Sulthan Arakkal Adiraja Fathima Muthu Beevi, the 38th head of the erstwhile Arakkal royal family here, died at her residence in Chettumkunnu near Thalassery on Saturday. She was 86.
She had assumed the title of Arakkal Beevi, following the death of her sister Sulthan Arakkal Adiraja Zainaba Aysha Beevi on July 1 last year.
Muthu Beevi, had been born as the eighth child of Aloopy Elaya and Arakkal Adiraja Mariyam on August 3, 1932, in the Arakkal Kettu, which is the ancestral house of the Arakkal royal family. She had done her schooling in the local school near the Arakkal Kettu. As head of the Arakkal house, the lone Muslim principality in the State that ruled parts of Kannur and the islands in Lakshadweep, she had been the ceremonial head of the establishments under the erstwhile royal family.
As the Arakkal family follows a matriarchal system of descent, it chooses the eldest member of the family as its head and ruler.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has condoled the death of the Arakkal Beevi. The body of the deceased was buried at the Odathil Mosque at Thalassery.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by Special Correspondent / Kannur – May 04th, 2019
Sherin Mohamed | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The 29-year-old’s Instagram comic strips and illustrations look at the sunny side of life through the eyes of a hijab-wearing woman
If you log on to Sherin Mohamed’s Instagram page, a hijab-wearing, chirpy-faced young woman pops up a wide smile. Her rather large wonder-struck eyes bear two red heart shapes. The jolly user avatar in self-referential humour perhaps best captures Sherin’s spirit. Even her Instagram handle, ‘ticklesh’, is meant to instantly evoke a ticklish sensation!
With her simple but mirthful comic strips on droll vignettes from everyday life as seen through the eyes of a hijab-wearing woman, Sherin has been tickling many a funny bone. A bunch of amusing illustrations and a few caricatures on some sheroes, like the one on Ilhan Omar, the hijab-wearing Somali-American Democrat elected to the US Congress, come as a bonus for her page visitors. “It (Instagram page) started off with some light-hearted moments occurring in my life. Such moments need not be overtly eventful as simple slices of life, like a conversation with my hubby or observing my kids playing sometimes become fodder for imagination,” says the 29-year-old.
An Ernakulam native, Sherin grew up in Dubai. The former accountant later settled in the capital city after her marriage. And it was as a sheer pastime that she decided to try her hand at doodling and sketching after she had quit work during her first pregnancy. “I started doing comics in 2016 with just paper and pen. They used to be simple drawings with members of my family becoming my characters. I began digitalising my works the next year when I opened ticklesh,” says Sherin.
Her modus operandi involves doing an elementary sketchwork on paper with pen and using the app SketchBook to lend life to her drawings. “I think my drawing style is rather simple and I don’t even do shading. I don’t paint either, though I would love to learn that. I like to make the embellishments I can do while on the go on my phone for the sake of spontaneity and convenience.”
Sherin says she originally intended to open an Instagram page by the handle “tickle bone or a catchy phrase on similar lines” but most of the ideas were already taken up. She then struck upon ‘ticklesh’ — a portmanteau of the word ‘tickle’ and the first two letters of her first name. “I’m glad the name stuck. I feel changing it now would be like changing the name of one’s child,” she says with a laugh.
While some of the witty dialogues in her comic strips are in English, she sometimes resorts to Malayalam transliterated into English so as not to lose the pun and the fun in translation. But Sherin says she doesn’t want to restrict her characters by giving them any names. “Essentially, they can be anyone, from any part of the world. Also, what works for me is often spur-of-the-moment ideas,” says the mother of two. “For instance, when her brother, Zayed, was born, my five-year-old daughter, Ayesha, said she was quite happy. But in her own cute way, she added as an afterthought that she would have preferred a minion instead (laughs). Such real-life banter often finds its way to my works,” Sherin explains.
