Category Archives: World Opinion

Familiar echoes

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, World Opinion, , , , , ,

NEW DELHI  :

BahadurShah01MPOs30June2017

THE LIFE & POETRY OF BAHADUR SHAH ZAFAR By Aslam Parvez,
Hay House, Rs 599

This has happened before. When Mahmood Farooqui’s Besieged: Voices from Delhi 1857 was published in 2010, the “voices” of the desperate Dilliwallahs, caught in the throes of a revolt that was not really theirs, sounded strangely familiar. They had been heard in William Dalrymple’s tour de force, The Last Mughal, published four years before Farooqui’s tome came out.

Ather Farouqui’s translation of Aslam Parvez’s seminal work on Bahadur Shah Zafar evokes the same feeling. This is a Zafar we know — a tragic figure undoubtedly, but also one heroic in the midst of adversity, stoic in the face of incomparable loss and grief; a fine poet, humanist and an upholder of the best of the traditions and values that the Mughal court had engendered. Only that Dalrymple’s evocative prose and writing style had done more to popularize the last of the great Mughals than any other piece of work has done for him.

The reason voices and pictures recur is because the works mentioned above conscientiously tapped into long-neglected primary and secondary Persian and Urdu sources that give a very different perspective on Zafar and the Revolt than the conventional viewpoint. Mahmood Farooqui’s research into the Mutiny Papers, written in Shikastah Urdu, threw light on the harrowing experience of the people of Delhi and the personal tragedies that severely dented the picture of the Revolt as a ‘war of independence’. Parvez’s research recovered Zafar’s image and reinstated him as an aesthete, a poet and an iconic figure of the cultural efflorescence that marked the late Mughal era. These independent researches that broke new ground went on to inform, shape and colour Dalrymple’s presentation, which took the story to the large English readership. More than three decades after Parvez had published Zafar’s biography in Urdu, Ather Farouqui’s translation tries to reach the same readership, which, incidentally, heard it all from Dalrymple first.

But Parvez’s treatment of Zafar has a unique flavour. He draws a distinction between Bahadur Shah Zafar the emperor and Zafar the poet. He is unsparing when it comes to the former. Although Parvez acknowledges that the emperor was a victim of his circumstances, reduced to the indignity of having to repeatedly petition the British for his upkeep, the author puts the blame for the last Mughal’s penury on his greed. The ways devised by Zafar’s court to tide over the cash crunch — selling of titles, access to the emperor made easy on payment, his indiscriminate borrowings from the laity — make for incredible reading. What Parvez makes obvious is that even without the Revolt, the British would have made sure that Zafar was the last Mughal to hold fort.

Parvez believes that although Zafar was unwillingly dragged into the war of 1857, once he had committed himself to it, he remained steadfast in his commitment. Dalrymple pictures it differently though. In his narrative, Zafar is withdrawn, confused and often vacillating. But the aspect Dalrymple powerfully highlights in The Last Mughal is one that Parvez repeatedly draws attention to as well — Zafar identifying himself with the suffering of the Dilliwallahs and his powerful determination to retain the secular fabric of Delhi under the severest of pressures, one that led him to ban cow slaughter even on the eve of Eid. In fact, it was to save his beloved city that Zafar took charge of the Mutiny in Delhi.

The other point that Parvez makes is that irrespective of their interests, the British were not completely unresponsive to Zafar’s needs. As proof, he points to his treatment post-Mutiny, particularly that on the way to and in Rangoon. Perhaps Parvez stretches his case a bit. Zafar is known to have been denied even pen and paper in exile. For a poet, this would have meant instant death.

Parvez’s treatment of Zafar as a poet is very different from his treatment of Zafar as an emperor. He makes a strong case for Zafar’s poetic credentials, demolishing Mohammad Husain Azad’s contention that Zafar’s poetry was ghost-written by Mohammad Ibrahim Zauq, who was appointed by Zafar himself to supervise his work. Parvez delves deep into contemporary evidence and compares literary styles to make his case. Whatever Zafar’s failings as a ruler, his calibre as a poet is something Parvez has no doubts about. Acknowledging Zafar’s limitations, Parvez says, “Zafar was like the sinking notes of music while Ghalib was the rising crescendo.”

Ather Farouqui rightly notes the significance of translating Parvez’s work. Given its importance in drawing attention to the “civilizational comingling” of the times that India is now so close to forgetting, he should have been more careful with the work. But he is not. Take his rendition of the poetry, be that of Shah Alam, Zauq or Zafar. Of the many that sound jarring is the following one by Zafar: Tori mariz-e gham ne tere is tarha se jaan/ Ghabra ke ghamgusar sarahne se uth gae (“The way the lovelorn breathed his last/ Startled sympathizers, they jumped their feet with a start”).

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Front Page> Opinion> Story / by Chirosree Basu / Friday – June 30th, 2017

From Fergana to Delhi

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

NEW DELHI :

BaburMPOs18jun2017

A Babur-focussed Uzbeki cultural project is using a common heritage to create a dialogue.

In July 1501, the great-great-greatgrandson of Timur (Tamerlane), Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur — the founder of Mughal empire — left his home in Fergana Valley in present day Uzbekistan. Five hundred years on, the Uzebki government is tracing his journey to India and his Indian connections as part of Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in Art Collections of the World project which began last year.

