Samiya found the going tough in the opening game as Stephani jumped to a 6-1 lead early on and kept distancing herself to grab it easily.
Samiya Imad Farooqui poses alongside junior chief coach Sanjay Mishra in Yangon on Sunday.
Yangon (Myanmar):
Indian shuttler Samiya Imad Farooqui clinched the gold medal at the Under-15 women’s singles competition after defeating Indonesia’s Widjaja Stephani at the Asian Junior Championship here on Sunday.
The third seeded Indian, who had reached the finals at Pembangunan Jaya Raya International Junior Grand Prix U-19 in April, defeated Stephani 15-21, 21-17, 21-19 in a 56-minute match to lay claim to the coveted title.
P.V. Sindhu had won the gold in U-19 Asia Junior championship in 2012 at Gimcheon, South Korea. Samiya found the going tough in the opening game as Stephani jumped to a 6-1 lead early on and kept distancing herself to grab it easily.
However, the 14-year-old from Hyderabad made a roaring comeback in the second game, opening a 6-2 lead and then grabbing a 13-8 lead.
The Indonesian clawed back at 13-13 but Samiya managed to wriggle out and eventually forced the match into a decider. In the third game, Stephani and Samiya entered in a tooth and nail battle. Samiya clawed back to a 16-16 and turned the tables eventually to take the title home.
source: http://www.asianage.com / Asian Age / Home> Sports> In Other Sports / by PTI / October 09th, 2017
The wallpaper of Asharq al-Awsat bears images of Beit Jabri, a large, famous restaurant in Damascus. / Photo: Vamika Jain
When I walked into Asharq al-Awsat on a morning in early July, a man named Anas was praising Abdullah, the restaurant’s head chef, for helping him feel like he was back in his native Syria. Anas’s praise was prompted by Abdullah’s kibbeh labaniyeh—a yoghurt-based meat dish that is a staple of Arab cooking.
Like many of the guests who frequent Asharq al-Awsat, Anas was receiving treatment at a medical centre nearby. Over the past several years, Sarita Vihar has become a hub for medical tourists from all over the world, especially West Asia, who come to receive affordable medical treatment at private hospitals in the neighbourhood. While here, many patients from West Asia yearn for a taste of home, particularly because the food they are accustomed to is much less spicy than Indian food. Responding to this need, Asharq al-Awsat—which translates to “the Middle East” in Arabic—serves up Arab food in a setting that almost makes you forget that you are in India.
Asharq al-Awsat is on the fourth floor of Om Palace, a guest house in an area of Sarita Vihar dotted with lodging for medical tourists. The restaurant’s wallpaper bears images of Beit Jabri—a large, iconic restaurant in Damascus. An Arabic news channel plays on a small television. The restaurant’s patrons are typically Arabs wearing off-white thawbs and joking loudly in Arabic. But these jolly surroundings belie the difficulties faced by many of the restaurant’s patrons and staff.
Abdullah used to work as a chef in Damascus, but he and his family fled the ongoing Syrian civil war in 2011, leaving for Delhi. “Other than the war, there’s no other reason I would ever leave Syria,” he said. He lost two brothers in the war.
Two years after leaving Syria, Abdullah began work at Asharq al-Awsat. The restaurant was founded by Sohaib Kamal, an Indian man from Rajasthan, who studied Arabic and Farsi in a madrasa in old Delhi. He was inspired to open the restaurant in 2013, he told me, after he visited Om Palace—which, at the time, had an Indian restaurant on the fourth floor. Kamal spoke to many West Asian medical tourists staying at the hotel who were struggling to stomach the restaurant’s spicy food. “When I met a few Iraqis here once, they complained, ‘Coming to India was such a mistake—there’s nothing to eat here! I can’t even drink tea here, because I’m afraid it could be spicy,’” Kamal recounted, when I met him at Asharq al-Awsat. “They were so distressed and hungry all the time, and would end up eating biscuits and curd for meals.” Kamal spoke to the owners of the Indian restaurant and asked if he could start a restaurant there that served Arab cuisine. The owners agreed to rent out their kitchen, and Kamal opened his restaurant.
