Category Archives: Business & Economy

Food in Indian Muslim households is beyond biryani & kebabs: Recipes are subtle, and include various vegetables

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Books (incl.Biographies - w.e.f.01 jan 2018 ), Business & Economy, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, Travel & Tourism, , ,

JHARKHAND / NEW DELHI :

Sadaf Hussain chronicles home-made food in his new book Daastane-Dastarkhan.

​Sadaf Hussain’s charming new, first book Daastane-Dastarkhan​ has been published by Hachette India​.

Sadaf Hussain’s charming new, first book Daastane-Dastarkhan has been published by Hachette India.

Sadaf Hussain’s charming new book Daastane-Dastarkhan starts with the story of a pir who, every Thursday, visited his mother’s family in Sasaram, Bihar. But one day he appeared on a Wednesday, throwing his grandmother into panic because there was no meat for the aloo-gosht she always fed him. She had to be inventive. She used dried figs and poppy seed paste, to make a salan, threw in fried potatoes, balanced it with garam masala and chillies, and served it with rice and besan rotis. The pir was delighted: “May Allah bless you with an abundance of food and may no one ever leave your home hungry.

A recipe like this is not what many would think of as Indian Muslim food. Where is the intense meat focus? Where are the kebabs and biryanis? The problem starts with thinking there is something that can be neatly labelled Indian Muslim food. The fact that people do this might be just another way in which Indian Muslims are diminished by clubbing their many communities into one and ascribing easy stereotypes to them.

Ummi Abdulla, who has documented the food of Malabar Muslims, makes mutta mala or egg threads.
Ummi Abdulla, who has documented the food of Malabar Muslims, makes mutta mala or egg threads.

Part of the problem is that there is a market in catering to such stereotypes. Once a year during Ramzan, many people decide to have an iftar experience and go out — without fasting — to eat the rich food cooked on street sides for the occasion. But this has as little relation to regular home food in Muslim communities across India, as does a Diwali or Christmas feast have for Hindu or Christian home food.

One way people get exposed to home food of different communities is when they share food with neighbours, especially as kids. But as housing becomes increasingly segregated, this is becoming harder.

This lack of knowledge has been compounded by a curious lack of cookbooks from different Indian Muslim communities.

There are cookbooks from cities like Lucknow and Hyderabad where certain types of Muslim food dominate, but what’s presented tends to be street food or special occasion dishes, both mostly made by men. These are important, but it means that the daily, home dishes get left out.

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There have been a few exceptions. Ummi Abdulla made a pioneering contribution by documenting the food of the Malabar Muslim, or Moplah, community, with all its complex interactions between the local ingredients of Kerala and influences from Arab traders.

Bilkees Latif ’s Essential Andhra Cookbook captured similar interactions from Hyderabad. Mumbai’s Inquilab newspaper brought out a collection of booklets, in Urdu and English, on Memon, Kokani, Bohra and Kashmiri food. There were a few other books printed privately or abroad, but little else.

Adil Ahmad’s Tehzeeb chronicles the home food of an upper-class Lucknow family.

Doreen Hassan’s Saffron and Pearls does the same for her husband’s family from Hyderabad, but with roots in both Persia and Uttar Pradesh. Zaiqa e-Kadwai provides a very different perspective. It is a team effort to document the food of a village in Ratnagiri district, where most of the families just happen to be Muslim, but their food is quite typically Konkani. Hazeena Syed’s Ravathur Recipes: With a Pinch of Love shows, in a very impressively produced volume, the food of this Tamil Muslim community.

 These books show the food of these communities to be, as with all communities in a region, primarily dictated by what’s locally available, but with small tweaks. As Hassan’s husband’s family shows, at a more upper-class level there were more likely to be interactions with communities across countries, and recipes travel with daughters-inlaw, who are one of the least acknowledged agents for social change.

 There is certainly a lot of meat eaten in all these communities, but the recipes are much simpler and subtler than what is served up to unthinking eaters as “Muslim” food. Meat is often cooked with vegetables as in the chuqandar gosht, beetroot and mutton; or keema kakdi, cucumbers and mince, given in Tehzeeb. There are inventive egg dishes, like boiled eggs stuffed with mince and then skewered, that Hassan discovers in Hyderabed, or eggs fried in gravy that are a favourite in Kadwai.

Other similarities might be slightly more use of some spices, like star anise, and less of others — hing rarely features since onions are widely used. Chefs will tell you that Muslims in their kitchens are particularly adept at frying, and that copper, with its excellent heat conduction, is the metal of choice for utensils. Many traditional vessels shown in these books are copper, and careful distinctions are made in types of frying: shallow, deep, braising and so on.

Books like these are important because, apart from the problems of unthinking stereotypes, the food of Indian Muslim communities faces another kind of obliterating pressure. Many cooks from the communities have gone to work in the Gulf and have picked up the kind of Lebanese-Arab food that is becoming a standard across the world. It is easy to produce, cheap and tasty enough and has the allure of being modern, rather than old-fashioned, labour-intensive home food. People shouldn’t be faulted for opting for what’s cheap and convenient, but it is important to remember, as these books remind us, that there are also other ways to nourish our roots.

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source: http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com / The Economic Times / Home> Business News> Magazines> Panache / by Vikram Doctor / ET Bureau / October 13th, 2019

COVER STORY : Travelling in tandem

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Karnataka (under research project), Leaders, Travel & Tourism, World Opinion, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :

Anjum is a self-confessed foodie, and loves cooking. In fact, she recalls, it was this love and talent that led to her meeting Omer at the restaurant: “I used to bake a lot, and market my cakes and pastries to earn my pocket money, to spend on music and clothes”

He is a descendant of the royal families of Bhopal, Pataudi and the Paigahs of Hyderabad, she is the sister of the tycoons who run one of Bengaluru’s biggest realty companies. They have now joined hands to raise the level of living in the Prestige Group’s apartments and resorts-she designs and executes the interiors, while he has set up and runs the group’s hospitality vertical

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Nawabzada Omer Bin Jung and Anjum Razack met on a blind date. Well, not exactly a blind date, they say: “Actually, we were set up!” says Anjum, and Omer agrees. “But she picked me up!” he adds, with a twinkle in his eye. He is being literal: “I had no car, and used to roam around in buses and auto-rickshaws when I was working with Wipro.” So this young woman whom he had never met came to his office and gave him a lift.

Recalling the incidents of more than a decade ago, husband and wife keep bickering good-naturedly and correcting each other over details. The story that emerges is that a friend of Anjum’s said she wanted to meet her-at Casa Piccola, a restaurant to which Anjum used to supply cakes she baked. “And will you please pick up this guy Omer on the way? I want to meet him too,” she said. So an unsuspecting Anjum drove an equally unsuspecting Omer to the restaurant, where they sat and waited for the friend. When some time passed and she didn’t appear, they realised what had happened.

Was it love at first sight? “I don’t know if it was love, but I knew immediately that this was the guy I was going to marry!” she says. “My mother had always told me: ‘You should know what kind of boy you should bring home to meet me!’-and that afternoon I told her I had met the right man.”

Omer, for his part, “Enjoyed being the hunted, for a change”. They didn’t meet, or talk, for a month; but one day-just before Valentine’s Day, Anjum remembers-she and her friend were driving somewhere, when they spotted Omer walking. “We stopped, said ‘Hi!’ and gave him a lift.”

Things didn’t take very long after that. “My family doesn’t have the time for trivia!” Anjum explains. “I told my mother as soon as I got home that I had met the boy I was going to marry. I mean, we were two eligible young people in the same town. He was not of our caste of traditional business people, which was actually a plus point in his favour! Our families met, and I went through the various shredders his family put me through, then picked up the pieces-and we got engaged, then married in the next eight months.”

