Ibrahim Thabreez, 23, has equipped his bus with WiFi and offers free tax consultation
Owner of a private bus in Mangaluru encourages people to file IT returns by offering information and free consultation
After offering free Wi-Fi services on a private city bus, a Golden Line bus that runs between Mangaluru city (State Bank of India Bus Stand) and Hoo Hakuvakallu near Konaje will offer free consultancy services on several issues such as GST, linking PAN with Aadhaar, filing IT returns and how to go about it.
Ibrahim Thabreez, a 23-year-old MBA graduate working as an export executive at Sharief Marine Product Private Limited decided to spread awareness on the subject. Thabreez‘s family is into transport business and they own about three city buses.
Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, Thabreez said, “People panic when they hear the word tax. Now, with GST, the panic has only increased. I am campaigning so that people come forward and file their returns. I explain to them the benefits of filing returns and how to go about it. For this, I have pasted posters inside the bus. I thought this is the right time to spread awareness as there are few days left to file returns for the last financial year. I addition, I am helping people with getting a PAN card, as well as linking it to their Aadhaar cards and bank accounts,” he said.
The non-salaried class often try to avoid filing returns. “I have provided my mobile number on the posters on the bus. While I guide them for free, in case they want me to take it further and get them a PAN card, I will do so only by charging a fee prescribed by the government. Regarding IT returns, I can guide them on the taxable amount and how to go about filing e-returns. In case they insist that I file it for them, I can provide the services at my office at a reasonable fee,” he said.
When JIOFi was launched earlier this year, Thabreez saw to it that a device was placed inside the bus so that people could use WiFi for free. Though the free offer has ended, they use upto 5 GB data in the bus every day.
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> News> State / by Deepthi Sanjiv, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / July 27th, 2017
Janab Khaleel Mamoon and Gopchand Narang at the inauguration of All India Seminar on Life and Works of Eminent Urdu Poet Akhtarul Iman in Bangalore, on 22, January, 2012. Photo:V Sreenivasa Murthy
On Sunday, Urdu aficionados across the city came together to remember, discuss and delve into the nuances of the life and works of noted Urdu poet and award-winning screenwriter in Hindi cinema Akhtarul Iman.
Though Iman was recognised as among the important faces of modern Urdu poetry after he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1962, there has been little discourse, or few seminars held on him, said academic Gopichand Narang at a daylong seminar organised by the All-India Urdu Manch and Sahitya Akademi.
Dr. Narang, professor emeritus at the Hyderabad Central University, spoke about several facets of the Iman’s life and his poetry, alluding them to a “jigsaw puzzle”. Having been recognised by the Urdu community only after he was conferred the Sahitya Akademi award for Yaadein, Dr. Narang said that Iman’s works needed to be revisited.
“It was only after the award that everyone started reading him, and his name was taken with the likes of Meeraji and N.M. Rashid,” he said. He was fiercely independent, and though he was writing for Bollywood for his “source of livelihood”, he was always “an outsider” to Hindi cinema. He said Iman neither compromised on his ‘shayari’ nor ‘films’.
Screenplays
Iman wrote several award-winning screenplays, including for classics such as Waqt, Dharmputra, Kanoon, Patthar Ke Sanam and Gumrah. However, he did not write lyrics for film songs unlike many of his Urdu poet contemporaries, Dr. Narang pointed out.
‘Jigsaw puzzle’
On the “jigsaw puzzle” that he compares the poet’s persona to, Dr. Narang said Iman’s writing was multifaceted. While, on the one hand, his poetry reflected a sense of longing for human values, relationships and innocence that a migrant would feel in a metropolis like Mumbai (Iman himself migrated to Bombay from Uttar Pradesh), it also dealt with weighty socio-political issues such as corruption, poverty and injustice, he said.
“A facet of his writing can be compared to R.K. Laxman’s ‘common man’ who observes all that is wrong around him, all that is commercialised, and the erosion of human values,” Dr. Narang explained. While Iman did refer to and appreciate revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, he was not among the activists, he added. “Some are activists, and then there are others who simply use the power of their pen.”
