MASJID QILA-E-KUHNA , DELHI

One of the most fascinating buildings, and also one of the few that still survive, in the Purana Qila is the Qila-i-kuhna masjid. Sher Shah Suri built it in 1541 (also see History) and he was obviously out to make a definite style statement. The mosque is quite a place; its prayer hall measures 51.20m by 14.90m and has five doorways with the 'true' horseshoe-shaped arches. Apparently the idea was the build the whole mosque in marble, but the supply ran out and red sandstone had to be used instead. But the builder used the material at hand very skillfully and the result is quite spectacular – the red sandstone and the marble contrast beautifully with each other to give the mosque a very distinctive air. The mihrabs (prayer niches) inside the mosque are richly decorated with concentric arches. From the prayer hall, staircases lead you to the second storey where a narrow passage runs along the rectangular hall. The central alcove is topped by a beautifully worked dome. In the courtyard at one time there was a shallow tank, which had a fountain. The mosque has an inscription which says 'As long as there are people on this earth, may this edifice be frequented, and people be happy in it.' A noble thought – amen to it.

DARGAH NIZAMUDDIN AULIYA

eid mubarak

آپ سب کو بہت بہت عید مبارک

SEEDS OF PEACE

Planting Seeds of Peace
A New York-based nonprofit works to help youth from conflict zones promote coexistence and reconciliation.

By Anjum Naim

“Tensions and conflicts generated by wrong historiography have burnt us. Our mission is to find the truth in multiple truths.” This statement by Mahak Mansoor, a third-year student at King Edward Medical University in Lahore, Pakistan, might sound quite grand. But this is what Seeds of Peace, a New York-based nonprofit, has been doing since it was formed in 1993—helping young people from regions of conflict broaden their perspectives and learn how to coexist.
Mahak, 21, was one of the five participants from Pakistan who came to New Delhi in July to interact with six Indian “Seeds” in a workshop based on the theme, “How history is taught in India and Pakistan; history of South Asia and feminist version of history.”
Seeds of Peace is an autonomous, apolitical organization started by American journalist John Wallach to help young people from conflict zones learn the skills of making peace. From 46 Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian teenagers in 1993, the network now encompasses nearly 4,000 young people from the Middle East, South Asia, Cyprus and the Balkans. The organization now focuses on the Middle East and South Asia.
The South Asia program with Indian and Pakistani youth was launched in 2001 with support from the U.S. State Department. Participants from diverse economic and religious backgrounds meet at the annual Seeds of Peace International Camp in the northeastern U.S. state of Maine. Interactions continue over the Internet, through speaker series in both countries, cross-border visits, conferences and workshops that teach the Seeds how to engage their communities and spread the message of reconciliation.
“India and Pakistan have fought several wars and generally the people of the two countries are hostile towards each other, and one of the major reasons for this is the history taught on either side of the border, which creates division and mutual hatred. Therefore, it is essential to correct where they are wrong and where we are wrong,” says Huzaifa Furniturewala, a student at Mumbai’s D.Y. Patil College of Engineering. He felt that the New Delhi camp “bore encouraging results.”
Krishna Kumar, director of the National Council of Education Research and Training; Anil Sethi, who writes books on education; and Urvashi Butalia, who teaches at Delhi University and is the author of The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India discussed history books taught in India and Pakistan with the Seeds. They also talked about the possibility of finding similarity between multiple truths with a view to presenting a history free from biases and distortions.
Besides trying to understand the history of India and Pakistan objectively, the Seeds visited New Delhi’s famous historical places. “It was not strange for me to visit the tomb of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia; the strange thing was that Faryana Pardiwala was with us and a sense of…respect for the place was radiant on her face,” says Sana Zulfikar from Lahore.
Seeds of Peace works with the U.S. Consulates in India, representatives of city councils, community leaders, teachers and school administrators to choose participants. They are selected on the basis of an essay competition and interview. In some countries the participants are chosen by the ministries of education.
Each year, the three-week international camp on the shores of Pleasant Lake in Otisfield, Maine welcomes nearly 350 Afghan, American, Egyptian, Indian, Israeli, Jordanian, Pakistani and Palestinian participants. The youngsters live and play sports together and share meals. The daily coexistence sessions led by professional facilitators form the core of the summer program where the Seeds discuss contentious issues, share painful memories and confront their differences. The goal is to help the Seeds communicate effectively and understand perspectives that, for many, were once beyond comprehension.
“We exist in order to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty and make real peace in the real world. That is not an easy thing. We do not plant a tree and call it ‘Peace.’ We do not sing a song and join hands and call it ‘Peace’…,” Wallach said while accepting the International Advocate for Peace Award on behalf of Seeds of Peace in New York in 2002. “No, we believe that making peace is very hard and that making peace requires co-existence. Not necessarily liking one another, but agreeing to co-exist.”
The Seeds later visit each other’s countries for a week under a home-stay program. This gives them a chance to interact with the families and friends of their hosts. “When I first went to Pakistan in 2005 to participate in a week-long camp, I had an utterly misinformed opinion about girls in Pakistan,” says Teju Jhaveri, a student at the department of fine arts, University of Mumbai. She expected Pakistani girls to be very conservative, clad in hijabs, with no voice of their own. But “they were very much like me, I shared both their pain and ecstasy,” she says. “Seeds of Peace really showed us the power of friendship to change the conflict of thinking.”
The idea for Seeds of Peace came to Wallach after the 1993 terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City. “I was still a journalist and it was February 1993, and I asked myself a very simple question: What are the terrorists trying to do? The answer was very simple. They were trying to instill fear,” Wallach said in his peace award speech. “Was there something that could be done to counter this? It seemed to me that what we had to do was to come up with something that would inspire hope. If terrorists are trying to instill fear, if we inspire hope by mobilizing the majority, we could make a dent in achieving greater justice in the world.”
At a dinner party in Washington, D.C., attended by Israeli, Egyptian and Palestinian leaders, Wallach stood up and asked whether they were willing to send 15 youngsters each to a summer camp in Maine. The aim was to dispel fear, mistrust and prejudice through dialogue. The next day, Wallach announced at a news conference that all three countries had agreed.
The first Seeds were guests of President Bill Clinton at the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn.
Initially launched with financial assistance from Wallach’s friends, Seeds of Peace attracted support from various quarters as it expanded its reach. The U.S. State Department supports the South Asia program while USAID funds a significant portion of the Middle East program. Other funding partners include Carlson Wagonlit Travel, oil and gas company Exxon Mobil Corporation, and luxury home builder Toll Brothers.
Wallach died in 2002 and the organization is currently headed by Executive Director Leslie Lewin. It has regional offices in Amman, Cairo, Gaza, Jerusalem, Kabul, Lahore, Mumbai, Ramallah, Tel Aviv and Washington.
Besides its international programs, Seeds of Peace runs a domestic program called Maine Seeds to address ethnic and racial tensions between communities settled in Maine and a cultural exchange program between American and Arab youths. But the focus remains on bridging differences in traditional regions of conflict.
When Sana Zulfikar was passing by the well at the tomb of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia with Faryana Pardiwala in New Delhi, she remembered what an Israeli Seed had said at the international camp: “Teachers at my school asked us to say the first word that crosses our mind when we hear the word ‘Palestinian.’ Some said terrorists. Some said neighbours. I said ‘friends.”

