Category Archives: World Opinion

The last song of Awadh

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Awadh, UTTAR PRADESH / BENGAL :

Wajid Ali Shah. / Courtesy Lakshmi G Joshi
Wajid Ali Shah. / Courtesy Lakshmi G Joshi

Of Wajid Ali Shah, and how a popular ‘thumri’ from another century reached us.

The Lucknow gharana of Kathak is famous for its repository of thumris. In fact, the very genre of thumri found immense patronage in the nawabs of Awadh. The last ruler, nawab Wajid Ali Shah, was a great lover of the arts. He wrote his first play, Radha Kanhaiya Ka Qissa, in 1843, when he was barely 21 years old. The British saw him as a debauched ruler wasting his wealth on entertainment.

Nineteenth-century India remembers the nawab as a romantic poet, a benefactor of the arts and a great lover of classical music and dance. By the time he ascended the throne in 1847, he had written two long romantic narrative poems (or masnavis) titled Bahr-E-Ishq (The Ocean Of Affection) and Darya-Yi-Ta’Ashshuq (The River Of Love). He adopted the pen name Akhtarpiya. An admirer of the Hindu god Krishna, he wanted to adapt these poems into a play in raas/rahas format.

Shah’s idea of staging these plays was beyond grandiose. According to the account of one Iqtidar-ud-daula who witnessed the play in February and March 1851: “The play was staged in 14 sessions (with intervals of one-two days between each session. The whole play took a month and 10 days to finish). Not every scene was staged in Qaisarbagh (a large complex housing gardens, manicured lawns and palatial buildings). Consecutive scenes were played out in different parts of the garden. In fact, some scenes were played out in different parts of the city.” It goes on to vividly describe the setting where canvas tents on bamboo frames were erected across the city along with “larger-than-life frames of scenery”. The elaborate preparations for each play took a whole year and cost £12,000 (around Rs10 lakh now) to produce.

Thus, Shah entertained himself with grand sessions of rahas. Here was a Shia Muslim king who consulted priests and celebrated Hindu festivals like Saawan, Holi and Basant Panchami with great pomp. He learnt Kathak from his court dancer-musician, Pandit Thakur Prasad. He appointed to his court the dancing duo of brothers Kalka and Bindadin Maharaj. The Kathak legend, Pandit Birju Maharaj, is a descendant of this family.

The nawab invested state wealth on arts and culture for the benefit and entertainment of his people. If the mounting expenses didn’t bother the British, Shah’s secular love for the arts and excessive indulgence did. They annexed his throne in 1854 and sent him into exile.

The book Asrar-I-Wajidi (1856) by Zahiruddin Bilgrami describes scenes of sorrowful locals who lined up on streets and wailed as the nawab left Lucknow. A caravan of a thousand people started from Lucknow on 13 March 1854 towards Calcutta (now Kolkata). For Wajid Ali Shah, there was nothing more painful than being separated from a place he loved so much and its people. His sorrow took the form of a song that spoke of displacement and loss. The song reflected an allegory to a human being’s last journey on this earth, when the body is carried on the shoulders of four pall-bearers.

Babul mora naihar chhooto jaaye

chaar kahaar mil, mori doliya sajaave

mora apna begaana chhooto jaaye

angnaa toh parbat bhayo, dehri bhayi bides

le ghar babul apno, main chali piya ki des

A large part of Shah’s writings have, unfortunately, been lost. Those that have remained, have luckily been preserved through music and dance by the descendants of his court musicians and dancers. This particular thumri reached us in its pristine condition from Kathak doyen Pandit Shambhu Maharaj. According to his first student, the late Maya Rao (in her autobiography Maya Rao—A Lifetime in Choreography, 2013), K.L. Saigal, who learnt the song from Pandit Shambhu Maharaj, spending months with him, seeing him perform it countless times and finally learning it, decided that he would sing it in the film Street Singer (1938).

In 1947, when Saigal died, All India Radio broadcast the song as a tribute. Thumri got a new lease of life on the classical music concert stage. The late Akhtaribai Faizabadi aka Begum Akhtar, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Kishori Amonkar, among others, immortalized the song. In the 1974 film Aavishkar, starring Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore, this song, sung by the late ghazal singer Jagjit Singh and wife Chitra Singh, weaves many scenes together. While Wajid Ali Shah might have been a political eccentric, he is credited with being a revivalist in the world of Hindustani classical music, dance and Urdu drama.

source: http://www.livemint.com / LiveMint / Home / by Veejay Sai / December 01st, 2017

Meet India’s only oud maker

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Rampur, UTTAR PRADESH :

Workers put finishing touches to violins at Zamiruddin's workshop in Rampur, UP. / Credits: Rohit Ghosh/Qrius
Workers put finishing touches to violins at Zamiruddin’s workshop in Rampur, UP. / Credits: Rohit Ghosh/Qrius

Zamiruddin’s old house in Purana Gunj, Rampur, a town 175 km east of New Delhi, is as nondescript as they come. But enter it and you might just find yourself transported, musically, to ancient Egypt.

