The Stranger
A few months before I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small, coastal resort town of Mombasa in Kenya. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer, and soon, invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later.
As I grew up, I never questioned his place in our family. In my young mind, each member had a special niche. My brother, Jamil Abbas, five years my senior, was my example. Fatema, my younger sister, gave me an opportunity to play ‘big brother’ and develop the art of teasing.
My parents were complementary instructors - Mum taught me how to love Allah, and Dad taught me how to obey Him. But the stranger was our storyteller. He could weave the most fascinating tales that would leave our mouths agape. Adventures, mysteries and fun were dished out on a daily basis. He could hold our family spell-bound for hours each evening. If I wanted to know about politics, history or science, he knew it. He knew about the past and seemed to understand the present. The pictures he drew were so life-like that I would often laugh or cry as I watched and listened to him. He was a friend to the whole family. He took Dad, Jamil Abbas and me to our first major baseball league game. He was always encouraging us to see the movies and he even made arrangements to introduce us to several famous people.
The stranger was an incessant talker. Dad didn’t seem to mind - but sometimes Mom would quietly get up - while the rest of us were enthralled with one of his stories of faraway places - go to her room and read the Holy Quran. I wonder now if she ever prayed that the stranger would leave. You see, my Dad ruled the household with certain moral convictions. But this stranger never felt an obligation to honour them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our house from us, our friends or the adults. Our long-time visitor, however, occasionally used four-letter words that burned my ears and made Dad squirm. To my knowledge the stranger was never confronted. My Dad was a teetotaller who didn’t permit alcohol in his home. This is because our religion, Islam, totally prohibits alcohol. But the stranger felt that we needed exposure, and enlightened us to other ways of life. He offered us beer and other alcoholic beverages often. He made cigarettes look tasty, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (probably much too freely) about sex. His comments sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally, embarrassing. I know now that my early concepts of man-woman relationship were influenced by the stranger.
As I look back, I believe it was Almighty Allah’s mercy that the stranger did not influence us more. Time after time he opposed the value of my parents. Yet he was seldom rebuked and never asked to leave. More than 30 years have passed since the stranger moved in with our young family on Morningside Drive.
He is not nearly so intriguing to my Dad as he was in those early years. But if I were to walk into our living room today, I would still see him sitting in one corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures. I hope none of you readers have fallen prey in his trap.
His name, you ask? We call him T.V.
Courtesy: An-Naseeha - Bulletin of the Huseini Madressah of Mombasa - Kenya
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Cartoonist Shankar
The Ingenious Cartoonist with an Aching Heart
Kayamkulam Yoonus
CARTOONIST Shankar is the best known name in the world of cartooning in India. They were full of fun, pun and satire. He is considered as the father of political cartooning in India. He founded Shanker’s Weekly, India’s Punch for a long time. But the children of his times, be it in India or elsewhere in the world, see him as their uncle who did much to make them laugh and enjoy life.
His full name was Kesava Shankara Pillai but he became better known as Shankar. He was born in 1902 at Kayamkulam, a town in Kerala. He attended schools in Kayamkulam and Mavelikkara. The sleeping posture of one of his teachers was his first cartoon. He drew it in his classroom. This made the headmaster angry. But then he was encouraged by his uncle who saw in him great potential as a cartoonist.
Shankar took keen interest in dramas, scouting, literary activities etc. He amazingly did good campaign for the collection of funds towards flood relief. This concern for the poor and the distressed people continued all though his life and reflected in his cartoons.
He left for Bombay for higher studies after his degree but quit his law studies midway. Shankar’s cartoons were published in the Free Press Journal and Bombay Chronicle. Pothen Joseph, the editor of The Hindustan Times brought him to Delhi as a staff cartoonist. Thus he and his family settled in Delhi finally.
Shankar’s cartoons attracted even Viceroys like Lord Willington and Lord Linlithgow. During this time, Shankar had a chance of training in London for about 14 months. He spent the period in various Art schools, utilising the opportunity to study the advanced techniques in cartooning. He also visited Berlin, Rome, Vienna, Geneva and Paris. When he returned to India, the country was in the thick of freedom struggle. The dawn of independence also favoured Shankar’s dreams for a separate periodical. The idea came true when Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru released Shankar’s Weekly, edited by Shankar himself.
Shankar was chum to kids. He held them very dear to himself and organized annual painting and drawing competitions for them, which became very popular. It later began drawing children from all over the world. Annual awards from Shankar’s Weekly were presented by prime ministers. He even founded a ‘Children’s Book Trust’ which was located in Nehru House on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in New Delhi. Later the International Dolls Museum too came to be located here. Thus Nehru House became a ‘must visit’ item for kids going to New Delhi. It has now a children’s library and reading room. Shankar died on December 26, 1989.
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Useless Wealth
SALMAN Farisi came to Madain with his friend Huzaifah Yamani, when the former became the Governor of Madain.
They led the life of the poor, though Baitulmal (Government treasury) was filled with gold and silver coins. One day, they visited the palace of Caesar, the King of Rome. It had become a monument after his defeat. While they were visiting, a shepherd in Arabia came to the palace with his goats, and sat on the bed of the king. Then Salman Farisi told Huzaifa: “The shepherd rests on the bedstead where the Caesar slept. What is the moral from the scene?” Huzaifa replied: ‘There is no value for wealth in case one does not worship Allah”
Mohammed Saleem
Wandoor (Kerala)
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Forgiveness is Divine
HAROON Rasheed, the famous Caliph of Baghdad was also known for his far sightedness and sense of justice. Once, when he was seated amongst his courtiers who were the most powerful and affluent in his kingdom, his son barged into the hall in a very angry mood. He complained to his father that the son of a servant with whom he used to play, abused him in a foul language. He urged him to order a severe punishment to that boy. Haroon Rasheed turned to his courtiers and asked them to suggest as to what sort of punishment should be given to the boy who had abused his son.