One day, about a month after Kamal rented out the fourth-floor space, Abdullah, who was at Om Palace to meet someone, stormed into the restaurant’s kitchen. “Who made this? This is not how you make kabsa!” Kamal remembered him saying. Abdullah then proceeded to show the cook—an Indian, and a personal friend of Kamal—how to make chicken kabsa, a popular Arab dish. Abdullah then, Kamal said, offered to help the restaurant in any way he could. “I was excited, because no other restaurant in Delhi has an Arab chef,” Kamal said. Before Abdullah came along, Kamal added, “We had been learning the cuisine off the internet and through other ad-hoc methods.” The chef at whom Abdullah had snapped on that fateful day became his assistant, and, “to date, he continues to learn from Abdullah,” Kamal said. Even the restaurant’s name bears Abdullah’s stamp—Kamal had not settled on a name for the place until the Syrian cook came along. They eventually decided on “Asharq al-Awsat” because it was the name of the restaurant where Abdullah worked as a chef in Damascus.
For the past few months, however, business has been bad at Asharq al-Awsat. “Sometimes this happens,” Kamal said. “We are mostly dependent on foreign medical patients—not many Indians come here, because we don’t serve any Indian food.” Faced with this downturn, the team decided to open another restaurant, in the more centralised location of New Friends Colony, opposite the Fortis Escort Heart Institute. Called MEC Syrian Food (the MEC stands for “Middle Eastern Cuisine”), this restaurant has been doing much better than Asharq al-Awsat, as it is frequented by Indian students from nearby universities.
I visited MEC Syrian Food a few days after it had opened, in late June. There, I met Abu Tarikh—the restaurant’s manager, who has also been Asharq’s manager for over a year. The walls had just been decorated with tiles inscribed with Arabic lettering. Some tables were draped with Persian rugs.
Tarikh, like Abdullah, is a Syrian refugee. He fled Damascus with his family in 2015, after both his home and the mobile-accessories shop he owned were destroyed in the war. He and his family initially moved to Mumbai, but they only stayed there for 20 days before Tarikh realised it “was not for him.” They moved to Delhi after that, he told me, and he is much happier here; he “understands things” in this city, and thinks that the “people here are good.”
It has not all been smooth sailing for Tarikh, though. He speaks some English but no Hindi at all, except for the few functional words which help him communicate with autorickshaw drivers and customers. This means, he said, that “one day’s work sometimes takes ten days. Nobody here understands me as they do back home.” But “I like India in general,” he added. “I have many Indian friends.”
Abdullah has had more trouble adjusting to life in Delhi. He finds the language barrier even more difficult to deal with than Tarikh does, since he barely knows any English or Hindi. “I left my home in Damascus because the entire country was in dire straits; but even here, I don’t know anybody, and I’m facing just as many troubles,” he said. “I don’t like it here at all. But I’m helpless, what can I do?”
In Abdullah’s ideal world, he would migrate to the United States. In India, he said, “there are no facilities. Even if you work for 24 hours a day, you can’t earn enough to take care of your children—everything is so expensive.” Also, he said, “Indians don’t like my food, because they eat such spicy food. I can make at least 80 types of Arabic food, but unfortunately, I have to limit myself to four, five types of dishes. It’s very frustrating.” He told me he has applied for a US visa, but has not heard back.
Every day, the Palestinian embassy places an order with Asharq al-Awsat for mansaf, an elaborate lamb-based dish
When I first met Abdullah, it was rush hour at Asharq al-Awsat. Each day, the Palestinian embassy places an order with the restaurant for mansaf—an elaborate dish of lamb cooked on top of a layer of flatbread and rice in a yoghurt-based sauce, decorated with pine nuts and almonds. His enthusiasm was palpable as he spun around the kitchen, grilling meat, assigning tasks to employees, bringing various dishes to boil.
But, shortly after that, during a smoke break outside the restaurant, he confessed, “Honestly, here, I am just going about my days, not even living. I am barely existing, with no end in sight.”
Anisha Sircar is an intern at The Caravan.
source: http://www.caravanmagazine.in / The Caravan / Home> Reporting & Essays> The Lede / by Anisha Sircar / September 01st, 2017
Lalitpur (Jhansi) & Agra (UTTAR PRADESH) / London, GREAT BRITAIN with Empress of India
Queen Victoria at her desk, assisted by her servant Abdul Karim, the munshi.
