The literary work is the fourth translation and the first Urdu work to win the JCB Prize
(Left to right) Mita Kapur, literary director, The JCB Prize for Literature; Sunil Khurana, chief operating officer, JCB India; winning author Khalid Jawed; translator of ‘The Paradise of Food’ Baran Farooqi and jury member AS Panneerselvan JCB Prize
Khalid Jawed’s The Paradise of Food has been awarded the JCB Prize for Literature 2022. The book was chosen by a panel of five judges.
The Paradise of Food has been translated into English from Urdu by Baran Farooqi and published by Juggernaut. The Rs 25 lakh prize was awarded to the author virtually by Sunil Khurana, chief operating officer, JCB India, and A.S. Panneerselvan, chair of the jury for 2022, at a hybrid event organised at The Oberoi, New Delhi. Khalid Jawed also received the trophy — a sculpture titled ‘Mirror Melting’ by Delhi artist duo Thukral and Tagra.
The Paradise of Food, which is the fourth translation to win the JCB Prize and the first in Urdu, is a bildungsroman that traces the narrator’s journey through life anchored in a middle-class Muslim joint family.
The jury comprised Panneerselvan, journalist, editor and columnist; author Amitabha Bagchi; J Devika, historian, feminist, social critic and academician; author Janice Pariat and Rakhee Balaram, assistant professor, Global Art and Art History at the University of Albany, State University of New York. The award ceremony began with a welcome note from Mita Kapur, literary director of the JCB Prize, and an address by Deepak Shetty, CEO & managing director, JCB India. Classical dance performances by Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra led up to the grand announcement.
Speaking about the merit of The Paradise of Food as a piece of literature, Bagchi commented, “This singular and moving book shines a scintillating light on the violence at the heart of human civilisation. The language contains several beautiful and unusual formulations that are a literary achievement by both the author and the extremely skilled translator. A literary landmark in a less-celebrated genre of Urdu’s grand literary tradition, this work deserves to be widely read in India and beyond.”
Other members of the jury, too, unanimously appreciated Jawed’s book. Rakhee Balaram described the work as a “book of indescribable brilliance” and to J. Devika, it was a “powerful ice-pick in the winter of civilisational crisis that has engulfed the countries of South Asia”.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / Telegraph India / Home> My Kolkata> Events> Literary Event / by My Kolkata Web Desk / November 20th, 2022
Sahil had a love for vehicles since childhood but he started getting fond of vintage cars when he bought one and got it restored.
New Delhi:
Syed Sahil Agha, a resident of Abul Fazal Enclave in Delhi’s Okhla, has more than 50 American, British cars as also the cars of the erstwhile Rajas and Nawabs in his collection.
Sahil had a love for vehicles since childhood but he started getting fond of vintage cars when he bought one and got it restored.
People would look in awe every time he drove out in his car. Soon enough, another connoisseur of vintage cars, bought his car and paid him a good sum for it. Sahil invested that money into buying two more vintage cars.
Gradually, he fell in love with these cars and started collecting them. Today, his collection of more than 50 vintage cars, includes a Singer 6 of 1931 and Standard Sports of 1929, which are the only two in the whole world.
Apart from these, Sahil also owns a 1947 V12 Lincoln, a Mustang and many special sports cars.
Sahil also included the cars of many rajas and maharajas in this journey to preserve vintage cars.
He believes that awareness should be raised amongst people to save such vehicles. He also helps the owners of such vintage cars in fixing them.
Agha says his motive is to preserve these cars which were usually scrapped, he does so by buying and restoring them. He believes that these cars are a part of India’s history which cannot be brought back once extinct.
Sahil is a graduate from Jamia, Delhi and has done his Post Graduate Diploma in Acting from Shri Ram Bhartiya Kala Kendra, Delhi. He is the son of senior journalist Mansoor Agha.
source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> India> Life & Style / by IANS / October 21st, 2022
New Book , First ever English translation of Nizami’s invaluable Urdu book Begumat ke Aansoo
pix: amazon.in
Apart from the fifteen years that Sher Shah Suri snatched upon defeating Humayun, the flag of the grand Mughal Empire flew over Delhi undefeated for over 300 years.
But then, 1857 arrived and the mighty sword fell helpless in the face of a mightier British force.
After the fall of Delhi and Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar’s tragic departure from the Red Fort in 1857, members of the royal Mughal court had to flee to safer places. Driven out from their palaces and palanquins onto the streets in search of food and shelter, the dethroned royals scrambled to survive. Some bore their fate with a bitter pride, others succumbed to the adversity.
Through twenty-nine accounts of the survivors of the Uprising of 1857, Khwaja Hasan Nizami documents the devastating tale of the erstwhile glorious royalty’s struggle with the hardships thrust upon them by a ruthless new enemy.
