Desert Rose of Umerkot

Nirmala Maghani doing the riyaaz

I first heard Nirmala on you tube - a video she had uploaded of her performance on a TV channel in Pakistan. I loved her rich soulful voice and the earnest expression she wore while singing.

I contacted her to find out under whom she was trained. And to my amazement I found out that this 19 year old girl had not one but three ustaads!!

But hey hang on..all the three ustaads are not your regular ustaads we know of.  They are her online mentors. And I was baffled because with online classes this girl was simply awesome. Imagine the talent that is still unexplored in this 19 year old girl.

I was curious and probed more (via internet). Nirmala then told me all about herself, how she got into singing, her online Ustaads, her family, her education and her dream.

Nirmala Maghani resides in the desert region of Umerkot, Sindh, Pakistan. She has just completed her Intermediate and will take admission for the B Sc course. Her father no longer alive so she lives with her mother, grandmother and her brother who not only runs the household but also nurtures Nirmala’s talent and is her mentor and career advisor.

Singing is a kind of taboo in our community, says Nirmala. But she was blessed with a golden voice that was waiting to be heard sooner or later. Nirmala sang in the school functions and her teachers saw a promising singer in her and encouraged her to sing. Her brother decided to make his little sister a singer and did not stop her when she practiced at home the folk songs from the local dholak players. A little bit hesitant at first, her daadi and mother later gave in and let Nirmala practice. Nirmala also picked up playing the harmonium from these dholak players whenever she got the chance.

One fine day her brother surprised her and got a harmonium on

 rent. But when Nirmala played the harmonium and began

 singing curious neighbours of their community wanted to

 know what was going on. 

Girls from good families did not go singing around, they said. And the elders of the community advised her against it.

After a few days Nirmala took to singing again closing all the doors and windows of their house she practiced singing and playing the harmonium which she had hidden away so that people visiting them should not see it.

 Things began to change when she got a chance to perform on TV in the morning show on the local channel and people in her community started noticing her. They still disapproved but now Nirmala did not shut the doors while practicing and soon her brother purchased a harmonium for her.

Anup Jalota ji making Nirmala officially his shagird

Nirmala then contacted Anup Jalota the ghazal and devotional songs singer in India through the social media and requested him to train her. Anup Jalota readily agreed to a request that came all the way from a teenager in Umerkot Pakistan. Seeing her interest and eagerness to learn classical music that he sent her lessons over voice recordings and these classes are still on.

In the same manner she also met Ustaad Raza Ali Khan the great son of legendary Ustaad Bade Ghulam Ali of Kolkata and was taking online lessons from him.

Nirmala got lucky in the year 2017 when Anup Jalota came to Sindh and Nirmala got to meet her idol who then officially made her his disciple.  Nirmala was overjoyed when she performed alongside her Guru whom she also calls papa because Anup Jalota ji has made her his beti the day she sent him request on face book.

And she couldn’t get luckier because in the same year Ustaad Raza Ali khan attended the Music conference in Karachi and Nirmala was thrilled to meet her ustaad.

With Ustaad Raza Ali Khan 

And during her visits to the recording studio in Karachi which is 400 kilometers from Umerkot she met Ustaad Murtuza Khan Naizi and became his disciple and takes lessons from him both online when she is in Umerkot and live classes when she goes to Karachi.

She works hard doing ‘riyaaz’ (practice) for 10 to 12 hours a day with no interest in anything else except singing unlike other girls of her age. Clearly Nirmala is not the typical teenager because her focus in solely on singing and singing alone. She does not want to perform in marriages and parties that would be losing my identity as a sufi and classical singer because in parties people want you to sing party songs and that is not my style.

The most memorable moment in Nirmala’s life is the time when she sang with her papa cum Ustaad Anup Jalota on the stage. It was something I never even dreamed of, she says.

Her favourites are Abida Parveen, Mehdi Hassan and of course Anup Jalota.  She dreams of performing in India one day. 

It would be such an honour to come to India and perform. And I will be able to meet both my Ustaads again.

