Parappa Village (Delampady Gram Panchayat) , KERALA :
Maharoof comes from a remote village called Parappa in Delampady grama panchayat on the Karnataka border. His father D P Mohammed works as a waiter at a hotel in Kozhikode.
Maharoof Mohammed
Kasargod :
Maharoof Mohammed, a 12-year-old boy from Kasaragod, is the toast of the footballing world. Last day, when schools were shut because of heavy rain, Mahroof and his friends hit the dirt to play football.
In a short video shot by his friends, Maharoof can be seen dribbling past five big boys and sending a prefect cross to his friend waiting at the goal mouth to find the back of the net. The friend takes off his T-shirt and Maharoof runs to hug him.
The 20-second video went viral on WhatsApp and one of his friends posted it on Instagram with the caption “Little Messi”.
On Instagram, Maharoof’s dribbling skills got the attention of footballers and fans. Kerala Blasters’ biggest fan club KBFC Manjappada shared it and footballers started taking notice. Iain Hume, the former ace player of Kerala Blasters, showered praise. He tagged the club’s manager Thomas Antony and wrote: “@thomantony Get this kid signed up NOW!!! #TheFuture”.The video posted by KBFC Manjappada touched 60k.
Hansito Jorge Mulder, who played for Delhi Dynamos and Chennaiyin, sought to know if the boy has an Instagram account.
Mulder, who now plays for Dutch club RKC Waalwijk, shared the video on his timeline saying: “Support my friend @mahruf_parappa. Showing some great footwork aka India Messi”.
Maharoof’s friends immediately started Instagram accounts for him. At the last count, the boy has eight Instagram accounts, including a fan page.
Maharoof comes from a remote village called Parappa in Delampady grama panchayat on the Karnataka border. His father D P Mohammed works as a waiter at a hotel in Kozhikode.
“He plays for local club Parappa Classic,” said Mohammed, who is happy about the attention his son is getting. His mother Misriya is a homemaker.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Express News Service / July 25th, 2019
Nikhat Zareen, a former junior world champion, was the only woman boxer to reach the final of Thailand Open.
Nikhat Zareen Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong in the semi-final. (Photo Credit: @BFI_Official)
Former junior world champion Nikhat Zareen (51kg) reached the final of International Tournament in Bangkok on Friday and was lone Indian woman to do so while Asian silver-medallist Deepak Singh (49kg) led four men into the summit clashes of the tournament.
Ashish Kumar (75kg), Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Mohammed Husammuddin (56kg) and Brijesh Yadav (81kg) were the other three men to make the gold medal bouts.
Zareen was up against Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong. The Hyderabadi impressed with the ferocity of her punches as she edged past the local favourite 4-1 and let out a scream to express her elation when her hand was raised by the referee.
Zareen later took to Twitter to dedicate her win to the Kargil War martyrs. 20 years ago, India decisively won the Kargil war and regained the territories that were briefly captured by Pakistan. The nation is celebrating the Army’s victory in the historic war.
__________________________________________
Nikhat Zareen ✔@nikhat_zareen
I dedicate my today’s Semi-Final victory at the Thailand Open to our brave soldiers of Kargil war who sacrificed their lives for our country#KargilVijayDiwas
Meanwhile, former Asian youth silver-medallist Ashish (69kg) lost his semi-final bout to sign off with a bronze medal. Ashish lost to Thailand’s Wuttichai Masuk in a split decision after an exhausting clash.
Among the women, Manju Rani (48kg) and Bhagyabati Kachari (81kg) ended with third-place finishes. Manju went down to Chuthamat Raksat of Thailand, while Bhagyabati lost to China’s Li Qian.
Earlier, Deepak hardly broke a sweat against Bhutan’s Tashi Wangdi. The Indian’s dominance was such that Wangdi faced two standing eight counts and was left with a gash above his right eye. The judges eventually ruled unanimously in the Indian’s favour.
Also advancing was Husammuddin (56kg). In a messy slugfest with Thailand’s Ammarit Yaodam, the Indian came out as the more aggressive and clean puncher to emerge triumphant in a 3-2 decision.
In the 75kg category, Ashish defeated Uzbekistan’s Fanat Kakhramnov to make the final.
Brijesh was up against local favourite in Saranon Klompian in the last bout of the day and produced a ferocious performance. A left hook just a minute into the second round sent his opponent crashing and the Thai could not regain his composure after that. Klompian faced three eight counts before the referee stopped the bout in Brijesh’s favour.
Sheikh Mohammad Munir Ansari conferred with the Star of Jerusalem medal.