An effort to piece together the country’s history, researchers are connecting with international museums documenting the antiquity and artifacts connected to them. Till date, the Uzebki government has released 10 volumes and several short films on the cultural legacy of Uzbekistan with the help of information from leading museums in Russia, North America and Australia. “What they are doing is a first. They are not raising a dispute or demanding return of any antiquity. Instead, they are taking a holistic approach — using the common heritage to create a dialogue instead of stoking controversy,” says independent commentator Shashtri Ramachandaran, who participated in a two-day congress on the study organised by the Uzbek government.

An average Indian will be more familiar with United Kingdom, having followed their parliamentary and administrative methods or would be familiar with the cultural milieu of the United States, having developed an appetite for American TV shows. But barring academics, few are aware of the shared heritage between India and Uzbekistan that spans across centuries. A team of researchers from Uzebkistan visited the National Museum this April to piece together this lost history. “Their aim is to document material related to the Mughal era primarily. Once they present a formal proposal which is vetted by the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Culture, they can start documenting work,” said Dr BR Mani, Director General, National Museum, who met with the Uzbekistan’s Ambassador last week to discuss the project.

The Uzbeki interest in the founder of the Mughal dynasty comes at a curious time, given that Babur’s successor Aurangzeb’s name was removed unceremoniously off Delhi’s roads for being an “invader”. Union Minister V K Singh even suggested that his grandfather Akbar should meet with a similar fate. In February this year, the BJP-led government in Rajasthan backed a proposal to rewrite history taught at the university level to attest that Rajput warrior-king Maharana Pratap won the Battle of Haldighati against Akbar’s Mughal army led by general Man Singh, despite historical evidence suggesting otherwise. In the same vein, RSS ideologue Indresh Kumar recently suggested that Babur and his army general Mir Baqi should be tried in court for destroying Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

History suggests that Babur lived in India for only four years and died at the age of 47 in 1530 after successfully ousting Ibrahim Lodhi (in the Battle of Panipat in 1526). But his legacy lived on. The Babri Masjid demolition in December 1992 triggered the campaign to decry the Mughals as invaders. “Labeling the Mughals as “invaders” is bogus, historically. But Hindu nationalists do not use this label as a historical claim,” says Professor Audrey Truscke, who received severe backlash over her recent book Aurangzeb: the Man and the Myth. She adds that maligning Mughals is only a means to fuel “anti-Muslim sentiment in the present”. “It is a shameful business, especially at a time when vigilante violence against Muslims is on the rise,” she adds.

Babur was not Indian, even less an Uzbeki. He tried at least thrice to win Samarkhand but failed. “Babur took Samarkand one last time with help from the Safavids of Persia in 1513. However, as he had to publicly acknowledge his support for Qizilbash Shiism, his subjects turned against him,” explains Professor Ali Anooshahr from the History Department of the University of California.

During his time in India, Babur influenced architecture, culture, warfare and even introduced Indians to the sweet melons of Fergana. When Babur reached India, he was disappointed that the only fruit available was mango. It is said that he personally monitored planting of watermelons and musk melons. “In Babarnama, Babur writes about the apricots and pomegranates of Marghilan, fruit trees of Isfara, the melons of Bukhara, and the apples of Samarkand. He also recalled with pleasure, the various flowing rivers and brooks in that region,” adds Prof Anooshahr.

At the museum, the Uzbeki experts are particularly interested in manuscripts of the Holy Quran, scribed in Uzbekistan, which were presented to the Mughal emperors, as is evident from the royal seals on the cover page. Also of interest are 15 illustrated folios of the Baburnama. He wrote his autobiography in Chagatai language, the spoken language of the Andija-Timurids. It was during the reign of Akbar that the work was completely translated in Persian. According to Prof Anooshahr, the most comprehensive copy of the original is the Hyderabad manuscript. “Although I do not know where exactly that copy is located right now,” he adds.

The Uzbeki researchers are now looking at sources beyond the National Museum. “It is gratifying to realize that the culture of such a great country is connected with ours. We are planning to publish a couple of albums in India, depending on the results of our work,” said Professor Andrey Zybkin, the Uzbeki project coordinator.

Few sites of the Babur era have stood the test of time. Some of them include, West Delhi’s Babur era mosque, the Babri Masjid and Ram Bagh in Agra. But it is not just the Mughal era that is of interest. India and Uzbekistan go as far back as the Kushan Dynasty. The Kushan Empire, spanning an area of 37 lakh kilometres, extended from Bihar to southern Uzbekistan. It was an era when the Indian sub-continent saw extraordinary exchange of art and ideas. “At present we do not have first-hand information on the Kushan period artifacts found in Uzbekistan. It will be interesting to see how the pottery, social behaviour and culture changed from Fergana valley to Mathura,” Dr Mani added.

