Alumni Meet-2018 of A.M.U. Aligarh: Through Lense of Engr Maqbool Akram

It was a Nostalgia occasion for hundreds of Aligarh Muslim University alumni, to attend the AMU Alumni Meet—2018.They assembled again in Kennedy Auditorium of Chaman-E-Syed to connect with each other to refresh their old memories. 

It was one day meet: 16th October 2018. Followed by High Tea, Lunch breaks in Guest houseNo1. and a grand dinner at Lawn of Sir Syed House. The seed which Sir Syed sowed in 1877 had grown up into a mighty tree: that is now Aligarh Muslim University.

After break fast in lawn of Kennedy Auditorium and registration and networking, Alumni Meet was started with recitation oh Holy Quran.

Welcome Address

Prof M M Sufyan Beg Chairman of Alumni Affairs Committee and Principal Zakir Husain College OF Eng.and Technology, AMU. Aligarh said in his welcome address, that AMU was waiting eagerly for the alumni meet and we seek the help of our alumni to take AMU to new heights. Speeches of Guest of Honors:

(1)Prof Shah Alam Khan (Department of Orthopedics, AIIMS) urged students to continue to realise their beautiful dreams with the required hard work and dedication and follow footsteps of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Mahatma Gandhi to take AMU on greater heights.

(2) Dr Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz (Vice Chancellor, MANU University, and Hyderabad) said that it is imperative to follow the path of justice, no matter what we do and where we live. We need to be good professionals with the best in our education and contribute to society in the best of ways, he said. 

(3)Prof Neelima Gupta (Vice Chancellor, CSJM University, Kanpur) recalled that as a student she used to attend programmes in the Kennedy Hall and never thought that one day, she will be sitting on the dais and addressing the current students. "This success passage, which has made me sit on the dais, has been given to me by AMU," she pointed out.    

(4) Mr M J Alam (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi) shared that he left the University after failing to qualify the Civil Services exams in the first attempt, but his teachers convinced him to come back. "I owe my success of qualifying the Civil Services exam to my teachers in AMU, who guided and mentored me," said Mr Alam.

(5) Mr Rizwan ur Rahman (CEO and Secretary, Maulana Azad Educational Foundation/ Chairman MANAS, New Delhi) spoke on the importance of following Sir Syed's path of spreading education to masses. Mr Rahman said that he quit his job in the power sector of the Government to join the Ministry of Minority Affairs for the purpose of providing education to girls, especially those of the marginalized sections.

 (6)Prof (Retd.)M Farooque (Department of Orthopedics, AIIMS) shared anecdotes and experiences from his life. He pointed out that the AMU alumni community spread all over the world shares a bond of love and brotherhood. He also urged students to recognize and hone their skills.

Address by the Chief Guest

Mr Rizwan Ahmad (1978 batch IPS officer and retired DG-Police, Uttar Pradesh), who attended the inaugural function at the Kennedy Hall auditorium as the Chief Guest spoke on Sir Syed's mission of ardent reform and how he wanted to reconcile modern scientific thought among Indians by rationalistic interpretations and not by attacking basic belief system.

He said that Sir Syed always believed that religious differences should have no political and national significance. 

Presidential Address

Presiding over the function, AMU Vice Chancellor, Professor Tariq Mansoor said that it is heartening to see how alumni from the United States of America, European countries, Middle-East, Mauritius and other parts of the world are connecting their successes with their alma mater and contributing in all possible ways. 

 "Alumni are our brand ambassadors and what they achieve is a direct reflection of our University," said Prof Mansoor.

Vote of Thanks

Prof Anwar Khursheed, Vice Chairman, Alumni Affairs Committee proposed the vote of thanks, while Dr Faiza Abbasi conducted the programme.

University Tarana

Now it was about 11.45 am the time for University Tarana and National Anthem.Fully packed Kennedy Auditorium was burst into clapping like a thunderbolt.

Ye dasht-e-junoo diwano ka, ye bazm-e-wafa parwano ki
 ye shahr-e-tarab roomano ka, ye khuld-e-barin armano ki

After Tarana and National anthem, a high tea was there in lawns of Kennedy auditorium lawn.

Session I-Panel discussion 

Topic of panel discussion was “Prospective Role of Alumni in Accredit ion and Ranking”

Session I-Panel discussion 

Topic of panel discussion was “Prospective Role of Alumni in Accredit ion and Ranking” 

Session was chaired by Professor D.P.AGarwal, former Chairman of U.P.P.S.C. Moderator of pannel discussion was Prof.M Rizwan Khan.Speakers were Prof. Imteyaz, Prof.M Salim Beg, Prof.M.M.Sufyan Beg, and Prof. Asad U.Khan.

