Nooshin’s restless will to compete helped her transition from an elite player to an elite coach.
While Nooshin was looking for a breather, she is getting to experience what it feels to be part of a team that became the first women’s team to bring an ICC title home – a completion of a well-deserved redemption arc. (Special Arrangement)
Nooshin Al Khadeer hasn’t even had the chance to put her feet up and enjoy a brief break. Being the head coach of the India Under-19 women’s team, the last few months have been busy in every sense. Be it a preparatory camp at the NCA, a bilateral series in Vizag, or a preparatory camp in South Africa, Nooshin was at the forefront of everything. The reward: India getting their hands on the inaugural Under-19 World Cup trophy on January 29, defeating England in the final.
While Nooshin was looking for a breather, she is getting to experience what it feels to be part of a team that became the first women’s team to bring an ICC title home – a completion of a well-deserved redemption arc. Nooshin was, in fact, the final Indian batter to have gotten out in the 2005 Women’s ODI World Cup final against Australia, giving the Aussies the fifth of their seven titles.
pix: @NooshinKhadeer
After landing in Mumbai, she left for Ahmedabad, where the BCCI felicitated the team, before taking the next flight to Ranchi to be part of the Railways team at the ongoing Senior Women’s One-Day tournament. “After winning the title, I told the team it is just the start. And even some of the players feel the same way. So it is important to get down to business straightaway,” Nooshin tells the Indian Express.
Those who know Nooshin up close attribute this dedication and hardwork to her success. Be it Vinod Sharma, who was the head coach of the Railways team she represented for long, her India teammate Punam Raut, or her long-time friend and teammate Mithali Raj, all have a common thing to say: “She was destined to be a coach.”
Lessons in patience
There was, however, one thing Nooshin still had to take care of before charting her path as a coach.
“She was an aggressive player who always wanted things to work out on the field. But you can’t have the same trait as a coach,” Mithali says of her friend. “When she decided to get into coaching, it was something we had a conversation about. When you are a coach, you are not only coaching the seniors, but you also have to coach youngsters, and you need to develop patience. She worked hard on that. That is her biggest transformation,” she adds.
A key part of developing that patience started when Nooshin moved to Hyderabad, where she began her coaching stint with the Under-16 side for two years before moving to the Chhattisgarh senior side.
“I would say I never rushed into coaching saying ‘look I’m an Indian player and I’ve contributed for so long, I have to take up a senior side.’ I wasn’t eligible for it. I wanted to get through the levels — Level A, and B,” Nooshin said.
“Playing and coaching are two different roles. This is a totally different profession, and I’m glad that I understood that early in my life. I took up Chhattisgarh because I wanted to test myself, especially my patience. Coaching needs calmness and patience because I really had to go down to their level, explain things, and build a team,” she added.
Nooshin was, in fact, the final Indian batter to have gotten out in the 2005 Women’s ODI World Cup final against Australia, giving the Aussies the fifth of their seven titles. (Special Arrangement)
As Chhattisgarh did well by making it to the knockouts, her employer Railways would come calling. For a team that is known to win silverware, they had just lost two big titles, and as they pressed the reset button, they came calling for Nooshin. “I had no choice but to take that because I still had a contract running with Chhattisgarh. But since it is the institution that I work for, I took it up as a challenge.”
It is at Railways that Mithali would first see a different Nooshin. The aggressive player, and one who didn’t hesitate to speak her mind, was long gone. “When she came to Railways, I could see she was not Nooshin, the player I knew. Standing in front of us was Nooshin, the coach. And that is when I started to trust her and we started having a lot of conversations about my batting, the team and a lot of other stuff,” Mithali says.
Understanding people
The smooth transition is also a reflection of how Nooshin was quick to adapt. According to her Railways coach Sharma, she has always had leadership qualities, and was especially good at communication. In a simple sense, she was a very vocal player, who wasn’t hesitant to share her views even when some of her senior players chose to stay mum.
“I’m a chatterbox, and I talk to everyone and anybody. To understand people, you need to know them, and the only way I can know someone is if I talk to them. There are 15 different players in the team and each one is different. So reading them is not easy.
“I talk to groundsmen, guys who carry water to the field, because it helps me improve my communication. I get to understand a lot of things by talking to them. For someone to open up, you should make them comfortable and I think I have that natural capability to communicate well,” Nooshin says.
For a player who hung up her boots on March 16, 2012, she hardly had a break. While most players would have preferred to stay away from waking up early and hitting the ground, Nooshin was back on the ground in a fortnight. “On April 1, I was at a coaching camp in Hyderabad,” Nooshin says.
Mithali feels there was a reason for it as well. “I wasn’t surprised that she took up coaching. The way her career ended, she felt there was unfinished business. She wanted to give back to the game. She thought she could do something through coaching. And she worked very hard for it. Whenever I called her, she would be on the ground,” the former India skipper says.
“Look I could have been a selector or completed five years and be eligible to become a match referee. But that isn’t me. I wanted to give something back to the game, even 20 percent of what I learned. Why was never a question, but I never thought I would come this far,” Nooshin says.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Sports> Cricket / by Venkatar Krishna R / February 07th, 2023
Tucked away on the Delhi-Ludhiana railway line, about 40 kilometres from Jalandhar is Malerkotla. It is a small town, famous for poets and palaces, some of which are more than a hundred years old.
In this muslim-majority district lies a 150-year-old palace that doubles up as the resident of Begum Munawwar ul Nisa, a descendant of the erstwhile ruler of Malerkotla, Nawab Sher Mohammad Khan.
Begum Munawar ul Nisa, known popularly as ‘Begum Sahiba’ lives alone in the twilight of her life in the dilapidated palace called ‘Mubarak Manzil’.
Very rarely does she get visitors. Sometimes officials from the Archaeological Survey of India knock at her door, and sometimes a journalist drops by to know her story. And sometimes, foreign tourists are brought here by local guides for a glimpse of pages from Muslim-Sikh harmony in Indian history.
Mohammed Mehmood, Begum Munawwar ul Nisa’s personal attendant
The old and frail Begum’s forefather, Sher Mohammed Khan had strongly opposed the sacrifice of the two sons of Guru Gobind Singh by the Subedar of Sirhind in 1705.
