Karnataka is mourning the demise of KM Shareef, the former National President of Popular Front of India. With his demise, the community has expressed grief and a great sense of loss for he was a voice that spoke in favour of the oppressed.
Since the year 2000, KM Shareef – known in the public sphere as a writer, critic, translator, author, orator, and journalist – has been working tirelessly on the social front.
After graduating with a BSc degree, he spent four years in Dubai as a career person.He was a student of Mittabailu Jabbar Ustad, the general secretary of the Samasta Kerala Jamiatul Ulema, from whom he secured religious education.His father, the late Abdullah Haji, served as a Mudarris for 30 consecutive years in the Mittabailu Jamath.
KM Shareef, who advocated towards creating a united struggle for the empowerment of Dalits, Muslims, and other marginalized communities, sought to unite these communities and struggled towards realizing this objective throughout his lifetime in the organizational setup.He emphasized the need to politically empower these communities and stressed the importance of alternative politics in this regard.
In 2003, he served as the convener of Coastal People’s Union, an organization that was established as a coalition of various Muslim social organizations across Coastal Karnataka.
He played a prominent role in establishing ‘Prastutha’, a fortnightly news magazine in 2007, and also served as the editor-in-chief of the publication.Through this media publication, he constantly wrote on behalf of exploited communities.
His writings delved into issues affecting the country, through which he warned that the country was endangered by communal fascism, capitalism, and imperialism.
He has been instrumental in bringing new press campaigns through the Prastutha publication and introducing newfacets of journalism to the press.He was constantly encouraging and inspiring budding young talents to read and write.
Opposing the exploitation of women in society, he has consistently asserted that dowry is a social evil and one of the main causes contributing to women’s atrocities and exploitation in the country.
His Kannada research work, ‘ಶಾಂತಿಗಾಗಿವಿವಾಹ'(Marriage for Peace), is by far the most prominent among his written works. In this book, he objectively outlines how dowry is in effect across the country and in what manner it is weaponized to commit atrocities against women.
When he was the President of the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD), he organized a series of state-wide, anti-dowry campaigns and encouraged young people to organize simple weddings and dowry-free marriages.
In 2006, KM Shareef spearheaded theKFD campaign ‘ಕೋಮುವಾದಿಫ್ಯಾಶಿಸ್ಟರಿಂದಕರ್ನಾಟಕವನ್ನುರಕ್ಷಿಸಿ'(Protect Karnataka from Communal Fascists), across Karnataka. When the ‘VidhanaSoudhaChalo’ convention was held in Bangalore on the occasion ofconcluding the campaign, a delegation headed by KM Shareef had met with the then Chief Minister Kumaraswamy and filed an appeal.This historic campaign, which occurred amid a series of sustained attacks against minorities in coastal Karnataka, resulted in the KFD organization becoming a household name in Karnataka.
KM Shareef, who sought no limelight or fame in the public sphere, was known for his straightforward, simple personality and disciplined disposition.
He was in constant contact with other leaders who were activelyfightingtowards social justice in the activism circle.He continued to hold close associationswith Dalit leaders, progressive figures, human rights activists, thinkers, and writers.
He was a man who had already possessed farsighted vision and ideas towards Muslim empowerment, when he presented his paper titled, ‘Education and Empowerment of Muslims’ during the Second Beary Literature Conference.
KM Shareef is survived by his wife, three sons, three daughters, and a multitude of relatives, friends, and well-wishers.
source: http://www.prasthutha.com /Prasthutha.com / Home / December 22nd, 2020
The Rehnuma centre in Mumbra, a suburb of Mumbai, offers young Muslim women – many from migrant families – a space to chat, relax with a book, learn English or dream about their village homes
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” says 19-year-old Faiza Ansari in a low voice, almost a whisper. We are sitting cross-legged on the tiled floor of the only library for women in Mumbra – the Rehnuma Library Centre.
More young women come and go from the two-room apartment turned library on the first floor in a decrepit building near the Darul Falah mosque. They hang their burkhas on idle plastic chairs and sprawl on the cool floor. It’s 36 degrees outside in this northeastern suburb roughly 35 kilometres from central Mumbai.
As Faiza recalls Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, I insist on hearing more. All eyes turn towards her, including her sister Razia’s. Faiza paraphrases a line from Romeo and Juliet, “A beautiful heart is better than a beautiful face.” Razia looks at her sister coyly. The other girls hoot, nudge each other, and bashfully giggle. The joke is anybody’s guess.
Razia Ansari, 18, is not as shy. She presents to me an intriguing summary of the only Shakespeare story she has read. “Twelfth Night is like a Hindi film. Viola has a double role,” she says of Viola’s disguise as Cesario. Razia is trying to improve her English and has joined the spoken English class at the library. Classes are conducted here five days a week in numerous one-hour batches from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Faiza and Razia Ansari, from Asansol in Jharkhand, are regulars at the libraryLibrarian Faiza Khan also doubles up as an English teacher
Faiza and Razia’s family moved to Mumbra from Asansol village in Dumka district of Jharkhand around 18 months ago. The sisters dislike Mumbra. “There’s garbage everywhere,” Razia says. Faiza agrees: “There are more eateries than bookshops.” The sisters were not expected to wear a burkha in their village. “We had a lot of freedom back home,” Razia says. “But here,” Faiza continues, “our mother says that the mahol [environment] is not good.”
Their father owned a wholesale groceries shop in Asansol and decided to come to Mumbai, where their grandmother and other family members already lived, “to make more money and for better education for the children,” Razia says. He has since set up a groceries shop near their house.
The sisters spend a majority of their day at the nearby A.E. Kalsekar Degree College, where they are studying in the first and second year BA, respectively. But it’s in the Rehnuma library, a short walk from their home, that they are reminded, Razia says, “of the home they left behind [in the village].”