Jerusalem (PTI) :
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has conferred Indian-origin Sheikh Mohammad Munir Ansari with the Star of Jerusalem medal – one of the highest honours given to foreign nationals by the Palestinian Authority – for strengthening Indo-Palestine ties. At an event organised to honour 91-year-old Ansari Thursday evening, Abbas thanked him for serving Palestine and Jerusalem with distinction. Ansari, 91, is the Director of Indian Hospice, a unique and historic monument in the heart of Jerusalem, which has become a symbol of India’s heritage and presence in the third holiest city for Muslims going back to over 800 years.
Abbas said the Ansari family’s presence in the old city of Jerusalem reflects the strong traditional ties between Indian and Palestinian people. He called upon for strengthening people-to-people contact between the two sides.
Abbas plans to send Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh to India soon to boost tourist inflows from there which can contribute to strong bonding between the two people.
A representative of India, Sunil Kumar, who was present at the event, also appreciated the role played by the Ansari family in strengthening Indo-Palestine ties.
The Indian hospice has been under the direct supervision of a representative from India since 1924. Ansari’s father, Sheikh Nazir Hassan Ansari, was appointed the first Sheikh of the Hospice from whom the mantle passed on to the incumbent who was born in Jerusalem in 1928 and has spent his whole life here.
In 2011, India honoured Ansari with the Pravasi Divas Samman, the highest honour conferred on overseas Indians.
The history of the hospice goes back to about 12th century, when famous Sufi saint from Punjab Baba Fariduddin Ganj-i-Shakar (or Baba Farid, as he is better known) visited Jerusalem on pilgrimage and prayed in seclusion for 40 days at the site.
It later became a pilgrimage site for Indian pilgrims visiting Jerusalem and was dedicated as a charitable Waqf property in trust for a pious purpose.
The place where Baba Farid is said to have prayed has become a major attraction for Indian tourists visiting Jerusalem.
Almost every prominent Indian leader who has visited the region has paid a visit to the site and the hospice continues to host Indians visiting the Holy Land. The hospice also received a grant from the Ministry of External Affairs for its renovation.
source: http://www.caravandaily.com / Caravan / Home> Indian Muslims / by June 15th, 2019
Rahman founded Mina Jebel Ali Canteen and Catering Services, the flagship firm of the Parco group of companies – supplied photo
Rahman had been ill for nearly a year and he had flown to India for treatment.
Dubai-based businessman PA Rahman, chairman of Parco Group, died in his hometown in the south Indian state of Kerala on Sunday night. He was 72.
OK Ibrahim, KMCC senior vice-president, told Khaleej Times that Rahman had been ill for nearly a year and he had flown to India for further treatment.
“Relatives and friends who are close to Rahman travelled to India two weeks ago to pay their last respects, as his health continued to deteriorate,” Ibrahim said.
Rahman founded Mina Jebel Ali Canteen and Catering Services, the flagship firm of the Parco group of companies.
Over the last 39 years, he, along with his brothers, built diverse business units with interests in hospitality, retail, manufacturing, real estate, contracting, jewellery, healthcare, restaurants and education, among others.
“These companies are all supported by a large team of dedicated professionals who develop and manage the activities of the group,” said Ibrahim.
He was a successful entrepreneur but, on top of his achievements, people knew him as a community leader who was always willing to help those in need. He did a lot of social work and opened education centres.
He had served as a member of the state council of the Muslim League and a director of the Dubai Middle East Chandrika. He also founded NAM College, Kallikandy, a general degree college located in Kallikkandy, Kannur district, Kerala.
dhanusha@khaleejtime.com
source: http://www.khaleejtimes.com / Khaleej Times / Home> Nation> Dubai / by Staff Reporter, Dubai / July 10th, 2019
Begum Hazrat Mahal was the last of the official queens of the kingdom of Avadh, or “Oudh” as known to the British imperialists, a large province in northern India.
While the details of her birth and family are unclear, it is certain that Begum Hazrat Mahal was not of royal lineage. She is believed to have been a courtesan in the court of the last king of Avadh, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, starting as a dancing girl named “Mahak-Pari” or fragrant fairy. The Nawab, besotted with the young girl, married her by means of the Shiite tradition of “mutah” marriage or “temporary marriage of pleasure.” It was a convenient method by which the Nawabs could add to their harems, and not technically stray from their marriages.
Mahak-Pari, as she was initially known, gave birth to a male child named Mirza Birgis Qadr Bahadur, and was elevated to the title of Hazrat Mahal Saheba, commonly known as Begum Hazrat Mahal. Transforming from a courtesan—a Pari (fairy)—to a Mahal (a royal queen) was rare, and the good fortune of bearing a male child combined with the right maneuvers in harem politics likely helped the young woman.
In 1856, the administrators of the East India Company annexed the kingdom of Avadh, by means of the infamous Doctrine of Lapse. The British coveted this territory as a great resource for cotton and indigo, and appalled by the debauchery of the Avadh court and its gross mismanagement of revenue, preferred to govern the region directly with a more “conventional” administration.
Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was exiled to Calcutta, and the unhappy king left with a few of his wives, and without most of his large harem, including his “secondary” wives. Begum Hazrat Mahal did not accompany the deposed king, continuing to reside in Lucknow with her young son.
When the Mutiny of 1857 broke out, Avadh was one of the major areas of rebellion as several recruits of the army were from Avadh. People were unhappy about the annexation, the deposition of their king, and the religious insensitivity of the British. The rebels needed a leader to further their cause.
Begum Hazrat Mahal rose to the occasion to help the rebels defend Lucknow against the British troops. To the surprise of her adversaries, she reorganized the army with better co-ordination between the three units of the cavalry, artillery, and infantry. Many times, she rode at the head of the army on an elephant to encourage the soldiers against the advancing British troops.
As in other places, the Indian rebels could not hold out for long against the larger number of British troops, and the queen’s advisors asked the Begum to leave Lucknow in March 1858. She fled to the countryside, continuing her hostilities against the British by issuing orders while in hiding.
On November 1, 1858, Queen Victoria issued a proclamation whose intent was to end the Mutiny, pacify the religious sentiments of the Indians, and formally transfer control of the British territories in India from the East India Company to the British Crown. Begum Hazrat Mahal issued a counter-proclamation in which she argued against every claim of Queen Victoria.
The Begum reminded the Indians that several previous treaties had been violated, that princely heads had either been pensioned or killed, and property worth millions of rupees seized. If the British intent was honorable, why did the British Queen not “restore our country to us when our people wish it?” asked the bold and shrewd Begum. She questioned Queen Victoria’s claim to religious non-interference:
“…to destroy Hindoo and Mussulman temples on pretence of making roads to build churches—to send clergymen into streets and alleys to preach the Christian religion—to institute English schools, and to pay a monthly stipend for learning the English sciences, while the places of worship of Hindoos and Mussulmans are to this day entirely neglected; with all this how can the people believe that religion will not be interfered with?”
Begum Hazrat Mahal forewarned the Indians that their future prospects appeared limited under British rule. “It is worthy of a little reflection, that they have promised no better employment for Hindoostanees than making roads and digging canals.” The Begum’s words were rather prophetic. For decades after 1857, Indians pushed files under British bureaucracy and worked as laborers for the British government in India and overseas.
Begum Hazrat Mahal eventually sought asylum in the kingdom of Nepal, where she lived for the rest of her life. The British administration initially negotiated with her, assuring her a safe return and the possibility of a pension. The Begum, distrusting the British, refused—most likely because British retribution in the immediate aftermath of the rebellion was extremely harsh. While both Hindu and Muslim rebels were ruthlessly punished, there was fear that the Muslims would rise against the British (and Christian power) because it was a hitherto Muslim power that was being displaced, and the repercussions in former-Muslim strongholds such as Lucknow and Delhi were particularly extreme. After their initial negotiations failed, the British labeled the Begum as a woman of “savage disposition.”
Begum Hazrat Mahal has remained a relatively minor figure in Indian history. Her legacy and her heirs were inadequately honored in the centenary celebrations of the Mutiny held at Lucknow post-Indian independence. Her great-grandsons protested against this oversight by the Indian government, which led Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to order an inquiry into her place of burial. Her grave was discovered near Kathmandu, Nepal, in very poor condition. At this point, a park in Lucknow was named after her to commemorate her memory—this park has very recently been renamed—and later a postage stamp was issued in her honor.
Begum Hazrat Mahal’s legacy was diminished in the changed landscape of India post-1857. Her humble beginnings as a courtesan made her an inadequate role model.
The courtesans at the zenith of Lucknow’s court were no petty “nautch-girls” as described by the Victorian sensibilities of the colonists. They were sophisticated women, well versed in the arts of dance, music, and poetry. Their association with the courts made them extremely wealthy and nineteenth-century British records indicate that they were in the highest income-tax bracket before 1857. While the British derided the courtesans, and the culture they espoused, they did not hesitate to tax them on their “ill-earned” wealth. During the Mutiny, the courtesans monetarily supported the rebels, and their homes became rebel hideouts and secret meeting-venues.
Yet, this courtesan culture, the associated decadence and “debauchery” became a source of embarrassment for late-nineteenth-century Indian nationalists, social reformers, and the emerging middle-class English-educated “elite.” Indian nationalists believed that it was decadence and indolence that had helped the British uproot power in the princely states. A strong, respectable people hoping for self-rule needed to identify with respectable women and men, and a former courtesan-turned-warrior-queen did not fit this idealized image.
A strong and resolute woman, the Begum never gave in to the British, while her husband—a good man and an artist at heart, but weak in resolution—continued to live off the generous pension he received, always short of money, and therefore always acquiescing to the British.