“We were two eligible young people in the same town. He was not of our caste of traditional business people, which was actually a plus point in his favour! Our families met, and I went through the various shredders his family put me through, then picked up the pieces−and we got engaged, then married in the next eight months.” − Anjum

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A few months before the marriage, they went to see Omer’s grandmother: “That was the first time I took a break from work,” she says. “Morph was still a one-person company, with only a set of carpenters to supervise. When we came back, I was broke, and went straight back to work. Side by side, I set up home and pottered around there, too.”

Anjum, the sister of the Razack brothers who run Bengaluru-based construction major Prestige group, is an entrepreneur in her own right: she set up Morph Design Company (MDC), which she runs as its Managing Director. Omer, who heads Prestige’s recent diversification into the hospitality business, comes from a long line of rulers-from the Paigahs of Hyderabad on his father’s side to a royal pedigree on his mother’s. “I have an interesting and diverse lineage. My maternal grandmother was the ruler of Bhopal with its matriarchal system. She married the Nawab of Pataudi, which was a much smaller kingdom, but both became our family’s houses. My father’s people were Prime Ministers to the Nizam of Hyderabad.” The Paigahs are a family of the senior aristocracy of the erstwhile Hyderabad State, with each of them maintaining his own court, individual palaces and a standing army of 3,000 or 4,000 soldiers.

Anjum, on the other hand, was what she calls ‘a one-woman army’ in a male-dominated business when she joined her brothers in 1993 and set up MDC. That ‘one-woman army’ has grown in 23 years to a Rs. 200-crore, 30-member team; but she continues to work hands-on with every project. “They are a bunch of kids-we are a young, growing office,” she says. “Besides, I love what I do-and I always put in 100 per cent into any assignment, because you always get only what you put in. I am also an obsessive perfectionist and would never deliver to a client what I wouldn’t live in myself.”

She had found, when she finished school, that she was in a ‘strange situation’ with not too many career options for a girl of her background-a Kutchi Memon in a typical business family, but one whose father had believed in education for his daughter as well as his three sons. “My parents have always been very aspirational for all their four children,” she explains. “We were all given education, encouraged to travel and grow-all against the norm in our community.” So after her B Com, she did a course in interiors with paint manufacturer Jenson & Nicholson. She then got a job with an interior designer in the early 1990s before joining the family business. “I jumped into the ocean headlong, without even knowing how to swim!” she says. “It was only the challenge that kept me

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MDC, which she established soon after that plunge, not only creates all the interiors in the Prestige Group’s developments, but also offers consultation, comprehensive planning and end-to-end design solutions for a range of other select clients for both their existing structures and new projects. She is also rightfully proud of the fact that her brothers Irfan Razack, Chairman and Managing Director of the Rs. 4,700-crore Prestige Group, and Rezwan Razack, who is Joint MD, never gave her any special privileges in business. “Even though we are a very close-knit family,” she says. “Morph is my very own, Prestige is my client. I charge design and project management fees, and for the furniture and other material I supply from either my own manufacturing units or those from whom I source them.” She does, however, describe working with family as putting her ‘between a rock and a hard place’ very often.

“My big idea was to reach out to the discerning interior design market, be it luxury or aspirational, and provide my clients with a lifestyle that they would enjoy,” is how Anjum how explains the way she approaches her work. “I wanted to introduce discerning customers to living spaces that represent and reflect their individual taste and stay relevant through changing times.” Designing an interior space, she points out, presupposes that “A design metaphor will reveal itself in every object, colour, finish and patina”. Obviously, when the idea finds expression and rhythm in such detail, the natural outcome would be a space made distinctive by its very uniqueness. “That,” she adds, “is why I do not just stop at designing the experience of an interior space, but also construct or create most of the objects that shape the design.”

“I went to boarding school at Sanawar, then Hindu College in Delhi and the London School of Economics. When I came back to India, I decided to move to Bengaluru instead of Hyderabad−it was a new city as compared to Hyderabad, and I could do anything here with its own level of decadence! Besides, my elder brother was here too” − Omer

“Good taste in interiors has come of age. The challenge lies in the fact that often, the notion of interior design stops at the placement of attractive objects in a well-designed room. While that is a mandate we can serve with ease, we challenge ourselves to give our customers much more. This we do by shaping their experience of interior space, through manipulation of spatial volume, as well as surface treatment. So, while apartments today are predicated on the optimal use of space and uniformity, our challenge is to create a unique interior space in a structurally similar landscape,” she says.

“We have also integrated backward to create a super-large vertical, with project management, sourcing and a trading company-and now even furniture manufacturing. We create 90 per cent of all the furniture that is provided in any Prestige construction.”

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From its beginnings as an in-house interior design subdivision, Morph has morphed into a fully integrated interior design firm that executes and handles projects for external clientele, too. It provides a one-point solution from design, creating a portfolio of work across apartments, villas, clubhouses, spas, resorts and hotels. Hotels, resorts or serviced apartments. “All of these need to be addressed very differently from one another,” Anjum explains. Along the way, the company has worked with globally renowned architecture firms like Dileonardo, Woods Bagot, HBA, MAP and SRSS, and executed projects as large as 2.5 million sq ft (nearly a quarter million sq m). “We have also won a lot of awards, in different areas of our work. My brothers look at me differently now!” she adds.

Describing herself as an entrepreneur at heart, not satisfied with interior design alone, Anjum says this is why she vertically integrated the manufacturing process by setting up state-of-the-art in-house factories over two decades ago, to cater to the different design sensibilities of customers, from traditional, classic to the more contemporary, experimental and eclectic. “Our products are also designed to give our clients great value for money across the entire product spectrum,” she adds.

“From a process perspective, everything from concept, drawings, prototyping, to the final production of each and every piece of furniture that we use in our projects is backward integrated,” she explains. “Our external dependence is minimal and allows us to achieve unmatched quality giving us the ability to create truly bespoke interiors, where each detail is created by us. Having control over customisation and production, we ensure that our design process is a constantly evolving and dynamic one”

“The journey has been tough-but a good tough!” Anjum smiles. “The biggest chip on my shoulder is that I didn’t go to design school. But I love working, and I have been loyal to my work.” She did, however, take a course in designing at Cornell University. “I firmly believe that you must always start from the back operations to be strong. There was a sad lack of originality and quality in the market-that’s why I started my furniture business with visits to China, Italy, Germany, Austria and Burma, getting the best rates at which I could import what I needed for each project.”

With this bottom-up organisational design approach, Anjum has been responsible for business development, strategic planning, diversification, and project management along with all other key executive functions. Her work is inspired by a diverse set of influences, both traditional and contemporary, and she references the Deco and Nouveau period styles as being particularly impactful. Firmly believing in the importance of constant evolution for prolonged success, she doesn’t hesitate to incorporate innovative materials into her projects, work with young artists and experiment with all aspects of execution.

“Some things are non-negotiable! For instance, no phones are allowed at meal time. The kids get a platform to talk to each other and us, about things that would otherwise get buried in their busy lives. There are some ground rules, and they stick to them” – Omer

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“My two new factories involve a huge investment, which means I will probably be able to break even only two or three years,” says the businesswoman, now 49. “The state-of-the-art factories have been conceived with a lot of mechanisation-manufacturing wooden joineries, handcrafted furniture, modular furniture, wardrobes, windows and kitchen assemblies. MDC also has a unit which specialises in developing soft furnishings.” Today, Anjum can proudly claim that she has nurtured MDC into one of the country’s most respected décor studios with globally recognised clientele and numerous national and international awards to its credit.

