Shahjahanabad Shooting Diary- Sehri Walk

 Sehri is the pre-dawn meal which people eat before they begin their fasts. Sehri foods like different kind of breads (coconut/ butter-jam/ dry fruits, etc), khajla, pheni (fried sewaiyan) etc. are Ramzan specials and are available only during this month. The sense of time that Shahjahanabad follows (late mornings/late nights for markets) gets even more stretched at night now. The food is available till dawn when the Sehri ends. Markets remain open for Eid shoppers throughout the night as days are too hot and people fasting prefer shopping post-Iftar. With Ramzan the time schedule changes for Old Delhi, especially in the Muslim populated areas.    

 We had registered interested people through social media for our Sehri Walk. We thought a group of 20 would be sufficient, but it ended up being 25! 

More girls' registered for this Sehri walk as they saw it as a chance to explore the streets of the city at night (11pm-4am!), without worrying about the safety aspect! 

On the day of the walk, the prediction by the Met department came true (surprise, surprise!) and Delhi received its first Monsoon rains! Our team with our fingers crossed calmed each other's nerves that rains would stop by 11 pm, the scheduled time of the Walk! Rains did stop and weather cleared a bit, but as it happens, post-rains traffic was chaotic. People got stuck in traffic at different places, even Metro was delayed. At 11 pm with just a couple of us at Chandni Chowk Metro Station (our meeting point), we even discussed if we should postpone it to the next day. But then, people started coming in. We were left with a group of 20 people and could only start our walk around 11.40 pm!

We walked from the Metro Station to the main Chandni Chowk market. Chandni Chowk was mostly deserted with homeless migrant laborers sleeping on the pavement. From the few shops which were open here, one was the Lemon Soda wala, which had a decent crowd even at this hour. One of the oldest 'bunta' shop in this area. 

From Chandni Chowk we walked till the Ballimaran turn and were shocked to see the crowds. It was up and active as shop sellers sold Eid clothes, shoes, household stuff and food. We went up to Manzoor Nahari. Their nahari famous in this area, gets  over in two hours. We sat and had nahari with big, hot Tandoori Khameeri nans/breads. Just next to their shop was the Habshi Halwa shop (made from burnt milk, black in color, thus named after the Blacks!). A few steps ahead was a Kebab wala whose Kebabs had been sold out already.

It started drizzling from here and all those who were carrying cameras, including our team started looking for things to cover their equipments.

 From Ballimaran we walked till Hauz Qazi main lane to Bade Miyan's Kheer. It was one of the best Kheers that I had ever tasted. 'It is cooked for 7-8 hours on very low flame' over a  firewood chulha. Its owner also narrated that Madhubala was born at the house upstairs and her family lived there for sometime before shifting to Bombay!

 The rain showed no sign of stopping as some of us walked, some took the battery rickshaws to the end of the Lal Kuan street to Katra Baryan for Khan Omlette. The name should have been 'Khan's Eggs' (given the experiments that Khan sahab did with eggs, but I guess, that would have been weird)!

The eggs that we tasted were only three of his preparations from a big list There was a long queue and we were told that we had a waiting time of 40 mins atleast. On our persistent requests, our waiting time came down to 20 mins! We tried his special Omlette sandwich which had cheese. It was good, but his next preparation "Khan Special"was the best! The eggs tasted like Qeema. The third we were told was a boiled egg bhurji, which was good too. A complete revelation!

It was raining quite heavily by now. We hired four e-rickshaws for the group and a couple of cycle rickshaws for Jama Masjid. We were told that newly opened Anwar Food Corner had good chicken Haleem. We (me and my Editor/Videographer bhai) had not eaten much at other places as we looked forward to eating some good Haleem!We could not have been more wrong!

It was a disgrace to Haleem! Extremely runny, with bits of Chana Dal visible and no taste! I decided to give my feedback to the owner, who just completely ignored me and walked off! After a few spoons our bowl of Haleem remained untouched! 

We started for Aslam Butter Chicken, but what we saw there just completely killed our appetite. It looked like the aftermath of a Chicken war. Leftover of Butter Chicken was piled up on the main road. Most of us just refused to eat. They had wrapped up the kitchen, so it took them time to make more food for us. By the time chicken came after almost twenty minutes most of us had dozed off. 

