Category Archives: World Opinion

Abracadabra : Passing thoughts on men and mice

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, NRI's / PIO's, World Opinion

Kennedy, Sabu and Anekaroti

(1-Top Left )Sabu, the elephant boy. (2-Top Right) Sabu with his father, a mahout (3- Middle) This is the rear of the building from where Kennedy was shot and killed. (4-Bottom) The memorial like a wall with vertical lines at the spot where Kennedy delivered his last speech. Dr. Sunder Raj is seen standing by the side of the information plaque.
(1-Top Left )Sabu, the elephant boy.
(2-Top Right) Sabu with his father, a mahout
(3- Middle) This is the rear of the building from where Kennedy was shot and killed.
(4-Bottom) The memorial like a wall with vertical lines at the spot where Kennedy delivered his last speech. Dr. Sunder Raj is seen standing by the side of the information plaque.

A couple of days back, an old friend of mine from Bangalore had come to meet me and casually asked if Dr. J.K. Sunder Raj, a well-known family doctor of our city, had hung his stethoscope. Since I am in regular contact with him either in the Sports Club or Mysore Race Club or in connection with the Zoo (where he treats the gorillas), I answered in the negative.

“What makes you think Dr. Sunder Raj has called it a day and closed shop?” I asked.

It seems my friend had gone to see him at his clinic on Old Mysore Bank Road in city and found there was no clinic. That was news for me too. I called him on telephone to check. Yes, indeed he had closed his city clinic, but continues his service to the sick families from his house on Vivekananda Road in Yadavagiri. It was then that the good doctor said he was wanting to see me personally to hand over a unique newspaper that he had purchased in Dallas, Texas, where he had been recently to be with his daughter.

As promised, he came to my office with his special newspaper and more. The cover page of the newspaper is produced here… and the headline is self-speaking.

The daily newspaper ‘The Dallas Times Herald’, in its Friday evening Nov. 22, 1963 Final Edition, had carried world’s most shocking and tragic news of the day that happened in the city from where the paper was published. The assassination of US President John F. Kennedy. Looking at the paper that appeared as pulled out from the well-preserved archive, I wondered how our doctor managed to get the paper which will have huge antique value ! He asked me to take it easy. There is nothing like grabbing an old copy of that day of tragedy of Nov. 22, 1963. The credit for making available this copy of the newspaper to tourists should go to the Curator of Kennedy Museum at Dallas where Dr. Sunder Raj purchased it by paying $ 4.60. The cover price of the newspaper in 1963 was five cents.

The Museum authorities periodically print this historic newspaper as it was printed on that tragic day and sell them. What better souvenir one would want for visiting the Kennedy Museum ?

I took a copy of it before returning the original to the doctor and wondered if anything like this is being done at Gandhi Museum or Nehru Museum in our country. Readers with information on this may please write or e-mail to me.

Dr. Sunder Raj also gave me two photographs he had taken — one of the building from where Lee Oswald, the assassin, shot the President from the sixth floor which has now been converted into a Museum and another, the spot where President Kennedy delivered his last speech.

Dr. Sunder Raj also had two more surprise photographs with him which were of personal nature. One was a photograph he had clicked in the year 1951-52 at the elephant stables of the Maharaja, known famously as ‘Anekaroti.’ Now the new generation as also of the old generation may not know that the Anekaroti ever existed in Mysore, attracting huge number of tourists those days.

The stable was located where the JSS Hospital Complex is now. There used to be 20 to 25 elephants, well fed and healthy, says the doctor. The area of the Anekaroti used to be green and cool with plenty of trees, adds Dr. Sunder Raj.

The doctor recalls: Once a team of Hollywood film-makers visited Mysore in around 1950. They also visited the then famous Anekaroti. As they went around Anekaroti, they saw a young, bright and handsome boy playing with a huge elephant. His name was Sabu Dastagir who later became a famous Hollywood actor under the name Mysore Sabu (27.1.1924 – 2.12.1963). He was born in Karapore in H.D. Kote, the famous hunting forest of the Maharaja of Mysore. His father was a mahout (elephant attendant) and trainer of elephants. Sabu, his son, too was following his father’s profession where he was spotted by the Hollywood film-maker Robert J. Flaherty.

