Tag Archives: Positive Stories on Muslim Women of Bihar

These Biharis left their luxurious life for imparting education to the underprivileged

Amazing Feats, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, Women/Girls(since May26-2021), , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Siwan, BIHAR :

Siwan (Bihar): 

Malcolm X rightly said, “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”

Dr Wasim and Tanweer Ahmad perhaps had the same thoughts in their minds as they came up with the idea of providing an enriching environment to those who cannot afford the luxury of education. They along with their colleagues left their comforts of life and well-established occupation to impart education to the underprivileged children of their home district i.e. Siwan.

Dr Wasim along with Tanweer Ahmad, Sharique Ahmad, and Sana Hussain, were keen to establish an institution that would serve as a ladder to the children who were underprivileged and could not afford basic education due to the paltry amount of resources.

Dr Wasim is a doctor from Aligarh and has completed his education from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). He worked in a government hospital but gave up his job, to educate the children who are the leaders of tomorrow and who are the faces of our future.

Tanweer Ahmad, who hails from Siwan itself has completed his MBA from Williams college of LONDON and holds the post of the Director and he juggles between the tasks of administration as well as imparting knowledge to the children.

Sana Hussain, who holds the post of the Principal at the school, has achieved her master’s degree from South Korea. She works hard to maintain the smooth functioning of this institution’s administration and imparts education to the blooming buds.

Sharique Ahmad, who is also a pillar of this school, has achieved his double master’s degree in Education and English from Delhi University and AMU respectively. He works as a student counsellor and teachers’ trainer at the school. He aims at not only providing efficient educators but also endeavours to become a patient listener and a solution provider to these curious and creative minds.

They established a school named ‘bloombuds’ in Barharia, Bihar. Bloombuds was an idea born due to the concerns of its founders over rising illiteracy rates in certain parts of Bihar. The school came into existence in January 2016.

“This school has been established with the idea of providing an enriching environment to those who cannot afford the luxury of education”, says Dr Wasim, the chairman of the school.

Sana Hussain says, “We are constantly endeavouring to provide all essential facilities for the children. We aim at providing every facility that we couldn’t get while we were students; we are constantly working to educate the young minds. We are often told that we shouldn’t have left our jobs and compromised on our well-settled future but the contentment we derive out of imparting knowledge to these underprivileged children and providing them with resources that could help them  lead a better life is unmatchable.”

These four pillars of bloombuds are in a constant endeavour at providing all essential facilities for the children. They aim at providing every facility that they couldn’t get while they were students; they are constantly working to educate the young minds. They are continuously struggling to impart knowledge to these underprivileged children, so as to provide them with resources that could help them to lead a better life.

This institution has not only provided educational aid but has also stood by its children through all thick and thins.

These mentors took complete responsibility of their students from selecting the students for the entrance exam to allowing them a stay at the hostel and preparing them from beforehand.

Dr Wasim says, “We brought these students to Delhi for their exam and stayed with them until they were back safe. To promote girls’ education, Bloombuds provided 50% discount on the admission fee for girls in the last couple of years. The bloombuds family has set an example of what overall support and aid should be like.”

“Due to the collective support, hard work and indulgence, the Bloombuds family feels very proud of the selection of its six students. These students of bloombuds have cracked the Jamia Millia Islamia School’s class 9th entrance examination. We couldn’t be happier”, he added.

When we inquired about the background of these students, we came to know that all these students belong to families where they believe that education is only for the rich and the upper class.  The parents due to insufficient resources are not able to provide their children with adequate facilities, almost all the mothers are homemakers, fathers either work as drivers or in chemist shops or are shopkeepers, some even work as farmers and have little or no educational qualifications. Nevertheless, these students with their hard work and a little encouragement proved that one can achieve anything with the help of committed guidance and supervision. The parents at first were sceptical to send their children to this university, but when they saw the environment, they at once knew that this was the best for their children.

The parents due to insufficient resources are not able to provide their children with adequate facilities, almost all the mothers of these students are homemakers, and one of them is a teacher in a government school. The fathers either work as drivers or in a chemist shop or shopkeepers, some even work as farmers and have little or no educational qualification. But these students with their hard work and a little encouragement proved that one can achieve anything with the help of committed guidance and supervision. They made their parents and teachers proud after cracking the entrance exam. Four out of six students are girls, and all belong to rural areas.