Postage Samp of Hazrat Mahal. www.kamat.com
Several years after the Mutiny, a British painter visited Begum Hazrat Mahal, in Kathmandu, to paint a portrait of her son, Birgis Qadr. As he worked on his task, the painter ventured to ask her whether she would consider returning to Lucknow. Given the fact that much time had elapsed since 1857, the British regime was willing to forgive her and pay her a pension. Her residence in India would be proof of the British paternalistic spirit of forgiveness. Their condition, however, was that she would not be allowed a lavish lifestyle with a large retinue of servants. Perhaps, surprised by, or suspicious of the offer, but more likely annoyed at the continued interference in her life, the Begum refused the gesture, stating, with true Avadhi andaaz (style) “of what use will be the salary, if I am not to spend it upon the servants?”
Begum Hazrat Mahal was buried in a simple grave in the grounds of a mosque she built. Ironically she named it Hindustani Masjid, after the beloved homeland she had left behind, for whose sovereignty she had fought, and in which she has largely been forgotten.
Aarti Johri is a tech-professional turned history buff. This is an extract from her thesis for the Stanford MLA degree. Her articles have been published in the San Jose Mercury News, Stanford’s Tangents Magazine, and others. She serves on the board of SACHI (Society for the Art and Cultural Heritage of India).
source: http://www.indiacurrents.com / India Currents / Home> Features, General / by Aarti Johri / June 11th, 2016
The Buro Saheber dargah has been drawing people of all faiths for centuries
The mazaar of Pir Hazrat Shah Malek Gaus in Matiari / (Prasun Chaudhuri)
Matiari is a village beside the Indo-Bangladesh border, 110 kilometres northeast of Calcutta in Nadia district. It is believed to be the capital of the 16th century zamindar, Bhabananda Majumder, an ancestor of the legendary king of central Bengal, Krishnachandra Roy. A walk across the village today reveals remains of the regal past — a centuries old Shiv temple, a huge water body excavated by the king, relics of the palace and so on.
In the heart of the village stands Buro Saheber Dargah, a shrine built over the grave of Pir Hazrat Shah Malek Gaus, a Sufi ascetic from erstwhile Persia. Legend has it that in the 16th century this village was hit by a severe drought followed by famine. Apparently the pir’s spiritual power brought rain and saved villagers from starvation and death. Since then, starting from the anniversary of his arrival, a month-long fair is held every year at this dargah.
The date usually falls towards the end of June and coincides with the first day of Ambubachi, a three-day-long Hindu festival of fertility. During this period, around two to three lakh people visit the shrine to pay homage. Not just Muslims, people from all faiths visit the pir’s mazaar to pay homage to his soul and pray to have their wishes (mannat) granted.
I visit the dargah on the eighth day of the annual fair on a sultry afternoon. The entry to the mazaar is blocked with lines of makeshift shops of toys, snacks, utensils and sundry items — typical of any fair in the Bengal countryside. As I weave through the crowd, the sound box plays a song — Ke jabi ay choley ei Fakir Maular dorbarey/Niya premer mala re… O come to the shrine of the holy man/ With your garland of love…
The marble frame of the mazaar is adorned with chadars. Two women light candlesticks at the altar mumbling prayers and another is found pouring a bottle of milk on the grave. At the back of the shrine, a couple ties a stone with coloured threads on to a banyan tree.
“Our dargah has been a melting pot for hundreds of thousands of people, irrespective of caste, creed or religion, for centuries. We have visitors from across the border,” says Nitaipada Roychowdhury, president of the Dargah Committee and a resident of Matiari. The committee has 21 members — 11 Hindus and 10 Muslims. Roychowdhury is a retired teacher of the Matiari Banpur High School. He consults a diary and gives me the count: 90,000 people have already visited the shrine in the first week of the annual fair.
According to Roychowdhury, the pir was born Abdullah. He belonged to an aristocratic family. Looking for spiritual enlightenment, he turned fakir, left his home and embarked on a journey all the way to Hindustan. When he reached an ashram by the banks of the Narmada river, the saints initially refused to offer him lessons in Hindu philosophy because he was a Muslim. But his sincerity and perseverance eventually made the seers change their mind and accept him as a disciple. After deep study at the ashram and subsequent enlightenment, Abdullah started his journey eastwards to spread his newfound knowledge of a syncretic God.
The nongorkhana at the dargah / (Prasun Chaudhuri)
“Buro Saheb reached our village on the first day of Ambubachi,” says Raihan Mondal, a member of the committee. “Since there had been a drought, he asked the local zamindar to organise an annasatra or community kitchen for the starving villagers. Soon after this there was heavy rain and a bumper harvest.” The impressed zamindar bestowed on him the title of Pir Hazrat Shah Malek Gaus and requested him to settle down in Matiari. Today, to commemorate the community kitchen, youths organise a nongorkhana or langarkhana where food is cooked and distributed free.