Simplicity is the soul of her wit and humour is her cup of tea. Sherin says, for now, she would rather steer clear of “serious or tricky subjects”. “I don’t think what I seek to express is cathartic or anything eye-opening. I just want to make people laugh through what I love to do. I like to watch comedies and I read a lot of comics too, mostly online. When I was in Dubai, I used to avidly read a children’s magazine that featured a lot of nice comics,” says Sherin about her tastes.
With encouragement pouring in, Sherin now tries to put up at least a post a week. Between keeping her kids engaged and taking care of the domestic stuff, any time of the day is conducive for her to keep her “passion” going. “That’s the best of such a hobby. There’s no deadline and there are no work hours to be met.” So, does she consider herself a born artist? “That’s a paradox. I never drew as a child. In fact, I used to entirely skip art classes in school. Sometimes, I would seek my vaapa (dad) to do my art projects,” says Sherin with a chuckle.
Sherin, who “loves talking in Malayalam movie dialogues,” says she plans to come up with comic strips with characters who interact using iconic dialogues, especially from the 90s. A big fan of the Disney movies, she also intends to “draw people she knows as Disney characters.”
Sherin’s ever game to deliver the punchline!
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Art / by Harikumar J.S. / Thiruvananthapuram – May 03rd, 2019
The fellows participate in Nieman seminars, workshops, master classes and conduct research with Harvard scholars, among others
The prestigious Nieman fellowship entails attending two semesters at Harvard University, starting September 2019
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Ashwaq Masoodi, national writer at Mint, has been awarded the Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. In a press release issued on 3 May, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism announced that Ashwaq will join 26 other Nieman Fellows for the class of 2020. Ashwaq is the only Indian in this list
The prestigious Nieman fellowship entails attending two semesters at Harvard University, starting September 2019.
The fellows participate in Nieman seminars, workshops, master classes and conduct research with Harvard scholars, among others.The release also said that, at Harvard, Ashwaq would explore ways to battle stereotypes and improve media reporting on Muslims, the largest religious minority in India
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism has educated more than 1,600 accomplished journalists from 98 countries since 1938. The selected journalists are from a dozen countries, including Australia, Lebanon, Niger, Turkey, China, Russia, Zimbabwe, Hungary, besides from nine different US states and Washington D.C.
Ashwaq has been working in Mint since August 2013 and specializes in long stories on the lives of the marginalized communities, gender and society.
There are very few people who are remembered as good politicians and B A Moideen is one of them, former Mangalore University History Prof Surendra Rao said.
Releasing ‘The I within Me’, the English version of Moideen’s autobiography in Mangaluru on Wednesday, he said that the humanitarian values that Moideen believed in and followed transcended the boundaries of politics.
Terming the autobiography rare, Prof Rao pointed out that the work was not a repository of self-praise (as most autobiographies are).
“Instead, it traces the socio-political developments of his time, in an accurate way,” he remarked.
“It seems that Moideen had a soft corner for his party. This is reflected in his opinions on the Emergency rule in India. But, all other incidents in his life are recorded by him without any prejudice. In all, his life is a lesson that no community can live an island; separated from others. This message is reflected in his work”, Prof Rao said.
Releasing the book, Urban Development Minister U T Khader said that B A Moideen had shown the way for modern-day politicians. “He was known for his idealistic politics. Sacrifices made by him are evident in the book,” he added.
The minister opined that good autobiographies in Kannada should be translated to English and vice versa.
Chief Minister’s parliamentary secretary Ivan D’Souza, journalist Abdussalam Puttige, Beary’s Group of Institutions chairman Syed Muhammed Beary and P A Engineering College Principal Dr Abdul Sharrif were present.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by DH News Service, Mangaluru / May 03rd, 2019
Chand Basha and his son Abdullah working on a coffin at Old Town in Kurnool on Wednesday.
Coffin-makers lend dignity to the dead through family occupation
In a corner of Old Town in Kurnool is located a stretch of six shops, where men in their sixties put finishing touches on coffins both big and small.
While all of the coffin-makers are Muslim, their clientele is almost exclusively comprised of poor Christians.