GHALIB ACADEMY 1982

Syed Hamid, Malik Ram, Burney, Hasan Sani Nizami, Anjum Naim(second row)

THE STORY TELLER'S TALE

Review by:Anjum Naim
Afghan ruler, Ahmad Shah Abdali's fourth incursion into India on January 23, 1757 brought a message of destruction and devastation of Delhi. Plunder of this walled city, popularly known as Shahjahanabad was tremendous loss of not only lives and properties, it was, rather a ravage of a culture and civilization, which changed the course of Indo - Islamic history. The epoch reference of novella "The Story - Tellers Tale" launched at American Center , New Derlhi on March 25 , 2009, written by Umair Ahmad, who obtained his master's degree in International Relations from Syracuse University, New York,2001-2003, is the same ruined and plundered India of 18th century. Its witness is a story - teller, who was not present in Delhi at the time of its destruction and when he returns back to his city, he finds no shelter. The broken-hearted story - teller, however finds a roof over his head in a protected beautiful mansion situated outside the city, wherein he meets the main character of the novella, Begum, who is living a secluded life with her servants, because her husband is away these days, perhaps to get his share in the bounty. Begum making out the caliber of the story - teller's art decides to have a competition of story - telling with him. Both of them would tell a story to each other, no matter whether it is a story of one's own suffering or a tale of other people. Albeit there is a condition that the stories would reflect the temperaments of both of them. The competition begins and takes its own time. Both of them narrate four stories. Meanwhile, a new story takes place. It is a love story of Begum with the story - teller. Begum's sentiments are intense while the story - teller seems to refrain from it as he is in the know of sufferings of love. And in this way, their stories become the expression of their failed love affair. Though, characters of each story are quite different, but they depict our familiar pictures in present perspective. The excellence of story is it tells us, in today's diction how love expands the balance of political power, and how the latter influence love.
Basically, the main reference of this story is the very violence, which is evident in almost every scenario crossing the limits of time and space. The story teller could never get rid of this central theme and tries to present it everywhere, whatever the form may be. It seems that different forms of violence are colliding with each other in the mind of the story – teller. Umair says, "We are unable to ignore this fact because violence and violent tendency are affecting all of us in one form or the other. It has become the central reference of lives of people like us."

A common reader may think if we are discussing our familiar issues, why then they are being written in the form of a story ( Dastaan) or the traditional form of story – telling? Umair gives a very simple answer, "I really did not think about the audience, I was only exploring old ideas of pain in various fables, myths and stories I had heard as a child."

But he also accepts that the form of story – telling (Dastaan goi) is a very interesting and a very impressive means of communication. No other form could express our feelings in such an impressive way. "You can conjecture it by the efficacy of parables of Bible and Quranic stories. Moreover stories heard in childhood also become a part of our psyche," says Umair.

He says that he used to participate in traditional story – telling programmes during his student – life in the U. S. he was very impressed with tall tales.

Tall tales are exaggerated and imaginary stories from the 1800s. They were made – up to tell about the courage many had while exploring and adventuring to the "WILD, WILD, WEST". These stories entertained people around campfires on steamboats, and many other places.
While writing the novel, he took care of this American tradition. He further says that “Urdu and Persian stories, which were read in his family and epic of Mahabharata, are the parts of his literary taste. That is why I felt no difficulty in expressing my thoughts in this form.” It is worth mentioning that fictional elements of all the four stories presented in the novella are based on Panch Tantra (an anthology of Indian stories, parables of Bible and Quranic allusions.

Umair has been, basically, an active journalist, affiliated with Outlook magazine and VOA, and political analyst. He has written many stories on lives of common people living in towns and villages of India. These stories got published under the title of 'sense terror' by Pages Editor, Catalonia 2008. His novel 'Encounters published by Tara Press, New Delhi , 2007' depicting the growing rigidity in a section of Muslims, the novella in hand and all of his writings make the issue of extremism in words and deeds, their subject matter. In a nutshell it is the subject matter that matters and not the mere form"

INDIA ISLAMIC CULTRAL CENTER , DELHI

DIVERSITY IS ONLY THE FIRST STEP

INTERVIEW WITH EBOO PATEL
ANJUM NAIM

It is the office of director of Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago based organization of youths having a desire to spread idea of religious pluralism with young people as its builder. And hanging on the wall is a well – known painting "Freedom of Worship", a masterpiece of Norman Rockwell, famous American painter of the first half of the 20th century. In the painting, four men and four women are shown praying and invoking the blessings of God. Everyone is praying in his or her own way. All of them – Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Colored and Whites – are standing shoulder – to – shoulder facing the same direction, comfortable with the presence of one another and yet apart.

