I Am a Dreamer, But Not the Only One

I Am a Dreamer, But Not the Only One
Syed Ali Mujtaba

People say, I am a dreamer but not the only one, there are many like me, who may dream similarly but it’s hard to find them, and still harder to connect with each other. It’s an interesting happening that has happened on the internet, and needs to be chronicled, as many other similar dreamers may like to join me to make the dream come true.

It happened so; I wrote a piece for a web portal that highlighted the plight of commercial sex workers in Chennai. It was a journalist piece, based on real life interviews. Thousands hits were made to this story and response that came to suggested that it touched emotional chord and moved hearts.

One such response was different. It was from Ms Yvonne, a journalist based in Stockholm, Sweden, who wrote expressing her desire to help such needy and requested me to connect her to a real life person genuinely seeking help. I could feel her concern as she kept on pestering me to find a person that she could support.


Yvonne’s commitment made me think and this triggered a dream. I have a huge ancestral house at the Nalanda district in Bihar, a state of India. The house that’s now in a depleted condition has a pound inside and has sufficient space to run an orphanage cum school. It’s located in a village called ‘Dumranwan’, less than 20 miles from the ancient Nalanda University’s ruins. One can Google and locate the ruins, once a great seat of Buddhist learning. Maybe the map can also bring nearer to that secluded village, where this house stands frozen in time.

The reason why I am ready to make this house a seat of learning was because none of my family members like to go there, none is interested in renovating it. The house can not be sold as there are no buyers to buy such a property. So the only option left is to see it go down or donate to some charitable organization and forget about it or try run it with help of friends and some like minded persons.

So, I wrote to Yvonne, that I am ready to convert this house as model school cum orphanage, a centre of international standards. This centre will cater to students from extremely poor family, whose parents cannot afford their education. The students once enrolled will live there and get every thing free- food, lodging, books, dress and every thing that one may need. They will play and study together in totally new environment, away from their shanty homes.

In India, those at the bottom of the society see children as a helping hand. The girls help the mothers in the household work and boys go to work with their fathers in the farms. The challenge is to locate such students and get consent of their parents to join such an institution. This may be a difficult but definitely not impossible because there are always some help in such matters.

The students will go up to 12th grade, but to begin with the center will have kids from 0 to three grades. As they grow they may add on the classes. The institution will have Hindus, Muslims, Christians, living side by side learning the core values how to live together in perfect harmony.

The school may have sizable Muslim students as they badly need such institution to get training to face the competitive world. I am talking about that segment of Muslim society that sends their children to Madarsas. In such a centre the poor Muslim students may get the best of the religious and worldly training and subjects like science mathematics and computers.

When I wrote Yvonne about this idea, she jumped in excitement and wrote back, how to make such a place a unique place of learning and living, create a harmonious atmosphere where lots of experimentation on learning and education could be done and where students are molded to become a decent human being.


Yvonne, married to Nick, an Australian and has a child Samuel wrote back, “its really feels like a Gods thought with you willing to turn your house into an orphanage cum school and we do our part here to help those in need. One of my main interests is in children and for me it’s an absolute that there will be a NO corporal punishment what so ever and run this place as a sanctuary away from the harsh world; a place where the soul can grow into splendor and by using methods that supports that very growth. And with respect for all walks of spiritual and religious life!

I wrote to her that the project can be divided into different phase. The first will be to do the renovation work of the house. The house is standing though it has broken ceilings, plaster pealed off, and no paint for ages. There is need to repair them all that and construct boundary wall and have an entrance gate at the compound. May be one may give a deeper look to the house to ascertain the actual cost of its renovation. My wild guess is at least $10,000 USD would be needed to give it a facelift. It may be less or more, I am not a civil engineer.

The biggest problem there is of power. There is no electricity in that part of the world. So, to run the electrical appliances and connect it with rest of the world, .installation of a Genset is a must. The Genset can run with the help of solar batteries and one has to get it from somewhere. Luckily, the place is accessible through a motorable road, and so anything can be transported there.

Once a semblance of infrastructure put is created, and then some new construction has to be made to covert the house into a full-fledged centre of learning and training and much more. All this may require more funds.

Yvonne, wrote to me, Money may not be a constraint; I have celebrity friends which are good for raising money on a bigger scale. Of course one doesn’t have to be a celebrity to raise money; but every help, no matter from who, would be good for the bigger picture!”

I wrote her second phase will need dedicated and innovative teachers who can mold the children in becoming an educated and nice human being. Yvonne, has answers to this as well. She writes, “I also think it would be quite easy to get volunteers from Sweden that will work for somewhere to sleep and food. So many Swedes/Scandinavians goes backpacking for a year or two and want to do something meaningful. Then there are many (who may not be backpackers) who want to stay even longer and contribute for the chase of such a wonderful dream.”

I gave her assurance that many dedicated young Indians may too volunteer and get associated with this project; once they realize that the centre matches the international standards.

