Dynasties of India and Beyond

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  Inder Malhotra

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Syed Neaz Ahmad

 

Inder Malhotra is a distinguished journalist and his book, Dynasties of India and Beyond published a few years ago still makes relevant and interesting reading. It is said that Malhotra knew Indira Gandhi family very well. It is also said that his assessment of her as a politician is all the more damning: His criticism is the more severe for being calmly voiced. To be honest to Malhotra's commendable work it may have been better titled, Indira Gandhi: A Political Assessment but naming a book is not just a literary matter — market forces play a vital role.
India has a lot to be proud of: Taj Mahal, Mughal forts, castles, palaces, places of worship, a thousand languages, teeming millions and a zest for life. All these are on the credit side. For the last several years though it has been a fairly unbalanced democratic ledger. But since all change at New Delhi we might as well start with a clean slate. When it comes to producing people South Asia is a particularly fertile place. On the Indian sub-continent we are more equal than others — we get a fair number of what I call born leaders.
They say beggars cannot be choosers so in countries where poverty line is usually below the belt we have to be content with our lot.
This lot — or karma — includes not only the crop of grain from your farm but also the crop of leaders that a family (or two) is supposed to raise to lead the nation. India being the largest democracy — in terms of population — proudly leads others in this area too. Born leaders in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka play their roles but they come as poor seconds.
Despite the well-known Persian expression Hunooz Dilli door ast retracing our steps back to New Delhi seems an easy journey now. Thanks to this new combination of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian — the country appears to present a truly secular image. Now that Manmohan Singh has been in power for sometime and his future appears a bit uncertain one can perhaps take a more dispassionate look at the outcome of India-shinning- based election. The fanfare of IPL notwithstanding what matters for the Indian electorate is not the catches and matches but the roof overhead, two square meals and a couple of dhoti — in other words roti, kapda aur makan!
However, public memory is always short and time is a great healer within less than three years, the same electorate brought her and Sanjay back . . . primarily because her inveterate foes had turned out to be incompetent, vengeful and disastrously vulnerable to their own infighting. When Sanjay died stunt flying, elder son Rajiv was roped into politics. When Indira was assassinated in 1984, Rajiv was sworn in as prime minister. This was perceived as a triumph and resilience of Indian democracy. Democracy? Or was it the triumph of the family?
Some 30 years on time and political forces have gone round the full circle. Giving them full credit the results of the recent election in India turned out to be not half bad for Indira Gandhi's party, her grandson and daughter-in-law. Nay, they were even better than most Sonia & Congress supporters had imagined: Rahul made his debut and the Congress won enough seats to call the shots. The dynasty after a long time in the wilderness has struck again! We wish them a long stay at the wickets — a stay that should bring in peace, prosperity and security for all!
"The success of Nehru-Gandhis in forming a dynasty," they say, "lay not in their appeal to feudal feelings but in their being perceived as ‘all-Indian’."
In January 1966 India, the world’s largest democracy, chose Indira Gandhi to fill the office of prime minister that her illustrious father, Jawaharlal Nehru, had held with distinction for 17 long years since the country’s independence in 1947. Her parentage was certainly an important factor in her elevation but not the only one. In any case, at that time hardly anyone had thought that this was the beginning of a dynasty which, besides being intensely controversial, would hold India in its thrall for decades and evoke excited interest in the outside world.
A fine prologue but Malhotra warms up and that’s what makes his work honest and entertaining. After a decade or so when Indira had become increasingly unpopular she started the groundwork to see to it that her younger son, Sanjay, would take over from her eventually. While the political blueprint was still on the drawing board, with Sanjay spurring her on, Indira found it expedient to clamp Emergency on the country and suspend Indian democracy. A 19-month nightmare followed. It ended only when, in an election she called belatedly, she was defeated humiliatingly and thrown out of power.
However, public memory is always short and time is a great healer within less than three years, the same electorate brought her and Sanjay back ... primarily because her inveterate foes had turned out to be incompetent, vengeful and disastrously vulnerable to their own infighting. When Sanjay died stunt flying, elder son Rajiv was roped into politics. When Indira was assassinated in 1984, Rajiv was sworn in as prime minister. This was perceived as a triumph and resilience of Indian democracy. Democracy? Or was it the triumph of the family?
Some thirty years on time and political forces have gone round the full circle. Giving them full credit the results of the recent election in India turned out to be not half bad for Indira Gandhi’s party, her grandson and daughter-in-law. Nay, they were even better than most Sonia and Congress supporters had imagined: Rahul made his debut and the Congress won enough seats to call the shots. The dynasty after a long time in the wilderness has struck again! We wish them a long stay at the wickets — a stay that will bring in peace, prosperity and security for all. "The success of Nehru-Gandhi in forming a dynasty," they say, "lay not in their appeal to feudal feelings but in their being perceived as 'all-Indian'."
I am a great believer in liberty, freedom of speech, human rights and whatever goes with the ideals of democracy. I believe in equal rights for all. What beats me however is the public fascination for a particular family. It’s also interesting that for generations Congress leadership has not shifted from Nehru-Gandhi family. In a nation of astute leaders, articulate parliamentarians and talented technocrats the family continues to spell charm over the masses. The party is fully aware of that and cashes the advantage at the time of elections. In countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan too the electorate is often wooed in the name of a particular family — often to great dismay.
This raises an interesting question: Is there something missing in our democracies? Do we have the infrastructure in place to groom future leaders? Or do we simply leave it to our karma — whatever will be will be?