No ghazals
Several papers discussing the works of Iman were presented at the seminar. Khaleel Mamoon, former chairman of the Karnataka Urdu Academy, said Iman would be remembered for his strong individualism. “He never wrote ghazals as he felt that the form does not permit expression of original ideas and concept. He also believed that ghazals as a form had already reached its zenith by the time of Mirza Ghalib… so kept himself away from the tradition of ghazals.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Staff Reporter / Bangalore – January 23rd, 2012
Actor Adaa Khan says that along with getting good reviews for her role of Shesha in Naagin, she has also been complimented by people comparing her look with that of Sridevi in the film Nagina.
Actor Adaa Khan played the role of Sesha in the TV show Naagin and its sequel, Naagin 2.
For actor Adaa Khan, the TV show Naagin and its sequel hold a special place in her heart. The reason is not just that the shows were a hit, but also because her look in the serials was compared to that of Sridevi in the 1986 movie Nagina.
“The response to Naagin and Naagin 2 was encouraging for all of us,” says Adaa. “That the audience loved my portrayal of Shesha added to my happiness. I enjoyed playing the character, as it had several layers to it. I feel that doing the show has been a turning point in my career.”
The Amrit Manthan actor also got several compliments for the way she looked in the serials. Many have compared her look in Naagin to that of actor Sridevi in Nagina. “I have been praised for the way I looked on the show. But the best [compliment] was when people said that I looked like Sridevi. I am a huge Sridevi fan, so getting such compliments made me feel really special,” says Adaa.
Naagin 2 recently ended and Adaa says that she will miss her co-stars from the show — working together for so long, they really became close to each other. “Working with Mouni (Roy) and Sudha Chandran was, in a word, wonderful. We all used to have so much fun on the sets and now I am missing that already. I feel Naagin was one show where everyone had put in a lot of hard work and that helped in making the show such a success,” says Adaa.
source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Entertainment> TV / by Shreya Mukherjee , Hindustan Times / July 16th, 2017
IT was perhaps in the early 1970s that I first heard Ali Sardar Jafri at a mushaira (poetic soiree) in Delhi. I do not have a very vivid recollection of all he chose to recite on that evening because the dais had a galaxy of eminent Urdu poets. Yet I still cherish the memory since he had made a great impression on me and other young men on account of his fiery poetry. What struck me most was the freshness of imagery, the transparent commitment to the man-on-the-street, and the intensely felt love for this country and its composite culture.
When the Sardar recited “har aashiq hai Sardar yahan, har maashooqa Sultana hai” (Here, every lover is Sardar and every beloved is Sultana), I was struck by the boldness of expression. I knew that romantic poetry was all about self-expression, but this was something absolutely new. Normally, lovers fashion themselves after Majnu and their beloveds after Laila, but here was a poet who identified himself and his beloved Sultana, who later became his wife, with every lover and beloved. Majnu and Laila were no longer the measure, the yardstick. It was the poet himself and his love that became the new symbols of lovers. This was a startling example of transmutation of literary symbolism. Here, one was faced with a totally new aesthetics.
So much has been written about Ali Sardar Jafri’s contribution to the progressive writers’ movement. He was one of its leaders, and insofar as Urdu poetry is concerned, its tallest leader in India. He belonged to a generation that began with participatio n in the freedom struggle and gradually moved from nationalism to Marxism. This was no fashionable Marxism embraced for its intellectual attraction. This was a Marxism that dislocated them from their comfortable aristocratic or upper middle class existen ce and compelled them to live the hard life. The many possibilities of fundamental social and economic change opened up before this generation, which remained unsatisfied with the attainment of political freedom alone. This was a generation that produced the likes of Shambhu Mitra, Bijon Bhattacharya, Mrinal Sen, Utpal Dutt, Balraj Sahni, Sahir Ludhianvi, Kaifi Azmi, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Shailendra, Salil Chaudhury, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Ramvilas Sharma, Kedarnath Agrawal, Nagarjun, Shamsher, Makhdoom Moh iuddin, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Ismat Chugtai, Krishen Chander and a host of other equally eminent creative talents.