Apart from the Mughals and Kushans, there are other points of convergence between the two nations. Gujaratis had close trade ties with Uzbekis, so did Parsis and Armenian Christians. Professor A K Pasha from JNU explains that somewhere this search for their history is part of a “resurgence of old identity”. “For years, the Uzbeki culture was subjugated and overpowered by Russians. The Islamic feeling is growing which is why they want to resurrect their old identity,” explains Pasha.

source: http://www.mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com / Mumbai Mirror / Home> Others> Sunday Read / by Sobhana K Nair, Mumbai Mirror / June 18th, 2017

Ramadan on the North Dakota Prairie – Forging an American-Muslim Experience

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, NRI's / PIO's, Science & Technology, World Opinion,

Hyderabad, TELANGANA / North Dakota, USA :

The author, his wife and three children circa late 1970s in North Dakota.
The author, his wife and three children circa late 1970s in North Dakota.

This is Day 22 of the 2017 #30Days30Writers Ramadan series – June 17, 2017

by Syed Husain

It was in the summer of 1976, following my post-doctoral assignment at Stanford Research Institute in California, I was offered a faculty position at University of North Dakota, School of Medicine. Although it was a tempting offer, leaving San Francisco and moving to Grand Forks with three small children was a difficult thing to consider.

Recalling the Persian proverb, “Mulk-e-Khuda Tang Neest, Pa-e-mera Lung Neest” (The Kingdom of God has no limits and no broken legs do I have to limit my travel), I decided to accept this offer – though I knew a Muslim community to draw on for support in North Dakota would be virtually nil.

A leap of faith indeed, but as a Muslim, I had a firm belief in my Creator and my destiny.

As we started our journey across the country, it was full of amusement and excitement. We only had ourselves to rely on – myself, my wife, and my three children, ages seven, four and one. The passage through Yosemite with tall redwoods, the majestic Grand Tetons, the enchanting Yellowstone National Park, the amazing Mount Rushmore and the Badlands was an experience to behold.

Finally, we arrived in the small college town of Grand Forks. And, we found the people of this land of Aurora Borealis, sun-dogs, snow and tumble-weed to be friendly, hospitable and compassionate.

After settling in the faculty housing, my priority was to find out how many Muslims, including students, were on campus. As the Ramadan was approaching, I wondered if they had facilities to pray and observe Ramadan. Surprisingly, I found only one another Muslim faculty and a handful of students with no place to worship. Later, I located four more families in a radius of fifty miles from Grand Forks that became the “core group” of Muslims in the area.

In this isolation, as Ramadan arrived, we made frantic calls to Chicago, Montreal, Minneapolis and Winnipeg to confirm the sighting of the moon. To determine the duration of fast and follow the fiqh ruling, we decided to follow the times in Winnipeg, the closest city with a sizable Muslim population. Those were long days — we were fasting for 19 hours a day with the sun setting around 9:45 p.m.

The University had appointed me as Muslim Faculty Adviser, and I was able to get space in the student union for our Jummah prayers and iftars. This small community had no provision for halal meat and no place to buy spices and other ingredients to prepare our food. A good Samaritan in the community located a farmer, who helped us sacrifice a heifer or a black angus.

This farmer became the source our halal meat supply for the rest of our stay (15 years) in North Dakota. Families would share the meat and drive to Winnipeg or as far as Chicago to get condiments and other supplies. The spouses in this small core group got together and started preparing meals, iftar and sahoor for their families and for students as well on weekends. We began to feel the baraka (blessings) of Ramadan in this newly formed community.

Fasting was difficult, but we managed and grew closer as a family (and as a married couple) in doing so. When we finally made it to iftar time around 9:45 p.m. and broke our fast, my wife and I (we were the only ones fasting in our family in the ‘70s) were grateful. Our children would beg us to take them to McDonald’s for ice cream after we prayed Maghreb and ate dinner, around 10:30 p.m. at night, but it was hard to get the energy to do so.

The nights we rallied and took them were very special to all of us – small treats that meant so much to our children and to us.

The summer season in North Dakota is short, sweet and very precious. It was amazing to see farmers busy harvesting crops under floodlights into the wee hours of the night. Our neighborhood on the outskirts of Grand Forks bordered a large farming field. The rumbling noise of trucks hauling beetroot and sunflower seeds were a reminder to us to get up for our sahoor.

I recalled my childhood days back in Hyderabad, India, when at sahoor time hawkers pass through Muslim neighborhoods singing local folklore, breaking the quiet of the night as these trucks did and reminding the community that sahoor time was soon to end.

Our children (and the daughter of one other Muslim family in town) were the only Muslim students in their schools. The school authorities were kind, compassionate and understanding. They were cognizant of the Islamic principles and provided our children with a private bathing facility and a place to worship. This was back in the 1980s in an educational community that probably had never seen or interacted with Muslim kids before.

Alhamdulillah, this conducive, inclusive and inter-faith understanding of the teachers and the school district authorities nurtured a healthy, positive civic atmosphere and a sense of belonging for our children. Our children use to wait eagerly for the arrival of Ramadan and for the celebration of two Eids.

These occasions were a real source of joy to these few host Muslim families and their children and to the small group of students. We celebrated Eids in a church, in an International Students’ Home on campus and in our homes.

This was our Little Mosque on the Prairie much before the celebrated television show.

This was our forging of an American-Muslim experience in a community that sometimes didn’t understand us, but developed friendships and deep relationships with us based on love, kindness and mutual respect.

In our sojourn of 15 years (1976-1991) in North Dakota, we also saw swings in the population of Muslim students and in the community due to graduations, termination of University of North Dakota’s Pilot Training programs with Gulf Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines and faculty transfers/retirements. In recent years, the economy of North Dakota has improved greatly due to oil exploration in Williston Basin.

