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Sindhis – The Mentors of Indian Naval Force

Sindhis Beyond Sindh

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February 12, 2021

Sindhis – The Mentors of Indian Naval Force

Sindhis – The Mentors of Indian Naval Force - Vice Admiral GM Hiranandani — Vice Chief of Indian Navy Vice Admiral (Late) Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani

Sindhis are said to be the mentors of Indian Naval Force. Late Vice Admiral Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani is one of those Mentors.

The number of Sindhis who joined Indian Navy may not be the large, but they rose to highest positions due to their efficiency, honesty to their profession and hard work, and gathered fame. Some of them were Admiral Radhakrishna Hariram Tahliani, the first Sindhi to become the Chief of Naval Staff of India, Vice Admiral Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani, the Vice Chief of Indian Navy, and Rear Admiral Gulab Thadani. They were, in fact, mentors of Indian Navy. Sindh Courier recently published a detailed write-up on life and achievements of Admiral Tahliani. Today we are sharing life-sketch of Late Vice Admiral Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani.

Here is the life sketch of Vice Admiral Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani.

Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani, born in Karachi on 29 June 1931, was a senior Indian Navy Officer. He was a mentor and guide to many generations of Indian Naval Officers. The Naval history cell in Naval Headquarters was a place for many young officers to seek his advice and guidance. He served India with distinction for 60 years from 1949 to 2009, working to the last day of his life as Officer on Special Duty to Naval Headquarters.

Gulab Hiranandani served as the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff from 1987 to 1989. He was awarded the Nausena Medal for gallantry during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.

Hiranandani is credited with the detailed planning of the Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala and INS Kadamba in Karwar, the foundation stones for which were laid during his tenure as flag Officer Commanding in Chief Southern Naval Command. During his tenure all Naval Training was centralized under the southern Naval Command. A brilliant tactician, his work remains pivotal to Indian naval training on maneuvers and operational tactics.

He authored three landmark books on Indian naval history, Transition to Triumph, Transition to Eminence and Transition to Guardianship. These books covered the history of the Indian Navy from 1965 to 2000.

Service career

Gulab Hiranandani joined the Royal Indian Navy in 1949. He was trained with the Royal Navy, between 1949 and 1953. He underwent specialized training in Gunnery and Missiles in 1957. In 1965, he attended the Naval Staff College at Royal Naval College, Greenwich. He held a Master’s degree in Military Science and a doctorate in Political Science.

In 1961, he was appointed the Commandant of INS Dronacharya, and was promoted to commander on 30 June 1969.

During the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, Hiranandani served as the Fleet Operations Officer of the Western Fleet. In this role, he led the detailed planning and logistics for key naval operations. He was awarded the Nau Sena Medal for his role in planning and implementing of Operation Trident and Operation Python.

Hiranandani served as the Deputy Director Weapons’ Policy and Tactics (1968-1970) where he was instrumental in the acquisition of the Missile boats used in Operation Python & operation Trident. He developed the tactics on how to deploy them in War. During his Tenure as Commanding officer (1970-1971) he developed and tested methods of towing the short range missile boats from Vizag in Bombay in heavy seas during the monsoon of 1971. These techniques were then used to tow the missile boats near Karachi harbor to be used as Missile delivery Vehicles with devastating effect. He was appointed the Director of Combat Policy and Tactics, serving from 1974 to 1977. He was a deep thinker and brilliant tactician. His work on naval strategy remains the basis for much of the tactical training and operational maneuvers of the Indian Navy. He was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) for this contribution. Hiranandani was promoted substantive captain on 1 January 1976. In 1980, he commissioned INS Rajput (D51), the lead vessel of the Rajput class destroyers as its first Commanding Officer.

He was appointed the Chief of Staff of the Western Naval Command in 1981, with promotion to rear admiral on 7 May 1981. Promoted Vice Admiral on 30 June 1983, he was appointed the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff the same year. During this time he laid the foundation for the Project 15 Class of Stealth Guided Missile destroyers. He worked in close co-ordination with the DRDO & Bharat Electricals to indigenously design the electronics and Missile systems required for new Warships. He was instrumental in putting together a long ship building plan which gave the Indian Navy the capability to be self-sufficient in building its own up to date warships and missiles.

In 1985, Hiranandani was appointed the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Naval Command. During his tenure in this office, he led the detailed planning for the development of the Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala, Kerala. He was also involved in the planning of INS Kadamba in Karwar, Karnataka. He was instrumental in persuading the Chief Ministers of Kerala and Karnataka to transfer the land for these massive projects to the navy. He was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal for these contributions.

Hiranandani retired from active service in the Indian Navy in 1989.

Later contributions

After retirement from the Navy, Hiranandani served as a member of the Union Public Service Commission for six years between 1989 and 1995. He retired as the commission’s Acting Chairman.

