Friday, July 16, 2010

One ‘Muslim’ minister’s lonely fight against entire 200 million strong Indian Muslim community - By Ghulam Muhammed

Friday, July 16, 2010

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

One ‘Muslim’ minister’s lonely fight against entire 200 million strong Indian Muslim community

The man is not a visionary. He is just a government minister. But he thinks he knows best. The giant size confidence that Salman Khurshid nurses, comes from being very near to power center for long long years and thus being far and very far from the Muslim community itself; which he is now being entrusted to represent. It is reported that such an important bill, which has Muslim community’s stakes worth millions of Crores, is being claimed by the minister to be not even read by him. If the report is correct, such a minister should be sacked immediately. The bureaucrat, who was specially transferred to advise and help him in this grossly anti-Muslim enterprise, was known to have his own ideas of how Awqaf should be handled and woe to Indian democracy, that the community whose votes make the real difference between victory or defeat in Indian elections, has nary a say in such a monumental issue. But all is not lost. Muslims have been awaked at the eleventh hour. Salman Khurshid has been hobnobbing with individuals across the country, lobbying with promises, to help him see the bill through. And come Sunday, he has planned a grand meeting of a cross section of Muslim opinion makers with a view to get a consensus. One hope that Sunday meet does not end as the circus of the absurd. The real test of power, will be not be this Sunday, but the next assembly election in the by-lanes of the poverty ridden Uttar Pradesh. Congress writ does not run in that state which elects maximum number of Lok Sabha seats and this Awqaf bill will not make the situation any better; unless all the recommendations of the Muslim community are incorporated to their entire satisfaction without any overt or covert treachery.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
  

Run Rupee Run - The new Rupee symbol - By Ghulam Muhammed

Friday, July 16, 2010

Run Rupee Run

The new Rupee symbol is something to write home about. The IIT graduate has proved that the institution is full of talent and can be relied upon for ideas. The new Rupee symbol is simple, clean, chiseled and still so entwined with India’s own cultural heritage of the script that dominates its public discourse, as if it is part and parcel of our old devnagari alphabet.

However this symbol is to be standing next to other globally recognized symbols and there are some aesthetic angles that could work on the subconscious mind of the beholder. Take $ or € or ₤ or ¥ ; all have solid base.  
On the other hand, the new Rupee symbol conjures up a caricature of Dada’s langot hanging on the clothes line, or a kati Patang ravaged by wind, dangling on power-lines or the image of small girl playing langdi, the one-legged skip and jump game. The symbolism of run rupee run, smacks of an Indian version of American cartoon, the Road Runner. The base is missing. We do not want a run on the Rupee. Ever.

Now that we are choosing a symbol that would become the permanent fixture of our very economic pomp and pride, why not invite more ideas from the public space and find out if a better symbol with more character of stability, dignity, immediate global recognizance, ease in writing, could still be creeping out from some ingenious minds of our scattered millions.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai