Leicester previously had Hindu and Sikh Lord Mayors,but Abdul Osman is first Muslim to hold the office.
Indian-origin councillor Abdul Razak Osman has become the first Lord Mayor of the Islamic faith to hold the high office in the multi-cultural town of Leicester,which has a large minority of Indian origin people.
Osman was born in Kenya and arrived in the UK in 1971.
His late father Yousuf Razak worked on the East African Railway,and worked for a local engineering firm after moving to Leicester.
The Lord Mayor is Leicester’s first Citizen and has a high profile role maintaining and promoting the interests of the city and its citizens, by attending a variety of civic engagements during the year.
Leicester previously had Hindu and Sikh Lord Mayors,but Osman is the first Muslim to hold the high office.
Incidentally,the office of the Deputy Lord Mayor of Leicester is also held by an Indian-origin councillor,Mustafa Kamal,who hails from Ferozepur,Punjab.
Osman has worked with several charity organisations and was instrumental in fundraising to build two villages and a school in Kutch,Gujarat for orphaned children,following an earthquake in 2011.
Osman,who joined the city council in 1996,takes over from Councillor Rob Wann.
Osman said after being sworn in at the Town Hall last night: “It’s an important year,with the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics,so it’s a privilege for me to hold office with everything that’s going on”.
He added: “I want to focus on visiting the communities and raising the profile of the office of Lord Mayor.
I’m proud to be the first Muslim councillor to hold the position we’ve had Christian,Hindu,Sikh and now I’m able to bring the Islamic faith to the office which is a great honour”.
Osman,who previously held the office of High Bailiff and Deputy Lord Mayor,is married to Shaina,who will serve as the Lady Mayoress.
The couple have two children.
The term of Leicester’s Lord Mayor is one year,and runs from May to May. Each year the longest serving City Councillor is offered the role. Leicester has had a Mayor since the year 1209. From 1928,the Mayor became a Lord Mayor.
The town also has a separately elected Mayor,currently Peter Soulsby (Labour).
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> News Archive> Print / by Agencies, London / May 18th, 2012
Urdu writer Rahman Abbas on the challenges of being defiant
A few paragraphs were all it took for the trouble to start. Thirteen years ago, Urdu writer Rahman Abbas was booked for obscenity for his debut novel Nakhlistan ki Talash, a love story set in Bombay following the 1992-93 riots. The offending two or three paragraphs dealt with love and sex.
It’s been more than 10 years since that particular combination of words got him arrested and two since the case of obscenity was closed. But aside from polishing the rawness of a first novel, he probably wouldn’t change the words.
“I may [take] care about a few words; I will use those words but will try to use them more creatively,” he says, when asked what he would have done in hindsight. “But I don’t think there is any word we should hide. I, for one, cannot.” He continues, “As Manto said, you say ‘breast’ for ‘breast’, you can’t use another word. Or for a ‘chair’ you have to say ‘chair’, you cannot say ‘donkey’.”
A medium-height man with a soul patch and a disarming frankness, Abbas, 46, is currently translating Nakhlistan into English, and expects it to be published next year. He has just come back from a tour of Germany with the German translation of his fourth and latest novel Rohzin—the first time any of his novels has been translated. Next month, Rohzin’s English translation, by Sabika Abbas Naqvi, is slated for release. Set in Mumbai, the love story opens with the flood of July 2005 and won a state Sahitya Akademi award in 2017.
But to a general audience Abbas, a former teacher, is still perhaps best known as the writer who found himself in the crosshairs of an outdated legal provision: Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code that punishes obscenity in writing and art.
“I don’t regret what happened,” he says. “These are the challenges you have to face as a writer or creative person. If your society is orthodox, it is your duty to challenge the orthodoxy.”
And that is precisely what he plans to do. Since the police case that changed his life, Abbas has left the teaching profession, won and returned a Sahitya Akademi award, won and retained a Sahitya Akademi award, and is in the incipient stages of launching a broader campaign against Section 292. That section, among others, has for years been a part of the restrictive free speech architecture that bedevils Indian writers and artists.
“There is freedom for people to protest against a book, to dislike a book. I respect that freedom. If I have the freedom to write, people have the freedom to criticise,” says Abbas, who won his first state Sahitya Akademi award for his third novel, Ek Mamnua Mohabbat ki Kahani . “But a [legal] provision that gives people an opportunity to send a writer to jail, that should be stopped.” He adds, “For a democracy, this is crucial.”
The first step, Abbas believes, is to galvanise public opinion through writing and advocacy against Section 292 in particular. A public interest litigation (PIL) opposing the use of this provision against writers and artists is already in the works.
Abbas is also busy working on a fresh piece of Urdu fiction, his first literary effort since the case against him was closed in 2016, liberating him in several ways. “For my next novel, I will try to explore the things I couldn’t explore in my previous three novels,” he says. “Since the case has ended, I feel I am free to write.”
