Category Archives: World Opinion

Prof. Mahdi Hasan – The Man who put Lucknow on Medicinal Map

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Lucknow, UTTAR PRADESH :

ProfMahdiHassanMPOs26aug2017

Prof. Mahdi Hasan was born on March 21, 1936 in a village Gadayan, Akbarpur (then in Faizabad, now in Ambedkar Nagar), in UP.

His father, Jawad Husain, was Tehsildar, posted at that time at Tehsil Mohanlalganj of the District Lucknow, and his mother was Tayyabunnisa Begun. Hasan’s father died when Hasan was four years old, and his mother, being ill, was unable to care for him. His brothers late Bakhshish Husain, a police officer, and Syed Ghulam Husain, an IAS officer, subsequently raised him.

However, this did not deter him from pursuing his life with zeal and devotion to his studies and dedication for sports. He used to study at night in the light of a kerosene lamp and play during the day in the fields of the village. He excelled in studies and was appreciated for his sporting prowess. His father wanted him to be a doctor. He himself wanted to be a teacher. Finally he became both, and a sportsman too in the bargain.

In 1950, Hasan enrolled in the Christian College at Lucknow, where he did his Intermediate. Thereafter he did his B.Sc. I year from Lucknow University and in 1952 he was selected in M.B.B.S. at King George Medical College.

After graduation, he joined the Department of Anatomy as a Demonstrator in the year 1958 and worked till early 1963. He did his post graduation in Anatomy from KGMC. Thereafter, he moved to the J.N. Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, where he would spend the bulk of his career.

It was in 1958 that he got married to Abida Kazim, who was an MA in Urdu, a rare achievement at that time for a woman from a Muslim family.

His persistent endeavour was to pursue basic medical research and his main thrust was to study problems of national relevance, such as environmental pollution, pesticide and metal neurotoxicity and brain aging. His commitment and dedication to acquire and disseminate knowledge can also be judged from the fact that during the last 6 months of his life, when he was very seriously ill, he worked earnestly to complete a book on Treacher Collins Syndrome.

He would sit for long hours with swollen legs kept on stool writing the book, which he completed in December 2012, a month before his death. Fortunately, the book was published a few days before his death when he was in the intensive care unit.

Dr. Hasan, all through his illustrious academic career spanning around 55 years (1958–2013), fought a relentless battle and succeeded in giving a completely new orientation to the teaching of anatomy.

He has to his credit about five books, seven book chapters, 125 research papers in indexed journals. His research work has earned him over 600 citations including those in the prestigious Nature, Gray’s Anatomy, and NIOSH and in 38 other reference works. He was indeed a man of parts, combines excellent teaching and research capabilities with societal concerns and social commitments.

Hasan spent many years trying to establish a Brain Research facility at Aligarh.

With assistance from the German government, he succeeded in 1980 with the establishment of the first Interdisciplinary Brain Research Centre.

He has been an internationally renowned anatomist, a pioneering brain researcher and a reputed national expert of medical education and have been rewarded with a no. of awards.

A few to name are Dr. S.S. Misra Medal of National Academy of Medical Sciences (India), Dr. Dharam Narayan Gold Medal of the Anatomical Society of India (1977), Ati Vishisht Chikitsa Medal of College of Chest Physicians of India (1995), Sushruta Award of World Academy of Integrated Medicine (WAIM) 2002, Dr. Bachawat Life-Time Achievement Award of Indian Academy of Neurosciences (2004) and Dr. Tirumurti Award of Indian National Science Academy (2010).

Professor Hasan was a person who had utmost devotion, dedication and determination in acquiring, creating and disseminating knowledge. Seldom does one find a nucleus around which an institution is build, but it goes to the credit of Professor Mahdi Hasan that at least three premier medical institutions of North India will always fondly cherish his memory.

KGMC will always remember him as its illustrious student and teacher; Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh will always remember him as an excellent, dedicated and devoted teacher; and Era’s Lucknow Medical College, Lucknow (a medical institution founded around him) will find it difficult to overlook its founder Director-Principal and Trustee. Alas!

This renowned medical teacher breathed his last on 12 January 2013 after fighting a relentless battle against cancer of the prostrate. He had been at Imambara Gufran Ma’ab sahib. His wife, Mrs Abida Mahdi died soon after on 24 February 2013.