For Bashira Shah, from Babhnan village in Harraiya tehsil of Uttar Pradesh, the library is where she can stop thinking about home. Bashira got married when she was around 14 years old and moved to her husband’s house in Ashokpur village near Gonda city. Her husband was a construction labourer in Saudi Arabia. Now 36, she has been widowed for two years and lives with her mother, her four children, and two younger sisters in Mumbra.
Her parents moved here in the 2000s but in October 2017, her father passed away. He had a dry fruits shop in Masjid Bunder which is now leased out. Two of Bashira’s sons, 16 and 15 years old, have dropped out of school. But Bashira, who received a religious education and studied Urdu till Class 3, has decided to study more. “My dream, she says, “is to be able to talk to Shamshir and Shifa in English.” Shamshir, 12, her youngest son and her daughter Shifa, 9, study at the Mumbra Public School in English.
Since the Rehnuma Library – rehnuma means a ‘guide’ in Urdu and Hindi – was started in 2003, women come here throughout the day to converse, laugh, relax, or curl up with a book. The library was set up with donations and a crowd-funding campaign by Awaaz-e-Niswaan, a non-governmental organisation. The space is also the NGO’s Mumbra centre, where they focus on literacy for women and legal aid – many women come here with issues related to divorce, polygamy and domestic violence, among others.
The locality was chosen because of its predominantly Muslim population and, as Yasmeen Aga, Awaaz-e-Niswaan’s coordinator for Mumbra says, “the lack of spaces for women to take off their burkha, interact with each other and relax.” The library initially acquired members by telling schoolgirls and their mothers about it, but as college girls found out, they too wanted to join.
The library’s 350 patrons – all women, many of them from families that have migrated to Mumbai from various villages – renew their Rs. 100 membership every year to return home with books or magazines and occasionally participate in book club meetings and workshops.
At the library, Bashira Shah, from UP’s Babhnan village, can stop thinking of home. Faiza, the librarian, also helps visitors become members
In the last book club meeting in mid-January, 12 young women discussed the poems of Mirza Ghalib and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Librarian Faiza Khan says, “The readers were divided into two camps – each wanting the other to concede and admit that the poet they admired was the best.” Faiza, was in the Ghalib camp, but chose to remain sternly neutral.
Faiza, now 28, started coming to Rehnuma when she was 19. She was born and brought up in Mumbra, has a degree in Management Studies, and was offered the librarian’s job in 2014. “The public spaces are dominated by men,” she says. “And women are locked inside their houses”. But at the library, she says, “women can be unabashed and sit and talk like men do.”
She not only holds the key to the library, but also helps wandering visitors become members, and nurtures their reading tastes. “Urdu books,” she says, “are the most sought after.” These make the majority of the 6,000 books stocked in the library’s five wood cabinets.
Some of the most popular books are by Pakistani authors that have been on long journeys. The pages of Ibn-e-Safi’s Imran series and Jasoosi Duniya, highly popular spy novels, have turned yellow. The library has a collection of 72 Ibn-e-Safi novels.
The plaque at the entrance of the building that houses the Rehnuma centre
And the pages of the novels of Umera Ahmad (the library’s most-read author), to Faiza’s utter dismay, are dog-eared with plenty of margin notes. There are also books by Razia Butt, Ismat Chughtai, Munshi Premchand, Saadat Hasan Manto, along with the Urdu translations of Shakespeare. And there is Harry Potter, and of course, Chetan Bhagat too.
Zardab Shah, 20, who came to Mumbra from Khizirpur Ali Nagar village in Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh, has been reading Ujaale ki Talaash, a thriller in Hindi by Sharad Pagare, but wistfully looks at the World Book Encyclopaedia placed at the top of a cabinet. “We are not allowed to take these home,” she says, regretfully. “I like to look at the maps and imagine going on an adventure to Switzerland.”
The closest Shah has got to a sense of adventure was when she secured admission at Banaras Hindu University for an MA in English last year. But her parents didn’t let her go. Her father is a truck driver, her mother a homemaker. “They didn’t want me to live in a hostel,” she says. Instead, they moved Zardab from her uncle’s home in the village – where she was staying while studying – to be with them in Mumbra. She is now trying to get admission in a Mumbai college. When someone in her building told her about Rehnuma, she immediately joined.
“I was wasting my time in the village… here, at least, I am reading and learning,” she says. It took her some time to get used to Mumbra, but Zardab doesn’t miss her village. “There are no opportunities,” she says. “It’s a place you can love as a child but not as a grown-up.” And now she has forged an attachment so strong with the Rehnuma Library, that, she confides, “this might be all the adventure I need”.
Shafiya Shaikh, one of the library’s most voracious readers, often reads aloud to her daughterThe novels of Nemrah Ahmed are a hot favourite
A large number of Muslim families moved to Mumbra after the 1992 riots in Bombay. Shafiya Shaikh’s family too shifted at that time, distraught but physically unharmed, from Worli in south Mumbai. The first time she came to Rehnuma was when she was seeking help to get a divorce from her husband. He had abandoned a pregnant Shafiya after eight months of marriage. But when she saw the stacked books, she was confused, “I thought that like everything else for women in our society, even books were out of reach.”
Soon, Shafiya and her mother Haseena Bano became members. Shafiya, now 27, also reads some of the books out to her four-year-old daughter Misbaah Fatima. The Shaikhs are now among the most voracious readers the library has seen – they check out 2-3 books and 2-3 magazines per week while others read and return one book in a couple of months.
Shafiya is currently reading Jannat Ke Pattay by Nemrah Ahmed, an acclaimed Pakistani novelist. It’s about sexual violence against a girl, and the story’s male lead doesn’t save her. “It’s not like a hero will come to save everyone,” she says.
