Sk. Riyanaaz, a Class Ten student of Loyola Public School, has topped the district in the ICSE Board examinations. Riyanaaz secured 581 marks out of 600 marks, while Venkata Neeraj Kumar (580) and Prasasthi Anjura (573) are also among the toppers.
A beaming Riyazaaz said that she had enjoyed studying and thanked the teacher who had trained her.
Principal Fr. U. Tony said that the school had secured 100 per cent result for the 26th time and thanked the staff and students for keeping the school’s flag high. Students of Loyola Public School have settled down far and wide across the world, he added.
Students of Little Flower English Medium School also performed well by securing 100 per cent result.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Guntur – May 10th, 2016
Bone dry:According to official data, over 90 lakh farmers in Maharashtra have been hit by drought. —file photo: PTI
Tamil Nadu-based environmentalist K Abdul Ghani has initiated a fundraiser through crowdfunding to mobilise resources for draught-hit people and cattle in Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha.
Rs 5 lakh target
The target is to raise Rs 5 lakh, which will be utilised to arrange for water, food, and fodder.
Mr Ghani, who has planted over 40 lakh trees across the country, said Rs 1,000 has been collected so far. “India is facing an unprecedented draught and Maharashtra is worst-hit. It is the result of global warming and climate change. It is high time that we all woke up and protected the mother earth,” Mr Ghani told The Hindu . “The Rs 5 lakh, which we are planning to raise, may not be big, but this is the beginning. Crowdfunding will help spread the message that everyone should support the cause.”
Impact Guru, an online crowdfunding platform, is mobilising the funds through the campaign, #OutTheDrought, which has gone live, while NGO World Vision India will be reaching out to the affected with the relief.
According to official data, over 90 lakh farmers in Maharashtra have been hit. Mr Ghani said an estimated 2,58,117 households in the seven states are to be covered.
“We can mitigate the impact of the drought through collective efforts,” said Piyush Jain, co-founder and CEO, Impact Guru.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mumbai / by Lalatendu Mishra / Mumbai – May 12th, 2016
Zarina and her children along with two mentally challenged boys in Mumbai. Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury
The water mafia controls the area, but the woman of modest means is undeterred
She is an unlikely saviour for the struggling, water-starved masses in Mumbai slums. But save them she does, and without any cash reward. Zarina, mother of ten and of low means herself, provides water free to her neighbours in Indira Nagar, Mankhurd.
The entire slum here is in crisis. With no supply system in place, the residents buy drinking water as well as salt water (khara paani) from the ‘water mafia’. Khara Paani comes from numerous illegal bawries, wells dug and controlled by the toughs. This is used for washing clothes and utensils, bathing or for toilets.
Age-old bawri
Zarina has an age-old bawri with salt water at home but she doesn’t sell the blue gold. “Kyse paani beche saab? Jab Khuda ne jindegi ko mara, paani bechkar kya jina.” [How can I sell water? When almighty has taught enough lessons in life, how could I sell the water].
The woman struggles with her ten children, including the two who are mentally retarded.
Her husband has left it to her to bring up the children and the family has no means. “We do zari work at home, which brings Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 2,000 a month,” she says.
Her adolescent daughter Rukshana emerges from a room, and shows a piece of cloth on which she is doing zari embroidery. They get job work from a local ostagar (tailor), for a weekly payment based on the volume.
Zarina says her family never faces a summer water crisis since she has a well. They manage to get drinking water from outside. People living in her lane in Indira Nagar draw water during the crisis, and sometimes people from other lanes also come.
Painful grind
The water lady cannot afford to send her children to school. “What can I do, Sir? I know they are growing up without education. Moreover, two children are mentally retarded”, she says, wiping her tears.
For Zarina, life is a painful grind, but that does not stop her serving scarce water, free.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mumbai / by Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury / Mumbai – May 12th, 2016
Inspired by a crippled Indian’s attitude, a donor sent him money all the way from New Zealand.
Chris Harris was moved to help after his daughter told him about one of the characters she met while travelling India. She had met Salman Mujeeb as he was directing traffic close to her house. Salman safely sorts out the chaos of vehicles at a blind one-way corner in Fraser Town with no arms, one leg and a giant grin. Chris donated Rs 50,000 to go towards Salman and his family to pay for the lease on their apartment.