And her only reward is having more and more people hear her sing. When people listen to me singing and appreciate it that is the greatest reward for a singer.

Like all singers Nirmala also believes that music can bridge the divides between people because music has no religion. She feels the music fraternity can help build improve the strained Indo-Pak relations. She has hopes that peace will prevail again. After all both countries were one before the axe of partition fell and there are so many things in common apart from music.

Hope Nirmala's dreams come true and she becomes a successful singer soon. :))

Nirmala's display page

You can hear Nirmala sing on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6Iea5C3CF8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wboAyw1kySA

Kicking for success

17 year old Priyanka looks delicate with her lean frame and sharp features. But shake hands with her and you can see she is tough as nails being a wrestler and a kick boxer.

Priyanka began her sports career by practicing to be a belt wrestler and a free wrestler ever since she was in high school but of late she is into kick boxing. And has become a champion at it.

Born to poor parents Priyanka lived in the Rainbow Home run by APSA (Association for promoting Social Action) an NGO that works for children and for community development in Hyderabad and Secunderabad. 

Rainbow Homes program is part of Association for rural and urban needy (ARUN) under which there are homes for children who are underprivileged due to poverty, children living on streets, orphans, lost, trafficked and have no access to basic care. The Rainbow homes shelter these children and provide them with all the basic amenities, education, care, love and guidance molding their future and encouraging to dream of a future where they can be secure and happy.  There are 45 such homes across the country and 19 of them are in Hyderabad.

  Priyanka’s father who worked as a bus conductor met with an accident that made him incapable of working again and her mother took up a job as security personnel in a mall. Bringing up 6 children single handedly was a huge task for her mother so she enrolled 4 daughters, Priyanka included in the APSA (Association for promoting Social Action) Rainbow Home in 2009 when she was a 10 year old kid.

Priyanka and her sisters adapted to their new life in the Rainbow home and were cheerful all the time. Priyanka showed more inclination towards sports and so her teacher at school began to coach her in belt wrestling and free style wrestling. The director of the organization Srinivas Reddy engaged a coach for her when he saw the spark in the girl’s eyes

Priyanka worked hard getting up early mornings for the exercises and training. The care takers and mentors at the Rainbow Home encouraged her at every step. Waking her up in the mornings, with her diet and boosting her spirits in her small defeats and victories.  

 And the hard work paid off when Priyanka was selected to play for the state. And Priyanka won first place at the state level and went to Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh in 2016 and then again in the next year she qualified for the National level at Maharashtra.

But both the years she could not win gold in the wrestling competition. However it was still a victorious moment for her when Mr. Akramullah from the Sports Association for Telangana State saw her wrestling skills. He immediately contacted her guardians at the Rainbow Home on his return to Hyderabad and after the initial formalities of seeking permission; he took her under his wing and coached her in kick boxing where her real potential lay.

Just after 2 months of rigorous training the state level competitions for the ‘under 19 category’ came up and Priyanka won the gold medal and qualified for the national levels – WAKO India National Kickboxing championship.

WAKO India (WAKO – World Association of Kickboxing organizations) event was held from January 25^th -28^th 2018; for the first time in Telangana State with nearly 1600 participants from 23 states of India. And our girl Priyanka was one of them.   

 Priyanka participated in the National level WAKO India National championship and after defeating her opponents from Haryana and Madhya Pradesh she entered the final round with a girl from Maharashtra. After a tough match Priyanka emerged the winner.

It was a moment of pride for all of us from APSA when she won and the gold medal adorned her neck. And as she lifted her trophy and posed for photographs her mentors gloated with pride. It was not just Priyanka but all the girls who lived with her in the Rainbow home who had won that day. She was an example to them and the junior girls had always looked up to her. And she had not failed them this time either. 

Her mother cried in happiness hugging Priyanka. The sacrifice of keeping her daughters away from her had not gone in vain. Priyanka did them proud.

Priyanka wants to ease the burden of her mother by taking up a job as soon as she finishes Intermediate 2^nd year and turns 18. She wants to become a police constable although her ultimate goal is to become an IPS.