Abbas denies the impact that fame— or infamy—can have on the reception of a work. “I think if you aren’t a good writer, it will not help,” he says. “Nothing can help.” He names Sadat Hasan Manto and Ismat Chughtai as illustrious Urdu predecessors who were prosecuted (though ultimately unsuccessfully) under the same law he was. Then he chuckles: “There is no single example of bad writers having any problem.”
Good or bad, Indian filmmakers and artists have consistently faced oppressive free speech laws, whether through criminal prosecution, government bans or threats from conservative factions.
In 2016, various groups protested against Tamil writer Perumal Murugan’s One Part Woman and sought a ban on it. In 2015, Jharkhand-based writer Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar’s The Adivasi Will Not Dance was banned by the state government on allegations of having violated Section 292, among others. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking a ban on the Malayalam novel Meesha. To Abbas, this is part of a wider pattern. “English writers enjoy more freedom than us. I don’t know why. Alice Walker’s novel was in our syllabus and used those same words that I did and went to jail for,” he says. “On the one hand, the Government makes you read a book; on the other hand, if you use the same word in your text, you are a criminal.”
Though he was let off without a trial—the complainant told the court she had misunderstood the offending passages and the case was closed—Abbas spent one night under arrest in Arthur Road jail until his lawyer was able to complete the bail formalities. “It was quite a humiliating process,” he says, its memory still fresh more than a decade later. “When you go to jail, you feel your whole freedom is gone, that you will never get out of there.”
The experience was both debilitating and transformative. “I remembered Manto and wrote about how I felt the pain of Manto,” says Abbas, a touch dramatically. “If you are a writer or journalist and you experience jail, you understand the importance of freedom. I had it when I was writing; when it is stopped, you realise the importance of maintaining it. It’s not only your struggle, but a struggle of humanity.”
Though he lost his job, was pilloried at the time by the Urdu media, and still faces the censure of conservative Muslims, he now has more enthusiastic readers, he believes. “Now my writing has been accepted in a big way. Urdu readers are not that narrow minded,” he says. “They are openly reading and I am happy when young people appreciate the work which the previous generation had condemned.”
Abbas taught at a Muslim institution for several years and was also the principal of one. He later decided to leave academia and joined a think-tank fulltime in 2012. “If you are liberal Hindu, you won’t work in an RSS shakha,” he says of leaving that minority institution. “It is very conservative. Through education, they want to promote their religious ideas. I believe education should be 100 per cent secular; there shouldn’t be any discussion on religion. But now both communities are insisting on preaching religion and morality, and that is antieducation, anti-scientific temper.”
In 2015, Abbas joined the awards return protests initiated by authors disturbed by the silence of institutions and the apathy of the Government to violence against free thinkers. Like many writers and intellectuals, he too is concerned about what he perceives as the shrinking space for dissent in the country and the rise of divisive politics. “The right-wing is gaining. And only because it is doing the same ugly, dirty propaganda and dividing people in the name of religion,” he says. “There is a feeling that Dalits, Muslims, Christians, Adivasis can be targeted. Yes, there is a fear. And people should speak up.”
source: http://www.openthemagazine.com / Open / Home> Salon > Web Exclusive: Books / by Bhavya Dore / September 21st, 2018
Cheil India has appointed Moosa Khan and Nitin Pradhan in their senior creative leadership. The duo will report to Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar.
Khan joins as head of digital (creative) and Pradhan takes on the role of senior executive creative director.
Speaking on the appointment, Atika Malik, chief operating officer, Cheil WW India, said, “We are the Agency of Now where creativity is inspired by technology. I am extremely happy that Moosa and Nitin will add their digital capability, creativity and energy to Cheil. I look forward to working closely with them to inspire new ideas and solutions for our progressive brands. For 15 years Cheil in India has provided brand solutions across retail, experiential, digital and communication to transform our client’s businesses. They will be a great asset to our creative strength and we welcome them warmly into the Cheil family.”
“I am delighted to welcome Moosa and Nitin to our team. Both of them are exceptional creative talents to have on board. While Moosa has immense understanding of new age digital media, Nitin is a fantastic creative talent with great ability of storytelling. Most importantly, we all have a shared passion for creative excellence and digital innovation. With these beliefs firmly at the heart, Moosa and Nitin will be a tremendous asset to our bold creative ambitions. Wait and watch as magic happens!” added, Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, chief creative officer, Cheil WW India.
What it takes to build the reputation of a brand
Khan brings with him over 10 years of experience in digital as well as traditional advertising. He has worked across agencies such as Dentsu Webchutney, Madison, TBWA and Jack in the Box Worldwide.
Pradhan, a known name among the advertising fraternity, has 17 years of experience working with– Ogilvy, JWT, McCann, Leo Burnett and the likes.
source: http://www.brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com / ET Brand Equity / Home> The People Report / June 02nd, 2018
South African Indian cinema doyen Moosa Moosa has passed away. He was 75. Moosa succumbed to a heart attack on Sunday after undergoing surgery.
