Assorted Fun in Jamia School

During 80's

As an assorted entertainment during school days there were many inclusions to our basket.
Although seasonal, but important part of student life, beside curriculum.
Many types of trees were part of our school campus, Gul Mohar, Shehtoot, Bel paththar & jungle Jalebi (I don’t know their botanical or English names).
It was our favorite activity to enjoy flower of gul mohar.
We used to pelt stone to take those buds out from the tree to eat,
they were simply delicious due to their tangy taste.
I don’t remember a year without eating flowers during my stay in school.
It was a real beauty to see flourished colorful Gul Mohar tree of green branches with red flowers on them.
Those trees were all over but densely situated on the peripheral way to fine arts department.

Jungle jalebi
I don’t have its English name but those who know it by this name might have their mouth full of water!
Scorching & sizzling summer never be a hurdle for those who likes to enjoy this unique fruit.
Back side of baghbani in middle school & next to Bhopal ground was the location to find jungle jalebi.
Since the branches have thorns, it was damn difficult to climb & pluck the fruit.
Ghulail or good aimers were always having an advantage to get more in less time.
I still remember to collect jungle jalebi along with Kamil Hasan, Mohammed Talib, Shakeel, Muqeed etc in Bhopal ground.

Bel Paththar

These trees were under secured mode & guarded properly due to its fruit & healing benefits.
Few of them situated in Baghbani of middle school, Baghbani of faujdar sahib (in between school field & jamia nursery).
In baghbani, it was Baba din who made it very difficult for us to steal this fruit & it was next to impossible with Faujdar.
A group of four to five people were always ideal to execute this mission.
I think I have mentioned in one of my post earlier of falling bel paththar on one of my friend.
Once ditching baba din & getting at least two pieces of fruit, it used to be a party time.
It was equally dangerous to climb on tree due to all the fruits bearing branches were weak & it was always a risk of fall.

Kammu ka khet

On the way to Jamia College from store, just after Maktaba Jamia, where MCRC is situated now, it was a big piece of land, very fertile & always green with seasonal vegetables & fruit trees.
Barricaded by wired fence & Kammu’s vigilant plus violent approach, it was very difficult to sneak through & try something that violates kammu’s commercial interests.
But, as usual we always broke through his fence to steal Amrood (guava) mainly & some time Gaanth gobhi.
By the time he travel 20-25 meters almost running, we were through with few guava on road.
The calculation proves sometime wrong & few get caught & few get the taste of his batten instead of guava.
Impact of hitting with stick, although bad & painful but controllable while trapped with kammu was very bad as finally one has to bail out on parents request or known person means a lot of humiliation & firing.
Never mind, Kammu’s Amrood were really good so as Gaanth Gobi, Gajar & mooli.
Kammu used to sell fresh vegetables & fruit to Jamia employees & to local market on reasonable rates.

Faujdar Saheb ki Baghbani

It was very difficult of get an access to his farmland for the purpose to steal.
All four sides were properly protected wig barbed wired fence along with branches of babool/keekar.
The only way possible to try was from playground.
Mooli (radish), gaanth gobhi, Gajar (carrot), Amrood (guava), Jamun were big attraction of his orchid & they were very tasty indeed.
Another problem that made our mission more difficult was his two son Gulzar & mukhtar.
In fact Mukhtar was with me & in his presence all the times made it very difficult to avail any fruit.
I have never given up in my life & so my friends were also hungry for those tasty fruits & tried all means to fine a pass hole.
Finally during hockey practice session we found one, properly inspected for operation & then left covered with tree branches for tomorrow.
Next day I sneak inside with kamil to steal Radish, we succeeded too but at the time of returning, Faujdar sb.noticed our unauthorized presence.
He shouted & starts running towards us & we did the same.
He recognized both of us & while escaping through barbed wires, I got my school shirt stuck & finally torn.

I enjoyed mooli with my friends but worried about shirt as what to say at home.
My eyes blinks & I thought of an excuse without knowing that Faujdar Sb already conveyed our activity to our parents.
My mother asked me the reason & I lied to her, knowing the facts, I got some nice imprints on my body & face.

I promised never to steal anything from any where in near future.
It was a promise based temporary on emotions to find an escape route.
I must admit that stealing amrood, mooli, gajar, gaanth gobhi were really a fun & I never get the same taste since after leaving the school.

I don’t know whether Faujdar sb’s. Plantation still exist but kammu’s khet were part of our memories during our school days to give way to MCRC.

As small shehtoot were in abundance in jamia, there fore we found it easy to eat wherever & whenever required, however the bigger version was available only at limited places.
While looking back, I wonder how people become very busy now days!!

We used to have plenty of time after school timings & used to sit in school for multiple activities.
May be those days were more secured & parents have faith in school.

Iam sure many of you reading this have similar past when it comes to sweetness of an AMROOD.

Time out in campus-2 (1987-91)

Being an internal student, entering to engineering faculty was not more than a curse for many of us.
Ready to take the challenges of life & many dreams to become an engineer were first to evaporate after attending few classes.
It was not because of course contents & any difficulty to understand them but, due to very bad behavior & biased attitude of many faculty lecturers hails from a particular institution.
They were anonymously against all internals due to the reasons unknown with the exception of a handful lecturers.
This was the time when I experienced a totally new jamia although I was from third batch after commencement of Bsc.Engineering in 1984-85 by Prof.Ali Ashraf, VC at that time.


It was a common practice of many lecturers to demoralize internals in classroom followed by an expulsion from the period with an exception of Mr.Waqar/Mr.Masood Alam (chemistry), Prof.Rafat (physics), Mr.Afaq (English), Mr.Idrees Qureshi (math’s) who were really good to act like a lecturer without any prejudice during my first year in 1987.


But one good factor that prevails during those days was Prof.Mubeen , who was indeed a fair person to judge people & understands their problem.


That’s the reason why he was considered a good Dean of faculty of engineering.


Whether it was Mr.Mehtab Alam, Mr.Shakeel, Mr.Gohar mehmood or any body, they were openly found discussing & disgracing JMI & students coming from Jamia School.


It was very difficult situation to live & cop with.


We were targeted & labeled as bad students, political bugs, miscreants & disturbing elements by them without even a single justification to their accusations.


The day starts with taunting & ends in disgrace.


The whole first year we spend was in real misery & the same attitude was thoroughly reflected in the sessional marks given by them.