That day Noor Amin Sheikh, who has come from Ranaghat, offers a fowl at the dargah. “We had prayed for our uncle who had been suffering from a strange illness. Now that he’s cured I have come with the offering,” he says.
Sandhya Das has come from Barrackpore in North 24-Parganas to make a donation of Rs 1,001. Her sister has done well in the board exams. She says after lighting a candle at the mazaar, “If you pray sincerely, Buro Saheb always fulfils your wish.” The walls at the entrance to the dargah display a number of marble plaques commemorating past donations. There are two plaques with the name of one Abdul Hai of Jhinaidaha in Bangladesh. There is one bearing the name of Pappu Sarkar, who donated an entire month’s salary after he got a government job.
Fakir Mobarak Shah of Titagarh / (Prasun Chaudhuri)
Goats, fowls, shirni, payesh, sacks of rice, batasha and cash are donated to the pir. The dargah committee organises auctions of the goats and fowls. The fund raised is deposited in a bank account along with the cash donated. Says Roychowdhury, “We spend the money for the upkeep of the dargah.” Some visitors offer food and money to the sadhus and fakirs who throng the portals of the dargah. Fakir Mobarak Shah comes from Titagarh in North 24-Parganas every year. The foodgrains and alms he collects at the fair sees him through for half a year. Amal Giri also begs for alms with dozens of other sanyasins and fakirs.
The young people who organise the nongorkhana take me to the kitchen. This is run by a separate committee constituted of Hindu and Muslim youths in equal numbers. Ajay Biswas and Abbas Mondal proudly show me how they have been cooking chicken curry and rice for hundreds of people. They invite me to lunch. Says Ajay enthusiastically, “Yesterday we had cooked khichuri and payesh.”
Roychowdhury reminds me that the dargah attracts visitors all year round. “There’s been efforts by political parties to interfere in the management of the dargah committee, but we have been able to stave them off. We are also confident of fighting all fundamentalist forces should they want to disrupt the harmony created by Buro Saheb 400 years ago.”
Instances of dargahs looked after by more than one community abound across Bengal. Amit Dey, a senior historian and professor at Calcutta University sums up the tradition. He says, “This syncretistic tradition has deep roots in the society and culture of rural Bengal.” According to him, the daily grind of an agrarian society encourages people to co-operate with neighbours and people around them. He adds, “In their struggles for existence there is little demarcation of religion, caste or creed. The dargah is a space shared by members of two communities.”
I sit down for a meal of fowl curry and rice with Abbas, Ajay and others at the nongorkhana. The sound boxes at the dargah start to play the classic song composed by the Sufi minstrel, Lalan Fakir. It goes — Sab lokey koy Lalan ki jaat songsare/Lalan bole jaater ki roop/ Dekhlam na ei nojore… People ask, “What’s Lalan’s religion/Lalan replies, For the life of me I cannot tell.”
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, online edition / Home> Heritage / by Prasun Chaudhuri / July 07th, 2019
Police museum houses rare collection of arms and artefacts from Nizam era
Home to rare and little known police relics from the Nizam era, the Dr. Hankins Police Museum and Discovery Centre at RBVRR Telangana State Police Academy (TSPA) here is a treasure trove for history enthusiasts.
From long-out-of-use police guns to breaking-and-entering tools that burglars depended on many decades ago, the museum is filled with intriguing artefacts that one would hardly find outside its walls. “It is a one-of-its-kind museum in the country with a rich collection of arms, bronze sculptures, artefacts related to communication, forensic science and policing supported by photographs and paintings,” said TSPA director Santosh Mehra.
The museum, which is named after Dr. A.C. Hankin, a European who served as the first Inspector General of Police in Hyderabad Dominions, has an antique collection of arms from the 16th to 20th century, manufactured in Iran, Turkey, England, France, Egypt and China.
One of the major attractions at the museum includes a .2 mm repeating flint pistol with five rounds of storage capacity from the 19th century, also known as ‘Lilliput pistol’. The firearm, which is barely four inches long, was popular in the UK and other European countries.
The collection also includes Shamsheer, Patta, Yataghan, Sosun Patta, Saif, Talwar, Fencing, Adi, Dhup, Dao, Ramdao, Tegha, and Zulfiqar swords, apart from arrows, spears, daggers, tabar, axe and cannons.
A copy of FIR of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi issued by Tughlak Road police in New Delhi on January 30, 1948, is also on display at the museum, which houses a rare photograph of Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi.
The police gallery also houses counterfeit coins and currency notes of East India Company, Nizam Government, the British empire and Indian union. In addition, one can have a glimpse of hand-held trans-receiver, transmitters, ECIL receiver, TCS Collins receiver remote control, Webel base repeater set and desk microphone.
Set up in 2007, Dr. Hankin police museum is not open to the public. However, Mr. Mehra said school children can visit the museum to see the impressive collections of arms and communication systems to know the history of policing.