He was buried in Johannesburg on Monday according to Muslim rites.
Moosa had earned the title of being the longest-serving cinema group executive in the world, adding to the company’s reputation of having the longest relationship with Hollywood production house 20th Century Fox for almost eight decades now.
In 2007, Moosa received the South African Film and Television Industry Lifetime Achievement Award.
Tributes from all across the world continued to pour in for Moosa as the news of his demise spread.
Family and friends recalled how Moosa had taken over the family cinema business of the Avalon Group, started by his father 79 years ago as the first and still only Indian-owned cinema group in South Africa, after most of the 18 cinemas in the group were shut down by the draconian apartheid-era laws restricting property ownership in city centres to the minority white community.
Undeterred by this as the Avalon Group continued with just one cinema in an area designated for Indians in Durban, Moosa took on the seemingly impossible task of challenging the monopolies of white-owned major national cinema chains and won legal battles in the new democratic South Africa headed by President Nelson Mandela.
Moosa then started rebuilding the business as his son Aboobaker, popularly known as AB, also joined the business as the chief executive officer.
Currently they have cinemas in three major South African cities where new Bollywood releases play alongside Hollywood titles every week.
“My father showed tenacity and strength in keeping alive the Avalon dream through the tough times,” AB Moosa said in paying tribute to his father.
“When many had already begun to write the company’s obituary, my father’s resolve never wavered,” he added.
Many community leaders also paid tribute to Moosa for his support of community initiatives.
“He was always willing to support a variety of important social justice issues and always availed Avalon cinema venues for such events at no charge,” said Lubna Nadvi, from the University of KwaZulu Natal’s School of Social Science.
“Moosa will be justly remembered as a courageous and articulate businessman who was determined in his challenge of white monopolies in the 1980’s,” businessman Nirode Bramdaw recalled.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> International / by PTI / June 26th, 2018
Do you know how it feels to stay cooped up inside your room for five months with shattered window panes reminding you of the constant presence of violence? Nousheen Baba, 21 Science student, Government College for Women, Nawakadal | Photo Credit: V. V. KRISHNAN
It is one step at a time for these Kashmiri women as they break away from traditional strangleholds and dare to dream differently, reports Peerzada Ashiq
Srinagar’s sprawling Eidgah ground is teeming with people. Despite the onset of Chillai Kalan, the harsh 40-day winter spell, there is a hubbub. Some are playing cricket, the rest looking on. Soldiers from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in mobile bunkers stand guard on the boundary wall; fingers locked on the trigger which, at the hint of any trouble, can spray pellets or tear gas. Three newly dug graves in the ‘Martyrs Graveyard’ bear testimony to the violent and troubled times of 2016.
Just metres away from the graveyard, Nousheen Baba and her sister Iqra Baba recall how they could not hold themselves back from watching the funeral procession of 12-year-old Junaid Ahmad on October 9. Security forces allegedly emptied an entire pellet cartridge from close range at Ahmad and the Valley exploded in anger and sadness at the loss of a young life. “Do you know how it feels to stay cooped up inside your room for five months with shattered window panes reminding you of the constant presence of violence,” asks Nousheen, a second-year science student of Government College for Women, Nawakadal and aspiring chartered accountant. The windows of the Baba household bore the brunt of the clashes which erupted between security forces and protesters.
But Nousheen is eager to put the painful year behind her and even manages a shy smile. As a warren of houses in the highly congested Narwara locality in downtown Srinagar greets the eye, a tiny silhouette in a shiny grey cover makes its presence felt in the small courtyard of the Babas. Beneath the cover is the family’s first motor-driven two-wheeler. Courtesy Iqra, a Bachelor of Commerce student at the same college her elder sister goes to, who was rewarded by the State government for securing 85 per cent marks in her Class XII exam. “It’s our first scooter in the family. We are all learning to drive it,” says Iqra’s father Mushtaq Baba, a weaver. The Scooty is Nousheen’s constant companion too ever since Iqra brought it home nearly two months ago. From college to market, to visiting her friends, it is her lifeline to a future she dreams about.
Dreams on wheels
In the first phase of the two-wheeler scheme, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti handed over the keys to 450 scooters to graduation-level students of Government College for Women, Nawakadal and Government Women’s College, Baramulla on November 6. Only meritorious students whose family income is under Rs.4 lakh per annum are eligible for the scheme, which is being extended to all degree colleges of the State. In Jammu, 300 scooters were handed over to eligible students.
Mufti sees the Scooty as a game changer in improving the education of girl children who come from economically weaker sections. “I have lived a common man’s life and gone to college on a bus. I know the difficulties women face while using public transport. You feel it is safe sitting next to an old man, till he starts nudging you in the elbow; the unwelcome attention can be harrowing for any woman,” says Mufti, explaining the rationale behind her scheme. She recalls a young woman she spotted riding a scooter in Srinagar earlier this year while on her way to the State Assembly. “This girl was short and slim but it was her confidence that was striking. The idea took shape right there. We took the decision to bear 50 per cent of the cost of the bike,” she says.
