Nisha Warsi, the only Muslim player in the Indian national hockey team that reached the semi-inals in Tokyo and lost a well-fought game against the English team, will get an award of Rs 50 lakh from the State government of Haryana as the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced the policy of rewards for Olympians.
He said the State will give Rs 50 lakh to each player of the Indian women’s hockey team from the state and the same amount to those who ranked fourth in the Olympics events from the state.
It’s not clear if Nisha is entitled to double award of being the Olympian and winning the fourth place in international Hockey at Tokyo. In that happens she is entitled to Rs one crore.
Khattar tweeted, “We give Rs 6 crore to Gold medal winners, Rs 4 crore to Silver medal winners, and Rs 2.5 crore to Bronze medal winners. For the first time, we have decided to give Rs 50 lakh each to the players who finished fourth.”
Apart from this, he further announced to give Rs 10 lakh each to all the players who participated in Olympics from Haryana.
source: http://www.awazthevoice.in / Awaz / Home> Women / August 07th, 2021
The undeniable girl power of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in sports came to the fore in Hockey as a team of AMU ABK High School-Girls clinched a decisive win in the final of the National Hockey Tournament in Goa to bag the Gold Medal.
Team members Aliya Rashid, Simran Shakeel, Rabia Khatoon, Shafiya Shakeel, Amreen Malik, Zenab Mohsin, Saniya, Shaby and others were felicitated in a special function at the school on their return.
Congratulating the team members, Dr Samina (Principal) said that the School hockey team has not only capped an excellent performance in the tournament, but also inspired other girls to take up sport and bring laurels.
Wishing the team more success in the future, Dr Saba Hasan (Vice Principal) said that the team’s performance shows that dreams can come true as long as you work hard.
School teachers, Mr Nadeem Ahmad, Mrs Shaheen Khan, Mr Mahtab Ahmed, Mr Najmur Rahman Faridi, Mr Shamshad Nisar (Sports teacher) and Md Imran Khan (Coach) delivered motivating speeches to encourage the hockey team for more success.
source: http://www.amu.ac.in / Aligarh Muslim University / AMU Public Relations Office / August 24th, 2021
Punzwa Village (Kupwara District),JAMMU & KASHMIR :
Srinagar:
Twenty-three-year-old Nadia Beigh hailing from Punzwa village in Kupwara district of North Kashmir is the first girl from her village to crack the prestigious Civil Services Examination in her second attempt.
Ranked at 350, Nadia credits her success to her family.
To escape the recurrent internet shutdowns in the valley, Nadia enrolled herself in Residential Coaching Academy, Jamia Millia New Delhi which provides free coaching to selected students who are chosen through a rigorous entrance exam. Thirty students from the academy cleared the civil services exam this year.
“If I had stayed back in Kashmir last year, I don’t think I would have been able to prepare for my exam. The internet is extremely important if you are preparing for civil services. Other than that, I live in a remote area where newspapers reach late and a single newspaper will cost you 20 or more rupees. So, I thought it was better to move to Delhi,” says Nadia.
When asked about what service she would prefer to choose, Nadia, a graduate in Economics (Honors), told TwoCircles.net that she is keen about working in administration or foreign services. But her rank doesn’t allow her to be allotted to those ranks. She now plans to sit for the civil services exam again next year and is hopeful of scoring a better rank.
“I know I have potential to do better. Though I’ll be joining services this year, I’ll sit for the exams next year as well. It is a safe option,” she says.
Fighting all the odds, 16 candidates from Jammu and Kashmir managed to clear the exam. With the abrogation of Article 370, a complete communication and security lockdown was imposed in the erstwhile state of J&K. This was followed by a massive influx of students to different states of India, especially those preparing for various competitive examinations.
“I could spot a Kashmiri on every corner of Delhi. Some students in my locality who could not afford to move out of Kashmir, unfortunately, could not clear the exams,” she says.
Nadia has two sisters who are doctors by profession and a brother, a civil services aspirant himself. Her parents are government school teachers, the reason why she believes she has been able to excel in her education.
Since the news of her cracking the exam has come out, scores of people have flocked to her home to congratulate her. She is particularly overwhelmed by the number of girls who have approached her to procure information about the examination pattern.
“If because of me more girls are inspired to appear for the exam, I believe that would be the biggest achievement. People of Kashmir are very talented. Once they set their minds to it, they can achieve anything,” she says.