Dr. Sunder Raj says that Robert Flaherty persuaded Sabu’s father to let him take Sabu to Hollywood. Once in the US, Sabu was taught English and given training in acting.

Sabu acted in several English movies, specially connected to the jungles. His first movie was ‘Elephant Boy’ which was a great hit. Other movies were ‘Song of India,’ ‘The Jungle Book,’ ‘The Thief of Baghdad’ etc. It is sad that such a talented Mysore boy died young at the age of 39.

To those working to develop Mysore as a tourist destination, I may suggest that they revive the ‘Anekaroti’ which is sure to become a tourist attraction. Some lessons from the ‘elephant show’ of Bangkok’s ‘Rose Garden’ may be learnt and incorporated to this Anekaroti. Howzzat?

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Abracadabra….Abracadabra / by  K.B. Ganapathy, Editor  e-mail kbg@starofmysore.com / November 18th, 2013

Ruins in perfect preservation

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, Travel & Tourism, World Opinion
Akbar’s tribute to Sheikh Salim Chisti, Fatehpur Sikri is an abandoned city of red and white sandstone.
Akbar’s tribute to Sheikh Salim Chisti, Fatehpur Sikri is an abandoned city of red and white sandstone.

Fatehpur Sikri is considered the greatest Mughal city ever built and there is a fascinating story on how the idea behind its construction came about.

As Akbar grew older, his principal anxiety was the lack of a male heir. He learnt of a dervish called Sheikh Salim Chisti, the last of the many great sages in the Chisti line and journeyed to seek his blessings in the tiny town of Sikri — 23 miles west of Agra.  Sheikh recited blessings and made promises. Soon thereafter in 1569, Akbar’s Hindu wife gave birth to a son, Salim, later known as Jahangir followed by two more sons, Murad and Daniyal.

Akbar’s response to Chisti’s magic  probably ranks as one of the most outstanding examples in history of royal gratitude. He commanded that a city be built on the spot where the saint’s retreat was situated and the Sheikh was made the spiritual mentor of the entire metropolis. Almost overnight an army of labourers was mobilised to fashion the city of Akbar’s dreams and by 1570, the construction was in full swing using a kind of pre-fabrication technique.

Wrote Father Monserrate, “The house was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither so that there was neither hammer nor any tool heard in the house when it was building.”

Most of the city was completed in seven years, which was a remarkable feat considering the fact that the Taj Mahal took 22 long years to construct.

Emperor Akbar designed many of the structures himself and worked in the pits with the stonemasons cutting bricks and carving sandstone corbels. Huge battlements and a wall with nine gates appeared and a five story mosque  known as Panch Mahal was later constructed in the style of a Buddhist temple.

A huge rectangular courtyard was erected bounded by symmetrical gardens. There were three palaces, waterworks and baths, a mint for stamping coins with Akbar’s profile, a Turkish palace for his Turkish wife, a Hindu palace for his Hindu wife, a Muslim palace for his Muslim wives, an enamelled hall for the emperor to play hide and seek with all his wives, a court on which to play pachisi with human pieces, viaducts, stables, octagonal towers, domed pigeon houses and more.

There was also a seventy foot octagonal tower built in honour of a pet elephant, a girl’s school, a zoo, a sewage system and the largest gateway in the east — the Buland Darwaza — which served as a gateway to the city.

In Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar gathered the finest singers, the boldest statesmen and the wisest philosophers. His cabinet, known then as the ‘nine gems’ was reputed to hold the nine most capable men in the world.

After 15 years of life at Fatehpur Sikri, the fickle sovereign began to grow bored with his magnificent project. The harsh landscape around Sikri was not conducive to gaiety and drinking water was inaccessible (a manmade lake, dug nearby collected only brackish water).

In 1585, when a military campaign called him to Northwest India, he moved his headquarters to Lahore and abandoned Fatehpur Sikri forever.

The story that Akbar left the city to oblige Sheikh Chisti when he complained that the noise was disturbing his devotions is apocryphal, for Salim died some years before the city was abandoned.

