The almanac brought out by Dr Aleem Khan Falaki

Hyderabad: It is more than just a list of dates and events. It shakes your conscience and jolts you out of your complacency. This is one calendar whose leaves you wouldn’t like to tear off every month. Every page sends out a strong message about extravagant marriages in the Muslim community, the menace of dowry and ways to curb it.

Dowry has become the bane of Muslim marriages. Even Friday sermons in mosques are talking about the need to root out this social evil. But the almanac brought out by Dr Aleem Khan Falaki, president, Socio Reforms Society (SRS), seeks to drive home the message in a simple and effective way.

Masjiden alag — Shadi Khane ek

Namaz key tareeqe alag —- Shadi ke rasm-o-riwaj ek 

(Different mosques but the wedding hall is the same

Different ways to pray but wedding rituals are the same)

In a telling way the calendar points out that different sects have their own mosques but the wedding halls are the same. Their method of namaz (prayers) differs and yet the marriage rituals remain the same. Then comes the punch line: all sects appear to have ganged up against the ‘Sunnat-e-Nikah’ (Prophetic way of marriage). Boycott such un-Islamic marriages.

Each leaf of the calendar delivers a thought-provoking message in Urdu and Roman Urdu accompanied by pictures. It mocks at the charade of giving and taking ‘jehez’ in the name of ‘khushi se’ (happiness). If there is nothing wrong in accepting dowry given ‘happily’ then corruption, gambling, wine and interest should also be permissible since all these acts are done ‘khushi se’, it says.

A good number of men and women, who attended the calendar release programme here on Sunday, resolved to stay away from marriages where dowry is taken forcibly. The SRS plans to hold its next programme on ‘Saas ho to Aisi’ which celebrates women who have not made any demands during the marriages of their sons.

Mr Falaki has been leading a crusade against the dowry system for nearly 18 years. He articulates his ideas and social stances without mincing words. The scourge of dowry is posing a big challenge to the Muslim community —making marriage a near impossible task for the low income groups. 

“One should have the guts to boycott marriages where dowry is demanded and un-Islamic practices followed,” he says.

He tries to prick the conscience of the community through different means books, short films, talks and songs. The calendar is yet another arrow in his quiver to send out a wakeup call be man enough to say ‘no’ to such marriages.

J.S.Ifthekhar,

Hyderabad based journalist.

Article published in Deccan Chronicle

Dated December 25,2018

 

Read More

A file photo of the crowd during Numaish, 2018.

 It is the one place where you can go with eyes shut and yet find what you want. No prizes for guessing. Even a dimwit will say it is the numaish. The annual consumer fair springs no surprises. It remains the same year after year except for some cosmetic changes here and there.

Regular visitors know where to find Kashmiri silks, readymade garments, leather goods and toys. These stalls come up exactly at the same spot every year.
“I find nothing new. But I still go to the exhibition by force of habit,” says Irfan Khan, who has been visiting the numaish for close to two decades without fail. Come January the city sees breathlessness as the All India Industrial Exhibition gets underway.

Basically, the exhibition is intended to provide a vibrant market place for traders to do business face to face. Manufacturers from the state and across the country choose to launch their products from here.

But of late big players are dropping out with availability of other advertisement avenues like social media and audio-visual communication platforms. For the last few years, BHEL, the state irrigation department and a few major electronic companies have stopped displaying their products at the exhibition.

With the numaish attracting traders from all over the country, the Exhibition Society is concentrating more on generating revenue to support its 18 educational institutions in providing quality and affordable education.

The society rakes in over Rs 100 crore by way of ticket and revenue from the 2,500 stalls. There are roughly 24 categories of stalls dealing in various goods that do business here. Of course women entrepreneurs, self-help groups and manufacturers from the state get preference.

Has monotony and lack of novelty robbed the numaish of charm in its 79th year? The answer is ‘no’. Repetitiveness notwithstanding, people still flock to it during the 46-day long period it is held. “Most of the people come here for recreation and not to find anything new,” says Aditya Margam, former secretary, Exhibition Society.

This view is shared by many visitors. Throughout the year the city hosts different kinds of exhibitions and people get to see and buy a variety of things. But Numaish occupies a special niche and is identified with Hyderabad culture.

Many families make two to three visits to the exhibition — first to see, then to choose and finally to buy articles. Some people simply like to saunter around and enjoy the old Hindi hit songs played there. “I find the Exhibition Ground the best place to beat the stress,” says Ramesh Kumar, a senior citizen echoing the view of many others.

Some families turn the exhibition grounds into an open air picnic spot. They bring cooked food from home and eat leisurely. “Where else can you indulge in such fun?” asks Asma, a housewife.

Is there anything new this year? Yes, one can find a dust-free and greener environment. More LCD screens have been put up at strategic points to watch the goings-on. Also a brand new statue of Mahatma Gandhi in sitting posture, similar to the one in the State Assembly has been put up.

A new stage with lawns has also been developed for holding cultural programmes.

J.S.Ifthekhar,

Hyderabad based journalist.