Many Firsts In India To The Credit Of Mahdi Hasan

  1. First in India to have obtained M.S. with Honours in Anatomy.
  2. First Anatomist of the Country to be selected by Govt. of India for German Academic Exchange Fellowship (DAAD) in 1965.
  3. First Anatomist of India to have learnt electron microscopy and published a large number of research papers using this technique from 1966 onwards.
  4. First and only Indian Anatomist to be chosen a Fellow of Alexander von-Humboldt Foundation (Germany).
  5. First to publish a new “in vivo” method of staining zinc (Experientia Switzerland) 1977.
  6. First Indian Anatomist to have earned both Ph.D. and D.Sc.
  7. First and only Indian Anatomist to be conferred both the Hari Om Ashram Alembic Award (1978) and Dr. B.C. Roy National Award (1991-92).
  8. First to establish an Interdisciplinary Brain Research Centre in India (1977).
  9. First Indian Anatomist to be appointed an Adviser in Neurotoxicology by WHO (Geneva).
  10. First Indian Anatomist who presided over the First Afro- Asian Oceana Congress of Anatomists organized by AIIMS, in September 1988 at Hotel Ashok, New Delhi.
  11. First and only Indian Anatomist to be appointed a member of the Governing Body of ICMR.
  12. First and only Indian Anatomist to be appointed chairman of the Medical Committee of the Indian Red Cross.
  13. First Indian Anatomist to be elected a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and also its Senior Scientist.
  14. First in India whose academic and social contributions comprise the main theme of a Malayalam Short Story “Jeevacchavangal” (Living Cadaver) by Punathil Kunjabdullah in 1972 (translated into Hindi, Urdu, English, French and Russian language) and won the gyanpeeth puraskar for the same.
  15. First Anatomist in recognition of whose meritorious contributions to clinical anatomy, a Gold Medal Award was instituted by the Anatomical Society of India in 1990 (continues till date).
  16. First and only Indian Anatomist to be awarded Padma Shri by Government of India.

Positions held :

  • Demonstrator in Anatomy, King George’s Medical College, Lucknow (06.11.1958 to 30.04.1963)
  • Lecturer in Anatomy, King George’s Medical College, (01.05.1963 to 17.10.1963)
  • Reader in Anatomy, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, AMU, Aligarh (18.10.1963 to 31.03.1972)
  • Professor of Anatomy, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, AMU, Aligarh (1972-1996)
  • Director, Interdisciplinary Brain Research Centre, JNMC, AMU, Aligarh (1980-1993)
  • Medical Superintendent JNMCH, AMU, Aligarh (1983- 1985)
  • Principal and Chief Medical Superintendent, JNMC, AMU, Aligarh (1984-1987)
  • Dean Students Welfare, AMU, Aligarh (1988-1989) Dean, Faculty of Medicine, JNMC, Aligarh (1991-1993)
  • Guest Faculty, Department of Anatomy, KG Medical College, Lucknow University (1997-1999)
  • Emeritus Medical Scientist ICMR, New Delhi INSA Senior Scientist (2003-2006)
    (1998-2001)
  • Member of NAAC (National and Accreditation Council of Govt. of India) Feb 2010
  • INSA Hon. Scientist, Dept. Of Anatomy, CSM Medical University,Lucknow (2006-2011)

President of :

  • Indian Academy of Neurosciences -1986
  • First Afro-Asian Oceana Congress of Anatomists held at Hotel Ashoka, organized by All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi -1988
  • Association of Gerontology-India -1992 -Anatomical Society of India.

Fellow of :

  • National Academy of Medical Science (India) [FAMS] -Indian National Science Academy [FNA]
  • National Academy of Sciences, India [FNAS]

Writer a is student, an aspiring painter & calligrapher

source: http://www.lucknowobserver.com / Lucknow Observer / Home> Others / by  Akansha / January 26th, 2015 – / The Lucknow Observer, Vol.1, Issue 10 / January 05th, 2015

Obituary – A Teacher of Teachers passes on

Amazing Feats, Education, Leaders, World Opinion, , , , , , , , , , ,

Gadayan, Akbarpur (earlier Faizabad (now) Ambedkar Nagar)  – Lucknow, UTTAR PRADESH :

Mahdi Hasan   (21 March 1936–12 January 2013)