Apart from the lure of the books, the library brings women together to enjoy the company of others. Here, Zardab says, “We can sit however we like, laugh, play, or chat. There’s freedom here that we don’t find at home.” A current hot topic is the popular Zee TV show about triple talaq – Ishq Subhan Allah.
Librarian Faiza has also become a role model for the young women – a job she has reluctantly accepted. She now takes it upon herself to gather them and discuss books they may not read themselves. The last book she discussed was Rana Ayyub’s Gujarat Files – on the investigations in the 2002 riots in the state – and unlike the Ghalib-Faiz session, this discussion remained utterly sombre.
source: http://www.ruralindiaonline.com / PARI – People’s Archive of Rural India / Home> Things We Do> The Rural in the Urban> Women / by Apekshita Varshney / July 04th, 2018
Deora Village (Dharbanga District) , BIHAR / Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :
Sadiya Shaikh is an undergraduate student getting her bachelor’s in Sociology-Literature in English from Rizvi College in Bandra.
It was the startling lack of discernment of the privileged and the problem of illiteracy in India, especially in Bihar, that prompted her to come to the aid of the community in any which way she could.
Eighteen-year-old Sadiya Shaikh was born in Darbhanga district of Bihar. Sadiya’s parents had decided to move their family to Mumbai, Maharashtra when she was only a toddler, to ensure that the children got the life and education they deserved.
She was visiting her hometown during the lockdown when she managed to establish the accessible, well-stocked, and only library her village has.
The Maulana Azad Library in Deora village of Darbhanga District is an initiative taken up by young Sadiya with help from her family and friends to sow the seeds for inclusive education for all the students in the community who cannot afford the luxury of getting appropriate and established means of instruction.
Deora stands at a total population of 3,446 persons and 631 houses. While the village literacy rate stands at 40.9%, the female literacy rate is a staggering 18.6%.
The close linked relationship between illiteracy and poverty has challenged the development of the people of Deora for a long time therefore, the library is of service to the students of all grades along with school textbooks, there is accessible material for aspirants of competitive examinations, along with a couple of trained professionals who help to tutor the children, who, even though, are enrolled in schools, cannot afford to go and own the required textbooks and other study materials.
“Few sections of our society have benefitted the most from the library, the youth who used to wander during the evening, now sit in the library and study, along with them, the elderly also use the library as a space to sit and read the daily newspaper,” Nawaz, a resident of Deora and a daily visitor of the library said to Maktoob.
The library has books pertaining to the school boards in the state and NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) books from standard one to 12.
Nawaz said his village doesn’t even have a well-established government school.
“Even though there is a private school just out of the village, most families cannot afford to send their children there, and even when they somehow arrange to pay the high-end fee they still cannot afford to buy the books and other school material, so the public library has ensured the well-being of such children by providing them these books at zero-cost along with the facility of issuing the required textbooks and taking them home to read,” he added.
The library has books pertaining to the school boards in the state and NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) books from standard one to 12.
Akbar Ali, a second year BCom student told Maktoob that with the establishment of Maulana Azad Library, an atmosphere to study has been created in his village.
Sadiya Shaikh is an undergraduate student getting her bachelor’s in Sociology-Literature in English from Rizvi College in Bandra. She aspires to get her Postgraduate Degree from the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), Delhi.
She considers her education to be the informant that made her acquainted with the social and political predicament that threatens the minorities and women in India. Sadiya was an active participant in the anti-CAA-NRC-NPR protests and has been applauded for the various speeches she delivered disputing the law at various public-speaking events, one of which was in company with activists Umar Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar.
Sadiya was an active participant in the anti-CAA-NRC-NPR protests and has been applauded for the various speeches she delivered disputing the law at various public-speaking events, one of which was in company with activists Umar Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar.
Moving forward, Sadiya has her sights set on helping the women in her community and creating employment for the ones who are bound to the four walls of their household.
Sadiya believes that for any social change to be brought about, it’s the privileged and the educated members of the community who need to step up and stand in allyship with the marginalised, and only through education, can they stand a fair shot with the favoured class.
“Development of one person in a society consisting of under-privileged is no development at all. It is when the fortunate ones uplift the disadvantaged and curb inequality, does real development take place,” Sadiya told Maktoob.
“During the lockdown, many children didn’t have access to any regular means of instruction so the books from the library proved to be very beneficial, they also provided newspapers for older students and adults at Maulana Azad Library”- Rahela who lives near the library says.
source: http://www.maktoobmedia.com / Maktoob / Home> Features / by Sania Javed / December 04th, 2020
Bhopal, MADHYA PRADESH /Lucknow, UTTAR PRADESH / NEW DELHI :
Saaeda Bano in her glory days
Saeeda Bano’s Dubai-based granddaughter, Shahana Raza, tells WKND about rediscovering her ‘Bibi’ when she took on the task of translating her memoir.
Shahana Raza, Indian writer and journalist and granddaughter of Saeeda Bano (Shihab)
One of the pioneering women of the 20th century who probably didn’t get the recognition she deserved in her lifetime was Saeeda Bano, the first woman in India to work as a radio newsreader on All India Radio (AIR) in 1947. However, Bano (fondly known as Bibi) did leave behind a poignant autobiography called Dagar Se Hat Kar in Urdu that was published in 1994. The book has now been translated into English by her granddaughter, Shahana Raza, a Dubai-based writer and journalist, and is titled Off the Beaten Track.
In a chat with KT, Raza reveals that she translated the Urdu memoir into English so that more people could read about the unconventional yet inspiring journey of a woman of indomitable spirit — her grandmother Saeeda Bano. Excerpts from the interview:
What led you to translate your grandmother’s memoir into English after so many years?