It is for this reason that Malerkotla holds a significant place in the history of Sikhs, specially the palace where the Begum lives today. Therefore, it was not surprising when on February 4 this year, the palace was abuzz with activity.
The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee has declared February 4 as the day for honouring the last descendant of Nawab Sher Mohammed Khan for the role the family played in raising their voice against the atrocity committed by the Mughals on the sons of Guru Gobind Singh.
Mohammed Mehmood, the Begum’s attendant, who takes care of her minutest requirements in her old age at this palace, recalling the moment when officials came here to honour Begum Nisa says, “On February 4 afternoon, the SGPC secretary Simarjit Singh and the historic Gurudwara Fatehgarh Sahib Manager Bhagwant Singh and some other SGPC officials reached the ‘Mubarak Manzil’ and met Begum Munawwar ul Nisa. They met and honoured her duly offering that the supreme institution of the Sikhs and the entire Sikh community is indebted to her forefathers and therefore, she can reach out to them without any kind of hesitation and any kind of trouble.”
On this day, the SGPC officials came to the palace to request her to will the sword gifted to her family by Guru Gobind Singh to the Sikh community. The Begum informed the committee officials that the needful had already been done and also showed them the official papers of the same.
Advocate Harjinder Singh Dhami, head of the SGPC, said, “the entire Sikh community is indebted to Nawab Sher Mohammad Khan and his descendants. This is another hallmark in Muslim-Sikh relations. As long as Begum Munawwar ul Nisa remains safe, the SGPC will take care of her in every possible way and repair the ‘Mubarak Mazil’.”
A few years ago, Begum Munawwar ul Nisa at the age of 97 had willed her palace to the Amarinder Singh government in the state for preservation as her last wish. Unfortunately, due to red-tapism and government lethargy, the repair work to be undertaken has not taken off as expected.
‘Mubarak Manzil’
It is to be seen if the promise made by the SGPC will lead to the palace see better days.
Begum Munawwar ul Nisa is the third wife of Mohammed Iftikhar Ali Khan Bahadur, a descendant of Nawab Sher Mohammad Khan. The first two wives of the Nawab are no more.
Nawab Moahmmed Iftikhar Ali Khan Bahadur himself passed away in 1982. He had no children from any of his Begums.
The ‘Mubarak Manzil’, where the Begum lives presently is now a government heritage property. The palace and the Begum in particular is a beautiful symbol of harmony between the Muslims and Sikhs from history till the present times.
source: http://www.awazthevoice.in / Awaz, The Voice / Home> Story / by Amrik Singh, Jalandhar / posted by Nakul Shivani / February 07th, 2023
In a just-released tell-all book, the first woman Muslim minister of Karnataka doesn’t spare anyone who was unjust to her. Read on to know what she thinks about the Gandhi family members and others.
Nafees Fazal talks to the then Congress President Rajiv Gandhi during an Iftar party in the Vidhana Soudha banquet hall, Bangalore in 1990 (supplied)
If what the first woman Muslim minister of Karnataka says is true, politics is a horribly dirty sport where ministers and others take bribes, men can be lecherous, and foes within your party can go to any extent to bring you down.
Things got so bad for Nafees Fazal at one point that she asked Indira Gandhi’s Man Friday RK Dhawan whether she was not rising in politics because she wasn’t playing “bedroom politics”. Dhawan told her never to take that path: “They will pass you around till you become a whore.” She took the warning to heart.
The front cover of the book ‘Breaking Barriers: The Story of a Liberal Muslim Woman’s Passage in Indian Politics’ (Supplied)
In a just-released tell-all book (Breaking Barriers: The Story of a Liberal Muslim Woman’s Passage in Indian Politics, with Sandhya Mendonca, Konark Publishers), Nafees doesn’t spare anyone who was unjust to her.
Guided by Margaret Alva
Rebelling against convention, she plunged into politics at age 31 without any benefactor and became the first Muslim woman minister in Karnataka at age 52 in 1999. Religion and gender, however, shackled her. It did not help that she was feisty, had a husky voice, and dressed fashionably.
Nafees Fazal and her husband Hassan Fazal with her godmother and politician Margaret Alva at their residence in Bangalore in 1999 (Supplied)
Margaret Alva, whom she admires, guided Nafees and made her the president of the Bangalore wing of the Mahila Congress.
But prominent leaders from her own Muslim community didn’t like her. She was too glamorous. One of them was CK Jaffer Sharief, who proved duplicitous. Sharief was overtly nice but felt, like many other conservative Muslim men, that Muslim women should be confined to the home or remain low-key. “Muslim men,” she says with authority, “are the biggest MCPs and my opinion was reinforced in politics”.
Bribes, daggers, and knives
When she joined SM Krishna’s Cabinet, her learning was rapid. “Once you get the chair, you have to do your darndest to hold on to it. This meant that you had to be on the lookout constantly for the daggers and knives that many seen and unseen enemies would be holding.”
With Arjun Singh and Jaffer Sharief at an iftar party hosted by the former at his residence in New Delhi in 1994 (Supplied)
While a minister, the son of a trustee of a reputed college wanted government hospitals to import medical equipment. An IAS officer warned her against the deal. So she put her foot down. But Chief Minister Krishna was told that Nafees demanded ₹30 lakh as bribe. Krishna confronted her and was stunned when she told him that there was no question of seeking ₹30 lakh when she was offered ₹3 crore!
“I did not want the illegal money, and I did not want a bad name,” she writes. “Ministers and politicians often receive such bribes and perhaps take it, if not for themselves, then in order to fill the party coffers. How else would they hold on to their posts? This is how many of them operate. Nowadays the amounts offered would be several hundred crores.”
Sonia Gandhi & ‘an empty promise’ to Nafees Fazal
Nafees constantly faced attacks from known and unknown detractors. BJP leader (later chief minister) BS Yediyurappa tried to link her with the Telgi counterfeit stamp paper scam.