The city of Fargo (one of the largest cities in North Dakota, about an hour away from Grand Forks) has seen a sizeable number of Muslim immigrants arriving. The city of Grand Forks also has its share and has seen a surge in new arrivals. We wish them all a Happy Ramadan and Eid Mubarak.

Syed Husain, Ph.D. is a retired professor of Pharmacology at the School of Medicine, University of North Dakota and a retired Scientific Review Administrator at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. He now has eight grandchildren forging their own American-Muslim experience.

source:  http://www.patheos.com / Patheos / Home> altmuslim / by Syed Asif, Guest Contributor / June 17th, 2017

Muslims keep alive Kolkata’s Jewish schools, stores and traditions

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

Kolkata, WEST BENGAL :

Muslim girls, some in the burqa and some in the regular uniforms, leave the Jewish Girls School in Calcutta.
Muslim girls, some in the burqa and some in the regular uniforms, leave the Jewish Girls School in Calcutta.

Editor’s Note : Anik Basu is a Kolkata-based independent journalist.

Kolkata, India (CNN) :

When Mitana Alexander bid goodbye to Kolkata’s Jewish Girls School in 1975, she was its last Jewish student. The bulk of the others were Muslims.

But it was not the steady influx of Muslim girls in the preceding two decades that moved Alexander’s parents to take her out of the school, she says.
They were worried because she was last remaining occupant of a Jews-only dormitory, as most Jewish girls they had known had migrated to Israkel, America or Europe “with their folks.”
“They (school authorities) had to retain a matron just for me,” recalls Alexander, now aged 50. “I would be alone in the dormitory at night and my parents started panicking. Muslims had nothing to do with my leaving.”
Author-scholar Jael Silliman, whose children are settled in the US, says development in India and the outside world in the 1940s-50s led to an exodus of Jews from Calcutta.
Author-scholar Jael Silliman, whose children are settled in the US, says development in India and the outside world in the 1940s-50s led to an exodus of Jews from Calcutta.
Distinctly Kolkata
The swelling ranks of Muslim girls in the Jewish school offer a glimpse into the deep ties between Kolkata’s Muslim and once-thriving Jewish community.
More than 1,200 of the nearly 1,400 students are Muslims, as is the school’s vice principal and half the faculty.
The change began in the 1950s, when there were not enough Jewish families needing an institution set up specifically to instil Jewish values.
As Jewish enrollment petered out, the authorities decided to admit children of other faiths. The biggest response came from the Muslims of nearby areas.
Aileen Jo Cohen (foreground) and Mitana Alexander talk to Muslim caretakers at one of Calcutta's three synagogues.
Aileen Jo Cohen (foreground) and Mitana Alexander talk to Muslim caretakers at one of Calcutta’s three synagogues.
Today, there is very little “Jewish” about the school, save for perhaps its name, the Star of David on the school gates, the school uniform and notebooks, and portraits of Jewish patrons on the walls.
Authorities have made available a “changing room” for Muslim girls whose parents frown upon their stepping out in public in school skirts.
These students leave home in the burqa, change into their uniforms once in school, and put on the burqa when leaving. “Our parents don’t like it if we bare our legs,” says senior student Zara Ahmed, 17.
“The school has come to symbolize Jewish-Muslim harmony in Kolkata,” says managing trustee Aileen “Jo” Cohen.
The harmony is visible elsewhere too; the city’s three synagogues — the smallest of which boasts of more chairs in its prayer hall than there are Jews in Kolkata — are looked after by Muslim caretakers.
Muslims also help with the dressing of bodies for Jewish burials and outside the Magen David Synagogue, Muslim bangle sellers wearing the topi (the Muslim prayer cap), have set up kiosks on the bustling footpath.
“The close ties and positive working relationships between Muslims and Jews are deeply rooted in the local context of Kolkata,” says Jael Silliman, 62, a city-born Jewish scholar and author, and a former Associate Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Iowa.
Exiting Kolkata
The first Jew to arrive in Kolkata, on August 4, 1798, was Shalom Ha-Cohen. A native of Aleppo, Syria, Shalom was initially the court jeweler to a Muslim prince in northern India.
Shalom’s prosperity attracted other Jews from West Asia. According to community records, the population of Jews “of Arabic disposition” expanded to 600 by the 1830s. That number stood at around 4,000 when India gained independence from British rule in 1947.
However, soon after the community started emigrating en mass, beginning the end of a 200-year association with the city.
“A combination of national and global events in the ’40s and ’50s led to a very rapid dissolution of the community,” says Silliman, whose two daughters settled in the US.
With India’s independence, British settlers began returning to England, Israel came into being in May 1948, and the fledgling Indian government’s Socialist policies were perceived as not being conducive to business.
Muslim workers at the 115-year-old Nahoum's confectionary, founded and owned by Jews, in downtown Calcutta.
Muslim workers at the 115-year-old Nahoum’s confectionary, founded and owned by Jews, in downtown Calcutta.
 Today, the number of Jews in Kolkata stands at 22, the middle-aged Alexander being probably the youngest.
And it is left to the likes of the Jewish Girls School Vice-Principal Abeda Razeq to keep those ties alive.
Her father’s best friend at college was a Jew, whose family runs the 115-year-old confectionary store Nahoum’s, and their friendship, which continued beyond college, first exposed Razeq to Jewish culture.
The two families exchanged gift hampers during their respective festivals and Razeq learnt of the similarities and differences between kosher and halal cuisine.
She even helped out at Nahoum’s at Easter and Christmas: a Muslim girl at a Jewish bakery wrapping cakes during Christian festivals in a predominantly Hindu city.
The Nahoum family has shrunk to just one member now, who spends much of his time abroad, and the workers — many of them Muslims — run the show.
Razeq did her dissertation on Kolkata’s unique Jewish-Muslim relationship, and wishes she had the time to complete her doctorate on it.
“It’s a rich subject,” she says.
source: http://www.edition.cnn.com / CNN / Home> Region> Asia / by Anik Basu / June 16th, 2017