Dagar Se Hat Kar was published in 1994 in Urdu. My grandmother, whom I fondly called Bibi, suffered a paralytic stroke soon after. During that time, when I visited her in New Delhi, she asked me if I could translate the book into English for her. I told her that it was written in a language that I understood, but couldn’t read or write. She remained quiet then, but a few days later when I was leaving for the US to make a life for myself, I received a parcel containing eight audio cassettes from her close friend, who told me, “Bibi asked me to read and record the entire book onto these tapes, just so that you could translate them into English.”
The tapes travelled with me to the US and stayed with me till I settled down in Dubai in 2000. I did try transcribing them once before, but was intimidated by the heavy Urdu vocabulary. I delayed it until three years ago, when my dad motivated me to try again.
What is the story behind Bano becoming India’s first female voice on All India Radio?
An excerpt from the book tells us that, in 1938, a radio station was set up in Lucknow that also held shows for women and children; these were also hosted by women. My grandmother started participating in the radio shows regularly. When things on the personal front got a bit turbulent, she sent her application to BBC in New Delhi for a news reader and she got accepted. She moved from Lucknow (her husband’s house) to New Delhi with her younger son and took up accommodation at the YWCA and began working at AIR full time.
What made her life an unconventional one?
Although I always saw Bibi as a bold, independent woman who was truly ahead of her times, it was after reading and translating her book that I understood she was truly a force to reckon with.
Back in 1947, she had walked out of her marriage and decided to lead life as a single, working woman, which was unheard of at that time. She had all the possible comforts of life when she lived in the ancestral house in Lucknow with her husband and in-laws — but when she realised it wasn’t going in the right direction, she took the bold step of walking out of it along with her two boys, Asad and Saeed. She moved to New Delhi after putting her elder son in a boarding school and stayed in a women’s hostel in Delhi. Apart from making professional strides where her career soared as she started doing more shows on All India Radio, she was also quite candid about her relationship with a married man — something not many would do even today.
What are some of your favourite chapters in the book and what did you like about them?
The initial few chapters of the book are captivating, as Bano gives a very vivid description of the way people lived in the early 20th century, beginning with the life of her mother, who got married when she was 14. She gives a riveting description of how people traveled in palanquins and how the palanquin bearers communicated with each other; how homes were lit with oil lamps, and the way they were designed to keep women away from the public eye. Since the purdah system was practised by both Muslims and non-Muslims of that time, homes were designed in a way that there were no openings (windows) towards the façade of the house. It simply transports you to that era and gives you a glimpse of the socio-cultural setup of that time.
What aspects of Bano’s personality did you think stood out? Who or what shaped her ideas?
Bibi’s early days were spent in Bhopal, which I believe played a crucial role in moulding her personality, as the city was run and ruled by women (Nawab Begums) for four generations. The women of Bhopal were very empowered and were aware of their unique identity; they were encouraged to study and go out to women’s clubs, where they learnt how to live a life independently without the need for male approval.
She lived her life on her own terms and never bowed down to societal pressure. I never saw her doing anything that a traditional grandmother would do, like cook or oil our hair. I always saw her as a gutsy, fearless woman who drove around the city on her own, lived alone, and didn’t seek support from anyone — even in the lowest phases of her life. Her sheer determination always stood out, as she never looked back and regretted any of her decisions.
What are the key takeaways from the book? What would you want to imbibe from her?
Something that I really understood from her book was the importance of individuality. There is more to us than we are socially. We always try and slot ourselves into relationships — mother, daughter, sister, wife etc. Bibi taught us how to claim our identity. She never went back to her parents when her marriage didn’t work. She just used whatever skills she had to find a job and support herself. Even today, not many have the courage to take such a step. To me, the step that I would call the defining moment of Bibi’s life would be leaving her extremely comfortable life in Lucknow, where she would drive a convertible car, to move to a new city, New Delhi, where she would mostly commute on foot because she wanted to save money. The most invaluable lesson I learnt from this book is how, sometimes, to reclaim your identity, you may have to forgo the comfort and security of being in a family.
(Off The Beaten Track is available at Ciel bookstore in Dubai.)
saman@khaleejtimes.com
source: http://www.khaleejtimes.com / Khaleej Times / Home> WKND> Interview / by Saman Haziq, Dubai / November 27th, 2020
(Following is an excerpt from the autobiography of Shaukat Kaifi, wife of Kaifi Azmi. The autobiography, Yaad Ki Rahguzar, is originally written in Urdu. English translation is done by Nasreen Rehman.)
Kaifi Azmi & Shaukat Kaifi with their daughter Shabana Azmi.
Choti Apajan was married to Akhtar Hasan, a Progressive writer and poet who was invited to Hyderabad in 1946 by Qazi Abdul Ghaffar, of Laila ke Khatut (Laila’s letters) fame, to join him as editor of the Urdu daily, Payam. Akhtar Bhai was a gracious host and Choti Apajan was always by his side in their open house where writers from the Progressive Writers’ Movement, such as Makhdoom Mohiuddin, were regular visitors.
In February 1947 a Progressive Writers’ conference was organized in Hyderabad and Akhtar Bhai arranged for the poets Kaifi Azmi and Majrooh Sultanpuri to stay with his elder sister, Baji. His youngers sister Rabia Burney lived next door, and it was here that Sardar Jafri was staying with her friend Sultana, who later became his wife. Fortuitously, this was during the long school holidays, and as I happened to be visiting my sister in Hyderabad, I was able to attend the conference and meet the Progressive Writers about whom I had heard so much. In Hyderabad it was not uncommon for writers with slightest claim to fame to put on airs and treat with disdain those whom they considered less fortunate or famous than themselves. The young progressive writers were a refreshing change; they wore their fame so lightly that I was overwhelmed. Little did I know that this chance encounter would change my life forever.