On how important this result was to him, Sharique Ahmed says, “For the people belonging to a small town like Siwan, Jamia and Aligarh are a dream place to study not just for students but also for parents. Siwan is a place which is known for coaching centres and too expensive, but this school made it easy. They used to organize free coaching in summer vacation for the students as well,”

Talking about the obstacles faced in this journey, he adds, “In this blooming, there is only one hurdle and that is a hostel for girls. Parents are ready to send their children to Jamia, but their main concern is the hostel. While interviewing Zeba’s father, Mr Wahabuddin who is working in the Gulf also has only one condition and that is a hostel. So, the movement which has been started by Bloombud is becoming smooth day by day, but accommodation is one obstruction in this metro city.”

(Mehwish Matloob is pursuing MA History from Jamia Millia Islamia.)

source: http://www.beyondheadlines.in / Beyond Headlines / Home> India / by Mehwish Matloob for Beyond Headlines / August 03rd, 2019

THE INDIAN HERO : Resham Fatma – Acid reflex

Amazing Feats, Bravery Awards, Citations, Commendations etc (since April 14th, 2024), Women/Girls(since May26-2021), , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

BIHAR / Lucknow, UTTAR PRADESH / NEW DELHI :

It burnt her face, but not her spirit. Resham Fatma, National Bravery Award winner, is confident about tomorrow

Sometime last summer, Resham Fatma, 17, decided that she needed to score 98 per cent in her twelfth standard board examinations. For days, she had been scouring the newspapers to find the best college to pursue her favourite subject, mathematics. St Stephen’s College, Delhi, it was. “Last year’s cut off was 97.2 per cent, so with 98, it will be smooth sailing,” says the Lucknow girl.

Resham has planned her future in detail. After graduation, she will do an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad. Then, she will take the Union Public Service Commission exams, get into the Indian Administrative Service and work towards the post of district magistrate, a post from which she believes she can implement all the glorious government policies that remain on paper. “If I set my mind on something, I can achieve it,” she says. But, the future does not always work out the way you plan it. The last year has been, to put it bleakly, scarring for Resham.

The day is etched into her memory. It was February 1. On the previous day, her class had given their seniors a formal farewell. Her hair was a curtain of black satin, glossy from all the shampooing and conditioning. “See, this is me, in the centre,” she says, fishing out her smartphone and showing a groupfie with friends at the farewell.

The next day, she headed for her tuition, getting off the autorickshaw and walking the last mile as per routine. Suddenly, Riyaz, 38, her mother’s cousin, pulled up in his Tata Indica. He had been pestering her for a few years, and she had learnt to avoid him. On farewell day, he had asked her to meet him and she had said, “Main pagalon se baat nahi karti [I don’t talk to madmen].” She had no idea how mad he was.

After dragging her into the car, he held a butcher’s knife to her throat and asked her to marry him. She struggled; he got forceful. When she loosened his grip on the knife, he pulled out a barber’s razor from under the seat. “The car was auto-locked,” she says. “I was in his grip, struggling with all my strength. He banged his head on the steering and asked why I was refusing him. Then, suddenly, he pulled out a plastic bottle from the recess in the car door. It was filled with a yellowish liquid. He asked me if I knew what it was and said it was shakkar pani ghol [sugar solution]. He poured the liquid over my head.”

For a fraction of a second, she did not know what it was. Then it began to burn and she immediately shut her eyes. Her face, arm and thigh were on fire. He pulled her by the hair, still holding the knife to her throat. “I do not know how I got this phenomenal strength at that moment,” she says. “I pushed him and he crumpled towards the door. I fumbled blindly with the ignition, unlocked the car and tumbled out.” It was a dark winter evening and the road was desolate. Presently, an autorickshaw drove by and she pleaded to be taken to the police station. Luck was on her side, the occupants rushed to help. Later, as she was taken from the police station to hospital in an autorickshaw, they had to stop at a railway crossing. Passers-by peered into the auto, clucking in sympathy or gasping in horror. “That’s when I learnt that my face was black and I had my first shudder,” she says. “Riyaz mama ko mat chodna [Don’t let Riyaz get away], I screamed.”

Resham had so far known only unconditional love. She was the eldest grandchild from her maternal side, and her mother’s brothers doted on her so much that when she entered primary school, she moved from Bihar, where her father is an automobile dealer, to her grandfather’s residence at Amausi, near the Lucknow airport. Both her uncles have sons, she grew up as the only girl and the apple of everyone’s eyes. She has a younger sister and brother, who live with her parents. “I am more comfortable here, this is my home,” she says.

Resham means silk. But in the months ahead, the teenager discovered reserves of steel within her. Her long tresses were shorn, there is a huge patch on the scalp where follicles are dead. Resham, for the first time in her life, started wearing a scarf and headed for her evening coaching. She had to skip regular school at Stella Maris; her skin was not ready to face the onslaught of the sun.

