Built in 1750s, it was used to confine freedom fighters from Krishna and Guntur districts till another jail was built in Vijayawada in 1920s
The remains of the British Prison at Bandarkota village near Machilipatnam in Krishna district.
A British construction here stands as a witness to the bravery and sacrifices of the freedom fighters of Masulipatnam and Krishna district.
The giant building, known as ‘British Prison’, reminds one of the history of freedom struggle in Andhra Pradesh.
“It was built after the Anglo-French war in 1750s. The British required a prison in Machilipatnam to incarcerate the local freedom fighters within the area of Krishna and Guntur districts and Nalgonda in Telangana State during the freedom struggle,” local historian Mohammed Silar toldThe Hindu .
According to available literature on Machilipatnam, it was the only prison to confine the freedom fighters until another prison was built in Vijayawada in early 1920s.
Jaggery unit
‘Masula History’ penned by Chitta Bala Krishna Sastry in 1922 predicts that Machilipatnam would witness rapid industrial activity, by citing the jaggery production unit set up in the British prison by then.
“After the British left the prison by early 1920s, local entrepreneur Jaldu Rama Rao obtained permission from the British to use the prison premises for production of jaggery and sugar,” said Mr. Silar. However, sugar cane production had to be stopped by mid 1940s, owing to various business reasons.
Currently, the British prison is owned by the family of Jaldu Rama Rao.
Now, an old woman resides at the entrance of the site, which is yet to get the heritage status.
Only if it gets the heritage status, any conservatory initiatives by the Archaeological Survey of India could be expected to take place.
Another heritage structure
Ironically, the British prison is located opposite another heritage site which was a hospital during the Nizam’s period.
The efforts made by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) for the conservation of the British prison as well as the other sites at Bandarkota have not yielded any results so far.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Andhra Pradesh / Bankarkota(Krishna) / August 15th, 2016
On the eve of the country’s 69th Independence Day, the Abbie Rich Inter College, one of the oldest schools in Uttar Pradesh, is struggling to preserve its heritage. The school building, a hundred years old, is in dire need of repairs. The school is the alma mater of Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah, who, long before their participation in the Kakori train robbery of 1927, were classmates and friends here. The school even has their attendance records up to 1919.
Abbey Rich is owned by the Methodist Church of India (MCI) and run on funds raised by Christian minority institutions. The nearly 700 students are mostly from poor families, with no fees charged from them till class VIII. At present, the school is looking for funds to renovate its buildings. However, fund constraints and absence of financial help from the government has brought the school to dire straits.
Abbey Rich has a past that is intimately connected with Uttar Pradesh and the rest of the country. Bismil and Ashfaqullah forged their well-known friendship while students here. Moreover, its alumni fought in both the First and Second World Wars. In the latter, three teachers and five students are known to have joined the armed forces. Their names have been commemorated in a wall plaque.
In 1991, some students put up statues of the two martyrs on the school grounds. Abbey Rich authorities have since wanted to replace them with better statues in marble and have written several times to the state government. However, no reply has been received. Meanwhile, the statues are placed facing the wall, making it difficult for anyone to see the faces either from inside or outside the school.
“Abbie Leonard Rich was an American social worker who came to Shahjahanpur in the 1850s and began teaching children under a tree. In 1857, he was forced to flee the place because people did not know he was not connected to the East India Company,” said principal Mihir Phillips.
Rich returned a few years later and the government gave him some land on rent to set up a school. In 1867, it moved to another building and got affiliation till class X, one of the first in the province. Finally it moved into the current building in 1916, build on land donated by a local nawab.
“We still have the attendance records of Ashfaqullah and Ram Prasad Bismil. They were here till class VIII, in section B actually. The students and staff feel proud to share this heritage,” said Phillips.
There is an important incident from the freedom struggle connected to both martyrs. In 1919, police raided the school to arrest both the boys. “But then principal Rufus Charan stopped the police at the gate. This gave time to the two boys to escape,” the principal said.
Professor Bikram Mani, who retired from the school told TOI, “This used to be the best school of the city but everything changed with time. We provide free education and this is probably not what people need these days. Otherwise, it would have been declared a heritage institution.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Bareilly / Kanwardeep Singh / TNN / August 23rd, 2016
Prince of Arcot, Nawab Mohammad Abdul Ali, has hailed Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for sanctioning a sum of Rs14.5 crore for the restoration of the Chepauk Palace (Kalas Mahal).
In a release, the Nawab said that the people of Tamil Nadu, particularly those who have love for history and interest in preserving historical monuments, were overwhelmed by the Chief Minister’s gesture to restore the majestic Kalas Mahal, which is perhaps the first Indo-Saracenic monument in the country.