One night there was a mushaira. I was sitting in the front row with Bade Bhaijaan. The air was filled with expectation. Finally, I was going to hear the celebrated poets. I had spent hours before a mirror trying on one kurta after another and head settled on a white kargah kurta, a white salwar, a dupatta skillfully dyed in the colours of the rainbow and golden salimshahi shoes. I was determined to overshadow all the other young women. When Kaifi began to recite his poem Taj, I felt impelled to fix my gaze on this tall, slim and charismatic young man, whose voice, God help me, had a timber like the Rumble of storm clouds. How brave of him to recite a powerful poem against monarchy and injustice in the Nizam’s city! Bade Bhaijaan turned to me and said, ‘Such a bold poem from one so young; these people are truly fearless’. after the Mushaira people rushed towards the three poets with their Autograph books. College girls swarmed around Kaifi like flies but I preferred to wait my turn, and giving him an arch look, I turned towards Sardar Jafri and asked for his Autograph instead.
After the crowds had dispersed, I walked up to Kaifi with great confidence and held out my autograph book to him. From the corner of his eye Kaifi had caught me going towards Sardar Jafri; and to my dismay he scribbled some meaningless couplets in my book.
The flaming cloud that seems to shine
The earth of the nightingale’s honour
Come into my domain like a secret
My heart bell rings and lightening swings
Grab the beauty and come into my heart
I was miffed. Kaifi has inscribed a charming couplet for my friend Zakia who was beaming with delight and I was consumed with envy. When we returned to Chhoti Apajan’s, I joined Kaifi on the steps leading to the house and demanded petulantly, ‘Why did you write such silly couplets for me?’
‘Why did you ask for Jafri Sahib’s autograph first?’ Kaifi asked mischievously. He was pleased to see that I was amused in spite of myself and we sat right there on the steps, slipping into a conversation as though we were old friends. The eagle eyed Chhoti Apajaan descended upon us announcing, ‘Dinner is served.’ Then she continued, ‘and yes, Kaifi don’t forget to congratulate Shaukat; she is getting married in three months time to Usman, our Mamu’s son. Kaifi’s crestfallen expression mirrored my dismay as we made our way to dinner. I had learnt from Sardar Jafri that Kaifi was getting married to some lady in Bombay who wanted to have a sherwani made for him and that two of hemru, a rich brocade, which was the speciality of our region. I could not help but feel a twinge of envy.
After dinner Kaifi and I returned to sit on the steps. ‘In three months you will be married and you won’t even think of me.’ Kaifi said in a very subdued voice.
‘And you will go back to Bombay and get married,’ was my rejoinder.
‘Now, I will never get married, not for the rest of my life,’ Kaifi declared.
‘ Marriage is a must,’ I counselled him like an agony aunt, ‘without marriage life is incomplete…… human being remains unfulfilled…’ I was rambling on when I caught Kaifi staring at me. Avoiding his gaze, I rushed off to my room! Something had stirred in me – an emotion unfamiliar but exciting. I could not wait for Dawn to break.
Next morning, I went into Kaifi’s room. He was standing there, wearing a pair of grey trousers and a white shirt. Fresh from his bath, there were drops of water glistening on his long black hair. I had with me the perfume ‘Evening in Paris’ which was all the rage at the time. Purposefully, I rushed up to Kaifi and daubed some on his test. As I turned around and ran I could sense his eyes full of laughter following me out of the room.
Kaifi went for a meeting after breakfast and disappeared for the whole day. In the evening, Akhtar Bhai and Baji were hosting a dinner party; Zakia and I flitting around preening ourselves. It was eight o’clock and there was no sign of Kaifi. Zakia said, ‘I think, Kaifi is asleep at Rabia’s house.
‘Go, go and wake him up,’ I need her.
‘Why should I?’ She asked. I was just saying, ‘Indeed, and why would I….’ when Kaifi walked into the room.
I was standing by a window, near and earthenware pot of cold water, covered with an engraved silver bowl. Kaifi walked up to me and said, ‘I am very thirsty.’ I filled the bowl with water and offered it to him.
He said, ‘More.’
I refilled the bowl. He said, ‘More,’
I poured some more,
‘More,’ said Kaifi.
I looked at him questioningly.
He said, ‘My thirst is unquenched.’
Flushed, I hurried away. My world was transformed into a kaleidoscope of colours.
source: http://www.heritagetimes.in / Heritage Times / Home> Urdu> Writer / by Saquib Salim / January 14th, 2020
Today is the Birth Anniversary of renowned ornithologist Salim Ali. Born in Mumbai on 12th November in 1896, Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali was not only a bird lover but also a naturalist. He is often referred to as the ‘Birdman of India’. He was the first Indian to conduct systematic bird surveys across India and wrote several books that popularized ornithology in India. His research work is considered highly influential in the development of ornithology. He was a well-known environmental crusader who often stood for protecting the wildlife.
Salim Ali played a pivotal role in establishment of Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary (Keoladeo National Park) and prevented the destruction of what is now the Silent Valley National Park. Along with Sidney Dillon Ripley, he wrote the landmark ten-volume Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan, a second edition of which was completed after his death.
He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1958 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1976, India’s third and second highest civilian honours respectively. Besides the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan, Ali received the Gold Medal of the British Ornithologists’ Union in 1967. He was the first non-British citizen to receive the honour.
source: http://www.newsonair.com / All India Radio (AIR), News Services Division / Home> News Highlights / November 12th, 2020
October 24th was the 137th birth anniversary of Sir Mirza Ismail, one of the Dewans of the erstwhile Mysore State who later went on to become the Dewan of the Princely States of Jaipur and Hyderabad too.