Talking of challenges, Anjum says the biggest one has always been the debate between functionality and design and how to marry them: “The aspirational customers have a relatively limited budget and want products that are aesthetically pleasing, have longevity and are easy to maintain. We have strived to address the needs of this particular segment and are happy to say that we have managed to achieve it to a very large extent.”

The other challenge, she says, is to provide aesthetic designs to any area. “Everyone deserves appealing spaces, regardless of its size,” she says. “We, at Morph Design Company, excel in providing just that.” Pointing out that the business also involves effectively executing two opposing areas of demand: the high-volume kitchen and wardrobe assemblies on one side, and the need for personalised and exclusive products that cater to the individual versus the mainstream on the other, she credits the nature of these challenges is what keeps her and her team striving for excellence.

Anjum is a self-confessed foodie, and loves cooking. In fact, it was this love and talent that led to her meeting Omer at the restaurant: “I used to bake a lot, and market my cakes and pastries to earn my pocket money, to spend on music and clothes,” she says. “Casa Piccola was one of my biggest customers. And so, when my friend Goga suggested meeting her there, I didn’t think it was at all strange.”

She also reads voraciously and loves to travel-collecting art and antiques from the places she visits. Her husband shares her interests-and so they pack their bags and heads off to different locales in India and abroad. The couple began with a two-week honeymoon in Africa; and because he loves surprising her, he recently took her on a road trip from Budapest to Prague via Vienna-“He made me drive!” she mock-complains- so that he could treat her to a four-hour meal at a three-star Michelin restaurant on the way.

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Nawabzada Omer Bin Jung, formally designated Executive Director, Hospitality-Prestige Group, is also the Founding Managing Director of Prestige Leisure Resorts (P) Ltd. With three decades of experience in hospitality, he is currently spearheading the Group’s foray into hospitality. “I went to boarding school at Sanawar, then Hindu College in Delhi (where he was a gold medallist in his BA, Anjum intercedes) and the London School of Economics,” he says. “When I came back to India, I decided to move to Bengaluru instead of Hyderabad-it was a new city as compared to Hyderabad, and I could do anything here with its own level of decadence! Besides, my elder brother was here too.”

After a couple of years in the finance department of Wipro, he joined his brother who has a resort in Bandipur. “Actually, it was a just a Club House; now it has been converted into the Northwest County resort,” he explains. In 1997, three years after he married Anjum, he floated the idea of helping his brothers-in-law take their construction business into resorts. “There has been no looking back since then,” he says. “We also have food courts in malls, we run franchises for Subway, Falafel and others… it’s a good mix.”

Adds his Begum: “It wasn’t an asset class at all – it was Omer’s brainchild.” He explains that because the business was totally in real estate, it had no assets on its balance sheet because all its projects were sold. “Assets are always good to have,” he says. “That’s where the discussion started. And we began to become more asset heavy.”

And so, having established Prestige Leisure Resorts, Omer now aims to set up international spas, city hotels, resorts and food courts all over India in the coming years. He is amply qualified: besides his gold-medal BA and his post-graduate Diploma in Business Studies from LSE, he also has a post-graduate Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a specialisation in Marketing, as well as a Certification in Strategic Management by Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, US.

“To excel in any field, one needs to be a team player. Managing people and ensuring employee and customer satisfaction is an integral part of being a success. We are a service-oriented industry and it is our team’s talent that decides the success of our work” – Anjum

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At Prestige, Omer has been instrumental in conceptualising and tying up with Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, Singapore, for one of Bengaluru’s most beautiful spa resorts the world-class Angsana Oasis Spa & Resort; the Angsana Oasis City Spas at UB City; Hilton International for the Conrad, Bengaluru; Oakwood Asia Pacific for the Oakwood Premier Serviced Residences at UB City and the Oakwood Residences-Forum Value Mall, Whitefield as well as the 3.4-hectare Sheraton Grand Whitefield Hotel and Convention Center in the group’s Shantiniketan project; the JW Marriott Hotel in Prestige Golfshire below the Nandi Hills and the 23-storey Conrad Hotel overlooking the Ulsoor Lake. He is also the brain behind the Transit food lounge at The Forum, Koramangala.

“We have introduced some of the most reputed international brands in the world to South India, such as the Hilton Group and Marriott International for hotels; the Banyan Tree for resorts: our Angsana Oasis Spa & Resort is managed by Banyan Tree Hotel & Resorts, Singapore. We also have the Oakwood Premier Prestige Serviced Residences in our landmark development, UB City, as well as in Whitefield,” he points out. We launched our hotel, ‘The Aloft’, in Prestige Cessna Business Park in 2014 in association with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.”

Anjum also shares some of the secrets for her success: “To excel in any field, one needs to be a team player. Managing people and ensuring employee and customer satisfaction is an integral part of being a success. We are a service-oriented industry and it is our team’s talent that decides the success of our work. Therefore, it is very important to ensure that your team is motivated and happy. Finally, it is crucial to have in depth knowledge of both the industry and the products, which is only possible if you have a genuine passion for your work, as only then will you constantly strive towards perfecting your art.” Apart from this, it is paramount to believe in yourself, your abilities and objectives and have the right conviction. Life is full of complexities. Keeping things simple and using a straightforward approach helps unravel intricacies.

Her role models are her father Razack Sattar, an enterprising entrepreneur who started Prestige Fashions way back in 1956; and after his passing, her three elder brothers Irfan, Rezwan and Noaman have been her mentors, propelling her to success. “They have inspired me to keep pushing myself to achieve greater heights and are a source of constant motivation for me,” she explains. She too wants to carry on this culture of helping others: “I want to create a platform for young interior, product and furniture designers whom I will launch and mentor, to help hone their skills and realise their dreams,” she concludes.

The Jungs’ daughter Zara was born in 1999, and their son Ayaan five years later. “Kids never worried me, I enjoy them at all ages,” Omer says. And Anjum gives him ‘100 per cent for being an outstanding father’, saying: “He handles the children so well. Till date, he puts Ayaan to bed every night. He also takes his just-into-his-teens son on a fishing and hunting trip for two weeks every year.”

How did they manage everything: work, which is often 24×7, parenting- which is 24×7-and getting away for holidays? “We have a very good support system in the family,” Anjum says. “My mother has always been a big help, even though she was looking after my father who fell sick in 1995 soon after our marriage, and never recovered till he passed away in 2004. But I too never thought of multi-tasking-handling work, kids and home-as a problem. Of course, we had good staff: our maid and driver are very devoted to the family.”

Both of them are religious, and practise their faith: “We pray, fast, and go for Haj,” Omer says. Adds Anjum: “My mother was very pragmatic in her approach to Islam, though my father was more ritualistic.” According to Omer, their prayers are more for thankfulness than to ask for something. “We are so blessed,” he points out. “We have been to Arabia few times. So yes, we practise-but at the same time, we question.” Says Anjum, simply: “I like the balance.”

And the children are, fortunately, not yet growing away from their parents: Zara has her own life, but is at the same time totally plugged into the concept of family. “Some things are non-negotiable!” says Omer. “For instance, no phones are allowed at meal time. The kids get a platform to talk to each other and us, about things that would otherwise get buried in their busy lives. There are some ground rules, and they stick to them.” They are not totally happy going away on their own, but can still manage independently all over the place. Zara, for example, went to Oxford on her own for a summer course, Anjum points out. “She organised her own travel, and did very well there too-she came first in her class.”