Professor Mahdi Hasan (born in Gadayan village, Akbarpur, then in Faizabad, now Ambedkar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh) was Senior Honorary Scientist of the Indian National Science Academy; Honorary Professor, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow; and formerly Principal and Chief Medical Superintendent (1983– 87), Dean (1991–93) and Head of the Department of Anatomy, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh. He was an internationally renowned anatomist, a pioneering brain researcher and a reputed national expert of medical education. He had many firsts to his credit: he was the first in India to have obtained an MS with honours in anatomy; the first anatomist to be selected by the Government of India for the German Academic Exchange Fellowship (DAAD) in 1965; the only Indian anatomist to be chosen Fellow of Alexander von-Humboldt Foundation (Germany); the first Indian anatomist to be elected Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (FNA) and to be awarded the Padma Shri. Professor Hasan’s initial education was in Akbarpur (Faizabad). Life in Akbarpur was rather tough in those pre-Independence days as he had already lost his father when he was 4 years old and had been separated from his mother who was ill. However, this did not deter him from pursuing his life with zeal and devotion to his studies and dedication for sports. He used to study at night in the light of a kerosene lamp and play during the day in the fields of the village. He excelled in studies and was appreciated for his sporting prowess.

Professor Hasan did his Intermediate from Christian College, Lucknow and BSc I year from Lucknow University. In 1953, he was selected for MBBS at King George’s Medical College (KGMC), Lucknow. After graduation, Professor B.N. Sinha (then Head of Orthopaedics and also ex-president, Medical Council of India) persuaded him to join the Department of Orthopaedics. However, within a week of joining he went to Professor Sinha and told him that he wanted to teach and in this branch he would seldom get a chance to do so. Professor Sinha took him to his friend Professor Dharam Narain (Department of Anatomy). Dr Hasan joined the anatomy department as a demonstrator in 1958. The same year he got married to Abida Kazim, who was an MA in Urdu, a rare achievement at that time for a woman from a Muslim family. In 1962, he did his MS in anatomy with honours, and after briefly working as a lecturer at KGMC, Lucknow, in 1963 he moved to Aligarh as a Reader in anatomy. Continuing his pursuit of knowledge, he went to Germany in 1965. He not only learnt electron microscopy and worked on ageing with the renowned Professor (Dr) Paul Glees at the University of Gottingen, but also got an opportunity to learn German. Very few people know that he was an external examiner of the German language at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh for almost 17 years. Although in 1972 he was offered the citizenship of Germany, he politely declined and came back to India and established India’s first Interdisciplinary Brain Research Centre (IBRC) at Aligarh in 1980.

His persistent endeavour was to pursue basic medical research and his main thrust was to study problems of national relevance, such as environmental pollution, pesticide and metal neurotoxicity and brain ageing. His commitment and dedication to acquire and disseminate knowledge can also be judged from the fact that during the last 6 months of his life, when he was very seriously ill, he worked earnestly to complete a book on Treacher Collins Syndrome. He would sit for long hours with swollen legs kept on a stool writing the book, which he completed in December 2012, a month before his death. Fortunately, the book was published a few days before his death when he was in the intensive care unit. Dr Hasan, all through his illustrious academic career spanning around 55 years (1958–2013), fought a relentless battle and succeeded in giving a completely new orientation to the teaching of anatomy. Thousands of his former students, practising modern medicine around the globe, not only adored him but also respected his genius. Hundreds of them are professors/consultants in various specialties of medicine and surgery in India and abroad. His passion for teaching did not dip even after retirement. He continued to teach and do research and write for grants. He could take classes anywhere—even in corridors. Once at Aligarh Muslim University, a student asked him for time to seek some clarifications. Then and there on the street, using a bicycle seat as support for pen and paper, he spent over two hours explaining the matter to the student under street light.

Professor Hasan was a person who had utmost devotion, dedication and determination in acquiring, creating and disseminating knowledge. Seldom does one find a nucleus around which an institution is build, but it goes to the credit of Professor Mahdi Hasan that at least three premier medical institutions of North India will always fondly cherish his memory. KGMC will always remember him as its illustrious student and teacher; Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh will always remember him as an excellent, dedicated and devoted teacher; and Era’s Lucknow Medical College, Lucknow (a medical institution founded around him) will find it difficult to overlook its founder Director-Principal and Trustee.

Alas! This renowned medical teacher breathed his last at 6 p.m. on 12 January 2013 after fighting a relentless battle against cancer of the prostrate. His wife, Mrs Abida Mahdi died soon after on 24 February 2013.

ABBAS ALI MAHDI*

Department of Biochemistry,  King George’s Medical University ,Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh abbasalimahdi@gmail.com

source: http://www.archive.nmji.in / Archives – The National Medical Journal of India / Vol. No.26, No.2, 2013 / by Abbas Ali Mahdi

‘To have my son captain England in India. It couldn’t get any better’

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Chennai, TAMIL NADU / UNITED KINGDOM : 

AT HOME in Madras, Joe Hussain was very keen on the tour. He was a great Fred Trueman fan. He waited by the nets and asked one of the bowlers: “Is Mr Trueman here?” The great Fred had declined this particular passage to India. “Who’s Mr Trueman?” the other bowler sneered.