Just a day after clearing the exam, somebody created a fake Twitter profile using her name and picture and posted controversial tweets that could cause problems for her, she said.
“Since I am going to be a government official now, the tweets were against the government. I have spoken to the Cyber Police Srinagar and the account has been taken down but the screenshots of those tweets have been circulated widely. I am very anxious about it,” she said.
Despite all this, Nadia wants to work for the upliftment of her people. She believes that with a high position in the administration she can serve the people of Kashmir. Her plans consist of working diligently and aiming for a better rank next year.
source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Indian Muslim / by Asma Hafiz, TwoCircles.net / August 08th, 2020
Muslim dominated Mewat, one of the most backward regions of the country, will now also be known for producing 11 daughters who strived hard – braving the patriarchal set up – to realise their dream of obtaining higher education and choose their own lifestyle.
All of them are well qualified and work in different sectors. Four of them are government school teachers. One of them, who is named Nusrat is a lecturer at Government Polytechnic, Malab, Mewat. Apart from them, sister Razia is an MBA and works in a private firm while Nazia has done Diploma in architecture and is employed in the private sector.
They hail from Chandeni, a village in Haryana’s Muslim-dominated Mewat area.
Shabnam, who is a government school teacher, told Muslim Mirror that she along with her sisters had gone through a long struggle to realise their dreams of education.
She recalled that her sisters had to travel a lot and move to different locations due to the lack of good colleges in nearby areas.
Locals used to tell her elders that they should not give higher education to their girls because they will have to face difficulties to marry them.
Shabnam believes that in the 90s when she and her other sisters were in schools, it was difficult to find a perfect match for educated girls in Mewat. ”However, that situation has changed nowadays,” she added.
Sometimes, the sisters have to face ‘troubles’ at the workplace due to their Muslim identity. ”We meet troubles, more specifically in private sectors,” Shabnam added.
”However, they gradually change their behaviour with us when they come to know about us,” she stated.
In her message to society, Shabnam said, ”Apart from getting degrees, people should try to be open-minded and good human beings for the society.”
Indian parents, more commonly in villages, hesitate to send their daughters to colleges and universities. That’s why a large number of girls fail to be independent financially as well as mentally. In such an atmosphere, the success story of ’11 sisters’ is encouraging.
Their Qualifications:
1: Nafeesa: J.B.T and B.Ed and working as govt.teacher.
2:Shabnam: M.A, J.B.T and working as a govt. teacher.
3:Afsana: J.B.T, M.A, B.Ed.
4:Farhana: J.B.T, M.A, B.Ed and working as a govt.teacher.
5:Shahnaj : J.B.T, M.A, B.Ed and working as a teacher in private school.
6:Ishrat: B.A.
7:Nushrat: J.B.T, M.A, M.Ed and working as a lecturer in Malab Polytechnic.
8:Ana: J.B.T, M.A B.Ed and working as a govt. teacher.
9: Razia: M.B.A and working in private sector.
10:Nazia: Diploma in architecture and working in private sector.
11:Bushra: M.A, B.Ed
source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Featured / by Hasan Akram / March 13th, 2021
Anisa Mohammed is the interim captain as Stafanie Taylor is unavailable for the T20I series due to serving a period of isolation in Antigua
Anisa Mohammed to lead West Indies team as Stafanie Taylor in isolation.
St John’s (Antigua):
A 13-member West Indies women’s squad led by interim skipper Anisa Mohammed for the opening T20 International against South Africa Women at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground on Wednesday (IST) was announced by the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Women’s Selection Panel on Tuesday.
Anisa Mohammed is the interim captain as Stafanie Taylor is unavailable for the T20I series due to serving a period of isolation in Antigua, after being identified as a primary contact of a COVID-19 positive case in Jamaica.
The women’s chief selector, Ann Browne-John said in a statement:
“The T20I and ODI series against South Africa gives another opportunity for the team to play international matches ahead of the upcoming ICC World Cup qualifiers (In March-April next year in New Zealand). It is unfortunate that Stafanie will not be available for this series but there are a number of experienced players who we would be looking to, to fill any void.
“The young player Qiana Joseph brings another left-hand batter option as well as left arm orthodox bowling which has been lacking in the team. This will be a good test coming out of the recent Pakistan series, since South Africa is one of the higher ranked teams.”