Carving out a space for himself

Amazing Feats, Education, Science & Technology, World Opinion, , , , , ,

Pallapatti / Chennai , TAMIL NADU :

(From left) Zahid Husain, Alhaj A. Mohammed Ashraf, Mohamed Rifath Shaarook Raaj and Amanullah Shah | Photo Credit: special arrangement
(From left) Zahid Husain, Alhaj A. Mohammed Ashraf, Mohamed Rifath Shaarook Raaj and Amanullah Shah | Photo Credit: special arrangement

Mohamed Rifath has just joined a physics undergraduate course at New College, but his classmates and teachers are seeing him as a star scientist. Read on and find out why

Can you imagine a fresher receiving a rousing welcome at his college, on the day of joining? When Mohamed Rifath Shaarook Raaj recently joined the B.Sc Physics stream of New College, he was being accorded a reception befitting a celebrity. Not only that, the secretary and correspondent of the college, A. Mohammed Ashraf, had waived off his fee for the undergraduate course, and also promised that the college would take care of his education till he completed his Ph.D.

Rifath, 18 years old, is the Lead Scientist of Space Kidz India (SKI), a Chennai-based organisation promoting students’ research in science and working towards making science accessible to students. Rifath is part of a team that has designed a satellite, which is expected to be launched into space on 21 June, 2017 from the NASA Wallops Space Flight Facility, Virginia, at no cost.

Major Zahid Husain, principal of the college, said that fellow students should emulate this young scientist and that it was a great honour for the college to enrol him. The student scientist has not only taken the local educationalists by storm but even the judges and directors of Colorado Space Grans Consortium were awe-struck by his experiment. Thus his satellite (supported by his team-mates) is planned to be launched into space on June 21, 2017 from NASA Wallops Space Flight Felicity, Virginia at no cost.

“NASA and I doodle Learning Inc. conducted a space challenge called ‘Cubes in Space’. Students have to design an experimental satellite which will help develop space technology. The best-designed satellite will get a sub-orbital space flight to real space on a NASA Rocket. Being a member of the NASA Kids Club, I learnt about this challenge and decided to design together with my team, an experimental satellite that will fit inside a 4cm cube and weigh 64 grams with +/- 1 gram limit (neither high nor less since it may affect the centre of gravity). Apart from creating just a payload, we wanted to design, build and launch a full satellite within a 4cm cube with a mass of 64 grams,” he explains.

Rifath, who hails from Pallapatti in Tamil Nadu, completed his schooling from Crescent Matriculation School, scoring 62.5% in the higher secondary board exams, and wants to emulate former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

“It all started when I was chided for making paper rockets; so I was determined to make a real one. I participated in the first edition of Young Scientist-2013 conducted by Space Kidz India and met its director Srimathy. I participated till the third edition of Young Scientist, even though I didn’t win but she noticed my talent. Then, I joined the organisation. My initial project with SKI was making a balloon-satellite with NSLV (Near Space Launch Vehicle) which was a huge success and we got into the Limca Book of Records and became the first private company in India to launch an NSLV. After launching a balloon-satellite to near space (>40km altitude), we wanted to send a satellite or a spacecraft to true Space (>100km where the Karman line and official true space starts). At first, we concentrated on the standard one unit 10cm cube satellite of 1kg mass but as we proceeded, we realised the cost would be too high. As students we were strapped for money and therefore, reduced the size and mass of the Cube satellites (Cube Satellite itself is a Nano satellite but we wanted to reduce the size further).

“At first, we wanted to create something similar to Kicksats but they are not true satellites but just a postcard sized PCB with non-customisable electronics, which cannot work, without a big mother satellite — in other words, it’s just a Space toy. But we always wanted to create an independent full-fledged fully-customisable, scalable, low-cost satellite with new technology. Initially we designed a 125gram, 5cm cube satellite which is 1/8th of a standard cube satellite which will also reduce the cost of the launch. But later, due to NASA’s challenge guidelines we built a 3.8cm independent cube satellite. Previously, a 5cm cube satellite was the smallest satellite, but now we are about to break that record and it’s also going to be the first 3D-printed satellite to be launched into space.

“Here, we are only talking about sub-orbital spaceflight in which our satellite will go into space on a rocket, do the research and land again on surface/ocean in a capsule, so the students can get back their satellite, research more and create a better space system which can be used in orbital and interplanetary missions. Our aim is not to just send a Cube satellite, built from Off-the-shelf components previously available in space market, and launch that into space. Our invention is to create a new space platform. We are also creating a space platform where our future scientists can develop their own payloads, and, for example, we can use this kind of Femto satellite constellations as Ham Radio reflectors which we can use in disaster-like situations when all other communications may fail.