Eboo Patel, director of I F Y C says that it is a vivid depiction of a group living in peace with its diversity, yet not exploring it. It is what we have set as the goal of our endeavors: Persuading the youth of different faiths to respect each other and solve their problems shoulder – to – shoulder, is termed as 'Religious Pluralism' by Patel.

Patel migrated from Mumbai to America with his father in 1975; he graduated from university of Illinois at Urban Champaign, and thereafter, obtains his Doctorate in Sociology of Religious from Oxford University on Rhodes Scholarship.

Engaged in to imbibe the ingredients of spiritualism and dynamism in services to humanity, Patel is associated with the advisory board of the Council on Foreign Relations (C F R), an American non partisan foreign policy membership organization founded in 1921, considered as the most powerful private organization to influence United States Foreign Policy. It publishes the bimonthly general 'Foreign Affairs'. He is also associated with the advisory board of Duke University Islamic Studies Centre (D I S C) established in 2006, as a sequel to the Centre for the Study of Muslim Networks, especially educational networks as essential instruments for advancing cross – cultural understanding.

President Barrack Obama has recently, established 'White House Office of Faith – Based and Neighborhood Partnerships', which will work on behalf of Americans committed to improving their communities, no matter their religious or political beliefs. Eboo Patel has been nominated as its member. Published in 2007, his book 'Acts of Faith' is, in fact, a story of his own life journey and his vision in creating an inter – faith youth movement. It reflects his thoughts particularly, the religious pluralism and the role of youth in its dissemination and implementation.