In between, she kept popping into the hospital for surgeries. Her thigh needed grafting and her face needs a lot more work, but that has not deterred Resham from going out with nonchalance. A few months after the incident, her uncle declared she could do her own shopping without being escorted around like an invalid. “People ask me what happened, most ask whether it’s an allergy,” she says. “I tell them blankly, ‘No allergy, I survived an acid attack.’’’ Does she miss her old face? “Well, I am a girl, I like looking into the mirror and I’d want to like what I see,” she says. “I am still not bad looking, am I? This is my new identity.”

Most of her friends broke down when they visited and she consoled them. Her best friend is her diary. One day, she wrote about her dream: “I wanted to become the district magistrate and visit Riyaz in jail and tell him, see where you are today and where I am.” But these Bollywood-type situations are not meant for off-screen lives, even if they are as extraordinary as Resham’s.

Riyaz was arrested and was in lockup, where on December 28, he committed suicide. “I read about it in the newspaper next day and felt blank,” Resham says. “He got away so easily. He should have lived a long life, regretting every moment.”

Her earliest recollections of Riyaz are of sitting on his shoulders as he ran across the lawn. As she grew up though, his presence began getting uncomfortable. He would enter her room, force her to leave her books and talk to him. At one point, her grandfather, a former policeman, banished him from their house.

Resham today prefers to look at the possibilities that the future offers. “I have bad days, though I don’t cry in public,” she says. “Some days ago, I was very angry with Allah pak. But then, I got this call from Delhi that I was getting the Bharat Award at the Republic Day celebrations. I am so happy today. I have met big people, Modiji himself. I am a heroine, isn’t that great?” The scar tissue on her face hurts a lot, especially when she has to receive injections for treatment. But now she is complaining happily about how her cheeks are hurting with the constant smiling. “I am posing for cameras all day. Yaay,” she shrieks.

President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee presenting the ‘National Bravery Awards 2014’ at Rashtrapati Bhavan . January 22nd, 2015. pic credit: facebook.com/Muslims.of.India.Page

There’s a bit of regret, though. “When I came to Delhi, I learnt that all the other children had been felicitated by their states. But no one from my state government ever came to me. A Supreme Court order says the state has to give an immediate relief of 03 lakh to an acid attack victim. I have not got anything yet, though my family has sent several Right To Information pleas. We could afford my treatment, but there are those for whom this money means a lot more. You know, there is a lot of good intent and great laws, but what we lack in this country is implementation. That’s why I want to be an IAS officer,” she emphasises with all her Taurean determination.

source: http://www.theweek.in / The Week / Home> Web Specials> Features> Heroes / by Rekha Dixit / Headline Edited + Additional image inserted courtesy of Facebook.com/Muslims.of.India.page / February 08th, 2015

Nasreen Shaikh: The Rise Of A New Star

Amazing Feats, Arjuna Awards (since 01st January 2024), Sports, Women/Girls(since May26-2021), , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Araria, BIHAR / Shakarpur, NEW DELHI:

By winning the prestigious Arjuna Award, the 25-year-old India women’s kho kho team captain has brought joy to her struggling father, who dedicated himself body and soul to fuel her passion.

Nasreen Shaikh, a 25-year-old from Shakurpur, will walk down the iconic Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 9, to collect the Arjuna Award in Kho Kho, a sport that is not considered mainstream since it isn’t part of Commonwealth, Asian or Olympic Games.

She will become only the second kho kho player to win the National Sports Award in the last 25 years – the other being Sarika Kale Sudhakar in 2020 – after the indigenous sport became irrelevant at the turn of the century and struggled for recognition with the Union sports ministry backing Olympic sports heavily to eye medals in the quadrennial international multi-sports events.

“Kho Kho has changed my life. I have been able to support my struggling father,” said Nasreen as she flipped through a file looking for documents for police verification required to be sent to authorities ahead of the Arjuna Awards ceremony.

Nasreen’s father, Mohammed Ghafoor, came to Delhi in 1980 from Araria in Bihar, polished utensils for a living, worked as thekedaar (contractor) before losses forced him to try his luck at weekly markets. The father of 11 doesn’t rest even a single day and sets up shop in morning and evening all seven days of the week. He sells his wares – mostly utensils — in patri bazaar (roadside weekly markets) in Inderlok, Inderpuri, Minto Road, Patel Nagar, Ranjit Nagar, Karampura, Nangloi, Tri Nagar, Kishan Ganj, Shastri Nagar among other places.

“Generally, people focus on one market a day but I have been taking my wares to two bazaars every day for the last many years since household expenses are huge. I had to bring up kids (seven daughters and four sons) and also fuel Nasreen’s passion,” says Ghafoor.