The West Indies women’s team returns to the field after a successful double series win over Pakistan women, where they took the T20I series 3-0 and the ODI series 3-2. The West Indies women’s squad has been preparing in a high-performance camp in Antigua prior to the upcoming series.
The second and third T20Is will take place at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground on September 2 and September 4 respectively. The five ODIs will be played from September 7 to 19, with the first three matches being played at the Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG) and the last two at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
In a patient-friendly move to meet community health needs, free Unani medicines were distributed to patients from the lower economic strata by a team of Dawakhana Tibbiya College (DTC), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). The free medicines were dispensed during the inaugural of a Unani Medicine Clinic in Jamalpur locality.
“We found that many poor patients were struggling to get medicines. Some of them have been without any income and couldn’t afford the health facilities. It prompted us to distribute free medicines to people in dire need,” said Prof Salma Ahmed (Member-in-Charge, DTC).
She distributed the medicines with the DTC Marketing Team headed by Mr Shariq Azam.
Former Dean, Faculty of Unani Medicine, Prof Abdul Mannan; Prof Shamim Ahmad (Department of Agriculture Management) and Prof Mohd Khalid Azam (Department of Business Administration) stressed that this free medicine campaign in the wake of the pandemic is a big boon for the financially backward patients.
They added that it is our duty to provide the financially weaker sections with free essential health services including medicines.
source: http://www.amu.ac.in / Aligarh Muslim University / Home> AMU News / by Public Relations Office, AMU / August 27th, 2021
One of the very well-known plywood manufacturers K S Nazeer Ahmed & Co’s Satinply brand, has bagged two top awards namely ‘Most Promising & Innovative Plywood Manufacturing Firm of the year 2021’ India award under ‘Ethical Business Approach & Quality Products’ category for the year 2021 (Global Edition) and ‘Outstanding Contribution In Business & Entrepreneurship Domain’ Award.
K S Nazeer Ahmed & Co, Satinply brand, was honoured with the two national awards at the National Architecture & Interior Design Excellence Awards 2021 held at Taj West End, Bengaluru on August 18.
While the ‘Most Promising & Innovative Plywood Manufacturing Firm of the year 2021’ award was received by Syed Rifath Ahmed and Muhammad Rizwan Husaini, and other award under the category ‘Outstanding contribution in Business & Entrepreneurship Domain’.
About K S Nazeer Ahmed & Co, Satinply
The company, K S Nazeer Ahmed & Co, is a family-run business that was founded by K S Maqdoom Peeran in 1930 as a timber logs sawing firm in Karkala. Using his strong determination and focus, he established connections with the Indian defence forces, Indian Railways and film industry and laid the foundation for the future success of the company. His son, K S Nazeer Ahmed, when holding the reigns of the family company, took the initiative to adapt to new technologies that allowed the manufacture of a wider range of timber products and cater to a growing number of customers.
Upon the untimely demise of K S Nazeer Ahmed in 1994, Rehana Nazeer took over the role of managing partner in the family business, overseeing the industrial and agricultural activities.
Under the directive of late K S Nazeer Ahmed and now Rehana Nazeer, their sons Syed Rizwan Ahmed and Syed Rifath Ahmed, the third generation of the family business, identified the change in the consumer demand in India and an opportunity to expand vertically to enter the plywood industry.
The company had to overcome the initial challenge of getting exposure in a competitive industry operating from a relatively remote area. However, due to persistence and hard work, they have grown to reputable plywood manufacturers with sales all over India.
Future plans of K S Nazeer Ahmed & Co, are to delve further into the niche interior design market and launching new brands for upscale furnishings and interiors.
Contact: K S Nazeer Ahmed & Co, Plywood, Blockboard, Timber Merchants & Saw Mill, Salmar Street, Karkala – 574104, Udupi District, Karnataka State, India / Mobile: +91-98457-46620 / Email: ksnazeerahmedco@yahoo.com / Email: info@satinply.com / www.satinply.com
source: http://www.daijiworld.com / DaijiWorld.com / Home> Business / by Media Release / August 20th, 2021
A total of 181 candidates have been selected as Medical Officer Grade –II (Paediatric) of them 19 are Muslims.
UPPSC Recruitment: As many as 27 Muslims have been selected to join as Medical Officer (Grade II Post) in Uttar Pradesh State Civil Services exam result of which was declared yesterday.
A total of 181 candidates have been selected as Medical Officer Grade –II (Paediatric) of them 19 are Muslims.