A Congress bigwig accused her of drinking alcohol at a party, almost leading to her sacking as the medical education minister. After one more allegation, she met Congress President Sonia Gandhi. “Don’t make an issue of it. I will look after you,” Sonia said. “It was an empty promise. She did nothing,” she writes.
Nafees Fazal with current Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai (second from left), former chief minister SM Krishna (centre), his wife Prema, and former minister RV Deshpande’s son Prasad (right) at Deshpande’s golden wedding anniversary celebrations in Bengaluru in 2022 (Supplied)
Nafees has been asked if there’s a casting couch in politics. “I always counter by asking: ‘Why should politics be different than any other sector?’ It’s a known fact that certain women have risen to prominence because they have the attention and protection of powerful men. Some of these could be in a physical relationship with their sugar daddies and some may have used their position to do the work they set out to do.”
Rahul Gandhi leadership ‘disastrous’
Nafees Fazal with her idol and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at the All India Mahila Convention held in Bangalore in September 1984 (Supplied)
While she was a childhood fan of Indira Gandhi, and both Rajiv (“Rajiv’s decisions were sometimes hasty”) and Sonia Gandhi (“Sonia’s only weakness is her son”) too earned her respect, Nafees dubs Rahul Gandhi’s leadership of the Congress as “disastrous”. There is no place for any other leader to grow in the Congress, she says.
Nafeesa Fazal welcomes Sonia Gandhi, who was contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Bellary, and party observer Ghulam Nabi Azad in 1999 (Supplied)
While she pats Rahul for taking steps to cut corruption in the party, she is bitter for insulting her in front of Karnataka party leaders.
Nafees Fazal with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Bengaluru in 2009 (Supplied)
She had submitted an application seeking nomination to the Legislative Council. Rahul saw a doctor’s picture on her brochure. It was a renowned heart surgeon with whom she had worked for years to help underprivileged people. Rahul turned livid: “Because of him you are disqualified. I will never entertain you again and I will never give you an appointment.” The public humiliation forced Nafees to quit the Congress.
Ahmed Patel was ‘busy meeting mullahs’
Ahmed Patel was very powerful in the Congress during the UPA regime. “Unfortunately, he had no time to hear the second-rung leaders as he was always busy with meetings with mullahs. It was a Herculean effort to get an appointment with him.”
She tried to gatecrash. “At times, I was treated badly by his watchman who would slam the gate on my face and chase me away like a pariah… Perhaps he (Patel) didn’t like me because I was a Muslim woman.”
‘Set dosas’ of Karnataka Congress
Sonia Gandhi, she says, once referred to SM Krishna as “a white-collared politician” who could not woo voters in rural areas.
Nafees Fazal with Mallikarjun Kharge (left), now the Congress president, and former Karnataka chief minister N Dharam Singh at a lunch hosted by the author for RK Dhawan at her residence in February 1999 (Supplied)
When she wanted to contest an election from Vijayapura in north Karnataka, then opposition leader and now Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge was unhappy. He had never forgiven her for her role in displacing Dharam Singh, his friend, as the Karnataka Congress President. Nafees says that some colleagues called Kharge, HK Patil, and Dharam Singh as “set dosas” as they formed a powerful clique.
On hijab and UCC
While Rahul Gandhi talks about women’s empowerment, “the reality is that Muslim women are being denied a voice, and the support is only for our male counterparts”. Women with political ambitions must develop a thick skin, she feels.
She opposes the insistence on wearing hijab, finds the All India Muslim Personal Law Board “medieval and regressive”, and welcomes the Uniform Civil Code if it applies to Hindu Undivided Families too.
She admires Prime Minister Narendra Modi for outlawing triple talaq. After SM Krishna joined the BJP, she wanted to emulate him. But Yediyurappa objected. She also found the BJP too communal. So she quietly paid ₹10 and rejoined the Congress.
On her family and grandfather, a former sheriff of Madras
Nafees calls her father a philanderer, cruel, and sadist who enjoyed physically abusing his wife in front of his children. One of her uncles was a sexual predator. Her mother-in-law treated her like a maid and once clobbered her with a rolling pin.
Her grandfather, Khan Bahadur Mohammed Moosa Sait, a former sheriff of Madras, was a community leader but treated everyone, women in particular, very badly. All this “added to my mistrust of men, and I still carry residual anger against them”. One of the few men she has utmost love for is Hassan Fazal, her husband who backed her all the way from the time he began courting her.
(MR Narayan Swamy is a freelance journalist in New Delhi. He began his career more than four decades ago. He had a long innings in UNI, AFP, and IANS. His focus areas are diplomacy, politics, and spirituality, and he loves to read and review books. He is the author of three books on the Sri Lankan conflict)
source: http://www.thesouthfirst.com / South First / Home> Karnataka / by Narayan Swamy / November 02nd, 2023
February 5, 1884. Does the date ring a bell? No prizes for guessing. It was this day 139 years ago that the Hyderabad State got its sixth ruler, Mir Mahboob Ali Khan. He was just 18 when he was invested with full administrative powers. British Viceroy, Lord Rippon, visited Hyderabad for the first time to place the young Nizam on the gaddi at Khilwat Mubarak in Chowmahalla Palace.
The palace was recently in the news when the body of Mukarram Jah Bahadur, the titular Nizam, was kept here for public display and a few days later, his son, Azmet Jah, was crowned as his successor.
This day is also significant as Mahboob Ali Khan was the first Nizam to be coroneted by the representative of Her Majesty, the Queen. Soon after the investiture ceremony he was conferred the title of Grand Commander of the Star of India.
Interestingly the 6th Nizam inherited the masnad at the age of two itself when his father, Nawab Afzal-ud-Daula, passed away. But a Council of Regency was put in place to look after the administration till he came of age. When he turned 16 years, he was initiated into the details of office work and the administration of the State by Nawab Salar Jung.
The first thing that Mahboob Ali Khan did after assuming power was to proclaim that nothing pleased him more than seeing people live in peace and prosperity. Subsequent years proved that he lived up to his words by undertaking administrative reforms that benefitted the people. Development of railways, revision of revenue settlements, setting up of cotton mills at Hyderabad, Aurangabad and Gulbarga are among his significant achievements. Besides this, education, irrigation, medicine also received top priority. The famous Chloroform Commission was held in Hyderabad all because of the scientific interest shown by the sixth Nizam.
