Cara Black of Zimbabwe (R) and Sania Mirza. File photo. / Reuters
Cara Black and Sania Mirza cruised to the doubles title at the WTA Finals with an authoritative 6-1, 6-0 win over defending champions Peng Shuai and Hsieh Su-Wei on Sunday.
For Black, it was the third time she had won the doubles crown at the WTA Finals, while for Mirza it was her first victory at the season-ending championships.
It was a surprisingly one-sided final, given Peng and Hsieh entered the match with a 12—0 record in doubles finals, including this year’s French Open and Wimbledon in 2013.
The winning pair received $500,000 in prize money.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Tennis / AP / Singapore – October 26th, 2014
A file photo of weightlifters Farman Basha and Sakina Khatum in Scotland.
‘I owe a lot to my physio, Dr. Rajkumar Amaravathi’
Farman Basha did India proud at the Asian Para Games in South Korea on Sunday by winning a bronze medal in power-lifting in the men’s 49kg category. Basha, a resident of T.C. Palya in the city, lifted 155-kg weight to finish behind Vietnam’s Le van Cong and Iraq’s Mustafa Salman Radhi.
“The competition was very tough. I hadn’t expected a medal. I owe a lot to my physio, Dr. Rajkumar Amaravathi,” he said from Incheon. The 40-year-old made up for the disappointment of Commonwealth Games held in August, when he failed to complete all his lifts. “I was heartbroken after what happened at Glasgow. My shoulder was injured then. But I am better now,” he said.
At the previous edition of the Para Asian Games at Guangzhou four years ago, Mr. Basha had won a bronze medal — later upgraded to silver — in the men’s 48-kg category. “We have only one person as support staff – Mohd. Jawahir Rahi. He too deserves many thanks,” he said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Sports Teporter / Bangalore – October 20th, 2014
As I flip through the pages of this handy hardcover with its lacy jharokha artwork that recalls the rosy orange sandstone elegance of its subject, my mind rewinds to my own Fatehpur Sikri experience, years back — the ghostly vacant expanse of a Mughal city, a beautiful haunting, desolate oasis of huge stables, green gardens, a musically serene marble mausoleum to a Sufi saint, as well as the high and mighty Buland Darwaza off whose walls boys jumped, for a few paise, into a baoli stepwell all the way below. So it’s been a pleasure to revisit this masterpiece from the 16th century, a period of Renaissance under the relatively benign Mughal, Akbar.
In this new book, architect, conservationist, Mughal-India specialist author Lucy Peck attempts to dispel popular myths that accompany this well-preserved piece of history, the abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikri. The very first page sports an exquisite ‘company’-style painting from 1836, depicting the marble dargah of Sheikh Salim al-Din Chisti, the saint who satisfied Emperor Akbar with the happy prediction of a long-awaited heir (PrinSalim, later to become King Jahangir), and two more to boot. Ironically, this city of victory, an enigmatic, silent, solid, spectator from the past, owes its own birth to the progeny-predicting powers of a Sufi sheikh.
The remaining 130-odd pages are equally satisfactory, glossy and replete with well-researched text, conjectures and surmises, interesting trivia, paintings, maps and excellent photographs, old and new, overall perspectives, as well as close-ups of the designs that grace lintels, awnings, and all the minutiae of mahals adorning a geometrically designed Indo-Persian city.
Peck is on sure ground as she collates information from diverse sources — the skeptical yet informative Muslim cleric Bada’uni, the official biographer Abu’l-Fazl with his Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari, Latin memoirist Monserrate — people who lived in Akbar’s court during his reign. Peck also quotes from a few 17th-century European travellers — like Peter Mundy and William Finch. She simultaneously reveals that many travellers’ tales and court records have not survived the centuries.
Unlike historian John Keay, who refers to Fatehpur Sikri as Akbar’s ‘wildest extravaganza and weirdest folly’, Peck is kinder to Akbar. She talks of the ‘romantic enigma’ that was Fatehpur Sikri, a city that was planned and built quickly from 1571 to 1585, and then equally promptly abandoned, as per general belief. Yet, Peck believes ‘that the fable of Fatehpur Sikri’s desertion is misleading’.
The king and his courtiers left, but some ladies of the royal family (including Akbar’s mother) lived on for decades, as did members and descendants of Sheikh Salim Chishti’s family, a few of whom became powerful members of the royal court. In subsequent years, a few became unofficial guides to gullible international travellers who furthered the spread of myths about the city. Lucy Peck attempts to deflate a commonly held myth about water shortage leading to Fatehpur Sikri’s abandonment. She points to the presence of numerous baolis (stepwells), taals and hammams (royal and common baths), as well as the historical reality of later Mughal construction continuing in and around Sikri village that strides a ridge plateau beside a lake (now farmland) formed by the Yamuna basin.