The big task will be to find sponsors for each child, and those adopting one have to behave as responsible parents. Its only then one can determine the strength of the students and many factors have to be taken into account for enrolling them. Yvonne is optimistic and is confident that all such hurdle, can be crossed and if God’s grace is there nothing can stop those serving the Lord.

The way forward may be to register a charitable trust and open a bank account and then take donations to start the project. The problem is one needs center government’s clearance to get foreign funds. With corruption and nepotism associated with bureaucracy, getting such permission may not be a easy job.

I remain skeptic about this project and in a lighter vein I wrote to Yvonne, if a fraction of money stacked by some Indians in cash heavens abroad can be diverted to this project then only this dream can only become a reality.


Yvonne thinks otherwise and remains convinced that this project will take off;”Well there are bottlenecks for anything one may like to do and this may not deter from chasing the goal. I have been thinking about how to get all the “left over” wealth from Sweden to India. You can easily get free, not the latest but very good, computers (by the numbers) for example for free by people just swapping to the latest model, or big companies just giving away due to updating. And almost brand new furniture and all kinds of things; cell phones etc. We have a shipping company just beside us and I will pay them a visit (and maybe bring some of my celebrity friends) and ask them to ship for free. And of course also completely new things that people are willing to give for a good cause. (Toys are so easy to get!) I mean it’s quite easy to get the things we would need material wise as long as someone are willing to ship it cheap or for free (the big cost is to ship from here – so expensive). But that is a later thing.”

Well that’s the story how two persons, quite unknown to each other, come together to chase a common dream. Both feel there are others who too may be dreaming on similarly and are welcome to come on board and contribute in their humble way for the realization of a noble dream.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

London Nostalgia - Impressions of a Researcher

London Nostalgia - Impressions of a Researcher
Syed Ali Mujtaba

My association with England has been primarily for academic purposes. In the year 1994 I was awarded government of India fellowship to pursue my doctoral research further while doing PhD at the JNU, New Delhi.

I got this field grant because my thesis “The Demand for Partition of India and British Policy 1940-45” demanded an archival survey of the British sources.

My thesis also demanded incorporation of British perspective to the Partition debate particularly with reference to its India policy during the Second World War.

So this pursuit made me stay for six months in England. I was based in London and lived in a rented room at the 45 Colliers High Road, South London. It was quite close to Sainsbury supermarket where I use to frequent for my groceries.

The building where I lived was owned by a Pakistani of Indian origin. It had some very interesting people living there. There was a Pakistani couple in the ground floor, a group of Korean students in the second floor. There were two Romanians gentlemen and an English couple besides me in this building.

I use to take the southern line tube and go waterloo from where I use to walk to the backfires bridge where the India Office Library was located at that time.

During my stay in London I use to visit the School of Oriental and African Studies library the Record office at the Q’s gardens and the British Museum.

Some time I use to get down at Temple tube station walk to the High Court side either to visit the Indian consulate office or to the LSE, while on some other day I may be walking straight to the Kings College to attend some Talks organized there.

I used to be spent my evenings sometimes at the Piccadilly Circus, the China town, the globe theater and the Charring Cross. Some times I use to walk along the embankment watching the flow the river Thames, go up to the Big Ben and see the time, take a round of 10 Downing Street and walk along the British Parliament.


At times in the evenings, I use to go to the Indian YMCA, British Museum and Baden Powell Hall for some programmes.

While staying in London, I use to frequent Oxford University for my research. Normally I use to go the St Anthony College to meet some Professors or to sit at Bodleian library at the Oxford University.

Similarly, I use to travel to the Cambridge University and even stayed with some friends for few days there. At the Cambridge I had given a talk at the Darwin College. I had also visited the Kent University at the Canterbury.

It’s Bird Watching Season in Tamil Nadu

It’s Bird Watching Season in Tamil Nadu
Syed Ali Mujtaba

Hello bird watchers, the bird watching season has arrived in Tamil Nadu. If you are looking for fun frolic and excitement, then its time to pack your backpacks with cameras and embark on an enthralling bird watching trip to three different circuits in the southern state of India.

The bird watching circuit is divided into three regions s based on the ancient kingdoms that once flourished in this part of the world. They are the Pallava Kingdom, the Chola Kingdom, and Pandya Kingdoms.

The Pallava dynasty ruled for about six hundred years until the end of the 9th century AD in the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region

The Pallava kingdom for bird watching is in and around Chennai home to India’s one of the oldest bird sanctuaries and the largest brackish water eco-system.

The potential bird nesting locations in Pallava kingdom are Vedanthangal bird sanctuary, Karikili bird sanctuary, Pulicat lake bird sanctuary, Kaliveli lake nackwaters of Mahabs and Muttukaadu.

Vedanthangal bird sanctuary is one of the oldest water bird sanctuaries in the country. Vedanthangal in Tamil language means 'hamlet of the hunter' and this area was once a favorite hunting spot for the local landlords some 300 years ago.