It was almost around 3.30 am by the time we left Aslam to taste some Pheni (fried sewaiyan) with milk. They had big bowls, I always liked my Khajla/Pheni crispy with very little milk, these were completely soaked in lots of milk. We skipped Shahi Tukda, and instead preferred some tea at the Pheni stall. 

The announcements at different intervals from Jama Masjid kept reminding us of the time left in the Sehri “Hazrat Sehri Ka Waqt Khatam Hone me ab Paanch minute baaqi hain, apne apne mamoolat jald khatam kar len” (Respected people, now it is just five minutes left for the Sehri to end, please finish your routine things fast).

 By 4am, all of us had started calling cabs and called it a night at dawn!    

Link for Video of the Sehri Walk -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp3pAF53pYY 

Shahjahanabad Shooting Diaries: Iftar Walk with Delhi Food Walks

Since Ramzan at Shahjahanabad is such a special month, we decided to Video document some of it through Iftar and Sehri Walks with Delhi Food Walks. Chawari Bazar Metro station was our meeting point. The two groups of people (those who had registered with Delhi Food Walks and those who had registered with Sahapedia) had all arrived, totaling to almost thirty in number. The big group now had us worried, as it was extremely crowded, we were already sweating in the hot and humid weather and to carry such a big group around Shahjahanabad, needed special skills. Anubhav Sapra (Delhi Food Walks') was unfazed by the crowds.

Anubhav led us from Chawari Bazar to Jama Masjid for Iftar. As it was a Saturday, the Nai Sarak-Chawari Bazar stretch was extremely crowded. The entire group walked in rows of twos and threes following Anubhav, up to Jama Masjid, crowding the bazar even further.

It was already 7pm by the time we reached the mosque. One girl from the group was wearing a short dress and was not allowed inside. It would have been extremely sad to leave out a group member during Iftar in Iftar walk.  At first, I offered my dupatta as a wrap skirt but the sleeveless dress required top covered as well. Both my Sahapedia colleague and I, rushed to the Gate no.3 (Dariba side) from Gate no. 1 (Matia Mahal) to look for gowns they usually offer to foreigners. There were none at Gate no. 1, only lungis which was offered to a foreigner wearing shorts. The guy who had gowns decided to act difficult and refused for some reason. I named the person I knew who had given us the shooting permission and it worked! She finally entered the premises wearing a long gown over her dress.

But in this running around, we forgot our camera people. They were getting harassed by authorities for carrying cameras and moving without shooting permission! Finally things got sorted and we started shooting as Tufaila (Delhi Food Walks) explained to the group the significance of Ramzan and benefits of fasting.

Anubhav had ordered water bottles and small boxes from Kallan sweets of mince samosa-paneer jalebi, along with dates and different kinds of pakoras. The courtyard of the mosque was filled with families sitting with their dastarkhwans spread out with delicacies waiting for the time to pass. The last minutes are the hardest, as we spotted people distributing Sharbets, samosas, dates to the Rozadars'. People selling water got taunted for being too commercial and selling water to Rozadars!

The most interesting is the announcement of iftar! A man stands at one of the small Minars and signals with a green flag then the cannon sound goes off! And entire Jama Masjid gets lit up. At other mosques time for iftar is marked by a siren sound but Shahi Masjid continues the tradition from Shahjahan's time! After Azaan, people get ready for Maghrib prayers, we finished some of our food and made our way to the Matia Mahal lane to start our food walk.






We started with Aslam located on the Matia Mahal lane, well known for its butter chicken. All the three floors were completely full. We shared our table with a Vegetarian couple and kept extending our sympathies to them(as we could not share our food) while finishing off our chicken and kebabs! We did not even touch the salad, and neither did they, not even paneer!
We should not have eaten as much as we did here (hindsight: but it was too tasty).  From here we went to Taufiq Biryani where we tasted a few spoons of his achari Biryani and then went to Shabrati's Nihari. Here also everybody just tasted the nihari topped with butter, brain and bone marrow, with Khameeri roti. ()Taufiq's biryani and Shbarati's Nahari we had previously covered in our Breakfast walk with Anubhav).
A few steps ahead  from Shabrati's shop, we had sweet khoya filled samosa at Ameer Sweet House. From Haveli Azam Khan we walked towards Chitli Qabar where we tasted different kinds of breads from Flora Bakery. For Ramzan, bakeries sell Coconut, Butter-Jam, Dry Fruit breads. (Coconut is personal favorite). By now, we had started to feel quite guilty for the vegetarian couple, here they finally had something to eat.
 From Chitli Qabar we walked back towards Sui Walan for Al-Suleman's shakes. We tasted date and Injeer shakes (injeer was better as date was very sweet).  
 We again walked towards Matia Mahal for Pyaar Mohabbat Maza drink. The name intrigued us all. The shakes were heavy but the name of the drink ensured that everybody tasted it. It was milk Roohafza with water melon chunks. We made a few jokes about its name and moved a few steps for dessert.
We were served Shahi tukda with mango ice cream. Some people preferred the combo, some only tasted the ice cream and kulfi. Mango ice cream was actually very good.