As quickly as it had been populated, the magnificent city emptied.

A few years later, the city was described by a European as “ruinate, lying like a waste district, and very dangerous to pass through at night”.

Today, except for a small community that lives at the foot of the city and lives off the largesse of occasional tourists, the city of Fatehpur Sikri is unoccupied, a ghostly red and white necropolis of sandstone courtyards and endless silent corridors, which are all in a state of perfect preservation.

It really seems too perfect.

In fact, the ingredients of the time — resilient mortar used between the bricks have never been chemically analysed with any real success.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Education> Student / by Anjali Sharma – ENS / November 21st, 2013

Works from Adil Shahi era to be available in Kannada

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

Seven volumes of the translation are likely to be released in January

The Persian and Arabic literature dating back to the times of the Adil Shahi dynasty, that ruled Bijapur, will soon be available in Kannada, with the ambitious translation project nearing completion. The seven volumes are likely to be released in January.

Krishna Kolhar Kulkarni, director, Adil Shahi Literature Translation Project, hopes that some misconceptions about this phase of history will be dispelled once the project is completed.— photo: RAJENDRA SINGH HAJERI / The Hindu
Krishna Kolhar Kulkarni, director, Adil Shahi Literature Translation Project, hopes that some misconceptions about this phase of history will be dispelled once the project is completed.— photo: RAJENDRA SINGH HAJERI / The Hindu

Krishna Kolhar Kulkarni, director, Adil Shahi Literature Translation Project, says this was the first effort of its kind and a major portion of the work had been completed. He hoped that some misconceptions about this phase of history (from 15th to 17th century) would be dispelled once the project was completed.

In English

Meanwhile, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has expressed willingness to fund the translation works of these books into English. “The ASI officials said this when I was in Delhi to collect some books for translation,” said Mr. Kulkarni, adding that it will be taken up after the Kannada project.

He said in the first phase, 10 rare books of the Adil Shahi era written in Persian, have been taken up for translation into Kannada, of which the translation of six books is underway. Stating that most of the books taken up for translation were written in the 17th century, he said the project will translate some of the rarest books, some not even heard of.

Mr. Kulkarni said books include ‘Tareekh-e-Farishta’ by Mohammad Farishta and ‘Ibrahim Nama’ by Abdulla Dehelvi.

“Among them, ‘Mohammad Nama’ by Kazi Nurallah is believed to have only two copies in the world, that too are reproduced versions and not original. We have succeeded in getting a copy for translation,” he said.

Mr. Kulkarni said these books have been collected from the Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad, the archives of Andhra Pradesh and the ASI headquarter, New Delhi.

“We are making all arrangements to get some books from London Museum for translation,” he said.

While collecting some known books, he said he came across some unknown books of the era written by several foreign authors.

Informing that the committee has meticulously selected a dozen translators, Mr. Kulkarni said that some 3,500 translated pages in seven volumes will be released in January.

He added that the committee has also collected hundreds of manuscripts, Farmans (orders), Sanads (deeds) and poetries written in Persian, which will also be translated.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National / by Firoz Rozindar / Biijapur – September 16th, 2013

Tryst with Adil Shahi

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Travel & Tourism, World Opinion

The septuagenarian professor’s enthusiasm to translate, from Persian to Kannada, the ancient history of a dynasty that ruled Bijapur deserves to be recognised and applauded

Prof. Krishna Kolhar Kulkarni(74), historian and research scholar based in Bijapur, has been conferred the annual Kanakashree award, in recognition of his extensive research on Dasa Sahitya. He is also an expert on Gamaka art and is the president of Karnataka Gamaka Kala Parishat. He also heads the Adil Shahi Literature Translation Project. Prof Kulkarni has written over 50 books on various subjects.