Lunch in Guest House No 1

Alumni Affairs Committee has arranged transport facility for guests at lunch in Guest House No 1.

Session II: Faulty Level program with respective Alumni proceeding to their faculty.

Guests were offered tea in their respective Faculties.

Tea and Dinner: A very colorful and intoxicating evening was waiting for guests at lawn of Sir Syed House Complex. A musical programme was organized there by Cultural Education Center, and that was followed by Grand dinner.

Written, photographed and posted by Engr Maqbool Akram.

Zebu-n-Nisa: Daughter of Aurangzeb—Invisible Gem from History (1638--1702)

Dying unseen as hidden thou wert born

So my heart’s blossom fallen in the dust

A lesser known character from the Mughal Empire is princess Zebu-n-Nisa, the eldest daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb. Unlike her puritanical father, Zebu-n-Nisa was a Sufi poet and did not share her father’s orthodoxy.

 Zeb-un-Nissa did not get married and remained single her whole life, despite the fact that she had many suitors. Her grandfather, Emperor Shah Jahan, had betrothed her to her first cousin, Prince Suleiman Shikoh, the eldest son of her paternal uncle, Crown Prince Dara Shikoh. 

Shah Jahan had intended for her to become a future Mughal Empress as Sulaiman was the heir to Dara Shikoh, who was next in line for succession to the Mughal throne after Shah Jahan. 

The marriage would've been a perfect match but did not, however, take place due to Aurangzeb's reluctance, who hated his eldest brother, Dara Shikoh.

Zeb-un-Nissa spent all her life on literary works and poetry, as she herself said:

“Oh Makhfi, it is the path of love and alone you must go.
No one suits your friendship even if Jesus be though.”

THE Princess Zeb-un-Nissa was the eldest daughter of the Mogul Emperor Aurangzeb of India, and was born in 1639. She came of a distinguished line, in direct descent from Genghiz Khan and Tamerlane.

She was a Sufi, an influential personality in the palace and remained unmarried. She was bestowed with a very good education by her father and was said to have memorized the Quran at an early age. She had her own courts at Delhi and at Lahore, to which scholars and poets came; at least some of her own poetry - in Persian and in Arabic –

Some of her poetry, written under the pen-name "Makhfi" ("the hidden one") circulated among her contemporaries. Many of Zeb-un-Nissa's poems are clearly expressions of her Sufi belief, expressing a personal devotion to Allah.

Unlike her puritanical father, Zeb-un-Nissa did not share her father’s orthodox views on religion and society. Steeped in mystic thought, her ghazals sang of love, freedom and inner experience:--

“Though I am Laila of Persian romance
my heart loves like ferocious Majnun
I want to go to the desert
but modesty is chains on my feet.
A nightingale came to the flower garden
because she was my pupil
I am an expert in things of love.
Even the moth is my disciple!”
(Translated by Willis Barnstone)

The woman had no luck in love. Her father poisoned one suitor, the son of a political rival.

In the beginning of 1662 Aurangzeb was taken ill, and, his physicians prescribing change of air, he took his family and court with him to Lahore. At that time Aquil Khan, the son of his vizier, was governor of that city. He was famous for his beauty and bravery, and was also a poet. He had heard of Zeb-un-Nissa, and knew her verses, and was anxious to see her.

On pretence of guarding the city, he used to ride round the walls of the palace, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. One day he was fortunate; he caught sight of her on the housetop at dawn, dressed in a robe of gulnar, the color of the flower of the pomegranate.

He said, “A vision in red appears on the roof of the palace.” She heard and answered, completing the couplet: “Supplications nor force nor gold can win her.”

She liked Lahore as a residence, and was laying out a garden there: one day Aquil Khan heard that she had gone with her companions to see a marble pavilion which was being built in it. He disguised himself as a mason, and, carrying a hod, managed to pass the guards and enter.

She was playing chausar with some of her girl friends, and he, passing near, said:

“In my longing for thee I have become as the dust wandering round the earth.”

She understood and answered immediately: “

Even if thou hardest become as the wind, thou should st not touch a tress of my hair.”

They met again and again, but some rumour reached the ears of Aurangzeb, who was at Delhi, and he hastened back. He wished to hush up the matter by hurrying her into marriage at once. Zeb-un-Nissa demanded freedom of choice, and asked that portraits of her suitors should be sent to her; and chose naturally that of Aquil Khan.