It was the second years when we start to sustain their accusations although we never faced this kind of problems with external students, as we were just colleagues & part of engineering faculty.
Mechanical, civil & electrical respectively were the only trades available during our times with priority to mechanical, civil & then electrical.


Initially I was allotted with Mechanical & changed my discipline to civil & registered as the first student rolled back to civil from mechanical.


There were many who has opted a policy to degrade internals in class room as their hidden agenda but, it was Mehtab Alam who came openly against including Mr.Shakeel (hydraulics).


I still remember when he literally abused one of my colleagues & he felt dejected.
It can be understood easily that how bad he would have felt because I couldn't’t resist the pain & voiced against Mehtab Alam.
He was surprised because it was the first time when he was opposed by some one.
I stopped him & told clearly that he has no right to abuse & go personal.
He then emphasized on to hold all of us for another six years in engineering & I took his challenge & told him to go for it.


He targeted most of internals & to me in sessional marks & finally long awaited results came out!
While taking mark sheet/Grade sheet from the office, he caught me along with his colleagues.
Satirically asked me about my results & I bluntly told him that I got passed & he failed.
Didn’t understand & I elaborated further, Mr.Mehtab, you have tried with your associates to hold me in second year by giving very bad grades in sessional, but it is Allah’s grace that I performed well & exams grades are far better than of yours.
There fore never try to abuse anybody with or without reason.
You will loose the respect of a teacher.
Despite of all kind of abuse pondered by those people, there were few, who always acted like a teacher & one of them was Mr.Rasheed Ahmed (environment).
In fresher’s party arranged by second year students, he was the only one openly spoken few words in favor of jamia internal students.
He mentioned & I remember “Please do not degrade internal in any specific way, they are no way inferior to any of external in any regards. If we extend our trust on them, then we will find them performing better than any body else in the college, not only in education but in other fields too”.
This statement took all others by surprise( the one belongs to a particular institution & formed a sort of mafia in JMI), except for Mr.Khalid Moin, Mr.Nusrat ullah khan, Dr.Rafar, Mr.Waqar, Mr.Masood Alam, Dr.Idrees Qureshi & Dr.Mubin who indeed were very fair in their treatment to all students.
Mr.Rasheed’s statement was a cold breeze in the midst of a desert & we have felt a sigh of relief & committed our self to perform better.
It was one of the reason that Engineering final year’s results faded the faces of Mafia indulged in abusing internals.
Topper of Civil & electrical in 1991 were from Jamia senior secondary school.

It might be possible that all those names I aforementioned becomes big bosses & transformed themselves in unbiased entities now, but they should not forget that JMI is the only institution which enabled them to attain high position in academics & in society.
They must feel sorry for their behavior like a person & as a teacher.

There are many other episodes related to college days has to come!

Memory lane...JMI, Ansari Health Centre

Ansari health center is of course very established & advance now days but it was small with limited people during our days.
The main people at dispensary were Jafer bhai (late), sadaqat bhai & Dr.Asma.
The worse part of dispensary was Dr.Asma & the best Jafar bhai & sadaqat bhai.
Looking at the perspective of just a student with no great reference will put more light to my comment about Dr.Asma.
She never considered herself lesser than Indira Gandhi, PM of India.
Whenever you go to her, for cough, fever, cold or pain, she always keeps you waiting for a long time.
She gives preference to top grade people of JMI, like professor, readers & then teachers.
No matter how long the queue is, they always get instant entry upon arrival.
Some time, even other employee of jamia gets frustrated by this,
but what to do?
She was the only doctor available, There fore live or leave, it is all up to you.

During checkup, she seldom put stethoscope & rarely touches you to examine any thing.
Your check up is over without even looking at you & your prescription always remains self explanatory of the discrimination in AHC by Dr.Asma.

You always end up in diluted syrup from one gallon bottle with loose tablets of vitamin C, yellow color B complex, aspirin or paracetamol & some time phenyl butazone.

In contrary, any professor & top grade employee or even acquaintance of Dr.Asma goes with fresh packed bottle & strips of tablets.

Those were the issues, really annoyed many of us during those days, that’s how, I never get well even a single time by her prescription.
May be, due to my mental blog about her.

However, if you go to dressing lab, the whole dispensary looks totally different.

Jafer Bhai: he was an old man with black & white moustaches & old fashion spectacles.
His smile was very bad & students always afraid to go to him.
He always has either red or blue lotion for your injury & belladonna tape for boils.
The problem was not with lotion or tape, the actual problem of his talking & handling your injury.
The way he talks made you half finished & balance after you come out of lab.
Despite all, no body hated him ever; yet, we don’t like him but always respected him because he knows parents of every one.
He is no more in this world now, but whenever I think of dispensary, I cant forget his eyes & smile.
Sadaqat Bhai: Unlike jafer bhai, Sadaqat bhai was hot favorite.
He was young compare to jafer bhai & was very quiet & calm person. Always listen & try to understand your problem.
He also uses the same medicine but with a difference.
People gets little pain while handled by him rather than jafer bhai.
His practical jokes of jamia staff was also liked by many.

Once after facing a lot of frustration by Dr.Asma, I have decided to write my own prescription on card.
I did it & pharmacist caught me & referred to Dr.Asma.
It was the time when another Fellow has joined AHC, Dr.Khalid.
She summoned me & as usual threatened me of reporting the matter to school principal & consequences of getting expelled from the school.
I was little afraid by this because, it was for sure that I did a big mistake & it will be difficult to get rid of this lady.
Dr.Khalid asked me why you did this.
I told him that, it was a long queue & I was getting late to class.
She was attending to those not in line & also, I wanted to avail good medicines as we all are paying equal fee whether student of professor.
She became defiant after listening to this & I had remained with no alternate to throw a “SORRY”.
Dr.Khalid came to my rescue & advised me to leave after saying sorry.
I felt relaxed while coming out from dispensary & promised my self to never repeat mistake & never consult Dr.Asma.
That was my last encounter with her & I never visited her due to available alternative.
Stories keep coming to me during college days that she remained unchanged.