Stacked on the shelves and lofts in rooms around the house’s rectangular courtyard are ouds, a musical instrument dating back thousands of years to the time of the Pharaohs.

This is the only place in India where you can buy an oud, a short-necked, pear-shaped stringed instrument that produces a sound similar to that of the sarod. The oud is oft used in Middle Eastern and North African music.

“My father [Haseenuddin] was the first and only person in India to make ouds,” said Zamiruddin, owner of New Slovakia Musicals. “Now, I am the only one…”

How the oud came to India

The oud dates back to ancient Egpyt. When it came to be used in Persia, some 3000 years ago, it was called the barbat, while it was called the al Oud (wood, or specifically thin wood) by the Arabs.

The oud came to India with the spread of Islam. In his book Two Nations and Kashmir (1956), Lord Birdwood notes that it was during the rule of Zain-ul-Abuldin in Kashmir that musicians from the West Asian region came, and brought the lute and the oud with them.

Discovering the instrument: Haseenuddin’s story

Zamiruddin inherited the business from his father Haseenuddin in 1996 and named it New Slovakia Musicals. / Credits: Rohit Ghosh/Qrius
Zamiruddin inherited the business from his father Haseenuddin in 1996 and named it New Slovakia Musicals. / Credits: Rohit Ghosh/Qrius

Once a cabinet-maker in Rampur, the lyrical story of how Haseenuddin started making ouds goes back 70-odd years.

“My father and his younger brother Ameeruddin lived together. In 1942, my uncle visited Bombay and bought a violin. He became so engrossed in playing it day in and day out that he completely detached from his surroundings,” recalled Zamiruddin.

One day, Ameeruddin accidentally dropped the violin and it shattered to pieces. Heartbroken, he continued to become more and more miserable as the weeks passed. Unable to see his brother in that state, Haseenuddin then studied the violin that had become a tangled lump of wood and strings, Zamiruddin told me.

“My father was a genius. Using his skills and things available at hand, he made a new violin for my uncle.”

Seeing the joy on Ameeruddin’s face made Haseenuddin realise his latent potential in making the instrument. “Along with chairs, tables, beds, and wardrobes, he started making violins on a large scale. The year was 1947.”

Gradually, the demand for violins soared so high that Haseenuddin gave up making furniture and concentrated only on the instrument, becoming an established violin-maker in India. His violins had a big market in Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, where music was a big part of the school curriculum.

Zamiruddin started assisting his father soon after finishing his graduation.

Then came the oud

Zamiruddin shows an oud crafted at his workshop. / Credits: Rohit Ghosh/Qrius
Zamiruddin shows an oud crafted at his workshop. / Credits: Rohit Ghosh/Qrius

“Some people visited us with an oud in 1984 and introduced themselves as dealers and exporters of musical instruments. They showed the stringed instrument to my father and asked if he could make it and said that every other craftsman in India had refused to,” said Zamiruddin.

Haseenuddin, who had already made a name for himself by making quality violins, was up to the challenge.

“I advised my father against it, owing to the oud’s complicated design. He, however, chided me and said I should never doubt the skills of a master craftsman. His first oud was a success, after which we started producing them on a large scale—120-odd ouds a month,” reminisced Zamiruddin.

During that time, the ouds were exported to Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and other Middle Eastern countries. “Ouds are made in the Middle East, but my product is better. India has a variety and better quality of wood compared to the Gulf, which is a desert. Also, my ouds are cheaper. An oud made in Syria may cost Rs 80,000, but mine are Rs 18,000 a piece,” said Zamiruddin, who inherited the business in 1996 after his father passed away.

Yet, despite the many pluses his ouds have, he has no immediate plans to export them to foreign markets, given the low returns.

According to him, no two ouds are the same, neither in dimensions nor the sound they produce. “Ouds are handmade. So, something that has been cut and carved by hand won’t have the precision of machines. Hence, every oud is unique, even if made by the same craftsman.”