Making a profit out of their business is not their driving force, given the very nature of the product that they are selling. For them, it is a traditional occupation bequeathed to them by their forefathers, meant to be looked at as a form of service rather than a means of making money.
“The coffins cost between ₹1.200 and ₹1,500 depending on the level of detail. We manage to earn around Rs.200 per coffin, which is just about enough to keep us afloat,” says Chand Basha, a 65-year-old carpenter who inherited the business from his father.
Mr. Basha and his ilk had seen better days, when their business was not restricted to building coffins.
“My father used to build furniture and cabinets for homes, and I used to tag along with him. We did well, until bigger carpentry shops and the plastic industry took over. Now, we are confined to just building coffins,” says the 65-year-old.
Mr. Basha will pass on the baton to Abdullah, the youngest of his three sons, who is physically-challenged.
“We attempt to lend some dignity to the dead through our work,” said another coffin-maker of a neighbouring shop.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Tadi Vidura / Kurnool – May 02nd, 2019
There are 13,000 Muslim voters in other parts of the constituency with an electorate of 2.05 lakh.
Paramilitary forces headed by SP Rajasekaran and Collector T Anbalagan staging a flag march in Aravakurichi and Pallapatti | Express
Karur :
With the AMMK fielding a Muslim businessman for the Aravakurichi bypoll, a split of minority votes in Pallappatti, a traditional DMK bastion where over 20 per cent of voters are Muslims, could tilt the balance against the principal opposition party’s candidate, V Senthil Balaji.
All three major parties – the AIADMK, DMK and the AMMK – have given special attention to Pallappatti. The town panchayat with 28,000 Muslim voters is considered key to deciding the outcome of the election in Aravakurichi, a constituency that has sent four candidates from the minority community to the Assembly between 1991 and 2011. There are 13,000 Muslim voters in other parts of the constituency with an electorate of 2.05 lakh.
The AIADMK has deputed MP A Anwar Raja, A Thamizh Magan Hussain, ministers Nilofer Kafeel and KC Veeramani, and a few other party heavyweights for election work. Campaigners of the ruling party here reiterate that “ideology and coalitions are two different things” and that the party has always been “minority-friendly”. Karur MP M Thambi Durai’s opposition to the bill that criminalised the triple talaq is often cited to buttress the pro-Muslim credentials of the party, which is in alliance with the BJP and the PMK. “In the 2016 election, over 17,000 votes were polled in Pallappatti town, and Senthil Balaji, who contested on the AIADMK ticket, got 5,860 of them. We are working hard to secure more votes in this election,” said AIADMK town secretary Thottam Abuthahir.
The AIADMK has promised to give three cents of land to the homeless people in Pallappatti.
Balaji, now with the DMK, was the first to promise three cents of land to the homeless in the constituency. Incidentally, AIADMK leader and Transport Minister MR Vijayabhaskar termed Balaji’s promise as impracticable on Tuesday. On the other hand, Balaji is banking on the town’s traditional affinity with the DMK. Also, the party’s former MLA KC Palanisamy enjoys considerable support among the Muslims.
“The AIADMK’s coalition with the BJP will not go down well with the people here,” a DMK functionary said, agreeing, however, that the AMMK’s PH Shahul Hameed may split DMK’s Muslim votes.
Hameed, a popular figure among the community, said he would get 70-80 per cent of the Muslim votes. “The Dalits and other communities will also support me. While the AIADMK is in alliance with the BJP, there is no guarantee that the DMK will not join hands with the BJP after the election results,” he told Express.
3,000 cops deployed
Karur: Around 3,000 police personnel have been deployed to monitor the bypoll in Aravakurichi, said DGP (Elections) Ashutosh Shukla on Wednesday after and reviewing arrangements.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by K Ezhilarasan / Express News Service / May 02nd, 2019
Here is the complete list of nominees of Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards across all sports.