We may face solar flares which may destroy satellites outside earth’s magnetosphere (36,000 km altitude). In situations like these, these Femto satellites can be a backup; they can be quickly launched and protected by an artificial magnetosphere, since they are very small. This satellite is fully 3D-printed, other than electronics.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by M.O. Badsha / June 16th, 2017

A collection worth bowing to

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, World Opinion, , , , ,

Chennai , TAMIL NADU :

Going strong: Y. Abdul Rasul has been collecting stamps since he was 10 years old.
Going strong: Y. Abdul Rasul has been collecting stamps since he was 10 years old.

Abdul Rasul’s trove of 5,915 mosque stamps sets a world record

Y. Abdul Rasul was one of many philatelists collecting whatever stamps came his way, till a chance meeting with Viswanatha Iyer, another philatelist, in 2005 paved the way for his entry into the Guinness Book of Records.

“He gave me his collection and advised me to focus on the theme of mosques and it has paid rich dividends,” recalls Mr. Rasul, a 41-year-old IT professional who has entered the Guinness Book of Records for the largest collection of 5,915 stamps featuring mosques.

The oldest stamp in his possession was released by the Afghanistan government in 1892. Mr. Rasul also has a rare stamp with inverted centre — printed upside down — released in Somalia in 1902. “Normally these stamps are immediately withdrawn. A few people, however, are able to get them and I obtained one,” said Mr. Rasul, who began collecting stamps when he was 10 years old.

Both his grandfather G. Abdul Rasul and father R. Yusuf were ex-servicemen. His grandfather saw action against the Japanese in the Second World War.

“When my father was working in the Middle East, he would write letters and I started collecting the stamps,” recalled Mr. Rasul who has stamps from 95 countries, many displayed on his interactive site www.mosquestamps.com.

Besides Viswanatha Iyer, who had a huge collection of stamps from Travancore, Balakrishna Das, president of the South Indian Philately Association, and Abdul Azeez, a Varanasi-based philatelist, also played a major role in Mr. Rasul achieving his feat.

Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries release special stamps to mark the annual Haj pilgrimage and these stamps form a section of Mr. Rasul’s collection.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Tamil Nadu / by B. Kolappan / Chennai – June 12th, 2017

Mubarez-ud-Daulah’s era: Of passion, rebellion and conspiracy

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, World Opinion, , , , , , ,

Hyderabad, TELANGANA (formerly ANDHRA PRADESH ) :

A view of Golconda Fort in Hyderabad Photo: G Ramakrishna
A view of Golconda Fort in Hyderabad Photo: G Ramakrishna

The Wahabi Conspiracy of prince Mubarez-ud-Daulah is a forgotten chapter in Hyderabad history

While the attack of Turrebaz Khan on the British Residency in Hyderabad during the 1857 Revolt is well documented in the pages of Hyderabad’s history, a similar bold revolt planned to overthrow the British by Prince Mubarez-ud-Daulah, the younger brother of the Nizam, though foiled in the last moment, is hardly remembered.

The Wahabi conspiracy in Hyderabad was a serious secret movement aimed against the English around 1838. Prince Mubarez-ud-Daulah had the support of Rasool Khan, the Nawab of Kurnool, who like Mubarez also hated the presence of the British. But as ill-luck would have it, before they could strike, the British were able to unearth the conspiracy through their intelligence agencies and the entire plans, went awry. Mubarez was imprisoned till death and Rasool Khan was captured, exiled and his territory, confiscated. However, the well-planned attempt they made served as an inspiration at a time when the very idea to oppose the British authority was in a nascent stage in these parts of the country.

Wahabi Movement was a 17th century reform movement that began in Persia with a view to see the basic tenets of Islam were followed strictly and with sincerity. The movement was started by one Wahab in the 18th century and therefore it was named after him. Wahabi movement was popularised in India by the Islamic religious leader, Shahwaliullah. Wahabis opposed the British presence in India and their slogan was: “Jan ko denge- vathan ko bachayenge” (Let us sacrifice our lives; but safeguard our motherland”).

Role of Mubarez-ud-Doulah

MubarezUdDaulanMPOs10jun2017

Mubarez–ud–Doulah, the Hyderabadi prince was one of the first in south India to come under the influence of the Wahabi movement. Mubarez, born in 1800, was the second son of Sikander Jah, the Nizam of Hyderabad (1803-1829). As Mubarez had greater access to wealth and also had a private army of more than a lakh, he could devote all his time and resources for the Wahabi movement in Deccan.

From his childhood, Mubarez disliked the presence of the British in Hyderabad. As a result he was imprisoned for nearly five years from 1815 by his father, Sikander Jah at the behest of the British. Mubarez was incarcerated once again, this time during the period of his brother, Nasir-ud-Doulah (1829-57). In 1830, Mubarez collected a large army of Arabs and Afghans and started an insurrection against the British. Then a contingent of British troops under Col. Stewart marched against Mubarez and arrested him. The prince was sent to the fort of Golconda and imprisoned for several months in 1830.