Spreading the music

Zamiruddin uses the backyard of his house as his workshop, where 30-odd workmen sit cross-legged on the floor, designing violins and ouds. At any point, he has about 40 ouds ready.

Although the ouds do not sell as much as the other musical instruments, Zamiruddin has found many buyers online. “Connoisseurs of music contact me online. Two months back, I even sold one to a person from Mumbai,” he said.

So, although not as well known as its more famous stringed siblings, the oud may yet find a wider market and fanbase.

Rohit Ghosh is an independent journalist based in Kanpur.

source: http://www.qrius.com / Qrius / Home> Music / by Rohit Ghosh / February 19th, 2002

Women who patronised Delhi

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DELHI :

Grand design: A view of Fatehpuri Masjid | Photo Credit: V_V_Krishnan
Grand design: A view of Fatehpuri Masjid | Photo Credit: V_V_Krishnan

From Haji Begum to Qudsia Begum, there is a a long list of women who contributed to the city’s grandeur

Women who patronised Delhi and converted it into a centre of art and culture, besides making it verdant and floral by laying parks and gardens, can be traced right from the time of Bega Begum or Haji Begum who built the beautiful tomb for her husband in Nizamuddin, which became the model for the Taj Mahal. After her, the daughters of Shah Jahan made it a paradisiacal city (just as Nur Jahan had done so earlier in Lahore and Kashmir). They were followed by Qudsia Begum and in recent times, in a small way though, by Lady Willingdon, Aruna Asaf Ali, Indira Gandhi and Sheila Dixit, among others. From the mid-17th century, the social and cultural fabric of Shahjahanabad has borne the stamp of women as during the Mughal era they acquired considerable wealth and influence. Much of what survives in Shahjahanabad reminds us of them and their contribution, compiled from different sources.

The imperial city was given overall shape under the supervision of Shah Jahan himself. His diktat determined the encircling of the city wall and the two main streets, running north-south and east-west, respectively at their junction of the palace complex (Red Fort) and the congregational Jama Masjid. “Within the limits of this centralised plan, it was mainly individual enterprise that led to the creation of commercial, religious, public spaces and homes.” Among the landmarks of the city were its mosques, three of which were commissioned by the wives of Shah Jahan after the death of Mumtaz Mahal – Akbarabadi, Fatehpuri and Sirhindi masjids named after the three. Akbarabadi Begum of Agra built a grand mosque to the south of Red Fort which was demolished by the British after the Revolt of 1857. Akbarabadi Begum was gifted a garden by Shah Jahan to the north-west of the city which came to be known as Aizzabad or Shalimar Bagh. The Begum then built a sarai within it. It was in this garden that the coronation of Aurangzeb took place on the July 31, 1658, after he had deposed Shah Jahan and also the place where Gen Ochterlony caught a chill that led to his death. Another wife of the emperor, Fatehpuri Begum built a mosque at the western end of the street that led from the Red Fort, which is known after her name. The Sirhindi Masjid, just outside the city wall, was built by the third wife, Sirhindi Begum.

Women of influence

Shah Jahan’s elder daughter, Jahanara commanded great influence and resources. She was well-educated and also had leanings towards Sufism. Jahanara’s wealth enabled her to patronise works of learning, like commentaries on Rumi’s Masnavi and for commissioning architectural projects, in which the pride of place was taken by the moonlight square, Chandni Chowk.

Mughal ladies who continued the tradition of Jahanara and Roshanara were Aurangzeb’s wife, Aurangabadi Begum who built a mosque near the Lahore Gate. The emperor’s two daughters, Zinat-un-Nissa and Zeb-un-Nissa, were also great patrons. Zeb-un-Nissa is the author of poems composed under the alias ‘Makhfi’. A skilled calligraphist, she patronised many writers, poets and learned men and commissioned several important books and tracts. She was buried in the Tees Hazari Bagh, inherited from Jahanara, but her tomb is hard to find.

Her sister Zinat-un-Nissa built a grand mosque beside the Yamuna in 1700 which is called Ghata Masjid now, her tomb, north of the mosque, was demolished in the aftermath of 1857 while the mosque was used as a bakery for British troops.