To mark this event, the Anjuman-E-Hadiqatul Adab, Mysuru, conducted a webinar that was well-received by the large number of viewers who logged in. I can say with some confidence that the Anjuman requires no introduction to most Mysureans because it is well-known for the annual Eid Milan get-together which it has been hosting over the past fifteen years to promote communal harmony and camaraderie among people of different faiths.
This event is as old as my column is because it is with my report of the first Eid Milan, which I filed for Star of Mysore, that my column was born! However, this year’s Eid Milan unfortunately could not be conducted because COVID-19 wiped out all celebrations from the entire face of this earth. Let’s all hope that things will change for the better before it is time to hold the Eid Milan next year.
Niranjan Nikam, the well-known senior journalist, who again does not need any introduction to most Mysureans, was the principal speaker at the webinar. He spoke on ‘The Unknown side of Sir Mirza Ismail,’ a topic which I suggested because I felt that by being slightly unusual, it would certainly be a crowd-puller! And Niranjan rose up to the expectations of his large virtual audience admirably well. Through some very painstakingly collected and well-curated references, Niranjan brought out many very interesting anecdotes from the life of Sir Mirza which were very noteworthy because I don’t think they are known to present day Mysureans.
Although it is understandable and expected too, that any speaker worth his salt will come well-informed and well-prepared for his talk, it quickly became evident to me that Niranjan was privy to much inside information which left me more than a little amazed. Take for instance the revelation that upon his death, the body of Sir Mirza that had already been interred was once again exhumed when there was a hue and cry from many grieving members of the public that they did not get a chance to see it and pay their last respects to their dear leader.
The body was once again displayed on a platform of sand for many more hours till late in the night and till all the people assembled there were satisfied that they had paid their homage to the man before it was interred into the grave once again. I have never heard of anything like this having happened, anywhere in the world in connection with the death of any public figure. DVG, the well-known Kannada writer, in his account about Sir Mirza has said that among the mourners was a frail old lady who was weeping bitterly saying that Sir Mirza, once while on his morning rounds, in response to her humble plea summoned one of the municipal engineers and ordered him to immediately provide a water tap to the street she lived in!
R.K. Narayan, the famous writer says in his autobiography, ‘My Days’ on page 138 that when his writing was not very paying, with him having got just 40 pounds for his book ‘The Dark Room’, it was Sir Mirza who got him a free railway pass and a government grant and commissioned him to write his book on Mysore, which Narayan was keen on writing.
As Niranjan’s talk progressed, the pieces of a most interesting jigsaw puzzle began to fall in place one by one. Niranjan revealed that his wife Pamela and he were associated for over ten months with the production of a book on Agha Aly Asker, the paternal grandfather of Sir Mirza, written by Sir Mirza’s very charming and graceful nephew Maj. Mohammed Mirza’s wife Syeda Mirza who stays in Bengaluru. The book which the speaker had brought with him, says that Sir Mirza who shared a very close working association and more significantly a very intimate friendship with the then Maharaja of Mysore, Sri Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, would not have been a part of the history and growth of Mysore if his very enterprising grandfather, Agha Aly Asker, as a sixteen-year-old lad had not overheard a conversation between two people who were sipping tea in a chaikhana at his hometown, Shiraz in Iran. Learning that there was a great demand for Arab horses in the court of the Maharaja of a distant kingdom called Mysore, he decided to try his luck in selling them where they were in demand. So, he wasted no time in buying two hundred fine steeds and setting sail with them to India from Iran in the year 1824. The most surprising fact is that every one of those two hundred horses survived this long and arduous journey over sea and land, reaching Bangalore, alive and kicking!
The man who sold the horses to the Maharaja endeared himself to his customer and settled down in Bangalore which soon became his ‘Karmabhumi’ according to the writer Syeda Mirza. At that time Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, the then Maharaja of Mysore was about to become a victim of the very vicious Doctrine of Lapse imposed on Indian royalty by a very scheming British regime by which it could annex any kingdom if the ruler did not have a direct heir. It is reported that Agha Aly Asker became very close to the Maharaja because he could through his good relationship with Sir Mark Cubbon, the British Commissioner, get the Crown to restore the kingdom’s reins into the Maharaja’s hands, which understandably must have been a very difficult task. Meanwhile Sir Mark Cubbon commissioned Aly Asker to build more than a hundred bungalows around High Grounds, Richmond Town and the Bangalore Cantonment, many of which still stand in testimony to his abilities. We also have the Ali Asker Road named after him in Bengaluru on which his own house too still stands, although in a very vestigial state.
The close relationship between his family and the Mysore royal family continued down the line with his grandson, Sir Mirza Ismail becoming the classmate of the young Maharaja Sri Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar at the private royal school that was being run in the Summer Palace in Bangalore. Sir Mirza, who graduated from the Central College, Bangalore in the year 1905 and held many high posts was the first Indian to become the Private Secretary to the Maharaja. At the age of forty-two, he also went on to become the youngest Dewan of the State of Mysore in the year 1926 after A.R. Banerjee relinquished office.
His love for Mysore was so intense that in a speech that was aired on All India Radio, which can still easily be found on its archives in the internet, Sir Mirza says: I want Mysoreans to wash with Mysore soap, dry themselves with Mysore towels, clothe themselves in Mysore silk, ride Mysore horses, eat abundant Mysore food, drink Mysore coffee, sweetened with Mysore sugar, equip their houses with Mysore furniture, light them with Mysore lamps and write on Mysore paper!