Popularly known as Mahboob Ali Pasha, he is also responsible for the establishment of the Victoria Memorial Orphanage, Madrasa-i-Aliya, Asafia State Library and Dairatul Maarif. Old timers recall how the sixth Nizam ruled more with the heart than the head. One can’t forget the relief measures he took after the disastrous Musi floods of 1908.
Poet, marksman, administrator and lover of gems and jewellery, his was a multifaceted personality. Elegantly dressed, he had a fascination for expensive clothes and cars. His two-storey wardrobe at Purani Haveli, the longest one in the world, still has a huge collection of expensive clothes collected by him. He had the reputation of not wearing the same dress twice.
Similarly, his fondness for vintage cars is legendary. Some of the expensive cars like Napier, Rolls Royce Silver Ghosts, were made to order for the then wealthiest man in the world. They are still a big draw at the Chowmahalla Palace.
It was he who bought the famous Jacob Diamond, which forms the crowning glory of the Nizam’s jewels. The 6th Nizam, who was exposed to Western education, was fond of a lavish lifestyle and had a fascination for the good things in life. He breathed his last at Falaknuma Palace at the age of 45 following a paralytic attack. But as his name, Mahboob suggests, he remains a beloved ruler even to this day.
source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home> Featured News / by J S Ifthekhar / February 06th, 2023
Hereunder are a selection of newspaper clippings, mainly from the US Press, extracted from the well-researched book just released titled, “Sultan Variomkunnan” by young historian Ramees Mohammed on the Mappila Uprising. These clippings furnish further evidence that the Mappilas were fighting for India’s Freedom and were not Anti-Hindu.
The following statements by the correspondent of the Chicago Tribune are pertinent:
“Hindus Shared the Unrest and ‘Gandhi ki Jai’ was the Watchword” “The Moplahs Revere the Sultan Caliph and Loathe his Enemies”
The Mappila Uprising was to Destroy British Rule
______________
“Hindus Shared the Unrest and ‘Gandhi ki Jai’ was the Watchword” “The Moplahs Revere the Sultan Caliph and Loathe his Enemies”
_____________
______________
______________
British Police and Intelligence responsible for forced conversions to discredit Mappilas
___________
source: http://www.turkvehind.org / Turkiye Ve Hindistan / by Noor Mohammed Khalid
Abdul Ghafoor Parekh was a well-renowned Islamic scholar, educator, humanitarian and expert in the Quran and its translation. He was known for his vast knowledge of Islamic theology and his ability to convey complex concepts in a clear and accessible manner.
Early lLfe and Education
Abdul Ghafoor Parekh was born in 1948 in Nagpur, India. He completed his Post Graduation in Commerce from Nagpur University. He was fluent in several languages including English, Urdu, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati (Kutchi-Memoni), and Arabic. He was raised in a devout Muslim family. His father, Padma Bhushan Maulana Abdul Karim Parekh, was a social worker, recipient of various national and international awards, and scholar, known for his translation of the Quran into the Urdu language. From a young age, he showed a deep interest in the Quran and its teachings. He was very well equipped with the book his father compiled, Lughatul Qur’an (Quranic Dictionary) which has been read widely throughout the globe and has been translated into several Indian Languages along with English, Turkish and Portuguese. Abdul Gafoor Parekh being the eldest son played a key role in continuing the mission and legacy of his father.
Personal Life
Parekh was a devout Muslim and was known for his deep commitment to his faith. He was a father to two sons and two daughters and was someone known to be deeply devoted to his wife and children. After his father’s demise in 2007, he continued with his work and legacy. He avoided publicity and mass lectures. He believed in shaping individuals personally within his reach and capacity.
Career
After completing his education, Parekh began his career as an educator, teaching at a number of universities and madrasas in India. He quickly gained a reputation as an expert in the Quran and its translation, and his classes were highly sought after by students.
He developed a unique and efficient method for teaching Arabic with 200 hours only. Many academic institutions and universities in India and abroad have adopted his system. Parekh’s expertise in the Quran and its translation led to many invitations to speak at conferences and seminars around the world. He was a much sought-after speaker and has traveled extensively, sharing his knowledge and insights with audiences in many countries.
In addition to his teaching and speaking engagements, Parekh has also designed several curriculums to teach Arabic. His lectures have been widely heard and highly praised for their scholarly rigor and excellence.
Parekh’s knowledge and understanding of the Quran and its teachings have made him a respected figure in the Muslim community. His work as an educator and author has helped to deepen people’s understanding and appreciation of the Quran, and his teachings continue to inspire and guide people of all ages and backgrounds.
“If people all over India understand Quranic Arabic in large numbers or even more, if people believe, it is possible to learn and understand the language, it is because of Ghafoor sir. He opened our minds and hearts to the word of God and made us believe that it reigns supreme. He leaves behind a literary legacy for teachers to emulate in India and abroad. He was a friend, philosopher and guide, a beacon for teachers and a proud mentor. He could cut you down to size with his words and yet praise you in the next sentence,” said Dr Kamran Khan, Surgical Oncologist, Saifee Hospital, Mumbai, with deep sorrow.
“It’s indeed a great loss. Like his father Janab Abdul Kareem Parekh, he worked very hard to spread the knowledge of Quran with understanding and left a legacy which is truly an inspiration for the generations to come,” said Haseeb Ahmad Khan, Manager, IT, MSEDCL. “His teaching style was so influencing that one cannot afford to miss a single class,” said Farheen Khan, a homemaker.
“One cannot forget his zeal, enthusiasm, and unique style of teaching the Qur’an. I attended some of the various teachers’ training classes a couple of times that he would conduct for teachers from Mumbai in the field of Islamic Sciences and Education. He pulled out references from Qur’an to explain how Qur’an was an excellent source of understanding the Seerah questioning the teachers on the chronology of the ayahs and nuances that usually goes unnoticed due to not understanding the beauty of Arabic grammar. I particularly remember his class in May 2013 when he announced that he wouldn’t be able to travel to Mumbai due to his deteriorating health marking that class as his last, which made all the teachers sigh in unison. He did come to Mumbai a couple of times after it. His unique advice to his students would leave a huge impact on them, his words still touch and shape me as a person, towards serving humanity and recognizing one’s true potential. He will by far be one of my most favourite teachers of all times, may Allah elevate his status and that of his father” said Zulekha Shakoor Rajani, an Islamic Educator and Counsellor.