On the other hand 114 candidates will be recruited as Medical Officer Grade-Il (Anaesthetist). Of them 07 candidates are Muslims. The list of Muslims selected in the two categories is as under.
Medical Officer Grade-Il (Paediatric)
1. Fatima Afreen Ahmad 2. Mohd Abu Bakar Ansari 3. Farha Khan 4. Uzma Nadeem Siddiqui 5. Naved Akhter 6. Kamran Ahmad 7. Mohd Saleem Khan 8. Mohd Kashif Siddiqui 9. Md Naseem 10. Zakaullah
11. Abdul Quddoos 12. Mohanmad Yunus 13. Abdullah 14. Ati Ullah 15. Mohanmad Badruzzana Ansari 16. Mohanmad Aziz Khan 17. Run Siddiqui 18. Saleem Ahmad 19. Faraz Ahmad Khan
Medical Officer Grade-Il (Anaesthetist)
1. Darvish Hussain 2.Shadia Zia Usmani 3. Arif Husain 4. Mohammad Ahtesham Khan 5. Abdul Wahid 6. Zainab Parween 7. Fahad Khan 8. Nikhat Parveen
The Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) has also declared the result of Assistant Statistical Officer to work under Industries Department. Among the 38 candidates who have been selected 02 are Muslims. They are:
1. Naushad Alam 2. M Farman Ali
The Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) had conducted the personal interview to select the above candidates in two phases – Phase 1 from July 26 to 30, 2021, and Phase 2 was completed from August 2 to 4, 2021.
source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> Education & Career / by ummid.com news network / August 21st, 2021
This year’s seven Wikimedian of the Year award winners were announced today at the 2021 virtual Wikimania convening .
Read the interview below with Dr. Netha Hussain, recipient of the Honourable Mention Award.
Dr. Netha Hussain has been a Wikimedia volunteer for over a decade, as well as a medical doctor and researcher who has contributed to English and Malayalam languages of Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Meta-Wiki.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Netha wrote, updated, and translated dozens of Wikipedia articles to ensure reliable information about the pandemic is available for everyone. She also recently launched a project to improve information about vaccine safety topics on Wikipedia, helping combat misinformation. In the process, Netha has collaborated with Wikimedians around the world and inspired many others to ensure information is verifiable and reliable.
“The idea of sharing free knowledge with millions of people around the world excites me, and this serves as a motivation to keep doing more.”
Additionally, Netha has contributed to outreach and research surrounding the diversity of participation and content on Wikimedia projects, particularly of the gender gap. In 2020, she was recognized by Red Hat as a 2020 Women in Open Source Award winner.
The Wikimedian of the Year Honourable Mention award recognizes exceptional Wikimedians who already have a strong presence in the movement, as well as public exposure such as press coverage, local recognition, and national titles. pix02
This recognition is one of seven awards made this year to celebrate contributors who have made an exceptional impact on our movement. The awards were announced at this year’s virtual Wikimania celebration by Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales (watch the announcement!).
“Dr. Hussain is a role model in the Wikimedia movement for her staggering medical and scientific contributions to Wikipedia, contributions she balances alongside her own medical career. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, her work has brought increased visibility to Wikipedia’s unique role as a source for reliable public health information about the virus and the vaccines. In addition, her constant advocacy to address the gender gap and her support for Indic communities demonstrate the values of collaboration and contribution that are integral to our movement.”
– Jimmy Wales
We spoke with Netha to learn more about her experiences and perspectives on the Wikimedia movement. Here are some highlights:
Q: Can you share a favorite memory from your time contributing to Wikimedia?
“Creating my first article is a special memory that I cherish to this day. The process did take a long time because, back in 2010, I was running on a 128 kbps internet connection in a six year old desktop computer on an old version of the browser.
I wanted to create an article about an Indian cuisine called chutney in Malayalam language Wikipedia. I wasn’t sure about the rules one has to follow while editing, but I thought I will make a try anyway. I created some text and saved it as a new Wikipedia page. The next day, I was surprised to find out that other editors have improved upon that page by adding media and more content. This was the first nudge which paved the way for the rest of my Wikimedia volunteering journey.
Another memory was when I saw that a pathology image that I added to Wikimedia Commons was re-used on a prominent medical website. This made me reflect on the scarcity of good quality medical images in online sources, and prompted me to start the first of its kind GLAM [galleries, libraries, archives, and museums] collaboration with Government Medical College, Kozhikode.”