It was not without reason that the legendary Premchand had presided over the first ever conference of the Progressive Writers’ Association held in Lucknow in 1936. The clarion call he issued then, to “change the measure” of beauty, remains to this day a landmark event in the evolution of Indian literature.
Ali Sardar Jafri never forgot Premchand’s call. In fact, he uses this as an epigram to begin his celebrated poem Samandar ki Beti (Daughter of the Ocean) with. Unlike many other writers and poets, Jafri did not go to Bombay (now Mumbai) to write for Hindi films. He went there to work as a full-time activist of the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI). His involvement with writing film lyrics came much later and he was to set a standard of lyrical beauty that has remained unique. His composi tion for the film Footpath, “Shaam-e-gham ki kasam, aaj ghamgeen hain ham“, rendered in Talat Mahmood’s silken voice, remains memorable even today. Jafri even produced a film Gyarah Hazar Ladkiyan (Eleven Thousand Girls) in 1960 for friend Khwaja Ahmad Abbas. Incidentally, it was Abbas to whose film Anhonee Jafri lent his pen for the first time in 1952.
BORN in an aristocratic Muslim family of Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh in 1913, Ali Sardar Jafri plunged into politics early and joined the national movement. He went to jail several times on account of his political activities. He left for Bombay in 1942 and spent most of his life in this metropolis. A friend of revolutionary Turkish poet Nazim Hikmat and Nobel Prize winner Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, Jafri remained the leader of progressive Urdu writers till the end. He began his literary career with a collection of short stories Manzil (Destination) in 1938 and made a mark as a poet with Parvaz (Strength to Fly) in 1943. His Nai Duniya ko Salam (Salute to the New World) and Asia Jaag Utha (Asia has awakened) were translated int o many Indian as well as foreign languages.
Jafri also came to be respected as an editor of critical editions of the works of Mir Taqi ‘Mir’ and Ghalib, the two poets who influenced the course of Urdu poetry the most. He also edited the works of Kabir and Meera. Jafri wrote erudite introductions t o all these books, establishing himself as an extraordinarily perceptive critic. As a poet, his unique contribution was to get the free verse its rightful place in the Urdu literary world. Josh Malihabadi, his senior by many years, had effected a sort of shift from the dominant form of ghazal to nazm, which was not bound by the rules of rhyme. Yet, even Josh’s nazm followed conventions of literary metres and was not exactly “free”. It was Ali Sardar Jafri who, like Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nira la’ in Hindi, freed the nazm from its metrical shackles. If Josh was hailed as Shair-e-Inqilab (The Poet of Revolution), Jafri came to be known as Shair-e-Awam (The Poet of the People).
While Marxism permeated his whole being and writing, it never became an ideological cage for him. Jafri encompassed the great humanistic traditions and compassion of the Sufi and Bhakti movements, the love of nature found in the works of Kalidas, and an assimilative vision of India’s composite culture. In no other Urdu poet – perhaps with the sole exception of Nazir Akbarabadi who lived in the 18th century – would one find quite the same kind of effusive celebration of Krishna with his Gokul, Gautam Bud dha with his disciple Anand and Chandalika, glory of the Vedas, the Radha of Vidyapati’s poetry, and so on. True to his commitment, he penned beautiful poems on Karl Marx and Paul Robeson too.
Several honours came to Jafri during his long literary career. These included the Padmashri, the Pakistan government’s Iqbal Award, the Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy Award, the Kumaran Asan Award and the Toronto Urdu Literary Academy Award. The irony of it was that in 1986, the same Aligarh Muslim University that had expelled him on account of his participation in the freedom struggle, honoured him (or rather itself), by conferring the D.Litt. on him. In 1998, he won the Jnanpith award.