Article published in Deccan Chronicle

Dated December 23,2018

Read More

The year-end revelry, rather madness, is about to begin. Where to let the hair down and whom to shake a leg with.

The year-end revelry, rather madness, is about to begin. Where to let the hair down and whom to shake a leg with. This is the biggest question worrying the well-heeled. One wants to get immersed in the frenzy and wish away the blues.

Big hotels are already arranging programmes to ring in the New Year. Some call it a new chapter, some a new beginning. But is it really so? The year never ends or begins—life just goes on. Will it be any different in 2019? You are living in a fool’s paradise if you say ‘yes’. Simply celebrating the New Year won’t change the shape of things to come. The elusive window of well-being will not open just because a new year has dawned.

Be the change you wish to see in the world. Nothing changes unless one brings positive changes in oneself. But the things most of us do as the New Year approaches are appalling. Elaborate parties are planned, venues chosen and menus selected. Some are busy jotting down New Year resolutions. It’s a ritual one wants to go through and get done with. At the stroke of midnight, a big cheer goes up, bottles are uncorked and the effervescent liquid gushes out. Next morning one gets up bleary eyed with a slight hangover only to find out that things have not changed a wee bit. 

This, however, doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t celebrate. But this can be done in a meaningful way. Why not resolve to be nice with everyone? Charity should begin at home. So let the first beneficiary of your good behaviour be your parents, wife and children. Go for an image makeover and give a big surprise to your colleagues by sharing their work. Why not resolve to shed that extra weight and feed the poor? For a change let’s put off airs and be fair with everyone. These acts look small but they have a lasting impact and liven up people around us. Don’t get fooled by the calendar. There are as many days in a year as you make use of.


The other day a friend of mine jolted me out of complacency when he explained how people are going bonkers in the one-upmanship race. New years or birthdays, he says, are not occasions to celebrate but time to take stock and do mid-course correction. Every time we tear off a leaf from a calendar, we are tearing off a month from our lives, a fact few are conscious of. And none knows how many years are left in our kitty. There is no way we can change the past but we can certainly make a fresh start and change the ending.

J.S.Ifthekhar,

Hyderabad based journalist.

Article published in The New Indian Express

Dated December 21,2018

Read More

Hari Om is a bureaucrat who also impresses with his crooning skills

Think of a bureaucrat and what comes to mind is a serious, person. But Hari Om begs to differ. He sports a relaxed and sociable look. And if you observe keenly you may even catch him crooning under his breath.

He is not the archetypal IAS officer we have come to recognise. Hari Om wears many hats — writer, poet, musician and singer — and is making waves with his ghazal albums. What started as a mere hobby has now turned into a obsession. So much so that today his melodious voice has become his identity.“Singing has given me greater satisfaction than becoming an IAS officer,” admits Hari Om who is secretary, General Administration Department in Uttar Pradesh government.

Though endowed with a dulcet voice, and singing right from his student days Hari Om began singing publicly only in 2015, taking everyone by surprise. Ever since, he has been flooded with requests to sing. The other day he readily obliged a small group of admirers at the Media Plus auditorium here in Hyderabad.

Main tere pyar ka mara hua hoon, Sikandar hoon magar hara hua hoon... he sang. An unabashed fan of Mohd Rafi and ghazal maestro, Mehdi Hasan, he is gradually developing his own style of singing. Initially his civil servant colleagues thought his interest in singing was a passing phase. But when he cut three albums they knew his singing is no flash in the pan. “Everyone knows that I am singing and there is no objection from the government,” says Hari Om.

Fascinated by Hindi literature, he did his doctoral thesis on the novels of feminist writer, Krishna Sobti. He also developed a liking for the poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz and released his first album Intisaab to mark the poet’s birth centenary celebrations in 2011. There’s been no looking back after that and two more albums followed quickly — Roshni ke Pankh (Wings of light) and Rang ka Darya (River of Colours).

Hari Om has also published his short stories under the title Amreeka, Meri Jaan and his Hindi poems Khwabon ki Hansi .

Having worked as Collector of 11 districts in UP, he has seen life at close quarters. And all this is reflected in his writings. “There is lot more in me waiting to come out,” he says and recites the verse:

Aankhon mein samaye huye manzar ki tarha hoon

Main boond hoon aansu ka, samandar ki tarha hoon


The literary streak in him has broadened his vision and perspective of life. “Now I take greater care in dealing with people’s issues,” says the young civil servant who was in Hyderabad on an official visit as election observer. On the insistence of his admirers he has agreed to give a performance at the NTR auditorium in Telugu University on Wednesday evening.

J.S.Ifthekhar,

Hyderabad based journalist.

Article published in The Hindu

Dated December 12,2018

Read More

If published, Amir Rizvi’s work would be the largest set of lexicons

When this monumental work sees the light of the day, Urdu readers will have the largest ever set of lexicons — six dictionaries spread over nearly 4000 pages are awaiting publication. Only, Syed Jafar Amir Rizvi doesn’t have the wherewithal to publish them.

