite Muslims. The two-piece dress is distinguishable from other forms of the hijab by its bright colours, decorative patterns and lace. With their roots in Gujarat, the members of this peace-loving trading community follow the teachings of their spiritual leader Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin. Although embedded in a tradition dating back to more than 1,400 years, this two million-strong Dawoodi Bohras in India have never been shy to embrace the latest technologies. They even have celebrated festivals like Eid and Shab-E-Baraat online due to the pandemic.
Not one to fall behind, the women of the community have taken social media platforms by storm. From content creators to food bloggers to creating clothing brands, they have managed to expand their careers online, but without giving up their rida.
MariyaKanchwala, 31 Makeup artist and beauty influencer, Indore Instagram: 28,000 followers Kanchwala has carved a niche for herself in the glamour industry by showcasing her makeup skills while wearing her rida. After a brief stint as a public relations executive for a fashion brand, she turned her full attention to makeup. She started posting on Instagram in 2017 as a food blogger, but 2020 made her realise her passion for makeup and she began posting beauty looks on Instagram. In the past year, she has started working on beauty and looks projects for weddings and shoots for makeup.
Rashida Jawadwala, 20 Content creator, Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh Instagram: 32,700 followers Known online as GirlInRida, Jawadwala started posting comic content on Instagram while pursuing her degree in Computer Engineering from Indore in September 2020. And the follower count went up to 32,000 in a year. Jawadwala has brand deals from companies such as VLCC, Urban Clap and Dresscode. Also, offers came her way for anchoring TV and stage shows, but she declined them to focus on her studies.
Arwa Zakir, 25 Fitness expert, GoFit Studio, Salmiya, Kuwait Instagram: 4,200 followers Also known as GoFit Arwa on Instagram and YouTube, Zakir is a certified trainer from the American College of Sports Medicine and owns the GoFit Studio fitness centre in Salmiya, Kuwait, where she trains people of all ages and genders. Her parents are originally from Sagwara, Rajasthan, and until she turned 16 she never paid heed to her health and was an obese child. Today, she posts content around health and workouts on Instagram. Even though some people initially mocked Zakir for posting content in the rida, she never let negativity come in the way of her passion. Zakir believes that social media is the best place for small business owners to grow and for creative people to showcase their talent.
Winner of the 2019 Women Icon of the Year Award in the field of coaching and the Best Life Coach of the Year Award, Ghadiali conducts workshops and seminars on motivation, personality development, life skills, etc—both online and offline—along with personal therapy sessions. Born in Tanzania, but working in Mumbai for the past 17 years, she has a master’s in Counselling Psychology along with a Life Coaching Certification from the International Learning Centre, Manchester, the UK. Ghadiali started posting videos and content on Instagram and Linkedin in 2015 when she found a lot of misinformation being circulated about mental health. It helped her grow from 2,000 to 19,000 followers on Instagram, which helped her garner many clients as well.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Magazine / by Zainab MM / December 12th, 2021
Children at Umeed Academy. | Picture by arrangement
Wali Rahmani’s work has earned him recognition and respect and people have come forward to sponsor the students in whatever way they can.
Kolkata :
Budding lawyer, human rights activist, orator, motivational speaker, social entrepreneur and a proud father to 140 children, 23-year-old Wali Rahmani hopes that one day all his children will be successful leaders and prove to be invaluable assets to the nation.
The 140 children who fondly call Wali Rahmani Abba Ji hail from different slums of Kolkata. Many of them are orphans and all of these children are from families caught in the vicious cycle of poverty.
Wali with his boys dressed for a skit on harmony. | Picture by arrangement
Wali Rahmani was just 18 when he first took 3 kids from a slum under his wing. These 3 kids, around 3-4 years old, were orphans. Wali, their Abba Ji, washed the soiled clothes of the kids, bathed, cooked and fed them–playing the role of a mother, a father, a nanny and a maid. His determination did not waver. Gradually, he found more and more people joining him which encouraged him to start and register ‘Umeed’, which served both as an orphanage and an educational academy.
The journey of Umeed When Wali Rahmani was just turning 18, many changes were taking place in the country which he said, “changed him as well.” The assembly elections of 2017 in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which brought Yogi Adityanath as the Chief Minister, became the turning point in Wali’s life and brought in its wake an energized goal and mission to work for the upliftment of the society.