In 1995, he was appointed the Official Historian of the Indian Navy. He authored a trilogy on the history of the Indian Navy. Transition to Triumph covering the period between 1965 and 1975 was published in 1999. Transition to Eminence captures naval history between 1976 and 1990 was published in 2004. Transition to Guardianship covers the history of the navy between 1991 and 2000 and was completed just few hours before his death on September 2009. It was released on Navy Day, 4 December 2009.

Hiranandani also wrote a number of analytical reports on a maritime security and strategic issues.

The contemporary history of the Indian Navy, he authored, is unique as by providing a detailed account on Naval history in the 20th century it allows Naval officers to learn about naval history and perhaps help them to learn from this and prevent mistakes. One of Admiral Hiranandanis’ favorite sayings was, “Those who fail to learn from the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them” His aim in writing the History of the Indian Navy was to leave behind a document for later generations of Naval Officers to learn from the mistakes of the past.

Sindhis - Mentors of Indian Naval Forcde- Hiranandani_Trophy — Mrs. Susheel Hiranandani, the spouse of Vice Admiral Gulab Hiranandani giving away trophy to a Naval Officer

Following his death, Indian Navy instituted a ‘Vice Admiral GM Hiranandani Rolling Trophy’ and the first ever trophy was received by Lieutenant Commander Abhishek Yadav from Smt. Susheel Hiranandani, the spouse of Admiral Hiranandani on 26 Apr 13 at a function held at the Maritime Warfare Centre at the Naval Base Kochi.

Personal life

Hiranandani was married to Susheel Hiranandani. His son is a physician and his daughter, Late Meera Sanyal was a banker and civil society activist. His final years were spent at Malakkara near Chengannur in Kerala with his son Dr. Manik Hiranandani.

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Source: Wikipedia, goodreads.com, Indian Navy, amp.google-wiki.info, concepts.org

World Literature: Make gentle the life of this world – Dylan Thomas

World Literature

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February 12, 2021

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Dylan Thomas – one of the greatest poets of the 20th century

Poets and artists around the world prepare to celebrate Dylan Thomas Day on May 14. #DylanDay – was established in 2015 to celebrate the memory of Dylan Thomas that is largely known as one of the greatest poets of the 20th century.

Dylan Thomas’ literary legacy is kept alive by his granddaughter Hannah Ellis.

Every year on May 14, the scholars and passionate fans of the Poet remember his innovative and visionary poetry and his adventurous life.

Dylan Thomas can be remembered through lectures, poems, articles, music, videos, exhibitions and online performances.

On the invitation of Lidia Chiarelli, President of Immagine & Poesia Movement and Coordinator of #DylanDay in Italy, the Sindh Courier, being the part of world literary movement, also joins this celebratory tradition inviting poets, writers, artists and journalists to send their contributions to sindhcourier@gmail.com.

Poets and Artists can draw their inspiration from the Poet’s words creating their own “responses”.

Life Sketch of Dylan Thomas

Dylan Marlais Thomas was born on October 27, 1914, in Swansea, South Wales. His father was an English Literature professor at the local grammar school and would often recite Shakespeare, fortifying Thomas’s love for the rhythmic ballads of Gerard Manley Hopkins, W. B. Yeats, and Edgar Allan Poe.

Thomas dropped out of school at sixteen to become a junior reporter for the South Wales Daily Post. By December of 1932, he left his job at the Post and decided to concentrate on his poetry full-time. It was during this time, in his late teens, that Thomas wrote more than half of his collected poems.

In 1934, when Thomas was twenty, he moved to London, won the Poet’s Corner book prize, and published his first book, 18 Poems (The Fortune press), to great acclaim. The book drew from a collection of poetry notebooks that Thomas had written years earlier, as would many of his most popular books.

Unlike his contemporaries, T. S. Eliot and W. H. Auden, Thomas was not concerned with exhibiting themes of social and intellectual issues, and his writing, with its intense lyricism and highly charged emotion, had more in common with the Romantic tradition.

Thomas describes his technique in a letter: “I make one image—though ‘make’ is not the right word; I let, perhaps, an image be ‘made’ emotionally in me and then apply to it what intellectual & critical forces I possess—let it breed another, let that image contradict the first, make, of the third image bred out of the other two together, a fourth contradictory image, and let them all, within my imposed formal limits, conflict.”

Two years after the publication of 18 Poems, Thomas met the dancer Caitlin Macnamara at a pub in London. At the time, she was the mistress of painter Augustus John. Macnamara and Thomas engaged in an affair and married in 1937.

About Thomas’s work, Michael Schmidt writes: “There is a kind of authority to the word magic of the early poems; in the famous and popular later poems, the magic is all show. If they have a secret it is the one we all share, partly erotic, partly elegiac. The later poems arise out of personality.”

In 1940, Thomas and his wife moved to London. He had served as an anti-aircraft gunner but was rejected for more active combat due to illness. To avoid the air raids, the couple left London in 1944. They eventually settled at Laugharne, in the Boat House where Thomas would write many of his later poems.