VICTORIA & ABDUL
The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant
By Shrabani Basu
Illustrated. 334 pp. Vintage Books. Paper, $16.
I really do wonder if I am qualified to review this remarkable work. I am a nonagenarian, Anglo-Welsh, republican, agnostic liberal, an only half-redeemed British imperialist, sexually complex and incorrigibly romantic. “Victoria & Abdul” is about an aging British queen, her eccentric obsession with an engaging Muslim servant from India and the half-farcical opposition of the British establishment to their relationship. I had never heard of the story until the book reached me for my critique, and I had no idea it was about to be the subject of a much-publicized movie. Am I qualified to respond to it for The New York Timer? Reader, judge for yourself.
When it first reached me I began, as a republican, by scoffing. The very status of Alexandrina Victoria, Queen of England, at the time of her first encounter with that Indian servant struck me as perfectly ridiculous. She was a woman in her late 60s who was treated with almost religious reverence and responded accordingly. The whole preposterous charade of royalty was performed perpetually in her presence. It was wildly exaggerated, too, because she happened to be the titular head not simply of a small island nation but of the most enormous empire in the history of empires, claiming sovereignty over nearly a quarter of the earth’s surface. Perhaps the least logical of these bizarre circumstances was the fact that among her far-flung territories was one of the proudest and most ancient of all human entities, India. Since 1877, Victoria had been called Queen Empress, and India was the reason.
I scoffed, but then that Indian charmer entered the book, and I was beguiled.
So was Victoria. Abdul Karim was 24 when he arrived in England in 1887, engaged as an orderly for the queen during her Golden Jubilee celebrations and presently also charged with teaching Her Imperial Majesty Hindustani (as the British habitually referred to both Hindi and Urdu). Although of relatively humble stock, he was a born winner, educated, good-looking, clever and ambitious. I soon fell for him myself.
In no time at all, it seems, he became far more than an orderly, but rather an Indian gentleman of the court, more or less self-promoted out of the servants’ quarters and dubbed, by Her Majesty’s command, a “munshi” — which meant, I gather, a sort of more-than-teacher. This in turn seems to have morphed into a vaguely aristocratic honorific, and before long the delightful young orderly had become the Munshi. For the rest of his life he flaunted the title, and “Bravo,” say I!
I find myself genuinely touched by the bond between the empress and the munshi. He was an opportunist, but he was kind, which for my money redeems many faults, and old Victoria had been having a rotten time of it. First she lost her adored husband, Albert, and never got over it, and then John Brown, her beloved Scots gillie, died on her. Victoria’s nine children were scattered across Britain and Europe, and they were a mixed bag anyway. It must have been a lonely time for the old lady, but then along came Abdul Karim, in his virile youth, and he was very soon treating her not only as an empress but as a woman.
There was obviously nothing carnal about the relationship. Heaven forbid! The munshi seems to have regarded Victoria as an affectionate and generous surrogate mother. (She gave Abdul Karim and his wife three cottages, each near one of her own palaces, plus some land in India, and when he traveled on the royal train he had a whole carriage to himself.) In return he gave her his sympathy and understanding, and in particular they both seem to have enjoyed her daily (and very successful) lessons in Hindustani.
The affair, if we can call it that, spilled over into the style of the British court, which became more and more Indianified. Indian colors were everywhere, Indian sounds and even Indian smells (for curries were often served). When the court indulged itself or its visitors with one of its elaborate tableaux vivants, Indian faces were prominent on the stage, and indeed in the tableau of the king of Egypt, pictured in this book, the Pharaonic ruler himself was played by none other than — the munshi!
The generally snobbish and often racist British establishment of the day came to detest the munshi with an almost comical fervor, and, led by Victoria’s son and heir, Bertie, who later reigned as Edward VII, persecuted even Abdul Karim’s memory when he and his love were both long gone. I suspect that the munshi was a sort of dual reincarnation of Victoria’s beloved Albert and her dear, dear John Brown. And if there was something rather excessive — even, to my mind, schoolgirlish — about her attachment to her young servant, it was perhaps only a late and pathetic extension of the maternal instinct.