The region attracted a variety of birds because it’s dotted with small lakes that acted as feeding grounds for the birds. The sanctuary features thousands of birds coming from various countries, some of which can be easily identified.

Some easily found bird species include Cormorants, Darter, Grebes, Large Egret, Little Egrets, Moorhen, Night Herons, Paddy Bird, Painted Stork, Pintails, Pond Heron, Sandpiper, Shovellers, Terns, White Ibis and many more.

The migratory birds include Garganey Teals Canada, Snake Bird Sri Lanka, Grey Pelican Australia, Grey Heron Bangladesh, Open-billed Stork Bangladesh, Glossy Ibis Sri Lanka, Painted Stork Siberia, Spoonbill Burma and Spot Bill Duck Canada.

Karikili Lake bird sanctuary is a haven for ducks and waders. Pintailed ducks, Garganey teals, common teals, Shovellor, Little Grebe or Dab chick, Herons and Egrets are the other avian visitors.

Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary is the second largest brackish – water lake or lagoon in India. It straddles the border of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu states on the Coromandal Coast in South India.

The lake encompasses the Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary. Every year approximately 15,000 Greater Flamingos are reported to visit the lake along with pelicans, kingfishers, herons, painted storks, spoonbills and ducks.

The highest concentrations of flamingo are found in the periphery of the lagoon where the water level is below 40 centimeters (16 in). The concentrations of flamingos are also associated with high algal, fish and benthic diversity.

Other water birds in the area include Spot-billed Pelican, seven species of herons and egrets, Painted Stork, Greater Flamingos, ducks, 20 species of shorebirds, gulls, terns, Little Grebe, Indian Cormorant, Little Cormorant, Asian Openbill Stork, Black-headed Ibis, Eurasian Spoonbill, Lesser Whistling Teal, Spot bill Duck, Great Thickknee and Stone Curlew.

Several species of wintering waterfowl have been noted including Bar-headed Goose, Ruddy Shelduck, Eurasian Wigeon, Gadwall, Common Teal, Northern Pintail, Garganey, Northern Shoveler, Common Pochard, Brown-headed Gull, Black-headed Gull, Whiskered Tern, Gull-billed Tern and Caspian Tern. Birds of prey which appear in winter are the: White-bellied Sea Eagle, Osprey, Harriers and Peregrine Falcons.

The Chola kingdom flourished till the 13th century AD around Thanjavur and Tiruchirapalli districts of Tamil Nadu. The Chola Kingdom is home to important water birds like High flying Barheaded Goose, long migrants like White stork and White necked Stork, Grey Pelican, Ibis etc.

One can enjoy the bird watching at the Karaivetti bird sanctuary, the Kallaperumbur bird sanctuary, the Vaduvoor bird sanctuary, the Udhayamarthandapuram bird Sanctuary and Point Calimere bird sanctuary.

Karaivetti bird sanctuary is now home for more than 180 species of birds which includes 100 species of land birds. During peak season more than 25000 birds has been recorded. In the last season about 250 nests were counted and is a breeding ground for Grey Pelican, Spoonbill, Ibis, Openbill stork, Cormorant etc. Important land bird species are Rosy Pastor, Peregrine Falcon, Osprey, Marsh Harrier, Tawny Eagle, etc.,.

Vaduvoor Bird Sanctuary is a favorite flyaway spot for migratory birds and has recorded congregation up to 20000 birds in November. The ideal time to
visit the sanctuary is November – December when congregation of migratory birds is maximum. One can spot more than 40 species of water birds like Ibis, Painted stork, Grey pelican, Pintail, Cormorant, Teals, Herons etc.

Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary is providing shelter both for the animals and birds. It is the home for near threatened Blackbuck Antelope. Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary has the largest population of Blackbucks in South India. Other notable animals include: Spotted Deer, Jackal, Bonnet Monkey, Wild Boar, Monitor lizard, Short-nosed Fruit Bat, Small Indian Civet, Star Tortoise, Indian Grey Mongoose, Black-Naped Hare, Jungle Cat and Feral Pony.

Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary has recorded the second largest congregation of migratory water birds in India, with a peak population in excess of 100,000, representing 103 species.


In October these water birds arrive from Rann of Kutch, Eastern Siberia, Northern Russia, Central Asia and parts of Europe for their feeding season and start returning to those breeding places in January.

The water birds include threatened species like Spot-billed Pelican, Spotted
Greenshank, Spoonbill Sandpiper and Black-necked Stork. Near threatened species include White Ibis, Asian Dowitcher, Lesser Flamingo, Spoonbill, Darter and Painted Stork. Not only that, if lucky, one can spot Bottle nosed Dolphins. Also, the shoreline beaches of the sanctuary are a regular nesting site of the endangered Olive Ridley Turtle.

The Pandyan Kingdom flourished until the 15th century AD and the great traveler, Marco Polo mentioned it as the richest empire in existence in the world.


