International Books, Arts and Cultural Society, Mysuru, had organised an interaction with Yasmeen Premji, author, philanthropist and architect, at a function held at Wind Chimes in Nazarbad here this morning to commemorate the first anniversary of its English Book Club.
Yasmeen Premji, who is also the Director of Azim Premji Foundation, interacted with the members of the Club on her novel ‘Days of Gold and Sepia’ based on the life of Laljee Lakha, an orphan who rose from a humble family in Kutch to amass a fortune as Bombay’s cotton king in pre-independence era.
English Book Club Founder- President Shubha Sanjay Urs, Club In-Charge Yogini and others were present.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / December 15th, 2016
Mysuru, KARNATAKA :
Kalasuruchi has organised a story-telling by Ayesha Karim, Retd. Bank Officer, Canara Bank, Mysuru, at Suruchi Rangamane, 476, Chitrabhanu Road, Kuvempunagar, on Dec. 17 from 4.30 pm to 5.30 pm
For details, contact Ph: 0821-2541795 or Mob: 92435-81097, according to a press release.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> In Brief / December 16th, 2016
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
Seventy-year-old S Nagoor Meraan is a tailor by day and a watchman by night. Meraan is one of those scores of people whom you wouldn’t bother giving a second glance unless you come across his photograph with former President Abdul Kalam that adorns his makeshift workplace under a tree in Thiruvanmiyur here.
Pointing to the photograph, he recollects the story of pedalling all the way from his hometown Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu to Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi (over 2700km) in 2003 to meet the former President.
The idea of meeting Kalam was mooted when a Lions Club member told him to make use of his passion for cycling to attract the Missile Man’s attention.
Thus began the journey that lasted 35 days taking the Chennai, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Bhopal and Agra route. During the journey, he camped at police stations, open spaces and even strangers’ houses. “Curiously enough, not even once did my cycle tyres get punctured. It was a smooth journey. It was as if Allah was conspiring for my meeting with Kalam,” says Meraan, who’s now into his 70s.
Initially, his plans of meeting the former President was met with uncertainty. “When I reached Delhi, I couldn’t meet him immediately. I wrote a letter of my mission and dropped it in a guest box on the Rashtrapati Bhavan premises. Fortunately, he read the letter and extended an invite,” he says.
Meraan dined with Kalam during the rendezvous that spanned 35 minutes. “I had taken along with me a shawl to present to him. But he declined the offer citing the presence of many homeless in the capital city suffering due to extreme cold and asked me to give that to one of them,” he recollects.
He stayed in the official residence for two-and-a-half days and had his brush with a few politicians. During the time, they discussed issues such as world peace, humanity and a charter of demand for Meraan’s hometown among other things.
“Kalam sir asked me to make interacting with school students a habit. I had always hatched a plan to travel to Mecca, partly by cycling and partly otherwise. He strongly advised against it citing security issues,” says Meraan who has been a tailor for over three decades now.
Reflecting on Kalam’s first death anniversary, Meraan says, “He should have lived, instead of me.”
He is penning a collection of short poems and plans to publish the same in the near future if there are takers.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> India / Shilpa Vasudevan / TNN / July 27th, 2016
The Mustafabad cannon at Allapur Gate and Landa Qasab cannon, in Vijayapura, are facing neglect.
Some of the massive and marvellous cannons belonging to the Adil Shahi era here are decaying because of lack of efforts to preserve them.
While only a few giant cannons have been preserved at Nakkar Khana, the main pavilion of the Gol Gumbaz, at Malik-e-Maidan, some others are left there in the open.
The cannons at Mustafabad near Allapur Gate, a few hundred metres from the Gol Gumbaz, are in the worst shape.
The cannon was earlier placed on the fort wall. Over a period of time, the wall collapsed owing to lack of maintenance and the giant cannon fell on the ground.
The authorities have not made any efforts to locate it to a better place where it could be preserved. They are now getting gradually buried under a heap of garbage and human waste.
Similar is the condition of the Landa Qasab cannon near Kirti Nagar and Ali Burj.
While a signboard has been placed by the Archaeological Survey of India near the Landa Qasab cannon, the one at Mustafabad does not have one.
According to historians, these cannons played a significant role in protecting the boundaries of the Adil Shahi empire from enemies.
They were strategically placed on towers where security men could keep a watch on the entry of enemies.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / Firoz Rozindar / Vijayapura – June 30th, 2016
Most victims of the UK hate crimes were Muslim girls and women aged from 14 to 45 in traditional Islam dress. The perpetrators were mainly while males aged 15 to 35 (File photo)
Kochi :
The Kerala high court on Tuesday granted permission to Muslim girls to wear hijab, a customary religious dress, for the All India Pre-Medical Test-2016 but on condition that they should be present at the hall an hour before the exam for frisking if necessary.
The order was issued by Justice Muhammed Mushtaq while hearing a writ petition by one Amnah Bint Basheer challenging the dress code prescribed for the candidates by CBSE in the bulletin relating to conduct of AIPMET-2016.
The judge allowed the plea on condition that the girls shall be present at the hall half an hour before the exam and, if required, the invigilator can search the body.