All four of them spend a lot of time together as a family, even on holidays. “We don’t need to go out and mingle, we are very content by ourselves,” she says. “Three holidays every year are a must. We go away for the summer, Dussehra and Christmas vacations.”

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Last year, Ayaan came up with a surprising question: “Why must we always fly abroad? Why don’t we take a holiday in India?” Says Omer: “Both of us had found it very difficult earlier to wrap ourselves around a holiday in India. But after my son asked this question, we decided to go to Rajasthan-it was fun. We like our luxuries-but besides the Michelin restaurants, we also like to eat local food in different places. For example, we had a great meal of daal-bhaat at a truck stop in Rajasthan.” They didn’t of course, exactly rough it out in the desert: his royal connections ensured that they had the best hospitality in the local palaces. “India is brilliant!” Anjum says.

“Even though both of us are busy, we like to invest time in the kids as well as for ourselves together,” Omer says. “Of course, there is always a trade-off, in terms of earning less than we could if we concentrated only on our work or business. The question of what has priority in our lives keeps changing. But health, time with the children, family time, religion-they all take precedence.”

In addition to all this, Omer manages to find time to play cricket-coming as he does from a cricketing family-and golf, besides his angling and hunting which again is a throwback to his family’s traditions. “He is a ‘renowned shot’!” Anjum says with obvious pride. That, he explains, is a qualification that enables him to participate in national shooting championships. He is also interested in football, and took his son to watch Manchester United play a home match on Boxing Day last year: “There must always be an element of surprise in what I do,” he grins. “I had planned the itinerary for that trip with a gap of one day, which the rest of the family were clued in that they didn’t even notice! That was the day I just took off with Ayaan for the match.”

“We have introduced some of the most reputed international brands in the world to South India, such as the Hilton Group and Marriott International for hotels; the Banyan Tree for resorts: our Angsana Oasis Spa & Resort is managed by Banyan Tree Hotel & Resorts, Singapore” — Omer

How have they found the much-vaunted “entrepreneur-friendly” systems introduced by the government, especially that of Karnataka where they operate? “Well,” starts Omer, “When we started the hospitality business, we needed a total of 29 licenses… But today,” he pauses dramatically, and adds: “We need 29 licenses, still. The license raj has not gone away, it is only that we have learned to handle it more gracefully. The pain is still there. But we had the luxury of assets like easy access to loans and, our families.”

Anjum’s story is slightly different. “I started as a woman entrepreneur,” she explains. “That angle worked for me.” She still loves to cook; and, Omer says, “People love to be invited to our home for a meal.”

“We never have the time to get bored,” Anjum says. “We’ve practically grown up together, through our 23-year marriage. Both of us are the same age, so that’s almost half our lives. We have so many things in common; like, we were reading the same translation of the Quran, or The Little Prince, at the same time-but we are still as different as chalk and cheese. Of course, his stupid sense of humour sometimes irritates me, but…” To which her husband grins. And she adds: “I promise you, I wouldn’t want to grow older with anyone else but Omer.”

source: http://www.corporatecitizen.in / Corporate Citizen / Home> Cover Story / by Sekhar Seshan / Vol.3, Issue No. 2 / April 15th, 2017

Meet nonagenarian SM Miskeen, the oldest ever to earn a PhD in Tamil Nadu

Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, Leaders, , , , , ,

Thiruvarur, TAMIL NADU :

Miskeen, who still practices as a chartered accountant in Thiruvarur, did his research on cheque fraud and fines concerning loan repayments.

SM Miskeen receiving PhD from the governor of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday (Photo|EPS)
SM Miskeen receiving PhD from the governor of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday (Photo|EPS)

Tiruchi :

With a doctorate at 91, he proved that age is just a number. Nonagenarian SM Miskeen from a village in Thiruvarur village, who earned his PhD on Tuesday, received the certificate from the governor of Tamil Nadu at Bharatidasan University.

Miskeen, who still practices as a chartered accountant in Thiruvarur, did his research on cheque fraud and fines concerning loan repayments.

A chartered accountant with an active clientele, a lifetime Lions Club member who started the first eye hospital in Thiruvarur through the organisation, and an educationalist who brought the first-ever women’s college – all of these show an eventful timeline Miskeen has crafted over the years.

Miskeen was born in the hamlet of Koothanallur in Thiruvarur district in 1928. After finishing primary schooling in his village, Miseek was moved to Madras for secondary schooling. “My father believed that education was very important and moved with me to Chennai where he set up shop,” said Miskeen.

Later he completed his college at Loyola in Chennai in 1950 with a B. Com. This was followed by a three-year stint handling his family business in Vietnam.

Miskeen said he did not want to continue in Vietnam and came back to India to pursue CA, which he completed in 3 years.

In 1960, Lion’s Club International had introduced a scheme to establish eye hospitals to eliminate reversible blindness. Miskeen, who joined the organisation in 1968, gradually became the club’s Multi Council Chairman of South India. He established an eye hospital in Thiruvarur and treated over 10 lakh persons with cataract free of cost. He founded RA College for Women in 1999. At present about 2000 girls, mostly from economically backward backgrounds, are studying in the college.

While speaking about the research, he said: “Many are unaware about the penalty in cheque dishonouring. This research analysis would create awareness about it and prevent such offences among individuals, small firms and even corporates as those involved in cheque bouncing cases may be awarded up to two years in jail and fined twice the amount involved.” He said such cases were in great numbers at many high courts and even the supreme court.

Miskeen studied over 400 check dishonouring cases across India for his analysis. He took up the research in 2014 under the guidance of Dr. Issac Francis Gnanasekar from St. Jospeh’s college.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Express News Service / Ocotber 01st, 2019

How this vlogger travels the world, free of cost

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Travel & Tourism, Videos, , , , ,

Utraula, UTTAR PRADESH / Charummoodu, KERALA :

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While most of us here find it difficult to save money for an annual vacation tour, vlogger Jinsha Basheer is earning money for every trip she takes. The crossroad of her life was her decision to publish photographs and videos of her own journeys online. When her posts on Facebook crossed 8000  likes, Jinsha was assured. Vlogging is more remunerative than the job of an engineer.”

Jinsha Basheer, who grew up in village of Charummoodu near Thiruvalla has only 11 months of experience in vlogging.  But this 28-year-old has more following than those who had been dabbling on Facebook Facebook for over 10 years. Jinsha became a vlogger by chance soon after landing a job with an IT  firm after completing her engineering. The story goes like this:

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Jinsha and Faisal when refuelling at a petrol bunk near Adoor, happened to witness an altercation involving one of the petrol bunk employees and a biker. The biker claimed that he was given less petrol for the money he had paid. The employee argued that every customer should check the counter to ascertain the quantity of petrol received.

Faisal, deciding to get to the bottom of the issue, enquired with another employee of the petrol bunk who revealed a big secret: Fill petrol for 5 or 10 rupees more than the required quantity.  For example, fill petrol for 110, 220, or 1015 rupees. In such cases petrol will be filled as per the exact amount. He talked about those petrol bunks which manipulated the software and delivered less quantity of petrol for the money paid. To make this event public, Jinsha recorded a video and posted it in Facebook with an advice to fill petrol for 5 or 10 rupees more  than the usual exact amounts like 100, 200, 1000 etc. Their Facebook page, which till then had only Jinsha and Faisal as members, received 5000 likes within a day.

A reply to trolls

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Jinsha was born in Utraula in Uttar Pradesh to Basheer, a military man and Barisha, a nurse, as the  youngest of the three sisters. When she was 8 years old, the family resettled in Charummoodu.  Jinsha loved travelling since her childhood. During her studies, she travelled to Mysore and Madurai. Taj Mahal, Agra and Qutub Minar remained her dream destinations. On the first weekend of getting married to Faisal, they travelled to Vagamon and her passion for travelling was rekindled.