 

                                  

1889 Woking Mosque

Symbol of Muslim history in Britain

Syed Neaz Ahmad

 

 

Many presume this is the first purpose built mosque on British mainland

Built in 1889, the Shahjehan Mosque is a symbol of Muslim history in Britain. Syed Neaz Ahmad traces the history of this mosque and the attached burial ground.

A prison, a lunatic asylum and a crematorium hardly provide an ideal setting for a sacred institution, but the first mosque to be built in Britain in October 1889 was sited against such a background. The actual first mosque was in a converted building in Liverpool, however, the Shah Jehan Mosque in the County of Surrey, soon assumed larger than life proportions in matters of public interest and became a landmark. As a matter of fact, the little known sleepy town of Woking, because of the mosque, became a priority destination for visiting dignitaries and the focus of Islam in England.

The story of the Shah Jehan Mosque is the history of the site and the wanderings of a Budapest linguist Dr. Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner. In 1886 he went to India to take up the post of the principal of Government College in Lahore, later to become the University of Punjab. During his stay in India, he became interested in Islam and the various cultures of the subcontinent. On his return he came to England looking for suitable land to set up a Centre for Oriental Languages, Culture and History.

Dr Leitner's main aim was to establish an oriental university in Europe and although he succeeded in establishing an institute, his hopes that Woking would one day become a university town, were never achieved. His institute in a way was the forerunner of the School of Oriental and African studies at London, which was established in 1916.

As part of the plan to make Muslims living in Woking feel at home, Leitner decided to build a mosque in the grounds of the institute. Work on the mosque began in early 1889 and the cost was largely donated by Begum Shah Jehan, ruler of Bhopal state in India.

The building of the mosque, which stands today as it was then, is in Bath and Bargate stone and was designed by the Victorian architect WL Chambers. The design is based on drawings in the Art Arabe, a rare work lent by the India Office and from the details of other oriental mosques; the style could be described as Indo-Saracenic.

In a trade journal of 1880s, the mosque is described as a dignified building comparing favourably with the mock oriental buildings of the same period. The parapets of the walls are relieved by minarets and the onion dome, once blue and gold, is surrounded by a gilt crescent. The mosque rises from a courtyard in the front of which was once a fine mosaic pavement leading to a reservoir for ablution (wudu).

Within a few years of its establishment, the mosque naturally became a centre for British Muslims, and was the only venue for religious and social festivals. It attracted visitors from distant places. Among the worshipers in the 1880s were Her Majesty's Indian attendant at Windsor.

After Dr. Leitner's death in 1889, the mosque remained deserted for many years but later came under the leadership of Khwaja Kalam-ud-Din, who came to England in 1912 as the first Muslim missionary. This was known as the Woking Muslim Mission. The Mission published the first English translation of the Qu'ran in 1917 and the influential Islamic Review until the mid-sixties.