The petitioner contended that the instructions contained in the AIPMET-2016 bulletin regarding dress code, as per her religious beliefs and practises, would amount to violative of exercise of religious freedom.
The court issued directions to CBSE to permit Muslim girl students to wear hijab for attending the AIPMET .
Last year, a single Judge of the Kerala high court had allowed two Muslim girl students to wear hijab while appearing for the CBSE AIPMT-2015.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> India> PTI / April 26th, 2016
The World Consumer Day was celebrated recently in Madikeri under the joint auspices of Kodagu district administration, Food and Civil Supplies Department and Kodagu District Consumer Forum.
MirAnisAhmed, DCofKodagu, inaugurated and V.A. Patil, President, Kodagu District Consumer Forum, presided over the programme which was attended by more than 150 people.
C.V. Nagaraj, retired Senior Chemist, Regional Agmark Laboratory, Bengaluru, demonstrated simple tests to detect adulteration in various food items. He also spoke about the harmful effects of various types of adulteration and on the laws that exist in India against food adulteration.
Associations interested in arranging such lecture-demos can contact C.V. Nagaraj ( 2521640, 9945651990).
CULTURAL FEST
The Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Pooja Bhagavat Memorial Mahajana Education Centre, has organised an inter-collegiate cultural festival on April 12 and 13. For registration contact festival convener Paul Iruthayaraj on 9739824423, Faculty coordinators Gunarekha B.S. on 9480438394 or Priyadarshan Bhat on 8867204780.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / Mysuru – April 11th, 2016
It is one of the largest of known fragments of an early Qurʼān written in the māʼil script.
Image credit: Pixabay
The British Library’s oldest Qur’ān manuscript, Or.2165, dating from the eighth century, has now been fully digitised and is available on the British Library’s digitised manuscripts site. Among the most ancient copies of the Qurʼān, it comprises 121 folios containing over two-thirds of the complete text and is one of the largest of known fragments of an early Qurʼān written in the māʼil script.
The end of Sūrah 7 (Sūrat al-A‘rāf, ‘The Heights’) and the beginning of Sūrah 8 (Sūrat al-Anfāl, ‘The Spoils of War’). The heading in red ink gives the title of the Sūrah and says that it contains 77 verses (British Library Or.2165, folio 7v)
This manuscript was purchased by the British Museum in 1879 from the Reverend Greville John Chester (1830-1892) as noted on a fly leaf at the back of the manuscript. Chester was an ordained clergyman interested in archaeology, Egyptology and natural history and made numerous trips to Egypt and the Near East, where he acquired objects and manuscripts, which are now in the collections of major UK cultural and library institutions. It is very likely he acquired this Qur’ān when he was in Egypt.
Acquisition details recorded at the end of the manuscript (British Library Or.2165, endpaper)
The earliest Qur’ān manuscripts were produced in the mid-to-late seventh century, and ancient copies from this period have not survived intact and exist only in fragments. Or.2165 contains three series of consecutive leaves (Sūrah 7:40 – Sūrah 9:96; Sūrah 10:9 – Sūrah 39:48; Sūrah 40:63 – Sūrah 43:71) from the so-called mā’il Qur’ān, which is about two-thirds of the Qur’ān text and is one of the oldest Qur’āns in the world. It probably dates from the eighth century, and as far as can be ascertained, was produced in the Hijaz region of the Arabian Peninsula.
The Arabic word mā’il (by which this Qur’ān is known) means ‘sloping’ and refers to the sloping style of the script – one of a number of early Arabic scripts collectively named ‘Hijazi’ after the region in which they were developed. The main characteristic of mā’il is its pronounced slant to the right. It can also be recognised by the distinctive traits of some of its letters, for example, the letter alif does not curve at the bottom but is rigid, and the letter yā’, occurring at the end of a word, turns and extends backwards frequently underlying the preceding words.
Left: the letter alif; six small dashes mark the end of the verse. Right: the letter yā’; the Sūrah heading in red ink was added later
In early Qur’āns there are no vowel signs, and this early style of script is also notable for its lack of diacritical marks to distinguish between letters of similar shape. Verse numbering had also not yet been established; the end of each verse was indicated by six small dashes in two stacks of three. The sūrah headings were added much later in red ink in the recognisable space purposely left blank to distinguish between the end and the beginning of chapters. Red circles surrounded by red dots to mark the end of every ten verses were also added later.
The beginning of Sūrah 12 (Sūrat Yūsuf, ‘Joseph’) showing the verse markers and also the red headings and circles which were added later (British Library Or.2165, folios 23v-24r)
As with all early Qur’āns, the text is written on vellum and would have been bound into a codex or muṣḥaf – originally a collection of sheets of vellum placed between two boards. Each double sheet was folded into two leaves, which were assembled into gatherings then sewn together and bound as quires into a codex.
The importance of Or.2165, in addition to all other known early Qur’ān fragments, cannot be overestimated. They provide the only available evidence for the early development of the written recording of the Qur’ān text and help towards our understanding of how early Qur’ān codices were produced.