That memory may seem another world, another lifetime away for the smokey-haired 61-year-old who now presides over the bat-on-ball echoes of the Ilford Cricket School tucked proudly, if a touch shabbily, round the back of Beehive Lane just off the A12. But Joe Hussain has reasons for that pride.

And not just because his son, Nasser, is having a net and Joe’s young hopefuls are queuing up to bowl at the England captain.

“Cricket is so important in India,” he says. “Hockey used to be the number one sport but cricket has overtaken it by miles. Now it’s like a religion. But cricket fans are very knowledgeable and very welcoming. It’s like here,” he says, looking round the obviously mixed ethnic group on Thursday afternoon, “it brings people together.”

Cricket has been important to Joe. He scored a hundred for Madras University against Hyderabad before he came to England in 1960. Over here it helped him meet his wife, Shireen, at an Ilford game and when the couple returned to India for 10 years, cricketing memories of Joe batting for Madras at the Chepauk Stadium were among the early inspirations for the young Nasser Hussain.

“I didn’t want to over-push the boys,” says Joe, whose daughter, Benazir, trained at the Royal Ballet and is now a principal ballerina in Perth, Australia. “But cricket has been something of a passport. When Nasser had already got a maths scholarship to Forest School, our elder boy, Mel, went and scored a hundred against their first XI and Mr Foxall, the headmaster, came up at tea and said: “We must find a way to get him here too.”

All four siblings are now successes in their own field, but with cricket so ingrained in Hussain senior, it was with real angst that he faced the possible cancellation of a tour to his homeland following an England team captained by his son. “It was something quite unbelievable for me,” says Joe with a smile of the purest, most wistful paternal pleasure playing around his lips. “To have my son captain England in India. It couldn’t get any better.”

Then came September 11 and all that has followed. Joe, like everyone else, furrows his brow at the memory. “Of course the world has changed,” he says, “and no one should ever forget what happened. But life must go on. All my friends are ringing up from India saying, `Are they coming? Please tell them how welcome they will be.’ I think we just have to go. I just hope that the security arrangements are not so tight that they can’t go out and see what a wonderful country India is.”

“Besides,” he adds as the conversation is momentarily silenced by a particularly loud report from Nasser’s bat as he takes the gun to the bowling machine in the net over to the right of us, “it will be such a challenge for the lads. To bowl against Tendulkar, to bat against Kumble and Harbhajan Singh in their own country is a terrific test. No one here can imagine how big Tendulkar is in India. Far bigger than Beckham or any sportsman is over here. He and the others aren’t just stars, they’re like gods.”

Discussion of such celestial beings is delaying attendance on younger earthlings. Tom Yallop and Ricky Royds have already played for South of England Under-14s, Varun Chopra has been to an England Under-15 training course at Old Trafford and a local paper cutting on the noticeboard pictures him receiving his award as Ilford young player of the year from Nasser himself.

All three live locally, all three can see the natural progression from this elderly three-net hall to the great cricket arenas of the globe, which has already been made by the likes of Graham Gooch, John Lever, Nasser Hussain and now young James Foster.

“I took over here in 1990,” says Joe. “By then Nasser was already on his way and I promised myself I would produce another Test player. James Foster is just 21 and he’s going on the tour. I’m so proud of him.”

When Foster had that much publicised spat with Andy Flower in Zimbabwe a month ago, it was Joe who got on the phone to keep his spirits up. He would do just the same for any of the three, or indeed for the scores of boys and, more recently, girls who follow this ageing, Indian, chain- smoking Pied Piper to put cricket in their dreams. Cricket’s new money finds its way to many places infinitely less deserving than this old hall, where the outer wrapping is at so much variance to the gleaming spirit within.

On winter weekends the place is heaving, as indoor tournaments take their turn. For a while the kids were predominantly Asian, but Joe has noticed more white children coming to cricket as football’s intensity squeezes too much of the fun out of the game. But another crack from the far net reminds you that colour has nothing to do with it, and how proud we are to have England captained by an Englishman called Nasser Hussain.

So far Tom Yallop has been on tour to Taunton, Ricky Royds has been to Folkestone and Varun Chopra has done best with a school trip to Barbados.

“It was great,” says Varun, already pushing six feet at just 14 and restlessly flicking the ball around his wrist as he readied himself to bowl. “I didn’t score a lot of runs but I got among the wickets and when our keeper was injured, I had to do that too,” he said.

