Vol 11No 07Pages 08JUNE 15, 2018 ﻮر य ﯽ اﻟﻨ गम ﻟ ोत ﺖ ا ﻤ ٰ ा ﻠ ﻈ म ﻟ ो ا ﻦ स ﻣ म त U N IR IV M ER H MERC TIMESSITY OF KAS MEDIA EDUCATION RESEARCH CENTRE UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR Kashmiri Hindu Family Exhibits Remarkable Collection of Islamic Manuscripts Finding a perfect match gets INSIDE {STORIES} hard in Kashmir KU Students Kashmiri Girls Mostly Opting Technical Courses as Career Path P 02 Design Smart Helmet P 04 P 06 ﻮر य ﯽ اﻟﻨ गम ﻟ ोत ﺖ ا ﻤ ٰ ा ﻠ MEDIA EDUCATION RESEARCH CENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR ﻈ म ﻟ ो ا ﻦ स ﻣ म त U N IR IV M ER H SITY OF KAS Vol 11 | No 07 | JUNE 15, 2018 2 Wajeeha Ali “Our family has 250 Quranic calligraphy collections and 130 of them are on the vellum - a Srinagar paper made from the skin of goat or camel,” Abrol Hindu family’s remarkable collection of said. Islamic manuscripts turned out to be a He further said that they have brought two A crowd puller in the city in June. Our family has handwritten Qurans - one on a four-and-a-half A mega exhibtion of rare Quranic maniscripts, feet by five feet cloth and the other on a five-feet elegant calligraphic works and various art 250 Quranic paper. masterpieces attracted a number of people in the calligraphy Shajrah- e-Nasab of Prophet Muhammad city in June this year. What was different about the (PBUH), which is about 24-feet-long with pure collection was that belonged to a Hindu family. collections gold illumination also adorns the walls of the TRC Suresh Abrol, who has preserved these and 130 of building. manuscripts, says that these are a part of his The family also has a laboratory to take care of grandfather Lala Rekhi Ram Abrol’s collections. them are on 5,000 manuscripts written in Arabic, Persian, “He was Maharaja’s jeweller and had a great the vellum - a Sharda, Ayurveda and Sanskrit. jewellery collection. My father sought only one The calligraphy section also features artworks thing in inheritance — these ancient manuscripts paper made by renowned artists and the exhibition offers a and other collections. We consider them our real from the skin glimpse into rare Islamic manuscripts. inheritance”, Suresh said. Abrol and his two brothers have converted The exhibition called “Shireen Qalam” was of goat or their home into a museum. They look after the organized by the J&K Academy of Art, Culture camel collection and are provided guidance by the state and Languages in association with the Department culture ministry. of Tourism and the Indian National Trust for Art “We spent our own money for their and Cultural Heritage at the Tourist Reception preservation. “This is our passion and it is for the Centre (TRC) building here. first time that the collection has been taken out of Jammu and Kashmir Minister of Culture, Naeem the house”, he said. Akhtar inaugurated the exhibition on Thursday and will continue “It was the state’s cultural department’s suggestion”, he added. to be displayed for the public till June 11. The calligraphy section features artworks by renowned Over a hundred rare Quranic manuscripts, including “Nuskha artists and the exhibition offers a glimpse into the rare Islamic Fatehullah Kashmiri” written by Fatehullah Kashmiri in 1238 manuscripts. One of them is “Sad Pand Luqman” of Hakim AD, exquisite calligraphic works, and remarkable art objects were Luqman, which is a Persian manuscript by Peer Baksh of Punjab. on display. A Quran dated 961 AH (roughly 1553) written on Samarqandi Nuskha Fatehullah Kashmiri is the oldest available Quran paper, and a Persian translation of the Quran by Mir Saeed manuscript in Kashmiri calligraphy. Andrabi in 1850 is also on display. Other manuscripts that attracted visitors’ attention include the Kashmiri Hindu family’s love for displaying Islamic manuscripts copy of the holy book dating back to 1594 AD and considered to be on the public forum is not a mere exhibition but has passed a Kashmiri Hindu Family Exhibits Remarkable Exhibits Remarkable Hindu Family Kashmiri Manuscripts of Islamic Collection the only sample in the world written in saffron ink. messaged of communal harmony among people. ﻮر य ﯽ اﻟﻨ गम ﻟ ोत ﺖ ا MEDIA EDUCATION RESEARCH CENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR ﻤ ٰ ा ﻠ ﻈ म ﻟ ो ا ﻦ स ﻣ म त U N IR IV M ER H SITY OF KAS Vol 11 | No 07 | JUNE 15, 2018 3 Finding a perfect match gets hard in Kashmir Fajr Shora Srinagar The middleman onsidered to be the epitomein matchmaking, Manzimyuor(Middleman) plays a key role told us the boy Cin fixing marriages in the Kashmir Valley. is settled