Sir Mirza in his autobiography, ‘My Public Life’ says that the passing away of his dear friend, the Maharaja was the greatest sorrow that he had known! Towards the last phase of his active public life Sir Mirza seemed to have lapsed into a slightly disillusioned frame of mind. Here in Mysore he was seen by his detractors as a Muslim who was unusually close and influential with a Hindu Maharaja only because of his childhood friendship. At Jaipur he was seen as anti-Hindu while at Hyderabad he was seen as anti-Muslim because he did not support its existence as an independent State, without integration into the Indian Union!
It is said that once when the Maharaja and he were doing their morning rounds together on horseback, Sir Mirza, for reasons best known to him, expressed his desire to step down from his post. The Maharaja smiled and pointing towards the Chamundi Hill said: “You can do it when I go there.” He meant the cremation ground at the foot of the hill! And, that is how it was. Sir Mirza’s death came calling at the age of seventy-five while he was still very active. His demise was mourned not only here at home but across the world too, with newspapers in many countries writing about his very productive life.
Reporting on Sir Mirza’s resignation as Dewan of Mysore, The Ceylon News on May, 12th, 1941 said, Truth is a paradox and so is greatness. Sir Mirza too was a man of paradoxes. He was an autocrat with democratic instincts. A dictator with a weakness for having a constitution. A capitalist with socialist leanings. An idealist with an intense practical outlook. A dreamer with the astute mind of a businessman. A most charming man but a very stern and strict official. A perfect host but an indifferent friend. And he had no bosom friends, except the late Maharaja of Mysore!
The most amazing thing that Niranjan revealed in his talk was that the grand-old-man of India, Sir C. Rajagopalachari, fondly known as Rajaji, the first Indian to become the Governor General of India, at the time of the imminent partition told Sir Mirza to accept the invitation of Mohammed Ali Jinnah and go over to Pakistan. When a shell-shocked and very outraged Sir Mirza angrily asked him why, he said, “that way we will have someone in Pakistan who will love India and thus ensure that the Pakistanis too will do the same!” A wry but a terrific compliment indeed !
e-mail: kjnmysore@rediffmail.com
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Columns, Over A Cup of Evening Tea / November 07th, 2020
Syeda Muhammadi Begum was the first woman in the Indian sub-continent to be the editor of a weekly magazine,‘Tehzeeb-e-Niswaan’. The Urdu magazine was dedicated to emancipate the women. The magazine came out with its first edition on 1st July, 1898.
Muhammadi Begum started her work along with her husband Mumtaz Ali. Mumtaz, who had also written a book stressing upon the rights of women, ‘Huqooq-e-Niswaan’, was a Darul Uloom, Deoband educated Lahore based publisher. He was a close associate of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan during the later years of the leader of Aligarh Movement. In fact, a hostel has been named after Mumtal Ali in AMU. Muhammadi and her husband realised that its was important that Muslim women also access modern education along with Muslim men. It must be kept in mind that when the magazine was launched Aligarh College was only a boys institution and there was no women’s college in Aligarh.
In fact, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan disagreed with Mumtaz and Muhammadi on women’s education. It was not until the demise of Sir Syed that they actually launched the magazine for women.
Muhammadi Begum, born in 1878 in Shahpur, Punjab, married Mumtaz Ali in 1897 after the death of his first wife. Syed Muhammad Shafi, father of Muhammadi, was the Principal of Wazeerabad High School and ensured that his daughters received modern education. In fact, Muhammadi used to play cricket and ride horses as well in those days when women were kept inside homes. When she married Mumtaz, he was already owning a publishing house and a printing press in Lahore.
Within a year, Muhammadi learned the art of publishing, editing and proofreading from her husband. She could read English, Hindi, Urdu, Persian and Arabic. Soon the first Urdu weekly dedicated to the cause of women was launched, ‘Tehzeeb-e-Niswaan’.
As expected, people did not take such progressive magazine positively. Muhammadi and Mumtaz used to send free complimentary copies to the well known educated people. In return they would receive the copies back along with letters abusing Muhammadi. The magazine picked very slowly and even after three months only 70 people subscribed to the magazine, after three years 345 and after five years 428.
Muhammadi had one son, Imtiaz Ali, whom he used to affectionately call Taj. She used to write stories, poems, plays and lullabies especially for him. She trained him to be a man of literary taste. Imtiaz grew up to edit the magazine and established himself as one of the greats of Urdu literature.
Muhammadi later launched another magazine for women, ‘Musheer-e-Madar’, in 1905. Which did not survive much after her death. She also established schools for women. A very interesting experiment carried out by Muhammadi was of an all-Women shop. This shop was operated by the women and for the women and no man was allowed inside the shop for any work. Interestingly, the title of Ashraf Ali Thanvi’s Bahishti Zewar is inspired by one of the poems written by Muhammadi.
From 1897, Muhammadi’s life was busy with social work. She edited magazines, wrote essays, stories, poems and held public meetings to emancipate the women of India. This hard work took a great toll on her health and left this world at a young age of 30, in 1908.
(Author is a well known historian)
source: http://www.heritagetimes.com / Heritage Times / Home> Women / by Saquib Salim / September 14th, 2020
Author Hemender Sharma re-examines activist and environmentalist Shehla Masood’s gruesome murder with detailed insight into the events leading to the conspiracy.
Author: Hemender Sharma
Publisher: HarperCollins
If an urban woman with ‘modern’ sophistication and a ‘questioning’ attitude is killed in our country, the investigation, in most instances, begins with a close examination of her character. Shehla Masood was one such gutsy woman – an Indian environmentalist, wildlife and RTI activist. Hemender Sharma, in his book, Shehla Masood: The Murder that Shook the Nation, peels many layers to understand her life, her murder and the ultimate resolution of her case
Stepping out of her house in Bhopal to attend Anna Hazare’s ‘India Against Corruption’ campaign, Masood was shot dead from point-blank range in broad daylight on August 16, 2011. With Masood featuring in the news ahead of her murder after exposing corruption rackets through ‘RTI Anonymous’ – a portal where individuals could file an RTI without disclosing their identity – the Indian media had covered her gruesome death extensively. Shehla came from a humble background, but convent education along with brave instincts made her a savvy Muslim girl endowed with big dreams.