The government has dovetailed many Central schemes meant for women empowerment to provide these scooters. “I wish I had one and could ride it freely. A girl who owns a Scooty now will never have to request her brother or father to go places. The two-wheelers give women a sense of control of things,” says the Chief Minister, adding, “Women are the first casualty of violence. Investments must be made to empower women.”
Iqra, for one, feels empowered, never mind the taunts of the local boys as she drives past: “The two-wheeler has earned me azadi (freedom) enough to go to tuitions late in the evening.” Five km away from the Baba household, Nargis Rasool, the eldest of four sisters and a brother, borrowed money to avail the Scooty scheme. “My father treats me like my brother’s equal now since I started driving the Scooty. It is like taking part in a revolution. Though many elders did object to my driving saying ‘how can a girl ride a Scooty on the street?’, my parents supported me,” says Nargis, a final-year Arts student of Government College for Women, Maulana Azad Road. Her 90-plus percentage in the Class XII exam helped this civil services aspirant to bring the first-ever vehicle to the Rasool household, a family of shawl weavers. Nargis has become an inspiration for the extended family, including six female cousins. “Their parents are now forcing them to study hard to secure a Scooty on merit,” she says.
I am rooted in Kashmiri art and culture. I want wages and artworks of women to shift to a competitive level. Arifa Jan, 31 Owner, carpet manufacturing unit | Photo Credit: V. V. KRISHNAN
Reviving an old craft
Namda, a carpet made through the process of felting by hand, needs both muscle and money. For Arifa Jan, 31, who completed in 2010 her Craft Management Entrepreneurs’ Leadership Programme from the Craft Development Institute, Srinagar, the challenge was to turn around the fortune of this dying craft at a time when exports of the once-world-famous Kashmiri carpet had plummeted. According to a government survey, the total production of handicrafts rose to Rs.1,614.59 crore by 2008 against Rs.200 crore in 1990-91 but Namda exports had gone down 97 per cent and amounted to less than Rs.40 lakh annually.
“The use of cancer-causing dyes and poor cotton mix pushed Namda to the verge of extinction,” says Arifa. She infused science and healthy processes back into the craft to make it market-friendly. In 2010, she had to brave prolonged curfew spells to reach her unit to weave the first-ever assignment of 300 Namdas, meant for an exhibition in New Delhi by Dastkar, an NGO working with craftspeople across India.
“Eight-five per cent of my Namdas were sold. I still remember the taunts of a German buyer who kept saying we were producing fake Namdas,” says Arifa, who credits an unknown buyer from Delhi for her first brush with success. The buyer later turned out to be Gulshan Nanda of the Crafts Council of India. Nanda reposed faith in Arifa and the money flowed. “Ms. Nanda would come to me and ask serious questions about the craft,” says Arifa.
In 2013, the Crafts Council of India selected Arifa for a trip to Kyrgyzstan to study their processes of carpet-making. Back home, she scouted for an Australian merino sheep hybrid that was introduced in the Valley in the 1960s. “Its wool is what goes into exquisite Namdas,” she says.
For the first time, Arifa introduced pre-processes to weed out hazardous particulates from the wool and ensured no cancer-causing dyes make their way into it. “Even artisans who’d make chain stitches on the carpet used to complain of chest pain earlier due to the use of synthetic ingredients,” she says.
The daughter of a retired State Road Transport Corporation employee, Arifa is now eyeing business opportunities in the U.S. even as her stable has expanded to 27 artisans, 17 of them women. “I am rooted in Kashmiri art and culture. I want wages and artworks of women to shift to a competitive level. Artisans have suffered a lot in Kashmir — we have to bring them on a par with sellers,” she says.
A girl from Kashmir, counting one lakh rupees and all the men around looking in awe at her… A strange feeling seeped in. Shaeena Akhtar, 31 Owner of a shawl loom | Photo Credit: V. V. KRISHNAN
Weaving a new formula
It’s 4.30 p.m. The rolling wooden bobbins with multi-coloured fine threads and the neatly thrown over-and-under shuttles meant for woofs and warps are showing no signs of the day’s tiredness. Bollywood music from the 1980s breaks the monotony of the shuttles at work. It’s the first loom in Kashmir where a woman is at the helm, and an attempt is underway to replicate the famous floating garden on Dal lake, Char Chinari, as a design relief from traditional motifs in Kani shawls, a fine handwoven mix of pashmina and shahtoosh wools. “We have developed a new formula for shawls. No one can steal it. It’s original and a major departure from the past. My work drives my clients to my loom — I have requests pending from many exporters,” says Shaheena Akhtar, 31. Like Arifa, Shaheena, a resident of Srinagar’s Nowshera area, too comes from a humble weavers’ family, but in just five years, she is being credited with giving a new identity to the Kani shawl, picking up the State’s Best Entrepreneur award along the way three years ago.