While she was working in an IT firm owned by Faisal (which was also a period of many journeys), she  got an offer for taking up a job of a teacher in Qatar. The school management asked her to send a video depicting a simulation of her teaching the pupils. By the time the school management intimated her of their satisfaction of her teaching video, the ‘petrol bunk’ video had become  ‘viral’ in the Facebook. Jinsha decided to focus on volgging instead of taking up the teaching assignment in Qatar. Faisal, too, supported that decision. The first vlog.trip was made from Masinagudi to Ooty via the Kallatti pass. Another vlog on a journey through the Bandipur forests followed. These videos highlighting the beauty of the forests, too, became viral.

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Attempts were made by some elements to hurl abuses at Jinsha and her father through adverse and offensive comments. Jinsha was appalled but decided not to quit. But both Basheer and Faisal supported her cause. “If you bow down now, it will be akin to accepting total surrender.”

Jinsha took a screenshot of the Facebook page of the person who was vitriolic on her which also had that person’s photograph and posted it on her own Facebook page. Within minutes, the children and nephews/nieces of the person apologized. Soon after that, the Facebook page of the person disappeared.

Making money for and from travelling

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One of the first international vlogs Jinsha Basheer did was in Singapore. Dubai and Thailand followed.  The followers were introduced to the facts that in Singapore, a bottle of water costs Rs 350 and that in Thailand, one could take selfies with tigers, all through her vlogs.

“Rains round the year, gentle sunshine, towering buildings, beautiful landscape…Singapore is a place that must be visited at least once in a lifetime. At the same time, Dubai is a place of Guinness Book of world records. There is a village in Dubai with a rivulet and farming. This village is known as Al Barari Farm.” More than one lakh likes were received for this vlog alone.

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“Thailand is a country of individual freedom. The issue is how that freedom is utilized. There is a zoo housing 200 tigers in Thailand. In the elephant rearing centre, one could play with the elephant calves. Photos can be captured with one riding a crocodile in a lake of about 1000 crocodiles.” These facts were included in Jinsha’s vlog on Thailand.

‘Mariner of the Seas,’ a royal Caribbean cruise liner which berthed in Kochi was visited with special permission. “The vlog relating to this visit to the ship with an interior bigger than the LuLu Mall got instant popularity,” Jinsha explained how she started getting remuneration from Facebook.

The vlogging technique

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Jinsha and Faisal discovered ‘The Earth Lounge’ in Kochi international airport while on their way to Dubai. They entered the lounge to avoid the boredom of waiting for their flight. Two hours in there costs Rs 2000. But if you are holding Visa Platinum, Master Card etc it will cost only Rs 2. With that unlimited food and drinks, bathing area, relaxing area etc are made available to you.  ‘The Earth Lounge’ which the airport runs with the promotion of banks, was immediately videoed by Jinsha. Similar videos with little known facts were released on Jinsha’s Facebook page.  Likes and comments started piling up on such posts. Remuneration flowed from Facebook and You Tube.

“Tour operators approach us. They invite us to film the package tours they conduct. The tour and accommodation facilities would be arranged by the operator. The vlog that is made on the tour should reflect the services provided by the tour operators. The tour operator which took us on their package tour to Thailand saw more number of tourists opting for its services. The income comes through the Facebook posts. If 1000 readers read it, some small amount will come in the account.  You Tube is the best paymaster. If there are 1000 subscribers and 4000 minutes of viewing, an account for transferring remuneration can be created. The more the number of viewers, more is the remuneration. Jinsha explains after going through the statistics after turning a professional vlogger she has 87,000 followers on You Tube.

Offers for international tours are waiting her attention. There is some indecision on where to fly next among the options available. Faisal loves Switzerland. Jinsha has decided that as soon as her Dubai trip is over, she would fly out to Europe.

source: http://www.travel.manoramaonline.com / OnManorama / Home> Travel> Celebrity Travel / by Baiju Govind / May 16th, 2019

From cooking tips to charity: Meet the ‘vlogger family’ from Malappuram

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Books (incl.Biographies - w.e.f.01 jan 2018 ), Business & Economy, Community Involvement / Social Issues, NRI's / PIO's, Videos, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mallapuram, KERALA :

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Vlogging or video-blogging is nothing new in this modern age of technology. But there is an interesting vlogger family worth knowing about. Let’s meet four women from a family in Malappuram, who have established their paths in successful vlogging – Shamseera, Femina, Sabeena and Shabna.

Moyin KP and Khadeeja EC belong to the village of Munduparamb in Malappuram. They have four children – a daughter and three sons. Their daughter Shabna and the three daughters-in-law are into vlogging now. It all began with Shamseera, their eldest daughter-in-law. She grew up in Kerala and Qatar and lived with her husband and kids in Dubai where she too worked for a while. But when they moved to Saudi Arabia in 2014, she found it so different from the places she had been till then – it was hard to go out alone, she couldn’t work as job opportunities were very less for foreign women back then.

Her only solace then lay in her cooking experiments, reading and crafts etc. She even joined her kids’ school as an art teacher but soon realised that ‘teaching itself was art I (she) lacked’. In between, she was also watching videos on YouTube, which gradually brought her to the idea of starting a channel of her own. Shamseera began a YouTube channel in 2016 but had to drop it due to some technical issues. She then began another one in 2017 and uploaded the videos of the previous one in it and thus started the journey again. Since then, she hasn’t turned back from her ‘Momtastic’ channel. (https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCL-LW86fWpQejgKbsoWrQqw#menu). She now has 2.98 lakh subscribers from different parts of the world.

 

Shamseera Sherin and family
Shamseera Sherin and family

The other three were inspired by Shamseera. Shabna Hasker was the second to enter the field. She began her channel ‘Taste Tours’ (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwXXEk9v87KS57cFkpoTgIQ) in May 2018, and soon Sabeena Shemin joined with ‘Sabeena’s Spice Diary’ (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChiazvVDnNGssDgqshIKGAA) in June 2018. And now, Femina couldn’t stay back. She joined the YouTube journey along with her husband Shajin in October 2018 – ‘Femina & Shajin’ (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzfIuOwn17TYHnt9NygsWKg) The topics they have selected are all similar – cooking, cleaning, organizing, gardening, crafts, travel, daily house chores etc. Shamseera chose English as the medium for her vlogs, though she has done one in English, Malayalam and Hindi together. Sabeena and Femina began in English and switched to Malayalam owing to the request of viewers. Shabna uses only Malayalam in her videos.

Femina Shejin and family
Femina Shejin and family

All the four ladies manage their YouTube channels along with taking care of their respective families and running their houses. Shamseera, a graduate in commerce, lives in Riyadh with husband and two kids. Femina, an MBA graduate, is in Calicut with her husband and two kids. Sabeena, a Statistical Investigator on leave from government service, lives with husband and a kid in Sharjah. Shabna, a graduate in commerce, lives in Malappuram with husband, three kids and parents-in-law. Speaking to TwoCircles.Net, they said that they wished to upload videos twice or thrice a week in a fixed time but were not able to do so always. Shamseera, Femina and Sabeena shoot their videos and do the related works when their kids are away in school, while Shabna has her youngest child always with her at home and so has to do her works at night after the kids go to sleep. All mentioned the support of their families. Shabna’s channel has more than 1.5 lakh subscribers, while Sabeena’s has 1.01 lakh and Femina’s more than 31,000.