In truth, the three kids are not hanging too heavily on Joe’s words this afternoon. They want the chance to bowl at their hero. One day they, too, will hope to tour India and other foreign parts. In cricket it was ever thus.

Long may it remain.

source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk  / The Telegraph / Home> Sport> Cricket / by Brough Scott / November 10th, 2001

Maulana Mazharul Haque: A forgotten leader of Bihar

Amazing Feats, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, Leaders, World Opinion, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bihar, PATNA :

Maulana Mazharul Haque, the man who was a firm believer in complete Independence being “the birthright of every Nation”, has his birth place in office of a government run school that doubles as food storage.

Maulana Mazharul Haque was born to a rich landlord, Sheikh Ahmedullah, in Bahpura, Thana Bihta of Patna district on December 22nd, 1866. His primary education was at home by Maulvi Sajjad Hussain, but he passed his matriculation from the Patna Collegiate in 1886. He joined Canning College in Lucknow for higher studies but same year left for England to pursue a course in Law. He started legal practice in Patna after his return from England in 1891.

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He made a significant contribution to relief efforts launched during the famine in Saran district of Bihar in 1897. Maulana Mazharul Haque’s public life actually commenced with the creation of the Bihar Provincial Conference, a move he supported as he believed in the need for the constitution of Bihar as a separate province.

In 1906 Maulana was elected Vice Chairman of Bihar Congress Committee. Mazharul Haque helped organize the Home Rule Movement in Bihar and was its President in 1916. He actively participated in the Champaran Satyagraha for which he was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment.

Subsequently, when the Non Cooperation and Khilafat Movements were launched, Mazharul Haque gave up his lucrative legal practice and his elected post as member of the Imperial Legislative Council and turned all his efforts to the freedom struggle. By now, he was a firm believer in complete Independence being “the birthright of every Nation”.

Mazharul Haque was also a fervent believer in democratic decentralization and he organized the Panchayats in Saran district towards meeting this vision. He also made many requests for better educational facilities in Bihar, especially for free and compulsory primary education.

Maulana Mazharul Haque actively participated in anti-purdah movement launched in Bihar in response to the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920. Mahatma Gandhi sought to bring women also into mainstream politics, to strengthen the resistance against British rule as well as empower them to play a more active role in society. The purdah system espoused by Muslim and many Hindu families, especially in Bihar, meant that women remained behind men in all spheres of life.

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In 1919, he gave up and burnt his western attire to adopt traditional Muslim attire. He was given title of “Desh Bhushan Faqir Mazharul Haque”.

1920, he donated his 16 bigha land on Patna- Danapur road for Sadaqat Ashram and Vidya Peeth which served as college for students who left government colleges in response to Non-Cooperation Movement. Sadaqat Ashram played important role in Independence movement in Bihar.

Maulana also launched his weekly magazine “The Motherland” from Sadaqat Ashram. He also jailed for his articles in this magazine. Sadaqat Ashram continues to serve as headquarters of Bihar Congress. But it is a tragedy that even Congress do not remember the person who has given so much to the party. Till few years back, even Maulana picture was now where to be seen in the ashram.

Maulana was firm believer of Hindu-Muslim unity. His famous quote sums up his conviction, “Wheather we are Hindu or Musalmaan we are in the same boat, we must sail or sink together”.

When in London, Maulana established Anjuman Islamia. This brought Indians of various religion, region and sects under one umbrella. This was also place to discuss about India’s problem. Mahatma Gandhi first met Maulana Mazharul Haque in Anjuman Islamia, London.

Person who gave everything for the country has not got due recognition. Maulana donated the house where he was born, to start Madrasa and middle school within same compound in 1926. Idea behind establishing both in one campus was to promote communal harmony.

MazharulHaque03MPOs29jul2017

Now the very place where he was born is a principal office of government middle school. On the entrance door of principal office, a line is written in Hindi “Janam Kachh Maulana Mazharul ”(Birth place of Maulana Mazharul Haque). If you enter in the office apart from a picture of Maulana Mazharul Haque along side Dr. Rajender Prasad picture will not give any indication of place being birthplace of a person of such stature. Principal office house the ration for mid day meal scheme for the school apart from general school office stuff.

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But this is an improvement from before. Before this school structure was build in 2004, place he was born was used as a toiler for villagers after original structure fell down. Because of the effort for few locals, this place was cleaned up and school building was build and place was marked as birth place.