The author transports the reader through Akbar’s world and his times, delineates his character and philosophy personified in his syncretic sect, the Din-i-Ilahi, which was the very touchstone of his own and the new city’s existence. Through his years at Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar became less and less Islamic, more all-encompassing and secular, filling his court with people of diverse faiths.
The visual delight that is Fatehpur Sikri — with its unique architectural specialties like a single central-columned Diwan-i-Khas, the multi-gated three-sided wall, the lesser-known, interestingly named buildings like Samosa Mahal and Tansen’s Biradari — cannot blind one to an important truth: that this city continues to be a holistic experience, traversing the centuries, still speaking to us. And Lucy Peck’s book helps greatly in this process.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> Sunday Herald Books / by Lalitha Subramanian / October 19th, 2014
Johny Lukos, news director, Manorama News channel bagged the Madhyamasree Award instituted by India Press Club of North America (IPCNA). M.G. Radhakrishnan, Editor, Asianet News has also won the award.
The award has been conferred in view of his outstanding contribution to contemporary journalism. The award will be presented on November 8 at a ceremony to be held in New York, India Press Club president Taj Mathew informed.
The awardees will share a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakh among them. The winners were announced after the shortlisted candidates were evaluated by Malayalam film actor, Mohanlal.
source: http://www.english.manoramaonline.com / On Manorama / by The Correspondent / Saturday – October 18th, 2014
It costs over Rs 1.2 crore a year to keep her healthy, a sum her petty plywood trader father in Kantatoli can’t imagine.
Ranchi girl Sadaf Naaz (19), who suffers from Gaucher’s disease that strikes one in 100,000 people, is getting a sponsor for the enzymes she needs six years after her diagnosis.
UK-based Shire Pharmaceuticals Limited has started sponsoring expenses incurred on her enzymes and medicines that will annually cost over USD 200,000 (around Rs 1.2 crore). Sadaf got the first dose at AIIMS, New Delhi, on October 1 and second on October 15. They have called her again after a fortnight.
Like any rare disease, Gaucher can fox experts. It occurs when a lipid, glucosylceramide, accumulates in the bone marrow, lungs, spleen, liver and sometimes the brain.
In layman terms, it means Sadaf has lived with liver malfunction for as long as she can recall. Gaucher’s disease also causes patients to bruise and break bones very easily. Lungs don’t function well, too.
Sadaf was diagnosed with Gaucher’s disease at Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore in 2008. Before this, she underwent a liver operation at AIIMS, but her disease was undetected. That wasn’t surprising, considering that the genetic enzyme disorder occurs mostly among Jewish children of Eastern European descent.
Once her disease was diagnosed, Sadaf’s parents Muzib Quraishi and Shabnam were faced with the spectre of sponsorships. Regular enzyme replacement being the only treatment, it was soon clear to the parents that only movie stars and industrialists could afford it.
Ranchi-born Brooklyn paediatrician Jamil Akhtar offered to appear before the medical board at AIIMS to explain her case and find sponsors in the US. But, he wasn’t called. The Gaucher Foundation, US, apparently didn’t show much interest. Neither did the Indian government.
Time ticked by, making her parents desperate. This February 28, Muzib and Shabnam stormed a meet on the disease at NIMHANS, Bangalore, where eminent doctors and pharma companies from across the world had come.
“We threatened to immolate ourselves before them if our daughter was left doomed to die a painful death. Seeing our child suffering made us desperate. That’s when AIIMS doctors Neerja Gupta and Madhulika Kabra heard us out,” said mother Shabnam.
The AIIMS doctor duo spoke to representatives of UK-based Shire about Sadaf. “Things looked up,” she said.
Father Muzib added that when the UK pharma firm decided to sponsor Sadaf’s treatment, they gifted her a new life. “Special thanks to The Telegraph for its coverage. The news reports played a crucial role,” he smiled.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta / Front Page> Story / by Sudhir Kumar Mishra / Ranchi – October 21st, 2014
“It’s the only book I’ve read twice. And my favourite line is ‘life can’t be divided into chapters’,” mused Shahanshah Mirza, great-great-grandson of Wajid Ali Shah, referring to ‘The Last King in India’ by Rosie Llewellyn-Jones. The British historian has made waves by compiling facts about the legendary nawab whose memory still divides opinion.
Rosie smiled: “Thanks for helping me investigate the mind of the last king. The British opposed him because they wanted to take his kingdom. Mirza nodded: “You’ve dealt with his seclusion rather well.” He thought the agony associated with the annexation of Awadh is well portrayed in the book.
Rosie begins with a chapter following this act, when the nawab’s mother travels to petition Queen Victoria for justice. Unknown to her, the Queen had no power to return Awadh. The bleak start sets the tone for the book — the British duplicity, with the king caught between forces over which he had no control.