Jamia Middle School...Art Teacher (hafizuddin Sahib)

• Ek, Do, Teen (One, two, three), Khamosh!! (Quiet),
  This was a normal hearing during art class conducted by Hafeezuddin sahib to keep the students quiet during Art period in jamia middle school.
  Very tall, thin & slightly dark complexion man with conical shape beard, white topi & wasket of khadi gram uddyog.
  With this attire & a different attitude, Hafiz sahib was al together carry a different persona in school.
  I don’t remember exactly, but in nutshell he tried his level best to teach us art & many of us turned to be a big zero in arts including myself.
  The funniest thing we learned was his style to make the class quiet.
  Ek, Do, Teen was always an alarm to sealed the lips.
  As a steroid, he used to keep one stick always with him.
  In first attempt no body cares to listens Ek, Do Teen, until he repeat it three to four times before punishing the rest with the stick.
  Once he succeeds in keeping the pupil of first rows he moves to last rows allowing the first rows to starts chatting again.
  There fore, stick was always an effective & last resort.
  Keep your drawing note book, HB, HB1, B1 pencil, eraser, sharpener, water paints on the desk!
  None of students ever has all the accessories available with them.
  After all these repeated frustrating non cooperation from students, Hafizuddin sahib used to remain determined towards his teaching.
  He then used to move on black board with chalk & a duster in hands.
  I never witnessed that he ever progressed more than three to four themes during my entire art classes.
  Every grade we move, he updates the same models & asked us to generate the same with a clear cut understanding that we will never going to make up.
  He was right.
  I never generated more than three themes.
  1)Two cubes
  2) Two cubes with a utensil
  3) Human face out line
  4) Scenery.
  Now the last option always comes when he left the choice on students with a topic to draw “Man pasand” (your choice).
  It was the best options for many of us; we never hesitate to draw a mountain, setting sun, a river coming down having a hut on the bank of it, a boat, and lot of grass, a palm tree & outline of many birds returning home.
  
  May be 100 times we drew it.
  
  Hafizuddin sahib was patient enough to check all those repeated drawings with his remarks.
  During teaching & practicing, he taught us to adjudge the things in real & transform them on paper proportionately.
  Unfortunately, I never understood this funda despite of his grave efforts.
  Some times he beats the arrogant & dumb art students like me with duster, which in fact was painful.
  Girls were little sensible in their approach.
  Although they all were not very good in arts but their works were neat, tidy & clean all the times that fetched them high marks.
  Hafiz sahib was having a nick name given by Unknown but inherited to us by our seniors.
  "Chuggi balla"
  I never understand the full meaning of it; however it was really funny at that age to repeat this nick among friends.
  May be due to his height & type of beard some one has given this name.
  Although I know this is bad to give nicks to teachers but during school days, it was a normal practice & the one among few entertainments.
  If I regret at this age of that kind of attitude, then I will be denying a full student life, however, it can always be forgiven on the basis of childhood.
  Hafiz sahib was the most wanted & busiest person during one day’s school & talimi mela later.
  All the artworks, cutouts were under his supervision & students took benefits by working under his guidance.
  But there were few who slipped to his camp during those days just to grab a token in favor of Canteen to grab tea & samosas.
  According to Hafiz sahib every thing was an art & there fore few consider cheating him for the sake of samosa & tea as an ART!!!.
  I was among those who believe in Samosa & tea at that time back in 1980’s.
  

Past tense....Jamia Senior secondary (half yearly exams)

One of my school friend came to see Dubai recently.
He called me on my mobile from a familiar number; I replied & heard his voice.
Was happy to hear & know that he will be here for few days, further elaboration, I heard many voices from background & understood that he was with many people around.
Suddenly he skip on subject “Friendship” & reminded me of something happened during 1986-87.
He claimed his generosity of being my friend despite I complained about him to examination branch 20 years back!
I yelled & reminded him that, it is not his generosity; it is my truth fullness that I accept openly to what I did & pointed to think about those cheaters, who was with me to make a complaint & immediately switched over like today’s politicians & told him the same under my name!
I called them cheaters & they are still pretended his well-wishers.
Any how, our telecon concluded in a healthy atmosphere.
What actually happened 20 years back was really interesting to key down.
Actually, our friend “X” father was in examination branch, holding responsible position.
After half yearly results, we came to know about his position in the class, which on actual academic grounds he never deserves.
All knew that X is not very intelligent or laborious to get such high marks, then how comes he secured such marks was indeed the question to every body.
BAM, HZS & I sat together & reach to a conclusion that X can’t do this without help of his father.
Jinn of honesty enveloped our mind.
We decided to protest against injustice & brought to the notice of controller of Exams.
Finally, agreed & we sat together in Noor Nagar to write a complaint.
They asked me to write down matter on paper after composing the whole matter.
Upon finishing, we sealed it in envelope, stick postage & dropped in one of Red post box.
As normal, one of the fellow double crossed & immediately went o X & told that Zubair has written a complaint about you about securing good marks & accusing you of getting help from your father.
Days, weeks, months gone by, nothing has happened.
We remain together as friends with growing discomfort.
Finally X revealed the secret after two years during one of heated discussion.
I was shocked at first instance not because of news but due to accusation that I was made sole responsible for that epic.
I made him very clear that yes I was the one who wrote the letter, but there were more behind the whole scenario.
The one was BAM, who once again shifted his loyalty.
Never mind, he has repeated many things years after & may be who knows, he has matured with the same frame of mind.
The core reason when he taunted at me about that particular happening of 1986-87 in 2007, I replied to him,
More dangerous is the one who has cheated you, not the one who did & accepted.
He did his BUMS instead of engineering & now a successful doctor.
He was in Dubai for a week, enjoyed a lot & we went many times in past to dig out things & events.
This time while going back to India, he understand many things for the first time in his life because his new friends bypassed & ignored him once again & he remained limited with me, bel paththar & Gheyas.
I will try to key down many other events with X in coming days.