Rahmani said he was “aghast that someone like Ajay Singh Bihist a.k.a Yogi Adityanath could become the CM.” He took to social media to talk about the injustices, violations of human rights and atrocities that were happening in the country. This was the beginning of Wali’s political journey. Soon, his fearless voice got him thousands of followers on Youtube, Facebook and other social media.
At one point, Wali paused to reflect that he is the only one talking against the oppression and gross injustices meted to people. Where are all the other youth leaders? Why are they not standing up against injustices? He spoke to his peers but they were keen only on pursuing their education, having fun and enjoying life. They did not want to take up these issues or even talk about them.
“I realized that my suggestions did not go down well with my peers. They did not want someone to tell them to ‘do this and do that.’ It became more of an ego thing,” Wali said, reminiscing the early days.
People who heard his talks on social media, his debates on the television channels looked up to him as the leader of the future. Wali, however, was not happy being a leader. He wanted more leaders in the community. According to him, a true leader is not someone who does not leave any legacy behind. He believes that a true leader creates more leaders and leaves behind a rich legacy. Instead of asking other youth to join him in the mission to raise their voice against the wrongs of society, he thought it is better to create new leaders. He believed that these will be small children who can be successfully molded to become strong leaders. He took a break from his studies for a year to work on this idea of creating future leaders.
“But where would I find these children whom I could train? Would any parent trust me enough to send the child to me? Then by chance, I came across a Hadith by our beloved Prophet (PBUH) wherein he mentioned the status of a Muslim who is kind to orphans. I felt that through this hadith, Allah was guiding me. So, I decided to take in children who had no parents,” Wali said.
“I had made up my mind that I want to be a father of 10 before I turn 20. And people laughed at me. They advised me to go study and asked me blunt questions related to my financial capability,” Wali said, “But I did not give up. It was the womenfolk who came forward to help me realize my dream”.
Wali said that he approached several people who had wealth and could easily help him but instead they scoffed at his idea.
“The very first person to help me was my mother. She believed in my dream. She was the first donor for Umeed,” Wali said while giving details of other donors who were also women.
He remembers the first donors fondly and with gratitude. One woman gave her gold finger ring because she was not earning and wanted to give what belonged to her. Wali likens this to the woman who donated her gold bangles to Sir Syed Ahmed when he was seeking donations for the Aligarh Muslim University.
Some girl students also promised monthly payments from their pocket money. And as they say, small drops of water make a mighty ocean, Wali Rahmani’s dream project began taking a concrete shape.
Today he runs the Umeed Academy in a rented apartment with 140 children. Some of these children are day scholars who are at the academy for at least 12 hours.
Many of these children are kids from slums whose parents are alcoholics, orphans who are homeless, kids who have parents but stay with their guardians to avoid the brutality that their parents either go through or make them go through, children with parents serving jail time. Some kids have homes not suitable to live in. The children of his academy are mostly from Muslim Ghettos.
Umeed Academy’s vision Wali envisions creating leaders who in turn will become capable to create more leaders. Year after year, Wali hopes, Umeed will produce leaders who will carry forward the legacy of Wali and his academy Umeed.
“Each child that graduates from Umeed shall be an institution builder and a leader. They will leave their imprints in the sands of time,” he said.
Inside Umeed Academy There are no wardens at the Umeed Academy, only house parents who take care of all the needs of the children. From the time of their enrolment to the time they pass out as students have completed their 12th standard ICSE curriculum syllabus, all their costs are borne by the academy including their residential cost, health cost, books, clothing and sports.
The focus is on the holistic development of girls and boys. For their spiritual growth, they are taught Quran and Islamic values.
The children are taught regular subjects of the school curriculum which is ICSE and apart from that, they are taught self-defence, drawing, sports, Quran, Hadith and ethics. They are encouraged to participate in many activities conducted in their academy.
Class room in Umeed. | Picture by arrangement
“The transformation in the children is visible. They are all so disciplined and neat that despite sharing common toilets and bathrooms, they keep it all clean,” Wali says proudly, adding, “Ask them to recite the Duas (prayers) of eating, sleeping, going out, going to the toilet, or when it rains, they will recite it.”
The house parents bring up these children as they would bring up their own, insists Wali. He also does his bit by interacting with the children every day, listening to them, talking to them and thus making strong the bond they share.
The core team members, who are his well-wishers not only guide him but also help him make the right decisions.
Asma Alam, director of Umeed, Ghazala Imam and Yusuf Haque who taught Wali at school are now part of the core committee. Others who have joined his mission are an army veteran Abhishek Mukherjee, educationists Shabana Anwar, Usha Banerjee and Mufti Anwar Khan Sargiroh.