For inputs, Rosie has watched ‘Shatranj Ke Khilari’ “several times”. “Ray did a lot of research,” said Rosie. “When Ray met my father in 1978, he was asked if it was easy getting Amjad Khan into Wajid’s skin. He had said ‘Amjad was blinking a lot. When a ruler is angry, he doesn’t blink. His eyes are wide open’,”
said Mirza.
Rosie’s Kolkata connect goes a long way — since she found Mirza on the royal family website in 2004. “I came here and we did a lot of research together,” she said. The cover is a painting of the nawab which belongs to Mirza’s relative Sultan Ali Sadiq.
Rosie pointed out: “In nearly all his pictures, the king has his left breast exposed.” Mirza explained: “I guess the poet in the nawab wanted to show that his heart was always open.”
The book will be unveiled for the third time on Sunday after a London launch in June followed by another such ceremony in the nawab’s very own Lucknow last month. “Now it is Kolkata’s turn and we had to have Shahanshah,” said Rosie. Mirza has given Rosie inputs on the king settling down in Metiabruz (or Metiaburj, which literally means a clay tower). An old watchtower had once stood there, guarding the Hooghly river bend, giving the place its name.
“The book shows that even 127 years after his death,
Wajid Ali Shah, who himself authored 117 books (Rosie found some of them at the London Library), is still a subject of interest.”
The king contributed greatly to Kolkata’s culture. Kathak and kite-flying were introduced by him. He opened a menagerie which attracted a lot of visitors. According to Rosie, the king tried, within his limited resources (he had to live off a pension given to him by the British), to recreate a miniature Lucknow in Garden Reach-Metiabruz where he lived his last 31 years. He brought with him the music, the poetry, the cuisine, the adab that had made Lucknow under him the byword of culture and etiquette.
“His Calcutta stay changed many aspects of its social life. The British failed to fathom (deliberately) the love that he enjoyed from his subjects,” said his great-great-grandson.
The British, who deposed him to Calcutta in 1856, could hardly accept a ruler who believed that his subjects singing his songs was enough guarantee that he was seen as a good ruler. “Do Queen Victoria’s subjects sing her songs?” Satyajit Ray makes Wajid ask his chief minister in ‘Shatranj Ke Khilari’, thus capturing the differing notions of kingship.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Ajanta Chakraborty, TNN / October 12th, 2014
The ‘My Tree Challenge’ campaign, launched by actor Mammootty recently for planting trees, has crossed the oceans and reached other continents, with an Australian mayor accepting the challenge.
Stuart Slade, Mayor of the Glenorchy City Council, has planted a gumtree at the Tolosa park in the capital of Tasmania, an island city in Australia.
The mayor, who named the tree ‘Gandhi’ as an honour to Mahatma Gandhi, has also challenged the mayors of Melbourne, New York, Paris and London to plant trees.
Slade thanked Mammootty for the concept, while acknowledging it as a solace to the planet that is fast becoming polluted. He also invited Mammootty to Tasmania, and urged him to pay respect to the Gandhi tree.
The Mayor, who is an enthusiast of India and the country’s development, came to know about the My Tree Challenge from Sajini Sumar, chairperson of the Multi-cultural Women’s Council of Tasmanaia.
The My Tree Challenge, a campaign involving planting of saplings and challenging others to do so, was launched by Mammootty on August 30 – inspired by the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’. He had asked Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and Tamil actors Vijay and Suriya to take up the challenge.
Mammootty had also planted a tamarind tree on the premises of Grand Hyatt Hotel, Dubai.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / October 21st, 2014
Indian-origin Singaporean poet and writer K.T.M. Iqbal will be awarded Cultural Medallion, the country’s highest cultural award by President Tony Tan Keng Yam on Thursday night in Singapore.
It is the highest recognition for the 74-year-old Tamil poet whose achievements include more than 200 children’s songs written for Radio Singapore in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as seven collections of poetry.
Mr. Iqbal said he was “delighted” to receive the award which was “an incredible honour”.
“My first love is poetry. We have been together for 60 years. I never imagined this would bring me the Cultural Medallion award,” The Straits Times quoted Mr. Iqbal as saying.
Mr. Iqbal learned the basics of Venpa, a form of classical Tamil poetry from a poetry-writing workshop. “I would sit on the street in the evening to write or an idea might come when I was on the bus,” said Mr. Iqbal.
The poet, also a retired bank executive, has received recognition in the education system of Singapore also.
Mr. Iqbal’s compositions are studied in schools and some of them have appeared in the subway stations as part of efforts to bring the arts close to the community.
Mr. Iqbal migrated to Singapore at the age of 11 with his father from Kadayanallur in South India in 1951.
A Tamil newspaper Malaya Nanban, which is now defunct, introduced him to the simple but evocative compositions of Tamil poet Mathithasan. The poet’s vivid depiction of people and values in society inspired the young Iqbal to start penning poems.