Throughout his career, Parekh dedicated his life to spreading knowledge and understanding of the Quran, making it accessible to people from all walks of life. He would draw his living from the Timber business and travel to teach as much as he could. His work has had a profound impact on countless individuals, and his legacy as a leading expert in the field of Quran and its translation will continue to be remembered for many years to come.
On the eve of 24th January 2023, the cast and crew of the documentary All that Breathes was huddled in producer Aman Mann’s house to see the ceremony of the nominations for Oscar awards. Others involved in the film joined online. As soon as the list was announced, there was jubilation in the room.
All That Breathes by Shaunak Sen is among the shortlisted documentary feature films for the best in this category. From India, another film, The Elephant Whisperers by Kartiki Gonsalves is another documentary nominated for the coveted award in short category.
After Writing with Fire in 2022 this is the second time when Indian documentaries have made it to the Oscars. All that Breathes is a 90 minutes feature based on the story of brothers Nadeem Shehzad and Muhammad Saud who run the “Wildlife Rescue Centre” in North Delhi’s Wazirabad for treating owls and raptors (big kites).
The film has already been screened in Sundance Film festival, Cannes International Film Festival where it bagged the best documentary award. It has also been screened at Dharampura International Film Festival. It’ll be screened in Bangalore at a World Wildlife conference on 12th February then at the BAFTA followed by the Oscars ceremony in March.
As Awaz-the Voice visited their three-storey Home-cum-office-cum-hospitals in Wazirabad after the film made it to Oscar Nominations, brothers Nadeem and Saud spoke stoically about this event, for they were immersed in thoughts about where to raise funds from for their organisation and the mission.
They say that to run an NGO like theirs funds were a dire need and people weren’t that enthusiastic about helping out raptors like Kites, Vultures, Owls and other similar avians, “Some consider them a bad omen while others feel they aren’t endangered, it is easy to get funds for tigers, lions rabbits and elephants but not for carnivorous avians…they have zero cuteness factor”
Nadeem says, “We don’t have any recognition even now, it isn’t like after watching our film we were ushered with a lot of funds, our film producer did give us some, but it is strange as to how even after such a good film people are hesitant with the funds..” Nadeem jokingly chips in, “Many channels have released funds for doing a story on us but they cannot release funds to help our cause…”
Inside the building, the walls of the office have chipped sea green paint. Behind the reception counter are two chairs and a working computer. While Nadeem and Saud are seated, Salik is moving to and fro looking after the chores while an incumbent team member Sana is documenting the records on the word file.
Nadeem,42, and Saud,40, started the NGO in 1993. Salik joined the team later To solve the problem of constant lack of funds, the brothers have set up an organization in the USA because they find “It a bit easier to get funds in the US..” “We lack the running money for day-to-day basis—like salaries, transportation, bird food, medicines, and other expenses are always on the back of our mind; we always have what after two months, what after three months..”
On being asked as to why kites and other raptors were so important for the ecosystem they say that the Kites, Egyptian Vultures, Falcons and others help in clearing up the filth left by the slaughtering of animals, these big birds are nature’s scavengers, “India is the second largest exporter of meat after Australia..the waste from the slaughterhouses is normally dumped in Ghazipur, there one can see upto 7 thousand kites that eagerly wait for the dump…”, he adds.
He further adds that in Delhi open garbage system is a normalcy and then there is the tradition of feeding the eagles and the kites, “In Old Delhi and parts of Rajasthan people feed them, they consider them lucky, in a very dramatic manner the meat loaves are thrown in the air while the raptor scales down with its wings to savor upon the treat..”. This scene also serves as the opening for the trailer.
He adds that, “Rajasthanis often come and give us meat to feed the birds as they feel connected to their roots by following the tradition..”
Apart from treating Kites they also treat barn owls, sparrow hawks, harriers, falcons, migratory birds, egrets, storks, hornbill, “last year we had around 3100 birds, we are the largest care takers of the raptors in the world, this is because we have the highest population of kites and more than that we have manjha (glass powder covered kite flying threads that are suicidal for birds), thus we have means of hurting them as well with us..”
He adds that injuries due to manjha (flying kite thread coated with glass powder) are rampant in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, “we are continuously trying our best to augment the research around operating the birds injured due to manjha and we have presented the same techniques in the US conferences…”
He says that to their amazement the, “US wildlife centre likes our work and we discovered that even there this work hadn’t been done to retrieve a fully functional wing…” Nadeem and Saud told Awaz the Voice that their work falls under Wildlife Rehabilitation and they were a part of the community of rehabilitators, “US has the largest rehabilitator community and we often get sponsored trips to the US to take training and courses and incorporate them here..”
Nadeem says that their rehabilitators community is highly accepting and they don’t feel foreigners at all while on work trips, “We stay at other members homes thus fooding and lodging is expense free, I feel they are eager to share information which we as Indians lack a lot…the findings in the US are shared by one and all..the findings are shared annually worldwide through conferences…”
The rooftop hospital in Wazeerabad has three enclosures, the first one is an open on where healed birds are kept, it is designed in a manner that until the bird can fly 10 ft effortlessly, it won’t leave, whereas the rest of the healthy birds can come and go as and when pleased. Enclosure two holds surgery cases whose treatments are underway, whereas the the third Enclosure are reserved for birds under medication. Nadeem adds, “Since 2010 we get all the birds that are carnivorous, so in a way we are easing their work..”
