A Tale of Two Faisals

In this week gone by the Indian news media was full of two young men with a common name – Shah Faisal and Faisal Shehzad. This is a tale of hope and despair, a tale of hard work and twisted ideology, and a tale of two countries – one looking forward and the other going back to medieval times.

Shah Faisal, 27, is a doctor from the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. He has just topped the Indian Civil Services Examination, becoming the first person from his state to do so. In 2009, over 440,000 young men and women took this examination of which 875 candidates – 680 men and 195 women qualified to join the prestigious Indian Civil Services. Shah Faisal came out on top. His is a story of hard work, hope and a system that works despite plenty of odds.

Faisal Shehzad, 30, is the suspect who attempted to bomb Times Square in New York City (picture below). It is alleged that he has links with various terrorist organizations and has gone through training in terrorist camps in the Waziristan area of Pakistan.

Times Square, New York City; April 2009

These two young men have contrasting family backgrounds and circumstances.

Shah Faisal is the son of school teachers – Ghulam Rasool Shah and Mubeena Begum. They taught their three children the value of hard work, which earned Shah Faisal a place in the Jhelum Valley Medical College in Srinagar. But tragedy struck in 2002 when Ghulam Rasool fell to the bullets of unidentified terrorists in Kashmir. The family shifted from their village to Srinagar, where Mubeena Begum taught in a school to support her family.

Faisal Shehzad is the son of a Vice Air Chief Marshal of Pakistan. He grew up in an upscale neighborhood of Peshawar before migrating to the United States in 1998 to study computer science and engineering, worked in the US and recently became a naturalized citizen. Faisal was arrested while trying to leave USA on a one-way ticket to Islamabad after the failed bombing attempt in Times Square.

Many years ago my father gave me the guru-mantra for life. When I was just entering college, he asked me to be the best at whatever I do. He said, “even if you cut grass, be the best at it”. I reflect on that advice and the two Faisals.

Shah Faisal is a trained doctor and in today’s India would have made a lot of money through medical practice. Instead, he studied Public Administration and Urdu Literature for a year to take the Civil Services Examination. When a journalist asked him why, his answer was - "But my people need me as a civil servant. I want to be a role model for Kashmiri youth."

Faisal Shehzad came from a privileged background but only managed to study at B-grade American colleges, possibly with Dad’s money. He was not even a good terrorist, his dud device being a testimony for that. And thank Allah for that. 

Why did the Faisal who was born with a silver spoon (or shall we now say a silver foot) in his mouth take to terrorism? How come the Faisal who was himself a victim of terrorism, is today the toast of his countrymen? The answers perhaps lie in the systems and mindsets in the two South Asian neighbors – India and Pakistan.

Faisal Shehzad grew up in the Pakistan of 1980s when Zia-ul-Haq ruled it using religion as a tool, fully supported by a West that was eager to use the jihadis (freedom fighters then) to get the Russians out of Afghanistan. He was indoctrinated at an early and impressionable age, like thousands of others of his age, who have now earned Pakistan the dubious distinction of being a “migraine for the world”. Even today, on Pakistani blogs the sane voices are getting drowned by those who see this as a conspiracy against their country. Many others are claiming Faisal Shehzad to be an American citizen. Come on people, get your head out of the sand.

Shah Faisal however grew up in a system, which despite many odds, has always impressed upon its youth the value of education and hard work as the way forward. A young man who is willing to do this always comes out a winner. There are plenty of examples that give this hope to millions who live in abject poverty but aspire for a better tomorrow. That is why even while growing up in a Kashmir scarred by unrest and violence, he never gave up hope.

I met Shah Faisal this past week at a felicitation event for him at the Hamdard Study Circle in New Delhi, where he trained for his Civil Services Mains and interview. His speech, to an audience made up mainly of school and college students, was full of hope. His statement “If I can do it with my circumstances, you can too”, sums it all up. While preparing for the Civil Services, he was looking for role models and was reported to keep pictures of former Civil Servants from Kashmir on his cell phone. Today he is a role model for thousands of Kashmiri youth who are desperately seeking to build their lives from the rubble of militancy in their State.

Dr. Shah Faisal (right) with his two mentors - Prof. Syed Aftab Zaidi, Director, Hamdard Study Circle (centre) and Mr. Saiyid Hamid, ex-IAS and Chancellor, Jamia Hmdard, New Delhi (left).

Well done, Shah Faisal. You do all Indians proud.

Damn you, Faisal Shehzad. You are a blot on your religion, whose interests you claim to profess through your misdeeds.

April Fools' Day 2010

April 1, 2010 is a historic day for India. It has wisdom and vision written all over it.