I grew fond of them both as I read this generous and meticulous book, and I write this review now with a sentimental tear in my eye. So what think you, Reader? Am I qualified for the job?
Shahjahan is the youngest child among eight brothers and sisters. His educational qualification is class VII.
Shahjahan once demanded his father to buy a football boot. His father replied, ‘Will you be able to play the world cup if i buy a boot.
But without any hesitation Shahjahan simply replies that he will. To encourage his son, 61 year old (now) Manaf bought a pair of boot for his son from Kangjeibung Maning in Imphal.
Shahjahan started playing football at Youth Organisation Sporting Club (YOSC) Khurai Konsam Leikai under coach Ng. Biren and others.
Shahjahan took part in a state level mini football tournament 2009 as a player of LKYDA. He was awarded best player in 2010 and man of the tournament in 2011.
Representing All Manipur Football Association (AMFA) he took part in AIFF Festival for boys under 12-13 football championship at Kalyani, West Bengal in 2012.
From the championship, Shahjahan got the opportunity to join the FIFA World Cup under-17 coaching camp.
source: http://www.e-pao.net / e-pao / Home> Leisure> Sports / by Daniel Chabungbam / October 06th, 2017
Rich tributes were paid to princess Durru Shehvar, the daughter-in-law of the seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, on Firday as part of her 11th death anniversary. The princess was the daughter of last islamic ruler of Turkey Khaleefa Abdul Majeed.
As part of the tribute, Quran recitation was held at Masjid-e-Asifia, Purani Haveli in which Prince Mufakham Jah and Prince Rafat Jah attended along with the board members of Princess Durru Shehvar Children’s Medical Aid Society that included Anis Hussain, Dr Habib Ghatala, Syed Sultan Mohiuddin and Rasheed. Princess Durru Shehvar Hospital senior staff M Najumuddin, Dr Abdul Wajid and Shaik Yousuf Ali were also present.
Mufti Muzaffar Uddin Imam o khateeb Masjid Mashk Shah offered the prayers and Syed Shah Moinuddin Alvi and Dr Masihuddin made the arrangements.
“The Princess was fond of providing medicare to the poor and needy. She set up the Durru Shehvar Children’s Hospital at Purani Haveli and took personal interest in the hospital and visited it whenever she came to Hyderabad.
She was a highly respected and well-educated woman, the princess was fluent in French, Turkish, English and Urdu. She also established a junior college for girls in her name, Baghe-jahan-ara in Yakutpura,” remembered a member. Mufakham Jah met the participants who attended the congregation and thanked for their joining in the programme.
source: http://www.thehansindia.com / The Hans India / Home> Telangana / September 29th, 2017
The city’s magnificent Chowmahalla Palace has added another feather to its cap, bagging the National Tourism Award for being the best maintained monument. The award was among other honours presented by the Government of India, on the occasion of World Tourism Day observed on September 27.Speaking about the recognition, G Kishan Rao, director of the palace said: “It is a matter of great pride. Earlier in 2012, Chowmahalla received the award of merit from UNESCO.”
Pointing out how the palace is among the most sought-after tourist destinations in the city, Rao said the heritage structure is equipped with all the necessary facilities for visitors, including those who are differently-abled.
On an average 800 to 1,000 tourists visit the 250-year-old Chowmahalla Palace in Khilwat every day . Its construction, ordered during the reign of the third Nizam, was completed during the time of his successor. Since, it was used primarily to hold official functions. Over time, the ex panse of the heritage property, once spread over 45 acres complete with 16 palaces, shrunk to a meagre 12 acres. Yet, the impressive collection of artefacts, including crockery, garments, cars and rare photographs from the Nizam’s era – housed within, are in impeccable condition.