The Nawab thanked the Chief Minister for her decision not to demolish the historic Kalas Mahal, which was ravaged by a fire in January 2012. That the CM evinced keen interest to restore it, shows her concern and love for history.
The Prince hoped the restoration would be carried out as per detailed drawings provided by a firm belonging to a conservation architect and that the originality of the structure would be maintained.
Kalas Mahal is classified as a grade-I heritage building in the Justice E. Padmanabhan committee report
The direct descendant of the eighth Nawab of Carnatic, Muhammad Ali Wallajah (1749 to 1795), built the Kalas Mahal.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service – Chennai / July 20th, 2013
A new look:The building that is being renovated at a cost of Rs. 14.5 crore will be home to the National Green Tribunal, Southern Bench. —Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam
People who visit the PWD complex cannot miss the once fire-ravaged walls that now sport a new look, coated with fresh terracotta paint.
A portion of the Kalas Mahal, which was once part of the Chepauk Palace and was ravaged in a fire a few years ago, will soon be restored to its original glory.
Work to renovate the ground floor of the 248-year-old building is expected to be completed by September-end.
It will be the home to the National Green Tribunal, Southern Bench. Nearly 100 skilled labourers are giving finishing touches to the building that is being restored at a cost of Rs. 14.5 crore, said officials of the Public Works Department.
“Work is on to provide flooring with kota stones, which is a fine-grained variety of limestone. Labourers who are skilled in lime plastering and ornamental beading works are also engaged in providing wall lining as per the guidelines,” an official said.
Spread over 24,000 sq.ft, the ground floor will be allotted to the tribunal Bench and will house three court halls. The Bench is now functioning at Arumbakkam.
A team of its representatives recently visited the site.
Nearly 80 per cent of the work on the ground floor has been completed so far. Similarly, nearly 50 per cent of the work to renovate the first floor is over.
“We are reconstructing the Madras Terrace roofing using materials from Rajapalayam and Srivilliputhur. The windows and doors are being replicated in the heritage building. We are also making arrangements for water supply and sanitary facilities in the structure,” an official said.
Once the project to restore the first floor is over, work to reconstruct the octagonal dome will be taken up.
Meanwhile, the PWD is also expediting the process to restore the adjacent heritage building, Humayun Mahal, which suffered roof collapses and faced a minor fire over the past few years.
“The process is on to engage a conservation architect to prepare a detailed project report for restoration of the structure. The project may be implemented in five or six months,” an official said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by K. Lakshmi / Chennai – August 14th, 2016
Noted playback singer Javed Ali will perform at “Jaya Hey” event at Nehru Centre here tomorrow to raise funds for the aid of war widows.
“The loss of a soldier fighting enemy is heart-breaking for any nation, but the biggest brunt of it is borne by the soldier’s family, more so (by) widow he leaves behind.
“The nation owes its freedom and security to these brave heroes. None of us can exist in isolation,” Amit Malhotra, Co-Founder and CEO of Ten Dimensions International, which has conceived and executing the fundraiser said in a statement issued here today.
“To be aware of these connections, to feel appreciation for them and to strive to give something back to the society in a spirit of gratitude is the proper way for human beings to live,” he added.
Ali, known for his hit number “Jashn-e-Bahaaran” from Jodhaa Akbar (2008) besides other songs, said, “We have all heard about the soldiers sacrificing their life for the safety of our nation. But not many know the struggle of the war widows who are left behind. I am proud and extremely grateful to be associated with ‘Jaya Hey'”.
The proceeds from the event will go to ‘Vasantharatna Foundation for Art’, an initiative by Subhashini Vasanth , a recipient of the Neerja Bhanot Award 2016.
In 2007, Subhashini’s husband Col Vasanth Venugopal was awarded Ashok Chakra (Posthumous) for exemplary bravery in Jammu and Kashmir.
MM NSK SMJ
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Mumbai / PTI / August 12th, 2016
At a time when the tribe of Telugu litterateurs, especially from Telangana, with command over Urdu was becoming endangered, arrived a man from a village in West Godavari, who spent about two decades learning Urdu.
P V Suryanarayana Murthy a journalist by profession, has over the years, not only written Urdu shayeri (poetry) but with Mahak Hyderabadi as his takhallus (penname), also penned poems and ghazals. That’s not all.
He translated afsane (short stories) by Jeelani Banu and got them published in Telugu newspapers and magazines. When he counted them last it stood at 21; enough for a publisher to come forward with an anthology. The name of the collection, since released, is titled Guppita Jaare Isukaor Sookhi Raith (Dry Sand).