Shaheena’s journey to finding acceptability in markets in Italy, Germany and Dubai has been anything but easy. “Not everyone treats you as a daughter or a sister when you start something like a shawl business. My character was questioned because I used to meet officials. I struggled to have bank guarantors because my father was just a small-time weaver. It was not easy to raise money,” she recalls.
Following a training stint at the Entrepreneurship Development Institute, Pampore, in 2011, Shaheena was able to start with an initial investment of Rs.8 lakh. In a year she counted her first one lakh rupees in earnings. “My father had never counted Rs.1 lakh at a time. I am good at counting money. But that Rs.1 lakh was something I could not count for a while. A girl from Kashmir, counting money, and all the men around looking in awe. A strange feeling seeped in,” she recalls. As business grew, she enlisted her brothers’ help. “Of the 18 workers at the loom, 12 are relatives. I am proud that in such a short span I have a turnover of Rs.1 crore,” she says.
Roh-i-Kashmir (Soul of Kashmir), Shaheena’s company, has tie-ups with six major exporters for the 60-70 shawls her loom produces annually. “My thrust is quality. My shawl sells for Rs.4.5 lakh in the international market for its intricate and exquisite work. It takes more than nine months and two labourers to finish one intricately woven Kani shawl,” Shaheena adds.
Every time I watch a fisherwoman of Srinagar, I can see her making her own rules as she negotiates her space and life. Roohi Nazki, around 40 Owner, Chai Jai | Photo Credit: V. V. KRISHNAN
An English tea room in Srinagar
Historically, Kashmir has drawn its taste buds from Central Asia, including the famous kahwah (a traditional green tea preparation) and multi-cuisine wazwan. Roohi Nazki, a former employee with Tata Interactive Systems, is trying to get Kashmiris hooked on something very different: the tea room. It’s been worth the effort, if increasing footfalls at her small joint, Chai Jai — modelled after tea rooms in England — are anything to go by.
It was a solo holiday trip to England in 2013 that changed Roohi’s life and introduced her to the niceties of tea rooms. In the Cotswolds villages of south-central England she saw mirror images of the Kashmir Valley. Moving back to the Valley after living in Mumbai for 22 years, Roohi’s parents initially persuaded her to stay on in a corporate job, but she just knew what she wanted to do next.
As one walks down the British-era manicured embankment of the Jhelum river in Srinagar’s Polo View area, Roohi’s ‘little England’, complete with castle-room interiors and cobblestone floors, is hard to miss in the age-old Mahatta Building.
Launched in July this year, Roohi is reviving teas from bygone times like Daam Tyooth (a herbal tea), Bunafshan tea (flower tea), Qadri tea (a herbal tea with sugar mix), Nettle tea and Gulkand kahwah (mix of saffron and sun-dried rose petals). “I have 28 varieties as of now and I am working on a collection of 200 varieties,” she says.
Small steps to giant strides
While it is too early to see these women as enduring successes, having a woman Chief Minister at the helm seems to have given a fresh impetus to a more inclusive society in a State which has primarily been in the news this year for its mind-numbing violence. A slew of measures initiated by Chief Minister Mufti — including reservation of 10 per cent land in industrial estates for women entrepreneurs, the Ladli Beti scheme aimed at the economically poor, an all-woman entrepreneurs’ market, all-woman buses and all-woman police stations — are aimed at women.
The opposition National Conference spokesperson Sarah Hayat Shah acknowledges that every step towards empowerment of women is always appreciable, but simultaneously points out the troubled ground reality in Kashmir where even young girls have been killed or blinded in the wave of protests since July. “I am afraid the scooters may not be able to heal the wounds,” she says.
Ultimately, beyond the overhang of violence, a lot of the contestations with patriarchy are essentially atomic. “Every time I watch a fisherwoman of Srinagar, I can see her making her own rules as she negotiates her space and life,” says Roohi, now in her 40s.
Just like she fights her own little everyday battles, such as taking trolls — who were ‘outraged’ at her bringing a feel of Christmas to Chai Jai with cakes and candies from Mumbai — off her Twitter feed, one resolute click at a time.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Ground Zero / by Peerzada Ashiq / December 31st, 2016
Dr. Nusrat Parveen shares her journey in medicine in Canada by mentoring other immigrant doctors.
Dr. Nusrat Parveen was an established gynecologist in the Middle East. A medical graduate from Aligarh Muslim University in India, she acquired post-graduate qualifications including membership of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London, U.K., and a diploma in the same field from the University of Dublin in Ireland. But this long list of educational achievements was not enough to get Parveen a job in Canada.