in Although there is a very old tradition in which both men and women take part in bringing together London and families for marriage but in contemporary Kashmir Middleman plays a central role in fixing marriages. he is from a Surveying all the localities and preparing a list of respectable eligible boys and girls is the most important step for them.Very less divorce rates in the valley suggest family but after the success of matchmaking done by the middlemen while some allege they lie and charge arbitrarily few days we making ordinary people suffer. came to know “When a girl has to get married in Kashmir she first has to undergo a mental torture by parading before a that the guy “Manzimyuor” and only after seeking their opinions and approvals, the suitable match is suggested”, says was divorced by Zia Mushtaq, a resident of Karan Nagar.Kashmiri his first wife people have been held as psychological hostages by these few manipulative people who would say anything to make money at the cost of innocent lives, she added. financially sound, she added. “The middleman told us the boy is settled in London and he is Imran who is about to get married in two months from now said from a respectable family but after few days we came to know that “we have other options like online matchmaking but that involves the guy was divorced by his first wife,” said Nayeema, a resident a lot of risk so it is better to rely on middlemen”. of Khanyar. Marriages are tangled in unnecessary rituals and While talking to MERC Times a manzimyour said“we try to find customs and the manzimyuor being the bridge between the two the match which Allah has already written in heaven, we are just families makes people spend a lot of money even if the family is not carrying out a heavenly task”. Ramadan 2018 Succour in Ramadhan Maleeha Irshad “We will continue this mission and I believe that humanity is the ultimate goal of humans. Baramulla Such acts and initiatives acts a glue of affection local non-governmental organisation and also set an example for others to work for the has begun to serve special meals to humanitarian cause,” Mursaleen said. A the patients and their attendants at The members of the NGO describe the initiative the district hospital here and the sub-district as a selfless service to mankind intended at hospital in Sopore during the ongoing month of sending a good message to the society. A number Ramazan. of volunteers deliver the food in the hospitals at The heartwarming initiative by the Sopore- the time of the Sehri and Iftari. based NGO Pankhh has helped the devotees, Approximately 500 people are served daily at especially the attendants who are tending to the two hospitals in the towns of Baramulla and their ill relatives, to keep up with their religious Sopore. obilgation. The meals are being served both at Khaleel Peerzada, a student said that Pankhh is the time of Sehri and Iftari. engaged in several other social welfare activities. Founder of the NGO Advocate Mursaleen Mir told MERC of their organisation but also an act of good deed in the “The best thing they are doing is the distribution of Iftar and Times that their intiative is not only just one of the works rewarding month of Ramazan. Sehri food among the patients,” he said. ﻮر य ﯽ اﻟﻨ गम ﻟ ोत ﺖ ا MEDIA EDUCATION RESEARCH CENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR ﻤ ٰ ा ﻠ ﻈ म ﻟ ो ا ﻦ स ﻣ म त U N IR IV M ER H SITY OF KAS Vol 11 | No 07 | JUNE 15, 2018 4 KU Students Design Smart Helmet The helmet is fitted with an accelerometer or speed sensor which filters the jerk ratio. If jerk goes beyond threshold limit, the receiver fitted in bike is triggered Fazil Buchh the guidance of Arshid Iqbal Khan, a SMS,” explains Mehak, another girl innovations today focus on a few things Phd scholar in the department. Others from the team. like MP3 player, wireless phone or Srinagar namely Mehak Shafi, Khushboo Fayaz Mehak who happens to be a jocular flashlights on the top of the helmet but and Lubna Malik also contributed person among the four, in a serious tone none of these features give a guarantee henever she saw her equally. asserts that the time is what matters that they are meant to be used for bike brother leaving for college The idea makes motorcycle driving the most. If everything is done on time, rider’s safety”. Won a motorbike without safer than before by making it we can save half the lives at minimum “Smart helmet tend to provide solution a helmet, Kashmir University’s compulsory for the rider to wear the that are lost due to bike accidents.