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.