The process to become a doctor in Canada takes time, and now Parveen shares her own journey to medical licensure with fellow international medical graduates (IMGs) who aspire to practise medicine in Canada. For her efforts as a mentor to IMGs, she was recently recognized by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne with the Volunteer of the Year Award for community services.
How did you come up with the idea of mentoring other IMGs?
My husband and I were volunteering with a food bank, when we came across an IMG who was lonely and felt lost as she did not have anybody to support or guide her. But she had the passion to practise medicine in Canada. Her situation had not dampened her spirit. It was her story that first inspired us.
How did you find other IMGs to mentor?
The spark to help fellow IMGs and knowing that many are not aware of the process and are struggling, made us start the IDEAS program at Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office (TNO) where the relevant support and resources are provided to IMGs.
What has been your experience of supporting other IMGs?
Initially, it was scary. I had my commitments to my family and to bring up my two children. I was studying full time toward the physician’s assistant program at the University of Toronto, so my hands were full. But the fact that everything came together so nicely and the enthusiasm from the IMGs kept me going.
Where exactly are you in your own professional journey?
I have cleared MCCEE, MCCQE1, NAC OSCE, IELTS and workplace culture and OSLT courses. The physician’s assistant program has prepared me for the supervised clinical practice and gave me an opportunity to refresh my clinical skills. In short, it has prepared me to integrate well into supervised clinical practice while building connections and references.
You have not yet completed your own journey to practising medicine in Canada, so what gave you the confidence to mentor other IMGs?
I realized that there are many IMGs who need support, resources and peer mentoring. As I had prepared for my exams, I had a good idea of how things worked here and knew the process and where to look for resources. This knowledge of the system and process gave me courage and confidence to support fellow IMGs. I did have some doubts, which quickly vanished with my husband’s unflinching support.
Why are you so committed to helping others through this mentoring program?
I have given so much of my time and dedication to the medical profession, as it has given me opportunities to serve people. Mentoring IMGs is yet another way of giving back to the community.
What is your advice to your fellow IMGs looking to get accredited in Canada?
Perseverance and extensive networking to build connections and references is the key to success in Canada. Try studying a program like the PA program, which helps to refresh your skills and connect to a practice.
source: http://www.canadianimmigrant.ca / Canadian Immigrant / by Baisakhi Roy / November 20th, 2015
awaharlal Nehru with Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan and Major General J. N. Chaudhuri after the police action | Photo Credit: THE HINDU
India’s diplomatic efforts succeeded in choking the supply of arms to Hyderabad, resulting in the September 17, 1948 surrender.
Seventy years ago, on September 17, 1948, at noon, Hyderabad ceased to exist as a princely state after a war that lasted all of 109 hours. It would have gone on for longer had India not been able to stymie the former kingdom’s attempts to procure weapons for a protracted conflict.
Hyderabad became part of India more than a year after the latter’s existence as an independent nation. Ruled by the hereditary ruler Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 212,000 sq km kingdom fancied its chance as an independent country.
Standstill Agreement
Unlike the Instrument of Accession with India signed by other princely states at the time of Independence, the Nizam nominated a three-member team to negotiate a Standstill Agreement. The Agreement signed on November 29, 1947 by Governor General Lord Mountbatten and Nizam Osman Ali Khan, specified that it would be valid for one year and that foreign affairs, defence and communications would be in India’s control while the Nizam had control over domestic affairs.
Declassified diplomatic cables between India War Office Staff, the Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO) and the UK Foreign Office, archived in the British Library, reveal that immediately after Independence, India played a high-stakes diplomatic game in London to staunch the flow of arms to Hyderabad in November 1947. This shortage of weapons ultimately forced the Hyderabad army to surrender within four days with limited Indian casualties.
The Nizam scouted for arms across the board — trying to buy them from France, tapping Pakistan for supplies and finally turning to gun runners — the role of Australia-born aviator Sidney Cotton’s role in the transport of weapons from Karachi to Hyderabad is the stuff of legends.
But the role of Indian diplomats in stalling the flow at the source is less known, carried out by hidden channels.
The British government played along with India by persuading France against selling German weapons to Pakistan, which in turn wanted to funnel them to Hyderabad.
The first of the series in the diplomatic cables sent to Donaldson at the CRO by R.H.S. Allen of the Foreign Office begins innocuously enough. “French Embassy informed Foreign Office on 1st November that Pakistan Trade Commissioner in London recently represented to French Authorities in Paris that his government urgently desired 600,000 rifles, same number of revolvers and 300,000 light and heavy machine guns from former German weapons in France. It added that, if France could not supply, his govt had other offers from Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands,” says the cable marked Important/Top Secret by CRO.
These low bore, small arms on Pakistan’s shopping list were meant for Hyderabad. But India moved the diplomatic game a notch higher, with the persuasive but often abrasive V.K. Krishna Menon, Indian High Commissioner in London, swinging into action.