 Anubhav offered to take us to an exclusive Date shop where the variety of dates from around the world was fascinating. The owner explained about the various dates on display and specifically about the Ajwa' dates' (most expensive) health benefits.

By 11pm the bazar was still crowded. We all had a very filling experience (pun intended!). The stomach was confused with the onslaught of various foods and drinks, after the day long fasting.
It took all of us a lot of effort to walk back out of Shahjahanabad towards Turkman Gate with such a heavy stomach.
Link to Video-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq3vtotd4X4

Mohabbat Mo'tabar hai

Mohabbat Mo'tabar* Hai
Koi ilzam nahi
Jo mathe par sajaya jaaye
Koi ehsan nahi
Jholi me giraya jaaye
Khairat* ka sikka nahi
Jhuk kar uthaya jaaye

Dastan dil ki
Dastan dard ki
Jo kahi nahi
Woh suna karo
Jo suni nahi
Woh kaha karo

Dunya se ladna
Bahut asaan Jana
Sabse mushkil magar
Jung Khudi ki
Jeetna bhi khud se
Harana bhi khud ko
Uthna bhi khud se
Girana bhi khud ko
Samajhna bhi khud se
Samjhana bhi khud ko
Roothna bhi tum se
Manana bhi tumko

Rishto'n se aetbar uth jaaye
Yakeen wa'don se jaaye
Gehre ghup andhero me
Ek maddham kiran
Kahin chupke se aaye
Gum karde tareeki*
Ujale raste dikh laaye

Mohabbat Aezaz* Hai
Mohabbat Mo'tabar Hai
Koi ilzam nahi
Jo mathe par sajaya jaaye
Koi ehsan nahi
Jo jholi me giraya jaaye
Khairat* ka sikka nahi
Jo jhuk kar uthaya jaaye

*Mo'tabar - High Esteem/ regard
*Khairat- Charity
*Tareeki - Darkness
* Aezaz- Honor

Trip to Kasol- 2

Continued from the Link:  http://uzmaazharali.blogspot.in/2016/06/trip-to-kasol-1.html 


The trip so far had looked 'almost' perfect.  
I got friendly with the farm animals, including the three dogs. They had unusual names(Kali/ Bhaloo/ Tiger) and gave me company while I ate. I inquired about the probability of dogs feeling sense of identity loss with names like Bhaloo and Tiger but the owner laughed it off. As he also shrugged off Kali's aggression, when it tried to bite me with the excuse  of old age and lack of biting teeth! 

I wanted to explore the place a lot more and decided to travel local after a days' rest at the resort.

Next morning after the horrible omelette and bad tea (how can anybody go wrong with those two basics?) I decided to take a walk up to Manikaran.
There is a gurudwara and some hot water natural geysers there. I had no intention of going any further up! Manikaran was almost 3-4 kms from Choj. The road is bad but walking along parallel flowing river makes up for everything. Many cars from Punjab come this side, so there is heavy traffic on this very narrow road.  A few small roadside dhabas selling tea, water, maggi, snacks, so travelers can stop and take a break.

   It had started to drizzle when I reached Manikaran. It is unlike any other Gurudwara that you would see, not just in terms of architectural design but also in terms of its philosophy. As I asked an older Babaji at the Gurudwara about the presence of various Hindu Gods and Goddesses (even Sai Baba!). He sounded upset about it, but from what I understood it was to make it inclusive for the local population, as there is negligible Sikh presence here.

On the ground floor is the hot water cave where the floor is blazing hot, so hot that it is difficult to walk bare foot. But, since one has to take off shoes at the entrance, you either walk or hop (your choice depending on your body's tolerance level to the hot floor)!  There was also a hot water tank where people (mostly men and children, no women) were taking bath. The hot water tank over the freezing Parvati river waters was quite a sight in itself. Like all the Gurudwaras, here too the kitchen was a busy place as it catered to hungry travelers.