Such was the force of his personality and the power of his pen that even Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, a life-long member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), had to concede in his speech while giving away the Jnanpith award that one could di ffer with Jafri’s views but not with his vision. When Vajpayee made his bus trip to Lahore last year, Jafri went along as a special invitee, chosen since he best symbolised the essential unity of mankind. Among the Indian Prime Minister’s main gifts to his Pakistan counterpart was a collection of Jafri’s poems entitled Sarhad (Border).
Ali Sardar Jafri was steeped in the best traditions of secularism. He fought against imperialism all through his life while remaining aware that imperialism had a great capacity to take on newer forms. His Marxist convictions gave him a strong sense of s ocial justice and equality between classes, castes, religions, languages, and sexes. With his demise at the age of 86, Urdu literature has lost a man who broadened its horizons and deepened its perceptions. Truly he was the Sardar of Urdu literature.
Such was the force of his personality and the power of his pen that even Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, a life-long member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), had to concede in his speech while giving away the Jnanpith award that one could di ffer with Jafri’s views but not with his vision. When Vajpayee made his bus trip to Lahore last year, Jafri went along as a special invitee, chosen since he best symbolised the essential unity of mankind. Among the Indian Prime Minister’s main gifts to h is Pakistan counterpart was a collection of Jafri’s poems entitled Sarhad (Border).
Ali Sardar Jafri was steeped in the best traditions of secularism. He fought against imperialism all through his life while remaining aware that imperialism had a great capacity to take on newer forms. His Marxist convictions gave him a strong sense of s ocial justice and equality between classes, castes, religions, languages, and sexes. With his demise at the age of 86, Urdu literature has lost a man who broadened its horizons and deepened its perceptions. Truly he was the Sardar of Urdu literature.
source: http://www.frontline.in / Frontline / Home> Obituary / by Kuldeep Kumar / Volume 17, Issue 17, August 19 – September 01, 2000
Zaira Wasim seems intelligent beyond years. The 15-year-old student of a missionary school in Srinagar owes her new-found confidence to her recent acting stint in Bollywood. She plays the wrestler daughter of actor Aamir Khan in his upcoming movie ‘Dangal’.
Zaira is back in Srinagar after six months in Mumbai, playing the childhood of Geeta Phogat, the Commonwealth gold medallist wrestler.(HT Photo)
Zaira Wasim seems intelligent beyond years. The 15-year-old student of a missionary school in Srinagar owes her new-found confidence to her recent acting stint in Bollywood. She plays the wrestler daughter of actor Aamir Khan in his upcoming movie ‘Dangal’.
Zaira is back in Srinagar after six months in Mumbai, playing the childhood of Geeta Phogat, the Commonwealth gold medallist wrestler. Phogat is the first woman wrestler from India to have won the gold in the 55 kg freestyle category at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Aamir plays wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat, who trained his two daughters in the sport.
“The experience has been life-changing,” Zaira says. “I was a normal teenager with a lot of anxiety but have been able to overcome that in the past six months,” she tells Hindustan Times.
Daughter of a banker father and a teacher mother, she was selected from among hundreds of girls who auditioned for the role. Zaira was spotted by the casting crew as she had featured in an advertisement for a cell phone. “I got a call for the role in April. It was a big decision for the family as Bollywood is not really looked up to in our society,” she says.
After initial resistance from her family, it was her aunt who supported her decision. “She asked my parents to give me a chance to realise my dreams,” she adds. “Like other Kashmiri parents, mine were concerned about what people would say. But my aunt handled the situation well.”
The decision did have its fallout, though. “A lot was said about me in the social media. But Aamir Khan and the rest of the crew supported me,” she says. “Eventually, I learnt not to pay attention to negativity,” she adds. “I realised you are as good as your thoughts and there was nothing I was ashamed of. I want to tell people that it’s a beautiful role about dignity and empowerment of women,” she adds.
The role required hours of rigorous training in wrestling, body-building and swimming. “I suffered injuries and the one in my shoulder was nasty. But I learnt to bear the pain,” she says. The only thing she regrets is cutting her long hair for the role.
Zaira is all praise for her co-star. “The first day of shooting wasn’t difficult as I had met Khan before. The day I met him first, he never had the air of a star and made me comfortable.”