The hatred of Mubarez-ud-Daulah towards the British, even as an young boy was such that once his father Sikandar Jah wanted a British sentry to be posted as a guard at his palace. But the young Prince replied that he would prefer to die rather than to see a British guard at his palace gate.

Alliance with Nawab of Kurnool

Rasool Khan the Nawab of Kurnool too was attracted towards the Wahabi movement. When Mubarez came to know of Rasool Khan’s opposition to the British, he sent his men to strike a secret alliance with the Nawab of Kurnool. Rasool Khan agreed to establish a secret arsenal to manufacture arms and ammunition that was needed for any concerted insurrection which they contemplated. Mubarez, on his part assured monetary help for the manufacture of such arms. Rasool Khan, being of the same age as Mubariz was drawn close to the Hyderabad Prince as both hated the presence of the British power.

The activities of the Wahabis greatly increased by 1838 when it was widely believed that the Russian troops were advancing from Central Asia towards India. It was the plan of the Wahabis that Mubarez will take command of the combined armies at Kurnool and overthrow the British through insurrection. Wahabis also believed that the Shah of Persia would appoint Mubarez-ud-Doulah as the Subedar of the Deccan after driving away the British and deposing the Nizam, Nasir-ud-Doulah.

Gen. Fraser, the then British Resident at Hyderabad, as soon as he came to know of the suspected involvement of Mubarez–ud-Doulah, ordered a strict watch on him. Mubarez started sending his emissaries to several places like Lahore, Sindh, Gwalior, Bombay, Kurnool, Madras, Sholapur etc. Fraser spoke to the Nizam, Nasir-ud-Doulah and convinced him of the conspiracy being attempted by his brother against both the British as well as the government of the Nizam. Mubarez-ud-Doulah was taken into custody and put under guard in the fort of Golconda. All his close associates who were involved in the spread of Wahabi movement, numbering 46 were captured and imprisoned.

Judicial Enquiry Commission

The Resident, instituted a Commission of Enquiry consisting of 6 members; three were nominated by the Resident and the other three were the nominees of the Nizam’s administration. The Commission finally found that Mubarez was engaged in a conspiracy with the Nawab of Kurnool and several others with a view to overthrow the Nizam and declare himself as the ruler and also to bring an insurrection against the British.

Network of spies

The Enquiry Commission became central in unearthing the contemplated insurrection of the Nawab of Kurnool. There was a letter written by Mubarez to the Nawab of Kurnool that was intercepted by the British agents. Mubarez in that letter had spelled out his plans for the final assault on the British requesting the Nawab to dispatch the needed arms for such an attack. If only that letter has reached the Nawab, and had he acted, the Enquiry Commission felt, “the results would have been very disastrous”. The letter was concealed in an amulet and was to be delivered to the Nawab of Kurnool. But on the way to Kurnool, fearing the capture by the British, Muhammad Khan the spy, tied the amulet to the hand of an old beggar woman living in a sarai, where he himself took shelter in the guise of a traveller. The amulet was recovered by the guards while combing the area and thus the entire conspiracy came to light. The letter thus brought to light the role of the Nawab of Kurnool, in the conspiracy against the English.

The British at Madras, immediately sent a large military contingent to deal with Kurnool. The Nawab’s armies were defeated in October, 1839 and the Nawab was deported to Tiruchirapalle (formerly Trichinopoly in English), where he was imprisoned and Kurnool was taken over by the Company administration. Rasool Khan was murdered by one of his own servants in the prison.

The Enquiry Commission also felt that Mubarez, apart from being a hand in glove with the Nawab of Kurnool, also tried to spread sedition among the Muslim sepoys stationed in Secunderabad. As a result, Mubarez had to spend the rest of his life as a prisoner in the Golconda fort till he died on June 25, 1854.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society>History & Culture> Living Hyderabad / by K S S Seshan / June 10th, 2017

Hashim Amla breaks Virat Kohli’s record as fastest player to 7000 ODI runs

Amazing Feats, Sports, World Opinion,

Durban (Natal), SOUTH AFRICA  : (ancestry tracing back to Gujarat) :

Hashim Amla broke Virat Kohli’s record and became the fastest to 7000 ODI runs during South Africa’s third and final game of the series against England at Lord’s.

Hashim Amla surpassed Virat Kohli to become the fastest to 7000 ODI runs during South Africa’s game against England at the Lord’s on Monday. (Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Hashim Amla surpassed Virat Kohli to become the fastest to 7000 ODI runs during South Africa’s game against England at the Lord’s on Monday. (Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Hashim Amla shattered Virat Kohli’s ODI record during the third match between England and South Africa in Lord’s as he became the fastest to aggregate 7000 runs.

The South African opener reached the landmark ( in his 150th ODI innings) in the seventh over of the innings as he pulled England pacer Steven Finn to the deep square leg fence for a boundary.

Virat Kohli had held the record after he went past 7000 ODI runs in 169 innings. The current India skipper reached the milestone during the ODI against Australia in Melbourne in January 2016. It was a memorable match for Kohli as he slammed his 24th century, but India lost by three wickets.

Amla has been in magnificent form in 2017. In the Indian Premier League, he slammed two centuries playing for Kings XI Punjab. Overall, he ended the tournament with 420 runs at an average of 60. In the two matches against England before the Lord’s ODI, he had scores of 73 and 24.