Thomas recorded radio shows and worked as a scriptwriter for the BBC. Between 1945 and 1949, he wrote, narrated, or assisted with over a hundred radio broadcasts. In one show, “Quite Early One Morning,” he experimented with the characters and ideas that would later appear in his poetic radio play Under Milk Wood (1953).

In 1947 Thomas was awarded a Traveling Scholarship from the Society of Authors. He took his family to Italy, and while in Florence, he wrote In Country Sleep, And Other Poems (Dent, 1952), which includes his most famous poem “Do not go gentle into that good night.” When they returned to Oxfordshire, Thomas began work on three film scripts for Gainsborough Films. The company soon went bankrupt, but Thomas’s scripts, “Me and My Bike,” “Rebecca’s Daughters,” and “The Beach at Falesa,” were made into films. They were later collected in Dylan Thomas: The Filmscripts (JM Dent & Sons, 1995).

In January 1950, at the age of thirty-five, Thomas visited America for the first time. His reading tours of the United States, which did much to popularize the poetry reading as a new medium for the art, are famous and notorious. Thomas was the archetypal Romantic poet of the popular American imagination—he was theatrical, engaged in roaring disputes in public, and read his work aloud with tremendous depth of feeling.

Thomas toured America four times, with his last public engagement taking place at the City College of New York. A few days later, he collapsed in the Chelsea Hotel after a long drinking bout at the White Horse Tavern. On November 9, 1953, he died at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City at the age of thirty-nine. He had become a legendary figure, both for his work and the boisterousness of his life. He was buried in Laugharne, and almost thirty years later, a plaque to Dylan was unveiled in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey.

Read the Dylan Thomas’s some of the poems:

Do not go gentle into that good night

Our eunuch dreams

I see the boys of summer

Your breath was shed

Click on Wikipedia link for quotes of Dylan Thomas

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Source of Information: Poets.Org, Wikipedia

Contemporary World Literature: A Short Story from Uzbekistan

World Literature

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February 12, 2021

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Contemporary World Literature

Short Story from Uzbekistan

By Mohira Eshpulatova

Mohira Eshpulatova is Uzbek writer. She was born on October 25, 1995 in the region of Navoiy of the Republic of Uzbekistan. She graduated from the Navoiy Pedagogical University.

Story was translated into English by Hilola Mirzayeva.

Happy Birthday

At midnight, Ilyas woke up to an unexpected phone call. At the time, his best friend, Farrukh, was bothering him to wish him a happy birthday. Ilyas had many relatives and friends because he is a friendly, cheerful, out-going guy. And most importantly, he had the thing that most people lack right now – sincerity. That is why there were those who knew Ilyas, who valued and respected him. For Ilyas, however, his childhood friends Farrukh and Sabohat were especially valuable.

“Ilyas, my friend, do you know who stepped on the moon first?” said Farrukh suddenly. Ilyas replied barely getting awaken:

– Yes I know. Your neighbor’s eldest daughter, your middle sister-in-law, your son’s 2nd grade Russian teacher’s older brother…

“Well, that’s it, that’s it, you found it.” Yes, that famous Neil Armstrong. His name lives on today as he stepped on the moon for the first time. Have you heard of Edwin Aldrin?

“Now that I’m 18, I hear that name from a philosopher like you,” said Ilyas, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

“He stepped on the moon just minutes after Neil Armstrong.” He has also written several works on the subject. But no one knows him. The world doesn’t recognize others, my friend. Always be the first or the worst. I’ll be there for you when you’re the first. Happy birthday my friend!

Ilyas thanked God for giving him such a friend and fell asleep again in a very good mood. He greeted the morning in the same mood. Bouquets of congratulations were pouring in from all sides. Everyone in the family was happy. There supposed to be a party tonight. Farrukh’s call was the beginning of congratulations. Congratulatory messages and calls did not stop all day and night. Ilyas was tired of saying thank you. But he waited for someone’s attention in deep down of his heart. He looked forward to every message or call. The lack of knowledge overshadowed his joy.

There are millions of reasons for a person to be happy, even if there is only one reason to be sad. He spends his precious moments thinking about those “sorrows” that he has to live with. Ilyas was in the same situation today against his will. He doesn’t know how to sit in the class at school. Because the long-awaited congratulatory message – Sabohat is not in class today. Ilyas invited all his classmates to birthday party. He told Sabohat’s friends to bring her too. Although she was unlikely to come, he was looking forward to it because she was not allowed to go to such parties often. Ilyas stared at his phone all day, wondering if he had heard from Sabohat. “Why did she forget my birthday? What kind of friend she is? After all, friends don’t forget their friend’s birthday, no matter how busy they are. Well, at least she should remember that my birthday is just a day before hers! Oh, she’s a “friend” still!