Having resumed her studies now, the class 10 student says, “I take life as it comes. If another film offer comes my way and doesn’t affect my studies I will take it up.”
source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Entertainment> Bollywood / by Toufiq Rashid, Hindustant Times / December 08th, 2015
Two teachers set precedent by promoting reading habit among students
Kochi :
The tale of Totto-Chan, a girl who has come to symbolise unorthodox learning, is among the best-selling books published by NBT in Malayalam. Translated by poet and film-maker Anwar Ali, the book has been flying off the shelves like no other.
But besides the big purchasers, there are dedicated souls like Ramanunni, a retired teacher from Palakkad who set up a non-profit book selling venture. He has also played a key role in popularising books among school students and teachers.
T.N. Gopalakrishnan Nair
Another compulsive book promoter is T.N. Gopalakrishnan Nair, a resident of Kallara near Koothattukulam, who retired as a government high school Malayalam teacher in 1994. “He comes with an autorickshaw to ship books for sales exhibitions,” says NBT assistant editor Rubin D’Cruz. “Considering that NBT books are heavily subsidised, leave alone profit, he ends up spending money from his own pocket in popularising these books.” Sure enough, Mr. Nair’s tryst with books began back in the 1980s during his association with the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad. He saw before his eyes his son becoming a bookworm and excelling in studies and co-curricular activities alike. “This brought me closer to books big time. Subsequently, I found myself sourcing rare volumes for parents and teachers alike and began to extensively travel between Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode for books which were in short supply those days,” he says. Over time, Mr. Nair carved a niche for himself by single-handedly organising book exhibitions, which grew in scale with publishers, NGOs, schools, and like-minded individuals coming on board.
Recuperating from a medical condition, Mr. Nair is concerned about not being able to host a few exhibitions he had promised at schools in Kottayam this month.
“I should be active, hopefully from the second week of August, and I have committed book exhibitions at three spaces already. I have enough books with me now to hold five such. Fortunately, there is an auto driver who helps me out in transporting books,” says Mr. Nair.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / July 09th, 2017
The Adil Shahis made Bijapur (now Vijayapura) a city ahead of its time in terms of infrastructure development and security. This well-planned city had two fortifications, one around the principal Adil Shahi administrative and residential buildings, and a larger one around the rest of the city. Both were roughly circular and had moats and several gateways. To further strengthen the defence of the city walls, the Adil Shahis built many bastions and about 96 gigantic cannons were placed on them. Only a dozen of these canons exist today. Most of them are placed in the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) museum housed in the Nagaad Khana in front of Gol Gumbaz and some of them still sit atop the surviving bastions.
First line of defence
The fortifications have crumbled due to neglect and the moats are overgrown with thorny shrubs and in some places, they are filled with sewage and garbage. The only gateway that the citadel still has is on the south. This was the principal gateway into the citadel but now wears an abandoned look. Just inside this once splendid gateway are the remains of guardrooms constructed entirely of pillars from Hindu temples mostly belonging to the Vijayanagara period.
One of the surviving bastions is the Sharza Burj or Lion Bastion which is also the largest bastion in the city. It is famous for housing the cannon Malik-i-Maidan or Lord of the Plains, which was a war trophy won after the defeat of the Vijayanagara Empire at the Battle of Talikota. The cannon is made from a special alloy and can fire not only cannon balls but also metal slugs and copper coins.
Nearby is Haidar Burj which is the highest gun platform in Vijayapura and is a very conspicuous solitary structure.
It is also called the Upri or Upli Burj by the locals. It was built in 1583 by Haidar Khan, a general during the reigns of Ali Adil Shah I and Ibrahim Adil Shah II. A spiral stairway leads to the top which houses two long cannons. The tower was most probably customised for the guns which needed to be fired from a height so that they can have a long range.
