M.M. QUAMAR: http://www.mei.org.in/editorials/Urdu%2011.pdf

M.M. QUAMAR: http://www.mei.org.in/editorials/Urdu%2011.pdf: "http://www.mei.org.in/editorials/Urdu%2011.pdf"

http://www.mei.org.in/editorials/Urdu%2011.pdf

From the Urdu Press

Latest Issue of From the Urdu Press, MEI@ND is on the web..........have a look.....!!
http://www.mei.org.in/index.jsp?id=Editorial

Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary

The Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary is a World Heritage Site located in small town of Bharatpur in Rajasthan. The bird sanctuary was developed by the King Surajmal of the erstwhile state of Bharatpur as a royal hunting ground for ducks. Hunting was stopped in 1964 and it became a UNESCO WHS in 1985. It is beautiful place that houses thousands of birds of various species and orders. Common Indian Birds apart from several migratory birds from Europe, China, Japan, Srilanka, Australia, Egypt and other places come here in winter for nesting and mating. The place is heavenly and is a wonderful delight for common bird watchers and ornithologists alike. It's a mandatory visit for birders and sees a footfall of thousands of visitors from India and abroad every season. The best thing is that the sanctuary is completely kept intact without much human intervention in the name of "development" or "beautification" and the natural beauty makes the place a delightful aura. Apart from birds like Herons, Stalks, pheasants, Owls, ducks, Cranes, kingfishers, sun birds, Mynas and many more; animals like antelope, dear, blue bull, monkey, jackal, hyena etc and reptiles including python and monitor lizard and turtles are also found roaming and sunbathing in the jungle. The place is indeed beautiful and calm and is a must watch for wildlife enthusiasts.

Diwali Shock

My neighbour was pleasantly shocked to see Lakshmi jee, who gave a darshan at the room to check if the person can be bestowed with wealth and prosperity. He was obviously confident to get some of his wishes fulfilled this Diwali as Lakshmi jee was looking quite impressed with his cleansing and beautification efforts which he painstakingly did since morning. But, alas....the Goddess asked for the CCTV camera report from the assistant and left the neighbour high and dry....!!!

You never knew
Deep down inside
you where the one who made her cry
She never would show
But you where the one who made her die
Just because she comes off strong
Didn't mean she didnt fall asleep crying
Even though she acts like nothings wrong
Maybe just maybe she's good at lying
Now what will you do
with the chance that you blew
What do you think is right
You left that that girl
Because you saw the light
What did you think she'd do
And now that she found her someone new
you want back that change that you know you blew
Just because she comes off strong
Didn't mean she didnt fall asleep crying
Even though she acts like nothings wrong
Maybe just maybe she's good at lying
Just because she comes off strong
(you did her wrong)
Doesn't mean she didnt fall asleep.....
Fall asleep crying
And even though she acts like there's nothing wrong
(You knew what was wrong)
Maybe......oh yes maybe
She's just good at LYING"

------ Anonymous

The Town

Watched Ben Affleck's 'The Town' today. Like Rebecca Hall in her limited role as Bank Manager Claire......But Affleck was marvelous as Doug and John Hamn was excellent as Special Agent Frawley. The crime thriller is based on Chuck Hogan's novel Prince of Thieves.

http://www.mei.org.in/index.jsp?id=Editorial

M.M. QUAMAR: http://www.mei.org.in/editorials/Urdu_06.pdf

M.M. QUAMAR: http://www.mei.org.in/editorials/Urdu_06.pdf: "http://www.mei.org.in/editorials/Urdu_06.pdf"

http://www.mei.org.in/editorials/Urdu_06.pdf

Palestinain child begs israeli soldiers not to arrest his dad

The latest number of "From the Urdu Press" compiled and translated by me is on web now..check this out on http://www.mei.org.in/index.jsp?id=Editorial