When asked why does he want pluralism among religiously diverse young people. What does it mean to him, what does it mean to other Americans or Indians. Do most Americans agree with him that religious diversity is important? Why or why not?, Eboo Patel explains, "When I say the word “pluralism”, I mean that to build a peaceful world, we have to go beyond the fact of diversity to actually engage it. A scholar at Harvard University, Diana Eck, says, 'religious diversity is a given, but pluralism is an achievement.'"
Explaining religious pluralism, he says, "To me, religious pluralism is three things. First, there must be respect for religious identity, which includes respect for secular humanist and non-believing identities. Second, there must be mutually inspiring relationships between people of diverse faith traditions. Finally, religious pluralism must include common action for the common good. It is not enough that we identify the call to serve in different traditions - we must act upon that call together. Religiously diverse young people can build a movement together by seeking out one another, coming to know each other, and then acting together to serve their communities."
Most Americans, in his opinion, agree that religious pluralism is important, and he would go a step further and say that people in general tend towards pluralism. He thinks the missing link is that people need the framework, leadership skills, training and resources to build a pluralistic world, and that is what his organization, the Interfaith Youth Core, tries to provide.
Modus Operandi
Both, his message and movement gained popularity in the United States. He is wholeheartedly engaged in giving his message a rippling effect amidst restrictions and limitations. Narrating his all out efforts to expand his movement overseas, he says, "My organization works abroad through several channels. For example, during the last few weeks, two Interfaith Youth Core staff members, both Muslim women, embarked on a tour across Western Europe supported by the State Department. They will conduct trainings for young European interfaith leaders in Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and France, with the goal of sparking an interfaith youth movement across Europe. Many of the communities they are visiting include recent Muslim immigrants to Western Europe, as well as established Muslim minority communities. "
According to him, this is just one of many partnerships IFYC has had with the State Department, which, over the past year, has meant IFYC presence in ten different countries. This includes the participation of four staff members on different speaking tours around the Philippines, India, and Western Europe. They are currently running three programs funded by the State Department - the Western Europe training tour will be followed in March by another training tour around the UK. In April, IFYC is bringing youth workers from the UK to the United States to experience the ways that dramatic religious diversity can be engaged in a vibrant civic sphere, and learn leadership techniques for their work.
He is looking forward to expanding their international work in Southeast Asia as well, and his upcoming work is one step in that direction.
Interfaith dialogue in a multi cultural society
Explaining the needs and significance of interfaith dialogue and related difficulties, Patel said, "In our globalized era, the world is smaller than ever before. The possibility of coming of age without encountering neighbors, classmates, teachers or friends of different faiths or cultures is narrowing more every year, and I think this kind of diverse, multi cultural society is the ideal place to hold interfaith dialogue. Interfaith dialogue and service is about taking the diversity at hand and transforming it into a new state of pluralism. "
In his opinion, the question at hand is not if dialogue can work in a multicultural society, because increasingly all societies are multicultural. The question is when are they going to take advantage of this ample opportunity worldwide to turn diversity into pluralism?
"We must engage these differences, build bridges between them and work together to achieve societies where common action leads to a better future for all", says Patel.
He believes that there will be no peace in the world without religious pluralism, and no religious pluralism without the leadership of young people. Young people today are growing up in the most globalized era in human history – they are truly the first interfaith generation.
That is why he says, "Faith formation for them is going to not only involve the question: 'What does it mean to be a Muslim?' It is going to have to include an additional element, 'What does it mean to be a Muslim in a community/country/world of Hindus, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Sikhs, secular humanists, etc?' This interfaith generation is going to be asking a whole new set of questions about what it means to be young and religious in this day and age, and I hope that they will be able to answer this question by taking a leadership role in building pluralism."
When asked why he came India to participate/ organize in a religiously diverse young people leadership program and what kind of leaders he is looking for, he replied that he is looking for young people ready to build pluralism in their communities. Young leaders who want to reach out to others, build mutually respectful relationships and join in service with those who are different from them in order to serve the common good.
Source of inspiration
His inspiration for the work comes strongly from his grandmother, whom he visited in Mumbai when he was first beginning interfaith action.
"As I sat beside her in her home, she told me 45 years worth of stories of women that she put up in her home and helped get a fresh start – women who were abused, abandoned, out of work, out of hope, with no family or chance to begin again. When I asked her why she spent her life helping others get back on their feet, she said “I am a Muslim. That is what Muslims do.” And that is where I draw inspiration," says Patel.
Relevance of Martin Luther King Jr's in the present era.
He is deeply impressed by his mission. He says, "The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr’s non-violent movement is incredibly significant in our era, not only because of the immense power of non-violence as a mechanism of social justice, but because of how Dr. King came to understand non-violence: through an Indian Hindu."
Peeping into the history he narrates: In 1950, when King was a young student in a Christian seminary, he went to see a lecture on Mahatma Gandhi in Philadelphia. Learning about Gandhi’s Hindu-based satyagraha (soul force) movement to free India stirred something in King. He had always believed in the Christian ethic of nonviolence, but thought it was relevant only for personal relationships. He was amazed that Gandhi had made that ethic the basis of a successful social reform movement.
"Five years later, when King was named the leader of the Montgomery Improvement Association, he copied Gandhi’s approach in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The people who marched with him called their movement 'Christian love', but King knew that it was a Hindu named Mahatma Gandhi who had, as he put it, 'furnished the method'", says Patel.
Describing King's speech in the church after returning from Montgomery, Patel says: "In 1959, as the civil rights movement was gaining ground, King went to India to study Gandhi’s legacy firsthand. He marveled at the religious diversity of the subcontinent, how Gandhi had brought people of all faiths and classes together to work nonviolently for freedom. When he returned to Montgomery, King got up in the pulpit of his church and spoke these words: “O God, our gracious heavenly father. We thank thee for the fact that you have defined men and women in all nations, in all cultures. We call you this name. Some call thee Allah, some call you Elohim. Some call you Jehovah, some call you Brahma. Some call you the Unmoved Mover.”
According to Patel, within King’s movement there are lessons beyond the impact of non-violent activism - lessons of respect for other faith traditions, lessons of mutually inspiring relationships between people of different religions, and lessons of deep understanding of the shared values between the world’s religions and how they can arouse common action.
Youth service
"In an era of global religious conflict, idealism has a new face: interfaith youth cooperation. The evening news features stories of young people killing each other to the soundtrack of prayer. Yet across the country and the world, young people of many faiths are coming together around the shared value of service," Patel explains.
In his opinion, they are changing the toxic conversation about religion and building the American dream of a place in which freedom for one relies on freedom for all. The watershed moment for their idealism has come: today’s young people will grow up under the leadership of Obama administration, in which civic engagement is supported in an unprecedented way.
"The call to national service is being heard loud and clear, and we at the Interfaith Youth Core look forward to not only inspiring young people to serve, but to empowering them to lead their peers in service as well," says Patel in a voice, full of confidence.
A member of the White House Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships And Council on foreign relations. When asked about the difference he made by being on the aforesaid committee, Patel replies that he is honored to have been named to the White House Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and looks forward to being able to shape a task force on interfaith cooperation. The Council was just recently formed and only 15 of the 25 members have been named.
"Though our work is just beginning, I see this as proof that the potential of faith-based groups to do good in this country has been recognized. I hope that my year on this council ends with the recognition that faith-based groups can do the most good when they work together," he said.
“I believe that the twenty first century will be shaped by the faith line’’
Putting forth an explanation to this idea, he says, "One hundred years ago, the great African American scholar W.E.B. DuBois famously said that "the problem of the twentieth century will be the problem of the color line" Most people assumed that the color line divided black and white. But Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came around 60 years later and changed the paradigm. He suggested that the real dividing line wasn't between black and white, but between those who wanted to live together as brothers and those who wanted to perish together as fools. "
"I believe the 21st century will be dominated by the question of the faith line. Our first and most important challenge is to recognize that the faith line does not divide Muslims and Christians, Hindus and Buddhists or secularists from the faithful", says Patel
He thinks that the faith line separates religious totalitarians and religious pluralists. Religious totalitarians want a society where their group dominates and everyone else suffocates. Religious pluralists want a society where people from different backgrounds live in equal dignity and mutual loyalty.
"The first challenge of the faith line is that the pluralists are in the majority, and yet the totalitarians have succeeded in convincing us to be afraid of each other. The second challenge of the faith line is for those of us in the majority to stand up for our pluralist vision, to tell our story, to put the extremists back in their place: on the extremes," believes Patel.

SAMINA KHAN

By : Anjum Naim


What is common in between 37-year old Piyush Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana and 30-year Sameena Khan, recipient of "Golden Apple Award", an American esteemed award, for the best performance in the field of education? Both hail from Maler Kotla city of Punjab state in India. Sameena Khan is another feather in the hat of Maler Kotla. These days she is in her ancestral land to meet her parents, and people particularly students and academicians are coming to meet her. Sameena says, the esteemed Golden Apple Award enthused me to open a school in her ancestral city, on the lines of school affiliated to Chicago Public School, and include people in all her teaching experiences, which rendered hopeful results.

Golden Apple Award is considered as one of the prestigious educational awards in America. It is the brain-child of Martin J. Koldyke, a very active personality in the educational arena. He was associated with Invest Banking. The award was designed to present to Chicago teachers for their extraordinary services. He believed that the teachers who render their yeoman services in the field of education, deserve awards and prizes as an acknowledgement of their significant services in making a more consolidated and bitterly educated society.
"This award is a great honour for me. I could only dream it, a dream, which at last came true," says Sameena.

Golden Apple selects 10 best teachers for this prestigious award every year since 1986. These selected teachers become the members of Golden Apple Academy of Education. They chalk out plans to make teaching functions more useful and meaningful, and develop the syllabus in the light of their valuable experiences. Moreover, the awardees are bestowed upon with many more honours, public rewards and benefits. They can get admission in any number of courses in their choicest subject in North-Western University of Evanston, free of cost. Besides, they also get a laptop computer along with cash awards of $ 3000 each.
One thousand teachers had filled up the nomination forms. They had to present 16 write-ups on different topics related to education, on the basis of which 100 of them were short listed. Thirteen out of them reached the final award whereupon 10 were selected finally. Sameena was one of them.