The Adil Shahis wanted to transform their capital city to match the Mughal cities in the North by building imposing courtly structures, gardens, wells, waterways and granaries. While most of the structures have fallen to ruin, some have been converted to government offices and only a handful are open to tourists. The Gagan Mahal was built by Ali Adil Shah I as a palace and an audience hall. Only its structural skeleton remains today. A short walk from the Gagan Mahal is the Sath Manzil (Seven Pavillions) or Haft Manzil built by Ibrahim II as a pleasure pavilion. Only a few storeys survive now and there is no way to go inside. Just opposite this is Jal Mahal or Water Pavilion that has been decorated exquisitely and is crowned by a dome. It is set in the middle of a square pool which is now dry and filled with garbage. Again, there is no way to go inside.
Reservoirs & stepwells
Water was and is a precious resource for Vijayapura and the Adil Shahis built a complex hydraulic system to bring water from distant sources into the city and supplemented this with reservoirs and stepwells. Only a few stepwells and reservoirs survive today and the system of aqueducts and horizontal wells are lost. The Taj Baoli is the biggest stepwell in Vijayapura and was built by Malik Sandal, a Persian architect, in honour of Taj Sultana, the wife of Ibrahim Adil Shah II. Sadly the well, its gateway and the gallery around it are in a very bad state. It won’t survive for long if no action is taken immediately.
Another well-known stepwell present here is the Chand Baoli. The stepwell was built by Ali Adil Shah I in honour of his wife Chand Bibi and it served as the model for Taj Baoli. Chand Bibi is best known for courageously defending Ahmednagar and Bijapur against the attacks of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. She was the regent of both Ahmednagar and Bijapur and was known to be a good warrior, musician, linguist and artist. The structure is now completely cordoned off from the public. One can only see it through the grill gate.
Present-day Vijayapura would have benefited if the administration had preserved the hydraulic system of the Adil Shahis and used the many stepwells and reservoirs instead of letting them turn into garbage dumps. Waking up to this, the Minister for Water Resources, M B Patil announced in April that starting with Taj Baoli, around 20 wells in Vijayapura will be rejuvenated at the cost of Rs 4.25 crore. As a part of the rejuvenation process, the dirty water present in the wells is being pumped out, the garbage is being removed, and the well is being desilted. Additionally, there are plans to repair the structures around them. When fresh water accumulates, it will be pumped and stored in tanks, from which people can collect water for domestic purposes apart from drinking. This will ease the water scarcity the city is facing to a certain extent.
Unless people surrounding these monuments understand their historical importance and realise that a clean baoli can help face water scarcity, all efforts to revive the heritage structures will be futile.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> Spectrum / by Rijutha Jagannathan / July 04th, 2017
The Ansari family in front of their house in Jerusalem. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/The Indian Hospice)
Did you know that there is a corner of Jerusalem that has a distinct Indian stamp to it and its various residents wear their Indian origin like a medal?
Next to the Al-Aqsa mosque in the city there is the Indian Hospice in Jerusalem. The hospice is managed by the Ansari family and has a centuries-old connect to India.
The Indian Hospice in Jerusalem. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/The Indian Hospice)
Indian pilgrims to the “holy city” of Jerusalem, can stay at the ‘Indian Hospice’ and pay homage to the Indian Sufi saint Baba Faridudding of Shakar Ganj, who visited the place 800 years ago.
Seen here, celebrated Indian chef Samjeev Kapoor at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/The Indian Hospice)
The Indian Connection Through Baba Farid
The year is 1200, a little over a decade after the armies of Saladin had forced the Christian Crusaders out of Jerusalem. And an Indian Sufi saint from Punjab named Baba Fariduddin of Shakar Ganj travels to the war torn city.
The victory of Saladin against the Crusaders. Balian of Ibelin surrendering the city of Jerusalem to Saladin, from Les Passages faits Outremer par les Français contre les Turcs et autres Sarrasins et Maures outremarins, c. 1490. (Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia)
Sufi saint Baba Farid (Photo Courtesy: Seeker of Sacred Knowledge)
It is said that Baba Farid swept the stone floors around al-Aqsa mosque as a mark of devotion. He is also known to have taken up fasting in the silence of a cave nearby.