Past tense....Jamia Middle School (Picnic)

Picnic was always a long awaited event in middle school & specifically in primary section.
Once decided, students informed accordingly well in advance.
Picnic was a magic word, full of excitement & joy ahead.
Mind starts working for the event & parents get jammed by the repeated request & demand by their wards.
It was difficult to have a proper sleep before two days & very difficult just a night before.
The whole night mind bubbles with jamia ki lorry, different locations & a colorful day.
Finally morning starts with a bang!
Nice breakfast & Tiffin packed with some thing special by Ammi (mother).
Few rupees to spend & a water bottle to carry was a sign that excitement has begun.
It was mode of HURRY that attracts every single student to school on the day & class room is full of chatting with smell of different food.
I remember, we used to wait & look out side from the window to see arrival of Jamia ki lorry “Chevrolet bus” always driven by “Zaman bhai”.
It was two color bus, green & white with inscription of jamia millia islamia and logo.
I think suleman already mentioned about lorry in his memoirs.
Around 9-9.30 we used to get permission to board.
Once seated in the bus with desired partner, we discuss about what food other has brought.
Lorry starts moving & big shouting by all “Jamia ki lorry zindabad” and Zaman Bhai zindabad.
The first destination used to be Shankar’s doll museum or Rail museum followed by tughlaq fort or humayun tomb.
I personally like rail museum as i never had any interest for dolls.
Rail museum of India constitute of brief history of rail in India right from first steam engine to latest electric engine including diesel locomotive.
The steam locomotive that took tourist now to Darjeeling actually was stationed at rail museum in our times.
There was also a locomotive with mono rail; I always wonder how it runs?
Other than macho displays, there was one toy train & it was the last activity in rail museum to enjoy the ride & ends the visit.
After this, lodhi garden or Nehru Park was the next destination to play & have lunch.
All the teachers & students sit together & open their Tiffin boxes to share among them.
There were separate arrangements’ for hostlers from MATBAKH.
Once properly sits, food distributed among all & enjoyed.
The only hiccup after opening was some one’s screamed or cry, stating that his/her Tiffin found empty!
Most of the times victims were girls as boys were more vigilant about their Tiffin/belongings.
Boys used to target & steal the food from Tiffin in transition & enjoy it way before the lunch time.
There fore when such girl or girls see nothing balance, they start with a cry & then after intervention of teachers & students, settle down in sharing with some one.
The best part was that, food always remains surplus & every body gets chance to enjoy the variety.
Hostlers were the front runner because they always missed the home food.

After food & zuhr prayers, starts the field activities like, tug-o-war, ping pong etc where staff & students took part & enjoy every bit of it.
Few elder students used to walk through the park to see other attraction at those times.
Afterwards lorry heads for tin murti, Nehru planetarium, BAL bhawan etc.
Visiting Planetarium & bal bhawan was always informative & attractive.
By the time clock hits 5 or 6, every one of us looks extremely tired & that was the time when Zaman bhai put jamia ki lorry on the way back to school.
Very few students chatting, looking at each other fully satisfied & few students sitting at back, calculating their mischief.
The moment Lorry enters on Mohammed ali johar marg & after holy family hospital, students recollect their energy & starts again with “Jamia Ki lorry Zindabad” & Zaman bhai zindabad till we reach the D of Jamia middle school.
Many parents were waiting there for their wards & students like me used to walk home from there to conclude one of the best days in school but out, on a picnic.

In higher classes picnic remains but way of enjoyment transformed from one form to another with a difference.
I will try to key down few other picnic & tour in coming days.

Jamia Millia Islamia....Faiz Sahib JHSS

Faiz sahib.
Teacher of Mathematics in jamia higher secondary school during 1980's
It is Difficult to forget him, because of his personality.
More than 6 feet high, well built, white moustache & commanding voice made him distinct person of jamia higher secondary school.
He taught us mathematics in class IX & X in 1983-85.
I don’t have much of him in my memories as he was very senior teacher & I never had much interaction with him except for few incidences, I witnessed.
IX c was situated next to IXA below hostel no-2 & adjacent to sadar darwaza of higher secondary.
Those days faiz sahib was living back side of hostel-2/3 & he also in charge of dining hall.
The doors of class room were of old style & very high,
one day, some one purposely closed them from inside.
Girls tried to open all three doors, but to no result.
They start making noise & we all were happy inside.
After few minutes some body knocked the third door situated near to sadar dawaza.
No body opened, thinking girls are there.
Knocking becomes louder & then Fakhre mateen, our class fellow tried to become smart & went there to open.
Fakhre matin was from Bihar & resides in hostel, he was also well built person, almost taller than every one in IXC.
He opened the door in anticipation to get appreciation from girls & he found Faiz sahib standing just above his head.
Faiz sahib was very angry since he was knocking it since long time.
Without asking a single question or a word.
A hand like hammer went up, attains 8.5 feet height, dropped down & hit fakhre matin.
Since Faiz sahib took him by surprise & every thing happened all of a sudden, it shocked & shacked fakhre matin.
He was so afraid that we saw him pissed in his pants.
Faiz sahib asked him why he closed the door, before he would have unfolded the name of culprit, faiz sahib told him to go immediately & change his pants.
This was an episode will remain in my memory forever.
That’s was the days no body dares to look at faiz sahib, forget about making any noise in his class.
I never saw him using book while explaining theorems in the class.
Every thing to him was by heart.
He comes; start delivering lecture, same as illustrated in book, word by word & number by number.
We used to sit back, take notes & try to listen him.
Once he punished waheed from Delhi-6,resident of hostel-3 by holding his ears & lifting him up from the ground.
Faiz sahib was so gigantic.
Waheed was a jolly person, dark in complexion & won many prizes in mono acting in many events.
This was my little experience of faiz sahib during my stay in higher secondary school.