From Manikaran, I took a bus to Bhuntar, and from Bhuntar changed another bus for Manali. It was a four hour journey. The weather was overcast and the journey with river flowing on the side of the road extremely beautiful.

Manali was too crowded and too commercial. With the number of cars and a crowded market it felt like I was at Delhi's Karol Bagh! I bought a few souvenir gifts for friends and family and tried a couple of restaurants for food and coffee! At a restaurant in the main market, tried local grilled fish which was average in taste but expensive in price! The only decent place was this German Cafe where they had live music (guy singing on a guitar) I had a very good coffee with sweet cheese cake and bought few bottles of Apricot Oil from them.

In an hour and half I was done with crowded, touristy Manali! I took a taxi back and saw my Delhi-Mercedes bus walas driving badly on the road, and decided then and there I would take another bus back!


We encountered traffic jams at a few spots but the drive on this Manali stretch is extremely beautiful with river and mountains running parallel to the road.

It was around 9pm that I reached Choj. I went for dinner, and when I came back saw that a group of people from Mumbai had come and had set up huge speakers outside my cottage.
 I finished some work and then decided to make my objection official by 1 am! I was tired and hoped for an early start next morning.
 Kasol/Choj is a part of Parvati Valley where famous "Malana Cream" (a strain of Cannabis Hashish) can be found. This group here had come to "party" and were in their 'zone' with the psychedelic music!
The leader of the group offered me to shift to another cottage, 'the party will continue till morning', he said. I took the offer, as there was no point in arguing with these folks who were already in their 'zone' (I was outnumbered and though the group was civil not threatening, it made sense to shift for the night. The new cottage was bigger and better.

Early morning next day, somebody knocked on the door. I thought the party got over and probably its those guys. But, this was a new group who had just arrived and had mistaken the first cottage they saw as 'Reception'! It was around 5 am, and I thought I should go and check my room. They stopped the music when they saw me, wrapped up their stuff and then went to sleep to in their rooms, and I got my cottage back by 6am!

I was up now, decided to go for morning walk up to Kasol, had  stuffed parathas and tea there for breakfast and came back to sleep some more. After clearing my account, I ordered Maggi again from the same cook, but it was horrible this time! 
Suddenly there was water and electricity problem at the resort and especially affected my cottage.
I had packed my bag, I felt my luck on the trip was running out!
The boys from the Resort helped me carry my luggage across the bridge.There was a Bus to Delhi from Manikaran which left at 1 pm and crossed Choj.  I boarded the bus, took the front seat again for the view and said my "goodbyes" to Choj and the boys! Day journey meant I could still see the beautiful river and the hills, the Volvo bus at night would have robbed me of "my goodbyes to the hills".

There was a long traffic jam at Kasol as more people were coming in for the holiday. It looked like a wise decision to leave before the weekend.
The bus was a Himachal Tourism Bus, which usually gives a free tour to its passengers of the smaller towns of Himachal, Only I did not know that!
It looked like that I was going to see more of the hills than I expected. The bus took an interior route and locals kept boarding the bus for shorter journeys as it kept stopping at local bus stops.
By this time I was regretting my romanticism for local transport, and not going for a Volvo bus direct to Delhi, as we moved from one hillock to another of Himachal saying "Hello" to most of the house owners sitting in their balconies on the way! I tried to spot interesting local sign boards to bide time (like "Paan Banarasi Elaichi Liquor" etc.).
From 1 pm till 8 pm (seven hours!!) we were still in the hills! By now, it was an overdose of hills and an extremely over-stretched "Goodbye"!
As I  mentally composed my "Letter to the Hills" (Dear Hills, you know I love you, but you will have to let me go now, so I can return soon!) I knew I was completely losing it!

In all this, a fellow middle aged passenger started acting weird! He first kept staring and then came and sat on my three-seater seat. (The only consolation I had till now was, I could stretch myself on a three-seater seat which I had shared only for an hour with a mother-son duo). I told him to go back to his seat, on which he started arguing but left. To irritate me further, anybody who boarded the bus now on wards, he helpfully suggested my front seat as the 'best available' seat! I was tired, hungry and angry and since I was having such a great day, I decided to just ignore and postponed killing him!