MazharulHaque05MPOs29jul2017

On December 22nd politicians do come to shower words of praise on Maualana’s contributions but the pity condition of place has not moved anyone. Their promise has remained promise till date.

While talking to TwoCircles.net, Md. Yusuf Khushidi, former HOD Urdu department, Patna University said, “Locals have been demanding to build Library or Technical Institute in that place to commemorate but so far nothing has materialised.”

Yusuf Khhurshidi who belongs to Bahpura added, it is unfortunate that for a person, who sacrificed every thing for the country has been forgotten so fast. Maulana foresightedness can be judged by the fact that Maulana had emphasized on the communal harmony, democratic decentralization and education right from early stage of his life. Maulana was also in the forefront in establishing Bihar state which was carved out of Bengal.

Echoing Yusuf Khurshidi sentiments, Dananjay Yadav also demanded a memorial should be built for the one of the tallest visionary leader of Bihar.

Maulana’s family is living a struggling life in obscurity. It is disheartening to see family of a person who sacrificed everything from career to wealth for the sake of county is left high and dry.

Next birthday of Maulana Mazharul Haque is a month away. I am sure VIPs will be lining up to pay respect especially in election year. Few fascinating speeches will be delivered and few promises will be made. Politicians are known to have short term memory. So those promises will be forgotten sooner than later.

People in India too have selective memory, only very few are remembered for their part in freedom struggle and rests are still struggling to get freedom from obscurity.

source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Indian Muslim / by M. Zajam, TwoCirlces.net / November 20th, 2009

Dr Syed Baker bags Young Scientist Award

Education, Leaders, World Opinion,

Mysuru, KARNATAKA :

DrSyedBakerMPOs26jul2017

City based researcher Dr Syed Baker has been conferred with Young Scientist Award by Siberian Federal University, Russia. Dr Syed is one among the seven candidates to have been awarded across the globe and one among three Indian with only researcher from Karnataka.

He has completed Ph.D in Microbiology from University of Mysore under the supervi­sion of Dr S Satish and was also honoured with Nation­al Post-Doctoral Fellowship from SERB Government of India under the supervision of Dr Nagendra Prasad, Depart­ment of Biotechnology and SJCE.

During his research tenure, he was also selected as ex­change research for Finland in 2013 which was awarded by CIMO, Government of Finland.

He was also awarded Senior Research Fellowship and Re­search Associate from Indian Council of Medical Research.

During his research stay he will be working on developing smart nonmaterial towards combating drug resistant mi­crobial pathogens.

source: http://www.citytoday.news / City Today / Home> Mysore / by Editor / June 03rd, 2016

Meet Mr Muscle Man Wasim Khan. This Bodybuilder Just Won Huge Titles For India

Amazing Feats, Sports, World Opinion, , , , , ,

NEW DELHI :

Indian bodybuilder Wasim Khan has won the International Bodybuilding Fitness Federation (IBFF) championship held recently on June 21 at Koper Slovenia, Slovenia

Khan not only won gold medal  in one category but also won the overall title. In total, he won three medals. About 350 body builders from 37 countries participated in this event.

Source: Sahara Samay
Source: Sahara Samay

The Indian bodybuilding team created history at the World Championships by winning four titles. Suresh Kadam who is the general secretary of IBFF said that it was the first time in bodybuilding that the Indian team had performed so well and also bagged the most coveted title of ‘Mr World’.

Khan will be aiming for Mr Olympia next, which happens to be the most coveted title in bodybuilding. Kadam also said that Khan has the potential to win the coveted title of Mr. Olympia.

Khan said , “I want to thank all my fans who always there for me in my tough times and Allah who gave me power to move forward to follow my passion (sic).” He thanked his wife by saying that she was the only person who believed in him and supported him throughout his struggle in his career.

Source: Sahara Samay
Source: Sahara Samay

He was also thankful to India for providing him opportunity to showcase his talent.

This is not the first time that Khan has made the nation proud. Last year he had won ‘Mr Universe’ title at IBFF event in Rome.

Two other Indian bodybuilders, Sashi Kumar and Tarun Dutta, also won silver medal in their respective categories.