In vivid and tragic stories drawn from the recollection of true events, Nizami paints a picture of a crumbling historical era and another charging forward to take its place.
With the reminiscence of past glory contrasted against the drudgery of everyday survival, Tears of the Begums – the first ever English translation of Nizami’s invaluable Urdu book Begumat ke Aansoo – chronicles the turning of the wheel of fortune in the aftermath of India’s first war of independence.
source: http://www.amazon.in / Amazon / Home> Books> History> World / as on August 06th, 2022
The photo-book ‘Har Shaam Shaheen Bagh’, comprising visual stories of resilience and resistance, isolates individuals from the image of the mass movement as was seen on prime-time news and press photographs.
Portraits from Har Shaam Shaheen Bagh (Credit: Prarthna Singh)
Who is the perfect protester? We imagine raised fists, hurt faces, angry stances. We imagine climbing barricades, braving tear gas. If we go by this visual vocabulary, Har Shaam Shaheen Bagh (Every Evening Belongs to Shaheen Bagh) takes us by surprise. With over 150 portraits of non-violent protesters, the photo-book gently challenges the imagery of contemporary resistance movements.
Har Shaam Shaheen Bagh is Mumbai-based photographer Prarthna Singh’s first solo photo-book (she had earlier teamed up with the authors of Sar: The Essence of Indian Design in 2016). In December 2019, after the Delhi police reportedly assaulted students of Jamia Millia Islamia University who were challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a sit-in protest led by Muslim women started in Shaheen Bagh. Under a tent, with hundreds of women and children on any given day, the peaceful protest lasted for 100 days, until the pandemic struck.
Har Shaam Shaheen Bagh; By Prarthna Singh; 143 pages; Rs 3,300
Singh joined the anti-CAA protest in January 2020, spending most of her time on ground. Known for her women-centric narratives and portraiture work, she taps into her speciality to create portraits in an on-site photo studio, cobbled together with whatever was available at Shaheen Bagh. The result is these portraits of women, either looking directly at the camera or away, but always with a sense of pride. Poised and calm, the unnamed sitters indicate trust in the space, the purpose and the photographer.
Har Shaam Shaheen Bagh is Mumbai-based photographer Prarthna Singh’s first solo photo-book (she had earlier teamed up with the authors of Sar: The Essence of Indian Design in 2016).
Our collective memory of Shaheen Bagh, as is often the case with resistance movements, is of the masses, as seen on prime-time news and press photographs. Indeed, mass resistance movements give rise to the most recognisable images in the documented history of the world. Vulnerability and resilience coalesce into one defining moment — people standing up to power and confrontation, whether it’s one man blocking a row of tanks or a girl offering a flower to an armed soldier. Har Shaam Shaheen Bagh trades the monumental for the intimate, asking us to reconsider what we mean by “iconic”. It isolates individuals from the sea of faces, almost as if to say that a movement’s power lies not in numbers but in the will of its people.
Har Shaam Shaheen Bagh takes the form of a personal diary or a scrapbook.
Har Shaam Shaheen Bagh takes the form of a personal diary or a scrapbook. It contains drawings, a painting by artist Sameer Kulavoor, whose company Bombay Duck Designs has also designed the book, verse and a letter from one of the protesters, available in Urdu, English and Hindi. Some pages are deliberately uneven, recalling the makeshift quality of the Shaheen Bagh tent. While the book’s cost makes it inaccessible to some socioeconomic groups, Singh has shared copies with the protesters. A portion of the book sales goes towards Jeevan Stambh, an NGO working on the rehabilitation of the victims of the Jahangirpuri demolition last month.
During the pandemic, the Delhi police cleared the Shaheen Bagh site, painting over its graffiti and dismantling its art installations. In a country that is determined to erase and rewrite its history, one could say that a photo-book on a citizen protest is as good as an act of protest itself.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Books & Literature / by Benita Fernando / New Delhi – May 21st, 2022
At a modest house in South Delhi’s leafy Sarita Vihar colony, a tall, handsome man woke up early in the morning to read a bunch of newspapers religiously. He didn’t only read whatever “readable” news and views a dozen newspapers in Hindi, Urdu and English carried, but also shared them with the wider world. For five years–ceaselessly, tirelessly.
His huge circle of friends, from Birmingham to Barabanki, Miami to Mumbai, Seattle to Singapore devoured the selected news and views this selfless, soft spoken news warrior shared with such dedication and devotion. I don’t know any other person on the planet doing this with such consistency for five long years. Yes, some of us news premi pick up news randomly and share them with a few friends.