Shabna Hasker and family
Shabna Hasker and family

Shabna now has a cookbook to her credit – ‘Janapriya Ruchikal’ by leading publisher DC Books, expected to be released soon. It was her husband Dr Hasker who suggested the idea and pushed her into writing it when she was reluctant. Shamseera has even starred in an advertisement for the famous Lulu Supermarket.

When asked how they managed their private life and public vlog with the camera inside their homes, all four said they were extremely particular that their vlogging shouldn’t affect their private lives. Shabna said, “We do capture our daily life at home but only for a short time. For example, we capture the first few moments of having food and then turn it off. So we have our time too.” Femina owes the lag between her videos to the priority she has kept.

shabna hasker
shabna hasker

While the other three vlog on their own, Femina does it along with her husband. “It is good. We can spend some more time together,” she said. In addition to the usual topics dealt with by all, they also do comedy videos along with their kids. However, there are times when Femina has to do the vlogs alone as Shajin gets busy with work. The daughter of an Army Major, Femina was born in Kerala and grew up in different parts of the country. After completing her graduation in Commerce, she did MBA in HR and worked for a while when they were in Dubai and back in Kerala. Now she is also running a home décor-related business online.

Sabeena Shemin and family
Sabeena Shemin and family

They also try to keep regular contact with their viewers–replying to messages on social media and trying to do videos on request. “Editing and uploading a video is a big task. My eyes get tired, my energy levels fall. But once I publish a video, the comments from my loving viewers are just enough to make my battery level go 100% in a few seconds,” said Shamseera. She recalled an experience she had last month on a trip to Kochi when a lady rode 6-7 kilometers on a scooter with two kids just to meet her.

So, how has YouTube affected their lives? Shamseera confesses she was reserved and shy earlier, but vlogging has made her a more confident person. Life has become busier and more hectic, but now that they are used to it, Femina says it is a beautiful mix. The women are doing their bit for charity too, the latest being during the floods in Kerala. Life has changed for all the four – getting recognized is indeed a matter, but it makes them more responsible too.

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source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> TCN Positive> Indian Muslim> Lead Story> Women / by Najiya O – TwoCircles.net / September 16th, 2019

BEADING: Unsung Beadstringers Of Ashoka Road

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy

Mysuru, KARNATAKA :

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Beadwork is the use of beads in fabric decoration and ornamental design. Beads were used decoratively in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome and during the Indus Valley civilisation. However, today, the art that is handmade is becoming increasingly hard to find, which is reflected in its price point in the marketplace. Beadwork, with its symmetric or asymmetric patterning, stands out for its intricate and innovative designs. The practice of beading transmutes a jumble of beads into a meaningful whole. This Weekend Star Supplement introduces some of the unsung traditional bead artists on Ashoka Road pavement who have mastered the delicate art and made it their own.

Unsung Beadstringers of Ashoka Road

These  threads full of enchantment have entangled in your caress…

No clue or hint I can fathom, how this knot could be unravelled…

Each shred hums in my body, like a stream from the heaven… 

These are the lyrics of the Hindi hit song “Yeh moh moh ke dhaage…Teri ungliyon se ja uljhe” roughly translated to English.

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A melange of colours, a dash of design — Craftsmen engrossed with threads and shimmering beads artistically woven around their deft fingers, their tools stacked on the roadside, usually flocked by women, intrigued by their skills on display. One would be forgiven for thinking that these are scenes from a bygone era but this is a common sight on Ashoka Road, if you have the eyes to spot it.

Bead art in India dates back to Indus Valley Civilisation and is said to be 5,000 years old. People during that age made beads out of silver, gold, clay, ivory and even wood. Indian jewellery, made out of various stones, pearls and metals stands out for its uniqueness of design and craftsmanship. As much as we praise the magnificence of jewellery, the toil and talent of the master craftsmen usually escapes into obscurity and these unsung craftsmen are a classic example of hardly being recognised for their talent or effort.

Deeply personal art

Speak to them and each craftsman educates us through the vocabulary of beads. Individual beads act like words, strung together in sentences. Each craftsman on the sidewalk tells the story of beads and what inspiration triggered the design. These beaded objects are deeply personal and the men share bits about themselves, how the art was transferred from their forefathers and how they attentively followed the instructions — though they were tough to follow initially.

Master-craftsmen string beads for that alluring look: Mohammad Shaukat, Mubarak Pasha and Abdul Wajid display their expertise and dexterity in stringing pearls that adorn the necks of womenfolk, enhancing their beauty.
Master-craftsmen string beads for that alluring look: Mohammad Shaukat, Mubarak Pasha and Abdul Wajid display their expertise and dexterity in stringing pearls that adorn the necks of womenfolk, enhancing their beauty.

Nimble hands to the needle

One can actually see how the beads are dexterously moved from their nimble hands to the needle and string to create that exquisite design. These designs become a prized possession of a woman who proudly shares them with the world.

Many cultures have rich beadwork traditions and aesthetics and motifs can vary. Like other traditional craft forms, such as embroidery or weaving, beadwork symbolises visual language and messages that are passed down within a community or family. Their works simultaneously keep their culture’s traditions alive apart from providing them livelihood.

Syed Rafiq, Shahrukh and their pearl work.
Syed Rafiq, Shahrukh and their pearl work.

Adding beauty to clothing

Embroidery has been the art form that adds beauty to clothing to express individual creativity.  Beadwork is respected as a traditional craft and there are amazing bead artists who are blurring the boundaries of art and craft, creating works of art that reflect rich traditions. The craftsmen on Ashoka Road, undeterred by the chaotic traffic and surging pedestrians, are busy threading, stringing and modifying a variety of ornaments as per the demands of their customers. Star of Mysore caught up with these beadwork artisans who are seen with their small silver boxes comprising velvet trays, colourful threads, strings, needles and scissors.

These artisans have been into this profession from generations and have been eking out their living on Ashoka Road, which was known as Jewellery Bazar during the time of erstwhile Maharajas.

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Replacing threads and strings 

Bead-makers, also called ‘Patvegar’ or ‘Moti Puranewale’ in Hindi and ‘Mani Ponsouru’ in Kannada offer a range of services which include black beads stringing for mangalsutra, jaumala haar, white pearl stringing, kasina sara or galsar (gold coin necklace), lachcha, replacing threads and strings of necklaces, adding gold thread rope for gold necklaces, multiple bead stringing, replacing stones among others.

Various branded jewellery stores across the city also avail their services for stringing beads of precious stones such as emeralds, rubies and also semi-precious stones. Their service charges depend on the pattern, starting from mere Rs.30 and could go up to Rs.800 for real gem stones.

Zabiulla stringing antique real pearls set.
Zabiulla stringing antique real pearls set.

Passed on from forefathers

My forefathers have been into this profession from the past 60 years. I too picked up my beading needle and thread watching them do it since childhood. Our work is related to jewels so we sit near jewellery stores,” quips Syed Rafiq, one of the beadwork artisans with more than 30 years of experience.

He also adds that his father Nisar Ahmed is one of the oldest beadwork artisans and informs that his father had worked as a jewellery artisan even for the royals during those good old days.

ON A BUSY STREET: Abdulla and his assistant at work.
ON A BUSY STREET: Abdulla and his assistant at work.

From Royalty to Commoners 

Mubarak Pasha, another bead maker who is into stringing from the past 20 years and also hails from a family of artisans told SOM: “My grandfather and my father got me into this line. I usually get customers who want me to string ‘kasina sara’ and ‘taali sara’. I charge between Rs. 30 and Rs.100.”