The birds meanwhile cooed on top of their voice making the reporter realise their existence. While the rooftop was covered with black kites, Egyptia Vultures and falcons looked like foreigners. Nadeem continues, “We are a collection point for hospitals like Charity Jain hospital, Sanjay Gnadhi hospital, Menaka Gandhi Hospital, Animal care hospital, Karol Bagh jain hospital, we collaborate with them…” He says that their rescue rate differed according to seasons, during the bird’s nesting season they got maximum cases, “during this time we just need to feed them and give them water, we give them drips they are easy to maintain…”
“Second kind of cases are those due to the wounds by the Manjha, these are deep cut wounds in which even the bones are shattered…” He adds that in such kind of wounds the next part is to regain their functnality, “We may heal it and forget about wing functionality but then reconstructing is where the process lies. Here we need better understanding and better doctors. In humans we can achieve it through microsurgery but in birds they can lead to gangerine and then death…” He believes that even in birds also the wings can be fixed but then, “we do not have that kind of facilities. ..”
He adds with a shrug, “Animal hospitals abroad are better maintained than human hospitals here in India , cataract surgery for animals is available in abroad but in Indiat have Dr.Reena Dev who specialises in cataract surgery..” Talking about his favorite moments from the film he says he liked the end credits a lot, “When you see the movie you’ll see a lot of kites sitting on the trees and after color correction it looks like an oil painting, the shot gives the feel of a still shot until a bird flies far off then comes the names and it feels as if words are drooping down from the branches…it feels surreal…”
Talking his heart out about disappointments has eased Nadeem a little as he then reminisces his childhood days saying, “Bachpan se mai oscars zaroor dekhta tha..in fact DD Metro pe bhi Oscars aate the..(I always used to watch Oscars on DD Metro in my childhood) but after coming into this profession our lives are upended, we have no personal life whatsoever…”
The three years shooting gave them some special moments and for Nadeem the moment when they swam, across the river to rescue birds will always be special.
He says, “Our favorite ones are mostly deleted, out of the 500 hours of working footage only 90 minutes were in the Final Cut..still the camerawork and cinematography is beyond our imagination…”
Documentaries juxtapose real lives and thus a scene shows the duo (Nadeem and Saud) fighting over some trivia matter when asked they both reply instantly, “Asi ladaiyan toh roz hoti hain..(We fight like this on a daily basis)… See the work we are doing is very stressful and that too without money, there is a lot at stake and when workload increases our temperature also soars but then we are family so it is all in good faith..” “After 5 minutes we are like..what was it we were fighting about..we are best friends and brothers for life..so yea..this is normal..”, Saud adds.
Saud says that Shaunak took three months to make them feel at ease with the camera’s presence, “He started shooting us when we finally started yawning in front of the camera which was one of his idiosyncrasy, he used to say treat the camera as a fly on the wall..” Sharing his experience at various screenings Nadeem says, “at DIFF people were whistling on the scenes that they liked, they started clapping whenever they liked a shot whereas Cannes is very cosmopolitan..” He says that the close collar dress code at Cannes is a sign of respect for the artist, “we came across many great artists, the cameramen were running after them but we couldn’t recognise them, people were clicking selfies but then I didn’t knew them and then Shaunak was like Oh..Nadeem they are so and so of the Industry…”
Talks about Cannes has lightened the air and Saud seeems relaxed and hopefull than before yet he says, “Asli Khushi tab milegi jab Oscar milega..(we’ll be really happy after bagging the Oscars)” Salik chimes in saying, “It is a tough call but we are hopefull..” He adds, “We never thought that one day a documentary will be made on our efforts or that we will become world famous one day, it feels great…” Salik has a camera friendly face and when for the first time he saw his photo on the big screen he was excited. His favourite scene from the feature is the one where the kite takes his spectacles, “I just say arey chasma le gayi yeh mera(oh! She took my specs), it was as if they were aware of being documented…then there is a moment when I rescued a squirrel and it stays in my pocket, i had no idea that it was being shot but then it came out really well…” Salik feels that their social media presence has increased after the movie.
The ambience of the room feels lighter than before as the talks about the upcoming awards night are now the topic and who’s going to wear what becomes the major question now. Saud says, “There isn’t any prep for it as such, if there’ll be a photo shoot then we’ll prefer it in traditional Indian attire …”
Saud then smiles and tells Awaz the Voice, “In France people stopped us on the road and complimented us for our traditional wear..” Nadeem looked befuddled and happy for the first time when he says, “the women were wearing such long gowns that two to three men were carrying it yet our Indian attire outshone them.” Saud continues, “It was white linen Kurta with a closed collar and Jawahar cut jacket..” “We made sure to keep it as close to Indian traditions as possible..” Abdul Rehman of skylark tailors stitched our whole attire, Saud says, “When people asked is your tux from Paris, we replied “No, Chandini Chowk…the fabric was sourced from Katra Neel and Krishna Market in Old Delhi…”
They add, “We didn’t had much time, it was done at the last moment…” Even for Oscars Abdul Rehman will be stictching the attire for the brothers. One may find skylark tailors in Ballimaran near Rabia Girl School. Coming to footwear it was sourced from SreeLeathers and Ballimaran. Sharing their hopes and visions for the future the duo says that they want a hospital outside their home with proper operation theater, x-ray machines, blood testing laboratories, “someone gave us their lab equipment when they shut down theirs but we don’t have any money to hire a lab assistant…”
Meanwhile two boys rushed in with an injured kite to whom Nadeem attended like a professional healer. He felt for signs of injury through palpitations that were done manually and later placed it under observation after giving it first aid. He wishes people to be more sensitive and more aware of the surroundings like the movie which says “life is kinship and we are the community of air” thus “we must learn to share our surroundings with all the things alive around us. I am not asking everyone to open a hospital but we can still make time to help each other…”
On being asked what after Oscars and what if they win they say, “We’ll be back to work after the oscars..” They went on to add, “On 1st march there is a technical film festival and we are trying to reach them to learn how to document our work as many techniques that we know can be shared with the world…”
“We want to document our research in print and digital format now…We are working on orthopedic surgeries and very few know about it, especially the wounds by th kite flying thread, the surgeries require intricacies, for example if the bird is brought in late o the hospital then the technique to cure them is different..”