A nuclear scientist by profession and a linguistic buff by passion, Amir has slogged for ten years to write the dictionaries on subjects which are totally new to Urdu language. Having accomplished the task, he is desperately looking for a sponsor to publish his works. His talks with the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) and the Maulana Azad National Urdu University in this connection have remained unfruitful.

Lexicography runs in his genes. His grandfather, Syed Tasaduqh Hussain Rizvi, authored the Loghat-e-Kishwari , way back in 1886; that still remains a popular reference point in Urdu. But what triggered Amir’s interest is Gossamer Years’ the tenth century classic of a Japanese writer, presented by his daughter. So impressed was he with the book that he wanted to translate it in Urdu. But when he sat down to translate he couldn’t get appropriate words in Urdu. “It was then that I decided to compile a comprehensive dictionary,” says Amir who served in the Department of Energy, US.

After retirement in 2007 he devoted his time and energy to writing seven dictionaries - Farhang-e-Amir, Farhang-e-Mauzoee (thematic dictionary), Farhang-e-Mutaradif and Mutazad (dictionary of synonyms and antonyms), Farhang-e-Qafia (rhyming dictionary), Urdu Lugath ki Tareekh (history of Urdu lexicography) and Farhang-e-Lisaan (linguistic dictionary). Of these only Farhang-e-Amir has been published; the rest await publication.

Salient features

What is unique about Amir’s lexicons is their encyclopaedic range. They not only provide information related to language and literature but are also a treasure trove of words for students and research scholars. For instance the thematic dictionary is a thesaurus in four languages - Urdu, Persian, Arabic, English. So one can find the meaning of a word in four languages at once. With more than one lakh words, the 1100-page lexicon is structured subject-wise.

Amir has fulfilled a long-felt need for a thesaurus in Urdu with a 2000 page dictionary. “Its benefits will be known once you start using it”, he says.

The Farhang-e-Qafia is also exceptional; it could be of immense help to poets in search of appropriate rhyming words. “Such a dictionary simply doesn’t exist in Urdu”, says Shujat Ali Rashid, a Urdu writer.


Apart from this, Amir has also penned Urdu and English poetry under the title Milak-e-Shairi and Distant Song, and has authored a Hand Book of Nuclear Science and Engineering on design and construction of nuclear power plants. What worries this 80-plus writer is the fate of his lexicons. He wants them published during his lifetime. Will someone come forward to help him?

J.S.Ifthekhar,

Hyderabad based journalist.

Article published in The Hindu

Dated December 07,2018

Read More

Gulzar’s recital of his new nazm was a trip down memory lane.

When was the last time you curled up in bed with a book in hand? May be a decade ago or more. Or is it once-upon-a-time, to use the cliché? Times have certainly changed and so have reading habits. Blame it on technology, one can’t have enough of the modern gadgets.

Whatever happened to bookworms? Perhaps the expression itself doesn’t hold good anymore — at least not with the generation next.

Now, we have people peering into their smartphones endlessly.

Psychologists have a new clinical name for this addiction. They call it ‘nomophobia’ (short for no mobil phone phobia). Youngsters press the panic button at the very thought of being separated from their smartphones.

“My children will rather go to bed hungry than have their mobiles snatched,” remarks a friend bringing into sharp focus the desperation among youngsters to the mobiles.

Small wonder footfalls have come down in libraries. Even diehard bibliophiles have turned to either Kindle, smart boards, tablets or e-books to slake their thirst for reading.

Thanks to digital technology who will rummage through dusty library shelves for a piece of information when you can have it at the click of a button.

Not to run the risk of becoming obsolete libraries have started embracing technology and providing online access to their database.  

All said and done the pleasure of holding physical books and reading at one’s convenience and in a posture one likes is simply inexplicable. Can a tablet emit the ethereal smell of ink that a book gives?

What about the joy of turning dog-eared pages or coming upon dried flowers in the folds of books. A click will change the screen but the taste of licking the forefinger while shuffling pages is something else.

The noted poet Gulzar, who was in the city recently, took everyone down memory lane when he recited his new nazm, Kitabein (books).

He touched a raw nerve, explaining how books now languish in almirahs waiting longingly for someone to take them out:

Kitabein jhankti hain bund almari ke sheeshon se
Badi hasrat se takti hain
Mahinon ab mulaqatein nahin hotin
(Books peer through glass doors of the bookcase
Looking longingly
For months there are no meetings now)

Books used to serve another purpose too. On the pretext of taking and giving them to the beloved, the tomes are allowed to fall — leading to blossoming of new ties:
Kitbabein maangne, girne, uthane ke bahane rishte bante the
Inka kya hoga?
Wo shayad ab nahin honge
(Relationships were build while borrowing, dropping and picking up books
What about those?
That may never happen)

These verses evoke memories of the famous encounter between the hero and heroine in the movie Mere Mehboob, when they collide in college and the books in their hands fall. This is simply unthinkable with a laptop. It would break if you let it slip.  

J.S.Ifthekhar,

Hyderabad based journalist.

Article published in Deccan Chronicle

Dated December 2,2018

Read More