Q: What motivates you to contribute to Wikimedia projects?
“I am motivated by the satisfaction of having done a small part in making the world a better place. The idea of sharing free knowledge with millions of people around the world excites me, and this serves as a motivation to keep doing more.”
Netha Hussain presenting at the Wikimedia Diversity Conference in 2013 (Christopher Schwarzkopf (WMDE), CC BY-SA 3.0)
Q: How has Wikipedia helped tackle COVID-19 disinformation and misinformation?
“Wikimedia was able to play a large role in tackling COVID-19 disinformation because of its people, technology, and policies.
The people who make up the Wikimedia movement are experts from a wide variety of subject areas. They perform tasks such as copyediting, structuring, and adding rich media to Wikimedia pages. Wikimedia has robust policies around verifiability, neutrality, and original research, which warrants the use of sources with high credibility. The technology used in Wikimedia provides a simple interface for editing and has provisions to counter vandalism.
All these factors taken together, as well as learnings from the movement’s previous experience in responding to crisis situations helped Wikimedia tackle disinformation effectively.”
“It is hard to imagine all the ways that Wikimedia will influence the future of the ecosystem of free knowledge in medicine, but I am convinced that Wikimedia will continue to occupy a central role in the process.”
Q: How does your work on Wikipedia contribute to the future of medicine?
“I was a medical student when I started contributing to Wikimedia in 2010. At that time, I worked on concepts that I learned at medical school. Later on, I focused on building content around specific topic areas. My current focus is on creating content related to COVID-19 and vaccination. The articles created by me in English and Malayalam languages are being edited several times by other editors and are becoming richer and more comprehensive by the day. I think that these articles will continue to educate (and perhaps also entertain and enlighten) people in the future.
The text and media that I and fellow editors created will continue to be remixed, curated and magnified several times by third party sources such as search engines, websites, and virtual assistants. Additionally, the edit history of the work that we performed on Wikimedia is likely to serve as a historical documentation of how events unfolded in time and how scientific evidence changed over time.
Our discussions on talk pages would serve as a reminder for how and why we made some decisions regarding the policy or structure of Wikimedia entities. The metadata of our edits are likely to act as data points for researching about trends and patterns in editing, paving way for insightful conclusions regarding the growth and diversification of Wikimedia projects. The structured data contributed by us would serve as the database for search engine and machine learning algorithms. It is hard to imagine all the ways that Wikimedia will influence the future of the ecosystem of free knowledge in medicine, but I am convinced that Wikimedia will continue to occupy a central role in the process.”
“In the process of researching health conditions and treatment options, people…eventually to Wikimedia projects. Therefore, it is important that Wikimedians should work in the interest of public health.”
Q: What is Wikipedia’s role in public health?
“Wikipedia is the largest non-profit website in terms of pageviews. Wikipedia has become a popular source of healthcare information because of its simplicity of content, higher ranking in search results, easiness in accessibility, availability of citations, presence of photo/video illustrations, ability to edit quickly and possibility to navigate in multiple language editions.
Most often, in the process of researching health conditions and treatment options, people go online, and eventually to Wikimedia projects. Therefore, it is important that Wikimedians should work in the interest of public health and invest resources for making its medical content reliable, comprehensive and updated.”
“I wish everyone knew that they have something to contribute to the Wikimedia movement.”
Q: What is one thing you wish everyone knew about Wikimedia projects?
“I wish everyone knew that they have something to contribute to the Wikimedia movement. People usually shy away from contributing to Wikimedia because they think that the expertise they have is trivial or irrelevant for Wikimedia.
We need not only content creators and curators, but those interested in technology, outreach, fundraising, strategizing, to name a few. We need to make non-content related contributions more visible and rewarding so that everyone knows what is possible for them to do on Wikimedia projects, and enjoys doing what they love or care about.”
Congratulations, Netha!
About the 2021 Wikimedian of the Year Awards
The Wikimedian of the Year is an annual award that honours contributors to Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia editors, to highlight major achievements within the Wikimedia movement in the previous year. The tradition dates back to 2011 and has evolved since then in dynamic ways to welcome and celebrate Wikimedians from different backgrounds and experiences. This year’s celebration is bigger and more inclusive than ever before, recognizing seven exceptional contributors to the Wikimedia movement in six categories , including Newcomer of the Year, 20th Year Honouree, Rich Media and Tech contributors, and Honourable Mentions, as well as the Wikimedian of the Year.