We congratulate Khan and the Indian bodybuilding team for this landmark victory.  Here’s to more six packs!

source: http://www.scoopwhoop.com / Scoop Whoop / Home / by Saswat Singhdeo / July 06th, 2015

Meet Saad Nasser, 14-year Old Start-up Founder Building World’s First Autonomous Truck

Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Leaders, Science & Technology, Transport, World Opinion, , ,

Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :

Co-founder of Ati Motors, Saad Nasser hopes to release his first autonomous goods vehicle prototype in the next 2 years

14-year old Saad Nasser's start-up is building an autonomous goods vehicle
14-year old Saad Nasser’s start-up is building an autonomous goods vehicle

Saad Nasser, all of 14 years old, is no ordinary teen. Having read books on Java before the age of 5 and learnt C++ programming by the age of 7, Saad is a self-taught child prodigy with a lot to talk about. Saad is the co-founder of an autonomous vehicle start-up called Ati Motors, based out of Bangalore and is aiming to build the world’s first autonomous goods vehicle. But there is one more twist to this. This will be not like your regular goods vehicle but designed to offer the maneuverability of a two wheeler vehicle in order to run it on hilly areas apart from campuses.

Saad has been a winner at the Intel IRIS Science Fair 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016. His project on tiled processors won him the Sam Pitroda Award for Research and Creativeness as the best project of the fair.

BOOM caught up with Saad at the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum where we spoke to him about his entrepreneurial journey at such a young age.

source: http://www.boomlive.in  / Boom / Home> Uncategorized  / by Jency Jacob / February 24th, 2017

How An Act Of Kindness By An Indian-Origin Muslim Helped A Man To Become Top Jurist In South Africa

Community Involvement / Social Issues, NRI's / PIO's, World Opinion,

SOUTH AFRICA :

An Indian-origin shopkeeper based in South Africa became an overnight sensation after the new deputy chief justice recalled his generosity over four decades ago when he was looking for a loan to fund his studies.

TWITTER
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Suleman Bux, 76, who at that time ran a small general store in Ixopo town, had forgotten about the young man with whom he had struck a deal to be a good student by giving him groceries for his family so that they could save what they would have spent on this for his studies.

Judge Raymond Zondo, 57, who has been recently appointed as the Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, recalled how he had sceptically approached Bux when he started his studies in 1981, unsure of whether he or anyone else would give a loan to a 20-year-old man.

Zondo approached Bux, without telling his family and helped him with groceries for his family.

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Suleman Modan @Figjamfan

Reunion after over 30 years, Judge Raymond Zondo & Suleman Bux 😀 Absolutely love this..Faith In Humanity Restored😎@KhayaZondo73 –  ✌🙏

Zondo’s emotional video at his installation to the second highest judicial post in the country recently went viral as he recalled Bux’s influence on his life, expressing a desire to meet him again after the fasting month of Ramadan was over.

Zondo met with Bux and his extended family to thank him personally. Bux shrugged off the huge media attention.

“He gave me a very nice watch, which was very generous. I was moved by the gesture,” Bux told local media, adding that he had not expected the issue to have received as much attention as it did.

After he began earning, Zondo tried to repay Bux but the shopkeeper, who is still running a wholesale store, told Zondo to rather finance some other young students.

“I helped him because it was the right thing to do. As a Muslim, helping others is important, but you do it because you want to, not because you want recognition and for everyone to know,” Bux added.

source: http://www.indiatimes.com / Indiatimes.com / Home> News> India / IndiaTimes / July 11th, 2017

22nd Asian Athletics C’ship: India’s Muhammed Anas grabs gold

Sports, World Opinion, , , ,

Nilamel (Kollam District) KERALA :

MdAnasMPOs11jul2017

India’s Muhammed Anas won a Gold and Rajiv Arokia took a Silver in Men’s 400m event at the 22nd Asian Athletics Championship here.

“I am very happy, this medal win will further motivate us,” Anas said, after achieving the feat.

Indian sprinter Dutee Chand won Bronze medal in 100m Women’s finals, while Nirmala Sheoran won gold in women’s 400m.

Tejinder Pal won Silver in shot put category.

India’s Ajay Kumar Saroj won gold in Men’s 1500m event, while P.U. Chitra won gold in women’s 1500m event.

Unfortunately, Indian sprinter Amiya Mallick got disqualified from the 100m men’s semi-final for a false start.

The Asian Championships winner gets automatic berth for the World Championships to be held in 22ndWorld Championships

-ANI

source: http://www.catchnews.com / Catch News / Home> Other Sports News / by News Agencies / ANI / July 08th, 2017

Chronicler of the mundane: Ranjith Kally documenting Indians in the anti-apartheid movement

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, NRI's / PIO's, World Opinion, , , , ,

SOUTH AFRICA :

Born into a family of ‘coolie Indians’, Ranjith Kally was important in documenting the role of Indians in the anti-apartheid movement

Monty Naicker, Nelson Mandela, and Yusuf Dadoo at the Treason Trial, Pretoria, 1958.
Monty Naicker, Nelson Mandela, and Yusuf Dadoo at the Treason Trial, Pretoria, 1958.