The book unravels the circumstances that led to her murder, the politics that subsequently unfolded and the long fight for justice that ensued. Cover-ups and attempts to tarnish her image started soon after her death. The local police tried to label her death as a suicide, while the state chief minister ordered a CBI probe within 48 hours. Names of various political dignitaries and bureaucrats were in the suspect list, but when the verdict was declared in January 2017, Zahida Parvez, an interior designer who gave the contract to kill Shehla, along with three others, stood convicted.
Zahida, a mother of two girls, in her statement, revealed her affair with Darbar (pseudonym) who was the Chairman of Madhya Pradesh Tourism Department. After a few formal meetings, their friendship strengthened, leading to intimacy. Darbar, on the other hand, was already in a relationship with Shehla. Zahida was madly in love with Darbar and surely not fond of Shehla.
Darbar’s 53rd birthday was approaching and Zahida wished to celebrate it with grandeur. Bhopal has a tradition of politicians putting up their own hoardings and congratulating themselves on their birthdays. But to her disappointment, Darbar’s hoardings had no place for her, leaving her heartbroken.
She knew that Darbar was a Casanova, but couldn’t substantiate her doubt with palpable evidence. With her friend Sabah, she followed Darbar on instances to gather evidence and catch him red-handed. When Darbar went to meet Shehla on his birthday, Zahida was left fuming. Her anger and frustration usually subsided the moment she finished pouring her heart out in her diary. But this time, her anger knew no bounds. The man for whom she had waited the whole day, putting her family and daughters at stake, was drifting away from her. She assumed that Shehla was the culprit jeopardizing her illicit relation with Darbar, which was now showing visible cracks.
Zahida contacted Shakib, a contractor. When Shakib entered her office, she threw a file towards him with the initials ‘SM’ inscribed. It contained Shehla Masood’s newspaper cuttings from Hindustan Times and Free Press. She told him that she wanted this woman dead as she was negatively influencing girls. Besides, she had also lied to him about Shehla’s affair with her husband. She negotiated a deal worth Rs 3 lakh to get Shehla killed. Very soon, Shakib brewed the plan along with Irfan and Tabish, and it was only after a couple of failed attempts that they succeeded in executing the conspiracy.
On the day of her murder, Shehla walked towards her car around 11:19 am. She was about to ignite the car when Shakib pounced on her from the rear and shot her in the trachea. The detailed narrative furthers reveals Shakib’s call to Zahida confirming the murder, who further lets Sabah, her friend, know of their success. Irfan, Shakib’s partner in the crime, was let go as he turned an approver during trials. Zahida and Sabah were convicted under Section 302 (murder) with 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC and sentenced to life imprisonment. Shehla’s father, upset with the verdict, asserted, “Probably the real culprit will never be caught.”
The book also details how the CBI team, led by Joint Director Keshav Kumar and DIG Arun Bothra, painstakingly reached the killers after being severely misled.
source: http://www.millenniumpost.in / Millennium Post / Home> Book Review / by Arif Mohammad / May 04th, 2019
Actor Naseeruddin Shah releasing the book Halla Bol: Safdar Hashmi Savu Mattu Baduku. | Photo Credit: Handout E Mail
Actors and authors call for solidarity with activist and intellectuals
Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah called for people to fight for their right to democratic dissent, which, he said, is increasingly being interpreted as sedition at a time when history is being replaced by mythology. He was speaking at the virtual release of Halla Bol: Safdar Hashmi Savu Mattu Baduku, a Kannada translation of Sudhanva Deshpande’s book on the playwright and director Safdar Hashmi. The book has been translated to Kannada by M.G. Venkatesh.
Safdar Hashmi was fatally injured in an attack on the theatre group when Halla Bol, a street play on exploitation and rights of factory workers, was being performed near Delhi in January 1989.
At the book launch, Mr. Shah said that the life, achievements and murder of Safdar Hashmi was a testimony as to why fascist powers and forces were so terrified about the lives of activists and intellectuals, who are being hounded in the country today. “It is high time we stand in solidarity with jailed activists and intellectuals like Varavara Rao and Anand Teltumbde,” he said.
“When I read the English and Hindi versions of Halla Bol, I was informed, amused, raged, disturbed and moved. He [Safdar Hashmi] took plays to factories, schools and streets, and informed people about their exploitation and rights. It is from his life I realised that even an actor’s life can be of use and impactful,” he added.
M.G. Venkatesh, translator of the book, said that the thoughts and writings of Safdar Hashmi are more relevant now than at the time he was killed. “The current regime is diluting labour laws, not only in a dangerous way but also in a way that insults labourers,” he added.
Author Sudhanva Deshpande spoke about the assassination of editor-activist Gauri Lankesh. “The killing of Hashmi stirred the need for the defence of freedom of art and expression,” he said.
Actor Achyuth Kumar said that the times had not changed much. “Hashmi was killed when the Congress was in power, and Gauri Lankesh was killed by the fundamental right wing. This is the way ruling dispensations suppress the voices of people. They just kill them,” he said.
Writer Bolwar Mahammad Kunhi said that we are fighting two types of viruses now. “It is said that a vaccine for COVID-19 will be available in the future. But who will and how can a vaccine be invented for those who suppress dissent, spread hatred and eulogise killings and violence?”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Staff Reporter / October 31st, 2020