“I came from Coastal Andhra and settled down in Hyderabad for mainly two reasons-the city was warm towards people from all parts of the country and two, the Urdu language. The language struck me as a goldmine. Any researcher who has access to this language would get to know a rare portrait of India. The language has given me a better understanding of my country… I chose Jeelani Banu for translation because I could relate to most of her stories… They carry a message without being preachy or propagandist. They have the local flavour along with the halo of universality,” says Murthy.
Jeelani Banu is arguably the most recognised writers in the Urdu World. At 82 she is frail and facing age related issues, but still likes to oblige admirers by sitting down with them or attending meetings at their requests. Amazingly, she does not carry an iota of that intimidating celebrity aura.
Born in UP’s Badaun, in 1934, Jeelani Banu arrived in Hyderabad with her illustrious father Hairat Badauni at a time when the city was bubbling with a whole lot of activities-literary, social, religious and political. Perhaps the feudal life with all its glamour and flaws was at its peak. She got engrossed in observing that life and by 1954 she had her first afsana, Mom ki Mariyam (Mariyam of wax), published. The story created a stir as it dealt with the pathetic living conditions of people in a village near Hyderabad.
The episode associated with the publication of that afsana goes like this. One day, revolutionary poet Maqdoom Mohiuddin knocked on the door of his friend Hairat Badauni and said he would like to see her daughter. That was also the time when Jeelani Banu observed pardah. Hairat Badauni called her out. She apprehended that Maqdoom would chide her for writing that afsana because it was not soft on Leftists. Instead, Maqdoom gave her his blessings and said she should write what her heart dictates. Jeelani Banu, since then, never bogged down in the war between Progressive and Modernist writings.
“I had kept my eyes fixed on people. The happiness and trauma that followed the historic events of 1947 and 1948 became my area of interest. I am witness to the collapse of the feudal system and the rise of democracy. Those times and the changes reflect in my writings,” she has said.
Amena Tahseen, Director Centre for Women Studies at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, describes Jeelani Banu as a chronicler of time who has to her credit 22 books that include collections of her short stories and two novels. Shyam Benegal’s 2009 national award winning film ‘Well Done Abba’ was based on her afsana, Narsaiah ki Baudi (Narsaiah’s well).
Noted writer and Shagufta Editor Mustafa Kamal believes that Jeelani Banu is essentially a Progressive Writer who flowed into Modernism without losing out on the essential elements of story-telling. Her stories carry the flavour of Telangana. The way she presented women issues make her a feminist. But she does not flaunt her ‘feminism.’
Jeelani Banu’s afsane and novels have been translated in all major Indian languages and English. She was even conferred with the Padma Shri in 2001.
Tahseen compares Jeelani Banu with Mahasweta Devi, the Bengali writer who passed away on last week. “While Devi focused on the plight of tribals, Banu spoke about the under-privileged. In her works, woman comes across alive and ready to face the challenges. Like Devi, Banu too is an activist. There are several organisations with which she is either associated or extends support to,” she says.
Not surprisingly, Murthy feels privileged to have translated her afsane into Telugu. “In spite of so many awards, I think her works have not been properly appreciated by people among whom she lives. Hyderabad should be proud to have a writer like her,” he says.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Hyderabad / TNN / July 31st, 2016
REAL ISSUES, GRAND PRESENTATION Mohammad Ali Baig / Photo: P.V. Sivakumar
Hyderabad , TELANGANA :
As Mohammad Ali Baig’s “1857: Turrebaz Khan” opens in Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August, the playwright-director-actor talks about the heroic figure in Deccan history
Already recognised as one of India’s best known theatre personalities and India’s youngest Padma awardee in theatre, playwright-director-actor Mohammad Ali Baig has received multiple national and global honours and awards. This time, beginning August first week, his well-known play, “Quli: Dilon ka Shahzaada”, as well as his new production “1857: Turrebaz Khan” have both been invited to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016. While “Quli” has already seen several productions across the world, “Turrebaz Khan” will be premiering at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, before travelling to London and then returning to Hyderabad.
Excerpts from an interview:
Tell us about your new play, “1857: Turrebaz Khan”, and its central character?
Turrebaz Khan was a heroic figure in Deccan history, known for his valour and courage. There is a slang in Hyderabad folklore, a positive one — “Turram Khan”. When you call someone that, you are calling him heroic. That comes from Turrebaz Khan’s name. He was a revolutionary figure freedom fighter, who revolted against the ruling design of the 4th Nizam of Hyderabad and the British. He attacked the British residency, which now houses the women’s college in Koti in Hyderabad, to free his comrade who was detained on charges of treachery without a fair trial by the British. He was caught and detained, but even the jail he was put in couldn’t hold him. After a year, he escaped, and then was caught in the forest of an area called Toopran, near Hyderabad. The man who caught him, Qurban Ali Baig, was the talukdar there. Turrebaz Khan was kept in captivity, then shot, and then his body was hanged in the centre of the city to prevent further rebellion. That is his story.