Woking's heritage would be a lot poorer without the mosque, as its surroundings have played and would continue to play an important part in the town's sizable Muslim community.

For decades now, the affairs of the Woking Mosque have been managed by a trust with ambassadors from Muslim countries taking a keen interest in its day-to-day running. Woking's Muslim community grew, many from Pakistan, and in 1968 Sunni Muslims took over the running of the mosque, appointing the President of Pakistan as Chairman of its Trust.

Today, with more than two million Muslims and some 1,200 mosques in Britain with the University of Reading claiming to have the only on-campus purpose-built mosque.
 

                  To read or not to read!
            
                
Syed Neaz Ahmad looks how our reading habits have changed over the years.

As a child I was overawed and greatly amused by a book in our library at home, The Big Book of Great Short Stories. It was a prized possession for those of us who grew up thinking that one day perhaps we will make into the book. The book by someone who ‘forgot’ to return – the way, I believe, most books are lost. However, I still remember a sentence from its Introduction: “The volume contains stories from authors whose name alone spell charm.” I was spellbound not only by the names, the themes and the plots but also by the spelling of many difficult words.

At school I admired teachers who seemed to remember the entire Oxford dictionary and devoted their time to reading and writing. I had often thought how could they remember the spellings of all those words?

Teaching language is tough and teaching creative writing isn’t easy. Yet most of us keep devising and striking up our own personal methods and examples to achieve our goals. Students not happy to lose a mark or two for silly spelling mistakes are often told by a colleague of mine about a student who went to a foreign country for higher studies.

One day the student was surprised to see his worried father on his doorstep. The father complained that the family had not heard from him for months and wanted to know the reason. On reflection the student found out – being careless about spellings as he was – he had been ‘posting’ his letters in the litter box.

This is not particular to a society, profession or region – people all over the world suffer from spelling disorders known as dyslexia. At 14, Alexander Faludy became the youngest person to win a place at Cambridge since Pitt the Younger. With an IQ of 178, he can deliver verbal dissertations of enormous range and complexity, but can write only two words a minute. Otherwise a lucky lad, he was sent to a correction school.

A girl of five - closely assisted by her teachers and parents - worked for the best part of a year, two sessions a day, trying to memorize the alphabet. Not one letter would stick. Unable to learn through her eyes but possessed of curiously sensible fingers, she cracked it eventually by feeling for wooden letters in a velvet bag, making their shapes then saying them aloud.

However, if you do confuse spellings and drop your letters in the litter box you are in good company! Albert Einstein, the German-born genius was sacked from two teaching jobs for terrible spellings, and once said: “If I can’t picture it. I can’t understand it.” The Renaissance polymath, Leonardo da Vinci, who painted the Mona Lisa and designed machinery had erratic spellings, and scribbled notes backwards from the right to the left. Thomas Edison, the inventor behind the light bulb and phonograph was rather dim in spellings and grammar. He also had learning problems. “I almost decided I must be a dunce,” he said once.

Dyslexia was first branded as “word-blindness”. Some even thought it was downright laziness on the part of the learner. Punished at school, Lord Rogers, the architect says his teachers thought he was just lazy. But as every dyslexic is not a genius, not all those who are lazy spellers are dyslexics.

I remember a smart proofreader who – in his innocent zeal to ‘improve’ the text - had 'corrected' and changed the character of a scientific article. Painstakingly he had changed all reference to ‘nuclear technolgy’ to 'unclear technology'. Needless to say the article went down very well – in the litterbin.

My favorite personal example in addition to ‘letter-litter’ and ‘nuclear-unclear’ is the word Jeddah written in Arabic. You need three letters to write Jeddah - jeem, daal and ha. If you forget to dot the jeem it is read as ha, if you put the dot over jeem it becomes kha, if you dot the daal it becomes za. So Jeddah with the omission, misplacement or replacement of one dot can be read as Haddah, Khaddah or Hazzah. The choice is yours.

They say the proof of pudding is in eating. Extending the analogy one could say the proof of reading is in writing. If finding ‘mistakes’ is easy writing out texts must be ‘easier’!