He also mentions that his father too had worked on the ornaments like the braid jewellery belonging to the royal family. When asked if he would pass on the craft to his children, he opines: “It is left to them to decide what they want to do”.

Delicate work: A woman waits to get her beads stringed.
Delicate work: A woman waits to get her beads stringed.

Bringing good fortune

Little further away was a father-son duo busy stringing pearls on the same street. Abdul Wajid, who has 56 years of experience in this art says: “This is my livelihood and passion. The variety of beads that I work on not only suffices the aesthetic sense but has also religious angle to it. Genuine pearls were believed to bring in good fortune and were popular with the royals in olden days. Gradually common man took a passion towards them. Black beads are also known to fight negative energy.”

Abdul Wajid also adds that the most special work till date he has worked on is the jewellery belonging to the Palace.  Zabiullah, who was seen sitting opposite to the Arali Mara on Ashoka Road, has an experience of over two decades.

“This is a delicate art and we have to carefully string it, the love for jewellery in Mysuru can be judged from the presence of many jewellery shops. Customers keep me busy all day,” he says as he replaces a string of an antique pearl set.

READY-TO-WEAR: Shahrukh displays a finished ‘Jaumala haar’.
READY-TO-WEAR: Shahrukh displays a finished ‘Jaumala haar’.

Time and cost saving

As we converse with these talented artisans, we noticed that many customers visit these craftsmen to avail their services. “I have come here to attach a coin pendant to the black beads for the ‘mangalsutra’ for my daughter who is getting married next month. Availing services here saves a lot of time and it is also low on cost,” says Gowramma, a locality resident.

Rehana Afroz reveals her reason for the visit. “The pearl necklace that I had once brought from Hyderabad was broken by my child and I am here to get it stringed again and also to change the back rope ‘Dori’ of my multi-layered beaded necklace.”

“I have purchased the beads and I want to get a ‘jaumala’ done here with knots and I also have to replace a stone in my ring,” says Kavitha, a housewife.

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These beadstringers are available from 11 in the morning to 8 in the night at their respective spots. We salute these skilled craftsmen who eke out their living by sitting on the pavements beating all odds and help womenfolk enhance their beauty through their delicate and dedicated work.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / by Shadaan Muneer / September 14th, 2019

Rocking At 72: Doordarshan News Anchor Salma Sultan Graces Ramp

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bhopal, MADHYA PRADESH / NEW DELHI :

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Salma Sultan , the iconic news anchor of the public service broadcaster, Doordarshan graced the ramp at the age of 72. The elegant lady mesmerised the audience with her dance  moves on Bollywood numbers including the R. Rajkumar’s movie song, ‘Saree kay fall sa.’

The event was organised by  Saree Sanskriti  in association with the Fashion Lifestyle Magazine. Celebrities  including Padma Shree awardee Shovana Narayan, graced the event.

Key Takeaways:

  • Iconic Doordarshan news anchor Salma Sultan walks the ramp at 72.
  • Sultan is best known for her news reading and her signature style – “Namaskar! Aaj kay samaachaar iss prakaar hain.”
  • The event was organised by Saree Sanskriti in association with the Fashion Lifestyle Magazine.
  • Celebrities including Padma Shree awardee Shovana Narayan, graced the event.

Sultan was wearing a brown bordered saree along with some neatly tucked white flowers on her hair while using ‘jhumkaas’ as the elegant accessory. She managed to get a traditional look with a modern twist.

Saree Sanskriti

Along with being a new anchor, Salma Sultan is also keen on promoting the traditional Indian culture of Saree. She owns a clothing brand with the name, Saree Sanskriti. She herself is very famous for her sartorial style.

“I do not believe millennials have any problem wearing the saree, it is all about ensuring that they have confidence. When confidence is there you can pull off any attire,”

“It is a very happy occasion . Many people have come together to make this a successful event. I do not believe millennials have any problem wearing the saree, it is all about ensuring that they have confidence. When confidence is there you can pull off any attire,” Sultan said at the event.

Her style quotient

“We were our own fashion consultants  back then. Black-and-white TV offered us the facility to wear whichever colours we wanted to, but the onset of colour TV shattered it. A new sari a day I could manage, but matching blouses? No way. It was a pretty tall order. So, the idea of draping a sari over both shoulders came to my rescue and believe me…it works even now.”  said Salma Sultan while conversing with the Verve .

Sultan also gave some details about her style quotient to the Verve. She added, “The day when I plucked a red rose from my garden, I hadn’t the faintest idea that its story would become viral. Can you imagine that even now, the rose fever is unabated? Yes, it did give heartburn to some people helming affairs at that time, who issued memos and warnings but…let’s leave it at that. The important thing is that the rose lives on in the memory of viewers, and I feel grateful and humbled.”

Sultan is best known for her news reading and her signature style – “Namaskar! Aaj kay samaachaar iss prakaar hain.”

News reader par excellence

She worked for Doordarshan for almost three decades  from 1967 to 1997. After her retirement, she moved to directing serials on social topics for Doordarshan under her production house Lensview Private Limited. Some of her serials like Panchtantra Se, Suno Kahani, Swar Mere Tumhare and Jalte Sawal drew attention and indeed became very famous.

Her education

Salma did her schooling  from Sultanpur, Madhya Pradesh and did her graduation from Bhopal. She did her post-graduation in English from Indraprastha College for Women, Delhi. Simultaneously, she also gave the audition for an announcer on Doordarshan at the age of 23. She was born as second child to scholar and secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Mohammed Asghar Ansari.

Picture credit: You Tube

Udisha Srivastav is an intern with SheThePeople.Tv

source: http://www.shethepeople.tv/ SheThePeople / Home / by Udisha Srivastav / September 18th, 2019

Breaking perceptions around design

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Education, World Opinion, , , , ,

Hyderabad, TELANGANA :

Hyderabadi Takbir Fatima is an architect, engineer and educator who is always on the lookout for projects that challenge her.

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As part of Hyderabad Design Week, Takbir Fatima from Designaware is doing a series of workshops and installations leading up to the event. She is in the city to conduct workshops on design. “We’re experimenting with crowdsourcing the design process to bring together many minds to create something collectively.

Under the theme of Humanizing Design for Hyderabad Design Week, we are crowdsourcing through multiple activations leading up to the event, involving students, young designers, architects and children in designing installations and public art for Hyderabad,” says Takbir, who has completed her BArch from CSIIT School of Architecture & Planning (JNAFAU), Hyderabad, and an MArch (Architecture + Urbanism) from the Design Research Lab at the Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture in London.

Born in Hyderabad, Takbir was shuttling on and off between Saudi Arabia and Hyderabad. She was inspired by one of the greatest architect in Hyderabad sparking her interest in the profession.

Highly creative, she has handled some challenging projects at a very low cost. One such project was a hilltop school located in Golconda. She explains, “Bright Horizon Academy is a charity school. The challenge was the Golconda fort, which has an outer wall and inner wall, which is a part accessible to the public.

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The outer wall has a very old settlement as old as the fort. All these houses share a common wall. Everything is on a hill, so for this particular site we had to completely sheer rock and boulders. Half of the site was on the upper part of the cliff and half made up the lower part. It was quite challenging to navigate the terrain.

And budget was an issue as it was a charity school. We designed a building which uses low energy as much as possible, and with lot of windows and natural light in the centre. There is sunlight and natural ventilation in every part of the building. It has been awarded the silver rating by the Indian Green Building Council in 2018.”