Story of Sunehri Masjid

Qudsia Begum laid Qudsia Bagh to the north of the city in 1748 whose grand buildings and a mosque were badly damaged during 1857. She also constructed Sunheri masjid near the southern gate of the Red Fort in 1751, whose dome were originally gilt-covered. A noted Shia, she constructed a number of buildings in Jorbagh, at the Dargah of Shah-e-Mardan, the shrine of the footprint of Hazrat Ali. Fakhr-ul-Masjid, near Kashmeri Gate, was built in 1728-29 by Kaniz Fatima in memory of her husband, Shujat Khan, a commander of Aurangzeb’s time who was killed during a military campaign in Kandhar.

Rabia Begum built a palatial house south of the Jama Masjid in the 18th Century. She was the wife of Muhammad Khan Bangash, the Governor of Farukkhabad, Agra and Allahabad. Rabia also commissioned a number of other structures, including Pul Bangash. Some buildings are named after unknown women such as Burhiyas’ (old women’s) mosques, two other anonymous ladies built Mir Afzal’s mosque in the Lal Kuan area in 1806. In fact, there were a large number of mosques and temples built by women at that time. These included three mosques, a Kali temple and several Shiva temples. Mubarak Begum, a dancing girl, built a mosque in Lal Kuan which came to be known as “Randi-ki-Maszid”. But now it is known after her name. She was the chief mistress of Gen Ochterlony. Better known than her and other 18th Century women was Begum Samru, a Kashmiri dancing girl of Chandni Chowk who had married the European military adventurer, Walter Reinhardt ‘Sombre’. His nick name, Sombre, or ‘dark’ was corrupted to Samru. After his death, his begum inherited the estate of Sardhana. She also successfully led military expectations and made astute political alliances.

Zinat Mahal was the wife of Bahadur Shah Zafar who became a powerful influence within the palace, and controlled a good deal of wealth. In 1846, she built a mansion in Lal Kuan Bazar. Her aim was to establish herself in the city, so that when the emperor died, her property and person would not be under the jurisdiction of the new emperor, who might be one of his older sons. So how can one overlook the contribution of women (royal or not) to Delhi’s grandeur?

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> History & Culture /  by R.V. Smith / December 10th, 2018

Treasure in a clay pot: The buried copper coins of Delhi’s Khirki Mosque

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DELHI :

The style of writing on the coins indicates that they might be from the Lodi dynasty. Photo: V.V. Krishnan | Photo Credit: V.V. Krishnan
The style of writing on the coins indicates that they might be from the Lodi dynasty. Photo: V.V. Krishnan | Photo Credit: V.V. Krishnan

The discovery of over 250 copper coins at Khirki Mosque is expected to throw light on Delhi’s medieval period

Khirki is crowded, with narrow roads and tall buildings bundled together like Lego bricks stacked precariously. Smack in the middle of this chaos is Khirki Mosque, a 14th century fortress-like structure built during the Tughlaq dynasty.

The mosque is fenced in by high compound walls and the uneven ground is lower than the houses that surround the structure. It is deathly quiet inside, with its myriad archways partially lit by Delhi’s smoggy sunlight. Standing there, it is easy to imagine a priest, or a trader, furtively hurrying along the walls of the mosque to find a spot to bury treasure.

Treasure is what the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) found two months ago in this complex — a hoard of small copper coins vaguely resembling those bite-sized Britannia biscuits from the 90s.

Happy chance

A team from ASI’s conservation wing was levelling the ground in early September as part of ongoing conservation work when one of the workers’ pickaxes landed on a mud pot. Work was halted and ASI archaeologists were called.

The office was abuzz when they learned about the discovery, says N.K. Pathak, superintending archaeologist, ASI-Delhi circle. “As soon as the coins were discovered, there was a big halla. For archaeologists, discoveries like this are always exciting, no matter the value. Everyone said, Khazana mil gaya!” he says, laughing.

The style of writing on the coins indicates that they might be from the Lodi dynasty. | Photo Credit: V.V. Krishnan
The style of writing on the coins indicates that they might be from the Lodi dynasty. | Photo Credit: V.V. Krishnan

The discovery of these coins is what those in the field call a ‘chance discovery’, as opposed to a planned dig. The mosque is also the site of an earlier discovery of 63 coins in 2003, which was also a chance discovery. There is a possibility that both sets of coins might be from the same era.

Preliminary investigations of the 254 coins reveal that they are from Delhi’s medieval period — 13th to 16th century — the latter part straddling the early modern period. Proper identification can happen only after they are cleaned and studied, says Pathak. “However, some of the coins belong to the reign of Islam Shah Suri.”