Urdu Press and Middle East

Recently two important incidents in the Middle East got widespread media coverage throughout the world. It was interesting to observe the zestful coverage of the Urdu newspapers in India. India having a huge Urdu speaking population has a good number of Urdu newspapers at regional as well as national level. Almost all states of India with sizable Muslim population have one major Urdu daily with large circulation. Rashtriya Sahara is widely circulated in north and eastern part of the country, while Siasat and Munsif published from Hyderabad are popular down south. Urdu Times, Inquilab, Akhbar-e-Mashriq, Qaumi Tanzim, Roshni are other major regional Urdu dailies.
The two incidents were; Israel’s raid on Gaza bound aid flotilla and UNSC sanctions on Iran. On Monday, 31 May Israeli commandoes attacked the “Freedom Flotilla” in international waters 65 km from Gaza coast, killing 19 activists most of them belonging to Turkey. Many more were injured. All the six ships that was part of the convoy were seized and all the peace activists on board were taken into custody. It caused a huge uproar throughout the world and Israeli actions were unequivocally condemned as ‘illegal’ and ‘inhuman’. United Nations, European Union and even United States criticized Israel for the aggression. So Israel faced criticism from all over the world. The mainstream media in India also reported the issue and echoed the sentiments of Indian authorities and public at large. The Urdu newspapers however, expectedly reported the news with zest and did not leave any stone unturned to criticize as well as ‘bad mouth’ Israel.
Columns and editorials were written for the whole week and Israel was termed as ‘unholy’, ‘inhuman’ etc. The incident was duly condemned as ‘unprovoked aggression’ and ‘barbaric’. But in this all zest not to leave an opportunity to criticize Israel, our friend forgot to analyse the issue from an unbiased notion. There is no doubt that Israel has been occupying Palestinian lands and trying to construct settlements in these territories. The whole issue including the incident and the larger Israel-Palestine conflict was made to be a conspiracy of the west against the Islamic world. The larger issue of humanitarian conditions inside Gaza was relegated. Predictions were made that Israel will be defeated and destroyed. This shows the lack of understanding of international politics on part of most of the columnists and editors of Urdu press. Most of the editorials were reactionary and stereotypical and none tried to analyse the ground realities in a well balanced manner.
Take for example the editorial in Munsif on Wednesday, 02 June 2010, published from Hyderabad that begins like this “The worst incident in history of the world was the creation of Zionist state of Israel, a slap on the face of Islamic world.” Another newspaper Sahafat, predicted that “There would be international movement against Jews”. Barbariat (barbarism), jarhiat (aggression) and other similar terms were abundantly used and abused. Now the point is, does one need to react to an obviously foolish action in such a way or one need to analyse and observe the whole issue in a judicious and unbiased manner. The second incident was fourth round of UNSC resolutions against Iran, for its inflexible behavior in dealing with the nuclear issue. The sanctions were on the anvil for a while because of Iran’s defiant behavior. Although one can argue that it is just opposite and the US, EU and UN is defiant in dealing with Iran and somehow or the other do not want to deal with the ‘Mullahcracy’.
Here again the Urdu press failed to analyse the issue pragmatically and simply blamed ‘West’ of raging a war against Islam and Muslims. It seems our friends are extremely influenced by Samuel Huntington’s theory of clash of civilization. Even though he himself has revised and re revised his thesis many a times as per the demand of situation. United Nations was very simply termed as US puppet. It is a well known fact that U.S. has huge influence on UN, but to term the international organization as ‘puppet’ is foolish and will not help an inch in serving any purpose. Ultimately it shows the immaturity on the part our editors and columnists who are reactionary and lack the ability to analyse matters related to international politics and international relations. This shows very poorly on part of Urdu media and makes it difficult for others to give them due importance.
However, as it is said that nothing could be just black or white, some good examples of reporting can be cited from Urdu newspapers as well. The editorial in Roznama Siasat published from Hyderabad, on 2 June itself, touched upon the problem of tyrannical monarchies and dictators in most of the Arab countries. Similarly Roznama Sahafat in its editorial on 11 June tried to analyse the impact of sanctions on Iran on India. The mouth piece of Jamat-e-Islami Hind, Sehroza Dawat also can be lauded for not resorting to bad mouthing anyone as well as trying to focus on the basic issues of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Middle East is obviously strategically very important and with its overwhelming Muslim population gets widespread coverage in Urdu press as Muslims in India wants to be aware of the happenings there. But to trivialize all important contemporary issues to just part of history and clash of religions is extremely uncalled for. This shows the kind of intellectual bankruptcy that prevails among our educated people. Everybody will agree to the fact that Israel used disproportionate force in dealing with the aid flotilla and this was criticized all around. But to make it just a God gifted opportunity for abusing Israel and its people in the name of religion cannot be justified. This in turn justifies the ‘reactionary’ tag on the Muslims and lacks any moral or intellectual justification.
Having said all this the intention is not to just criticize the Urdu press and justify Israeli behavior or UN sanctions on Iran but to make it a point that, it is extremely unadvisable to react in such childish manner to issues of international importance. The media shall not just be an expression of opinion of certain elements in society but shall also serve the purpose of educating the masses on important issues pertaining them. The editors of Urdu press failed in this task and if one analyses their reporting further on the Middle East, it shows very poorly on them as they have completely stopped covering the issue once the matter settled down. Need of the hour is to understand any important international issue from international politics point of view rather than from emotional and historical point of view.