“After the death of seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, the palace was in a deplorable state. It was in 2001 when Princess Esra (first wife of Mukarram Jah) took it upon herself to restore it that things changed for the better. In 2006, we opened the place up for public. Today , the palace is also a central place for mega cultural events in the city,” said Rao, sharing how the paraphernalia on display also comprise items brought in from the King Kothi Palace, where they were in the cellar.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Hyderabad News / TNN / September 29th, 2017
Israr Pasha won two gold medals and a silver at the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championship held in South Africa
In order to make his dream of winning gold at the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championship held at Potchefstroom in South Africa come true, 18-year-old Israr Pasha had to pledge his mother’s jewellery to meet his expense.
Israr, a first-year BBM student at St Aloysius College in Mangaluru, is coached at the Balanjaneya gym by Sathish Kudroli and Prachet K. He is the son of Abdulla, a businessman, and Khathija, a homemaker. He won two gold medals and a silver medal in the sub junior 120 category at the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championship held at Potchefstroom in South Africa from Sept 10 to 17.
Israr said, “I had to pay a heavy price to win this gold and I am feeling very bad about it. Since my father was going through business crisis and my mother was keen that I participate in the international meet, she gave away her jewellery so that I could mortgage it to meet my expenses.
“Earlier during the year, after winning silver at a meet in Chandrapur, I qualified for the Commonwealth selection trials for which I had to pay Rs 45,000 as a non-refundable deposit. I got selected for the first camp in Jamshedpur and second camp in New Delhi and was on cloud nine when we were provided with team India track suit.
“However, to participate in the Commonwealth championship, we had to deposit Rs 1.80 lakh to the Indian Powerlifting Federation. My father gave me Rs 35,000. I was running short of cash and this was when my mother gave me her jewellery. On the last day, and at the last minute, I deposited the money and was selected to attend the third camp (practice) in Mumbai before leaving for South Africa. For all the difficulty my family has taken up, I am happy that I have won a medal. But I wish my hard work is recognised by the government. The total expense we incurred was about Rs 3 lakh,” he said.
Israr took up powerlifting when he was in class 10. He was going to a gym and powerlifter Nagaraj was his inspiration. Gradually, he won silver medal in a district meet, gold in a state meet and was even selected for nationals in the year 2015. He began his career as a powerlifter at the Veeraanjaneya Vyama Shale. He won a bronze medal and was trained by Shubhakar Shetty. Following this, there was no looking back as he won gold at the state powerlifting championship held at Surathkal but could not participate in nationals because of exams. He also won gold at the South India Powerlifting championship held in Davangere.
His mother, Katheeja, said, “Israr has been working very hard and never neglected his studies or practice. We are hoping for some support from the government so that he brings more medals to the country and is not discouraged by the financial burden.”
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> News> State / by Deepthi Sanjiv, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / September 25th, 2017
Abdul Wajid, a jobless village boy, built a plane from scratch to prove that he is not worthless!
The youth of this country have to face one huge challenge – that of unemployment. Whatever the government waxes on about all day, the fact of the matter is that the educated and even brightest of the youth sometimes have to settle for less than satisfactory jobs or just stay at home because there are no takers or no vacancies. While for those in metro cities the situation is relatively easier, for those in the rural areas, it is extremely terrible. They do not even have access to technology or means to reach out and if they do not leave their village, the chances of them getting a job in the village itself are negligent. While many disillusioned youth give up and go back to their village and take up the family profession, there are some like Abdul Wajid who decide to take matters in their own hands.
Image Credit: The Times of India
Abdul Wajid is a 26-year old youth residing in Muzaffarnagar village in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. He completed his National Cadet Corps (NCC) training and since then has been hunting for a job but so far, has been unsuccessful in all his attempts. While training for the NCC, he had completed a course in aero-modelling at Safdarjung airport and used the skills he learned at the course to desgin and fashion his own aircraft! His one-seater plane was built entirely by himself at the cost of Rs 5 lakhs! How did a jobless youth get the amount? With the help of family, friends and the generous villagers! His plane is completely designed and made by him – from metal scraps and engines of old cars and Abdul Wajid is confident that it will definitely run.
He has already applied for a request and approval from the aviation board to try test-flying the plane. The plane he has created is made of wood and weighs a whopping 350 kgs. The plane is meter long in structure and is supported by steel frames and the engine is that of an old Maruti van he purchased specifically for this purpose. The plane was initially fitted with 2 bike engines but they had to be changed as the engines would not be adequate to give the required thrust. The plane uses petrol for fuel and comes fitted with a 25 litre fuel tank which is expected to carry Wajid Abdul through a distance of up to 10 kms. The only obstruction in front of him is how to get the permission to fly the air-craft!