Thirty-year old Sameena was born in Ethiopia (Africa) where her parents were in teaching profession those days. Thereafter, she migrated to Nigeria. She obtained a Bachelor's degree in Micro Biology from Kadona Polytechnic, Nigeria which is renowned throughout the length and breadth of Western Africa. In 1994, she shifted to her brother in America wherefrom she took admission in Master degree course in Biology in the University of Wisconsin. She, later on, joined North-Easter University to complete her Master Degree. She also obtained Master's Degree in Education, with distinctions from Chicago University of D. Paul. Because of her long stays at different places, she is not only well versed with English, Hausa (Nigerian), Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi, she also has experience of a multi-cultural society. That is why, when she got an opportunity to teach children of African origin, she did not feel any unfamiliarity. "When you make your profession your hobby, it starts giving you joy, and in turn you get involved in finding newer and better ways to adorn it," says Sameena.
‘‘ You were always a science student, and you got your Master's Degree in Science, why, then, did you go for teaching profession?” Sameena replies with smile on her face, "Teaching is in my genes. My father as well as my mother are professional teachers. My father always says, medical and teaching professions are the most revered professions and these activities are termed as "continuous charity" in Islamic terminology. In the beginning, Sameena had a desire to become a medical doctor but she had natural attachment with teaching. So she participated in a competition held under the aegis of Global Educator Outreach Programme wherein more than one thousand candidates from 23 countries. Sameena was among the 50 selected countries. Chicago Public School is considered as the third largest school system in America. More than 600 schools are affiliated wherein about 409,000 students receive education. Sameena was appointed as a science teacher in Clark Magnet School, which is affiliated to Chicago Public School. She started her teaching career from this very institution.
Sameena says that pupils of African origin study in her school. In the beginning she felt it difficult to tackle and teach them, but since I passed my childhood amongst African children, I started tackling them very soon keeping their psychology in view. I got the speculated success and student came closer to me. I too was over joyous in teaching them, " teaching is not a profession, but a passion for me", says Sameena.
"What were your initiatives, which improved students' performance?" In reply, Sameena says that she teaches science to students of 6th, 7th and 8th standards. She observed that students were reluctant to science and dislike to attend the classes. School records showed that most number of drop-out cases were from 8th standard. Its prime cause was their disliking for science. She made all out efforts to make it more interesting. She told, "First of all I brought out the students from the classroom and engaged them, more intensively, in the lab, and created their interest in science through practicals. Observations and experiments helped them very much and the reluctant students started joining the classes." Her efforts bore the fruits and grades of students showed improvement. Illinois Standard Achievement Test scores increased rapidly. According to a school press release, in 2001, 34% students scored equal to the national average. In 2003, it increased to 46, in 2005 to 80, in 2006 to 84.6 and in 2007 to 89.6.
School's administration was very happy over Sameena's activities, her dedication to the school, her hands-on activities and her innovative teaching methodologies. This was the reason why Principal of the school, Dr. Henry West nominated her for Golden Apple Award. On the basis of nomination by her colleague teachers and the school administration, she has already been awarded Chicago Area Annual Award, Com-Ed 100 and the Drive Award 2006, which is awarded every year by Chicago Public School.
Sameena Khan asserts," All children deserve excellent teachers, and the institutions, which give importance to this phenomenon, success knocks their doors." He remembers her father, how serious he was in this regard. In India, teachers have always enjoyed a respectable position. That is why, educational standard has always been superb in India. According to her, Indian students are considered as trustworthy in America. It is why Indian students are in majority amongst the alien students in America. In her opinion, American concept of teaching is gaining ground rapidly in India. "What is needed most is to inculcate interest in them for learning."

LAL QILA , DELHI

Lal qila jis ki deewaren ab jagah jagah se kamzoor par rahi hain aur jis ke Dewane-Khas aur Dewane-Aam ab apni kasmpursi ki faryad karte nazar aate hain, ka yeh Lahori Darwaza ab bhi apni tareekh byan karta nazar aata hai.