Inscriptions on the coins

Islam Shah Suri is the son of Sher Shah Suri, who founded the Sur dynasty and ruled Delhi for seven years from 1538 to 1545. “Most Islamic coins have inscriptions (what we call legends) on them — the name of the ruler and their father’s name. In this case, some of the coins had ‘Islam Shah Suri, son of Sher Shah Suri’ inscribed on them,” says Shahmoon Ahmad, Assistant Archaeologist, ASI-Lucknow circle, who will be studying the coins further.

Notably, it was Sher Shah who introduced the precursors to the modern rupee and paise — the silver rupaiya and the copper paisa. The gold coins issued by the Sur dynasty were called mohurs. “Discoveries of gold and silver coins are rather rare. Copper coins are not that much of a surprise,” says Pathak.

That’s because copper coins were reused by the general populace; the gold and the silver ones had to be re-minted with the names of current rulers, adds Ahmad.

He suspects that this might be true for this hoard as well. There are several paleographic indications — the style of writing — that indicate that some of the coins might be from the Lodi dynasty, which fell less than two decades before Islam Shah’s reign.

However, any discovery, even something as small as a copper coin hoard, is quite significant. “The monument is of the Tughlaq period, but the coins are from the Lodi and the Sur periods. Once we date the coins, we can establish that people used money regularly from the earliest date on the coin to the latest,” says Ahmad.

Interestingly, the fact that there are coins from two different dynasties might mean that this was not the hoard of a single person. “It could be the savings of one or two generations of a family,” he adds.

These coins can also establish other things. “They tell us this area was populated, the jurisdiction of the particular ruler, the prosperity of his rule, the money usage patterns, and so on,” says Pathak.

The coins also show that the mosque was in use during the reign of that particular ruler.

If they were indeed minted during the time of Islam Shah, it would mean the mosque was in use even 200 years after it was built.

Khirki’s secrets

More than half a millennium later, however, the Khirki Mosque is in bad shape. The buildings that flout ASI’s 100-metre-rule is the least of the concerns. There are broken pillars, loose bricks, decaying stones, a decades-old bat infestation, and more. The boundary wall around the monument came up only in 2003, according to an earlier report in The Hindu.

Conservation work, which began roughly mid-August, started with clearing the debris to bring the lower plinth of the monument to an even level, says deputy superintending archaeologist, Sanjay Kumar Singh. “It was also to make the movement of water on the ground smoother, especially in the monsoon. So work began with levelling the ground,” he says.

When the coins were found, the area around the discovery was carefully cordoned off, while all the debris and mud excavated so far were sieved thoroughly for more surprises from the past. “There is possibility to get anything, even pot shards, at any important site in Delhi. Workers, supervisors, and other staff are trained to be vigilant. We tell them this work is different from what the Public Works Department might do,” says Pathak.

Conservation work will go on for another six months, during which time the broken pillars and the decayed chajja stones will be replaced. “We will also undertake ‘pointing and underpinning’ work to fix the loose bricks and mortar. We will be using the lime mortar mix that was originally used,” adds Pathak.

Detailed information on the coins, however, will roll in before work on the monument is finished. “We will first send them to the science branch for cleaning, after which our numismatics branch will come in to decipher the writing. It will take three to four months,” says Pathak.

What are the possibilities of finding more antiquities here? “That’s just it,” he says. “You can never predict what you can find in Delhi and when. What is beneath the earth, you never know.”

janane.venkatraman@thehindu.co.in

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> History & Culture / by Janane Venkatraman / December 08th, 2018

Light on a leading light

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, Freedom Fighters (under research project), Leaders, World Opinion, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

NEW DELHI :

Mustajab Malik
Mustajab Malik

Mustajab Malik’s short film “Sir Syed Ahmed Khan” is quite relevant at a time when media circles are abuzz about a possible Bharat Ratna for him.

Many times adverse conditions bring out the best in a human being. So was the case with Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, a visionary and educationist, whose single greatest contribution among others to the posterity stands in the form of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), the renowned centre of learning.

The 30-minute documentary “Sir Syed Ahmed Khan” is a part of the series “Charagh-e-Hind” directed by Mustajab Malik that traces his life highlighting several important aspects of his personality. “The objective of the series is to inspire the Muslim youth and enable them to change their mindset from ‘we have got nothing’ to ‘we must contribute’,” explains Mustajab, a veteran theatre person. Virendra Vashistha essays the role of Sir Syed and the script is written by Dr. Mohammad Aleem. Born on October 17, 1817 in Mughal nobility, Sir Syed after education joined the civil services. The First War of Independence in 1857, when he was munsif in Bijnor, had a profound impact on his life. Despite suffering personally as many of his family members were either killed or missing, he ensured protection to the women and children left by the British for safekeeping.