From the Urdu Press

http://www.mei.org.in/editorials/Urdu_02.pdf

A new publication published at MEI@ND.

Delhi Zoo

Delhi's National Zoological Park (NZP) is one of the largest zoos in Asia. Its is a beautiful and green piece of land that houses around 70 species of animals apart from a wide variety of birds. On a recent visit I was glad to see it clean and the animals and birds in healthy conditions. But most of the water bodies inside the animal and bird enclosures were either dry or filthy. The NZP authorities should take note of it and try to make the place cleaner and more visitor friendly by providing more signs and indications inside its 200 acre area.

See a new publication on MEI@ND, translated and compiled by me. http://www.mei.org.in/index.jsp?id=Editorial

Rajneeti Nama

Yesterday I watched 'Rajneeti', its a tribute to Indian politics, its a tribute to 'Mahabharata', the great Indian epic. I salute Prakash Jha for making such a terrific movie. Its crude reality and I felt so very helpless and anguished after watching this movie that now I don't know how to relieve myself of this disgust, this anguish and this anxiety. i hated each and every character of the of the movie and above all the character of 'Mama' Brij MOhan. Every character in this movie is defining and a true tribute to Mahabharata. the plot and subplots give true picture of Indian politics. this is one movie i am really disturbed and moved after watching. If I get a chance to change something about the moviei will simply kill the 'Mama' and 'Arjun' i.e. the characters of Brij Mohan and Samar in the last battle. The climax when Katrina asks Ranbir 'Jana Zaruri Hai' (Is it necessary to go) is the worst point of the movie. And in the end Would say that the movie should have got 'A' certificate. It is not for children.

2day i saw two male cuckoos............trying 2 woo a female cuckoo.......i think this is their mating season..........the male cuckoo was shinning black........while the female was spotted with brown and white.................last year i saw a cuckoo nestling being fed by its foster parents 'crows'................the crow by then had realized that it was not their own young ones so was trying 2 avoid the cuckoo.............but it was persistently following it asking to be fed............finally the crow put some pieces of bread in cuckoo's open mouth from its beak and flew.............so seen for the first time the 'Kawwa-koel' story read as a child...........:)

sparrows in the mall

Recently on my visit to a nearby mall............i was delighted to spot sweet little sparrows in the mall.....................they had nested in some 'in-house' coconut trees...........it was really a pleasing sight..............to see these little birds............adopting to the changes forced on our environment by us.....................

Meeting with Vice President

JNU bans 'sensitive' meetings

the JNU administration has announced that from now onwards there would be strict scrutiny of public meetings held in the campus............its a serious matter as the administration is not trying to sensitize but curbing the freedom of speech and debate and discussion culture.........its a very serious matter and something should be done to stop this.

Yesterday when the world came together to fight climate change........Delhi also joined and most of the commercial and public places observed earth hour...........and thankfully i did not lag behind.........i also switched off light and fan at my room from 8:30-9:30, and enjoyed being part of some constructive action.......

Meeting with Vice President

The Friday afternoon was memorable as me with another twenty five students of centre and prof Kumaraswamy met the Vice President of India, Shri Hamid Ansari. It was a nice interaction and the meeting was indeed a learning experience. I throughly enjoyed every moment of it. We had individual interaction with him, and he highlighted the need for empirical research in Area studies as well as the importance of knowing the language of the country or region one is working on. At the end we had snacks and tea.

World House Sparrow Day

Yesterday, 20 March was world house sparrow day. The sweet little chattering bird, which when i was a child use to nest inside my home on 'machans' and other isolated areas have stopped doing so now, there is no such place now, as the house has been renovated. I still remember getting up every morning with the sweet 'chi-chi' of the friendly birds. i have resolved to spread some grain on my window slab every morning from now on for these sparrows. I hope their population increase and we all give due care to their requirements whenever we feel like cutting a tree to give way for sprawling houses.