Bijapur has a special place in the history of Karnataka (as well as that of south India). “The Adil Shahi dynasty ruled the Bijapur Sultanate in the Deccan region from 1490 to 1686,”explains Prof Kulkarni. “They developed Bijapur as a great city that at times it surpassed the glory of Delhi and Agra of the Mughals in the north. It was a seat of education, culture, trade and commerce. It was even called the Banaras of the South. The Adil Shahi dynasty invited scholars and writers from all over the world and several first- hand account of the visiting travelers are recorded in Persian and Arabic. As they covered the Gujarathi, Marathi, Tamil and Kannada provinces a peculiar language that was an amalgamation of all these languages came into existence called the Dakhani. Many literary works were published in Dakhani during their rule. In fact it was here that mushaira – poetic symposium evolved and later travelled to north.

“The 200 years of Adil Shahi rule with Bijapur as their seat of power is an important aspect of Indian history. They were the contemporaries of the great Mughals of the north. The Adil Shahi writings are as important as the Akbar nama, Babar nama and Jehangir nama that document the history of the Mughals. The Adil Shahis recorded the history of their time in Persian and Arabic and there are first person accounts of very important historical incidents. All these were not translated to Kannada or even to English. Only Captain Briggs translated some extracts to suit the purpose of the British government, failing which detailed translations are not available. In fact the Adil Shahi documents dispel some misconceptions about this phase of history (from 15th to 17th century). Hence, the importance of the translation project. We have completed seven volumes. In the first phase, ten rare books of the Adil Shahi era, written in Persian, have been taken up for translation into Kannada, of which the translation of six books is underway. Some books are so rare that they are not even heard of until now!” Prof Kulkarni himself has authored several books pertaining to this era.

“Actually I was researching about Mahipathidasa who carried several works of Purandaradasa and Kanakadasa and arrived at Bijpaur after the collapse of Vijayanagara empire. He was the treasurer at the court of Adil Shahi king. He renounced his position and gave up his wealth to become a dasa. There are not many Persian scholars who also know Kannada and can translate. With great difficulty I found some and started the translation project. Prof Kalburgi of Hampi University took interest and helped me. Now the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has expressed willingness to fund the translation works of these books into English, and we can translate them from English to Kannada.”

The seven volumes that are ready will be launched in January. Prof Kulkarni also has plans to establish a museum in Bijapur to preserve the valuable manuscripts. He has collected rare manuscripts from Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad, British Archives and other sources. “We need to preserve them for the next generation. Otherwise precious historical documents will be lost” he says with concern.

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Entertainment> Lounge / by Pratibha Nandakumar, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / November 22nd, 2013

Idea of Taj Mahal was born here

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Travel & Tourism, World Opinion

Ahmedabad :

The Moghul great Shah Jahan, who built the greatest monument for love anywhere in the world — the  Taj Mahal  — had his early training in Ahmedabad. The great builder was inspired by the architectural marvels of Gujarat and honed his skills as a builder in Ahmedabad. Also giving him company was Mumtaz Mahal who stayed with him in Ahmedabad around 1618 when he was serving as governor of Gujarat for his father Emperor Jehangir.

Today, Shahibaug in Ahmedabad is named after him and the present Sardar Patel Smarak was built by him to give employment to locals during a famine. Shah Jahan had not built any monuments before coming to Ahmedabad. Then, he was known as prince Khurram. If historian James Douglas  is to be believed, Ahmedabad’s  picturesque architecture, which was already two centuries old then, inspired Shah Jahan to erect great architectural marvels later in Agra.

Douglas notes in his book ‘Western India’ published in 1893 that the Moghul king acquired a taste for architecture and cultivated it during his stay in this city. He writes, “Shah Jahan in Ahmedabad was watching the flecked light as it fall on panement of marble or alabastar; alone and silent , observing, measuring, comparing, digesting, perhaps copying, drinking in all wisdom, deftness of hand, cunning craft and workmanship, beauty of colour, harmony of form.

Shah Jahan, who ruled as an emperor from 1627 to 1658, also got the Azamkhan Sarai built near the Bhadra fort. Taj Mahal, which was completed in 1653, sent Shah Jahan’s earlier construction into oblivion. But a connoisseur like Douglas was quick to recognise the roots of the architectural revolution in India . He paid the ultimate tribute to the city: “The bud was here: The blossom and fruit to be in Agra? Everything has a beginning, Greece  before Rome, Damacus before Cairo , Agra follows Ahmedabad.”