Today the Right to Education (RTE) becomes a Fundamental Right. The Constitution of India contains a Charter of Rights, which guarantee civil liberties to every citizen. Rights mean those freedoms that are essential for personal good  as well as the good of the community. Thus far, the Indian Constitution guaranteed the following Fundamental Rights to each Indian.

1. The right to equality
2. The right to freedom of speech and expression
3. The right to freedom from exploitation
4. The right to freedom of religion
5. Cultural and educational rights
6. The right to constitutional remedies
And now:
7. The right to education

It now becomes the duty of the State to ensure that every child in the age group of 6 to 14 years goes to a school. This is poised to benefit over 10 million children in India - children like Azharuddin and the anonymous girl from my photo archives. Azharuddin was pictured loitering around the tomb of Bahlol Lodi in the Chirag Dilli area of New Delhi. He did not go to school, but loved playing cricket and getting his picture taken. The girl, a polio victim (notice the stick in her hand; she uses it to walk) was pictured in the Charminar area of Hyderabad.

Azharuddin - Chirag Dilli, New Delhi

Girl child - Charminar, Hyderabad

There will be problems, issues of logistics, not enough schools, not enough teachers, not enough trained teachers, etc. etc. etc. We now have the will and therefore we will solve these problems.

Thank you and well done Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Education Minister Mr. Kapil Sibal.

Stand up and be counted

This All Fools' Day the 15th Census of India was also kicked off. This is the largest counting exercise ever done. Over 1.2 billion people will be enumerated and everyone over 15 years of age will be photographed and fingerprinted, issued a unique identification number (UID) and issued a biometric card.  Over 2 million volunteers will span the length and breadth of this land to do this over the next year. For more information on this unique exercise see:

Official site: http://www.censusindia.net/; http://censusindia.gov.in/
News Reports: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8598159.stm
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Counting-a-billion-India-begins-new-census-/articleshow/5749740.cms
UID Authority: http://uidai.gov.in/

Way to go India. This April Fools' Day is truly historic for us.

Deja-vu

I am back on the blog after a long break. Been very busy. But could not stay away from writing today. It has been a strange day and therefore this post will have nothing to do with my major themes of travel/history/architecture and infectious diseases.

Today I reached Hyderabad for a meeting and learnt that I would be staying at the Golconda Resorts. It is a fabulous property next to the Gandipet Lake on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The ambience is nice, the rooms are wonderful, the staff is helpful and the morning walks are peaceful.

But the last time I stayed here, it was 26/11 and Mumbai was attacked. I remember sitting glued to the TV in my room, horrified of what was happening. India was under attack and we seemed like jokers to the world. A few terrorists had killed with gay abandon and held the country to ransom for three days. It was India’s 9/11. It hurt our psyche and changed us forever.

As I checked into Golconda Resorts, I could not but help remember the last visit. I had this strange premonition that this day would be historic. It was indeed.

Sachin Tendulkar has scored 200 runs in a one-day cricket match against South Africa. Today, India has come together to rejoice in one of the greatest sporting feats. No one had broken the 200-runs barrier in a 50-overs match. There are only 300 balls to be played and one expects an opening batsman who stays the entire time to face roughly 150 balls. Sachin did it in 147 balls. And he did it against South Africa, which is currently one of the best bowling sides in the world.

 
My only regret is that I was traveling and could not see Sachin's historic innings live. Well done, Tendy. Thank you for all the good times you have given us. Thank you for uniting us as a Nation to rejoice in your feat. This is not just your moment. It is ours too.

We will not and must not forget 26/11, but we should also remember 24/2. I will always remember Golconda Resorts for these bitter-sweet memories.

In celebration of the Minaret

The Swiss, long known for religious tolerance, have just voted to ban the minaret, an important but not essential part of Islamic architecture.

An Op-Ed column in the New York Times of Dec 6, 2009 nicely comments on the social and political aspects of this story.

What is the purpose of minarets in Islamic buildings? Some believe that towering minarets are made to establish Muslim supremacy. Perhaps, but they serve far more practical functions. Minarets associated with masjids (mosques) are used to call the faithful to prayer. This was a practical option in the days when personal watches were not so common, but not one any more. Minarets also serve an air-conditioning  function - as the sun heats the dome, cold air is drawn in through the open arches (or windows) and hot air is released from the minarets, cooling the structure. Remember High School Physics - warm air is lighter than cold air and rises to the top.

Without going into the politics of the minaret, I celebrate the stupidity of the Swiss with pictures from my archives.  There are masjids with minarets and there are also masjids with no minarets. Many tombs and forts in the Indian subcontinent, which serve no religious function, also have minarets to enhance their architectural style.

Take a look.