Wali Rahmani, with his staff and children of his academy. | Picture by arrangement
Awards and recognitions Wali Rahmani has appeared in various national television debates and is perhaps the youngest Indian TV debate panellist.
He says that his work for society is not social work, but “his social duty.” He has been awarded the young social Hero award in 2019 at the South India NGO conference. He has also been featured as one of the young top 20 achievers in India under the age of 20 by Mumbai Coworking, and also received the Shan-e-Hindustan award by Youth Ekta Front, Delhi. His work has been acknowledged and featured by India Times, Brut India, and the Indian Express.
Many prestigious institutes and organisations have invited applications from Wali to apply for the awards but Wali Rahmani says “his work should speak for him,” and does not believe in applying for any award.
“The ultimate award will be when these children grow up and lead the nation and establish peace and harmony around them,” he said.
Future of Umeed Wali Rahmani’s work has earned him recognition and respect and people have come forward to sponsor the students in whatever way they can. One generous donor has donated 2 Acre (87120 square feet) of land to Umeed Academy worth Rs 2 Crore.
Wali has plans to construct fully functional hostels on the land for students with separate dormitories for boys and girls, a housing facility for the staff members and a campus which can accommodate approximately 600-700 students at once.
The construction work has started and the cost of the entire project has been approximated at Rs 13.5 crores. Wali intends to complete this work within the next two years and requests donations for his lofty mission through donations.
Mysuru boy, 14-year-old Mustafa Raja won his first U-18 Tournament in Vancouver, Canada, today. Mustafa, seeded fifth in the Tennis BC U18 4 Star Tournament, held his nerves at crucial moments, saving two match points in the finals, winning the tournament defeating the top seeded player Denny Bao 2,6; 7,6(7) and 6,1.
By virtue of this win, Mustafa became the top player in his age category in British Columbia and Top 4 in Canada.
Mustafa trains at the Tennis Centre in Surrey, Vancouver and studies at the Sullivan heights Secondary School.
Mustafa has had a good year, he was the Provincial Champion in U-14 category and was also the Canadian National Champion.
Mustafa used to train at the Nagaraj Tennis Centre at SJCE College Campus and is alumni of Excel Public School, Mysuru.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports / December 13th, 2021
Despite facing the challenges of global pandemic of Covid-19, lockdown and extraordinary interruptions in academic activities,the students of Rahmani30 have set record success in this year’s commerce field with 100% students qualifying for CSEET (Company Secretary Executive Entrance Test), 10 qualifying CA Foundation and 4 cracking CA Intermediate Exams. The BSEB class 12th results were excellent with 100% students scoring more than 75 %( Distinction).
A Company Secretary is a senior position in a private sector company or public sector organisation. Also known as Compliance Officers, it is one of the positions that is a part of the key managerial personnel (which usually includes the CEO & CFO) of any company. Company Secretary is a statutory position as every listed company and every other company having paid up share capital of rupees 10 crores or more shall have a full time company secretary in their board as per section 203 of Companies Act 2013.
Chartered Accountancy is a challenging profession that offers practice or job opportunities in the areas of accounting, auditing, corporate finance, project evaluation, and company and other business laws, taxation and corporate governance. The multi-faceted knowledge a chartered accountant enjoys through unique academic programme blended with practical training is what the business and industry need in the advent of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation of Indian economy. The scope for this lucrative career is bright in an economically developing nation like ours and as such the career can be termed as challenging and rewarding for competent professionals in the field. Chartered Accountancy Course is a professional course in Accounting introduced in our country in 1949, with the enactment of the Chartered Accountants Act. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) was formed the same year.
The Rahmani Program of Excellence (Rahmani30), under its mentor organization, the Rahmani Foundation, is effectively turning the educational desperation of the minority community into hope and confidence, making its learning process more effective with each passing year.
Fahad Rahmani (CEO Rahmani30) said that this achievement is definitely due to the tireless efforts and efficient Academic leadership of former DGP of Bihar, Mr. Abhyanand sir and his guidance as well as the tireless hard work of the faculties, management and other team members.
Rahmani30 has emerged as one of the premier institutions for preparation of IIT, JEE, CS, CA, CLAT and NEET in recent years.
source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Positive Story / by Special Correspondent / December 05th, 2021
Diabetic people with foot sores, fearing limb amputations can heave a sigh of relief as a team of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) scientists lead by Prof Asad Ullah Khan of the Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit has developed a novel ‘Nano-Composite based Photo-Dynamic Therapeutic Approach to treat Chronic Diabetic Foot Ulcers’.
Their remarkable patented study, data and work accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed ‘Scientific Report’ of the Nature Publishing Group has been successful on animal models. The technology successfully treated foot ulcers in diabetic rats.
“Anatomical and physiological similarities prompted us to investigate a large range of mechanisms for assessing this new treatment therapy on animal models with no toxicity before applying it to humans. We are content to have successfully treated foot ulcers in diabetic rats which were not treated by any available antibiotics due to the multi-drug resistant strain mediated infection”, said Prof Asad.
According to him the animal models were cured in a span of 14 days through the newly developed technology.
“Our team has been involved in proving the efficacy of the treatment for the last two years. The study is on its way for human trials”, added Prof Asad.
He pointed out: “Independent studies reveal that across the world, a limb is amputated every few minutes and this actuality becomes even more unsparing when you learn that most of these amputations are the result of diabetic foot ulcers. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to come up with a pertinent treatment for saving limbs and lives”.
“It is hoped that this novel technology will become the final finding for the pursuit of the much awaited treatment for diabetic foot ulcers. We are longing for the world to find out that there is more to the prevention of this infection than just offloading wounds, removing dead skin and tissue, applying dressings and checking blood glucose and other health issues”, said Prof Asad.
source: http://www.amu.ac.in / AMU, Aligarh Muslim University / Home> AMU News / Public Relations Office / Aligarh, December 13th, 2021
‘Biographical Encyclopedia of Indian Muslim Freedom Fighters’ is an exhaustive work that brings to the fore many unknown facets of the freedom movement beginning with Faraizi Movement to 1857 Mutiny and to later part of the freedom movement.
BE it 1857 Mutiny or the later freedom movements, Muslims have played leading role in all such efforts. British officials and historians have accused Muslims for the 1857 Ghadar. To be true, both British historians and officials have named Muslims as the most important rebels and termed the Mutiny as a sinister plot by Muslim ulema and mujahideen to reclaim their lost powerhouse in India.
Here are excerpts from a chapter on Imam Baksh Sahbai, a great scholar of his time:
Imam Bakhsh Sahbai was one of the most renowned scholars of the 19th century Mughal India. He was among the best scholars of the Persian language and had earned respect as poet and litterateur of the Persian language. At a time when Urdu had almost replaced Persian as lingua franca in much of north India, he was still one of the greatest supporters of the Persian language and spent all his resources in its propagation.
He authored more than thirty books on Persian and Urdu literature that includes three books that were part of the curriculum in the famed Delhi College. He was reportedly appointed a professor of the Persian language there. However, he had a tragic end when after the 1857 Mutiny he and his entire family, including his two sons, who were also renowned scholars in their respective fields, were hauled, taken to Yamuna and shot dead from point blank range. At least 21 members of his family were slaughtered in this most horrendous fashion.
Imam Bakhsh Sahbai was among the most respected scholars of the time and, therefore, every prince wanted to study under him. He was very close to Ghalib, Zauq, Mufti Sadruddin Azurdah, Fazle Haq Khairabadi and even the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. Many top scholars of the time were taught by him not just at Delhi College but also at his home. However, the slaughter of his family members including his two sons, and digging of his home by the British thugs had shocked the people of Delhi even during the worst phase of brutality. This digging of his house and the complete destruction of his library also destroyed much of his work. The destruction of his massive library that he had built over a period of decades must have been a huge loss for academia and scholarship. This is the reason that not much has survived on him.
Some twenty years after his macabre killing, when a Hindu disciple of Sahbai, Munshi Deen Dayal thought of collection and publication of his he couldn’t lay his hands on anything substantial. There was not much available on his life or work. Whatever he could gather, he published it in three volumes as Kulliyat-e-Sehbai.
Sahbai was born in the year 1805 in a respected family of Delhi. His father, Maulana Muhammad Bakhsh settled in Delhi from Thanesar, Punjab. Sahbai’s elder brother Hakim Peer Bakshi was a famed physician of his time. His early education was under Maulvi Abdullah Khan. Sehbai had two sons, Muhammad Abdul Aziz and Molwi Abdul Karim Soz. Both were accomplished scholars and well-known poets. Both were killed along with their father and other relatives after 1857 Mutiny.