Aurangzeb sent for him; but a disappointed rival wrote to him: “It is no child’s play to be the lover of a daughter of a king. Aurangzeb knows your doings; as soon as you come to Delhi, you will reap the fruit of your love.” Aquil Khan thought the Emperor planned revenge.

But he came secretly to Delhi to see her again, perhaps regretting his fears. Again they met in her garden; the Emperor was told and came unexpectedly, and Zeb-un-Nissa, taken unawares, could think of no hiding-place for her lover but a deg, or large cooking-vessel.

The Emperor asked, “What is in the deg?” and was answered, “Only water to be heated.” “Put it on the fire, then,” he ordered; and it was done.

Zeb-un-Nissa at that moment thought more of her reputation than of her lover, and came near the deg and whispered, “Keep silence if you are my true lover, for the sake of my honor.” 

One of her verses says, “What is the fate of a lover? It is to be crucified for the world’s pleasure.” One wonders if she thought of Aquil Khan’s sacrifice of his life.

In 1681, Zeb-un-Nissan's brother Akbar attempted to usurp their father’s position as emperor. Aurangzeb prevailed, Akbar fled to safety, and the emperor accused Zeb-un-Nissa of betrayal, based on her correspondence with her exiled brother. Although he reconciled with Akbar, the emperor imprisoned Zeb-un-Nissa in the fort at Salimgarh. He held her captive for the twenty years until her death in 1702.

Some say because her father distrusted her on account of her friendship with her brother, Prince Akbar, who had revolted against him; others say because of her sympathy with the Maratha chieftain Sivaji. There she spent long years, and there she wrote much bitter poetry:—

If you wish to offer your beauty to God, give Zebu-n-Nisa taste. Awaiting the tiniest morsel, she is right here.

Zeb-un-Nissa died in1702. There is some controversy regarding the location of her tomb but Maasir-i-Alamgiri clarifies this, News came to the Emperor from Delhi that Zeb-un-nisa Begum had died. 

The Emperor was so saddened by the news as to shed tears, but had to resign himself to God's will. Order was sent to Sayyid Amjad Khan, Shaikh Ataullah, and Hafiz Khan to give alms (for the benefit of her soul) and build her tomb in the appointed place, namely the Garden of Thirty-thousand" trees outside the Kabuli Gate of Delhi.

But, in 1885, her tomb was shifted to Akbar's mausoleum at Sikandra when the railway lines were laid out in Delhi.  

Written by Engr Maqbool Akram with help of materials and photos available at net with thanks.

A Murder Mystery: Mutton Soup Solved the Crime

In a horrible murder plot straight out of a crime thriller, a woman murdered her husband.A cup of mutton soup signaled to solve the murder puzzle. The wife, a 27-year-old lady nurse and her lover were involved in this cold blood story. Not only they had diligently prepared and purged her husband, but also have plotted to pass the beau off as her husband through facial changes through plastic surgery.

M. Swati, a 27-year-old nurse at a private hospital in the town, was married to Sudhakar Reddy for three years and they also had a child. However, she involved in a sordid affair with Rajesh, a physiotherapist. They arranged a secret game to get rid of Reddy.

They executed the plan successfully by injecting anesthesia to Reddy, when he fell unconscious; they hit him on his head resulting in Reddy’s death. They later dumped and burnt the body in the forests.

To ensure that nobody gets suspicious about Reddy's disappearance, Swati hatched a plan to swap her dead husband with Rajesh by making some changes in his physical appearance through plastic surgery.

As part of their plan, Rajesh’s face was disfigured with acid and informed Sudhakar reddy’s relatives that unknown persons had attacked him. Later Reddy' was rushed to a corporate hospital in Hyderabad, where doctors advised plastic surgery.

The treatment had started and when it looked Swati and Rajesh would succeed in their plan, the story took a dramatic turn.The hospital offered 'Sudhakar' a cup of mutton soup. Notably, as practice, mutton soup is given to patients undergoing treatment for burn injuries. Sudhakar' refused to have it. He told the hospital staff that he is not used to having non-vegetarian food.

Reddy's relatives got suspicious when he refused to have mutton soup served to patients with burn injuries. They were shocked when he told the hospital staff that he is a vegetarian as the real Reddy used to take non-vegetarian food.

They started asking him some questions including the identity of some relatives, he stopped speaking and was conversing with signs. Reddy's family members alerted police. When the police grilled Swati, she confessed to killing her husband with the help of Rajesh.

She also confessed that she was inspired by Telugu movie "Yevadu" starring Ram Charan Teja and Allu Arjun. The story of this 2014 movie was about a youth (Alu Arjun) who gets injured and a lady plastic surgeon gives him the face of her deceased son (Ram Charan).