Sources in the police department said the museum is likely to be shifted to the Command Control Centre of Hyderabad police coming up on Road No.12 of Banjara Hills. It is also to be made open to the public once shifted there.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Abhinay Deshpande / Hyderabad – July 07th, 2019
He was the first National Coordinator of the SANZAF a faith-based, educational and socio-welfare organisation that helps the Muslim community
Shawkat Ali Thokan / Photo Credit: Twitter
Johannesburg:
Shawkat Ali Thokan, an Indian-origin man considered the pioneer of the Islamic movement in South Africa, was buried here Thursday after he died following a lengthy illness. He was 81. Born in Maharashtra in India, Thokan died on Wednesday and was laid to rest at Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg.
He emigrated to South Africa with his parents when he was 10. Thokan was the first National Coordinator of the South African National Zakah Fund (SANZAF), a faith-based, educational and socio-welfare organisation that helps the Muslim community.
The organisation in almost five decades has assisted tens of thousands of students at all levels, as well as funding scores of budding entrepreneurs to become self-sufficient through training programmes.
“Sanzaf stands as a monument and symbol of passionate persistence, commitment, dedication, vision and a yearning to succeed – these are the values that he leaves behind,” head of AWQAF SA Zeinoul Abedien Cajee said.
“Even in his last years and days he would still keep a caring eye over AWQAF SA and Sanzaf, attending meetings whenever he could, or keeping in contact by telephone, despite his illness,” Cajee added.
Thokan was also instrumental in setting up the Islamic Medical Association, As Salaam institution for orphans, and in 2000 AWQAF SA, which has assisted all other communities in projects as diverse as boreholes in drought-stricken areas and cataract operations for the destitute.
“During his distinguished career, he was an ardent champion of those in need and worked tirelessly in creating unity and an environment for growth and development,” Sanzaf said in a statement. “He was an inspiration to both young and old and will be fondly remembered by all of those lives he has touched,” it said.
-By Fakir Hassan
source: http://www.freepressjournal.in / The Free Press Journal / Home> World / by PTI / by Fakir Hassan / June 21st, 2019
An artisan works on one of Khatri’s unique asymmetrical designs. | Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji
Khalid Amin Khatri’s favourite theme is clouds floating atop mountains
He grew up in a world of symmetry. The perfectly synchronised movement of wooden blocks from a plate of colour onto long stretches of cloth, and the accompanying sound of a regular, dull beat, are deeply ingrained in Khalid Amin Khatri.
This is, after all, Ajrakhpur, in the Kutch region of Gujarat ,and he was born the son of generations of ajrakh printers. Khatri, however, was bored by the regularity. He wanted to capture his imagination on a piece of cloth, to bring the clouds and the mountains, shrines and monuments down to his canvas.
So that’s what he did.
Khatri, 26, calls himself an artist — more than an artisan. A step away from the traditional ajrakh block-printing that relies on uniformity of design, Khatri’s work is dominated by asymmetricity. But it’s more than that. “Each of my creations has a theme,” he tells us, as he unfolds piece after piece, each hand crafted, each guided by a theme. Unlike the traditional form that mostly prints floral motifs and geometrical designs, Khatri’s designs are guided by his imagination. His favourite theme, for example, is clouds floating atop mountains.
Different strokes
Showing us one such piece — it has a river, flowers, bushes, and yes, clouds and mountains — Khatri recalls a time, not even 10 years ago, when other artisans in his village would look at him with dismay. “‘Why are you hell-bent on destroying the art form,’ they would ask,” he says, smiling. “But I didn’t care. I always knew if I was going to do Ajrakh, I would do something different.”
Khatri was a child when the 2001 Bhuj earthquake destroyed their village, Dhamadka, and the entire community of artisans moved to Ajrakhpur. Most villagers went back to their craft, but Khatri’s father, Amin Khatri, stopped working on ajrakh and instead opened a grocery shop.
He did not however discourage his son from learning the art form in his uncle’s workshop. But traditional ajrakh could not capture the boy’s interest, and he ran away to Mumbai. He was just a teenager and he had found himself a job as a telemarketer.
“I lasted just six months there,” he smiles sheepishly. “I decided to come back to my world — but to innovate and leave my mark.” In 2010, his uncle, Dr. Ismail Khatri, encouraged him to study textile design at Kala Raksha Vidyalaya.
During the one-year course, one theme caught Khatri’s fancy: concept design. “Concept development was completely new to me. We were taught how to develop a theme; it was aligned to what I wanted to do,” he says.
Dargah on cloth
Khatri’s first finished product as a student was a black stole on which he made mountains and clouds. “A lady from the U.S. had come to see our products and when she saw my creation, she said my talent was qudrati, that I was a natural, like M.F. Husain. I didn’t even know who Husain was then,” he says. The stole sold for ₹50,000.