       

                   

Haj: The poetry of prayers

Syed Neaz Ahmad

 

Choked with emotion, drenched in devotion and drowned in supplication the artistry of a wordsmith fails to capture the beauty of the greatest congregational religious act of worship — the Haj.

I was about 25 when I first performed the Haj. Looking back I was little aware of what was happening within me and around me. I tried to make mental notes of my feelings and experience but I soon realized that even the best of writers would find it very difficult to narrate these events, their experience and their emotions.
Labbaik Allahumma Labbaik . . . is the incessant supplication, preferred greeting and the most repeated chant that Makkah and its environs reverberate with every Dul Qada and Dul Hijjah. As the pilgrims arrive in the Holy city they hear
Nothing but the Talbiya — Labbaik Allahumma Labbaik — the greeting and supplication of every single pilgrim.
When the pilgrims arrive in Makkah they perform many acts of worship. They go round the Kaaba — an act of worship known as tawaf — which symbolizes their gravitation toward the Almighty. They raise their hands and say: "O Allah! I intend to perform tawaf around Your Inviolable House, make it easy for me and accept from me Haj (or 'Umrah). Glory be to Allah."
A Western writer and photographer — who accepted Islam and performed the Haj - describes the sense of unity and harmony that the pilgrims feel while performing the tawaf: Seven times we circled the House, repeating the ritual devotions in Arabic, O Allah from such a distant land I have come unto You. Grant me shelter under Your Throne. Caught up in the whirling scene, lifted by the poetry of prayers, we orbited the House of Allah in accord with the atoms, in harmony with the planets.
After going round he Kaaba seven times the pilgrims, after praying two rakahs of wajib al-tawaf (two units of prayers) near the place known as Maqame Ibrahim (station of Abraham). The stone bearing the footprints of Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) is encased in a precious crystal glass with a steel grill and marble base. The pilgrims kiss the Hajr Al-Aswad, the Black stone out of love, reverence and admiration.
Afterward they approach the door of Kaaba and embrace it crying their hearts out and putting their very souls in their supplications.
Later they perform Sa'yie — running and walking between the hills of Safa and Marwah. Apart from some stones both the hills have been leveled and covered with marble slabs now. Chandeliers, air-conditioners and cool Zamzam water along the concourse make the Sa'yie a much easier task for the pilgrims.
At the end of the tawaf and on completion of the Sa'yie the pilgrims drink Zamzam which Allah in His Infinite Mercy had disclosed to Prophet Ibrahim's wife Hajrah. It is said that when Hajrah rushed to the spring she exclaimed Zamzam — an onomatopoeic Babylonian word that denotes the sound of rushing and gushing water.
After Haj, many pilgrims carry back a can or two of Zamzam with them. This is not a part of Haj but the urge to drink and take home some of the water which has been miraculously flowing for over 4,000 years is a practical example of the spirit of Haj.
The Haj is not a new institution which Islam has introduced in its Shariah. This institution is as old as the Kaaba itself which is called in the Qur'an to be the first House of Divine Worship appointed for men.
The ceremony of Haj is commemorative of Prophet Ibrahim and his family's various acts of sacrifice and devotion to Allah. It is mentioned in the Introduction of Sahih Muslim that the Haj is the perfection of faith since it combines in itself all the distinctive qualities of other obligatory acts.
"Down the ages", says professor Phillip K. Hitti, "this institution [of Haj] has continued to serve as the major unifying influence in Islam and the most effective common bond among the diverse believers. It renders almost every capable Muslim perforce a traveler for once in his lifetime. The socializing influence of such a gathering of the brotherhood of believers from the farthest quarters of the earth is hard to overestimate."

                                        
English for the upper crust!

By Syed Neaz Ahmad

Language, it is said, is a steed that takes you far. Nothing can be closer to the truth. It does, and it has. But sometimes it not only takes you to far-off lands, it can also land you in very strange situations. When you think of the idiosyncrasy of English language, the etymology of some expressions and the personal mannerism they are subjected to then one is advised to approach the “steed” with caution. It sometimes kicks. Or how else can you explain the phenomenon of a “nose that runs” and “feet that smell”.