He further wrote: “Ten of Ahmedabad’s mosques were built before Columbus discovered America…It was here the master builder drank in the elements of his taste which was to display such glorious results elsewhere.”

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Ahmedabad / by Ashish Vashi , TNN / November 22nd, 2013

Sharon Stone’s Taj memories set in stone

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

This wasn’t the typical Sharon Stone you see posing in glamorous gowns on red carpets across the world. The star decided to ditch the gowns for a much more casual black smock with her hair tied up in a ponytail, and traded the fashion poses for the more awkward touristy ones, as she went about dropping to her haunches and leaning alarmingly far back to capture her friends, with the Taj Mahal in the background, at the best angle possible.

(Sharon Stone strikes the…)
(Sharon Stone strikes the…)

Stone took her sweet time on this visit. Not only was her camera trained on every stone carving, she’d also stop to point the lens at cows, cute Indian babies or other locals. When two Indian women pointed their camera at her, the actress was so fascinated with their sindoor that she started clicking them back. It took them 10 seconds to change their expression from bewilderment to a smile.

This was also not a typical Hollywood celebrity visit to an Indian monument. Missing, for starters, was the sea of paparazzi we’d witnessed when Tom Cruise was here in 2011. There wasn’t even one bodyguard in sight. Instead, Stone chose to sightsee with six of her closest friends, including family friend Tikka Shatrujit Singh.

“I have known her for eight years, she’s a crusader,” Singh said. When asked if he catches up with the star regularly, Singh replied, “It’s because she’s here in India for the first time that I got to spend so much time with her. Wahan pe kahan time milta hai? Bade Hollywood star hain.”

The Taj Mahal didn’t fail to impress the Basic Instinct actress, who was teary-eyed when the guide told her the story behind the monument, and she broke down at Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal’s graves. Stone continued to whisper ‘beautiful’ and ‘magical’, until it was time to leave.
When asked about her lasting impressions of India, Stone chose to be bitingly frank rather than politically correct. Calling India a poem that was both beautiful and sorrowful, she said, “I think that there are things that are required to gracefully bridge the gap between the eccentricity of wealth and the slumber of the poverty. For example, the millions of people that are defecating in the streets, I think it’s not only of service to those people to create a sanitary system, but also for the wealthy people. It’s not logical or intelligent to breathe that in the air. And so, for modern sense of grace, and a higher elevated sense of that same poetry, it seems logical to produce the sanitization system.”

She also spoke about CBI Chief Ranjit Sinha’s recent “rape is inevitable” remark. “When we see public officials making statements that, you know, ‘rape is inevitable’, ‘when it happens to you, enjoy it’ – it lacks the logic that rape is not a gender issue and that lacks compassion, and should be regarded in that way. So, I think it’s a sense of creating maybe one step further in the use of modern communication to achieve that goal,” she said.

“For example, if six out of 10 people aren’t registered to vote, it’s illogical that we don’t use the six billion cellphones or the cellphones that the six billion people on the planet have to register people to vote. Because, if you have everyone voting, then you have a more logical sense of fluidity among the people. And a more modern sense of the inevitable. Because the world, with communication as it exists, is taking an inevitable step towards understanding what’s happening on a global sense,” she elaborated.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Entertainment> Hollywood> Taj Mahal / by Kritika Kapoor, TNN / November 22nd, 2013

WRITE ANGLE : Aurangzeb, revisited

Leaders, World Opinion

Two works provide a peek into Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s life

Aurangzeb, the convenient bigot of history, is finally getting a fresh coat of paint. Long projected as the bad guy for students who are told history is just a bout between heroes and villains, the tide could well be turning for the Mughal emperor who ruled Hindustan for half a century. No, he has suddenly not become a knight in gleaming armour. But, attempts are being made to look at him from a fresh perspective.

Around a year ago, William Dalrymple co-edited Princes and Painters in Mughal Delhi, 1707-1857 wherein he talked briefly of scholars taking a fresh look at Aurangzeb. Some even tried to redress the balance, which has forever been loaded in favour of Akbar. It always seemed that if Akbar was the greatest Mughal ruler, there had to be the worst one too. If Akbar was secular, brave and wise, there had to be an emperor who was bigoted, cruel and stubborn. In short, history never allowed Aurangzeb any redeeming qualities; the only exception being a mention of his simple lifestyle.