Ilyas and Sabohat were still going to kindergarten when they became friends. They didn’t even know what the meaning of friendship was then. They grew up together, they were graduating from the same class, but they didn’t really understand what a friendship between a girl and a boy should look like. Ilyas does not remember when his friendship with Sabo began and does not want to know when it may end. He can’t imagine that this could happen. For Ilyas, Sabo’s attitude as a classmate and friend had always been not enough. He could not bear to be ignored today, even though he had not said a word before. At the same time, he was even accused of betraying a friendship. In fact, Ilyas himself did not realize that he had betrayed his friendship for a long time. Yes, Ilyas had fallen in love with Sabo and had already betrayed the friendship.

At the same time, Sabo’s heart began to beat differently every time she sees Ilyas, so she began to run away from him, realizing that she would lose herself. When she saw that Ilyas was upset, she felt very bad. By the last 11th grade, the situation was turned out to that the girl was embarrassed to look straight into the boy’s eyes, and the flesh shuddered when the boy looked into the girl’s eyes. Sabo sometimes wondered how she would behave. She did not want to be completely away from Ilyas, and she was afraid of losing her beloved for many years. For her, it was more than friendship and she was even so frightened to name that real feeling. For Sabo, who has made her ultimate goal to become a student, this “obstacle” seemed very dangerous!

The party is over. During this time, only one person, the cause of this joy, sat like a stranger. Tired of waiting for a message from Sabo all day, the young man dialed her number and did not dare to call, waited until 00:00. As Farrukh said, he wanted to be the first to congratulate Sabo and to relieve his anger. It was as if the minutes were slowing down as you waited. Finally a new day came. Ilyas dialed the number – a long beep and a long-awaited pleasant sound.

– Hello.

“Hello, Sabohat,” Ilyas’s voice trembled.

“Is everything ok, Ilyas?”

“No, it’s not,” he sighed. “Why didn’t you come to class today?”

– My grandmother was hospitalized. I’ve been with them all day, “she said sadly. For some reason Ilyas rejoiced. “So, she had her reasons; that’s why she forgot! If everything had been OK, she would not have forgotten about my birthday,” he thought. And again he felt bad for being happy about her grandmother’s situation. He came down a little and asked:

“Is she all right now?”

“Yes, she is well.”

“Aren’t you coming to class tomorrow?”

“No, I’m going. Why are you asking?”

“I mean, you didn’t have any free time today.”

“Yes, what do you say?”

“A little…”

-…

“Speak?”

Sabo didn’t know what to say. She thought that Ilyas would be angry for her absence today, but he wasn’t.

“Today has been a frustrating day for me, too.” So I couldn’t do homework from physics. If you’ve done it…OK, leave that… You didn’t have time, even “a little”. Well, have a good rest. I’m sorry to bother you,” he said, trying to turn off the phone.

“Don’t worry I did it in the class. I’ll take a picture and send it to you now.”

“Yes, thank you.”

-Sabo, do you know who stepped on the moon first?

– Yes, Neil Armstrong. He flew on the Appalon-11 on July 21, 1969, stepping on the moon for the first time in human history.

“What about Edven Aldrin?”

“No, who is he?” she asked by interest.

“He stepped on the moon just minutes after Armstrong. But almost no one knows it, Sabo… The world does not recognize the latter. Sabo… That’s why I’m calling you right now. Sabo…You’ve always been my number one priority. But I can’t ask you to do that. Life is yours, build it the way you want it. And…I hope that I’d be in your life too… Happy Birthday, Sabo…”

Ilyas hung up without waiting for Sabo to answer. He felt happy, as if he had shown extraordinary courage. It was as if his words had given him wings and he was flying in the blue sky, happy and self-satisfied. He couldn’t sleep because of all kinds of thoughts. Near dawn a message came from Sabohat.

“When Armstrong took his first step on the moon,” she said, “It’s a small human step, but a great leap for humanity. What you’re asking doesn’t matter to humanity. But for me it’s a “big jump.” If the Moon promises to stay in place forever and not recognize anyone but the person who took the first step, I would be happy to see that Moon in the sky of my life – happy birthday Ilyas.”

At that moment, the sun was rising in the eastern part of the sky. At that moment, the two young people were blushing from insomnia, but they were waiting for the sun with their eyes shining with hope for the future.

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Read history of Uzbek Literature

Chasing our hopes…

Blogs

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February 12, 2021

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Let’s not give up -There is no such thing as false hope. In this word there is only hope. In the realm of possibility, anything can happen, but it is the perception that makes a difference. I refuse to let this disease dictate the way we live our lives.

By Nazarul Islam

When a loved one in the family is afflicted with cancer, it’s like everyone has the disease, because it is so crippling. It changes family dynamics. One is forced to learn new ways of living to accommodate the change. Most of the time, I feel like I’m stuck in this endless loop of the same nightmare, and every day I keep hoping I wake up from this bad dream. But this is reality: my loving wife for 39 years will soon be parting with her right breast. Soon she will begin losing some hair, too, because of the treatment.

It is very hard for a woman to go reconcile with the pain of what she is going through—losing the physical manifestations of what “identifies” her as a woman in this society.