For most Indians with some awareness of the history of South Africa, India’s connection with the country begins and ends with Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. As Nelson Mandela famously put it, India sent Mohandas to South Africa and received a ‘Mahatma’.

If the province of Natal was one of several places around the globe where the epic of Indian indentured labour was writ large, South Africa was nearly distinct as the site of an unusual and inspiring solidarity between black people and Indians in the equally epic struggle against racial oppression. Photojournalist Ranjith Kally, who died at the age of 91 in Johannesburg this June, was the great chronicler of both Indian life in Natal and the resistance to apartheid.

Kally was born near Durban in 1925 into a family of ‘coolie Indians’. His grandfather worked on a sugar plantation; his father, likewise, left for the fields early every morning. As was common in his generation, Kally was educated only up to Class VI. He worked in a shoe factory for 15 years and stumbled upon a Kodak Postcard camera at a rummage sale. In 1956, Kally procured a job as a photographer with Drum, a magazine that had been launched to give expression to the lives of black and coloured people.

Chronicling a struggle

Kally’s first photographs of anti-apartheid figures would be taken in the late 1950s. One of his favourite subjects was Monty Naicker, an Indian who trained as a doctor before turning to political activism. At a break during Pretoria’s Treason Trial in 1958, Kally captured Naicker with a young Mandela and the venerable communist leader Yusuf Dadoo in the background. Kally’s many photographs of Fatima Meer, another titanic figure in the anti-apartheid struggle, furnish insights both into how women assumed political roles in the public sphere and the little-discussed role of South African Indian Muslims in shaping secular narratives of freedom.

MeersMPOs11jul2017

In one photograph, taken in the early 60s, Kally seated Meer’s daughters, Shamin, Shehnaaz and Rashid, around their buoyant-looking mother in Durban’s Botanical Gardens. The photograph was intended for Ismail, Meer’s husband, who was then in detention, as a keepsake of his family. There is no hint here of anxiety, fear, or the oppressiveness of racial terror. But Meer was also godmother to Nelson and Winnie Mandela’s children, giving them a home and hope at a time of despair.

Kally knew better than most that the story of the anti-apartheid struggle was not only one, or even mainly, of ‘great’ figures. In a rigidly racist society, the occasions for transgression were many and the outcome generally was painful for those animated by the desire for equality and social justice. The anti-miscegenation laws were severe, but, as one of Kally’s most stunning photographs shows, this did not prevent Syrub Singh and the dazzling Rose Bloom (seen emerging from a court hearing) from joining hands in matrimony.

Courting the everyday

What is striking in Kally’s large and still largely unknown body of work is his attentiveness to the quotidian life of Indians in and around Durban. Close to half a century after the end of the indentured system, the greater majority of Indians still lived below the bread line. In one photograph, an Indian woman scrubs dishes outside a group of shacks; a very young girl, clutching a toddler, stands by her side. Kally closely observed young Indian boys and girls working in the cane fields.

His 1957 photograph, ‘Children Gotta Work’, is illustrative of not only Kally’s approach to the grittiness of Indian life in Natal but of the self-reflexivity in much of his work. Four Indian children, some unmistakably teenagers, are on their way to work in the fields. Shovels are flung across their shoulders; two of them firmly grasp lunch boxes in their hands. They walk barefooted in the morning light. The photograph resonates with pictures of Partition, but there are also shades of the historic march of Indian miners from Natal to the Transvaal in 1913. Workers on the move, the daily walk, the look of determination: all this is part of the ensemble.

I didn’t know Kally well enough to say whether he was a man of sunny optimism, but his photographs nevertheless suggest an eye for the whimsical and a zest for life. The whimsical touch is nowhere better captured than in his photograph of a boy with a large tortoise on his head.

The wide grin on the boy’s face reveals the unmistakable fun he is having in ferrying his slow-moving companion. The boldest expression of this element of joie de vivre in Kally’s work is a photograph called ‘The Big Bump’. Two men, both amply endowed at the waist, are rubbing against each other. Each man seems to be saying, ‘My tummy is larger than yours, and all the better for it.’ Kally’s camera paves the way for understanding the extraordinariness of the ordinary.

That is not an inconsiderable gift.

Professor of History at UCLA, the author has the distinction of being listed among the 101 Most Dangerous Professors in America.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> Spotlight – History & Culture / by Vinay Lal / July 08th, 2017