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For most of her projects here, Takbir follows Vastu in residential and commercial properties. “If the client is not particular, we do recommend the vastu, as the property will have a resale value,” says Takbir who was given the Telangana Young Architect award by the Indian Institute of Architects in 2016 and was also recognised as Emerging Architect of the Year by NDTV Design & Architecture Awards 2016.

Takbir feels that now there is lot of opportunities for design aspirants and she aims to bring design to as many people as possible. She wants to do away with the misconception that design is not affordable and not for common people. Currently, her company is handling a few residential projects, restaurants, series of workshops, etc.

source: http://www.telanganatoday.com / Telangana Today / Home> Personalities / by Madhuri Dasagrandhi / September 11th, 2019

Being Bohra in Chennai

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Community Involvement / Social Issues, , , , , ,

Chennai, TAMIL NADU :

With their presence in the city for over 200 years, more than 1,800 families have found a home here. A walk through George Town reveals the community’s rich cultural stories.

Photos: Ashwin Prasath
Photos: Ashwin Prasath

Chennai :

Their favourite food is not biryani and they wear burqas in hot pink, forest green, bright blue and every colour one can imagine, except black. Meet the Bohras, a sect of the Shia Muslims whose history in Chennai dates back to more than 200 years.

“The Bohra community originated in Yemen and later spread to India and Pakistan. In India, they primarily settled in Gujarat before spreading out to different cities. So, we have Gujarati influence on our food, language and traditions. We speak Gujarati with references from Persian and Arabic,” said Tasneem Kutubuddin dressed in a dark pink burqa or rida, their traditional costume. She was leading a heritage walk — Understanding the Bohras in the city — on Sunday at George Town.While women wear ridas that cover their head and body but not their faces,  Bohra men wear a three-piece white outfit and white cap called a topi with gold embroidery.

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Migrating to Chennai
Mulla Jafferji Ibne Mulla Ismailji was the first Bohra to come to Chennai. He travelled till Arcot in 1790 via the Malabar coast to join his uncle in the bangle business. He later migrated to Chennai in 1793 and set up a garment business in George Town.

“Whenever Bohras migrate to a city, if they are the first ones from their community there, they buy a land for cemetery and prayer. Also, each prayer area has a community hall attached to it where we all dine together. So, this was the first piece of land brought by a Bohra in Chennai,” said Tasneem pointing towards the Mohammedi Masjid in Angappa Naicken Street at George Town.

Chennai has three Dawoodi Bohra mosques — Mohammedi Masjid, Saifee mosque in Moore street, Mannady and the third one at Basin bridge.  Today, more than 1,800 Bohra families are living in the city and are primarily settled in Madhavaram, Royapuram and George Town. The Dawoodi Bohras are followers of the 27th Dai or high priest and can be found in about 40 countries around the world. They have separate administration offices in each city.

The MSB Matriculation Higher Secondary School at Thiruvalluvar Nagar in George Town is set up especially for the children of Bohra community. According to Tasneem, the school follows the Tamil Nadu State Board syllabus along with a Siyat Islamia curriculum.

“About 800-odd children study in this school. For the kids from the community who are studying in other schools, MSB offers a weekend programme to educate them on the history of the community and Quran,” she said.

Communal dining
Food plays an integral part of a Bohra’s daily life. Eating from a thal is a tradition that still continues in many families. A thali is a large round metal plate, around which the family sits, helping themselves from the same plate, course-by-course, during every meal of the day. A lot of their dishes are influenced from the Gujarati cuisine.

Apart from non-vegetarian dishes like pulao and kebab, the cuisine boasts some unique vegetarian dishes including a cold baingan bharta made with curd and spring onion, sev ni tarkari in which bhel puri sev is cooked with onions, and their quintessential dal chawal palida, a combination of rice and dal served with a flavourful concoction of drumsticks, bottle gourd and kokum.

Unfortunately, the Bohra community does not have many restaurants serving the savoury dishes. But, to try their traditional sweets, head to Mannady Street to find sweet shops maintained by Bohris including Hatimy’s and Alambaradar.

Try some of their heady sweet treats like malida (a sweet made with wheat and jaggery), lacchka (a cracked wheat halwa, usually made on first day of the year of Bohra calendar), kalamro (a yogurt based rice pudding) and the famous malai khaja which is also called Bohri puff pastry.

An interesting concept among the Bohras are the community kitchens that are attached to the masjid. “The concept is similar to the dabbawalas in Mumbai. Food gets prepared early in the morning, packed in boxes and numbered. People collect their boxes and replace it with an empty box for the next meal. One needs to pay a nominal amount. Usually, the well-to-do families pay for four to five people, so that the poor can get food for free,” said Tasneem.

The concept of community kitchen began around five years ago when their religious head, Syedna Dr Mufaddal Saifuddin said that women must be freed from the kitchen. So, this kitchen makes lunch for the entire Dawoodi Bohra community across Chennai, every day. The rule is applied across every city and every country.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by K V Navya / Express News Service / August 26th, 2019

This Kashmiri carpet maker brings Persian rugs to Chennai

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, , ,

Srinagar, JAMMU & KASHMIR / Chennai, TAMIL NADU :

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You can expect Kirmani, Heriz and Isfahani rugs, kilims, and Pashmina shawls at an exhibition by Sami Meer, a third-generation Kashmiri carpet-maker

The interior of Folly at Amethyst today is decked up like a bride. Sunlight streaming in from a series of square windows on top bounces off the carpets that cover almost every inch of the space. It is Sami Meer’s, a third-generation Kashmiri carpet maker, exhibition that is on display.

After inviting visitors in with a handful of dry fruits, Sami unrolls a red carpet. “It’s a kilim,” he describes the woollen tapestry, “They are travel rugs, made by the Khanabadosh people; they are nomads who go from mountain to mountain with their sheep and goats.”

His collection of almost 60 carpets, kilims and pashmina shawls is hung on the walls, rolled into bundles and made to stand in the corners, and some laid out on the floor at Folly. “Those are original Persian rugs,” he points towards one wall. “Then we have Kashmiri silk ones,” he says, running a finger along a soft velvety baby blue carpet. “The Persian weavers who settled in Kashmir imparted their weaving techniques and designs to the Kashmiris,” he says. “The design may be Persian, but the silk workmanship is Kashmiri.”

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Sami sources his carpets from weavers in Iran, Balochistan in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Morocco and Turkey. All the carpets on display are hand-knotted, he informs us. “The knottage is so unique that a collector can identify which area it is from,” he says, flipping over two carpets to show the different stitches on their underside: “The first is from Isfahan, the second from Heriz.” Similarly, he goes on to show rugs from Kirman and Nain — areas in modern-day Iran.

He not only sources these rugs, but his shop, Virasat in Neelankarai, also offers repairs, servicing and washing options. Most of the servicing is outsourced to workers in Delhi and Srinagar. “I have grown up watching my grandfather and father weave such carpets at our home in Srinagar,” he says. He, however, moved to Chennai  owing to growing tensions in Kashmir in 1992. “We tried going home in 2010, but came back to Chennai in 2016 after the fallout from Burhan Wani’s encounter made it difficult for our shop to stay open.”

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“The price for each carpet depends on its size and quality; for the Persian ones, it depends on which area they were made in…” he says. The silk on silk Kashmiri rugs start from ₹25,000 and the Persian ones from ₹45,000. Here, in the city, he finds customers in people who are interested in learning about Kashmiri culture, and in collectors of Persian rugs. “I go to Srinagar once or twice a year,” he says. But for now, Chennai is home for Sami, his wife and two children.

Virasat’s exhibition is on today at Folly, Amethyst. To reach out to him, call 7550016911.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Sweta Akundi / August 14th, 2019