Since then, Khatri’s visually arresting work has gained widespread popularity, both among Ajrakhpur’s regular customers and new buyers. His work is unusual, for instance, a stole with a vivid image of Mumbai’s Haji Ali Dargah, complete with the half-submerged road leading to it. Or the white Rann of Kutch printed on a scarf. He also does a lot of abstract work, both on silk — modal, mashroo, etc. — and on cotton.
“I spend a lot of time on each piece and make sure it is unique. I take at least two hours to print a two-metre piece of cloth, when traditional ajrakh block-printing would have taken 10 minutes,” he says.
He gets wooden blocks made for every design and theme, and uses paper to cover portions of the cloth in order to break the symmetry; he hand-paints some as well. This means that unlike the traditional six metre long ajrakh prints, he usually does stoles, scarves and dupattas. “But I recently got an order for a cotton sari and I did that,” he says.
Khatri has travelled across the country for exhibitions and his wares are displayed at fashion shows. A lot of his orders come from overseas. “These,” he says, showing a pile of abstract art stoles on his bed at home, “are ready to be shipped to a textile designer and collector in the U.S.”
Khatri’s work was exhibited at the V&A Museum in London. And he is renowned enough for students from design schools like the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and M.S. University (Vadodara) to visit him for learning.
Asked about his future plans, Khatri looks up for a second and then smiles. “I don’t think too much about the future. I enjoy doing what I do. Like, right now, I want to work on a piece that celebrates Delhi, its monuments and landmarks,” he says. His father, who now helps him in his workshop, nods approvingly.
The author is a Gujarat-based freelance journalist.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sunday Magazine> Focus> Society / by Azera Parveen Rahman / June 29th, 2019
Anyone travelling on India’s road network in the north of the country may from time to time see a curious little structure standing in isolation by the side of the road. Seemingly unassociated with anything else around them, to the casual observer they can probably be best described as enlarged stone salt/pepper pots.
With all the astonishing monuments that still stand today in this amazing country, it would be all too easy to dismiss these humble little constructions as your car passes them by at speed. However, they have their own story to tell, and one for which we can draw so many parallels with life as we live it today in terms of travel and communication. They are also a type of monument that is slowly disappearing from the landscape of India, so they deserve a little time in the spotlight before it’s too late.
These monuments are known as Kos Minars. A Kos is an ancient Indian unit of distance representing approximately 3.22 kilometers (2 miles), and is 1/4 of a Yojana, a vedic measurement of distance. The use of Yojana scratches back to the ancient vedic texts, and was used by Ashoka in his Major Rock Edict No.13 to describe the distance between Patliputra and Babylone. Minar means ‘Pillar’, so the broad translation of Kos Minar is ‘Mile Pillar’, even though one kos is not strictly speaking an exact mile in measurement. Interestingly, elderly people in many rural areas of the Indian subcontinent still refer to distances from nearby areas in kos.
A Short History of the Kos Minar
The first recorded evidence in India of using something in the landscape to specifically denote distances and routes comes from the 3rd century BC. The Emperor Ashoka established routes linking his capital city of Pataliputra to Dhaka, Kabul, and Balkh, and landmarks in the form of mud pillars, trees and wells helped guide the travelers and provide a sense of how far they had traveled and how much further they had to go. In the majority of cases these landmarks were already pre-existing in the landscape, they were not created specifically for this purpose.
Kos Minar on NH21 near Sahara, between Agra and Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh
In India the notion of purposely building structures to physically denote distances in the landscape was first adopted by the Mughal Emperor Babur during his short reign from 1526 to 1530. He ordered one of his central asian nobles, Chiqmaq Beg, to measure the road between his new capital Agra and Kabul in modern day Afghanistan, with the assistance of a royal clerk. He then ordered the raising of distance markers, each twelve yards high and topped with a superstructure having four openings, at every nine kos all along the measured route.
It is not clear how far the builders got with Babur’s instructions, but we do know that the Pashtun ruler Sher Shah Suri who ruled from 1540 to 1555 greatly expanded on this earlier plan. He paid great attention to the development of the road network in northern India, recognising them as arteries to the empire, and erected Kos Minars along the royal routes from Agra to Ajmer, Agra to Lahore, and Agra to Mandu. These three major routes, which were called Sadak-e-Azam, became later known as the Grand Trunk Road.
Kos Minar in Delhi Zoo. / (File is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0. Source.
Many of the Kos Minars you can see today can probably be attributed to the time of Akbar, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Abul Fazl recorded in Akbar Nama (the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar) that in the year 1575 Akbar issued an order that, at every kos on the way from Agra to Ajmer, a pillar or a minar should be erected for the comfort of the travelers, so that the travelers who had lost their way might have a mark and a place to rest. Between 1615 and 1618, shortly after Akbar’s reign, early European travelers to India brought back detailed reports of the Kos Minars they had seen, most notably Richard Steel, John Crowther, and the ambassador of King James I, Sir Thomas Roe.