Jamia Millia Islamia...Jamia Sr.Sec.School

Malik sarwar khan inami, was our chemistry teacher in XI & XII in (1985-87).
Chemistry wasn’t a subject to talk much about but differs from other subject due to separate laboratory & peculiar style of teaching by Malik sahib.
He was a shorter height healthy person, with nice beard & bright face.
A smart person altogether.
He used to come to the class before five minutes & wait in his lab before appears behind the curtain to class room.
The first thing he does is to pick chalk & write “Chemistry” with date on black board.
Then holding chalk in his hand, he starts delivering the lecture in English, without a single word of Urdu.
Some time when he uses to call wasi sahib, his lab assistance in Urdu, he delivers Urdu in English style.
No joke, no smile, just flat teaching & in short a boring 40 minutes period.
Another specialty he used to say before ending his lecture was “rest we shall take to the next turn”
Other than few girls & buttering boys in front row, we all were fed up with dryness in class.
Some time when we talk about him, we used to describe him in chemistry that Malik sahib is although an inert gas but pale yellow with pungent smell.
There was not a single doubt abut his teaching. He was very serious & sincere in class. Used to deliver & finish syllabus in time disregard if it has been understood by students or not.
One funny thing was passed on to us by our senior was his nick name “MATRU”
His nick was the only way of entertainment for us.
I guess they termed him Matru due to his appearance & fast walking. (It may be derived from matar ka dana, which is round in shape & roll easily).
One day while waiting for him in class, he gets little late, students were sitting, chatting & laughing in class.
HZS was standing next to window overlooking principal office, just to alarm in case he arrives.
Suddenly he starts shouting “Matru aa gaya”, “Matru aa gaya” ( matru arrives).
He forgets that his voice can heard out side easily.
He kept shouting till he remain 10-15meters away & then every one went quiet & took respective places.
As usual Malik sahib went to lab washed his hands & appeared behind the curtain.
Instead going to black board where many of tried to write “Chemistry” in his style & forget to wipe it, he asked only one question. “Who was saying matru aa gaya”!!
Tell me “Who was saying matru aa gaya”
Pin drop silent.
No body wants to utter a single word.
Actually no body likes him; there fore he had no “chamchas” in class.
He waited before some one dares to accept, but to no avail.
He finally ordered “wasi sahib zara qamchi laayyega” (Mr.wasi please bring the stick)
Wasi sahib brought the stick; he asked every one to line up & he stand on the exit door.
One by one he punished every one with stick & adjourned the class in anguish.
Every one was happy to get additional 10-15 minutes of fun.
Once he took sessional test, I attempt it & person next to me QMD copied the same wording & without a single thought the same line was copied as it is by the whole row about seven students.
It was a rare incidence that we saw Malik sahib smiling in a satirical way & questioned, how it is possible that every one written same line with same wording?
He finally written off that question & none of us secured any marks on that.

We have noticed a drastic change towards ending of session of class XII.
He became little polite.

Actually he has started coaching for engineering entrance exams & invites many class XII students to join.
During 1986-87, he charged handsome amount from students, there fore majority of them couldn’t avail.
While coming out from examination hall after attempting entrance for engineering, we found Malik sahib standing out with few of his people approaching every single student of jamia senior secondary school to retrieve the questions.
His efforts didn’t stopped there, once he caught me in front of kewal store & talked to me for the same business.
Finally he succeeded in compiling list of model papers for entrance exams & for sure it brings nice fruit for him.
Looking back now from 2007 to 1987, I found that may be we were right in our thinking but Malik sahib was not wrong as per the materialistic approach.
He was doing exactly what a professional has to do.
At least he was doing all his efforts to make money rather trying to eat jamia, which in fact becomes the normal practice later.

Jamia middle school.....Hameed/Farooq sahib

Mathematics, always haunt many students in quite few ways.
That’s the reason, why most students tend to take tuition from Farooq sahib during my days in Jamia middle school.
While in VI standard, we have been introduced with a new teacher.
Hameed sahib.
Topi, sherwani, normal height & small black beard.
Smart, intelligent, quick & always carrying black leather bag with him.
Within few days we get afraid of his carry bag.
He joined school & every day made a practice to open his bag, took small stick out & hit all the students on their palms.
Believe me it hurts a lot & went worse during winter season.
Girl or boy, all has to keep their hands on desk, he comes with stick & hit right on the palm & a wave of pain intrude inside with sensations remains for 15 minutes & even later.
If you are late to the class, delayed in keeping book & note book on the desk, then you have to pay more price, otherwise, one hit was a normal practice.
He was awarded with one section & other section went to farooq sahib, who continued with his usual style of teaching at school & later giving tuition at home.

Since hameed sahib was good in teaching and due to his hit man habit, many students seek tuition from him to find an easy escape.
He lives near to zakir nagar mosque & specialty of his tuition was far different from farooq sahib or any other teacher at that time.
He rejected the normal style & adopted a new style, created a class room, placed chairs & Glass green board (black board).
This attracts many students despite he charged Rs.200 for one hour per student per month as compared to Rs.150 of farooq sahib.
Initially there was no problem, but the whole school smelled the rivalry between two teachers when students starts withdrawing themselves from farooq sahib & joined hameed sahib.
Farooq sahib often becomes irritated & frustrated due to this in class room & students have to face the heat.
Most of the time we saw his anger poured on to Mirza brothers.
Advantage with farooq sahib was that, he also teaches another subject & was class teacher not limited to one subject.
During half yearly examinations & specifically math’s paper, I got both of them as my invigilators.
It was like two lions in one territory.
I had some problem in one question & I asked hameed sahib near to me for clarification.
He came & told me if I can’t understand then attempt other question.
Hameed sahib went to other row & farooq sahib immediately approached me & asked what I was asking hameed sahib.
I repeated & told him that he refused.
Farooq sahib become little angry & explain me the question along with solution.
I felt delighted.
After few minutes, hameed sahib approached me again & questioned what farooq sahib was telling me?
I told him the truth; he asked how many questions balance?
I said five.
Do you find it difficult?
I said yes, one of them & I pointed out.
He then solved the other question for me.
Farooq Sahib was staring from another row & came soon after as hammed sahib departs.
Again the same things & I got another question.
Over all, their rivalry solved four questions for me.
Actually I was not alone in that room as beneficiary.
Tanweer ikram & Shamama khursheed were among others.
Looking back & remembering those days with such rivalry made me smile because students were benefited by them in so many ways, although what benefit I got was wrong.
I never took tuition of any subject throughout my career, yet I have given tuition to many since my school days.
I still remember, once hameed sahib came to me & offer me to join his classes free of cost & I refused him with thanks.
The reason of his offer was, he always cover more what he covers in class, therefore, majority of students took tuition from him to perform better in class & in sessional assessments.
I have given many additional hours to the subject at home & by the grace of ALLAH secured a position in grade VI.
Often I met Hameed sahib during college & senior secondary days.
He passed always smiling & I always look back to my palms.
This was another memoir of my school days.

Jamia senior secondary School...Gupta Ji

Gupta Ji, biology teacher in Jamia senior secondary school during my stay in 1983-87.
Even today I don’t know his full name, other than Gupta ji.
He was tall, dark & an old man in his 50’s.
Thorough gentleman & well versed with knowledge of his subject.
Biology lab was incomplete without gupta ji & jumman bhai (lab assistant).
I have chosen mathematics & Urdu in class XI, but have enough experience with gupta ji during IX & X.
When allotted with section c in IX standard in higher secondary school, I was pretty happy & satisfied because maximum friends of class VIII were there with me.
It was the first time that section c was created in 1983-84 due to bad results & complete IX A was filled with the students who didn’t succeeded to class X.
However, new to higher secondary school, new to biology class.
Those days biology class was situated on first floor, just above the chemistry lab & class.
The whole block was in symmetry with one on middle school side.
While coming from principal office, it was on the left side of pathway going to Jamia nursery school (new building) & extended up to playground over looking physics lab.