Finally we reached plains of Punjab and stopped at a dhaba for dinner around 9.30 pm. Lack of sleep from previous night helped, as I started feeling sleepy post-dinner and spread myself as comfortably as I could on my seat (Thank God for small mercies). Bus stopped again at a dhaba around 2 am for tea. It was hot and humid, dhaba looked shabby. Most women from the bus did not leave the bus and some just got off to take a stroll to stretch their legs like me.

Finally, we reached Delhi at 5 am. I took a taxi from ISBT for Greater Noida the taxi driver overcharged, but I just badly wanted to reach "home".

My experience of solo trip would have been a lot better if on my return journey had taken a better bus back and not done everything on a whim!
But lesson for future trips Inshallah!

Link to Trip to Kasol-1-
http://uzmaazharali.blogspot.in/2016/06/trip-to-kasol-1.html

Trip to Kasol- 1

 I just could not decide on a place as I kept planning "someplace" to visit! When I finally found a week when I could leave the hot city weather for the cool hills, it started raining! A traveler friend suggested Manali as all other places on internet searches showed nothing available (train/hotels, June is a bad month for traveling, when families travel with kids' in their summer holidays). To Manali I could travel comfortably in many available Volvo buses and there are many places to stay at Old Manali & Vashisht, as per the advice of wise friends'. Also, could visit Kasol which is small, more quiet, with mostly Israeli tourists, no desi families. 

Take a Volvo from Paharganj (lots of buses available at frequent intervals), get off at Bhuntar (airport town) then take a taxi/bus to Kasol, were my instructions. I had to remember all the names (Bhuntar- Bhutta, Kasol- Kajol "j" replaced by "s"). I finished my work a day before and decided to pre-pone my trip by a day. I had not booked online ticket, I checked the buses which still showed vacancy, so I decided to take a Mercedes Benz bus. Boarding point was near Paharganj and my cab was late. But, there were so many options that I was not worried.

The bus was about to start when I reached, I spoke to the driver, who was sweet enough to give me a front seat with another woman passenger. There was a list of people who had booked and paid online, I had not, the driver "negotiated" with the company list guy and told me to pay in cash later. I tried haggling and he agreed to my quoted price! (My money went in his pocket, but I got a comfortable ride). 

The front seat meant great view but also involuntarily listening to the conversation between driver/ substitute driver/ conductor and then my fellow passenger joined in! She was a Punjabi and so was the driver and now we were listening to the stories from their Pind (village, they shared same district). 

We were provided with a blanket, a water bottle and a silver colored polythene to puke in! Some women had puked in their blankets on the previous night, so there was shortage of blankets. There was a stop over around mid night at a dhaba. The bus was comfortable but the horn was taken from a local truck, and it was so loud that it could wake up the dead! This meant no sleep as they kept honking throughout. The older driver post stop over took the wheel. A couple of men again stopped the bus for bathroom break and Uncle ji forgot his way as he kept chatting and sharing his stories with us. He asked the way from Punjab Police and luckily for us, this actually led to a shorter route. (But it did not stop him from cursing the guys who had stopped the bus!) They had a DVD player as nobody was sleeping we asked them to put on a movie. The movie started with a smooching scene and all the Aunty jis and Uncle jis in the bus, shouted at the staff to stop it. 

There were no "family films" sadly! 

We again had a stopover around 4am when the younger driver took over the wheel as the mountains had started, and the sun was breaking through. 

For breakfast, we stopped at a hotel and were given keys to a hotel room where we (just the three women, who sat on the front seats) could freshen up and were spared the dirty public toilet. The friendship with the bus staff helped us.

I paid my money to the driver sahab and promised I will take the same bus back as he gave his number for any 'help' needed. I avoided sharing my number. We were in the hills now, and had reached almost an hour before schedule. At Bhuntar, with few other bus passengers we shared a cab to Kasol.
The road to Kasol is bad and very narrow, almost an hour's drive from Bhuntar, thankfully the driver was experienced. He stopped at a couple of "good" spots for "photos/selfies". We finally reached Kasol. I checked into the first place I saw in the market area, haggled for a single room and got a decent one.

  For lunch I went to a cafe overlooking a stream. I could eat only half of the generous portion of well made Spaghetti. Post lunch, I went to explore the market, which resembled the usual hill station markets.
The river ran parallel, there were streams all around Kasol.