Moral of story: Murder Cannot Be Hid Long. The Truth Will Out.The The truth is that killing innocent people is always wrong - and no argument or excuse, no matter how deeply believed, can ever make it right.

Written with help of materials available on Net and photos are from sources with thanks.Posted by Engr Maqbool Akram

Inspiring, Motivational Story of Umm-ul-Khair, born with fragile bone disorder: From Slum to IAS

This is real inspiring Story of a Slum Dweller Umm-ul-Khair, Who Cleared the IAS Exam in her first attempt. Her story is not an ordinary. She was born and brought up in a slum in Delhi. The delicate Umm-ul-Khair, is hardly five feet tall, but has an everlasting smile on her face. Her eyes twinkle like stars. She is soon going to join the elite India Administrative Service (IAS).

She was born in 1989 with fragile bone disorder. Umm-ul-Khair family moved to Delhi from Rajasthan, where she lived with her parents in a slum area in Trilokpuri. On the one hand, she had to undergo repeated surgeries to repair her fractured bones which resulted from her health issue.

She lost her mom at very young age. Her father married another woman. Her inclination towards academics was not well supported by her parents who did not believe in educating girls beyond Class VIII. They said she have got more education than a girl should.  After failing to convince them for letting her study further, she took the bold decision and moved out of her house. Umm-ul-Khair started giving tuitions to slum children.

Her father had a small tea shop nearby. This didn’t help much. The family, after struggling for a few months, migrated to their hometown Pali in Rajasthan. Umm-ul- Khair, who was then in Class 8 in a government school, stayed back. She was all alone. Her family almost disowned and abandoned her.

She did exceptionally well in school. A teacher helped her get admission in a private school in east Delhi. Umm-ul-Khair took a small rented room in Trilokpuri neighborhood. Though her studies were funded by the school, she had to generate some money for her survival. She gave tuition to the children in the neighborhood.

“I had started taking tuitions but living independently meant I had to earn more money. From few children the tuitions expanded to four batches—3 pm to 5 pm, then from 5 pm to 7 pm, 7 pm to 9 pm, and 9 pm to 11 pm. These were mostly children from slum areas and I got Rs 50-100 from each student. I couldn’t have expected more as these were children of laborers, iron smith, rickshaw-pullers, etc. Besides, for a girl to live alone in a jhuggi was sometimes traumatic. It was never safe but I had no choice.”

Clearing class XII with flying colors, she finished her Master's in International Relations from JNU. Until then, though becoming an IAS officer was always on her mind, she couldn't find time to pursue her dreams. But in 2013, she was accepted for the Junior Research Fellowship, the stipend from which took care of her needs.

But poverty was not her only obstacle. Umm-ul-Khair has a genetic disease called Fragile Bone Disorder. Her bones were very weak. Even a small injury can cause multiple fractures in her bones. These Bone disorders lead to 16 fractures and eight surgeries through her childhood.

She says: “Travelling from Trilokpuri to Gargi College in a bus was the biggest challenge. Many times I got multiple fractures. I was on wheel chair for about a year.” She somehow completed BA in Applied Psychology. She then got admission in a Masters course in International Relations at JNU.

In 2012, she met a small accident and was confined to a wheelchair for a year due to her bone disorder.

Despite cracking the IAS exam, Khair will complete her PhD from the Centre for Russian & Central Asian Studies. “I will submit my synopsis and then de-register for the time being. During training, I will continue to work on my PhD which will most probably be on ‘gender and disability in Russia’,” she said. Though Umm-ul-Khair ranks 420 in the list, she is likely to get IAS under disability quota.

Her research is based on disability rights in Russia. She hopes to work for the under privileged groups in the society. She says: “My father is in Pali in Rajasthan. He is a daily wager and my brother sells bangles. They may not know what IAS is. But yes my father may know what a collector is.

he message is: If you want to achieve great heights in your life then “Think Big”.

Written and posted by Engr Maqbool Akram, with help of materials e and reports from various media sources available on net, with thank.

Behram Who Killed Over 900:The Terrifying Thug Of India

Many don't know this but the word 'thug' actually stems from the Hindi word 'thag', a cult of dacoits in the Oudh/Awadh region of North India. The most notorious among them was their leader, Thug Behram jemedar: the King of Thugs: “The Terrifying Thug of India”. One of the most prolific in the history of mankind, he was responsible for murders of an estimated 931 people!  They invariably would prey on travelers – garroting, robbing, and burying their victims.

As with the rest of the cult, Behram was an ardent worshipper of Kali, the goddess of death and destruction. According to some, the Thuggees operated from the 1300s, but Behram was their last, most well-known and most feared leader. He believed that it was his religious duty to murder people as it would prevent a 1000-year delay in the arrival of Kali.