It was a biology period & we all were sitting in a jolly mood and listening to gupta ji.
Taqueer ikram, Rashid rafique, ZMA, QMD, HZS & I was sharing one table, & Tauqueer continuously saying some thing supported by Rashid rafique & ZMA.
Gupta ji once pointed out “beta chup ho jao” (Son, please keep quiet).
Since he was very polite & we were new to higher secondary school & the fellow sitting with me were really Guru, there fore they keep continue & I was part of them.
Some one laughed & gupta ji once again “Beta…..Khamosh ho jao”.
He just continued with cell, membrane & dissection & we continued with joke disections, totally unaware of next happening.
Tauqeer said some thing funny & we couldn’t stop our self.
Echo of our laughter went from one table to another, reaching to gupta ji & finally came back to us.
Gupta ji, stopped & asked angrily, who was he?
No one uttered a single word & gupta ji asked once again, who was he?
I thought, if I take the blame, then these people will be spared & what maximum will happen?
Gupta ji never beats any one, may be he will slap me once & that’s it.
On his third call, I raised my hand.
He then said, come here.
I went to his table.
He moved back to the door, closed it & took one thick piece of wood (palang ka paya) (I don’t know the English of it).
I looked at it & thought!!!
Zubair, this is your last day in school, in one hit you will have a broken bone!!
I also looked at my friends, they also in a state of shock, but not like me.
Another thought came to me that, today I will be paying the cost of friendship.
Gupta ji angrily moved at me, I closed my eyes & tighten my body in position of “saawdhan”(attention).
Yes, he struck me by holding it in both hands & I felt it on my hips.
Second one on the same place but all my thanks to ALLAH & to the termites.
That piece broken into two due to honey comb resulted by termite eating.( it was infested by termites almost 70%).
Gupta ji looked at broken piece & then at me!
Directed me to go & sit down.
Class finished.
All my friends asked if I get hurt?
I said, no.
We went to canteen, relaxed a bit & cursed Tauqeer ikram.
Tauqeer finally cleared the bill.
I decided not to take blame of any body, but it was a temporary decision & I repeated the mistake many times for my friends & still in practice, despite loosing too much in many ways.
Next day gupta ji called me & asked, did I get hurt?
He said to me, “I know you were not alone but you took the blame”.
Beta, class meiN khamosh rehte haiN, mujhe maarna achcha nahi lagta hai, ab khayal rakhna.
(Son, be quiet in classroom, I don’t like to beat any one, be care full next time).
I also forget yesterdays’ happening because his love prevails his punishment.

Jamia Millia Islamia....Jumman Bhai

JUMMAN BHAI was a prominent personality of jamia senior secondary school.

Basically he was responsible for many things in school other than administrative & teaching job.
Right from ringing of bell to provide mouse for dissection in biology lab, he was absolute.
Jumman bhai was having many friends with no enemy.
He was always smiley with cracking jokes to all the people.
It is very difficult for me to key down personality of jumman bhai, as he was a multidimensional man.
I still wonder from where he used to get rats for the laboratory?
There were three hostels in Jamia senior secondary school & I have witnessed many students going to jumman bhai’s house (within school boundary & adjacent to hostel-3) & taking breakfast, lunch & dinner. All free of cost.
During school time, many girls used to visit his house & the care shown by his entire family was beyond explanation.
If any hosteler is sick, it is jumman bhai, who used to take care of him.
Right from taking him to dispensary (Ansari health center), bringing back him to his house, comforting him with tea, milk & all kind of available facilities of home.
I never found any body complaining of jumman bhai right from students to the staff.
If some body dies then it was jumman bhai & his family who arrive first to console them.
When it comes to collecting money for Jamia masjid, it was jumman bhai & family along with mirza family who leads the way.
His support was not limited to the students of jamia senior secondary school; it went up to fine arts department situated next to school.
Iam sure that his earnings were way lesser than the teaching staff, but he leads all of them in many ways.
He was the one who even dare go to abdul haq khan saheb to influence his decision if it comes to the benefit of any student & was very much successful.
Although short in height by nature, his real height was more than many big people around.

If some body asks me what are the values of Jamia Millia Islamia & what culture does it have?
I will simply reply to him, go & meet Jumman bhai;

Love & affection for all, big heart to accommodate every one, gratitude, courage to share even if he doesnot have, bring smile to some one even he is in pain, teaching the practical things to the students even he was not a teacher, getting them familiar with truth of life by help of easy & thoughtful examples, taking initiative to help the needy are few features of Jumman bhai rather, feature of My beloved institution, JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA.

Jamia millia islamia...Mohammed Yusuf PAPA

Mohammed Yusuf PAPA, physics teacher, vice principal, Jamia senior secondary school.
Urdu poet of humor,
Simple person with a style of his own.
A brand with an ambassador within was all famous for many things.

Papa was a terror for students & every single student tries to even change the track on which papa used to come.
Still bright in my memories, whenever he enters from school gate, the track dividing the four lawns of middle & senior secondary school becomes utmost clear right up to his disappearance to one of the class room after crossing the centre stage.
Students disappear from his path like strong wind of a chopper disperses the grass around!
I already mentioned his onslaught on me in my previous journeys & that was the last for me, but there were some unfortunates, who had experiences it many times.
During practicals of measuring the current by ammeter in class XI, one of the very common episodes, iam sure many of the students may have gone through is,
Shunting of key & winding the wire on the knob.
Papa was very active all the times,
He saw QMD having some problems in taking the readings, he went & observed him.