MOTI MASJID, LAL QILA, DELHI

RANG MAHAL, LAL QILA , DELHI

SHRIEKING CRISIS OF WOMEN

SHRIEKING CRIES OF WOMEN
Anjum Naim

Amidst the cacophony of the Parampura area within the commercial city of Kanpur, is situated a small mofussil locality called the Juhi Mohalla lined with half-pucca houses. At the end of this row of houses, lies a temple dating back to ancient times. Just adjacent to this temple is a plot of land fenced by mud walls of over 3 - 4 feet height and owned by one called Ashok Dubey. There are 8 - 10 dingy little houses within the premises of the plot, which are inhabited by tenants. Towards the west of this array of dwellings, the remaining portion of land is occupied by a few beasts of burden tied to poles. Looking towards the right side, one conspicuously notices a dwelling with a thatched roof having no doors. Here lives 17-18 year old Tarana along with her five sisters, a younger brother, a father who pulls rickshaws during the day to take care of the family and a frail mother who does household chores for other people. This is how she still lives. Living may be too exaggerative a word; she barely manages to survive, to exist. A crowd had gathered around us as we stood there. However then it so happened that an entity came and stood before us, someone whose face was radiating beauty and whose large penetrating eyes had no inkling of astonishment or bewilderment. Perhaps the crystal clear face, which seemed to tell a million words, had become tired of relating its story again and again. And then, as Tarana’s sister pulled away the dirty-white dupatta tightly wound Tarana, from her body; it was all the more difficult to concentrate on what was unfolding before us. It was like a large canvas before us on which there was the full sized figure of tall-looking nude young girl sketched in water colours. Both her arms had already been severed up to her shoulders, from her frail body. Instead of rising round breasts - the symbol of womanhood, the area was covered with two large round black-coloured marks. The flesh from her waist up to her private parts had sagged and hung loose. Her toes had been disfigured badly and they stuck together in an unshapely manner. By all means, it was an unseemly sight. However, the face had been deliberately left untouched and was absolutely clear of any mark. The two large eyes looked blankly from the face, as if wanting to tell a story deep within.
On our insistence, Tabassum started tying a dupatta around Tarana’s lifeless, limp and log-like figure. ‘Why hadn’t any drop of acid percolated down to her heart? Is it what they call living?’, muttered Tabassum and broke into uncontrollable sobs as she covered a dupatta around her sister’s limp, vegetable figure. Then, when I gathered myself and recalled the questions I had prepared myself to ask her, I put my first question, which was more routinely in nature. ‘After all, how did it all happen?’ ‘It was fortunate enough that I survived after getting burnt in the pitiless acid.’ These were the first words, which Tarana spoke. The tone had a distinct mixture of hopelessness, frustration and anger. I soon noticed that the clear and dry eyes were getting filled with water. Subhashini Chaturvedi, a social worker from the Sakhi Kendra, a welfare organization working hundreds of victimized women and girls like Tarana and her sister Tabassum, gave us explicit details about the hair-raising incident. Beyond a few factual differences, which we later confirmed from the neighbours, everything was as much true. Here goes the painful saga……
On this plot of Ashok Dubey, like many others, Tarana’s mother Shaakira was also a tenant. Some other tenants wanted to forcibly occupy Shaakira’s house, about which she complained to Ashok Dubey. Acting upon the complaint, Dubey immediately sent those tenants a notice to vacate the premises, although the deadline was extended a little bit on their request. Barely had a week passed since then, when Tarana was abducted suddenly. She was taken away in a jeep by her neighbour Najo along with three other male relatives to another relative’s place. Tarana says that Najo gave her something to eat; thereafter she does not remember a thing. She adds that when she gained consciousness after some time, she found her shalwar to be soaked in blood and that she was being administered electric shocks. She became unconscious again. All limits of barbarism were crossed in that dingy little room. Shaakira on the other hand, had left no stone unturned to look for Tarana, but it was all in vain. On the fourth day as she stood cursing her fate in the verandah, a car stopped in front of her house all of a sudden; somebody tossed Tarana out of the car and it sped away. Her entire body was relating a telling story. Leaving the face apart, there was hardly any sensitive part of the body, which was left unburnt by a strong acid. At the hospital, in a last-ditch effort to save her life, they had to amputate both the arms first and subsequently the shoulders as well. Even the bones had got burnt. Months after the tragedy that had befallen on Tarana, she has managed to survive, but she isn’t more than a living corpse, merely throbbing to exist and fighting to add seconds to her frail existence. Her completely burnt chest has a heart which beats at its own pace and her broad clear eyes are still reminiscent of a tragedy that lay in her fate.
Somehow, I managed to come out of Ashok Dubey’s plot after having met Tarana, but it seemed that my legs were paralysed. I was inching my way forward and a small group of local people was accompanying me. At that instant, the priest Pt. Devi Prasad Tiwari of the ancient temple descended fast from the stairs and approached me. ‘Have you seen how cruel and oppressive the man in kalyug (modern times) is? Move out from this bustee (locality) quickly or you will find it difficult to move even two steps soon’, he reprimanded. The sun was shining mercilessly. I got into my car and ordered the driver, ’Shelter home- Sakhi Kendra’.
In the late 70’s, a number of workers were killed in a police firing during a strike at the Swadeshi cotton mills in Kanpur. The shelter home of Sakhi Kendra was established for the welfare of their widows. At present, it is a shelter or refuge for hundreds of girls and women in the state who have been faced the darker side of life. Hundreds and thousands of women here are fighting against the discrimination on the basis of gender within the city of Kanpur and other adjoining 120 bustees. A few days back, the American embassy donated close to 10 lakh rupees for the project ‘Furthering women rights in U.P’ under the aegis of the Sakhi Kendra, from the Alumni Grants Programme. As a result, the organization has established centers beyond Kanpur, in Lucknow and Jhansi as well. According to the president of Sakhi Kendra, Neelam Chaturvedi, ’if something is done with sincerity and commitment, funds are not a problem. You have to let your work, your performance do the talking and people would be of course, attracted to you on their own with whatever they can offer.’ Talking about Tarana’s case, she said that Tarana spent around three months at the hospital. The expenditure totaled up to several lakhs. However, there was no problem as far as the funds were concerned for her treatment and even bringing the culprits to book. At present, there are more than two dozen women and girls who have been through tougher times in life, struggling to overcome the baggage of the past and taking on a new innings in life. In addition to it, they are now working as counselors for others as well. Neelam says, ’who can have a better experience and feeling of what happened with the victimized women who come here than those living here? That is why the girls staying here at the shelter are devoting each minute of their life for enriching the their life and that of others.’
As I was engrossed in discussing Tarana’s issue with Neelam Chaturvedi, I had a side glance of Archana, the counselor at the Kendra sitting nearby. I could easily notice the tears in her eyes as well as a strong sense of anger and sadness on her face. Not more than a few minutes later, she could barely control herself anymore and broke into loud sobs. Women gave birth to men to create heirs on this planet. Men on other hand instead of being grateful to them and showering them with love and respect, did not miss the slightest opportunity in denigrating them and commoditising them in the markets. Incidents of rapes, molestation and acid attacks are on an ever-increasing trend. You are still wondering and sympathising with Tarana, in fact more than a dozen incidents of acid attacks on girls have been reported, targeting their faces and sensitive areas of their body, in the city of Kanpur alone in the past one year. Every following incident is more dastardly and beastly than the previous one. Everyone from Gudiya to Zahida to Megha, Mridula, Sapna or Soni has her own story to tell, and one keeps on wondering at the magnitude of the crime and the human barbarism. Their saga touches the chord of the heart and leaves one’s eyes dry. After all tears also have their capacity!