When you read about 1857, places like Delhi, Meerut, Lucknow, Jhansi and Mysore, all of them are mentioned, but Hyderabad isn’t. This is because the Nizams were allies of the British, and there was no reason to fight. But with Turrebaz Khan, there came a brief period when Hyderabad joined the struggle, the uprising.
Does the play follow Turrebaz Khan’s life?
No, the structure of the play is very interesting actually. It follows the last one hour of his life in captivity, and that one hour is also the duration of the play. It shows the difference between the man who has been captured, and his captor, Ali Baig. They are both sons of the same soil, are of the same colour, but they stand on opposite sides. Ali Baig has allied with the British. He is a man who is privileged in more ways than one, and he has no problem with who his allies are — Indians, British, French. His life is about his own family and prosperity. From his point of view, Turrebaz is “naïve”, and immature. For Turrebaz, Ali Baig has a self-serving agenda.
How does the play deal with this clear difference between the two men?
There are two people, one placating the system, another one going against it in the name of his motherland. Neither one is shown as the villain. Both are victims of their situation.
The play is about discrimination and about oppression, two issues that are relevant anywhere in the world. It can be discrimination of blacks and whites, of haves and have nots, east and west. The play brings both sides of the story out by bringing out both characters. There is very interesting wordplay between the two, philosophical debates which explore different sides of the story. At one point, Ali Baig says to Turrebaz that you talk about leaving your home to fight for your motherland, but what about your own mother at home? What about your aging father, who needs you? Before you, there have been so many others who tried to revolt against the British empire, and look what happened to them.
To this, Turrebaz replies that his motherland is more important to him than his mother; that if he is killed, the world will remember him. No one will remember Qurban Ali Baig.
There are many such debates and wordplay between the two characters and the play is an intense drama. I’ve used live percussion— marfa, dhol, etc.— to complement the dialogues.
The research must have been challenging. Do you supplement it with a lot of fiction?
A lot of research went into this play. It is definitely a challenge, because you can’t fictionalise plays like these too much. You have to pay due respect and maintain sanctity, when you portray these historical figures, since there is no one around to correct the errors. Forget political correctness, you have a responsibility of not putting them in a light that is not morally and ethically right. You can’t sit in judgement. For this play, we have picked the aspects of the story that are relevant to today’s global scenario, since it has to make sense to lot of audience everywhere.
My wife, Noor, who is also my co-playwright, has done most of the research, and a lot of it is also based on research by authorities who have written on Turrebaz.
You spoke about the need to make your play’s relevance to audience across the world. Tell us about the responses you get from these audience? How do you see them connecting to your work?
If you take “Quli”, which is the legendary love story on which Hyderabad is supposed to be founded, or “Spaces”, which is about the thought of sticking to your home and heritage, and about traditionalism versus modernism; both could be about people and lives anywhere in the world. We don’t stick to judgement; we don’t say who is right and who is wrong. Our purpose is to bring out an issue, and let the audience decide their own views.
I’ve taken these plays to English, Turkish, Romanian, Bosnian, Iranian, American audiences, to name a few. “Spaces” moves them to tears; many of them come backstage to me and tell me that this is their story. “Quli” too, sees the audience connecting to it. When they are moved, it moves me as a playwright; it shows me that the kind of theatre I believe in is working, that despite the barrier of language and context, people can connect with these plays. I hope that “1857: Turrebaz Khan” will do that same.
Your productions, held in forts and ruins, are known for usually being larger than life. How difficult is it to travel with these productions?
The earlier plays that I mounted were really huge and I was stuck with own vision of them, so we couldn’t travel. But since the last few plays, like “Spaces”, “Quli” and now “Turrebaz”, I’m still mounting them on a big scale, but I’ve tried to make them production sensible. I keep the portability in mind, so that now we are travelling light, but the end result is still grand. Of course, adapting a play I stage in forts and ruins to a festival setting is difficult, but so far, we have managed to do it successfully.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Swati Daftuar / July 29th, 2016
Tanveer Sait to inaugurate Haj Camp-2016 on Aug. 1
Mysuru :
The District Haj Committee held its preliminary meeting under the Chairmanship of Abdul Azeez Chand at Muslim Girls Orphanage in city recently. The meeting elected Abdul Azeez Chand as Convener and Arif Ahmed Mekhri as Joint Convener for the orientation and inoculation for pilgrims of Haj-2016 from Mysuru, Mandya and Chamarajanagar.