The bird watching region of the Pandya Kingdom roughly comprises the area near Madurai and Ramnad districts of Tamil Nadu. It includes; Vettangudi Bird Sanctuary, Chitrangudi Bird Sanctuary, Kanjirankulam Bird Sanctuary, MelSelvanur-KeelSelvanur Bird Sanctuary, Koonthankulam Bird Sanctuary, Suchindram-Theroor Bird Sanctuary.

Kanjirankulam Bird Sanctuary is one of the preferred nesting sites for heronry species a colonial bird migrating to South India. This bird sanctuary receives nearly 170 species of birds. Breeding population consists of Painted stork, White Ibis, Black ibis, Little egret, Large egret etc.

While MelSelvanur-KeelSelvanur Bird Sanctuary is the biggest bird sanctuary in Tamil Nadu and located near Sayalkudi in Ramanathapuram district, the Koonthankulam Bird Sanctuary is home to the largest reserve for breeding water birds in South India.

Suchindram -Theroor Bird Sanctuary is noted for the wide variety of migratory water birds that winter there, including: near threatened painted stork and spot-billed pelicans. Also seen here are cattle egrets, great cormorants, darters, purple swamphen, and bronze-winged Jacanas. Resident raptors include pied kingfisher, brahminy kite and marsh harrier.

Other water birds are Dabchick, grey heron, Garganey, purple heron, cinnamon Bittern, open bill stork, cotton pygmy goose, whiskered tern and little tern, black-winged stilt, greenshank, little ringed plover and the common sandpiper.


The Pallava Kingdon tour is on 18 and 19 December 2010. The Chola Kingdom tour is on 24, 25 and 26 December 2010. The Pandya kingdom tour is from January 3-6 2011. The contact person for these tours is Mr. "Krish" a.k.a Krishna Kumar K J. He can be reached at (krish78@gmail.com)

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He ca be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com. His earlier writing is “Eco-Adventure Camp” http://archives.chennaionline.com/hotelsandtours/Tours/2006/01eco.asp

Omar Khalidi- A Campaigner of Social Justice of Indian Muslims

Omar Khalidi- A Campaigner of Social Justice of Indian Muslims

Syed Ali Mujtaba

The untimely death of the Cambridge based scholar Dr. Omar Khalidi is quite shocking. He was 57. Preliminary reports suggest that he was fatally struck by a subway trolley near the Kendall Square station in Cambridge, USA.

He was working at MIT and left behind his wife and daughter. I have known to him for his unending passion for the pursuit of social justice of Muslims in India. My deepest condolences go to his family.

Dr. Khalidi was born in Hyderabad and was the son of Professor Abu Nasr Khalidi, a well known scholar of Arabic and Islamic studies at Osmania University. He got his BA from Wichita State University, ALM from Harvard University School of Extension Studies and PhD from University of Wales-Lampeter, UK.

I have come to know about Dr Khalidi when I was in Hyderabad working as reporter in 1995-6 and also researching on the princely state and Partition of India. I was fresh with my doctoral work “The Partition of India and British policy 1940-45.” I had read his work “The fall of Hyderabad,” that graphically brings out the police action against the princely state of Hyderabad and the atrocities committed against the Muslims in its aftermath.

I contacted Dr Khalidi at his e mail address (okhalidi@MIT.EDU) and he responded to me immediately. Though my project was indefinitely postponed but my contact with him remained intact.

He was in Chennai in 2002 and stayed at Chola Sheraton and we had a late evening conversation on the theme Indian Muslims that went on till the wee hours and we both needed a bad sleep still the talk remained inconclusive.

We talked about Muslim publications in India the defunct ‘One Nation Chronicle’ rechristened ‘Nation and the World.’ We talked about Mili Gazatee, Muslim India, role of Syed Shahabuddin in Babri Masjid, role of Syed Hamid in education and Hamadard University. We talked about M.J. Akbar and Seema Mustafa and Sultan Shahin and many others.

Our conversation did touch up Hyderabad, and we talked about Prince Mukaram Jah, the fabled Falaknuma, Chomohalla and the Nazri Bagh Palaces. The Telegana politics too came up for a thought.

Dr Khaladi, was more of a researcher than an armed chair commentator. He had advised me not to loose track of research and base my submissions on hard facts.

To hammer home the point, hard facts should be the only arrow, in one’s quiver, he told me, adding he had all the copies of Muslim India, because it contains huge data to rely upon.

Among several of his work, the one we talked was “Romance of the Golconda Diamonds.” He explained that in the state of Golconda that was later absorbed in Mughal India mining activity for diamonds once flourished.

Dr Khalidi did a interview with me that day on his pet topic the current status of Indian Muslims. He was amused to hear me say that a middle class is fast emerging among contemporary Indian Muslim community and this is happening at breath neck speed after the liberalization of the Indian economy since 1990s.

Now India Muslim youth are not much interested in going to Gulf countries for jobs as they did so in the 1970s and 80s. They prefer to stay back in India where there exists an ample opportunity to make a living. I told him after liberalization, the general discrimination theory does not work, the entrepreneurs mostly Hindus do not have any inhibition in recruiting Muslims, because they are hardworking, honest and upright.