Says she, “I can’t afford to wait that long to support my mother. So I will first join as a constable, support my mother and pursue a degree through correspondence. And once I finish my degree I will appear for the UPSC exams. I want to join the IPS.”

But right now she is gearing up for the WAKO Asia International level the venue of which is yet to be declared. But Priyanka says she is ready and rearing to go beat or get beaten. Though we all hope she beats all her opponents and emerges a champion.  

All the very best to Priyanka Mankar.

with the staff and director of APSA 

My five wishes for 2018

This prompt too by BlogAdda like the previous one had me reflecting. I have stopped making New year resolutions from a long time because other priorities take over and I have had to shelve them. So planning in advance maybe good but most of it never happens.

If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans by woody Allen remains my favourite quote.

However a wish list is different I suppose but not really…

Anyway when I sat down to make my wish list for 2018 I realized there were many wishes waiting to be fulfilled. And I recalled the couplet by Mirza Ghalib in Urdu, 

“Hazaaron khwahishen aisi ke har khwahish pe dam nikle
Bohat niklay mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikle” 

Well here are my 5 wish lists for 2018 which I am hoping to fulfill…

1.   Learn Urdu:

Yes, it is my mother tongue but apart from speaking Urdu – Daccani Urdu as Hyderabadi Urdu is called I could never learn reading and writing the language. I did try several times but I never went beyond the alphabets..Aalif; Bay; Tey; Say; …

So this year I am going to learn to read, write and even speak the language using better words. Urdu is a poetic language and poetry interests me.  And now I am going to read Urdu poetry as well once I learn to read fluently which has been my wish form quiet a long time now. 

2. Learn swimming:

This wish is actually on my bucket list as well. And this year I am going to fulfill it no matter what. Come summer and I will enroll for swimming lessons even if it is once or twice a week because that is the only time I can afford.

     3. Talking of time..this year it is going to about time I guess. So my next wish is Read Read Read:

Reading is my hobby I say but I am not getting enough time to read and still have 9 unread books in the shelf and 2 downloaded from kindle. So now I am going to squeeze time and read these books because I know it will not stop at 9 because I will buy m ore books as and when I see a interesting book.

     4.   Exercise and mediate:

Not enough will power here. But I will gather my will power drag myself out of the bed half an early in the mornings and exercise. I have been advised to exercise but what I do every day is just stretching for about 5 minutes. But now I will follow the complete regimen and exercise for half an hour. And I know it will become a habit. I used to do this stuff for 70 minutes earlier when I was younger. So at this age 30 minutes should be enough. I wish to have a toned body as I used to have before...well with 30 minutes I hope it will be possible

5.   Travel – somewhere – anywhere:

Yes, this year I have to travel someplace. Actually there are so many places and so many people I have been planning and planning to visit but never actually doing it. So this year I will travel to at least one place. Maybe take that trek to the Himalayas or the flower valley which again is on my bucket list or maybe visit my friend up north in Allahabad or down south in Chennai or just go to a tourist spot out of Hyderabad. I wish to travel for the sake of travelling like I used to before.

I hope this year I will fulfill me my wishes. Cheers!!!
What are your wishes? I'd like to know.

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’             

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My Five Takeaways from 2017

Usually the prompts of Blogadda bring out the spontaneous writer in me but this time I had to think and rethink; reflect on the entire year to come up with the lessons I learnt and then to shortlist the important ones for this blog.

So then here are my top 5 takeaways from 2017:

1.       If you can do it, then do it. Do not depend on anyone else:

While we do need help now and then from our siblings; partner; children; friends, colleagues it is always better to first explore the possibilities of doing it yourself. Very often you realize that we can do it by ourselves.

This is what I realized it might be a little difficult, it might take more efforts and more time but eventually I could most of my tasks myself. And it is so much better than waiting for the help, the favour and the ‘I owe you’ feeling you are left with after someone does your work for you.

Most importantly you are saved of the frustration when the person you are counting on does not turn up. And your helplessness makes you feel vulnerable. So while looking at ways of doing my own stuff I came up with more resources of my own. And ended up feeling good about myself. Therefore, Never depend on others what you can do yourself.