Minarets on Masjids


From my Turkey files - 1. Sultanahmet Cami (Blue mosque), Istanbul; 2.  Yeni Cami (New mosque), Istanbul; 3. Eyup mosque, Istanbul; 4. Iznik minaret (notice the blue tile work from the city where the colour turquoise was discovered).

From the Indian subcontinent

Badshahi Masjid, Lahore, Pakistan - Built in 1673 by the sixth Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb, it is remarkably similar to the Jama Masjid of Delhi. Sorry, I don't have Delhi's Jama Masjid in my digital files yet.

Faisal Mosque, Islamabad, Pakistan - Built in 1986, it adds a modern architectural style in Pakistan's capital city.

Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque), inside the Red Fort, Delhi, India - This personal masjid of Emperor Shahjehan has small minarets that served neither the purpose of calling for prayer nor were symbols of power. They were ornamental, adding only to the beauty of this masjid.

Minarets on Tombs

Humayun's Tomb, Delhi, India - Humayun was the second Mughal emperor. Clearly these minarets serve only an ornamental purpose on his tomb.

Gate of Akbar's Tomb, Sikandra, near Agra, India - Akbar was the third Mughal emperor. Notice the similarity between these and the minarets of the Taj Mahal (see later)

Jahangir's Tomb, Lahore, Pakistan - Jahangir was Akbar's son and the fourth Mughal emperor.

Shahjehan's Tomb, Agra, India - Shahjehan was Jahangir's son and the fifth Mughal emperor. He is buried beside his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, in the beautiful Taj  Mahal. In this wide angle view from across the Yamuna river, the Taj Mahal is flanked by a masjid on the right (look, no minarets!!) and an identical structure on the left built just for the purpose of maintaining symmetry.

The Taj Mahal has one of the most elegant minarets you will find on a building. They are tall, but not overbearing on the structure. I am always reminded of a painter's fingers when I look at them. See if you agree.

Itmad-ud-daulah's Tomb, Agra, India - This is a small, ornamental tomb belonging to a nobleman in Jahangir's court and his father-in-law. Notice the small minarets that accentuate the corners of this tomb that stands, like most other mughal tombs in the middle of a charbagh - a four-cornered garden.

Minarets in Forts

The Red Fort, Delhi, India - Will the ramparts of the Red Fort be as beautiful without the minarets, which serve no religious purpose?

Golconda Fort, Hyderabad, India - A small structure close to the highest point of the fort has two exquisite minarets in a style seen in Qutub Shahi tombs (see my Hyderabad photo essay).

Other Minarets

Two other minarets stand out in the architecture of the Indian subcontinent.

Qutub Minar, Delhi, India - This is clearly a minaret of power, built on the ruins of Lal Kot, the citadel of Tomars and Chauhan, to celebrate the victory of Qutubuddin Aibak over Prithviraj Chauhan. Construction of the Qutub Minar was started in 1193 and was finally finished in 1386 by Firozshah Tughlaq. The inspiration for the Qutub Minar was the Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan. Is this famous minaret named after Qutubuddin Aibak, the first Sultan of the Slave Dynasty or after Khwaja Syed  Muhammad Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, a Sufi saint venerated by Aibak's successor Iltutmish?

Charminar, Hyderabad, India - Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah built Charminar (four minarets) in 1536 as a thanksgiving to the Almighty for the end of the plague outbreak in his city. Though it was built to be a mosque, the mosque is hidden in one corner of the topmost level; it is the minarets that are overpowering and a defining feature of this structure. My picture below shows the Charminar from the adjoining Makkah Masjid, whose minaret is seen in the foreground.

It is not just muslims who have used minarets on their buildings. When the British built their new capital on Raisina Hill in New Delhi, they put minarets on the facade seen today on buildings of the Noth Block and South Block, which house important ministries of the Government of India. Check out my picture of the North Block, all decked up for India's Republic Day.

I thank the Swiss for their inspiration. They make great chocolate, but right now make no sense.

Hyderabad - A Photo Essay

Hyderabad, the city of Nizams, pearls and biryani, is also the most rapidly expanding of Indian cities, a hub of high technology companies, but still full of charm and tradition.  As always, the pictures are all mine, from a trip in July 2009.

In its most recent history, the region was ruled by the Kakatiyas and then the Bahmani sultans, the latter possibly of Tajik-Persian descent, and possibly the first Islamic and Shi'ite kingdom in South India. The Bahmani Sultanate, which broke away from the Delhi sultanate during the rule of Muhammad bin Tughluq in 1347, itself broke up into 5 states - the Deccan Sultanate in 1518. Golconda was one of these, rules by the Qutub Shahi dynasty. The grand Golconda fort was the power centre and a few miles away stand the beautiful Persian style Qutb Shahi Tombs.