It is because of this very reason that I began to realize how these things actually serve purely aesthetic purposes when it comes down to it. Oftentimes, we define beauty by external features. I believe, however, this really, should not be accepted as a yardstick for assessing, what makes us beautiful.

Beauty goes beyond the physical. Beauty is strength. Beauty is compassion. Beauty is attitude. Beauty is looking your worst fear right in the face and being able to see the silver lining. Beauty is the ability to love wholeheartedly, even if you feel like your own heart is broken. Looking at Nuzhat, I can honestly say that she’s never looked more beautiful than she does now—even though, I can imagine Nuzhat, with her right breast gone and with her scars that would remain, as proof that she had battled a deadly disease.

In real life, after the most powerful storm, you begin to search for the rainbow. You realize that having support is a big step towards recovery and that every story of survival serves as hope. You realize that having cancer is not a death sentence.

I do not wish to think of my loving, caring wife as though she is just a statistic. She is so much more than that. I will resist everything that lets Cancer to define her, and neither should it define other women battling the same disease.

Not only Nuzhat is loving, caring and understanding, she is wonderfully strong. With or without cancer, she has continued to be the same person and refuses to let this disease control how she lives her life. I guess my only regret is that it took a disease for me to really look, listen, and know my wife Nuzhat, as a woman and not just a spouse or her children’s parent.

I strongly implore my readers…if a relative has suffered Ovarian or Breast Cancer, get the genetic screening. It saves lives. As a recent editorial in the Journal of Clinical Oncology put it bluntly: What we must first remember is that the immune system is designed to detect foreign invaders, and avoid out own cells. With few exceptions, the immune system does not appear to recognize cancers within an individual as foreign, because they are actually part of the self.

In the realm of possibility, anything can happen, but it is the perception that makes a difference. I refuse to let this disease dictate the way we live our lives. Again Cancer is a learning experience, and it has taught me to appreciate life. It led me to an understanding that this word we fear, cancer, or “the big C,” can be overcome by an even bigger “C”: courage.

Let’s not give up -There is no such thing as false hope. In this word there is only hope.

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About the Author

The Bengal-born writer is a senior educationist based in USA. He writes for Sindh Courier, and the newspapers of Bangladesh, India and America.

Thar Coal: Six more Thari women join as Dump Truck Drivers

News

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February 11, 2021

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Now 26 Thari women drivers are full time employees in Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company project

By GR Junejo

Islamkot, Tharparkar Sindh: Six more Thari women have joined the workforce as dump truck drivers after successfully completing rigorous training of six months at Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company’s project at Thar Coal Block-2.

Now 26 Thari women drivers are full time employees in Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company project. With induction of these talented and hardworking Thari women, the Company’s morning shift of transporting coal from mine to power plant has all women drivers, which is an inspiring milestone for company.

“Thar Foundation team is continuously striving to increase number of women in our projects,” a Thar Foundation press release said on Thursday.

The Women Dump Truck Driver Program is an acclaimed and breakthrough project that is empowering females in the remote region of Tharparkar. Through the Women Dump Truck Driving Program, the Foundation aims to provide rural females of Tharparkar an opportunity to broaden their livelihood by completing a training course to learn how to drive a dump truck in the Thar coal projects.

Through the program the Foundation aims to establish new generation of empowered females who have access to better socio-economic opportunities, financial inclusion and agency in an area that has historically been notorious for ranking low on major Human Development Indices.

Thar Foundation’s initiatives on women empowerment in Thar have been recognized by The Professionals Network and selected Thar Foundation for its prestigious CSR Award under this category. The award was received by Syed Abul Fazal Rizvi, CEO Thar Foundation in a ceremony held in Karachi. Thar Foundation has trained and recruited a number of women to operate RO Plants, drive heavy dump trucks, teach in Thar Foundation schools and establish small businesses under livelihood grants program. More women will be part of project in 2021.

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Watch a video on Thari Women Dump Truck Drivers

27 SPSC-selected Inspectors receive offer letters

News

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February 11, 2021

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Chief Minister Murad Shah distributes letters; selected Inspectors include 4 female and four from minorities

Karachi: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah distributed offer letters among the 27 Inspectors for Investigation Wing of Karachi Division Police, selected through Sindh Public Service Commission, at a ceremony held at Chief Minister’s House on Wednesday.

The Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Maher briefing the chief minister said that out of 27 Inspectors (Investigation), four were female and four belonged to minorities. He added that overall 260 inspectors, including 81 legal, have been appointed through the public service commission in different phases.

Speaking on this occasion, Murad Shah said that the investigation always remained a weak section of the cases. “After thorough discussions and deliberations, we decided to evolve Investigation as a separate wing within the police department,” he said and added that in order to hire the most talented and energetic youngsters the selection process was assigned to Sindh Public Service Commission.