Though brief and almost fleeting in nature, William’s essay was more than a little footnote, because, all along, students had been taught that Aurangzeb was a man who banished all forms of arts from his court. Then, Dalrymple, who with the skills of a raconteur has done more for history than many seasoned academics, told us that scholars have now shown that Aurangzeb was “a pragmatic ruler who frequently patronised Hindu institutions, whose reign was less orthodox, less tyrannical and centralised than previously thought”.

The book even has a few paintings, attributable to Hunhar, Hashim and Bhawanidas, depicting a majestic looking Aurangzeb in a shaft of light in his durbar, or having confabulations with his courtiers. Some paintings were from the early years of Aurangzeb’s reign, others from the last few. Together, they put to rest all assumptions about the emperor banning painters and paintings.

Now at a completely different level comes Rajmohan Gandhi with Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten. Gandhi, erudite and insightful, does not come anywhere near holding a brief for Aurangzeb. In fact, at many places, he reinforces some age-old assertions about him. Why, at a couple of places, even his possibly human reactions are projected as only a little short of dramatic. For instance, while talking of Dara’s death, Gandhi quotes: “His body was exhibited on an elephant to the populace, while his head was brought to Aurangzeb, who had it wiped and washed in his presence, and being satisfied of its identity, shed tears.”

But there are also those comments that show the more positive side of the emperor. “Diligent in religious observance, Aurangzeb was a tenacious fighter as well. The empire under Aurangzeb’s long rule increased in area. New territories annexed included Little Tibet beyond Kashmir in the north, Chittagong beyond Dhaka in the east, and, in the south, the Muslim kingdoms of Golconda and Bijapur.”

Soon, the emperor’s simplicity, which has often been talked about in textbooks, is given space. Gandhi happily reiterates, “‘Of small stature, with a long nose, a round beard and an olive skin’, Aurangzeb, ‘usually wore plain white muslin’ and ‘applied himself assiduously to business’. At times he was seen with ‘a cheerful, smiling countenance….Under him the Mughal empire reached its greatest limits’.” Then come the emperor’s words of atonement. Gandhi reproduces Aurangzeb’s words written to his favourite Kam Baksh, “Son of my soul…Now I am going alone. I grieve for your helplessness. But what is the use? I have greatly sinned, and I know not what torment awaits me…Let not Muslims be slain and reproach fall on my useless head. I am sore troubled.” Aurangzeb and guilt? Aurangzeb and art? The two disparate works may not help overhaul the emperor’s image — nor do they intend to do so — but they help give a hitherto unseen little peek into Aurangzeb’s life. They may not bring about a storm of fresh discussions on him, but the winds of change are blowing. Ever so gently.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books> Columns / by Ziya Us Salam / Chennai – August 02nd, 2013

WRITE ANGLE : Who is Dara Shukoh?

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

Gopal Gandhi’s Dara Shukoh: A Play raises the relevance of Dara Shikoh in contemporary India.

Few men who read history in school remember Dara Shikoh, the philosopher-prince of Mughal India. He is but a fleeting figure even if an enlightened one. The spotlight is well and truly on Aurangzeb, terse, taciturn, untamed. In a world looking for convenient, even if inaccurate, summations, Dara is reduced by our historians to being a favourite son of Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb, a fratricidal ruler who did not hesitate to put to the sword his own. That almost all kings in the years of yore did the same matters little. That Dara had a life before the fatal battle of Samugarh with Aurangzeb, that he had a life quite removed from that of any of his brothers is never pointed out. For most, Aurangzeb is a convenient villain, Dara the easy but fallible hero.

However, today as our nation faces the prospect of being ruled by revisionist politicians — ironically, they seem to be getting mixed up with their history lessons too — it is important to take some time out, and realise what we lost when Dara lost, and what we can gain if we imbibe his spirit. With such a thought, I picked up Gopal Gandhi’s Dara Shukoh: A Play. It was released some time ago and I had all but left it on the shelf with the likes of Dilip Hiro’s Baburnamah for company.