The Haj Camp-2016 will be held on Aug. 1 at RK Palace in Udayagiri. Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Minority Welfare and Wakf Tanveer Sait will be the chief guest.
Co-ordinator Mohammed Mumtaz Ahmed, Anwar Pasha, Syed Younus, Rafeeq Ahmed Khan, Rehman Khan, Irfan Silverline, Sohail Baig, Yusuf Jidda, Shabnam Sayeed, Akbar Aleem of Nanjangud, Mohiuddin of Mandya, Qurath Bhai and Khaleel, District Wakf Advisory Board Officers, were present.
For details, contact the Cordinator on Mob:97417-89000.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / July 23rd, 2016
Four baking enthusiasts have joined hands in an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for making the largest dirt pudding cake in the world.
Danish Ali, Archana Diwan, Nidhi Bagri and Poonam Ankur Shrishrimal love baking and intend to take that to a new level altogether. The task that they are about to take on is a new experience for them, but they hope that they will be able to pull it off well.
Poonam, a glass designer by profession, says, “No one has attempted to bake on this scale and we are making a 1000 kg cake which will be displayed at The Park Hotel Bangalore.”
As to why they decided to take up the challenge, they say that it is their love and passion for baking that has made them come forward. Incidentally, the very same team was also a part of the seven participant group which made an entry into the Limca Book of Records for making India’s largest caricature cake — a Santa on one leg.
“The preparation will be done throughout Saturday night, July 30, beginning at 9 pm, and it will be completed by 7 am the next day,” says Nidhi, a professional blogger.
Archana, a dentist, says, “There are a lot of rules like using custom made equipment and weighing machines and also that a proper recipe should be followed with the measurements scaled up. We hope that we are able to meet all these requirements as a cake of this magnitude hasn’t been made before.” Danish, the only guy among the ‘Bangalore baking buddies’, has his own HP gas station and a catering unit.
How would you like to receive a surprise package of books, hand picked specially for you, at your doorstep every month? An initiative of Mohammed Musab, a fresh BBA graduate and his friends, ‘Read a Book Challenge’ is giving bookworms in the city a new excuse to curl up in bed and stay put.
Readers who register for the challenge on their Facebook page will receive three to four books, beautifully packaged along with a handwritten personal note. At the end of the month, the books are collected and a new package of surprise titles is delivered.
“I have been an avid reader from childhood and I used to tell my friends in college to develop the habit of reading. They told me that they couldn’t decide what to read. So I recommended books for them,” said Musab. That was how the idea behind the challenge came to him and he decided to give it a shot.
The first step was to convince ‘endorsers’ to let him lend their books to strangers. “Book-lovers are very possessive about their collections. I had to assure them that I would take care of their books,” he added. Besides, he offered them the incentive of earning money through their books. After the first month, the readers are charged a nominal amount of Rs 150 which is used to cover costs and pay the endorser between Rs 15 and Rs 20 for each book lent. “I really liked the idea and my book collection was lying idle at home. Being an avid reader myself, I saw this as a chance to help people inculcate the habit of reading,” said Mohammed Shuaib Mumtaz, the first endorser who has contributed 150 books to the inventory. Musab got his friends on board — Sneh Jain designs the packaging, HayattNoorul makes promotional videos and posters and Rishav Jain and Smriti Menon help with the execution. The team delivered the first batch of books on June 15. Already, they have over 100 readers and 10 endorsers on board contributing over 2,500 books to their inventory.
Word of their initiative spread and people in Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and even Srinagar have requested them to bring the challenge to their cities. Though most of their readers are in the age group of 20 to 23, now even parents are showing interest.
Having received two packages so far, Ayesha Shuaib is happy with the variety her nine-year-old son is being exposed to. “He has got books on the themes of adventure, mystery and school amongst others. As a parent, it is a great relief for me because I don’t have to make multiple trips to the library to keep him engaged,” she said.
Monthly surprises
Meanwhile, they are preparing to deliver monthly surprises to their growing number of readers. An engineer is helping them develop a website and software to manage the inventory. They are also in the process of developing an algorithm to automatically select books based on the readers’ preference.
“I have received offers from investors. However, I haven’t accepted any for now because I am not sure what I am dealing with. I don’t know if this is going to be a small startup or the next big thing so I want to let it grow slowly,” said Musab.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> City / DHNS / Meghana Choukkar / Bengaluru, DHNS – July 29th, 2016