2.      Set up a deadline:

I am the kind who hates to be pushed around or threatened with deadlines. So I complete the work in office at my pace. (Fortunately within the deadline). But come to my own personal tasks I get distracted and leave so many half finished projects. And I am easy on myself for not meeting the deadline. The result is I have more ‘To dos’ in my list than the songs in my play list.

But now if I have to finish all those half finished projects I have to set a deadline and be strict about it. Take a step back and look at them if they really need to be given a conclusion or can be done away with. No sense in having so many things and some that I may even have lost interest in.

Setting a deadline for the stuff I am keen on completing is a must. This blog would not be done it there wasn’t any deadline. Lol.

Maybe I can indulge myself in one of those things I have been denying myself after completing the task by the deadline.    

3.      Take regular breaks:

This one is from my workplace. I tend to get engrossed in work so much that I forget to stretch my legs or straighten my spine.And I learnt the hard waythrough the doctor that I need to compulsorily take breaks every hour. Walk around, stretch my legs, rotate my neck and shoulders. Relax for a few minutes before getting back to work.

Sure work is important; but Health is more important if you want to continue to work.

4.      Give online shopping a long break:

I have been buying even groceries online along with the regular online shopping of clothes, cosmetics, books, gifts and underclothes. Yes, even undies. And more from the tempting pop-ups that seem to offer more for less.

Seriously, it has been ages I seem to have forgotten what a regular grocery store looks like because of the malls where you get everything under one roof.

Now I am going to give all the online shopping sites a long break and the malls a miss. Go to the grocery store for groceries; clothes shops for clothes; the weekly vegetable market for vegetables; and such other shops for specific use.

Time to switch to REAL shopping.

5.      Love myself. More:

It is not as if I have not been loving myself or loving myself less; I realized I need to love myself more than before but still not too much.

To love myself more I will stop doing all those things that are a waste of time and instead do things that add value to my live and bring me close to my loved ones.

Like using the  phone for its basic purpose – to talk. So I will be calling up friends and family more. Read books that will both inspire me and enrich my mind. In short do all the things that fall in ‘Feel good; Feel happy’ category without guilt trips. 

No more denials – only love and self care.

There, this sums up the takeaways of the year and I intend to earnestly practice the lessons learnt from these takeaways to make 2018 better than all the previous years.  

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

Musings: Attending a talk at Lamakaan

Musings: Attending a talk at Lamakaan

A nonconformist

Right from childhood she was a little fearless devil. Not afraid of catching the insects, frogs, climbing walls or staying calm in the dark when the power failed.
She had many friends and because of her confidence and daredevil attitude everyone was in awe of her. Not very bright in studies because she hardly sat down with the books they just didn’t seem to interest her except for the story and comic books. Although she would be out playing with her friends and climbing the hills that were at a hand’s throw from where they lived, at school she didn’t participate in any of the games the PT teacher made them play. All those organized games did not interest her. Catching the ball, throwing it back to the opponent team; the drills and the relays did not interest her. Just like the dances and skits in schools. They all seemed so boring. Rehearsing every day after school for the school annual day – not her cup of tea.
Her friends near home were not from her school either. They were from different schools and different backgrounds.   “Don’t let me catch you with them” kind of warnings from her elder brothers had no effect on her. Even in school her friends were those whom the rest of the class avoided either because they were shabby or too poor in studies. These girls were friendless so she became their friend.
It was as if she had decided not to go with the crowd even back then. If everyone said they liked the flower rose, she would say she liked lilies. If all the girls liked Cinderella and snow white she liked Puss in boots. It was never clear if she really liked all the different things or said so for the heck of it. Or to rebel against anything that was common.
But however after finishing school and growing up she had softened and blended in with others though she still did not get along well with her text books and her choice of movies and clothes were still very different from the others. She still retained the distinction although she managed to blend in the crowd. Other girls knew she was different but still one among them.
Despite all these outwardly callousness she had a soft heart that melted on seeing others in trouble. She went out of the way to help people even though she did not know them. She could never learn the street smart ways despite being so well read, outgoing and different. And thus ended up being used because she trusted easily.
Perhaps it was because she had not been with the regular group she never managed to learn or imbibe the ways of the world. She had been in her own world. As a teenager when girls her age were smitten by the love bug she was smitten by the huge volumes of English classics and biographies. She had no business reading those when all other were reading Mills and Boons. But that was how she was.
And paid a price for it for she had no one who could understand her or why she was unlike from others. She became the odd one out. And as a result became broody and philosophical. But there was a bright side to it. She took to writing and more reading.
Because she was different she had developed a different perspective of things. There was more to life than finishing college and getting married. While other girls wrote “to be a good wife and good mother” in the ‘my aim in life’ column of the autograph books in college; she was the only one  who wrote: “to do what I want without being ordered and choose my path to be a good person”.
The others laughed when they read her line but it made no difference to her. She had decided she was not going to be a ‘good wife or a good mother’ without first being a good human being. 
  ‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’ 