However, the events unfolding in the run-up to the general elections made me go back to it. Dara is relevant, even necessary today. The book instantly set in motion a series of conjectures: what if the heterodox Dara and not the more orthodox Aurangzeb had won the battle of brothers? If mid-17th Century India had thrown up a different victor, would the nation have been partitioned? Didn’t medieval India throw up a man who was wedded to pluralism of thought and faith much before the founding fathers of our Constitution made it a benchmark for future generations? And would Hindus and Muslims have lived here, as Sir Syed Ahmed Khan said, like the two eyes of the nation? Imagine if a Sufi had outlasted a warrior! Imagine.

The questions shall never be answered. But revisit Dara we must. Understand what he stood for, preach many of his things, and we might just end up with a nation that takes pride in its pluralist culture, a society where Hindus read both the Vedas and the Quran, the Muslims appreciate that the concept of one universal God precedes their arrival here; appreciation rather than mere tolerance of each other’s culture being the hallmark. Follow this, and the need to combat the challenge thrown up by communal elements disappears. Who can argue with a man who drinks from the common nectar of Sufis and bhakti saints?

And Gopal Gandhi, with an enviable and apt lineage for such a project, goes about demolishing many prejudices, exposing many lies. He chooses to spell him Shukoh, explaining beautifully that ‘Shikoh’ in Persian means ‘terror’ while ‘Shukoh’ stands for ‘glory’. Gandhi’s Dara is not a tragic figure; rather he is a man whose time is now. Gandhi chooses not to dwell much on a failed general — a poet is doomed to be a failure on a battlefield anyway. He stays focussed on the undercurrents of the thoughts of the man who translated the Upanishads into Persian — ideas that did not endear him to the radical elements on both sides of the religious divide. A play may not necessarily be an ideal substitute for a history textbook, but hey, did not Rajkumar Hirani’s Lage Raho Munnabhai do more for introducing Mahatma Gandhi to the bubblegum brigade than any academic book or lecture?

The best help often comes from the source least expected. A play, a film, a book, a philosopher may yet show us the way. After all, amidst all the political mudslinging and a society being rapidly polarised, we could do worse than heed Dara’s words. Remember what he said when his followers screamed, “Shuja — his brother and fellow claimant to the throne — murdabad”? Dara replied, “Let us not wish death to any one/That is base;/All of us have God’s breath in us,/In any case./We live and have our being/ With his grace.”

In this age, Dara deserves attention.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books> Columns / by Ziya Us Salam / Chennai – November 22nd, 2013

Bidar only South Indian monument to figure in latest World Monuments Fund list

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Travel & Tourism, World Opinion
According to the World Monuments Fund, the sites in the list are crying for immediate attention for preservation, protection, and adaptive reuse. / The Hindu
According to the World Monuments Fund, the sites in the list are crying for immediate attention for preservation, protection, and adaptive reuse. / The Hindu

House of Sheikh Salim Chisti in Fatehpur Sikri and Juna Mahal in Rajasthan are also on the list

The historic city of Bidar figures in the 2014 World Monuments Watch list released by the World Monuments Fund (WMF), a New York-based NGO working for the protection of monuments.

WMF president Bonnie Burnham announced the list in New York on October 8, according to P.C. Jaffer, Deputy Commissioner of Bidar. The WMF had received 741 proposals from 166 countries. But the final list contains 67 sites from 41 countries.

The three sites in India to figure in the list are the house of Sheikh Salim Chisti in Fatehpur Sikri, Juna Mahal in Rajasthan and “the historic city of Bidar”. These, according to the list, are sites are in need of immediate attention for preservation, protection, and adaptive reuse.

Benefits

Mr. Jaffer said the announcement would benefit the city in many ways. It would attract worldwide attention, leading to increased tourist footfalls. It would also help the government get technical advice and support from institutions specialised in the preservation of monuments.

“It could also help us raise funds from the government or donor agencies for protection and preservation of monuments,” Dr. Jaffer said.