Shafique Ul Hasan, a senior journalist-turned-advertising professional, completed five years of sharing the news clippings on June 24 this year. Among hundreds of friends who value his work and have congratulated Shafique Bhai—that is how most of us address him—on reaching this milestone include filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, writer-politician Shashi Tharoor, former bureaucrat and ex-VC of Jamia Millia Islamia Najeeb Jung. They all underlined the importance of Shafique Bhai’s work—making available some of the important news and opinion pieces at one place. In our crazily busy schedule, many of us have forgotten what and how to read news. In the age of social media explosion, it has become very important to decide what news and views one should consume. At a time when fake news and viral videos are shared with an ulterior motive, Shafique Ul Hasan’s work assumes significance.
It all started with the news of Hafiz Junaid’s lynching. The young, kurta-pajama clad maulvi was returning home after shopping for Eid when a group of boys accosted him in train, beat him up so badly that he succumbed to injuries. The news shocked us. Most of us silently mourned the loss of an innocent’s life due to demonization of Muslims. Had fellow passengers intervened, young Junaid’s life could have been saved. But the hate-mongering has made us so insensitive and numb that we don’t react till the trouble reaches our own doorsteps. “This is not our problem,” we dismiss and move on. We forget the episode till a fresh case of mob violence hits the headlines.
Shafique Bhai reacted to the lynching of young Junaid in a different way. It affected him so deeply and intensely that he decided to do something beyond mourning his death silently. He made clippings of the horrific news and shared them with some of his friends on WhatsApp. And then he thought more. “What can I do to stop this madness? What power do I possess to make an intervention?”, he asked himself.
Most of us don’t realise the hidden power we possess. The strength lies in communicating the pain too. If we share some genuine, truthful news, this too is a service. Taking out morchas and petitioning authorities are not the only forms of protest. A protest is registered if news about an unkind, unjust thing or event is shared with a purpose to create awareness and help form an informed opinion. Shafique Ul Hasan decided to share the news clips from newspapers in the morning daily.
He made it part of his daily routine. So, he didn’t miss sharing the clippings even if he was travelling, in India or abroad, attending wedding celebrations or birth parties, vacationing in Europe or in the Middle East. “Once during our holiday in Europe I ensured that I woke up in the morning according to Indian time and made clippings from digital editions of the newspapers while my wife was fast asleep. Not many of my friends realized that they had shared those clippings sitting in Paris or London,” he told me recently.
Significantly, Shafique Bhai’s services have been acknowledged and appreciated widely. Many individuals and organizations have feted him for this yeomen service. Among those who have awarded him for this service include Sirajuddin Qureishi of New Delhi-based India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC), several NGOs and organisers of a programme celebrating 200 years of Urdu Journalism recently in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, sticking to a fixed schedule for long and sitting for a few hours without a break daily began to take a toll. Shafiqul Hassan’s health got affected. His BP shot up and had to be hospitalized before his condition could have worsened. He didn’t stop from doing what he loved to do even while he recuperated in a hospital. Despite protests from his lovely family, he didn’t take a break. He resolved to complete at least five years of sharing the news and views clippings. He fulfilled the promise he had made to himself.
Meanwhile, a few well-meaning friends advised him to monetize it. Since many websites and other news outlets charge money for their products, it would have been quite fair had Shafiqul Hassan too put a price to his services. “No. I don’t want to make any money out of it. It will be free of cost till whatever time I do it,” he told me.
But he had to take a break. Many of us told Shafique Bhai to take a long break after completing five years of this selfless service. He deserves to pay attention to his health, his business and spend more quality time with family. He has announced that much-deserved break. I suggest he finds a mechanism through which he resumes this service in a more organized way. He needs to get a team of computer savvy individuals who can work with him. Rather than doing everything himself, he should delegate work to subordinates. He should now work more as a supervisor. But to create such a team, some funds will be needed. Shafique Bhai is a self-respecting man. He will never seek charity or any other funds to set up a professional team for news/views gathering and dissemination. It is the duty of all concerned citizens to ensure that such a corpus is created and this work resumes.
Mohammed Wajihuddin is a senior journalist, now associated with the Times of India, Mumbai. His write-ups are popular with wide range of readers.
source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home> Opinion / by Mohammed Wajihuddin / June 27th, 2022
Badharwa Fateh Mohammad Village, BIHAR / Lucknow, U.P. / NEW DELHI :
New Delhi :
Mohammad Zeyaul Haque, a senior journalist, well known in journalistic and intellectual circles of Delhi, Bihar and UP, passed away on Thursday after a short hospitalisation, the end came around 7:30 pm today. He was 72.