Chris says that Salman, 31, is a great example of human perseverance that everyone should be inspired by.
“His story of surmounting such incredible odds, including the genius of finding a means of making a living and to still keep smiling, has to capture your interest. It is a very profound and moving story,” he says.
“He shows the miracle of life. Think about it, he has inspired me from 10,000 km away. Incredible!”
Chris owns a supermarket in New Zealand that donates Rs 25,000 every month to a worthy organisation or cause. He gave Salman two months’ worth of donations.
Salman has been working at the corner for 18 years. He started doing so only a year after he was electrocuted. As an 11-year-old Salman got tangled in live wires on the construction site his parents were working at. He was in a coma for 23 days. The doctors tried to save his limbs but gangrene set in and his arms and leg had to be amputated.
Now, he works at the corner 6 days a week from 11 am to 8 pm, rain or shine.
As people drive safely through, they stuff a tip into his shirt pocket. Salman earns a small living, people can get around the corner safely, everyone’s happy. He says he earns about Rs 1,500 a week, which enables him to make ends meet. He doesn’t have any other way of earning money.
Winning attitude
Salman conquers any obstacle life throws his way. He can use a touchscreen phone, get around the city independently, climbs stairs faster than an able-bodied person and has even won a dance competition. He taught himself how to ride a bike a year after the accident. He fell off over and over again but eventually learnt to make it work.
Mohammed Khan has known Salman for many years. He says he is a very deserving, honest man who is always in a good mood. Salman is always teasing those around him and making wisecracks.
It wasn’t just the electrocution that Salman has had to weather. His father died 5 years ago from a heart attack and his wife died 1 year ago from an epileptic fit leaving him to care for his 5-year-old son.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> City / by Sarah Harris / DHNS – Bengaluru, May 06th, 2016
Names of the brave soldiers written on the plates of the grave at the Kohima War Cemetery, and who dedicated their life during the World War II: Battle of Kohima.
Mohammed Babavali showing the ‘Princess Mary’s Christmas Gift 1914’ ‘received by his great grandfather and the medals won by his father.— Photo: Ch.Vijaya Bhaskar
Babavali is taking care of the brass tin gifted to his great grandfather by Princess Mary
Mohammed Babavali, a 36-year-old resident of Thotlavalluru in Krishna district, has been protecting a brass tin for the past two decades. His father the late Abdul Raheem, a head constable in Vijayawada Police Commissionerate, protected it all through his life and even salvaged it from the 1977 Diviseema cyclone that swept away everything in his native village Pedagurumotu of Avanigadda mandal.
Raheem’s father Abdul Azeez too protected it all through his life before passing it on to him.
The tin, with a shape of a small tiffin box, isn’t an ordinary item, for it has a long and interesting legacy connected with the British.
“It’s Princess Mary’s Christmas gift and has a history of more than 102 years. It (the tin) was born out of the idea of Princess Mary, the daughter of Great Britain’s King George V and Queen Mary, who wanted to gift the members of British, Colonial and Indian Armed Forces on the eve of Christmas during First World War.”
One of the captains in Indian Armed Forces Fateh Ahmed, the great-grandfather of Babavali, was one among the 4.2 lakh personnel who received the gift from Princess Mary in 1914. The gift came with tobacco, confectionary, spices, pencils, scissors and a Christmas card. “Everything is gone except this tin. I have been protecting it and after me my kids will carry on the legacy,” Babavali told The Hindu .
“We lost everything including our home during the 1977 cyclone, but the ‘tin’ was saved by father who kept it with him in the police quarters in Vijayawada,” Mr. Babavali said.
Some of those gift tins are now among the collections of several museums across United Kingdom and Australia. “I thought of giving it to a museum. But later I decided to keep it with me in memory of my great grand father,” said Mr. Babavali.
The decorative tin is embossed with the face of the Princess Mary and Britain’s allied countries France, Russia, Italy, Belgium and the United States during World War I.
Back home, Mr. Babavali lost a fortune taking care of his ailing father who passed away in 2003 and he is presently working as a security guard, still looking for a break in life.