There is a large hall on the second floor of the shelter home. Here, girls learn to read and write or perform rehearsals for street plays during the day; at night they sleep in this hall. On one bed, a girl is sitting with a book in her hand trying to memorise something. She was about 20 -22 year old having a whitish complexion with long flowing hair but a little disorderly. However, the face was absolutely blank and the eyes just like Tarana, seemed to tell another sordid tale. Looking at us, she tried to gather herself a little bit more. ‘This is Gudiya’. Neelam Chaturvedi who had brought me to meet those living in the shelter home premises, introduced her to me as she lovingly ran her fingers through Gudiya’s hair. ‘She is a very good girl. This year she has passed her intermediate examination.’ Gudiya sat there with her head hung and lost in her own little world, which she had perhaps built brick by brick. Apparently, she wanted to say, ‘please tell something more about myself’. After passing the eighth standard, Gudiya quit her studies on the insistence of her mother and began assisting her mother in household chores. An aunt along with her young son migrated from some other city and started living in her neighborhood, for the last few days. There was a fairly good interaction between them and Gudiya’s family. One day, the aunt requested Gudiya’s mother to allow Gudiya to accompany her to the marketplace on the pretext of some shopping. Gudiya recollects having eaten something at one of the shops in the market along with the aunt and her son.’ But then how and when did I land up in a strange unknown city miles away from Kanpur, is totally a mystery till today. When I started weeping and throwing my arms, I was told that I would be made to marry her son and therefore I had to spend the rest of my life with him. I don’t know whether I was married to him or not, but I can recollect fairly well that I was prepared each night to sleep with a stranger’, she says in an aggrieved voice. Barely crossing the threshold of 16, Gudiya despite taking all possible precautions, became pregnant and then stepped into motherhood. A few days later, the newborn baby succumbed to death. ‘whether it was killed or it died on its own, I can hardly remember.’ After the death of the baby, Gudiya says she decided to escape from that hell. Instead of going to her parent’s house, she went to the house of one of her father’s friend, whom she called ‘uncle’. The uncle showed great hospitality and allowed her to stay in the house. Her father somehow came to know that his friend was sheltering his daughter; however he did not have the courage to bring her back to his home because of the embarrassment he believed, he would have to face owing to her prolonged absence. Soon after, the uncle also got emboldened and things became worse. Gudiya had no more faith in any relation whatsoever. She had lost the credibility of human relations. Her attempt to commit suicide was unsuccessful. Whether she went to the Sakhi Kendra all by herself or was she taken there by somebody, Gudiya does not mention it clearly enough; although Neelam Chaturvedi later told us that her mother herself brought her here. We got up to go and listen to another girl, a frail feeble-looking 17 year old girl by the name Renu. Thereafter, we listened to another girl, Zahida who told us her sordid tale of how his father got her married thrice in his unquenchable thirst for money and more money. It seemed as if there were many large-scale screens placed in the hall and each screen was showing pictures of torture, agony and pain – none of them less in magnitude to each other. Someone had a rendezvous with domestic violence and harassment and somebody had been molested or raped and left to die on the streets. There were also instances of women being used as commodities and sold or bought in open markets. There was absolute uniformity however. There was no discrimination on the basis of age, religion or caste and creed. All of them had been victimized and humiliated! It is in fact a bazaar run by pimps, perverts and savages who have their business in exploiting women, playing with their modesty and subordinating them. Money, personal whims and fancies and individual gains are the only guiding factors here which make everything chalta hai (okay). According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), over fifteen thousand cases of heinous crimes against women are registered every year in the country. However, this figure is not at all close to reality given the fact that over 60 – 70 per cent cases of flesh trade and sexual exploitation of women are not even reported anywhere.
Zahida brought a cup of tea for me and then spread a local newspaper in front of me, with page three being highlighted clearly. There were two coloured pictures on it in which some were shown holding their children. Alongside, was a detailed report related to the picture. The bold headline stood out conspicuously. The police had raided the city hotel in Allahabad and arrested over two dozen women involved in the flesh trade. A number of women from Madhya Pradesh were duped on the pretext of getting jobs and were later found at flesh centers and red light areas. Zahida looked at me with cold eyes as if telling me in a matter-of-fact manner that it was not the first time that such a thing as happened. God knows how many helpless and troubled women are being taken from one corner of the country to the other and brutally forced into human trafficking. They have just one purpose to serve- sell their bodies and their honour as well.
No country in the world today finds itself aloof from this gory profession. According to an analysis of the US department of labour, no less than 50 thousand women and children are involved in flesh trafficking every year in America alone. Some of them are made to work in hotels and restaurants, some are involved in household chores while the biggest chunk amongst them are forced into or compelled by circumstances to take up flesh trade. Once into this business, they are not only subjected to mental agony, physical exploitation and sexual harassment, some of them are also rewarded with the deadly disease AIDS, thus pushing them into the jaws of death. AIDS has a long list of its victims which keeps on growing each day. The American ambassador to India, David Mulford says that America has spent close to four hundred million dollars in countering the menace of flesh trade and human trafficking in America in the last few years. The United States has also issued a grant of around 90 lakh rupees for twenty four different projects in India during this period. The government of India has also taken certain key steps in this direction, primarily by starting off a programme by the name, ‘Plan of action to combat trafficking and commercial and sexual exploitation of women and children’ under the aegis of the Department of women and child development in 1998. It has worked along with several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and has shown better results in the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi. However, Neelam Chaturvedi feels that such efforts cannot be successful completely unless even the common man in our society raises his voice and takes action against the menace. She had been to the US in 1999 under the International Visitor’s Programme of the American embassy. In the US, she had met a large number of organizations and shelter homes working for the welfare and assistance of women. Sharing her experiences from the visit, she admits having seen and met many common people taking out a few days or a few weeks every year from their busy schedules and involving themselves devotedly in welfare tasks. The temporary and semi-permanent workers of any welfare organization were found to be working as dedicatedly and sincerely as any of the permanent members of the organization. Neelam adds that,’ I strongly feel that no government or non-government effort can produce the desired results without the involvement of each one of us. Each one amongst us has to take cudgels against the wrong doings in our society.’ Each word Neelam spoke, was true to the core. The confidence behind the words could be distinctly noticed.
As I was tying up my belongings for returning back to my place, the picture of an innocent-looking frail girl, Sapna kept on flashing in my mind and playing with my thought process, the girl who had been forced to embrace motherhood at the tender age of 14. She was a little girl herself, carrying a little baby in her arms. I asked her in an impromptu manner,’ Is it your brother?’ ‘You can call it my brother, my sister or my son. If he manages to survive, I would have to be a mother to it.’ Sapna replied in a casual manner referring to something so serious, bewildering and painful. The hidden message could be grasped easily. Tears rolled down her bony face as she broke into uncontrollable sobs. As I lifted my belongings to leave and moved on, I could still hear her punctuated sobs slice through the abominable lull all around…..