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Attending a talk at Lamakaan

For some inexplicable reason I love Lamakaan. The name, the architecture, the décor, the ambience, the canteen and the free wifi.

This is what the people who run Lamakaan say:

 Lamakaan is an inclusive cultural space that promotes and presents the best of arts, literature, debate and dialogue with a commitment to being open and accessible.

Lamakaan is: 

• A non-sectarian space with deep respect to grassroots work.
• A place where new generation of artists, thinkers and activists interact and grow.
• A place where people come together and ideas are born
• For new and creative conceptions of unity, rejuvenation and resistance

Lamakaan is yours. Do what you will with it.

The best part is people/ artists/ organizations can use it for free. It used to be the house of M Hassan a documentary film maker who gifted it to his near relative who in turn turned it into a free space for expressions and creativity. What a noble gesture considering the fact that this house ‘Lamakaan’ is situated in one of the post localities of Hyderabad – the Banjara Hills.

Now about the talk I attended on 19^th December, Tuesday was on “Looming Judicial Crisis “by a senior advocate of the Hyderabad High court L Ravi Chander.

I will sum up a few points from the talk that are very relevant to our times now.

·         The judges of our courts to begin with have been put on a very high pedestal, we call them ‘Your lordship, My lord,..’  So I guess they have begun feeling they are above the law as they are already above us the mere mortals. They decide what cases are important and what are not. Never mind the public. A judge is a judge who will even judge whether your petition is worth his precious time.

·         And they all are at least a majority of them politically motivated which explains why some political leaders get away despite heavy accusations of corruption.

·         There are around 46% of vacancies for the posts of judges which means several courts across the country do not have judges and the remaining 64% are burdened. And the Government demands speedy disposal of the trials. Well with so many judges missing speedy trials can mean hasty judgments.

Coming to our state, the Osmania University from where sprouted thousands of activists lobbying for a separate statehood has several vacant posts of lecturers. The Government has not bothered to fill up these vacancies from the last couple of years, expecting that the vacancies for Judges will be filled is definitely a tall order.

·          Public Interest Litigations – the petitions filed for justice on behalf of all the people have in the past yielded wonderful results with so many landmark judgments. But now these PIL’s have become almost extinct  because of the new rules framed by the High court with direction from the Supreme court. As per the new rules the petitioner has to keep a fixed deposit of Rs.50, 000/- which he loses if he loses the litigation. Apart from this the petitioner has to provide all his details including his bank details and sources of income. And he has to be among the one wronged. While earlier any person who was not part of the injury/ damage or had a personal grievance could file in the interest of the others who were wronged.  

·         So gone are the days when PIL s were filed and justice was ensured. With the making of these new rules the process of judiciary has become less democratic.

·         And last if a suit for recovery of Rs. 50,000/- is filed today the person will be granted the order when the value of the 50K becomes RS.5/- which means it will take at least 15 years for a judgment to be passed.

 One thing is clear that today voices of dissent are being stifled and democratic spaces are shrinking.