*This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
source: http://www.diff.wikimedia.org / Wikimedia.org / Home> Wikimania 2021 / by Wikimedia Foundation / August 15th, 2021
Khan says that the story her grandmother told stayed with her for years and when she started researching the Rampur culture, it kept coming back to haunt her while she walked through the old settlement of Rampur city.
New Delhi :
She doesn’t really remember when she heard the story of the woman she named Feroza Begum in her book. Perhaps it was one of those tales her grandmother narrated when the children gathered around in the courtyard of their rambling home. “We loved to listen to the stories of bygone years as they had an immediacy, a reference point – about some relative or friend we knew,” she recalls.
Author Tarana Husain Khan, whose book ‘The Begum and the Dastan’ (Tranquebar) recently hit the shelves goes back to the year 1897 where in the princely state of Sherpur, Feroza Begum, beautiful and wilful, defies her family to attend the sawani celebrations at Nawab Shams Ali Khan’s Benazir Palace. Feroza is kidnapped and detained in the Nawab’s glittering harem, her husband is forced to divorce her, and her family disowns her. Reluctantly, Feroza marries the Nawab, and is compelled to negotiate the glamour and sordidness of the harem.
Khan says that the story her grandmother told stayed with her for years and when she started researching the Rampur culture, it kept coming back to haunt her while she walked through the old settlement of Rampur city.
“I wanted to know how Feroza lived her life, her thoughts and aspirations and her death. I was surprised by my emotional investment in the ancient tale. It made me feel suffocated and vulnerable at the same time maybe because it was a sort of cautionary tale for young girls,” she tells IANS.
Talk to her about the metamorphosis of Feroza’s character — how she starts to ‘accept’ the circumstances with the Nawab, and if a modern reader would be comfortable with that, and Khan asserts that the protagonist’s options were limited by her predicament.
“She was confined in the Nawab’s harem and her family had abandoned her. How did a woman in the late nineteenth century deal with such circumstances? It might be difficult for the ‘modern’ or ‘feminist’ person to understand her actions. I didn’t want Feroza to be a modern woman dressed in ancient clothes. I didn’t want to project these sensibilities to Feroza’s character. In fact, I had to restrain myself from putting my words and thoughts into her persona. She belonged to a certain time in history and her actions and thoughts had to mirror those times.”
The author, who has weaved two timelines in the book, insists that at the core of ‘The Begum and the Dastan’ is the question of patriarchy. “I began with writing Feroza Begum’s story but the question of the state of the girl child in small town India had been troubling me because of my first hand experience teaching young children. Ameera who lives in modern times poses the question — has anything changed for the young girls today. I wanted my readers to think beyond Feroza’s plight. Patriarchy affects young girls in Indian homes by restricting their vision of themselves as well as posing physical constraints. So the life of the veiled Begums and their limited options has a modern counterpoint in Ameera’s life,” she says.
While researching Feroza’s story, Khan realised that there were many women who had disappeared from the pages of history and whose voices inhabited oral history. There were women who left their imprint on political decisions and on cultural developments but rarely found mention in cisgender male histories. “In giving cadence to some of these voices, this book was born,” says Khan, whose previous books include ‘I’m Not a Bimbette’ (2015) and its sequel ‘Cyber Bullied’ (2020).
Currently, Khan is researching on Rampur culinary archives, which is a part of ‘Forgotten Foods: Culinary Memory, Local Heritage and Lost Agricultural Varieties in India’, a project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council that brings together researchers and practitioners.
“So my translation of nineteenth century Persian cookbooks meets the skill set of the khansama and we create something that is workable. The ultimate aim is to expand the repertoire of the local khansamas and enhance their employability. This should also popularize the ‘forgotten’ dishes of Rampur cuisine.The penultimate aim is to publish a cookbook of the forgotten dishes and to showcase the dishes at a cultural fest, the ‘Jashn e Benazir’, which we plan to host in Rampur in 2022.”
Editing a book on Rampur cuisine and culture which is slated for publication in April 2022, Khan is also writing a novel. “It is still in its initial stages. I am essentially a storyteller, a dastango like Mirza Kallan, a character in my book, who spins tales till the boundaries of reality and fiction blur,” she concludes. — IANS
source: http://www.clarionindia.net / Clarion India / Home> Books / by IANS / August 02nd, 2021