QMD looked at him, he then said, “Shunt kar”.
QMD didn’t understood & papa repeated, “Shunt kar”
Papa lost his patience & shouted “abe soowar shunt kyoN nahi karta”?
QMD said, ok sir & he remove one connection going to ammeter!!!
“Tujhe shunt karma nahin aata? Din bhar bijar ki tarah ghoomta rehta hai”
Aa meiN tujhe shunt karooN!
He kept his wrist watch, as usual on table & praised QMD in every possible way he can.
After beating him, Papa becomes more ferocious.
It was bad luck of HZS who tries to play smart & come to papa & said, sir I did the shunting, but readings are not very good.
Papa went to his table, looked at the complete assembly, tried shunting & without shunting, same results!!
About to ask sami sahib to change the apparatus, he found the fault.
Now it was the turn of HZS.
HZS made a mistake while connecting copper wire, he winds the wire on knob at least five times & that was crime in papa’s lab.
He shouted again.
Soowar!!! Reading kaise aayegi?
Tu ne pagdi jo baandh rakhi hai.
(How you will get the reading? you have winded it like a turban)
Tujhe meiN pehnata hooN pagdi…..by the the time HZS said sorry, it was almost over.
These were little glimpses of our physics practical classes, English language is unable to express the real feelings we had experience at that time.

It was very common for papa to throw jokes while teaching, those jokes some times went out of proportion, but after all, he was PAPA.
Soowar (pig) was his pet word, chappan chhuri ka dance, tansen ki aulad, bahar kya teri amma nach rahi hai were few of his favourite dialogues.
Apart from all what I have mentioned above, every body might smell that papa wasn’t a good teacher or a good human being?
It’s not like that.
It is a reality that papa was not comfortable at all in numerical, but his theory was very clear.
I remember, during one of the sessional test.
One of my friends played mischievous.
It was papa’s style to provide spread sheet, thoroughly stamped, signed & stapled along with questionnaire.
With the same anticipation, my friend prepared some answers prewritten on loose papers.
Papa distributed the paper, students started attempting them.
As usual papa keeps close eyes on all.
My friend selected the required sheets & removed the pin from the original sheet & inserted the pre written answer sheets to the original by keeping the front page of original intact.
Papa, suspected him, went near to him, stands there for a while and took his answer sheet.
He then said, abe soowar, tu itna hoshiyar kab se hogaya ki saare sawal zara si der meiN hal kar diye?
(How you become so intelligent that you have finished all the questions in no time?)
There was no reply to his question & the ultimate thing has comes once again.
He beats him like a beast.
Throw him out side the class & assured him all the consequences preventing him to appear in exams.
Now, this was very serious.
After finishing the test, we assembled in muzaffar bhai ki canteen to seek a solution.
We have decided to meet papa to apologies.
The main question still remains?
Who will go & talk to him & where?
The way he acted, it means, he can repeat the same any time, any where.
Finally it was decided to go & meet him at home after Maghrib prayer.
A panel of four including me was agreed upon to seek his forgiveness.
Evening came & we all proceeded toward his house, at the entrance we encountered his son & our senior masood bhai.
We asked & he said papa is in.
We send the message that few students from school seek meeting.
He came out & looked at us!
We were frightened for some unexpected to happen.
Yes, it happened, but not the way we were thinking.
Papa, asked us, Kya tum sab iski sifarish lekar aaye ho?
We all said, we are here to seek your forgiveness & he was very afraid, so we accompanied him.
He then said, come in.
We went & sat in his drawing room.
He once again asked our fathers name & told us that whats has happened wasn’t good & we should be honest in what we are doing.
If we are not dedicated with honesty then it will be difficult to achieve the targets in our future life.
We were looking at him while he was talking, completely changed person, quite, smily & calm.
He then forgives him.
He offered us a cup of tea in nice bone china cups, totally different to the cups in muzaffar bhai ki canteen.
We all came out thanking ALLAH & Papa.
It was an achievement for us & we celebrated with Nihari roti in Batla house.
I think, he indeed was a nice person, because he had humorous imagination power.
It was his versatility that made him an icon in jamia millia islamia.
Later on after many years, I heard that students become “very bad students” & one of them has puffed cigarette smoke on papa’s face.

That was the end of one teacher & we never heard any story of papa from our juniors there after.
He has shouted because he knew that we listen to him, he beat us because he knew that we respect him like our parents, he loved us because he knew that we will never hate him.

He was a real person with no artificial flavouring of so called professionalism.
I still respect & love him & this will be conveyed to my kids forever.

Jamia middle school...(english)

It is a month since i posted something here, As usual busy schedule!!

It will be a total injustice if i don't mention the name of Ms.Razia yunus during the journey to Jamia middle school.
She came new when we entered in class V in 1979-80.
I mentioned previously that English as a subject starts in class V while Hindi commence in class III.
She was one of the good & since teacher we ever come across in middle school, so passionate & humble with sweet strictness.
Very keen in making every body understand much of the subject during class.
Since it was just a beginning, there fore excitement mixed with difficulty to understand a new language.
Her pet word was "Kachra", whenever she disagree or not happy with any student.
"Good boy", "Good girl", in case she pleased with some one's performance.
I still remember the good students of English in class, soofia khatoon, irfan ul aziz, irshad hameed, Aijaz zaidi, zia haider etc were prominent among all.
One day Razia madam asked me & aijaz to prepare a poem for morning assembly.
This instruction was not lesser than to step on a live bomb.
Just begun with ABCD & our madam want us to prepare & present a poem in morning assembly!!!
"Baba black sheep have you any wool" sounds very simple & easy now.
It was one of the hardest task for us at that time.
No second chance, no error & pronunciation must be perfect in conjunction with proper rhyme.
Reluctant, nervous & almost shaking while practising the same in the class.
Three days for practise before the showdown.
I couldn't sleep that night & so was aijaz.
Written on paper, we waited for our term......
Tilawat, hadees......................NAZM,
Our heart beat went on peak, whistling ears & tense body proceeded towards mic.
Good Morning every body, my name is Zubair, my name is Aijaz zaidi, we are from class VA and we would like to sing a poem...
Baba black sheep.............
I don't remember how we have finished that.
What we heard was a clear sound of clapping while running toward our row after finishing the poem.
It was for the first time that an English poem was read in school assembly & we have made this record.
It wasn't a record, actually it was a daunting task, well prepared, presented & extolled by many.
Altough, both me & aijaz went through a mental fatigue during the whole time period.
Razia madam was happy to achieve a mile stone & she also praised us.
We came into the list of her "good boys".
She was our English teacher up to VI standard & then we switched to Niyaz saheb.
I have no hesitation to mention that our progress of English as a subject remain constant as it was in class VI even after we have passed class VIII & entered into jamia higher secondary school, where few discrimination rather challenges were waiting for all of us.
I still rate Ms.Razia yunus as my best english teacher.