RELEVANCE OF RUMI

AN INTERVIEW WITH NEVIT ERGIN
By : Anjum Naim
San Matio, California based, Turkish American Surgeon and Translator of Mathnavi (a verse genre used for narrative poetry) of Jalaluddin Rumi, Dr. Nevit Ergin, recently, visited India in connection with 800-year celebrations of Rumi. He participated in various programs at Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Patna, organized by the US Embassy. Though Dr. Ergin is a surgeon by profession, but for the last 50 years, he dedicated himself to the studies about Rumi and his works. He, for the first time, translated and published the complete poetical works of Rumi into English in 22 volumes by the name “Bayaz-e-Kabeer” (A Comprehensive Anthology). In Delhi, he spared a few moments for Span (Urdu). Following are some excerpts from his talks with Anjum Naim, the editor of aforesaid magazine:

What is the relevance and significance of Rumi in the present era?

Rumi has always been a symbol of unifying force in a civilization, social and economic system, whatsoever it may be. His poetry gives solace to heavy hearts and worried brains. Don’t forget, the more the world becomes horrible, the more the human lives become costless, the more relevant and significant Rumi’s poetry will be. Don’t you observe, the human potential and his self-framed religious behaviors are becoming entirely negatively surcharged? In this situation, will he be able to survive without a spiritual oasis in the desert of negative paradigms. Anyway, he is in sheer need of a life code, as an alternative to his particular faith, which may prevent him to become alien to his own society, to his own community. And Rumi provides with a better guidance than any other, in this regard. He was certainly much larger than life. But at the same time, he was very close to mankind, without any religious or racial boundary. Maulana Jalaluddin is like an infinitely large umbrella covering all we have and beyond.

He introduces himself, saying:
“I am neither Christian nor Jew
Neither Persian nor Muslim.
I am neither the East nor West
Neither from land nor from water.”

He refutes the allegation that he can be confined to any particular faith or shackles of time and space.

“I am concealed, secret, sometimes,
Sometimes I appear, and become obvious.
Sometimes I am Muslim
Sometimes I am in the faith of Moses
Sometimes I am Christian.
In order to be a model to everyone
I manifest differently in every time.”

How Rumi became the most popular poet in the US?

How well a person said: “Rumi’s popularity in the United States is a matter of our enormous spiritual hunger.”
It is a well known fact that Americans, usually and relatively read more. Apart from it, more books are published here. Common people, hardly, get opportunities to go through books and deliberate, where political or social conditions are not normal or where the life is burdensome. Since our community ponders over different issues and tries to find the solutions thereof, that is why Rumi attracted their attention and his thoughts impressed them too much. Moreover, Rumi opens a new gate in a multi-dimensional society that faces a dilemma between faith and reason. Our society is full of luxuries of life; but a well-to-do and prosperous person may not necessarily have a happy life too. Here, Maulana bestows that very much sought after happiness – happiness of body and soul, happiness of brain and heart. It is what makes him popular.

The entire credit of Rumi’s popularity in the US goes to Colman Barks, who not only introduced Rumi to the literary circles in the US, but also translated Maulana’s anthology beautifully. The earlier English versions were like one has given a solitary confinement to the skylark of poet’s imagination. Barks opened the cage and the bird, once again, started singing the melodious songs with full sum and substance.

How difficult it was, to translate Rumi’s poetry?

In fact, translation of a literary work is a difficult and challenging task. It becomes somewhat more difficult when one has to translate metaphysical poetry of Rumi like poets.

There is an inherent danger in Rumi’s poems. They dazzle the eyes with their poetic beauty, so then one cannot see their prophetic meaning.

You cannot perceive and understand Rumi unless and until you peep into Rumi’s window to find the real perspective. I am a doctor by profession, but when I felt interested in Rumi’s poetry, I dedicated myself completely to understand his themes and thoughts for 15 years. Rumi demands, if you are desirous to enter his world of thoughts, you will have to abandon all your earlier assumptions and ideologies. It is rather a precondition to enter the arena of his musings. In case, you want to go through his works along with your preoccupations, then understanding Rumi will be extremely an uphill task. I have taken a lot of care in this regard.

What role Sufism play in a multi-dimensional society?

Sufism liberates you from the clutches of compulsions of self-adorned faith. It leads man to be in touch with God, directly. Different self-imposed faiths in a multi-dimensional society create problems for man to turn to God. Sufism relieves man from such shackles. That is why it plays more important role in such a society in comparison to uni-dimensional societies. India has always been a land of people, wandering in search of God. Sufism is, therefore, deep-rooted over here. I think these similarities will play an extremely important role in bringing both India and America closer to each other.