Dr Khalidi was bemused; perhaps my thoughts did not fit into discriminatory stereotype. I remember him talking about Muslim presidents of India that were to show to the world that Indian Muslims are not discriminated but then do a head count in the government and private offices and you will get a real picture of Muslim discrimination.

I told him now, this is no more the case, the software industry, so many other industries which is driving the Indian economy, has countless Muslim youth in its folds and they are doing well in privatized corporate Indian economy.

I remember Dr Khalidi asking me to give him contacts in various India cities, so that he can do a survey on this issue through his questioners and promised to pay those who get involved with him in this project. I think he may have incorporated these points in his book is “Muslims in Indian Economy” published in December 2005.


Dr. Khalidi will be remembered for his courage in taking on issues that others feared to tread. .He was known for his commitment to the cause of justice and fairness for Indian Muslims.

His last article was on the recent Babari Masjid judgment was seminal. He lambasted the Archilogical survey of India (ASI) that provided the clinching evidence for the ‘learned’ judgment. Read through the link- “ASI: Hindutva's handmaiden.” http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?267374

Dr. Khalidi was a pioneer in the field of research on Indian Muslims and contemporary Indian politics. He left behind him a monumental legacy that had a significant impact on the political landscape of India and a multitude of people were motivated and inspired by his work.

He authored the much acclaimed book “Khaki and Ethnic Violence in India: Armed Forces, Police and Paramilitary During Communal Riots”. The book is in its second edition, revised and enlarged edition came out in December 2009.

As an independent scholar his research interests were in the sociology of politics, upward and downward economic mobility of ethnic groups, nationalism and diaspora and Islamic architecture.


His other works include 'Indian Muslims since Independence', 1996, and edited 'Hyderabad: After the Fall', 1988, a collection of academic papers.

He is the author of several articles on Islamic architecture like “Approaches to Mosque Design in North America” and “Import, Adapt, Innovate: Mosque Design in the United States.”

Even though he was based in the US he had the pulse of Indian Muslims in his hand. He could fearlessly speak about the discrimination of Indian Muslims and he supported this with hard facts, be it the head count of Muslims in Indian Defence forces or in the news rooms.

Passing away of Dr Omer Dr. Khalidi is a great loss to Indian Muslim. He lived every moment in India.Perhaps the best way to carry forward his legacies would be to create a chair in his name in any of the Indian university to carry out research on the social issues of Indian Muslims. It may be a humble way to pay tribute to late Dr. Khalidi.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

Dreamers of people’s rule no more in India

Dreamers of people’s rule no more in India
Syed Ali Mujtaba

I was involved in a conversation with a gentleman on left politics in the country and the name of left radical leader Charu Mazjumdar came in for scrutiny and my friend in an impromptu manner dubbed him a left ‘Jihadi’ and showered heaps of abuse on him that triggered a wave of thoughts in me.

I was not a witness to that era but I heard and read about this left ultra leader was that in 1960s, he inspired a whole generation. A lot many people read his revolutionary ideas and were inspired by them. Some left their homes to live with the peasants in West Bengal to put Mazjumdar’s revolutionary theories into actual practice.

So what was so attractive about Charu Mazjumdar’s theory? According to Charu Mazjumdar, a semi-feudal, semi-colonial society like India can only be transformed through a protracted peasant war. At the end of such war the triumph peasants would ultimately seize the state power and establish a "new democratic revolution."

Charu Mazjumdar suggested forming a guerrilla unit to wage protracted peasant war and elaborated this in the "murder manual" how to launch "annihilation campaign."

The "annihilation campaign" would produce the new man who will defy death and be free from all thought of self-interest, professed According to Charu Mazjumdar.

In today’s context such ideas could at best be described as abrasive rhetoric and fetish but in 1960s it inspired many to sacrifice their lives to chase Charu's Mazjumdar’s dream.

This led to the creation of a utopian space called Naxalbari in West Bengal that became a social laboratory to test Charu's Mazjumdar’s hypothesis. A lot youth from well to do families attracted by the romance of brining a revolution in the country, plunged into organizing peasant revolution in the country.

With this began an era of violence, bloodshed and martyrdom unprecedented in the country. The breeze that blew from ‘Naxlbari’ shook the edifice of the Indian state

A surgical operation was done to extinguish the voices of dissent. It was Siddhart Shanker Rey, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, who at the behest of Mrs Indira Gandhi, virtually hunted out those revolutionary dreamers.

Was such a harsh measure necessary, instead, if those revolutionary youth may have been rehabilitated, they may have contributed to the growth of the country in some way.

Now a last point. At a time, when our country is totally wedded to the capitalist mode of production, where are the thinkers like Charu Mazumdar gone, can any one point out a name that can match his appeal and aura in the contemporary India.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist, based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

The Politics around Enemy Property Bill

The Politics around Enemy Property Bill
Syed Ali Mujtaba

Partition of British India and the creation of Pakistan in 1947 have left behind many legacies. More than 60 years have passed to that event but still there are many issues thats being sorted out and one such is the Enemy Property Act of 1968.