Subsequent Emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan added to the network of Kos Minars, by now they were an institution. In 1619, Jahangir ordered Baqir Khan, the garrison commander of Multan, to erect Kos Minars from Agra to Lahore. Thirty four of these milestones still exist today in Punjab in varying states of preservation. It is estimated that between 600 and 1,000 minars were erected in total during the Mughal period, but of course today only a fraction of that number still exist.
Construction and Function
Kos Minars are round pillars around 30 feet high built on a masonry platform. They are completely solid with no stairs or internal rooms, and are mostly made of brick and once covered with lime plaster.
Whilst the features of a Kos Minar generally match each other they are not all identical, there are slight differences depending on location and time of construction/repair.
Kos Minar at Karnal, Haryana
Many of the Kos Minars you can see today stand in isolation, but that was not always the case. As the network of pillars expanded, so did associated structures to complement them and assist the traveler. Scholars believe there were three categories of Kos Minar along the major routes.
The first category is just a standalone Kos Minar with no supplementary infrastructure, erected purely for landmark identification.
The second category of Kos Minar had small associated contemporary buildings, offering limited facilities for the travelers.
The third category of Kos Minar had substantial additional infrastructure such as sarais (inns), baolis (wells), mosques and other facilities to ensure the safety, security and well-being of the traveler. There is some speculation that Chor Minar in Delhi is one such example, although the passage of time may have blurred that fact and introduced folklore into the narrative for that monument. Throughout most of the world you can see this infrastructure in operation along the major roads of any given country. In the UK we call them “service stations”, which exist at fairly regular intervals along our extensive motorway network.
Chor Minar in the Hauz Khas district of Delhi. / Potentially an example of the third and most extensive type of Kos Minar
These structures not only served to assist the traveler from place to place, but were also instrumental in the day to day governance of the Mughal empire. Horses, riders and drummers were stationed at many of the Kos Minars, relaying royal messages at a much faster speed than would be possible with a single horse and rider from source to destination.
In addition to helping relay messages from place to place, Kos Minars may have also served as a hub of information themselves. Some scholars believe the plastered surface of the Minar would have been covered with information, not just about distances but also recent news and popular slogans. This method of distributing news, information and propaganda throughout an empire was not a new concept. The Roman emperor Caesar introduced a similar model where information he wanted to share with his people was posted daily on wooden boards in the Forum (center) of major cities in the Roman empire.
Today we have technology to help us communicate these things. You can post messages on someone’s “wall”, or provide information to a Facebook group (often geographically centric). For many people, social media began with the advent of Facebook, but this is a modern term that refers to a very old idea that people have been using for thousands of years.
Distribution and Preservation
The passage of time has not been kind to the Kos Minar. Of the approximately 1,000 that once existed in India there are now just 110 examples still standing, the highest concentration is in the state of Haryana, where 49 are to be found.
For those who are perhaps traveling to northern India to see the major tourist sites, there is a good stretch of them surviving by the side of NH21 between Agra and Fatehpur Sikri. Hopefully the map below will prove useful for that purpose (click on the image to view larger scale):
Heading away from Agra towards Fatehpur Sikri look out for the following four Kos Minars on the right-hand side of the road :
Kos Minar #1 : Just after the village of Sahara. This Kos Minar (ASI ref: N-UP-A33) is visible and marked on google maps, co-ordinates 27.154760, 77.886290.
Kos Minar #2 : This one (ASI ref: N-UP-A34) is 2 km further on just after the village of Midhaker, and is also visible on Google Maps but not marked, co-ordinates 27.151050, 77.860133.
Kos Minar #3 : (ASI ref: N-UP-A35) is 2 km further on towards Fatehpur Sikri after the village of Kiraoli.
Kos Minar #4 : The final one (ASI ref: N-UP-A36) is after a longer gap of 4 km (clearly we have lost one in middle of these last two).
Although all Kos Minars are now declared protected monuments by the ASI, they remain structures at great risk. What were once meant to show the way to others often now stand in near obscurity, isolated in zoos (Delhi), jungle, car parks, villages, slums, farmlands and even beside railway tracks. Others are being devoured by the rising skyline of rapid development in urban areas, being swallowed up and becoming almost invisible.
Attempts have been made to increase awareness, most recently in February 2005 when a first day cover was issued depicting a renovated Kos Minar as a symbol for Heritage Conservation.
I hope efforts continue to raise awareness of the Kos Minar, and hopefully ensure they no longer lose their way in the rapidly changing landscape on India.
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source: http://www.kevinstandagephotography.wordpress.com / Kevin Standage / Home> Agra / by Kevin Standage Photography / May 20th, 2019