The first request was placed at the Muzaffarnagar council where just like the villagers, everyone was stumped. The local civic body visited Abdul Wajid and even they were confused as they could not provide the permission. They then asked Abdul to write to the aviation ministry and Abdul has vowed to do just that. Although people in his village earlier mocked him, now everyone is proud of him. He is filled with hope that if he can make a plane all by himself, then he can definitely get a green signal from the aviation ministry! Also, he hopes that once he flies his plane, people will take notice of his abilities and offer him atleast a decent job. He also expects to get some monetary compensation from the Chief Minister for his efforts.
source: http://www.india.com / India.com / Home> News> India / by Rutu Ladage / May 26th, 2016
Minister of State, Shri M.J. Akbar visited Senegal from 6-8 September 2017 as Special Envoy of Prime Minister Modi.
During the visit, he met President Mr. Macky Sall and handed over a Letter of Thanks from PM Modi for Senegal’s support for the re-election of India’s candidate Justice Dr. Dalveer Bhandari to the International Court of Justice for the term 2018-27, elections for which will be held in New York in November 2017. In this meeting, the newly appointed Prime Minister of Senegal Mr. Mouhamed Boun Abdallah Dionne was also present. Both MOS (MJA) and President Macky Sall discussed various aspects of India-Senegal bilateral relations.
MOS (MJA) handed over a cheque of Euro 50,000/- to the Secretary General of Foreign Ministry of Senegal Ambassador Mame Baba Cisse as India’s contribution to the Dakar International Forum for Peace and Security in Africa, to be held in November 2017. It is to be noted that India supported the Dakar International Forum for Peace and Security in Africa last year as well with a contribution of Euro 50,000/-.
MOS (MJA) gave a talk to Senegalese intelligentsia, academicians, ambassadors accredited to Senegal, and media personalities on “India’s Synergies with Africa” at the West African Research Center (WARC), a think-tank of Senegal.
He also gave a talk on “New India’s Transformation” to the Senegalese businessmen at the Dakar Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (CCIAD).
MOS (MJA) visited the ongoing Gandhi Exhibition at the Renaissance Monument where he distributed Mahatma Gandhi souvenirs to young Senegalese Gandhians. He also signed the Visitors Book at the Exhibition.
He also addressed the Indian Community in Senegal during a Reception held in his honour.
He visited Goree Island, an important slave trade point and UNESCO World Heritage site, and signed the Visitors Book at the Slave House at the island.
source: http://www.mea.gov.in / Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India / Home> Media Centre> Press Releases / New Delhi – September 14th, 2017
Raaheela Ahmed won the school board race in Prince George’s county of Maryland
Her father is from India and mother from Pakistan
Her victory gains significance as her district has 80 per cent of African-American population
Washington :
A Muslim-American woman, whose parents are from India and Pakistan, has won a key local election in the US state of Maryland which was dominated by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric.
Raaheela Ahmed, 23, won the school board race in Prince George’s county of Maryland by defeating a long-time system administrator by an impressive 15 per cent vote difference.
She had unsuccessfully run for this position four years ago in 2012. Her father is from India and mother from Pakistan. Her victory gains significance as her district has 80 per cent of African-American population.
She was endorsed by the former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steel.
“It’s interesting that on the same day Donald Trump was elected as president of the US, I as a hijabi Muslim young woman was also elected to serve in a public office. I think that speaks volumes about the diversity of American opinion, and that American dream is still well and alive,” Ahmed said.
“I’d like to act as a form of inspiration for other minorities that they can achieve what they will, given prayer, circumstance and hard work. This win would not have been possible without the support and belief that other people had in me,” she said.
“For my young minority women, please know that at the end of the day, you are worthy of your highest inspirations. You have to believe that you are able to achieve them, even if societal structures do not yet allow for that. Because one day, those glass ceilings will break. And who knows?” Ahmed said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> NRI> US & Canada / PTI / November 22nd, 2016