I met the group with whom I had shared the taxi and we decided to trek along the river.

After walking until sunset, we had dinner at a small dhaba place. The food, arguably was one of the best I had ever had at a dhaba. It was fresh, home-cooked and delicious.

I had to regularly update friends' and family who were worried that I was safe and alive from time to time!
Back at my hotel room, I realized that the nearby rooms were all full. There was a big group of loud men drinking in the balcony outside my room. I almost heard a few knocks. The owner, a young girl very politely expressed helplessness and herself complained against the bad behavior of these men! I decided, I had to change my hotel.

A friend had mentioned about a property three kms from Kasol. I called him for details and made a reservation there for the next day.  After having breakfast, I left Kasol for Choj in the taxi.

It was gorgeous. The river was flowing by the side of the resort' and a bridge connected with the road. It was around half an hour walk from Kasol. It was the perfect place to relax, with apple trees, less humans and more farm animals goat/sheep/ cattle/ dogs.
There was a staff of four young boys including a talkative Nepali, who had traveled almost all over India, and shared tips on solo traveling!
I had the best Maggi here with zeera and vegetable masalas made by a young boy.



But, the dinner turned out to be very bad and so was the breakfast!
I decided to eat my meals at Kasol.

At night, the lights made this place all the more beautiful under the star-lit sky, the sound of the flowing river and the psychedelic music! Yes, people come from the city to "party" here, so the bar area plays loud music, but that was far from my cottage . I could sleep in peace.

It felt like the perfect holiday that I had hoped for! From Serendipity to Serenity, unplanned things could throw up pleasant surprises, until..

Continued.....
Link :  http://uzmaazharali.blogspot.in/2016/07/trip-to-kasol-2.html

Remembering Razai' (Quilt)

Just before winters started (usually post-Dussehra, pre-Diwali days-Oct/Nov), my mother would start preparing for the colder months ahead. This meant getting the winter clothes out, washing or putting them in the sun and also to re-do/freshen the older Razais and the Lihafs. Razais were the lighter versions of the Lihafs, process of renewal involved fresh cotton fillers, washing covers and then finally sealing them with the stitching of the threads. As a child, I always found the process very tedious, and then later as a grown-up time consuming requiring a lot of labor, but never boring!

It started with taking off the older covers, cutting their old stitching lines and then washing them (by hand, as we did not have a washing machine then!). The covers if they were worn out were replaced by newer, shinier dupattas/old suit pieces (the older clothes got recycled) on the top. The bottom part (astar) was either bought new, or old one was colored again. In hot water, color was added, mixed and then cloth was added for a brand new color (mostly red) of the razai bottom. The most tricky thing was the "goat"(not the animal, but meant the corners), which were of plain color in satin usually, contrasted with the print of suit pieces/dupattas. Once the covers were fixed/stitched together, it was sent to the market cotton shop walas for putting cotton fillers inside the covers. Weight of heavy or light cotton decided if it was going to be a Lihaf/Razai! Lighter Razai involved more work by my mother.  In case of the Lihafs, shop walas added the cotton and then also stitched it together. Since, the cotton was thick it was left to the professionals to finish the job. Razai on the other hand, was delicate needed stitching under the expert supervision of my mother. Once the cotton fillers were added to the covers, my brother would get the Razai back and then it was beginning of the hard work! 

Post-lunch, after we came back from our schools the terrace was the place to be! The terrace was cleaned then on a clean big bed-sheet the un-stitched Razai was spread out in the warm sun. The neighbours were called as volunteers to put the threads, either the older Tai' (our elderly neighbourhood Aunty) or my childhood friend Shabbo (whom I suspected my mother loved more than me! She had also done a Tailoring course and could stitch perfect lines!). The entire exercise brought our immediate neighbours in the lazy afternoons on the terrace, as Ammi gossiped or discussed family issues or politics (both Tai and Ammi were politically very aware, thanks to the TV in our homes and watched news with interest).