As a language steeped in culture and traditions, many English expressions owe their origin to the life and habits of the ladies and gentlemen whose privilege it was to provide colour and verve to the language. As we labour to learn the language let’s take a deep look and find out the origins of “don’t throw the baby out with the water”.

Keeping yourself clean was quite a job in the good old days. Baths were filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the first dip in the nice, clean tub of water. Sons and other men of the household, then women and children had a go. Finally babies were given a chance to “clean” themselves. By that time the water was so dirty and dark that babies could be actually lost in it. Without being dramatic, it’s safe to presume that there was a definite danger of babies being thrown out with the dirty water.

Having had a good bath in the merry month of May people got married in June. However, what with summer heat they already smelled and hence brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour. One bouquet was good enough for the bride and the bridegroom. Had the Japanese got the wind of it then a different version of two-in-one would have been launched then.

Ever given a thought to what a heavy downpour has got to do with cats and dogs? Most houses in England had thatched roofs – thick straw piled high with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all pets; dogs, cats, bugs, mice, rats lived in the roof. When it rained heavily it got kind of slippery for the animals and one by one they would fall off the roof. Scared of thunder and wind, children would often scream: “It’s raining cats and dogs.”

The weather was usually wet and windy. When it wasn’t wet it was dirty. Only the wealthy had something to fend off the dirt. Hence the expression “dirt poor” was born. But the dirt didn’t stop there. Wind often blew it up the rich man’s floors, which would get slippery when wet. They spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on – to keep things warm and tidy – they added more thresh until it was so high that when you opened the door thresh slipped outside.

A piece of wood was placed at the entrance to hold the thresh this gave way to the expression “thresh-hold”. When it came to dinner time bread was divided according to the status. The workers of the house got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle and the guests got the top or the “upper-crust”.

The concept of recycling was born in an English graveyard! Being a small country, people started running out of places to bury their dead. So, they would dig up coffins and take up their bones and re-use the grave. In re-opening these coffins, some were found to have scratch marks on the inside. Wise men realized that they have been burying their dead “alive”!

To prevent such a tragedy they would tie a string on the dead body’s wrist and lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out through night and listen for the bell. This gave birth to three expressions, ‘graveyard shift’, ‘saved-by-the- bell’ and ‘dead-ringer’.

                

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Easy money offers: Too good to be true

 

             

 
Syed Neaz Ahmad reviews the kind of offers we receive on a regular basis - through post and e-mail - promising us the world. No, they even claim to 'assure' us of things out of this world.

Fancy that new BMW jeep but low on cash? Don’t despair. It may drive you nuts but 'help' is just round the bend! ‘You need money to make money’ we always thought so but it has been ‘proven’ wrong! You do not need money of your own to become very rich in a short period of time’, goes the sleek newsletter that arrived this morning.

There is money to be made in many ways: by promising you the shortest way to owning a multi-storied mansion in London’s Mayfair or Champs Elyses in Paris. If you are gullible enough to succumb to such temptations – you are in good company. Every day dozens of persons – mainly those who can ill-afford this misadventure – lose money and mind.

‘The Diamond Fortune building program is an outstanding business opportunity knocking your door.’ The newsletter is full of ‘valid’ and ‘safe’ advice on making money. The fact is, most people fail to be wealthy not because they do not have the urge or the desire to be rich, but simply because nobody has ever shown them the secrets of becoming rich.

However, all the paths to that desired goal go through: ‘Send $29.95 for the full package’. Agreeably it’s a very small price for a seven-figure income that will enable you to retire ‘in less than two years’.
But if you don’t have the patience for waiting that long there are other ‘easy ways’ out of your misery. A very attractive plan is: “How to retire at any age on $140 a day?” That means a neat $4200 at the end of a month – not half bad! It is possible by just mailing a “special letter” from the comfort of your own home.

‘All you have to do is to mail the letter and watch the money roll in.’ If you wanted to mail them out all at once and take the rest of the week off- that’s fine. How about a short break in the country, a shopping expedition or a stroll along the beach? It’s up to you. How generous.

It is claimed, ‘there is absolutely no catch or con involved here, I promise you, and this has nothing whatsoever to do with any ridiculous envelope-stuffing program. If you can spare as little as 45 minutes a day – assuming you are a very busy man with time for such trash – you can make this program a success.