“I worked a lot for her. It was my responsibility to provide her with the diet. She requires [protein] powders, chana, peanuts, nuts and almonds. I’d go to Lahori Gate to fetch all this and it would cost 5,000-6,000 rupees every time,” explains Ghafoor.

Nasreen is extremely grateful to her father, who is chuffed to see her daughter win the Arjuna Award. 

“He even stopped visiting his hometown as it would set him back by a good amount. He made many sacrifices.”

There was also some resistance to her taking up the sport, especially kho kho, but when Nasreen began earning accolades and people around her saw prospects, all of that subsided and she started getting acknowledged in the family and among relatives.

(R to L) Mohammed Gafoor, Nasreen Shaikh and her mother

Hard Worker : 

Nasreen’s father Mohammed Ghafoor) sets up shop all seven days of the week in patri bazaars to help fund her daughter’s training. To Nasreen’s right is her mother

“She was committed right from the start and I thought she should be given a chance,”adds Ghafoor. 

Nasreen started playing kho-kho when she was in third standard at the Government Senior Secondary School in Kohat Enclave. She was also a very good athlete, winning gold medals in 100m and 200m sprints at school level. By the sixth standard, she was participating in the school nationals as well as the nationals in kho kho. 

“Since we were financially vulnerable, I couldn’t play any sport that involved equipment. So, I had to pick kho kho and athletics,” says Nasreen, who graduated from Delhi University’s Daulat Ram College with BA (Pass) degree and is now doing M.P.Ed. (Masters in Physical Education) from Lovely Professional University in Punjab. She also completed B.P.Ed. (Bachelors in Physical Education) from the same university before this.

The big moment for Nasreen came in 2019 when she became captain of the Indian kho kho team for the South Asian Games. India won gold under her captaincy. She has so far competed in 50 national events and six international events. Even though the sport isn’t popular, still it is played in 38 countries.

While KKFI has started Ultimate Kho Kho, a franchise-based tournament that provides a platform for youngsters to earn and play, it is restricted only to male players. There are talks of having a women’s league on similar lines too but getting sponsors remains a struggle.

A few months after the high of becoming the national captain, her family struggled through Covid as her father had to sit at home without work. Kho Kho Federation of India, the governing body of the sport, chipped in with Rs 1 lakh and DYWA, an organisation based out of Delhi-6 also gave her Rs 50,000, to help her wade through the difficult time.

She worked on a stipend with Airports Authority of India (AAI).

“The stipend helped my family. But it had to end last year since the support is for only junior players,” says Nasreen, who is currently looking for a job and is hopeful that the Arjuna Award will help her land one.

“The sport has grown. It used to be considered a gali-kucha game. Earlier, we used to put money from our pocket for even travelling but now we are getting something back. Mittal sir (Sudhanshu Mittal, the president of the federation), announces cash prizes after tournaments and that helps. Prime Minister Narendra Modi backed the sport too in one of his speeches and it has boosted our confidence, given us recognition,” she adds.  

Nasreen’s success has already inspired her two younger sisters to take up the sport. The four older ones are married and settled as home-makers.

The 18-year-old sister is studying at LPU in Punjab while the youngest, who is 14 years old, is studying in a school in Delhi.

“They both want to play kho kho.”

Her younger brother even gave up studies to cut down on their household expenses and ensure that Nasreen is left with as much money as possible for her training. 

When at home, Nasreen leaves her home in hijab every morning on a scooty that she purchased recently and goes to a park in a different neighbourhood to work on her fitness.

“It (Hijab) is a norm here in our locality. But I take it off at the park during workout,” she adds.

The morning session is dedicated to endurance and fitness. She works out between 5 am and 8 am in the park before returning home. 

“You need athleticism, endurance, stamina, and flexibility in this game. Everything. That is also a reason why I got hooked to it. If we play this game and become good players, we can participate in other games too like I participated in athletics.”

She works on kho kho skills in the evening session from 4 pm to 8 pm. 

The set-up at LPU, she says, has helped her in training immensely.

While the Arjuna Award will be a feather in her cap and give her recognition, there is every likelihood that she will be celebrated as a star athlete in years to come. For the KKFI is planning biopic on her on the lines of those made on MS Dhoni and MC Mary Kom. 

Special Player : 

Nasreen Shaikh is the second kho kho player to win Arjuna Award in the last 25 years

“We are making a biopic on her. The plan is still in a nascent stage and we are working out the details like who will write the script, and who will direct the film among other things. She could play the protagonist herself or we could hire another actor to play her,” said Mittal, the KKFI President to Patriot.

source: http://www.thepatriot.in / The Patriot / Home> Delhi NCR / by Khurram Habib / January 09th, 2024