“As regards Hyderabad, it was decided that we should tell Mr. Krishna Menon, who has been bothering us (FO?) on the subject, that it is not our intention, as things stand at present, to supply arms on any abnormal scale to Hyderabad, but that Hyderabad is entitled to limited quantities of arms for the legitimate purposes of their state forces and police…” (says a cable sent again to Donaldson of CRO by FO on November 14, 1947)
An exchange of nine diplomatic cables in November 1947 and multiple jottings by officials on them, show how India managed to literally starve Hyderabad of weapons.
Another cable, sent to Gordon Walker, Under-Secretary of State (the initials are illegible) dated November 11, 1947 reads: “This shows that we must have a full and frank discussion with Mr. Krishna Menon and Rahimtoolah (Habib Imran Rahimtoolah, Pakistan’s High Commissioner) on the subject. Mr Menon constantly assumes that the UK should stop Pakistan from getting arms anywhere. ..But I confess that 600,000 rifles, 300,000 machines seems to be a lot…”
A group photograph of K. M. Munshi and Swami Ramand Tirth with Indian Union officers immediately after their arrival in Secunderabad on September 21, 1948. | Photo Credit: THE HINDU
Pakistan was not just shopping for arms — it was passing around the bowl. A rather large one at that. A cable from Washington to FO on November 26, 1947, reads: “Pakistan is now trying to get a loan of 2 billion dollars from the U.S.A. of which 200 million is for military supplies. This follows their attempt to get arms from France.” On the margin is the scribbled note: “USA have told us that they are cold-shouldering this.”
By the end of 1947 — the last cable in the series is dated December 4 — India had successfully closed the official arms pipeline for Hyderabad, hampering the Nizam’s efforts to stay independent for long.
Airborne supply
Then Sidney Cotton stepped in. He was the legendary flying ace who flew the last plane out of Berlin in 1939 and pioneered aerial reconnaissance by photographing German war efforts.
However, by the time, Cotton flew into the picture to help Hyderabad, it was too late. Hyderabad could not get any fresh weapons for 11 months from the time India and Pakistan came into existence. The armed forces of Hyderabad didn’t have arms nor ammunition for training.
Cotton flew to Hyderabad in the first quarter of 1948 to meet the Nizam and got a shopping list of weapons. He quoted an amount of £20 million in cash for running the weapons. Back in London, he hired a 24-member team and bought five used Avro Lancastrians for £5000 each. Cotton’s first run of arms began from Heathrow Airport on May 11, 1948, with the first Lancastrian that halted in Basle, Switzerland, to pick up an unspecified number of Oerlikon cannons. The first shipment of weapons landed on July 10, 1948 in Warangal.
In the course of the next two months, Hyderabad received about 25,000 mortars, 1,000 anti-tank mines, 1,200 sub-machine guns from Beretta, another 3,000 sub-machine guns, 10,000 rifles, one ack-ack and six low-calibre anti-tank guns and ammunition, delivered by Cotton.
Indian forces entered from the west in Sholapur and from the east near Suryapet. The war that began at 4 a.m. on September 13, 1948, lasted 109 hours and by September 17, 1948, Hyderabad surrendered. File | Photo Credit: P.V. SIVAKUMAR
The Nizam’s Commander-in-Chief at the time of Indian pincer movement on Hyderabad was Major General Syed Ahmed El-Edroos. He writes in his biography about the 20,000 .303 rifles and other small arms and ammunition brought in by Cotton and which had Rawalpindi Pakistan Arsenal markings on them.
But the Hyderabad army, which had a strength of 17,000 soldiers, 9,000 irregulars and 362 officers, didn’t get to train on the weapons or use them on the field. Indian forces entered from the west in Sholapur and from the east near Suryapet. The war that began at 4 a.m. on September 13, lasted 109 hours and by September 17, Hyderabad surrendered.
Cotton’s last flight out of Hyderabad’s Hakimpet airstrip was on September 16, at 3 a.m. — just hours before the surrender. This time the plane was loaded with cash of about £4 million in rupees.
Cotton was also supposed to have picked up the private militia leader Kasim Razvi. Razvi headed the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, and created the Razakars (volunteers) force to defend Hyderabad and the Nizam. This private militia created terror throughout the kingdom and triggered an exodus of Hindus from Hyderabad and other urban centres.
But Razvi’s escape ended in a theatrical fiasco due to a misunderstanding about the flight timing. As Cotton thundered away in his Lancastrian thinking Razvi had boarded, the militia leader desperately ran behind the plane, too late to flee. Razvi was placed under house arrest and tried for sedition. He was freed in 1957 and he emigrated to Pakistan where he died penniless in 1970.