“Sir Syed was aware that the 1857 events reflected dissent on the part of Indians and that they were not well prepared for it,” comments historian, Prof. S.M. Azizuddin in the film. “An Essay “On The Causes Of The Indian Revolt” in 1859, the English translation of his discourse, was widely debated in the English Parliament leading many members to demand action against him.

Instead mourning the death of his loved ones, the educationist was deeply hurt by the repercussions on his community and nation. He decided to serve and provide hope in the time of despair. “When Muslims were being targeted and their confidence was at the lowest ebb, he stepped in to guide them in tune with the changing international environment,” remarks Dr. Khwaja Ekramuddin, an Urdu scholar, in the documentary. For achieving that Sir Syed identified knowledge and science as the prime tools and promoted Western style scientific education. He founded a modern madarsa in Moradabad and Ghazipur and the Scientific Society of Aligarh to instil scientific temper apart from having several scientific papers translated into Urdu.

Sir Syed’s meeting with Mirza Ghalib to write the foreword of his edition of Abul Fazl’s Ain-e Akbari, proved a turning point for him. The poet asked him to forget the past and concentrate on current developments and take into account the galloping progress in the West thereby turning him towards social reform.

During his stay in England for nearly two years from 1869 he visited several educational establishments and learning centres inspiring him to replicate them in India. This led to setting up Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875. “Educating Muslims meant taking India forward,” comments Pradeep Saxsena, a Hindi scholar. In this cause he was helped by several Hindus in cash and kind. Besides seeking funds, Sir Syed also staged plays to espouse the cause. In 1920, 22 years after his death, it became AMU. The institution enrolled a large number of Hindu students and Babu Iswhari Prasad is among the first batch of graduates.

Sir Syed was swayed by all the British did. “He wanted their help and at the same time criticised them as proved by his essay on events of 1857. Besides he also rebutted the allegations made by Sir William Muir in his book “Life of Mahomet” in writing,” says Mustajab adding “he did not take to the streets protesting or led agitations and instead adopted the civilised method.”

The film highlights Sir Syed’s scholarship by informing the viewers of his 1846 book “Athar-al-Sanadid” which documents the Delhi monuments. “It was a first- of-its-kind attempt. In fact this authoritative work which cannot be ignored by anyone studying Delhi monuments,” comments Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi, a historian shown in the documentary.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Friday Review / by S. Ravi / January 08th, 2015

Mumbai-based writer Rahman Abbas wins Sahitya Akademi Award

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Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

Rahman Abbas | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Rahman Abbas | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Honoured for Urdu novel Rohzin

City-based writer Rahman Abbas has won the Sahitya Akademi Award, 2018, for his Urdu novel, Rohzin.

Mr. Abbas’s novel is a love story set against the backdrop of the 2005 floods in Mumbai. The novel was published in 2016 and has been widely debated in India, Pakistan, the Middle East, Canada and Europe.

It begins on the day Mumbai was submerged on July 26, 2005, and is narrated with the use of mythology, legend, religion, magical realism, sexuality and sensuality. It has been translated into English and Hindi, and was published in German in February.

The 46-year-old writer, who has grown up in Mumbai, is a Konkani Muslim. He was educated in Urdu and has published seven books, four of which are novels.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mumbai / by Special Correspondent / Mumbai – December 06th, 2018

Indywood carnival honours doctors

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Hyderabad, TELANGANA :

Personality of the year healthcare award being presented to Gauthamadas Udipi at the Indywood medical excellence awards in HITEX. | Photo Credit: K.V.S. GIRI
Personality of the year healthcare award being presented to Gauthamadas Udipi at the Indywood medical excellence awards in HITEX. | Photo Credit: K.V.S. GIRI

Twenty five medical practitioners were awarded Indywood medical excellence awards, which was organised as part of Indywood film carnival-2018.

The awards are meant for felicitating healthcare practitioners and organisations who offer healthcare services to the society.

Dr. Gauthamadas Udipi, Professor of Psychiatry was awarded the personality of the year in health care sector, this year.

Indywood’s life time achievement award was given to Dr. Kamini Rao (Golden Pioneer In Gynaecology), Dr. Mohan (Specialist Care Diabetologist) and Padma Shree Dr. Ahmed Ali (Surgical Wizard Of Gastroenterology).