Journey to Jamia Millia Islamia with Suleman Akhtar

Followin article was written by Suleman Akhtar on my request while he was in Dubai.

It goes like......

"My Golden days with My Jamia Millia Islamia"

"Assalam O Alaikum Jamiates,

Myself Sulaiman Akhtar.I am an ex-student of Jamia Millia Islamia,New Delhi since class Nursery.
Our Nursery was located near present VC office which is now turned into Computer Centre.My batch was the last in that Nursery after that it was shifted to the current location.I remember Abdullah Bhai who use to drop me to my home on his bicycle and we students often use to tease him as “Abdullah Bhai…….Paaan Khai”

For me Jamia is my Home Univerity.My Grand father Late Mr.Barkat Ali Firaq was one of the founder member of Jamia Millia Islamia.So he was attached with Jamia when it has taken birth from Aligarh,then moved to Karol Bagh and finally based in Okhla (now called as Jamia Nagar).

My father Mr Asif Ali,Uncle-Mr Arif Ali, second Uncle Mr Aamir Ali,My phoopis, Mrs Aisha Khatoon,Mrs Anjum Ara and Mrs.Maimoona Parveen ,my cousins and we all brother and sisters were educated through out our education from Jamia Millia Islamia.

My Phoophi Mrs.Aisha khatoon was a teacher in Jamia Middle School and Higher Secondary as well.
My Uncle Mr. Arif Ali is Head of the department now a days in Bio Sciences in Jamia Millia Islamia.

My Grand father Late Mr Barkat Ali Firaq was also a HistoryHihhi Lecturar in old Jamia.He expired in 1978.

So we all were very much attached to Jamia since our childhoods and born and brought up in “Jamae”envirnment.

I remember lots of sweat memories during my studies from Jamia,few of them I would like to refresh with you Jamiates.

When I was in Primary School,there was only lorry of Jamia which was an American “Chevrolet”Truck .Our teachers,students,my Dadi, etc all were use to go on picnics in the same lorry with raising slogans” Hamari Picnic Zindabad, Jamia Lorry Zndabad’

After some period I found that lorry parked Idle in the garage for so many years.It was no more functional.Whenever I use to saw that lorry I felt bad about that,why it is not running.

Now that lorry is still there but in dismantled roof,chassis,engine in parts.When o moved into college I performed my smithy shop practicals under the roof of the same lorry which is present at Jamia Polytechnic lab.I performed my Automobile practicals on the same lorry engine and studied on it.

Now I am working in Dubai in Automobile Industry with Chevrolet Cars and trucks.I found that kind of lorrys here with pepsi factory in Al Qouz.When that lorry came to me for repairs I had tears in my eyes thinking of our same “Jamia Chevrolet Lorry” on which I traveled in my childhood and studied on it.

I was an average student throughout.I was shy in my nature. I still remember of our “Bachon Ka Bank”,”Khane ka MATBAQ”,”Pyam-e-Taleem”&”Umang” magazines.Those taranas in morning assemblies, Performing exercise with Mr Aaftab Sir commanding in his unique style“ HOO-Shiyaar” &“AA- Raam”.(attention & at ease)

Taking part in “Ek Din Ka Madarsa”, ”KHUWANCHAS”,Performing Guard of Honour to VC on 29th October every year, getting sweets on annual day.

My dad was a stage artist since his schooling and college time. All those old students and collegues of my father like Khalid Saifullah Sb, Ikram Sb, Masood Sb. Etc, use to perform stage dramas in the open air theatre at Fine Arts Department on the occasion of Jamia Birthday.

My Phoopi Aisha madam and her daughters(my cousins) always took parts in “Bait Bazi” debates and we students always with our paintworks and handicrafts converted the Jamia walls and other event parts into beautiful scenario.

Mr Shakeel Kakwi,who made “Science Aur kainat Club” is also not to forget.We students use to take part in Science Exhibitions held every February on the occasion of Dr. Zakir Hussains Birth day.

I remember one incident when I was in class 11th .I often use to sing filmi songs in the empty classroom during our interval time to get the ECHO effect and concentration. My friends also use to listen my songs. When there was a time to give farewell party to our seniors, my friends pumped me that I do sing very well and should take part in the coming farewell party. Then what.. I was on high skies. I gave my name for a solo song for the event.

I remember the song,it was “ Aate Jaate,…, Hanste Gaate,…,Socha Tha Meine Man mein Kai Baar,…” from the movies “Maine Pyaar kiya”.I listened to that song for so many times in order to learn it by heart and also put down on piece of paper so that not to forget the words and lyrics on stage.

That day arrived and I was put on the open air theatre stage.My hands and legs were shivering and I was sweatting in cold weather.It was my first ever performance to sing on stage.I started the song without any background music and completed first stanza somehow.But you know hooting from back stage is everybodys birth right,who can stop that.Same thing was happening with me during my singing as a result I was more nervous and my voice was shivering.

When I was about to start the second stanza………!!!!!!!???????? I forgot the “dhun” of the second stanza of song . I made beautiful excuse on stage that due to this hooting I am not going to complete my song and came out of the stage. But that was not the end to it. My seniors requested the audience to keep silent and put me back on stage to complete my song. But by that time I was trying to recollect the “dhun” for the secong stanza but was unable to remember that time, so I started the song from the beginning again.The hooting as usual started again. But this time there was no excuse for me. So I tried to sing the second stanza from the piece of paper but made it more than worst from its original track. I was hooted badly for that.

From that day I decided to join Ustaad Zameer sb. Who was Music teacher in Middle School.Days turned in my favour and when I moved to college,I performed a song with full orchestra on stage in my fresher’s party .That performance was so good that I became famous for my voice in singing in my college. After that I did many performances in Jamia, outside Jamia, on TV program”Bazm”as well.

After my Diploma in Mechanical Engineering in 1995 I started working in Delhi and joined B.E. Mechanical from jamia Engg. College evening Course which I passed out in year 2000.

I am not getting proper words to express my feelings but yes I have all those golden memories of Jamia in my heart.

I hope you Jamiaets enjoy this specially those who were with Jamia since Nursery or Schooling and have same kind of memories with them".

Take care,

Allah Hafiz

Sulaiman
DUBAI