Bidar has three national monuments - Bidar Fort, Ashtur tombs and the Madrasa of Mahmud Gawan. / The Hindu
Bidar has three national monuments – Bidar Fort, Ashtur tombs and the Madrasa of Mahmud Gawan. / The Hindu

Bidar has three national monuments – Bidar Fort, Ashtur tombs and the Madrasa of Mahmud Gawan. The city also has 20 sites recognised by the State Department of Archaeology and Heritage and over 40 unrecognised sites of the medieval periods.

Facebook page

“We will upload the WMF recommendations on the district website. We will also open a Facebook page on Bidar on the WMF watch list and raise awareness about the issue,” the Deputy Commissioner said.

Two interpretations centres would be set up in the Bidar Fort and at Ashtur at a total cost of Rs. 80 lakh. This would provide information to tourists on the architectural and cultural aspects of monuments. In this background, an international seminar on Bidar’s heritage would be organised in January.

According to a release issued by Ms. Burnham, a copy of which was sent to the district administration, the list contains sites that are facing several preservation challenges like climate change, armed violence, neglect by authorities, lack of resources or even increased tourism activity that can damage monuments. An independent panel of international experts on archaeology, culture and preservation had prepared the list, Ms. Burnham said.

Over 150 sites have been preserved and protected by the WMF and its associate organisations in several countries since 1996. Famous sites restored by the WMF personnel include Venice in Italy, Gokarna Mahadev temple in Nepal, and the Citadelle Laferrière in northern Haiti.

The WMF also takes up restoration works on sites referred by Unesco.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by Rishikesh Bahadur Desai / Bidar – October 10th, 2013

Indian brothers beat Google to street view

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinion

 Bangalore : 

Who needs Google Street View !  Even as the global search major struggles with Indian authorities to get permissions to take images of Indian city streets, a small Mumbai-based mapping company has done all that Google had planned, and perhaps more, for the top 54 Indian cities.

Genesys International , founded in 1995 by brothers Sohel and Sajid Malik, have captured numerous images of almost every street in these cities, and stitched the images together to create 360-degree panoramic views of the streets, almost exactly the way Google has done in many other parts of the world.

On Tuesday, the company launched the service under the brand Wonobo (wonobo.com). The site suffered from latency on Tuesday, and there were many complaints online about the slow download speed. But the company said the speed will improve in a day or so as they get everything in place.

So how come they were able to do something that Google has not been able to yet in India? Sajid Malik told TOI that one advantage Genesys had was in having worked with the government for many years for their mapping services. “For street view, the government, including the defence ministry and the Survey of India, threw a lot of regulations at us. We painstakingly fulfilled their requirements, including not taking pictures in sensitive areas,” he said.

The company has so far been in the services business, creating map content for others such as Navteq (provider of electronic navigable maps), Nokia and Bing, and was involved recently in creating digital maps of Dubai, Mecca and Medina.

MappingMPos22nov2013

Wonobo street view is being launched initially for 12 cities — Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Surat, Jaipur, Costal Goa, Kolkata, Agra and Pune. The remaining will be launched over the following weeks.

Wonobo’s main street view service provides a satellite map and the street view on your screen. You can click on any part of the map and get the corresponding street view. You can look all around a point on a street. You can click or drag on the street view to go down a street.

There’s a search box to find locations. With the help of field staff, Wonobo has tagged some 10 million points of interest. That includes 4 million business locations. You can walk into some of these locations — like Novotel hotel in Mumbai — and look all around. Though the company is not charging Novotel now, these are potential revenue sources.

For many of the small businesses tagged, it’s their first web presence. “Any merchant can mention his suite of services, show real-time prices or available inventory, and showcase interiors. One of our revenue sources will be based on such hyper-local engagement,” Sajid said.

Random checks TOI did on Wonobo showed that some of the images are a little dated, some important roads have not been covered yet, some of the tagging could have been better done. The company said their effort is to ensure that images are no more than six months old.

The Wonobo platform also enables anybody to create pictorial storylines and guides. You could create a ‘Sachin Tendulkar guide’ that shows everything from the nursing home he was born in to the house he lives in now.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Tech> Internet> Google Street View / by  Sujit John, TNN / October 16th, 2013