They were a group of breakaways from 7 Muslim tribes who worshiped the Hindu Goddess Kali.They are credited with over 2 million deaths across the subcontinent – spanning a period of over 600 years.

The morbidly fascinating thing about this whole case is still the fact that Behram, along with his cult mates, were not killing to benefit monetarily or for pleasure, but out of a sense of religious righteousness which they thought was saving mankind and was intended for the greater good.

Behram :Who Killed over 900-The Terrifying Thag of India.

Behram was born in 1765 in a village in the vicinity of Jabalpur, in today’s Madhya Pradesh. Behram is said to have been a relatively normal young man, remembered as someone who was very quiet and contemplative as a youth, before he met and befriended Syeed Amir Ali. Ali introduced him to a world he had previously never encountered, filled with powerful men who were feared in all the neighboring villages.

It is not very clear whether Ali was himself already a Thug, when he and Behram met. Some accounts suggest that Ali had merely befriended them, but it is believed that Behram got involved with people of the Thuggee persuasion sometime before 1790. Ali eventually became Behram’s lieutenant, and was the means through which the British captured Behram.

Behram initially teamed up with a prostitute who is only referred to as Dolly, who is said to have been the daughter of a British soldier and a woman from Gwalior. Behram and Dolly worked the British soldiers and rich Indians, who would show up at Dolly’s for what they thought was fun and frolic and end up dead.

The murderous trade was often passed down from father to son. But little is known for certain about his life. What is certain is that Behram excelled in the life of a Thug.

From 1790, literally thousands of people kept disappearing. Things got so bad that investigators were sent down from England to locate the source of the disappearances. While the team of 5 detectives was all killed, they had been able to report back to then Governor-General, Francis Rawdon-Hastings, and the name of Thug Behram. 

Under Behram’s leadership, the Thuggees were believed to have grown into an over 2000-strong force of killers. Entire convoys of traders, complete with British guards, would disappear without a trace and would eventually be found as piles of skeletons a few months/years later.

Yellow Handkerchief: The Modus operandi of Behram the terrifying thug of India

Thug Behram’s name was being whispered in fear. Fearing their lives, traders from Delhi, Jabalpur and Gwalior would avoid taking the routes taken by Behram and his thugs. His modus operandi was simple, yet lethal. He would use a yellow handkerchief with a medallion sewn on it. He would use the piece of cloth to strangle the victims before looting them. The medallion would be used to put pressure on the victim's Adam's apple, suffocating them to death in no time. 

Behram would generally choose the role of an infiltrator. He would join up with a group of travelers and pretend to be a trader. It is said that he loved an audience, so he would start killing people while others were still watching. When he started, the rest of his force – who would generally be hiding in wait – would swarm on the convoys and end everyone’s life.

Secret language of Thugs

They would converse in a specific sign language known as 'Ramosi' around their victims. They would indicate an oncoming convoy to their gang members by imitating the cry of a jackal. Hearing the cry, Behram and his gang would arrive with the yellow handkerchief. After killing them mercilessly, their bodies would be ditched in the nearby well.

Captain William Sleeman was assigned the responsibility of capturing Behram and investigating Thuggee operations in 1828. 

Sleeman used a classic tactic against organized crime groups, granting certain Thugs immunity for their crimes if they informed against the others. Now, it was the Thugs that didn’t know who they could trust. Within a decade, a criminal organization that had lasted for centuries was destroyed.

It took William Sleeman over 11 years and nearly cost him his life on 3 separate occasions, before he finally succeeded in capturing a 75-year-old Thug Behram in 1839.

He had captured Behram by first capturing his lieutenant, Syeed Amir Ali – known in the countryside as “Firangha” on account of his looking like a white man – in 1832.

Firangha was tortured and eventually persuaded to turn King’s evidence. He took Sleeman to many of the “graves” the Thuggees had used. In all, the British found the skeletons or corpses of around 500,000 people. Firangha then helped the British locate and capture Behram.

The end of Behram

75-year-old Behram was finally caught in 1840. He is known to have murdered around 931 people by that time, unsurprisingly; Thug Behram had been with a woman when Sleeman and his men broke in on him. He was hanged in private, though his corpse was shown to the public. He was hanged in private in 1839.

It seems possible that they were merely trying to deflate some of the mystique and legend around Behram. It must be noted that this strategy – or some other – seems to have worked as, once Behram was captured, over 1400 Thuggees were captured and put to death by the British.

Written with help of materials and photos available on net with thanks