Enemy property is a term coined by the Indian government in the wake of 1965 war with Pakistan to confiscate all those properties that were left behind by the Indian Muslims who migrated to Pakistan in 1947 or thereafter. This was an act to deny the legal heirs to all such properties who due to their own free will chose to live in India.



The government of India promulgated the Enemy Property Act in 1968 and created a separate department called “Custodian” to take control of 2,186 enemy properties, with Uttar Pradesh having the maximum (1,468) followed by West Bengal (351), Delhi (66), Gujarat (63), Bihar (40), Goa (35), Madhya Pradesh (29) and Maharashtra (25).

The most funniest part is the 'Custodian' was located in Bombay and Calcutta, while majority of these properties existed in UP, Bihar and other Muslim minority provinces from where migration to Pakistan took place.

The Enemy Property Act of 1968, in one stroke, made the legal heirs of such properties ‘Prince Paupers.’ They were left with two courses of action either to fight a legal battle or get out of such litigation. This created a way for fresh wave of Muslim migration from India, mostly to Europe and North in search of Roti, Kapara and Makan (bread – cloth and shelter).

One such property belong to my mother's own sister, whose husband stayed back in India while his father who owned the property, and other relations migrated to Pakistan. The property called 'Jahaji Kothi' is a landmark building even today located at Kadam Kuan, Patna. One can give a google search to 'Jahaji Kothi, Patna' to know how important is that building.

I remember as a child, visiting my aunt's house and enjoyed running up and down the staircase there. When that property was taken over by the 'custodian' in 1968, my aunt and her family moved out. The property still stands in a depleted condition, and with no one interested in laying claim to it, its likely to come under the hammer, and with that the sentiments and memories attached with it will also vanish.

The Enemy Property Act of 1968 was blow to some, it was a heaven sent opportunity for many encroacher, mostly Hindus, who swooped on such properties and occupied them. They started behaving like the proprietors paying pittance as rent to the “Custodian” and may never like to part off with the loot.

The Muslim heirs of such properties now had to fight two legal battles, one with the ‘Custodian’ (government) to lay reclaim their property and second against those who encroached and occupied their properties.

A long drawn legal battle was fought for almost four decades in the Indian courts and finally the matter reached to the Supreme Court. In this, legal luminaries like Ramjethmalani, PC Chidambaram, Arun Jaitely appeared for the tents, while Salman Khursheed appeared against the tenets on behalf of Raja of Mahmoodabad,having claim to more than 1,000 listed properties.

Finally, the Apex Court in 2005, gave the ruling in favor of the Muslim heirs of the property, granting them the legal rights to their ancestral property.

In normal course, the government may have executed the court orders and handed over the properties to the legal heirs and settled the matter once for all.

However, the NDA government under pressure from non Muslim quarters intervened into this matter over ruling the Supreme Court’s order. It wants to bring an ordinance bill into the Parliament to once gain control over such properties and prolong the final settlement of the matter.

The NDA government had earlier tabled such ordinance bill in the lower house of Parliament but had to withdraw the same, in wake of the opposition from its own allies particularly by the RJD and Samajwdi party.

Mulayam Singh said his party will oppose the bill because 'it is part of the Congress' anti-Muslim policy'. 'It is a bill that would make Muslims second-class citizens and create an inferiority complex among them,' the Samajwadi Party leader said. He cited the Supreme Court order making 'clear that the custodian of such properties, the government, should return the properties to the inheritors'. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supported the Samajwadi Party.

Now the ordinance bill is amended and cleared by the Cabinet. It is ready to be reintroduced in the winter session of the Parliament but is unlikely to sail through due to its controversial nature.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena are opposed any change in the bill. Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj has threatened to block the bill if the government brought in amendments.It is likely that the ordinance bill will be referred to a Parliamentary standing committee of for a review.

This means that the legal heirs of the Enemy property have to wait for some time more to get the custody of their ancestral property. Will they eventually get it or not get it is a matter of guess.

As we see this issue being shifted from the courts to the Parliament, it has opened up few fundamental questions that seek answers. The first pertains to India Pakistan relationship and the second relationship between the government and the Indian Muslims.

Let’s take up first question; are India and Pakistan still enemies? This has to be answered keeping in mind the sprit of Simla agreement 1972, Samjhauta Express was started in 1976 and Vajpaye visit to Lahore in 1998, rushing aids to flood victims to Pakistan in 2010. If the answer is candid NO, then the nomenclature “Enemy” to the property ordinance bill 2010, is a misnomer.

If the government is really committed to conduct the future dialogue with Pakistan in a friendly and positive framework, then it should consider dropping the tag “Enemy” with the property ordinance bill 2010. This would certainly be a confidence building measure in the future India- Pakistan dialogue.