Long after he went back to India, Muslims from the sub-continent who passed Jerusalem on their way to Mecca stopped at this spot in memory of Baba Farid. It became a sort of temporary residence for the pilgrims.
Ansaris Deputed To Care For Baba Farid’s Legacy
In early 1920s, Jerusalem’s Supreme Muslim Council requested the leaders of the Khilafat Movement of British-ruled India to nominate someone to care for the hospice. The Khilafat leaders honoured the request of the Supreme Council then headed by Arab nationalist Mohammed Amin Al-Husseini. That is how in 1924 Sheikh Nazir Hasan Ansari – who was also part of the Khilafat Movement – was chosen to go to Jerusalem to take charge of the hospice.
Sheikh Nazir Hasan Ansari (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/The Indian Hospice)
Sheikh Munir Ansari who now heads the place, seen here as a boy. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/The Indian Hospice)
His son Sheikh Munir Ansari now heads the place. The two have during their respective years as administrator of the hospice, persuaded the rulers of several Indian Muslim states, including Hyderabad, to make contributions for the upkeep of the hospice. Munir’s son Nazeer proudly explains the glorious history of the place.
Not only pilgrims, but Indians from all walks of life who visit Israel like to meet the Ansaris. They are amazed by the way the Ansaris care for that piece of India in the land of Arab-Jewish confluence. Past visitors include famous journalists, presidents, Indian politicians, celebrities and commoners.
The Ansaris have been gracious hosts to many Indian journalists. Seen in this picture, among other journalists is Suhasini Haider of The Hindu. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/The Indian Hospice)
Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar at The Indian Hospice. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/The Indian Hospice)
President Pranab Mukherjee too visited The Indian Hospice in Jerusalem. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/The Indian Hospice)
The Ansaris value the responsibility that comes with the inheritance of the heritage. Their FB page says:
Maintaining and protecting an Indian institution in Jerusalem’s old city is no easy task. But Sheikh Munir has accomplished the impossible with delicate diplomacy and extreme tact.
The Indian Hospice
The Ansaris on a visit to India. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/The Indian Hospice)
The Ansari family has been a steady presence in Jerusalem ever since and they all still carry Indian passports.
source: http://www.thequint.com / The Quint / Home> News Videos / by Kirti Phadtatre Pandey / July o4th,2017
It’s indeed possible for sports personalities to workout, while fasting for Ramadan.
Shaik Khalid
Is it possible to stay fit, while fasting for 30 consecutive days, and train as hard as any other day, during the holy month of Ramadan?
Yes, there are people from the sports fraternity in the city who are balancing their religious sentiments and fitness with equal élan. “The month of Ramadan started as usual with me fasting with my family members. But, now that I am travelling from China to India to attend a coaching camp, I will have to see my schedule and then decide if I can fast or not. I am keeping an open mind, if I can I will or else not,” says 18-year-old Shaik Jafreen, who had represented India and won various International Deaf Tennis Championships. She is now prepping up for her next big assignment — the Deaf Olympics — to be held in Turkey in July.
Syeda Falak
Syeda Falak (popularly known as the Golden Girl of Hyderabad) who has created a name for herself in Karate globally, says, “Usually I alternate the time of training and fasting during Ramadan. Either I workout before breaking the fast, that is early morning, or after breaking the fast with a few dates. It’s not advisable to work out after eating a lot as you will fall sick for sure. So, it is better to munch on some dates and finish a light workout and then eat properly.”
Shaik Jafreen
For Syeda, a proper diet and rest is of importance, as workout sessions during Ramadan can tire people out easily. Agreeing with her is Shaik Khalid, the General Secretary of Telangana Association of Mixed Martial Arts (TAMMA) and a coach for many aspiring fighters. He says, “During these 30 days, our training schedule changes. We don’t train during the day, and instead, do it from 10 pm to midnight. But again, following a proper diet is very important in our field and to recover from the effects of fasting, we eat a lot of dates and fruits and only then train.”