Asian Games 2018 gold medal-winning Indian boxer Amit Panghal has been nominated for Arjuna awards by the Boxing Federation of India.
Panghal claimed the light flyweight (49kg) category gold after defeating reigning Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan in the Asiad final at Jakarta.
In a similar move, the Board of Control for Cricket in India recommended India pacers Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and women’s team spinner Poonam Yadav for the Arjuna award.
National football team stars Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Jeje Lalpekhlua, too, have been recommended for the Arjuna award by the football’s national governing body.
The National shooting federation has suggested the names of pistol ace Heena Sidhu and trap shooter Ankur Mittal for the Khel Ratna. Anjum Moudgil(rifle), Shahzar Rizvi (pistol) and Om Prakash Mitharwal (pistol) have also been nominated for the Arjuna Awards.
Meanwhile, the Wrestling Federation of India has recommended Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat for the Khel Ratna award. Besides the duo, the WFI has also suggested names of Rahul Aware, Harpreet Singh, Divya Kakran and Pooja Dhanda for the Arjuna Award.
The Table Tennis Federation of India has recommended Harmeet Desai, Sanil Shetty and Madhurika Patkar for the Arjuna Awards.
source: http://www.sportstar.thehindu.com / SportStar / Home> More Sports / by Team Sportstar / April 30th, 2019
Fatima Meer and Shantie Naidoo, two Indian-origin women veterans of the freedom struggle in South Africa, were conferred South Africa’s highest National Order awards by President Jacob Zuma.
South Africa President Jacob Zuma presenting the awards. Photo courtesy: GovernmentZA
Meer posthumously received the Order of Luthuli in Silver; while Shantie Naidoo joined 21 others, who were part of a group who suffered at the hands of the apartheid-era security police, to receive the same award at the Presidential Guest House in Pretoria.
Meer, who was a longtime friend of the late Nelson Mandela together with her husband Ismail Meer, started her activist career as a high school student aged 17 in 1945.
“The Indian community suffered the enactment of the first Segregation Act which restricted their economic and residential rights to specific areas in the country,” said Meer’s citation from the President. “The Indian community resisted by organising Satyagraha, the first since Gandhi’s Satyagraha at the close of the century.”
Meer mobilised high school students and established the Students Passive Resistance Committee to canvass and raise funds for the Passive Resistance Campaign.
Meer was a prolific writer, historian and sociologist, and penned many books including a biography of Mandela, as well as the script for the film Taj Mahal, made by Indian filmmaker Akbar Khan.
In 1969, she published a book, Portrait of Indian South Africans, donating the total proceeds thereof to the Gandhi Settlement towards the building of the Gandhi Museum and Clinic at the Phoenix Settlement started by Gandhi. After the advent of democracy in 1994 under President Mandela, Meer served as a member of parliament before her death in 2010.
Fatima Meer. saha.co.za
Naidoo is a descendant of Thambi Naidoo, one of Gandhi’s most trusted lieutenants during his tenure in South Africa. She was imprisoned multiple times as a member of the Transvaal Indian Congress and the African National Congress.
“My mother Amma Naidoo, inspired by my grandfather Thambi before her, was at the forefront of the historic Women’s March to the Union Buildings in Pretoria in 1956 to protest the unjust anti-apartheid laws,” Naidoo said.
“Her undying commitment to justice, freedom and equality was in turn an inspiration to me, my brother and sisters,” said Naidoo at the award reception.
source: http://www.connectedtoindia.com / Connected To India / Home> News Global / by Tushaar Kuthiala / May 02nd, 2017
Ian Sansom on a clan whose empire became synonymous with India
Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal. / Photograph: dbimages/Alamy
In the month of Ramadan of the year 899,” writes the great Babur (1483-1530) in his autobiography, The Baburnama, “and in the 12th year of my age, I became ruler in the country of Fergana.” Babur – his name means “tiger” – inherited the tiny kingdom of Fergana, in what is now Uzbekistan, from his father. The family was descended from Genghis Khan and Tamerlane the Great; Babur the boy-king became the first of the Mughal emperors, a family of Turko-Mongol rulers who, according to the historian Abraham Eraly, “so decisively stamped their personalities on India that the Mughal Empire became, in the public perception, synonymous with India.”