The former South Africa skipper also holds the record for the fastest to 6000 ODI runs, having got there in 123 innings. He was also the fastest to 5000, 4000, 3000 and 2000 runs, having got to the landmarks in 101, 81, 57 and 40 innings respectively.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Cricket> CT2017 / by HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, New Delhi / May 29th, 2017

Students go innovative, price of their drone dips

Business & Economy, Education, Science & Technology, Transport, World Opinion, , , , ,

Bengaluru , KARNATAKA :

KNS Institute of Technology students display the drones designed by them at Eduverse, the ninth edition of Jnana Degula education expo organised by Deccan Herald and Prajavani, at Jayamahal Palace Hotel grounds on Sunday. DH photo
KNS Institute of Technology students display the drones designed by them at Eduverse, the ninth edition of Jnana Degula education expo organised by Deccan Herald and Prajavani, at Jayamahal Palace Hotel grounds on Sunday. DH photo

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at Rs 1,500? Students of KNS Institute of Technology have done it, without much fanfare. They plan to enhance the design to customise the drones for surveillance and transporting goods.

The makers of the plane – Inayatullah, Debabrata Mondal, Premkumar Singh and Syed Junaid – represented their college along with vice principal Nayeem Ahmad at Jnana Degula-Eduverse event organised by DH and Prajavani.

Inayatullah said the plane was made of simple polymer materials (expanded polyolefin and polystyrene) and can carry 350 gm payload. “It can fly for an hour at a speed of 45 km per hour. We have used a propeller made of composite material with aluminium coating so that it can fly at a height of 500 feet and withstand force of up to 85 newtons,” he said.

The team is also working on a plane specifically designed for surveillance.“While the 45 kmph plane can be improvised to make it a delivery drone, we are working on a plane that flies slower, at 36 kmph, providing opportunities for deeper surveillance of a particular area,” Mondal said.

Inayatullah said the cost of the UAVs will come down further if produced on a large scale. “The UAVs produced by government agencies cost a lot. Our planes are disposable. The army can use the surveillance drone and does not have to worry if one of them is lost or destroyed,” he said.

The planes can be controlled by a 2.4GHz radio frequency device, which has a range of 2.5 km. “The remote controller cost us Rs 3,500. Considering that it is the plane and not the device that is susceptible to damage, we think ours is the most affordable UAV,” he said.

“The turbo is imported from China for Rs 90 and sold in India for Rs 250. The same turbo can be made in India at a cost of Rs 40. Nearly 95% of the materials were imported from China. After a detailed study, we found the cost will come down to Rs 600, if we make these materials in India,” Inayatullah said.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> City / DH News Service / Bengaluru – May 29th, 2017

A generous teacher

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Meerut, UTTAR PRADESH / Baroda, GUJARAT / NEW DELHI :

Perfection pursuitUstad Hashmat Ali Khan
Perfection pursuitUstad Hashmat Ali Khan

Tabla exponent Ustad Hashmat Ali Khan, passed away recently

The sudden demise of Ustad Hashmat Ali Khan, a renowned tabla exponent and a revered Guru of Ajrada Baaj, came as a shock to the music fraternity.Ajrada Baaj is one of the six main schools of tabla playing. Ajrada Gharana is known for or what is the specific ‘Nikas’ of the Bols in this style. The Aalap like Peshkar, the varied Quayedas of his Gharana, the Rela, Fard, Gat, Paran, where all three of them joined the demonstration together.

Many a times, Hashmat Ali Khan, would share his childhood memories of the Baroda Darbar, where his grandfather Ustad Shafi Khan was a ‘Mulazim’ as a musician like Aftab-e-Mausiqi Ustad Faiyaz Khan, the legendary vocalist of the Agra Gharana, Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan and Kanthe Maharaj. The ICCR had sent him to Gayana to teach the art of tabla and propagate Hindustani music there. He had joined the Bharatiya Kala Kendra, as a faculty member, way back in 1972. He remembered how Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan encouraged him to join this institution when Naina Devi interviewed him. As a thanks giving gesture, he used to go to his place after dinner, to make young Amjad (Ustad Amjad Ali Khan) practice sarod with his tabla Sangat.

Ustad Hashmat Ali Khan established the Tabla Academy of Ajrada Gharana in 2008 and trained a number of students including his own grandsons Zuheb, Zaheen and Zargham.

Remembering father

Ustad Akram Khan remembers him fondly. “We all had dinner and watched cricket together discussing the game. He was fond of cricket. He was so affectionate as a father but equally strict as a teacher. A strict disciplinarian, he would make us do regular riyaz at least for 4-5 hours a day. He took it upon himself to spread the Ajrada Baaj at home and abroad. He conceived the Peshkar and kayda, as a raga. As one does Badhat in raga sequentially (silsilewar) Rishabh, Gandhar, similarly in peshkar or kayda. Like in a raga, you cannot use swaras other than those prescribed for the raga.

“Unhone is Khazane ko baantne mein koi kanjoosi nahin barti”. He was not a miser in spreading the treasures of his Gharana. I only hope that the next generation takes benefit of all that he has bequeathed so generously!”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Friday Review / by Manjari Sinha / May 26th, 2017