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Lifestyle, Viral and Trending / by Reshmi Chakravorty, Deccan Chronicle / June 02nd, 2017
THE HAVELI of Kale Sahib is no more but the ahata (compound) still exists, and what a slum it has become since 1847 when Ghalib lived there after his release from prison for debt default! The poet quipped that after being freed by Gore (the British) he had been “imprisoned” by Kale. Kale Sahib was a highly venerated man. Whether he got this name because of his complexion is not known, but it is quite likely that the saint was not as fair as Ghalib. The Moghul emperor was among his devotees and so were Ghalib and his family. As a matter of fact, Ghalib’s sister-in-law, Bunyiadi Begum gifted the ahata to Kale Sahib and the name stuck.
Kale Sahib was a practical minded saint who refused to perform miracles just to please his devotees. He counselled them to pray fervently, pointing out at the same time that in 90 per cent cases prayers went unanswered. But there were instances when he did help people out of their difficulties. He once admonished a man from whom he had driven out an evil spirit that if he went back to his sinful ways he would again become possessed and then even miracles might not help. Apparently Kale Sahib did not have to exorcise him again.
Situated in the Ballimaran area of Delhi, Ahata Kale Sahib forms part of the locality founded by a Persian, Qasim Khan, who first settled down in Lahore about the year 1750 and was befriended by the Governor of Punjab, Moinul Mulk. When Ahmed Shah Abdali invaded Punjab, Moinul Mulk resisted him and was killed. His widow, Mughlai Begum then became the virtual ruler and made Qasim Khan her chief adviser. There were insinuations, but then which young widow is safe from wagging tongues if she befriends a man?
Qasim Khan later came to the court of Shah Alam where he was accepted as a nobleman. The place in which he lived is known to this day as Gali Qasim Jan. Qasim Khan’s son, Faizullah Beg built the ahata. But how Buniyadi Begum came to possess it is not clear.
Congested mohalla
Ahata Kale Sahib now is a congested mohalla. Few of its residents remember Kale Sahib. But the ahata is in the news generally, for whenever BSES resorts to power cuts, Ahata Kale Sahib is as much affected as distant Janakpuri. In fact one finds this link between what was once Asia’s biggest colony and one of the dirtiest amusing. After Ghalib’s joke about Gore and Kale this should surely take the cake for it would have tickled the poet too. But he is long dead and gone.. But one has the feeling that he couldn’t be resting peacefully in Nizamuddin for he was essentially a man of the walled city of Delhi whose charms began and ended within its confines.
The charms are still reflected in a slight difference in speech, the flavour of the kababs and the taste of the water from Hare Bhare Sahib. The breeze that springs from the Jamuna goes past the Red Fort, negotiates the many arches of the Jama Masjid and merges with the smell of the motia and chameli sold at the crossroads before cooling the courtyards of the houses in the narrow gullies.
Ghalib liked to move about in this area of which the Kashmere and Delhi gates were the two extremities, with the fort being the hub and centre and the mosque the cultural bastion of the city. Yes, of course, Ghalib always had a soft corner for Agra, because he was born there and passed his boyhood in Kala Mahal from which the Taj looks just like a building in the next locality.
But his heart had been won over by Shahjehanabad. From Ballimaran to Jama Masjid the walk was long enough via Chandni Chowk. Sometimes one could meet Mir Ashiq who came from the opposite direction and went back to his kucha via Ballimaran. Was the tilt of his cap different from that of the residents of Nizamuddin? People noticed such traits and developed their pet notions.
For a man of such intense likes and dislikes as Ghalib, his grave in Nizamuddin is out of the milieu in which he flourished. It is a small enclosure though beautiful in its own way where sparrows make love in the afternoon. The illiterate take it for another shrine where obeisance must be paid, and budding poets hope to imbibe some of the virtues of the great “shair”.
An old man who sometimes steals up to the mausoleum feels that even a blank page touching the “mazar” would instantly be graced with a ghazal. He has never seen it happen, nor would we surely, but such feelings are the stuff legends are made of.
R.V.SMITH
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> MetroPlus Delhi / by R V Smith / Monday – November 29th, 2004