Chief Minister directed the Inspector General of Police to impart best professional training to the newly appointed inspectors and make them best investigators in the province. “Now, investigation has become a vast field to probe most complicated and sensitive cases on scientific methods,” he said and added he was sure the new and fresh addition in the investigation wing would improve investigation issues.

He said that the newly appointed inspectors have separate cadre for upward mobility. “The inspector appointed these days would reach to the rank of DIGs and assistant sub-inspector to the rank of SSPs,” he said and added they have long and clear careers.

Murad Shah said that all the positions of the investigation officers would get cost of investigation along with other allowances.

The program was attended by provincial ministers, Saeed Ghani, Imtiaz Shaikh, Syed Nasir Shah, Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, IG Police Mushtaq Maher, ACS Home Usman Chachar, Adl Ig Karachi Ghulam Nabi Memon, DIG Police (Admin) Ameen Yousifzain. (PR)

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Only 36 of 77 RO Plants functional in Tando Allahyar District

News

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February 11, 2021

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Construction of Cultural Complex and Sports Stadium awaits completion

Several maintenance and repair schemes suffer due to shortage of funds – Commissioner Abbas Baloch reviews performance of district administration

Hyderabad: Commissioner Hyderabad Division Muhammad Abbas Baloch was informed in a meeting on Wednesday that only 36 out of 77 Reverse Osmosis (RO) and Ultra Filtration Plants are functional in Tando Allahyar district.

The Commissioner had convened the meeting to review the performance of the district administration, attended by the Deputy Commissioner (DC), both Additional DCs, posted and under-training Assistant Commissioners and Mukhtiarkars of the different Talukas of district.

DC Rasheed Ahmed Zardari in his detailed presentation informed that there were 159 development schemes for the district but due to shortage of funds, the Maintenance & Repair (M&R) schemes have not been completed. He further told that the non-ADP schemes of Cultural Complex and Sports Stadium have not been completed and the concerned department has been requested for timely completion of the development work.

DC Zardari informed the Commissioner that 20 revenue cases were decided while 64 cases are in pending.

He said that 73 acres of forest land has been retrieved from the illegal occupants, 20 illegal petrol pumps were sealed and 13 persons involved in use and sale of Gutka and Mainpuri were arrested this month.

DC told that plantation of 2 lac trees has been planned in the district.

Commissioner Abbas Baloch while reviewing the performance said that the officers have to work extraordinarily to ensure the better facilities for public.

He urged for early disposal of pending matters particularly related to revenue, court cases and implementation on directions of higher authorities. He directed all the Assistant Commissioners to play their defined role to facilitate the public at large in their respective talukas and as administrators of local councils, they should initiate public welfare activities like sanitation, rehabilitation of parks, tree plantation and organizing healthy sport events in their jurisdiction.

“The public never forget the good officer, who served with one’s true spirit and interest as responsible public civil servant,” Commissioner Baloch added.

Commissioner said that due to COVID-19, the holding of open Katchehries, field visits and inspections were reduced, from which the actual feedback used to come from public to rate the performance of the officers. He added that the meetings of different districts administrations of the division have been schedule to review their performance.

Additional Commissioner-I Syed Sajjad Haider Shah, Deputy Director (P&D) Sanaullah Rind, Assistant Commissioner Revenue Hyderabad Division Ms. Surhan Aijaz Abro and other officials also attended the meeting.

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Sindh Courier

A Cobra, that did not call names…

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February 11, 2021

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A big cobra was the last one that came wriggling only to be caught and confined by its captor. The hissing noise ceased to be heard any more from around our house. Snakes don’t hiss anymore these days— they’re calling you babe, bro, sister!

By Nazarul Islam

Long time ago in the early fifties, I had accompanied Amma to my Mama’s house. Theirs was one of the three spacious houses within a vast compound in a residential locality called, Shyam Bazaar. Flanking our house on one side was a sprawling kitchen garden awash with a variety of vegetables, tended by my mother. On the other side, there was a circular patch of land with undergrowth.

A vast grazing field was right opposite our house, providing a grazing field for the cattle. A common driveway from the road led to each of the houses. None of the three houses had electrical connection in those days.

In one of the spacious rooms in my house, there were two big wooden racks groaning with books, two revolving shelves packed with them and some split onto a table and chair, besides four steel trunks, each bursting with bundles of old clothes, family shin Raj, and prescriptions of my late, great grandfather written on old paper. He was the Hakim Saheb, a proud assistant of Hakim Ajmal Khan in Delhi.

A boy of nine and the oldest among my siblings, I loved to sleep cuddling up to my mother. That fateful hour, fumbling for my mom in the dead of night I woke up. She whispered to me that a loud swish from outside, had disturbed her slumber. She caught hold of a torchlight and focused its beam through the window, asking me to go back to sleep.

Curious to know what it was all about, I stood behind her and kept peeking outside. The sight of a mongoose hopping from side to side before a big cobra with its broad hood raised high, trying to attack sent a chill down my spine. Probably not so full-grown to stand against the snake in a fight, the mongoose bolted. Terror-stricken I had snuggled into my bedsheet.