Sometimes it was all of us and the Razai finished in just a couple of afternoons, with sessions of gossip and chai (made by me). If it finished in a couple of days, it gave ideas to my Mum to work on another one! My favorite past time, while all this was going on, was to lie down on top of the new, soft cotton Razai (like a bedding), and then get numerous scoldings for flattening out the fluffy cotton! As I got older, and our neighbours shifted from there, it was just Ammi and me who would put the threads. Mostly just her, who would call me incessantly to  needle the thread or would just ask me to give her company as I observed her working, till her cataract allowed. Her fingers often got swollen up, or bled if needle pierced while stitching and whenever I offered to do the stitching she hated them! My lines never went straight, they always zigzagged and my explanation was always, 'its a new design pattern'! But, my perfectionist mother would have none of it! She loved her Razais and wanted perfect lines of stitching on them.

To me the entire process only meant one thing- who would get to use the New Razai? My father (Head of the family, but made no contribution in the making of it, although paid for it), or my brother (who got the cotton filled, but nothing more!) or me (made cups of tea for the Razai stitch Volunteers, cleaned terrace and flattened the new cotton!) or my mother (who did the maximum work, but never used the new one herself!) Often it led to fights between me and my brother and whoever got it, it would make the other to take 'revenge' by jumping/using it like a bedding to make the new fluffy Razai flat! 

Those light, home made, delicate warm Razais are a part of my memories now, like my mother. The things that we use now are commercially made blankets, they do not have the warmth of my mother's fingers and I do not have the luxury of flattening them as they are already too flat!

Kitni asaani se
Khuli ruyi ko
Dhaago se bandh deti thi
Waqt ki sard raat me
Mere din, lamhe, saal sab bikhar gaye
Astar boseeda ho kar phat gaye
Dhaage toot gaye
Koi Mohabbat ki razayi nahi
Jiski garmi me
Main so sakoon!

Education From A Distance

A few days back I received a call from my senior colleague who told me to visit the Distance Center of Education of Jamia as they had some work. They had many assignment copies for checking and needed teachers to check them. Since seniors are often too busy, they refer such tasks to juniors.

Distance mode of education is for students'who for some reason are unable to attend usual regular course' classes. The center has helped many students, since its inception in 2002. The students come from varied backgrounds, but most are quite poor. Students that I had met some of them came from far off areas, could not even afford to travel for regular classes The study material is sent through post, and classes are held on the weekends (Sat-Sun). Some of them did not carry any mobile phones and some were first-generation learners in their families. The class divide is quite visible. 

A colleague from the center told me about students' coming from different parts of India like Kashmir, UP, etc. Also, many girls from Muslim parts of Delhi (Old Delhi, Seelampur, Sangam Vihar, etc) join here. Boys who left their studies mid-way to join family businesses/ shops' and now wanted to pursue their education, and girls' mostly whose families did not allow them to join regular college were regulars here. This was probably the only place that orthodox families allowed girls' to travel to.  Girls' dressed like dolls' for Sat/Sun classes, because probably that is the only time that they are allowed to be on their own and they experience the 'college life', remarked a friend from the Center, . 

The sensitivity of the University administration dealing with these special students' becomes even more important here. Students'defying their families to get themselves educated, changing buses to reach the institute, making numerous rounds of the offices' for small things, calls for a lot of dedication and patience, on the part of both students' and the University. The students' have a confused, scared look on their faces', they need assurance first and problem solving later, explained my friend, who is a part of the administration.    

    

One girl had missed the date for filling the form due to her fathers' by-pass surgery and had come with him to make a request to allow her to sit in the exams. The rules did not allow this year, but next year she could sit for both the exams (could give papers for two years!). So, she could save her academic year. There were many students' who came with different excuses/reasons to request for waking up late to the last date, some even cried buckets for losing out on a year but the consolation was the same, to apply for two years next session.

The assignments' from some of the students looked like carbon copies. Some had copied from internet, from Wikipedia with "citation needed" copied as well! (Internet copying is a universal problem though!). One student had submitted a 230+ page assignment!
(PhD Thesis these days are less lengthy!) 

Students' enthusiasm, overcoming hardships to get a degree is commendable but, apart from degree how much knowledge or learning are they able to get is a different issue. Education with its single focus on the Degree/ passing exams as compared to making the students' understand for learning/knowledge is a dilemma that we struggle with everyday. The insistence on rote learning for getting good grades is usually seen as sufficient!

 When we have debates over University autonomy, issues like ideological debates over Left/Right etc. there are even more basic problems that we need to understand that we take for granted. We need more public universities with better facilities and more scholarships for students'. Recently when I discussed this with a friend, she shared that in her University (Central India) some students' are so poor that they go without food for days'. In the interiors of India problems are even more complex.