“The muscle moisture has evaporated, thus the method to cure them is different and difficult…we are currently researching the same…” Saud adds,“We don’t want our techniques to die with us,we wish them to be known to the world..” Nadeem winds up by saying, “Wildlife preservation conference see a huge footfall by the conservationists every year thus we wish to present it there…”
They again looked disappointed when they said, “It is tough to work with Indians, they have big egos, whereas people abroad are much more open to learning new techniques” “We have had hands on experience..through consultations with various vets we have developed these techniques, also we have had interaction with human doctors more thus we have tried to replicate the same in the birds..”
source: http://www.awazthevoice.in / Awaz, The Voice / Home> Story / by Shaista Fatima / February 07th, 2023
The athletes were short-listed after a panel of jury, consisting of sports journalists and writers, voted for their preferred players, based on their achievements.
Hyderabad:
Reigning boxing world champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nikhat Zareen and two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu were among five athletes nominated on Monday for the BBC Indian Sportswoman Of The Year (ISWOTY) award.
Others who made the cut were wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, who recently staged a protest against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and accused him of sexual exploitation and intimidation, and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu.
The athletes were short-listed after a panel of jury, consisting of sports journalists and writers, voted for their preferred players, based on their achievements.
The winner will be chosen by a public vote that began on Monday and will continue till February 20 midnight. The winner will be announced on March 5.
Rupa Jha, the Head of India BBC News, announced that they have introduced a new award category — BBC Indian para-sportswoman of the year.
Ekta Bhyan, the 2018 Asian para Games gold medallist, welcomed the move and emphasised on the need to make the stadiums more accessible to the physically challenged athletes.
“The stadiums and swimming pools should be accessible easily for the disabled athletes. Mental barriers need to be broken, about 60 to 70 percent of disabled population is still restricted to homes. More awareness and work is required at grassroots level,” Bhyan, flanked by London Olympics bronze-winning boxer Vijender Singh, said.
“Sports should be a part of education. Why should disabled athletes start their careers at the age of 15 or 16, sport should be accessible to them much earlier and there should be a comprehensive and non-discriminatory policy for disabled,” she added.
Vijender said the women athletes are two steps ahead of their male counterparts and deserve respect more than the awards.
He lamented that the national boxing federation does not keep in touch with boxers like him.
“I know about the current status of boxing as much you (media persons) know. We are not called for even Nationals or other events. I was asked about Indian boxing by Salman Khan and Rahul Gandhi and told them I don’t know because we are not involved,” he said.
He advised that every village in India should have its own multi-sport stadium to encourage youngsters.
source: http://www.telanganatoday.com / Telangana Today / Home> Sport / by Telangana Today / February 06th, 2023
OBE is one of the most prestigious honors awarded in the UK and is given to individuals who have made a significant impact in their respective fields.
Hyderabad-origin Dr Raghib Ali
Dr. Raghib Ali, a renowned physician in the UK, was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Prince William in a ceremony held at the historic Windsor Castle. The award, presented by the Prince of Wales, recognizes Dr. Ali’s contributions to the NHS and the COVID-19 response.
Dr. Ali’s achievements in the field of medicine are well-known and have earned him recognition both nationally and internationally. His dedication to his patients and his innovative approach to medicine have set him apart from his peers and earned him a reputation as one of the leading medical professionals in the UK.
Order of the British Empire
The OBE is one of the most prestigious honors awarded in the UK and is given to individuals who have made a significant impact in their respective fields. Dr. Ali’s award is a testament to his hard work and dedication, and it reflects the respect and admiration that he has earned from his colleagues, patients, and the wider
Dr. Raghib Ali is Our Future Health’s Chief Medical Officer, an Honorary Consultant in Acute Medicine at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, Senior Clinical Research Associate at the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Public Health Research Center and Associate Professor at New York University Abu Dhabi.
In March 2020, he took leave from his university work and volunteered to return, unpaid, to frontline NHS duties and worked on the frontline in all four waves of COVID-19.
In October 2020 he was appointed as an unpaid independent expert adviser on COVID-19 and ethnicity to the UK Government’s Race Disparity Unit and subsequently worked closely with Equalities Office, the NHS, the media, and community organizations to improve vaccine confidence and uptake.
Graduated from Cambridge University
Dr. Raghib Ali graduated from Cambridge University in 2000 and has been awarded postgraduate degrees in Epidemiology and Public Health from the Universities of London, Cambridge and Oxford and was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 2013.
He has been involved in health inequalities research since 2004 – as secretary of the UK Biobank ethnicity subgroup, Director of the INDOX Cancer Research Network and as Principal Investigator for the first study of cancer incidence by individual ethnic group in England.
He is also the Principal Investigator for the UAE Healthy Future Study investigating risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Raghib Ali’s has strong family ties to Hyderabad. His dad (late) Mir Irshad Ali attended Osmania University and migrated to the UK in 1963. He was well known in the immigrant community, and he combined his professional career as an accountant with a life-long commitment to community service in various towns and cities across the UK. Dr. Ali’spaternal grandfather (late) Mir Sajjad Ali was a Finance Secretary for the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Dr. Ali is married with three children, and he loves to visit Hyderabad whenever his busy schedule allows.
source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home / by Guest Contributor / posted by Sameer Khan / February 05th, 2023
On Urdu writer Qurratulain Hyder’s 95th birth anniversary on January 20, remembering her last classic novel, Kare Jahan Daraz Hai, which is a treat in style and content.
Kare Jahan Daraz Hai (The business of the world goes on), Urdu novel in two parts, bound in one volume, Qurratulain Hyder, Educational Publishing House, Delhi, First edition 2003, Pages 766, in large size, Price: Rs 600.
One of the most significant novels of Urdu writer Qurratulain Haider, Kare Jahan Daraz Hai, is the winner of India’s highest literary award—the Jnanpith. Hyder is known for her magnum opus, Aag ka Darya, which has been translated in many languages. She herself translated it in English as River of Fire.
Kare Jahan Daraz Hai is perhaps her last published novel in her journey which started with Mere Bhi Sanamkhane, her first novel, published in 1949. Incidentally, most of her novels have been translated and are popular in Hindi, except her first and the last.
On my Facebook page comments, I got to know that her novella Sitaharan is also well rated by her readers.