The very next morning, my loving mother managed to get a snake charmer at our house. As the snake-charmer guy started playing enchanting music on his bamboo pipe, serpents of different sorts came wriggling towards him from all nooks and crannies around our house. A boy, maybe his assistant quite gingerly trapped them one by one in baskets. A sizeable big cobra appearing to be not less than seven feet long was the last one that came wriggling only to be caught and confined by its captor.

The hissing noise ceased to be heard any more from around our house!

Fast forward, the Lesson learned: Snakes don’t hiss anymore these days— they’re calling you babe, bro, sister & BFF

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About the Author

The Bengal-born writer is a senior educationist based in USA. He writes for Sindh Courier, and the newspapers of Bangladesh, India and America.

8 Ansar al-Islam militants sentenced to death

News

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February 10, 2021

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The militants had hacked a publisher to death in October 2015 for publishing a book; author of book was also assassinated earlier

Other Ansar al-Islam members will be motivated to commit such crimes if the accused in this case are spared; they don’t deserve mercy – Dhaka Court

Dhaka: Eight activists of banned militant outfit Ansar al-Islam have been sentenced to death for murdering Jagriti Prokashony Publisher Foisal Arefin Dipon in October 2015.

Judge Md Majibur Rahman of the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal in Dhaka declared the verdict at Wednesday noon.

The court also fined the eight convicts Tk50000 each.

The convicts are sacked army major Syed Ziaul Haque Zia; Akram Hossain alias Hasib; Abdus Sabur alias Abdus Samad alias Sujon; Khairul Islam alias Jamil alias Jisan; Sheikh Abdullah alias Jubayer alias Jayed; Abu Siddique Sohel alias Sajid alias Sihab; Mozammel Hossain alias Saimon; and Moinul Hasan Shamim alias Sifat alias Shamim alias Samir.

Of them, Zia and Akram are still on the run, while the other six are behind bars.

The six were also present in court on Wednesday when the judgment was handed down. They were brought to the court from Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj.

While the prosecution expressed satisfaction over the verdict, the defence said they would move the High Court against the judgment.

Plaintiff and Dipon’s wife Dr. Razia Rahman broke down in tears in court premises after hearing the verdict.

In its 53-page verdict, the court observed that other Ansar al-Islam members will be motivated to commit such crimes if the accused in this case are spared. Since the accused were involved in Dipon’s murder in an organized way as the militant group’s members, they must be given the same punishment.

They do not deserve any sympathy, said the court.

Only the death penalty will ensure justice and it will be an exemplary punishment, it observed. It will also bring peace of mind to Dipon’s family and will frighten and discourage others from committing such heinous crimes in the future.

Dipon was brutally hacked to death at the Jagriti Prokashony office in the capital’s Aziz Super Market on October 31, 2015.

Razia filed the murder case at Shahbagh police station two days later against unidentified assailants. Police pressed charges against the eight militants on November 15, 2018.

On October 13, 2019, the court indicted the eight in the case. Twenty-two out of 26 prosecution witnesses testified before the court during the trial.

Dipon’s publishing house had published a book written by writer-blogger Avijit Roy, who was also hacked to death by the militants on Dhaka University campus on February 26, 2015.

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Courtesy: Dhaka Tribune

Contemporary World Literature: Damascene Days (Travelogue)

World Literature

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February 10, 2021

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A Publishing and Distribution House in Jordan run by an artist and poet Mohammed al-Ameri, has very recently published ‘Damascene Days’, a travel book authored by eminent Egyptian novelist, poet, journalist and travelogue writer Ashraf Aboul-Yazid

Book Review

Travel Writing or Travelogue is an old canon of literature. The genre of travel literature deals with nature writing, adventure writing, exploration writing etc. Even certain forms of novel can have elements of travel writing in it. It’s a herculean job as one has to be an effective and keen observer to portray what he observes – the language, culture, social, political and economic aspects etc. during his journeys to different countries. The genre of travel writing has acquired the center of importance now rather than being in the periphery.

Eminent Egyptian novelist, poet and journalist Ashraf Aboul-Yazid is one of those writers who have contributed a lot in travel writing.

Lines & Shadows (Khotoot wa Zelal) – the Publishing and Distribution House in Jordan, run by the artist and poet Mohammed al-Ameri, has very recently published ‘Damascene Days’, a travel book authored by Ashraf Aboul-Yazid. The book is written in Arabic.

The book was designed by Al-Ameri, and its cover was drawn by the Syrian artist Essam Al-Shater. It included the author’s travels over more than a decade to different cities in Syria, including the capital, Aleppo, and Al-Qusayr – where the battle of Qadesh was fought – Raqqa and others.