The awards were presented by Mohammed Ibrahim Al Qahtani who is with Saudi Armaco, Saudi Arabia and Ravindra Arora, president of Bharat Cine and TV writer & TV writer association. Mr. Arora is also a committee member of Dada Saheb Phalke Academy, Western India film producers association.

Other awards which were presented during the day were in two categories including medical excellence among individual and organisations of medical excellence.

Winners in the organisations category included Apollo Remote Healthcare Services for largest telemedicine network, Maa ENT Hospital, best ENT care hospital, Grewal Eye Institute as best hospital for opthalmic care, Aster MIMS for excellence in patient care, Fathima Healthcare Group in best overseas healthcare insurance firm and Sai life sciences limited for being leading organisation in integrated CRO.

At the event, Mr. Arora congratulated all award winners and requested them to continue their services in the health care segment, “for that is important to build a healthy India”.

Indywood also awarded media excellence awards-2018.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – December 05th, 2018

Saudi in search of benefactor from Bengaluru

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Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :

Saudi Arabia Ambassador to India Saud Mohammed Al-sati shared this information when he called on Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, along with Karnataka State Haj Committee Chairman and former Minister Roshan Baig, on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: the hindu
Saudi Arabia Ambassador to India Saud Mohammed Al-sati shared this information when he called on Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, along with Karnataka State Haj Committee Chairman and former Minister Roshan Baig, on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: the hindu

About a 100 years ago, a woman philanthropist from Bengaluru had set up a school for girls in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

On Tuesday, many people in Bengaluru were in for a pleasant surprise when Saudi Arabia Ambassador to India Saud Mohammed Al-sati shared this information during a meeting with Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. The ambassador informed that they had all the records pertaining to the woman, named Saulath Unnisa, and expressed a desire to honour her family members if they could be located.

Karnataka State Haj Committee Chairman and former Minister Roshan Baig told The Hindu that they would try to trace the family. “These days, we take a five-and-a-half hours flight to Jeddah for Haj or Umra. But back then, pilgrims would have to take a ship from Bombay and sail for a fortnight to reach Mecca. It is a great contribution by the lady at that time,” he said.

Saudi consulate in city

Meanwhile, one of the long-standing demands of pilgrims and the large Kannadiga diaspora in Saudi Arabia for a consulate in Bengaluru could be fructifying shortly.

According to Mr. Baig, around 50,000 pilgrims travel from Karnataka annually for Haj and Umra. This is apart from a large number of people employed in Saudi Arabia.

The ambassador is learnt to have told Mr. Kumaraswamy that work on establishing the consulate is in progress, and it is waiting for approval from the Ministry of External Affairs. The ambassador said that the number of people seeking a visa to Saudi Arabia had doubled, and that it was the reason for opening a consulate. Currently, residents of Karnataka have to travel to Mumbai for the paperwork.

Mr. Kumaraswamy welcomed the move to open a consulate in Bengaluru, and also invited Saudi Arabian businessmen to invest in Bengaluru.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Special Correspondent / December 04th, 2018

A requiem for Ibn Battuta in Kozhikode?

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Travel & Tourism, World Opinion, ,

Kozhikode, KERALA :

IbnBatutaMPOs05dec2018

Morocco’s Ambassador says MP’s suggestion at Battuta conference ‘deserves our attention’

A proposal to build a memorial for 14th century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta in Kozhikode, where he stopped over during his 24-year travel around the world, was made here on Tuesday.

Ibn Battuta wrote about this port city, then known as Calicut, much before the landing of Vasco da Gama. His accounts gave a glimpse of the arrival of merchants from various parts of the world here and the rise of the Zamorins to prominence.

The suggestion to build a memorial was put forward by M.K. Raghavan, Kozhikode MP, at the second international Ibn Battuta conference on ‘Travel, trade, tradition, and trajectories’ organised by the Malappuram-based Ma’din Academy. Mr. Raghavan said that along with holding conferences and discussions, a permanent structure such a museum could be built to commemorate Battuta’s visit to Kozhikode.

Mohamed Maliki, Morocco’s Ambassador to India, later told the media that the idea “definitely deserves our attention” and it could be the world’s tribute to the man who travelled around the globe 600 years ago.

Earlier, opening the conference, Mr. Maliki said Ibn Battuta’s trip was not for financial purposes as he was the son of a judge in Tangier, his home town. He was a well-educated person, a man of culture and religion, but especially a curious man “having an eye on the world”, as the saying in Arabic goes.