The diplomatic heat was kept up even as Hyderabad surrendered. According to a report in The Hindu, R.K. Nehru, India’s diplomat in the U.S., in a radio broadcast on September 17 that was heard coast-to-coast said: “The British in similar circumstances would have marched in on the first outbreak of violence to restore order, put down the Razakars and bring the Nizam to his senses.” (This is significant because Pakistan and officials from Hyderabad were portraying India as an aggressor. And this Indian diplomat put things in perspective)
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Serish Nanisetti / Hyderabad – September 15th, 2018
Here’s some good news for all Shahrukh Khan fans! The superstar was recently felicitated as a “Game Changer for his Unmatched Contribution to Globalizing Indian Cinema” at the business summit in London.
Time and again, King Khan has represented India at international events making the nation proud. The ET India – UK Strategic Conclave, a special business summit discussing the economic relations between India and UK was graced by the global icon in London.
Check out some of the pictures here-
SRK In Conversation
Representing the entertainment industry for a chat session on the ‘Growth of the business of entertainment across the globe and its impact on India”, Shah Rukh Khan said, “The growth for Indian films has been much smaller compared to the growth of television in India. The ratio of theatres to the audience area is still very small, we have very few theatres compared to the audience we can garner. In the Interiors of India, there are not many screens for people to go and I think there is a huge market here for entrepreneurs to get into making low-cost theatres.”
SRK Felicitated As The Game Changer
The actor, producer, activist was also felicitated with The Economic Times Game Changers of India” – Hall of Fame for “His Unmatched Contribution To Globalising Indian Cinema.”
The Superstar Also Unveiled A Coffee Table Book
A coffee table book titled ‘Game Changers of India’ was also unveiled at the summit which features Shahrukh Khan along with other accomplished leaders.
SRK’s Award Acceptance Speech
Accepting this honour, the superstar said, “I take this opportunity to thank a lot of people, actors, actress, and audiences, for allowing me to continue unencumbered with any idea that I had, they gave me the ability to just go ahead and give it a shot, try and go wrong if I may, and more often than not they allowed me to go wrong”.
He further added, “Business is become about millions, targets and projections, though I fully respect the managerial capacity of business, but I like to think of it as the people who work with me allowed me the imaginarily capacity, they allowed me to imagine and they managed that imagination. So, when you become a game changer you cannot take it upon yourself, there are loads of people involved and the audience as well around the world accepts you doing the stuff you do and think it’s entertaining”.
On the work front, Shahrukh Khan will be next seen in Aanand L.Rai’s Zero co-starring Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif.
Salman Khan host Shahrukh Khan on Dus Ka Dum – Dumdaar Weekend
source: http://www.filmibeat.com / FilmiBeat / Home> Bollywood> News / by Madhuri V / September 12th, 2018
“Baaraat” of Sajid Khan, a national level skater and coach, skating its way to marriage venue in Bhopal on Sunday night.
Bhopal:
Bhopal, the capital of central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, witnessed a unique wedding wherein “Baaraat” (the wedding procession of the bridegroom) on Sunday night skated its way to wedding venue on roller skates.
The “Baaraat”was that of Sajid Khan, a national level skater and roller skating coach in local Delhi Public School, who adopted this unique move to attract people’s attention towards skating and promote the game in the state and ensure recognition to it in international events.
The bridegroom and the “Baratis” all put on their skating shoes to roll on in the marriage procession from Gauhar Mahal to Bagh-o-Bahar, the wedding venue, as vehicular traffic on the VIP road nearly came to a screeching halt. Budding skaters, the disciples of groom Sajid, also danced to the beating of drums as the procession moved on with passersby halting down to have a clear glimpse of this unique “Baaraat”.
Sajid, who is also president of Speed Roller skating Association, Bhopal, skated to have a rendezvous with his bride Shaista Yasmeen, who also happens to be a skater and a roller skating coach. Several national and international junior skaters such as Huzaifa Zafar, Akshay Sharma, Syeda Masooma Fatima, Ahsas Shrivastava, Gautam Sharma, Shayali Kumbhare, Aamir, Nilesh, Sami Khan, Hrithik Khare and others also joined the “Baaraat” with their skates on.
Sajid revealed that it was their students who planned the one-of-its kind wedding and he was happy to accept the unique idea. The wedding shall be remembered for long, not for its grandeur, but for the mode of transport the groom and the members of the “Baaraat”chose to reach the marriage hall.
“It is a historic moment in my life as the people who witnessed the wedding procession shall be attracted towards the roller-skating sports. “We are advertising the skating game through the procession. I spend my whole time in skating and as such I and my students decided to take out wedding procession on skates which is something unique”, Sajid told media persons as he rolled on skates to meet his soul-mate and bring her home.
Meanwhile, Nikah was solemnized at the historical Taj-ul-Masajid, one of the biggest Masjid in Asia, between the Asr and Maghrib prayer timings on Sunday evening. Elite of the town along with large numbers of sportspersons attended the Nikah.
It may be pointed out here that a couple has also tied nuptial knot while rappelling at Kerwa Hills in the city in the past.
source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> Life & Style / by Parvez Bari (pervezbari@eth.net) / September 19th, 2011