While in the mid-19th century the power of Mughal Empire had diminished and its influence confined to the Old Delhi quarters, the capital of the Mughal empire still boasted a huge galaxy of scholars, poets and artists of all sorts. There is no denying the fact that the biggest draw of all were the poets and intellectuals. Altaf Husain Hali said that Ghalib, Zauq, Sahbai and Azurda made the capital one of the best places for the scholars and academics. “There gathered at this time in the capital, Delhi, a band of men so talented that their meetings and assemblies recalled the days of Akbar and Shah Jahan”, wrote Hali.
Hali, who had merely heard the stories of high standards of scholarship in Delhi, its great scholars and poets and great madrasas dotting the town, escaped Panipat and came on foot to Delhi. He eventually got admitted to one of the best madrasas of the town and started frequenting the classes of great scholars of his time before his family tracked him down eventually. However, much before that happened, he had got admission in ‘very spacious and beautiful’ madrasa of Husain Bakhsh and had begun his studies there. He says that he was witness to ‘this last brilliant glow of learning in Delhi, the thought of which now makes my heart crack with regret’.
William Dalrymple while describing the destruction and killing in Delhi in the aftermath of Mutiny says:
Worse still was the slaughter in Kucha Chelan, where an estimated 1,400 Delhiwallahs were cut down. Here Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan had attempted to resist the plundering and had shot dead three British soldiers who had climbed over his haveli wall and entered his zenana. Their companions went back to get the rest of their regiment, and returned with a field gun with which they blew the haveli apart.
Sahbai was respected by fellow scholars including Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, who himself was a top of the line poet and whose respect for scholars and poets was legendary. While Sahbai is not known to have directly fought in the 1857 Mutiny, however, what is known is that he was with Bahadur Shah Zafar and supported his revolt. This was the reason that the rampaging British forces, full of feeling of retribution and revenge were led to his home and the homes of other supporters of Mutiny. These spies were paid Rs 2 for every such input.
When after relentless killing and rapine the British and their allies got tired of killing and bayoneting the inhabitants, they marched forty survivors out to the river Yamuna, lined them up below the walls of the Fort, and shot them. Among the dead were some of top of the line scholars who would have been the pride of the place for any world class capital. While writing about this ghastly massacre Mirza Zahir Dehlavi says, “They were well-known and well-off people, men who were the pride of Delhi…They had had no parallels in their own day, nor will we ever see their like again.’
Mirza Zahir Dehlavi in his Dastan-e-Ghadar writes:
“For example, there was Miyan Amir Panja-kash, the great calligrapher, who had no one comparable to him on this earth. Then there was one of our greatest poets, Maulvi Imam Bakhsh Sahbai and his two sons, and Mir Niyaz Ali, the celebrated story teller of Kucha Chelan. About fourteen hundred people of that Muhalla were killed. Some were arrested and taken through the Rajghat gate to the river side and there they were shot. The bodies were all thrown into the river. Meanwhile, many of their women were so disturbed by what they saw that they left their homes with their children and jumped into the wells. For months afterwards, all the wells of Kucha Chelan were stacked with dead bodies. My pen refuses to describe this further.
“One of the survivors of Sahbai’s family was his nephew Qadir Ali who apparently lived with him in Delhi. He is reported to have told his escape to the Delhi historian Rashid ul-Khairi. “Delhi resembled a place of Judgment. A huge number of prisoners were being shot as hanging them was ‘tiresome’ for their killers.
As the soldiers readied their guns a Muslim officer came forward and told us that ‘your death is imminent. You will be shot to death immediately, so those people who know swimming should immediately jump in the river to survive.’ I knew swimming and was good at it, but Mamun Sahib [Sahbai] and his son, Maulana Soz, didn’t know how to swim. I was not ready to abandon Mamun Sahib and my cousins but he forced me to do so. Ultimately, I jumped in the river and swam away. I kept looking back, and after I had gone fifty or sixty yards, I heard the gunshots and saw the line of people falling dead”.
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Excerpted from: Biographical Encyclopedia of Indian Muslim Freedom Fighters by Syed Ubaidur Rahman; ISBN: 81-88869-51-1, PP 626 (Hard Bound), Price Rs 1195, Publisher: Global Media Publications, Tel: 9818327757
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source: http://www.clarionindia.net / Clarion India / Home> Books / by Syed Ubaidur Rahman / December 13th, 2021
Rare RD 350 HT added to cricket legend’s large collection.