The retired bank executive continues to pen poems and hopes to produce an edited collection of his best Tamil poems and an English translation of it.
Along with the award, Mr. Iqbal will get 80,000 Singapore Dollar grant, which can be used to fund artistic endeavours over their lifetime, according to The Straits Times.
“The money once spent is gone. But to have the nation recognise your contribution is great and it will encourage people to keep writing poetry,” said Mr. Iqbal.
The award will also be given to sculptor Chong Fah Cheong, 68, and 51-year old Alvin Tan, the artistic director of a theatre company, The Necessary Stage. Recipients are each eligible for a 80,000 Singapore Dollar grant.
The award, instituted 35 years ago, has been presented to 115 artists to date, including Mr. Iqbal, Mr. Chong and Mr. Tan.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National / by PTI / Singapore , October 16th, 2014
Poet-activist Salma on her experiences at the Writers of India Festival, Paris
On May 26, this year, poet Salma received a letter inviting her to be a guest of honour at the Writers of India Festival, Paris, in September. The festival, a new collaboration between Columbia University, New York, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, featured a series of lectures and discussions with more than 12 Indian writers at Reid Hall, Columbia and BnF in Paris. Salma talks about her journey as a poet, her experiences in Paris and how poetry can make an impact.
You used to write secretly when you were young as you were confined to the house from the age of 13. Did you ever think at that time that you would be an established writer?
(Laughs) I was very confident my words would reach the world. I still remember this scene vividly. I was 16. I was standing with my sister in the kitchen and she was rolling out chapatis. ‘You had better learn to cook,’ my sister said. Otherwise, people will say we did not bring you up properly. I told my sister — I’m going to be a famous writer. I’ll go to many countries and attend many conferences. I don’t need to learn to cook!
And now, you have just attended the Writers of India festival. How was the experience?
There were several readings and discussions every day and at least five events were happening at the same time. Everything was well organised. They had French translators. I was the only one to have a screening of my film Salma! It was followed by an interview with senior journalist, Judith Oriol — she came prepared with an in-depth questionnaire.
What was the audience reaction to your film, which documents the story of your life?
Many of them got very emotional. It was hard for people to believe that so many women do not have even the basic rights and that it is a struggle.
Is poetry part of our everyday culture?
Thirukkural
What made you write poems, not stories?
Like many girls in a Muslim community, I was not allowed to leave the house in my small town Thuvarankurichi. I had many conflicting feelings and I wanted the freedom to live life, do many things. A poem can be a powerful expression and all my pent-up emotions came through in verse.
Can you read from one of your poems presented at the festival?
A few lines from Naan Illadha Avan Ulagam (His world beyond me). It is about a mother and son.
He, who had asked me
on a night of the moon’s full retreat
if the sun too would be gone someday,
has no more answers to seek from me.
How have your experiences impacted your writing?
It is an unbelievable life, to be a writer. My poems are for everyone, but I especially wanted to reach out to women, and make a difference for them. They must realise their lives. They must understand their identity.
Your family’s resistance to your writing – did that change?
There were many changes that happened over time, but the big shift happened when I entered politics. At that point, my family had no choice but to accept it.
(Salma won a seat reserved for women in Thuvarankurichi in the 2001 panchayat elections and was elected MLA in 2006).
Your writing got acceptance when it was connected with a larger purpose — political and social. Can writing by itself bring about social change?
Writing alone cannot bring change. We need political will to usher in change.
The theme of the festival in Paris was on the impact of globalisation on cultural creation and consumption. Did the festival address these ideas?
I got the chance to be on the same platform as award-winning writers Jeet Thayil, Vikram Chandra and Kiran Desai and there were stimulating exchanges. All participants had to contribute essays on globalisation, which will be published in the form of a booklet.
In India, many do not consider storytelling and poetry real professions. How did you find it in other countries?
People respect writers. A writer receives more adulation than a politician, in some ways. From the time I landed at the airport, people used to ask me to recite a poem in Tamil, just because they wanted to hear how it sounded!
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books> Author / by Sujatha Shankar Kumar / October 17th, 2014
It was a packed house when the Lucknow Expressions society organised another literary evening, this time with historian Rosie Llewellyn Jones.
Rosie Llewellyn Jones (left)
Rosie’s writings on Nawab Wajid Ali Shah were released by filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, who was the chief guest at the event. Introducing the audience to the life of Wajid Ali Shah, Jayant Krishna expressed disappointment over the lack of monuments or places in the city named after the Nawab.
“Perhaps, we are looking for the international airport to be named after him,” joked Jayant. Muzaffar Ali, on the other hand, spoke about a temple in Vrindavan with a statue of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.
The event concluded with a question-answer session, followed by high tea.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Renu Singh, TNN / October 16th, 2014