Babur established his empire through conquest, successfully invading India in 1526. His son, Humayun (1508-1556), who succeeded him, came close to losing everything that his father had achieved. It wasn’t until the rule of Akbar (1542-1605), Humayun’s son, that the Mughal Empire was consolidated. Akbar, like Margaret Thatcher, slept only four hours a night. When he was awake, which was most of the time, he set about expanding the Mughal territories abroad and reforming the government at home. He ended the tax imposed on non-Muslims. He invited Jesuit missionaries into his court. And he formed his own religion. Above all, he knew how to make friends as well as enemies. According to his court historian, Abul Fazl, “His majesty forms matrimonial alliances with princes of Hindustan and of other countries; and secures by these ties of harmony the peace of the world.”
Jahangir (1569-1627) succeeded his father, Akbar, in 1605. He preferred to drink and carouse rather than to rule, and his wife, Nur Jahan, took on the responsibility of the state. The fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan (1592-1666), was more like his grandfather Akbar and his great-great-grandfather Babur: a schemer, a man of grand plans and ideas. When his wife, Mumtaz, died in 1631, Shah Jahan was grief-stricken, so much so that, according to one observer, he “gave up the practice of plucking out grey hair from his beard”. He also decided to build his wife a memorial. The English travel writer Peter Mundy described the construction: “The building is begun and goes on with excessive labour and cost, prosecuted with extraordinary dilligence, Gold silver esteemed common Mettal, and Marble but as ordinarie stones.” According to Rudyard Kipling, the place was “the embodiment of all things pure, all things holy, and all things unhappy”. It was the Taj Mahal.
Shah Jahan’s rule ended with a war of succession between his sons, in which Aurangzeb (1618-1707) emerged triumphant. Having killed his brothers, he imprisoned his father. After Aurangzeb the decline of the Mughals began. In 1738, India was invaded by the forces of Nadir Shah, ruler of Iran. Territories were divided. Then the British East India Company moved in.
The last of the long line of Mughal emperors was Bahadur Shah II, known as Zafar. “Personally, he was one of the most talented, tolerant and likeable of his dynasty,” writes William Dalrymple in The Last Mughal (2006). The first emperor, Babur, had been a warrior. Zafar was an aesthete – a poet and an architect. Alas, empires tend not to survive under aesthetes. “While the British progressively took over more and more of the Mughal Emperor’s power,” writes Dalrymple, “the court busied itself in the obsessive pursuit of the most cleverly turned ghazal, the most perfect Urdu couplet.”
Zafar died in exile in Rangoon in 1862. His courtiers were hanged and much of Mughal Delhi was destroyed. “The death of the ex-King may be said to have had no effect on the Mahomedan part of the populace,” wrote the British commissioner at the time, “except for a few fanatics who watch and pray for the final triumph of Islam.”
source: http://www.theguardian.com / The Guardian – International Edition / Home> Family> Great Dynasties of the World / by Ian Sansom / July 16th, 2019
Professor S.M. Rahamatullah, Dean, Satellite Campuses and Professor, Department of Public Administration, Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) was Thursday appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of Sri Krishnadeveraya University (SKU), Ananthapur, Andhra Pradesh.
Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan in his capacity as the Chancellor of the University appointed Rahamatullah as the Vice-Chancellor of SKU for a term of three years.
Rahamatullah joined MANUU as Professor, Public Administration on March 1, 2007. He served in different capacities including Registrar and Dean, according to a statement from MANUU.
Dr. Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz, Vice-Chancellor, Dr. M.A. Sikandar, Registrar and teaching fraternity expressed happiness over his appointment and described it as an honour for Urdu University.
source: http://www.caravandaily.com / Caravan Daily / Home> Indian Muslims / by IANS / January 18th, 2019