Born in 1948 in a remote village of Bihar called Badharwa Fateh Mohammad, under Dhaka subdivision of East Chamapran district, he received his early education in Dhaka. After schooling, he went to college in Motihari and later joined LS college, Muzaffarpur, from where he graduated with English Literature. Inclined towards Journalism and writing from college days, he went to Lucknow to pursue his Journalistic career, first joining Urdu daily, Qaumi Awaz, published by the associated journals limited which also published National Herald and Navjeevan in Hindi. His journalistic acumen, writing skills and intellectual calibre soon attracted the attention of the Editor of English daily, the pioneer of Lucknow who offered him a job as a reporter for his newspaper.
It was a big jump for a person who started out as a Journalist in an Urdu Daily. From there, there was no looking back for Mr Haque who was affectionately called Zeya Saheb by his friends and journalist colleagues. In Lucknow, he worked National Herald and Times of India which he left to join Russian Embassy to work for its publications as the consultant editor in Delhi. Later, Mr Haque took up the stewardship of a fortnightly, Nation and the World, as its Executive Editor, though he piloted it as its de facto Editor.
He was executive editor of The Milli Gazette and edited a number of books published by Pharos Media. Currently, he was editing the English translation of the Quran by Zafarul-Islam Khan.
He also edited the Magazine ‘The Encounter’, with distinction. Zeya saheb was a trilingual journalist who was a regular columnist of Rajasthan Patrika published from Jaipur and used to contribute articles to the multi-edition Hindi daily The Hindustan. At the time of his death, Zeya saheb was working for an NGO group, Institute of Objective Studies, New Delhi, which he served for long years, as its strongest pillars.
Coming from a rural background, Zeya saheb compared well with many of city-bred and public school educated peers. He had trained and inspired generations of Journalists. Apart from qualities of Head, he was also known for his qualities of heart. He was a thorough gentleman, kind and compassionate, helping people with his right hand without his left hand knowing it.
A gentleman to the core, he had exceptional grasp of English and was highly well-read. Always had a story to share from his treasure.
He is survived by two sons and one daughter and a lot of grandchildren and relatives. His eldest son Waqas is Senior Journalist with India Today and the other son Arafat, is a Senior Manager in an MNC, while his daughter Naila teaches English in Delhi University. May Zeya Saheb’s soul rest in peace.
source: http://www.milligazette.com / The Milli Gazette / Home> News> Community News / by The Milli Gazette Online / April 22nd, 2021
Sufiya Khan began her run from the national capital on December 16, 2020
Sufiya Khan travelled the golden quadrilateral by foot.
Sufiya Khan has set a Guinness World Record for the shortest time taken to travel the ‘golden quadrilateral’ – a network of national highways connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai – by foot. The ultra runner from Delhi completed a journey of 6,002 km in just 110 days, 23 hours and 24 minutes.
Sufiya began her run from the national capital on December 16, 2020. By April 6, 2021, she has completed the golden quadrilateral circuit. A gruelling journey, to be sure, but the 35-year-old athlete was determined to see it through.
“No, I did not think of giving up in the entire attempt,” she was quoted as saying by Guinness World Records. “Though there were very many injuries that happened during the run my full focus was on completing this attempt in minimum time.”
Sufiya was supported on her run by her husband, who drove the support car, took care of her nutrition and physiotherapy and managed her schedule. Besides this, local runners and cyclists joined her at various stretches of her journey.
“Almost all the cities where I was running through, runners and cyclists were joining and supporting us,” Sufiya said. “Most of the time in cities and small-town people were hosting me at their home for a night stay and dinner. Many times during the attempt we took hotels and couple of nights we had to sleep on roadside shelters.”
On Saturday, she was certified as the “fastest female to run along The Indian Golden Quadrilatrel Road.”
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Facebook.com / SufiyaSufiRunner
Sunday 27 March 2022 at 06:11
New Guinness World Records and It’s Officially Amazing!! Fastest female to run along The Indian Golden Quadrilatrel Road (6002km in 110 days 23 hours)
Glad to share it with you all who was a part of this amazing world record expedition. I am very grateful to all you amazing people who ran along for few miles to few hundreds miles, who warmly welcomed me in their city, who arranged homefood for me, who encouraged me to run when i was down, who celebrated my every success as t…See more
Sufiya describes ultra-distance running as her passion. Ultra running is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon distance of 42.195 kilometres.
“Ultra-distance running is my passion and I have left my aviation job for it so I always have time for such a journey. I train myself for long runs. This was my third expedition of long-distance running in-country,” she said.
She already holds a Guinness World Record for the fastest woman to run from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
source: http://www.ndtv.com / NDTV / Home> OffBeat / by Sanya Jain / March 30th, 2022 (headline edited)