This six-foot plus Thotlavalluru man is taking care of the 102-year-old brass tin gifted to his great grandfather by Princess Mary in 1914.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cites> Vijayawada / Tharun Boda / Vijayawada – May 07th, 2016
Prof. Asloob A. Ansari felicitated with Bahadur Shah Zafar Award of Delhi Urdu Academy
Aligarh, :
Delhi Urdu Academy has given its prestigious Bahadur Shah Zafar Award to eminent scholar, critic and educationist, Prof. Asloob Ahmad Ansari, retired professor, Department of English, Aligarh Muslim University.
The award was given to him by Nawab Ibne Saeed of Chhatari and Padma Shri Prof. Akhtarul Wasey, Vice President of Delhi Urdu Academy and Director, Zakir Husain Institute of Islamic Institute, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
Addressing the felicitation programme organized at the UGC Academic Staff College, Aligarh Muslim University, Prof. Akhtarul Wasey said that Prof. Asloob Ahmad Ansari has been selected for the prestigious award for his lifetime contribution to the development of literary criticism in Urdu and English. He said that Prof. Ansari has served academics without any lust for name or recognition and the award was a small tribute to his academic dexterity and critical approach. He said Prof. Ansari had an authority on Allam Iqbal.
Mr. Anees Azmi, Secretary, Delhi Urdu Academy said that Prof. Asloob Ansari deserved the award and it was a proud moment for the Delhi Urdu Academy to express its indebtedness to the tall literary figure whose works will keep illuminating minds of scholars and critics in Urdu. He said that Aligarh Muslim University has given the largest number of great literary personalities to the Urdu language and they have also received highest awards and recognitions.
Padma Shri Prof. Hakeem Syed Zillur Rahman said that Prof. Ansari was Aligarh’s pride and Aligarh was recognized around the world being a home city of Prof. Ansari.
Prof. A. R. Kidwai, Director, UGC Academic Staff College highlighted many facets of Prof. Ansari’s life and presented a sketch of his life as a teacher and his academic pursuits.
Prof. Asloob Ansari has published 33 books in Urdu and English. Hehas received Pakistan President’s award for his work on Allama Iqbal and a honorary D. Lit. from Gorakhpur University.
The Governing body member of Delhi Urdu Academy and eminent journalist Masoom Moradabadi proposed a vote of thanks.
source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror.com / Home> Indian Muslims / by Muslim Mirror News / May 26th, 2013
Sahitya Academy Award winner and noted scholar Asloob Ahmad Ansari died here after brief illness at the age of 91.
Ansari, a former head of the Department of English at Aligarh Muslim University, died last night following brief illness and was laid to rest this afternoon at the university graveyard, family sources said.
Senior officials of the University and former members of the teaching faculty were present during his last rites.
Ansari, who is survived by two daughters, had the unique distinction of contributing both to English and Urdu literature.
He was conferred the Sahitya Academy Award in 1980 for his work in Urdu, Iqbal Ki Terah Nazmen.
Ansari was also recipient of UP Urdu Academy Award, Ghalib Award and Bahadur Shah Zafar Award for his textual criticism of the works of Urdu poet Mohammad Iqbal.
He studied at AMU and later graduated in English from the University of Oxford.
Shweta Tripathi and Saqib Saleem in “Koi Dekh Lega”
Effortlessly straddling between three minute and three hour formats, Saqib Saleem will now don the Indian cricket team’s colours on screen
Fondly remembered as the good-for-nothing son in the comedy Mere Dad Ki Maruti, Saqib Saleem continues to enthral his fans with his performance in Koi Dekh Lega, a part of Love Shots, the Y-Films web series where he plays a visually-impaired lover.
Soon the actor will be essaying the role of an aggressive, contemporary batsman in Rohit Dhawan’s, Dishoom. Saqib who bats for Sohail Khan’s Mumbai Heroes in the Celebrity Cricket League shares his love for the game, how he works to etch his roles real and his three-minute film Koi Dekh Lega.
Edited excerpts from an interview:
It is said that love is blind. Your recent short film Koi Dekh Lega is about being in love and blissfully blind to the world.
When I first read it, I thought it was a sweet and genuine script. Our intention was to try and not let people know that we are playing blind. Yes, if someone catches then great and if not then people come to know in climax. Our intention was to make honest film and celebrate the feeling of love. That love can happen at a bus stop.