Mysore/Mysuru:
Former Indian cricket captain M.S. Dhoni has a large collection of cars and bikes at his Ranchi home. The latest addition is a Yamaha RD 350 HT bike built by restoration expert from Mysuru Syed Jadeer Husnain. The mean machine was delivered to Dhoni last month.
This competition green-coloured bike may be the 34th or 35th RD 350 bike Dhoni has, Syed said. The all-new paint looks fantastic with white contrast that gives it a rich tone.
A resident of Manti at Belavatha in Mysuru, Syed restores RD 350 bikes. In fact, he restored one gold-coloured RD 350 for himself and he took both the bikes to Ranchi to show his craftsmanship. “Now, the gold RD 350 carries Dhoni’s autograph on the fuel tank which makes it a priceless bike in my own collection,” Syed told SOM.
“I am a fan of Yamaha RD-350 and I try to make the best of that bike to find true pleasure. By profession I am a building construction contractor but I love to live my dream,” Syed said.
Picture shows an ecstatic Dhoni at his Ranchi farm house after riding the gold coloured RD 350 HT
Chance to meet Dhoni
On how he met Dhoni, Syed said that a close friend of his, who was in touch with Dhoni’s friend, shared the contact. “I had a restored RD 350 HT bike then which was the 19th bike that was rolled out in India and one of the best projects we had completed. My friend told me to contact Dhoni and get the bike included in his collection since it was a collector’s item. But it did not materialise,” he revealed.
After upgrading the next bike to the 1973 model as per US specification with minute detailing such as colour, seat shape and installation of disc brakes, Syed sent the photos of the competition green bike to Dhoni’s friend, who in turn showed it to Dhoni.
“Dhoni liked the photos and wished to see the vehicle in his farm house at Ranchi. This particular RD 350 was my own project bike which was built to US specification which is entirely different from the Indian Rajdoot specifications. After the project was successfully completed, we discussed it with Dhoni’s friend and the meeting with the legend happened,” Syed explained.
Painstaking process
On the restoration process, Syed said that he and his team first checked the bike for broken, damaged and worn out parts before replacing them. “The spare parts are restored before disassembling the bike so that it can be easily painted and fixed without any problems. Then the bike was disassembled and was divided to different teams for mechanical works, engine overhauling, painting and chrome-plating. New parts were sourced from different parts of India,” he explained.
“Everything was done to make the bike a perfect beast and was assembled. This bike was restored in six months but the process of collecting spares started six months ago,” Syed said.
Syed has different teams to work on his projects. “I try to make the best bike and people who work with me on my projects are all specialists. We specialise in two-stroke engines like Yamaha RX series, Suzuki Shogun and Shaolin,” Syed said.
After the message that Dhoni wanted to see the bike, Syed and his team had the challenge of covering the bikes with packing materials to prevent scratches while being transported in a train. He, along with his wife’s younger brother and a mechanic, boarded a train to Ranchi in November.
A dream come true
“Dhoni is a fantastic gentleman who spared his time to look at our creations. I got goose bumps when he came in front of me. When we started discussing, I fumbled for words and I admired his passion and interest. He showed me his huge collection. For me it was like a dream come true to meet him in person,” Syed said.
Later, Dhoni took the bikes for a spin. “His eyebrows rose after the rides said it all,” revealed Syed. Dhoni later autographed the gold-coloured RD 350 tank. The cricketer also signed a few posters and posed with Syed for photos.
Yamaha RD 350 was one of the most powerful two-wheelers in the late 1980s and also India’s first performance-oriented bike. It had a 347 cc two-stroke twin cylinder engine that was de-tuned for the Indian markets to produce lesser power of about 30.5 bhp on the High Torque (HT) version and 27 bhp on the Low Torque (LT) version.
‘Race Derived’
The RD 350 from Japan was introduced in the Indian markets under the name Yamaha Rajdoot RD 350 by the Escorts Group from 1983 to 1989. Despite the common notion, RD stands for ‘Race Derived’ and not Rajdoot. It was given the name ‘Rapid Death’ because of the frequent fatal accidents because of its power.
The RD could go 0-100 in about 7 seconds and reached a top speed of around 160 kmph in the top gear. It had a price tag of Rs. 18,000 when it was launched in 1983 and Rs. 30,000 by the time it discontinued, which was expensive then. A well maintained RD 350 bike will now cost between Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 2.5 lakh, if at all it is available.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News> Top Stories / December 12th, 2021