One of the courtiers said that he should be condemned to death. Another suggested that his tongue should be cut. Likewise all of his courtiers suggested a punishment on similar lines. But Haroon Rasheed turned to his son and said, “My son, forgive and forget his misdeed, it will earn you a very good reward not only in this world but also in the world after your death. If you cannot do this, then you too use foul language, as revenge. It is a very bad thing to take revenge that exceeds the limit. It will then be an atrocity on your part rather than a punishment. All the courtiers who heard the Caliph, could not believe their ears. Could such words be said by a Caliph who controlled a vast kingdom, to his beloved son? They hung their heads in shame.
By Masiha Fathima, Bangalore
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Do You Know?
That an Indian named Sabeer Bhatia started Hotmail- the pioneering web based e-mail facility?
That trigonometry, the branch of Mathematics means “measurement of triangle”?
That in a bee colony, the drones have no sting?
That curie is a unit of radioactivity
That May 1 is celebrated as International Labour Day?
That one-third of the Rajya Sabha retires every second year.
That Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded the Brahmo Samaj
That if an Army Officer has three stars on his epaulettes, his rank is that of a captain
That whales are mammals?
That Rabindra Nath Tagore was the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in 1913 for his work Gitanjali?
That Mona Lisa, the famous painting was Leonardo da Vinci’s work?
That human beings are assymetrical. Our right and left halves are not identical. Hands, legs, eyes, ears, cheeks, everything although appear alike are in truth unlike each other.
Compiled by Shazia Andaleeb
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Never Forget Your Parents
You may forget anything but not your parents.
They have suffered for you.
They have prayed Almighty Allah to see and enjoy your charming smile.
Do not be ungrateful to them and do not wound their feelings.
Even at the cost of their own starvation and comforts they have provided you with delicious food, comforts, joy and peace.
They have given you the nectar of life, do not given them poison in return.
They have fulfilled all your wants and desires.
Do not be hard-hearted and unkind to them.
You might have earned and acquired name, fame, wealth and greatness.
What use if these prove to be of danger, woe and misery to your parents.
Remember that a day will dawn in future when your own children will treat you in the same manner you treat your parents
Do not be a thorn to your parents.
Remember they have laid flowers along your path.
Saira Suhale
Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania
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Amazing Facts
The world’s largest palace is the Imperial Palace in the heart of Beijing (China) which covers an area of 178 acres.
There is a street in Canada that runs for a distance of nearly 1,900 kms.
The human body has enough phosphorus to make the heads of 2,000 matches and enough fat for seven bars of soap and enough iron to make a nail.
One ton of uranium produces the same amount of energy as 30,000 ton of coal.
The heaviest bell in the world the Tsar Kolokol Bell was cast in 1733 in Moscow, Russia. It is over 19 feet high 24 inches thick and weighs 216 tons.
Mohammad Farooq, Bangalore.
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February 2001 Contest
Here are a few titles given to famous personalities of Islamic history and Indian history. Identify these persons.
Al-Ameen, As-Sadiq.
Father of our Nation.
As-Siddeeq, Companion of the cave.
Zin-Noorain., Al-Ghani
Asadullah (Lion of Allah)
Saifullah (Sword of Allah).
Father of Modern Genetics.
Lady with the Lamp
Tiger of Mysore
Jhansi ki Rani.
Match the names of these monuments with their pictures. First write the number and then place the alphabet corresponding to its picture in a bracket. Mention place and the country where they are situated.
Leaning Tower
Gol Gumbad
Eiffel Tower
Petronas Tower
Millennium Dome
Please write the answers numberwise under titles “Personalities” and “Structures”. The All-correct entry received first will be given Rs. 300 while two others with maximum number of accurate answers will be given Rs. 200 and Rs. 100 each. Winners will be determined by drawing of lots in case of more entries. Please send your answers written on a separate sheet of paper with your names, class and school and complete residential address. The last date of entries is 10th March. Also please cut the coupon and paste it on the answer sheet.
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Result : December 2000 Contest
Answer the Following
The December 2000 - January 2001 contest drew an overwhelming response from the children.
Imran Ahmed M., Bangalore
has been adjudeged the winner of the first prize of Rs. 300.
Three other contestants drawn from the all-correct entries have won a children’s novel. They are :
Chowdhury Hajeera Aafreen, Ambur (T.N.)
R. Ruman Pasha, Bangalore
Mrs. Rumlath Yousuf, Bangalore
Correct Answers were :
Hazrath Ibrahim
Abdul Muttalib
Rakesh Sharma
Pacific Ocean
114
Abubakar, Umar, Usman, Ali
Last 10 days
20.12 metres
00 C or 320 F
Karnam Malleshwari.
Note : Contestents are requested to send their entries written neatly on a foolscape paper mentioning their name, class, school and residential address. Do not forget pasting the contest coupon on your entries. Correct entries with wrong spellings are likely to be rated poorly in comparison with entries with accurate spellings
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Arab Proverbs
'Mithl ilh yibi samk fi al bahar
It’s like selling fish still in the sea
Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched
Courtesy : Primrose Arnander & Ashkhain Skipwith, Stacey International, London.
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