In “Damascene Days” we read: “You immediately fall in love with River Asi (Orontes) the moment you walk along either of its banks. After a brief introduction, you even think it is extending its hands to embrace you as it winds here and there; giving way to you for the plains it cultivated with love fields and rose-gardens so that you may enjoy songs and branches. As far as you can see at the Syrian border along North Lebanon, you will stop to read some lines about the past, present and future on the surface of its water. “These borders are nowadays flamed with the burning bullets fired and mines planted by the Syrian authority forces to stop the fleeing Syrian towards a safer place. I was gazing at the streaming photos spread via news channels and feeling so sorry for that such place to suffer. But it reminded me with two things, the old wars and the first treaty for keeping peace,” writes Ashraf.

Sharing the observations, he writes, “For such a story I started my journey in the summer of 2004. My journey began with reading the inscriptions and reliefs on the walls of the Egyptian temples which depict the epic of Kadesh. I travelled further to reach the town of Al-Qusair, to the north of Damascus, near the Syro-Lebanese border, where I stopped to read the lessons of history and enjoy the gifts of geography. The peace and quiet around resembled the calm before the storm; but the storm had actually blown exactly 33 centuries ago, when Kadesh witnessed a fierce battle before it enjoyed real peace. Kings and Emperors at Queen Hatshepsut’s death, Egypt’s colonies in Syria had been devastated by battles of independence and separation from the parent kingdom, or joining or alliance with the kingdom of Mitanni, whose power extended from its center located beyond the Euphrates to the Syrian coast on the Mediterranean. So as Thutmose III came to the throne, he conducted seventeen campaigns in Syria alone starting from 1457 BC expelling the Mitannians beyond the Euphrates and restoring the Egyptian empire in the Old World. Soon afterwards, the kings of Babylon, Assyria and Hatti (in Asia Minor) were keen to be friendly with the triumphant queen and establish diplomatic relations with the victorious pharaoh.”

Ashraf Aboul-Yazid was born in 1963. He is the Editor-in-Chief, THE SILK ROAD LITERATURE SERIES and has been working in Cultural Journalism for more than 30 years. He authored and translated 35 books. Some of his novels and poetry volumes have been translated into English, Spanish, Turkish, Persian, Korean, Malayalam, Sindhi and German books and anthologies. He was chosen the Man of Culture for the Year, 2012, Tatarstan, Russia. He won Manhae Prize in Literature, 2014, the Republic of Korea. He won the Arab Journalism Award in Culture, 2015, UAE. Currently he is the president of Asia Journalist Association (since April 2016).

His previous travel books included Sirat Musafer (A Traveler tale), Cairo, 2008, Qafilat Hekayat Maghrebeyyah (A Moroccan Tale Caravan), UAE, 2017, and “A River on Travel, Kuwait, 2015.

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Sindhis are said to be the mentors of Indian Naval Force. Late Vice Admiral Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani is one of those Mentors.

Here is the life sketch of Vice Admiral Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani.

Source: Wikipedia, goodreads.com, Indian Navy, amp.google-wiki.info, concepts.org

Dylan Thomas – one of the greatest poets of the 20th century

Poets and artists around the world prepare to celebrate Dylan Thomas Day on May 14. #DylanDay – was established in 2015 to celebrate the memory of Dylan Thomas that is largely known as one of the greatest poets of the 20th century.

Click on Wikipedia link for quotes of Dylan Thomas

Source of Information: Poets.Org, Wikipedia

Contemporary World Literature

Short Story from Uzbekistan

Happy Birthday

Read history of Uzbek Literature

Let’s not give up -There is no such thing as false hope. In this word there is only hope. In the realm of possibility, anything can happen, but it is the perception that makes a difference. I refuse to let this disease dictate the way we live our lives.

The Bengal-born writer is a senior educationist based in USA. He writes for Sindh Courier, and the newspapers of Bangladesh, India and America.

Now 26 Thari women drivers are full time employees in Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company project

Watch a video on Thari Women Dump Truck Drivers

Chief Minister Murad Shah distributes letters; selected Inspectors include 4 female and four from minorities

Construction of Cultural Complex and Sports Stadium awaits completion

Several maintenance and repair schemes suffer due to shortage of funds – Commissioner Abbas Baloch reviews performance of district administration

Sindh Courier

A big cobra was the last one that came wriggling only to be caught and confined by its captor. The hissing noise ceased to be heard any more from around our house. Snakes don’t hiss anymore these days— they’re calling you babe, bro, sister!

The Bengal-born writer is a senior educationist based in USA. He writes for Sindh Courier, and the newspapers of Bangladesh, India and America.

The militants had hacked a publisher to death in October 2015 for publishing a book; author of book was also assassinated earlier

Other Ansar al-Islam members will be motivated to commit such crimes if the accused in this case are spared; they don’t deserve mercy – Dhaka Court

Courtesy: Dhaka Tribune

A Publishing and Distribution House in Jordan run by an artist and poet Mohammed al-Ameri, has very recently published ‘Damascene Days’, a travel book authored by eminent Egyptian novelist, poet, journalist and travelogue writer Ashraf Aboul-Yazid

Book Review

Also Read: Importance of Travel Writing in Literature