The word is also offensive to hundreds of Indian Muslims beneficiaries who are being treated as offspring of “Enemy.” The definition of enemy excludes citizens of India and in this context the heir and successor cannot be termed as enemy and by virtue of this fact, the property of an Indian citizen can not be termed as enemy property.

In this context, it is interesting to note that while the enemy property belonging to Mohmmad Ali Jinnah in Mumbai is decided in favors of his legal heir Nusli Wadia, the same norm is not applied to the legal heirs of others of all such ancestral properties.

Does this mean, there is one set of norms for the descendants of the founder of Pakistan and else for other legal heirs of such property? If we stretch this argument further, does this mean there is a separate yardstick used for the Parsis of India and the Indian Muslims?

The ordinance bill 2010 gives a new meaning to the Enemy Property Act 1968. In one stroke, the entire legal battle that has been fought over this issue for decades has been brought to naught. It is a clear cut example of the executive action encroaching on the legislative power. The executive has annulled all the court orders and by doing so has assaulted the Indian judiciary, its surprising there is no murmur over this issue anywhere in the country.

The ordinance bill 2010 has a far reaching consequence on the Indian Muslims. It disallows legitimate legal process for rightful Indian heirs including the right to succession, adoption, hiba and other matters related to Muslim Personal Law enshrined in Indian Constitution.

This ordinance also creates a precedent that because of inexplicable reasons the rights of individuals and especially those of the minority community could be superseded without permitting them to have recourse of law. It denies legal access to several poor and hapless Muslims who cannot afford to engage a lawyer and who cannot produce the citizen document within 120 days

The gist of the matter is that the enemy property ordinance bill is brought in the Parliament due to pressure from the Hindu tents and encroacher that have lost their case in the Supreme Court. It reminds of Shah Bano case with a different plot.

Since the ordinance bill 2010 do not have political ramification on the larger Muslim vote bank, the government has embarked on the policy to rob the ‘Peter to pay the Paul.’

However, such approach reflects on the character of the governance, thats being tout to be based on the principles of democracy, socialism and secularism, the three key words enshrined at the preamble of the Indian constitution.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

Chennai Sex Worker's Woeful Tales

Chennai Sex Worker's Woeful Tales
Syed Ali Mujtaba

Meet Kalaivani, a Tamil woman with short hairs, plump figure and dusky looks, was trafficked from Chennai to Singapore in 1997, when she was 24 years of age. She was promised a job, but ended up as a sex worker, soliciting customers on the streets to fend herself in the island nation. However, she could barely do this for two months, when Singapore police caught Kalaivani and deported her to Chennai.

In a frank conversation, Kalaivani, narrates her true story. I am from Sivgangai district of Tamil Nadu, and came to Madras to live with my husband, after getting married at the age of 19. He worked in the cine field and life ran smooth for some years. We had two children, a son and a daughter.

Then calamity stuck on our family, my husband passed away, leaving behind huge debts and two young children to be raised up. The responsibilities fell on me, but being a traditional village woman, I did not know what to do. Then one of my husband’s friends suggested me to go to Singapore and work for some time there and that is how I could clear my debts and look after my children. Having no other go, I exactly did what I was told, just to realize that there was no job for me in Singapore . Those who had brought me there forced me to become commercial sex worker. I was lucky to be deported to Chennai but my woes did not end here as well.

With people, knocking doors asking for money my late husband had borrowed, and the burden of bringing up the two children, willingly, unwillingly, I forced myself into the world’s oldest profession of the world. Even tough, I was able to clear the debts by 2003, but I continued the profession for the sake of my children.

Her son now an engineer and recently got married and her daughter is finishing her graduation in computer science, Kalivani has left the profession for good. She has become a peer educator in HIV/ AIDS promotion programme and running an NGO called Indira Female Peer Education Collection (IFPEC) for the welfare of the commercial sex worker in the Chennai. IFPEC has 2250 members and works for the rights of the sex workers, like, police harassment, old age pension, ration cards, life insurance, old age shelter etc.

If Kalaivani’s tale is chilling, the story of Baby is no less gripping. Her account is of a girl, whose love failure forced her to choose the fallen path and there was no coming back from there.

Baby was 17, doing her 10th standard in Hyderabad . Her father worked in the railways. A young man who too worked with his father used to visit his house. That is how a girl meets a boy story blossomed and the two lovebirds eloped to Madras . They looked forward to lead a new life working in the cine field. In three months time, Baby became pregnant. When she excitedly told this news to her boy friend, with whom, until now she had a living relationship, the man who loved her to the level of madness, one fine morning left her never to return back. Heartbroken, Baby did not know how to negotiate her life.

Life was a nightmare for me, Baby said, dropping her eyes, confirming she is an alcoholic. I had no money; I cannot go back to parents, as they may not accept me being pregnant. Having eloped, I already had damaged their reputation making them the talking point of the entire locality.