Much after the release of the film do we get to know if it was well made or not. When you see the reactions of your audience you get to know how the film was. However, it was really interesting working in the Koi Dekh Lega. The whole idea is you need to tell a story whether it’s in the form of short film, a feature or a TV show. If that’s coming across, you have won the battle.
How challenging it is for an actor to move from three hours to three minutes?
It is very challenging because when you are doing a feature you have lots of time to establish yourself as the character. But, when you do something like Koi Dekh Lega it tests your abilities in just three minutes in which we have to make people understand the character and evoke emotions – where is it coming from and where will it go.
What was it like working with Shweta Tripathi?
I have known Shweta for five years. Films that we were supposed to do did not work out for one or the other reason. So we were really looking forward to do a film together since very long. This time, I called up Shweta and said, ‘Let’s shoot!’ without any discussions as this chance may not turn up again. She is a refined and fabulous actor, who does films and other things for a reason. In Koi Dekh Laga, I was so busy performing that it is only in the final film I got to see her performance. She was undoubtedly amazing.
On inspiration for playing the characters
My plan is no plan! Explore everything that is possible. I do not draw inspiration from someone particular. I just look around and observe people and catch the nuances that will be useful and can be brought into the character. I want to make the character feel more real and relatable with the audience. At times, someone’s action or body language strikes and stays with you and I try to incorporate them. If the ingredients are right, your dish will just turn out to be perfect.
As somebody who has played cricket how tough or easy was it to essay the role in “Dishoom”.
For me, playing a cricketer on-screen was interesting. You’ll see me playing the role of today’s Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina or Rohit Sharma who are doing very well for the country. I have always wanted to be a cricketer and aspired to play as an opening batsman with Sachin Tendulkar. As a daily ritual I used to say to his huge poster, ‘One day I will play with you.’ But, things just don’t go the way you plan and that is when acting happened to me. Someone like me who always wanted to wear an Indian jersey is ready to wear it now in the film. Since I’ve always been a sportsperson it was slightly easy to play this character but the most difficult and important part was to get the body language right. Moreover, Rohit Dhawan is a director who keeps thinking about making things better.
Watch the short film Koi Dekh Lega starring Saqib Saleem and Shweta Tripathi
source: http://www.youtube.com
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / Vidhi Mittal / March 20th, 2016
The tribute concert for Tabla Nawaz Ustad Shaik Dawood Khan Saheb on Sunday promises a musical extravagance
Bengaluru :
Music lovers are in for a treat this Sunday with a stellar tribute concert on the occasion of the birth centenary celebrations of Tabla Nawaz Ustad Shaik Dawood Khan Saheb. Featuring some of the biggest names in Hindustani classical music in the country, the musical extravaganza is scheduled for April 3 at Rajatha Bhavan, 8th Main Road, (Opposite St. Peter’s Seminary), Malleswaram, 5 p.m. onwards.
Best known as the Thirakwa of Hyderabad, Ustad Shaik Dawood (December 1916 to 1992) was one of the greatest tabla maestros of his time and the torchbearer of some of the most traditional gharanas of tabla such as Farrukhabad, Ajrada, Lucknow, Punjab and Delhi.
A homage By Ustad Shabbir Nisar and others
His son, Ustad Shabbir Nisar, affirms this is one concert that music lovers should not miss.
“Almost everyone knows about my father. He garnered respect during his time and continues to do so even now. He was a simple down-to-earth person and yet renowned for his greatness on the tabla. This is an opportunity for us to remember that great personality and refresh the memory of people who have heard him before. The concert will bring everyone who respects and loves him together.”
He adds that they will continue to celebrate all through the year. “We hope to hold a concert in Pune and later in Delhi and close with Hyderabad where we started the celebration in December last year. This is all for music,” the maestro adds.
The concert will kick off with a tabla homage by Sarfaraz Ahmed, the grandson of Shaik Dawood, followed by a tabla ensemble by Shabbir Nisar along with two senior disciples Uday Kumar and Mihir Kallianpur. Vocalist Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar will follow with a recital. The finale will be a sitar recital by Shahid Parvez backed by Anindo Chatterjee on the tabla.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Allan Moses Rodricks / Bengaluru – March 24th, 2016