Apart from her above mentioned novels, Hyder has to her credit-Safina-e-Game Dil-1952, Patjhar ki Awaz (a short story collection)-1965, which fetched her the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award in 1967, Roshni ki Raftar –1982, four novellas — Chay ke Bagh, Sitaharan, Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya na Keejo and Dilruba and Aakhri Shab ke Humsafar (Travellers of Last Night).
Hyder, who had to her credit 12 novels and novellas, four collections of short stories, many translations from classic world literature, worked as journalist with magazines Imprint and Illustrated Weekly of India and also taught at Jamia Milia Islamia and some US universities. She was offered a Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 1994 and awarded Padma Bhushan in 2005. She also received the Ghalib award and Bahadurshah Zafar award.
Hyder was born on January 20, 1928 to Sajjad Haider Yildarim and Nazar Sajjad Haider, both Urdu writers. She started writing at the age of 11 and wrote her first novel, Mere Bhi Sanamkhane, at the age of 19, which was published, when she was just 21 years old. After Partition, she migrated to Pakistan, from where her most significant novels were published. She returned to India after many years and lived in Delhi. She passed away on August 21, 2007 at the age of 79. She did not marry and was perhaps against the institution of marriage.
Kare Jahan Daraz Hai (the title chosen from a couplet of Iqbal, who along with Faiz Ahmed Faiz is idolised by writers and people in both India and Pakistan) and is an autobiographical novel, focusing on Hyder’s long family history. She has delineated the family history from 740 A.D to almost 20th century-end. The first part of the novel depicts family history from 740 A.D to 1947 in almost 440 pages and 11 chapters, while the post-1947 family history is covered in the second part in 310 pages and five chapters — a total of 16 chapters.
It was in 1962, while visiting her ancestral house in Mohalla Sadaat, Nehtor/Nehtur, Bijnor district in Uttar Pradesh, that the idea struck to Hyder to write novel on the history of the place. She goes back to Zaid, her ancestor in 740 A D, who went to Georgia, established their rule in Tabristan , made Tirmiz their nation, and if they had not moved toward Hindustan in 1180 A D from Turkmenia, they would had been part of the then Soviet Union, she writes.
The story begins from the city of Tirmiz and the second part of the chapter moves the story from Jehon to Jamuna when the family comes to the ‘country of Shakuntala’ and settles somewhere near Kumaon and Garhwal. The Tirmizi family gets land there and makes a new beginning. Members of the family serve kings and one member of the family follows Emperor Aurangzeb in his pursuits.
Hyder has collected documents from family and archival sources to write an authenticated history of her family in narration form, which makes it an extremely readable historic/autobiographical novel. In the first chapter itself, the story reaches the 1857 revolt against the British, in which one rebel, Mir Ahmad Ali, from the family joins the rebellion, while the others remain loyal to the British. The narrator cites some events of the rebellion, particularly in Bijnor district, through documents and family stories.
Every chapter has been provided with references in the end, rather unusual for a novel. In the first chapter’s reference, it has been mentioned that Zaid Bin Imam Zean Albadan was martyred in year 744 A D. Mir Ahmad Ali Tirmazi of this family gave his life in the 1857 revolt as he was executed.
The writer refers to river Gagin, passing through Nehtor and going toward Moradabad. In fact, the story of the family from 740 AD to 1857, is just referral, the novel focuses upon 1857-1947 in first part of the novel and 1947-1987 in second part of the novel.
Hyder’s narration is filled with historic references and depiction of nature, like mentioning rivers like Gomati, Ramganga and Ravi, which makes the novel interesting in its style. She refers to her grandparents, but the real story of novel moves from the depiction of her father Sajjad Haider Yildaram and mother Nazar Baqar’s life story from the days of their school to the end of their lives, which carry on in the second part of the novel as well.
The story of Sajjad Hyder is also the story of development of Muslim educational institutions and the story of women’s education among the Muslim community. It is a fascinating story of the development of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) as well, which became the base of enlightenment among Muslims in pre-Partition India.
Hyder’s mother’s development as an Urdu fiction writer and father Yildaram’s development as a diplomat, writer and traveller, create an aura of romance for that period of history. Yildarim was fond of travelling and moved around many countries, particularly in West Asia. Hyder got the thirst for travel from her father and she, too, travelled many parts of the world.
The novel is full of her travelogues as well and particularly interesting is her description of Egypt during Gamal Abdel Nasser’s regime, changing into a modern nation. Her depiction of the Nile River, Egyptian Mummies, Alexandria, Suez Canal, assertion of independence from the West by Nasser, are all narrated in fascinating style. She describes the geo socio-cultural-natural locale of all places in a manner that transports the reader there.
In the second part of the novel focusses on life in Karachi, where Hyder had migrated with her family. Here she grows into a celebrated writer, who goes through much turmoil as well. There are petty attacks on her writings, she has a casual and carefree temperament, and does not bother about the malicious attacks. She had strong support from friends and family.
Poet Faiz ‘s appreciation and attachment with her family is described so is author Sajjad Zaheer’s underground life in Pakistan mentioned. Hyder spent a lot many years in London. She exposes the Pakistan government’s anti-woman attitude and bureaucratic favouritism.
Affectionately called Ainee Apa, Hyder ‘s return to India was not melodramatic; rather she makes it look casual and matter of fact, does not damn Pakistan, just comes back and faces almost similar struggles as in Pakistan.
This novel seems to have been translated and published in Hindi by Vani Prakashan, Delhi, in Hindi in 2020 at a prohibitive price of Rs 5,000 with an introduction by Gopi Chand Narang, but the same can be downloaded free as a pdf file from Urdu Digest Novels website.
When I read this novel, its Hindi or English translations were not available and, with my too slow speed in reading Urdu, it took me few months to complete it. But, this was the one of the best reads I have done in my life.
The writer retired as professor in Hindi translation from Centre of Indian Languages, JNU, New Delhi; was Dean, Faculty of Languages, at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and at present is honorary advisor at Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre at Delhi Archives. The views are personal.
source: http://www.newsclick.in / News Click / Home / by Chaman Lal / January 20th, 2023