At this point of time, I wanted to commit suicide but my neighbor came to my rescue and got me a job, as a house cleaner in the Kodambakam locality, where the tinsel world of Kollywood is located.

However, I was not making much money and after I delivered the baby and left her in the orphanage, the monetary pressure grew. My neighbor, suggested me to visit some clients and that is how was pushed to the profession of commercial sex worker.

During the 30 years of my career I earned very well, Baby said telling with remorseful eyes. I remember, it was 1973 and my first client gave me Rs 50, and when I left the profession in 2003, someone paid me Rs 1000, Baby said with a smile. I had cleared all the debts of the marriage of my daughter that took place in 2000 and after that there was little meaning for me to continue the profession.

She narrates her experiences how her clients tortured her. They came drunk with the bottle and made me drink as well, Baby said telling the reason how she becomes addicted to alcohol. It was very difficult for me to kick of the habit, and I had to attend a conditioning camp for a month to get over the problem of alcoholism. Baby, who now drinks occasionally, works as councilor at the Indian Community Welfare Organization (ICWO), an NGO in Chennai, has dedicated her life for the welfare of the sex workers, something she had never to look up to when she was part of the profession.

Well does someone fall in love with sex workers? If the story of Mary is to be believed, the answer is big yes. Mary hails from Kerala and at the age of 21, she was brought to Chennai to work as house cleaner. She lived in a home that had four girls and three other elderly people, one male two females.

Mary before could realize what was going on in the house where she lived, police raid took place in that house and Marry was arrested along with the other members of the family Mary did not know the house where she lived was not a real house but infact was a brothel.

She was sent to remand house and after 15 days when she came out, the person who had brought her from Kerala, was waiting for her on the gates. He told her, she was sold to him for Rs 25,000 and unless, she clears that off she cannot walk free.

Mary narrates her tale in sobs and tears; I had no other go but to act to the wishes of that pimp. He used to get me the clients or sent me to them. It is during one those meetings with a regular customer, she narrated her story and the customer showed sympathy and took her out of the clutches of the pimp.

It was a fairy tale, he kept me like a queen and we loved each other mad. I always, longed for a family and a home, and when I became pregnant, I was on cloud nine never to realize that this was the undoing, my savoir and my messiah left me for good at the mercy of Jesus Christ.

Life should not give such shock to anyone, Mary said with tears. I had an emotional breakdown several times but I came over them only for the sake of my child. Having, no means of livelihood I had to revert to the profession as sex worker. Now when her son is happily married, leading a life of its own, Marry is brimming with satisfaction. What a successful conclusion to all my trial and tribulation, I live this day to see him happy, says Mary who now works as a volunteer in AIDS control board.

A survey conducted by the Indian Community Welfare Organization (ICWO), the NGO working with sex workers, estimates there are about 6500 sex workers in Chennai city. The survey updates the figures of the World Health Organization (WHO) that had identified 3000 sex workers in Madras in 1993.

The secretary of the ICWO, AJ Hariharan, who was part of the WHO survey, says the Chennai’s sex industry stands on four pillars -- sex workers, clients, brokers and police. It is a chicken and egg syndrome where it is difficult to say who surfaces first in the cycle of sex work, says Hariharan.

According to the survey, the commercial sex workers in Chennai are classifies into four categories; family-based, street-based, brothel-based and mobile sex workers.

There is a fairly well organized and systematic method of recruiting the women into the city’s sex trade. Most are picked up from regular conduit points in the adjoining states at prices ranging from Rs 100,000 to 300,000.

The relationship between the broker and the newly recruited sex worker is governed by a contract. Brokers go periodically to the recruitment points and procure girls on 37-day contracts. The girls are paid 50 percent of the contracted sum up front as an advance while the remaining dues are paid on their return after the completion of the contract. For those who are set up at brothels, owners provide breakfast and lunch during their stay, while dinners are normally the clients’ responsibility.

Though the sex workers are on contract for 37 days, they eventually end up being paid for only 30 days. Menstruation and travel time are cited as reasons for cutting a week's salary.

The entire sex industry in Chennai, it is said, flourishes under police protection, something not entirely unbelievable given that many ‘prominent’ middle-men and brokers have been around in this business for quite some time. Owners of brothels that function openly and street sex workers pay a fixed amount of money to the police to avoid arrest and harassment.

Despite the precarious conditions of the work, the sex profession continues to attract a steady stream of girls in Chennai. Most join the profession because of poverty and financial obligations, mainly family debt. Others land into this following failed marriage. In fact, as many as a third of the respondent said they came into the profession because their husbands had left them. Social factors also have a role to play, as is evident from the fact that nine percent say they entered the trade because their lovers had deserted them.

Significantly, the majority of sex worker’s main priority is the child’s future, and more than 75 percent do not want their children to follow their example. More than 30 percent wanted to send their children to boarding schools while 14 percent thought it safer to deposit them with relatives. Tragically, however, more than one fifth are convinced that they will be unable to stop their children from entering the profession.
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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com