‘A free world’

“The journey of Ibn Battuta gave us a real illustration of a diplomacy that existed at that time in a free world. A world completely different from ours. A world where no one spoke of passports, visas, or special permits…. It was a world without hurdles for the lovers of travel and discovery,” Mr. Maliki said.

He pointed out that Battuta put down what he observed after he returned to Morocco. “Through his narrative, he allowed many generations of the bygone centuries and others to come to know of the 14th century history of the world, lifestyles, gastronomy, religion. etc. His description of places and people, traditions, and their way of life were so accurate that some of them are still valid,” Mr. Maliki added.

In her keynote address, Ross E. Dunn of San Diego University, US, author of The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveller of the 14th Century, said the Moroccan traveller was a participant among many in a huge trans-hemispheric web of Muslim social interaction that embraced a large part of ‘Afroeurasia’ in the 14th century.

The extensive growth of Islam in that period involved a social movement, the journeys, and migrations of individuals who possessed literacy and special skills, and who were needed in places where Islamisation of society was taking place.

The two-day conference will conclude on Wednesday.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kozhikode / by Staff Reporter / Kozhikode – December 04th, 2018

Bareilly’s ‘Bolt’ sprints past odds but official apathy still a hurdle

Sports, World Opinion, , , , , , ,

Bareilly, UTTAR PRADESH :

Deaf and mute by birth, Mehtab Hussain, in his 30s, is an athlete of international repute and has won a number of national and international tournaments, including Asia Pacific Deaf Games.

Mehtab Hussain, a daily wager at a meat factory in Bareilly, is locally famous as ‘Bolt’— the last name of Jamaican sprinter and nine-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt – for his athletic prowess.

Deaf and mute by birth, Hussain, in his 30s, is an athlete of international repute and has won a number of national and international tournaments, including Asia Pacific Deaf Games.

However, his sporting talent and achievements have failed to fetch him a job and the fame he deserves, thanks to official apathy. Despite overcoming his physical disability, financial constraints have forced him work at a local meat factory to support his family in Chak Mehmood area of Bareilly.

Gritty to the core, Hussain still wakes up at 4am and runs at least 10km a day to keep himself fit as he never knows when his financial condition permits him to participate in sporting events.

Hussain’s mother Ashraf Jahan says, “As my daughter was already suffering from hearing and speech impairment, we did not take long to understand that Hussain was also suffering from the same problem. He was only three then.”

“His behaviour was very much like his sister. He hardly responded to any sound,” she recalls. Hussain is the youngest among three brothers and a sister. Soon after Hussain’s birth, his father Latafat Hussain, a teacher at a primary school, passed away.

However, Ashraf Jahan didn’t lose hope and got Hussain admitted to a school for differently-abled students in Bareilly where he showed much interest in athletics.

“During his school days, he never hired a rickshaw or public transport to reach his school which was 7 kms away. He always preferred to go by foot. Once he bought me a present from the money I gave him for conveyance,” she recalls.

After winning innumerable interschool athletic championships, he participated in state-level championship in Faizabad and stood first.

“I couldn’t believe that I had overpowered all the other athletes there,” says Hussain, using sign language.Winning the championship fetched him entry to national-level championship and he became a member of the All-India Sports Council for Deaf (AISCD), the apex body for sports for the deaf.

“I participated in national level athletic meet in West Bengal in 1995 and won the 400-metre relay. I was on cloud nine. This was what I wanted,” says Hussain. The period from 1995-2000 proved to be the golden one for Hussain as during this time he participated in about 22 state and 19 national athletic meets.

In 2000, he was informed by AISCD that he has been selected in the 6th Asia Pacific for Deaf, to be held in Taiwan.

“I had to sell a piece of land for Rs 50,000 to bear the expenses. Representatives of the council assured us that the money we spent would be reimbursed but they did not keep their word,” Ashraf Jahan says.

Hussain, who was the only player from the state to participate in the event, bagged third position in 5000-metre race. Later, Hussain received several calls from the council informing him about his entry in several international championships but his financial condition did not permit him.

Showing letters from the council, Hussain says he got calls from Australia, Italy, Kuwait, Canada and Turkey but could not go there for the want of money.

“I don’t have any problem in playing providing I get help from the government, which seems to be a distant dream,” says Hussain. In the hope of playing for his state and country again, Hussain still continues to practice daily before leaving for his 12-hour shift in the meat factory.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Lucknow / by Hindustan Times,Lucknow / November 30th, 2018