The Golconda Fort walls and ruins

 City from the Golconda Fort

 

 Makkah Gate, Golconda Fort - The old Sultan used this gate  to leave the Fort for the Hajj pilgrimage after abdicating the throne to his successor.

 

Hyderabad, according to popular lore, was established by Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah after he fell in love with Bhagyamati, a Hindu Banjara girl. After her acceptance into the royal fold, she was named Hyder Mahal, and thus the name Hyderabad. Another theory is that Hyderabad is the 'City of Hyder', named after Ali, the fourth Khalifah (Caliph) of Islam. The city was established on the banks of the Musi river in 1591. Today, the river is no more than a drain, but thankfully its cleaning and preservation work has started.

The Qutb Shahi Tombs are fine examples of carved stonework set in a large garden, and are a rare example of almost the entire dynasty buried in one area. An elaborate hamam, with great natural lighting, and reminiscent of the baths of Central Asia, is also within the precincts and was used to wash the dead before burial.

Tomb of Hayath Bakhshi Begum

The Mortuary Bath - built by Sultan Quli Qutb ul Mulk (1st king) along with his own tomb

Tomb of Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah (6th king)

Tomb of Kulsoom Begum (daughter of Muhammad Qutb Shah)

 

Graves on the platform of Sultan Quli Qutb ul Mulk Tomb. In background are the Tomb of Kulsoom Begum and Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah

 

Tomb of Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah (6th king)

 

 Tomb of Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah (4th king)

 

Aurangzeb's Masjid at the Qutb Shahi Tombs; Aurangzeb is said to have prayed here during the siege of Golconda in 1687

 

Golconda was finally captured by the Mughal king Aurangzeb in 1687 and was governed from Delhi through Governors, who in time gained autonomy. In 1724 Asaf Jah I, Nizamul Mulk (Governor of the country) established control over Hyderabad and the Asaf Jahi Dynasty. His descendents, the Nizams governed Hyderabad till 1948, when the State of Hyderabad joined the Union of India.

The Chowmahalla Palace of the Nizams is a neo-classical palace modeled on the Shah of Iran's Palace in Tehran. Its construction was started by Salabat Jung (4th in succession) in 1750 and was finally completed by the 5th Nizam, Asaf Jah V, in the period 1857-68. With elegant gardens and fountains, the palace has two courtyards - the northern courtyard housing the administration and the southern courtyard housing four palaces - Afzal Mahal, Aftab Mahal, Mehtab Mahal and Tahniyat Mahal. Its construction over a long period ensures a number of architectural styles. The jewel of the Palace is Khilwat Mubarak, the Durbar Hall of the Nizams.

Northern Courtyard, Chowmahalla Palace

Northern Courtyard

 

 Khilwat Mubarak

 

 Khilwat Clock; entrance to Chowmahalla Palace

 

 Durbar Hall

 

The Throne

 

 Entrance to the Southern Courtyard

 

Southern Courtyard

 

Palace details, Southern Courtyard

 

The old city of Hyderabad is crowded but a shopper's delight, with its pearl and saree shops and the Laad Bazaar with glittering shops selling shiny bangles, a Hyderabad trademark.

Laad Bazaar

 

 Beautiful Hyderabadi Bangles

 

Two special buildings dominate the old city - the Charminar and the Makkah Masjid. Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (5th Qutb Shahi king) built the Charminar after he shifted his capital from Golconda across the Musi River to Hyderabad. This is a monument of gratitude to Allah for sparing the city of the plague outbreak in 1591. It is actually a masjid (mosque), which is hidden on the upper floor, but the structure is dominated by four beautifully ornate, strong yet aesthetic minarets with exquisite carvings.

The Charminar

The Makkah Masjid, so called because Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah (6th king) commissioned it using bricks made from earth brought from the Islamic city of Makkah (Mecca). The work began in 1617 and was finished 77 years later by Aurangzeb in 1694. Next to the masjid stands a simple but elegant structure that houses the graves of the Nizams.

Makkah Masjid (right) and the Mausoleum of the Nizams (left)

The lovely minarets of the Nizam mausoleum

Here rests the Asaf Jahi dynasty (the Nizams)

 

Pigeons are in plenty at the Makkah Masjid, with Charminar in background

 

Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, a poet of great versatility and distinction in Persian and its forms later developed as the Urdu language, and in Dakhni (Southern Indian), dialect prayed at the inauguration of his new city.

Mera shehar logan soon mamoor kar
Rakhya joon tun darya mein min Ya Sami
(O God, fill my city with people, as you have the river with fish)

His wish seems to be granted. Hyderabad is teeming with people and more wanting to move there for the opportunities it offers today.