The author claims: ‘I even have he cheek to watch television while I am doing it. If I’m going on another holiday I just mail the special letter before I leave and bank the money on my return’.
There can’t be an easier way of making over four thousand pounds every month. ‘If you can lick a stamp, stuff an envelope and post a letter then you have all it takes to retire and make $140 every day! The price for this package – like those of other packages – is only $29.95 including postage and packing!

If you are not good at licking then perhaps there is money in your fingers! Sounds incredible doesn’t it – too good to be true? Can you imagine working from home and bringing in $100,000 by operating a simple cash income earner?

The exciting possibilities of this ‘proven’ and extremely ‘profitable’ bank balance builder are beyond comprehension, claim the writers of this newsletter.

They couldn’t be f-a-r-t-h-e-r from the truth.
 

                   

         

                                           

Daily NEW AGE OP - ED

A situation called marriage

Researchers say that a brief slow-down because of the no-fault rules is not going to arrest the decline in marriages or prevent couples from going their own ways. Even if they are obliged legally to wait for a year, the break-up rate is likely to go up. Community leaders, social workers and family campaigners have thus expressed their worst fears about the institution of marriage, writes Syed Neaz Ahmad.

 

‘Easy come, easy go’ is not just a figure of speech these days. When it comes to marriage, it turns out to be the state of affairs in Europe and around the world. Marriages have been on the decline over the last 45 years. As well-known faces keep featuring in divorce cases all over Britain, new calculations reveal that recent drop in the number of actual divorces recorded is misleading because fewer marriages are taking place. Yet the proportion of those unions that end in divorce is at an all time high.
Statistics released by the Central Office of Population Censuses and Surveys show that a quarter of those who wed in the late 70s and 80s had parted company by mid 90s. Charles and Diana’s divorce is a case in the point. The figures are not only dismal but they cast long shadows on the fate of those already married - at least 41 percent of those already married, going by the statistics, are fated to part.
One in nine who married this year is likely to divorce before their fifth wedding anniversary and one in four before their tenth. Reforms in divorce laws have not contributed to the stability of the institution of marriage.
Some say quick divorces nicknamed ‘quickie’ have even made it easier for couples to part company on one pretext or another. It is often said that when women undergo major crisis, they head straight for the beauty parlor. They wash the previous man right out of the hair and their life. If one prominent family the House of Windsor is taken as the role model, social workers say, they have not helped the case for stable marriages.
A 1984 research had forecast that only 37 percent of the marriages will be broken, while in 1980 only just over a third, 34 percent would have reached divorce.
Researchers say that a brief slow-down because of the no-fault rules is not going to arrest the decline in marriages or prevent couples from going their own ways. Even if they are obliged legally to wait for a year, the break-up rate is likely to go up. Community leaders, social workers and family campaigners have thus expressed their worst fears about the institution of marriage.
This is bad news. An attitude calling for change and for marriage to regain its proper place in the society is generally observed in the family campaigners. On the other end of the phenomenon, figures also reveal a rise in the number of births to unmarried mothers. Between the months of July and September in 1995, some 34 percent of children were born to single mothers, compared to 32.6 percent in the same period in 1994.
When Elvis Presley sang his famous Summertime Blues, he obviously did not have single mothers on his mind. Ask the social workers, the departments of social security, housing and education - it s no music for them.
This is the sort of chicken and egg situation most married couples are likely to find themselves in. Or, are the social scientists talking turkey? No, this is not about the very intelligent people from a country with a similar name. There is an amusing anecdote given as the origin of the phrase: In colonial days, a white hunter and a Red Indian made a pact that they would share equally between them anything they caught.
At the end of the day, when they came to share out what they had bagged - three crows and two turkeys, the white man first handed a crow to the Indian and a turkey to himself, then another crow to the Indian and the second turkey to himself. At that point the Indian is said to have remarked: You talk all turkey for you. Only talk crow for Indian.
Now how many wives married this year are going to find themselves in this crow and turkey situation? Let us hope, not too many!
The author is a London-based writer, critic & TV anchor.