From Here and There

Fanatics who squabble over the rightful site for temples and mosques should take a leaf out of the book of the Marble Palace Trust. Tucked away in the southern corner of the palace, which houses an art gallery, a zoo and a Jagannath temple, is one of the oldest mosques in Kolkata, which is run by a Hindu Trust. In the past 215 years, the trust has maintained the mosque, popularly called Bangali Babur Masjid, with equal care and zeal as it runs the Jagannath temple. It is perhaps the only mosque in the country that is owned and run by a Hindu Trust. In the late 18th century, Raja Rajendra Mullick built the Marble Palace and set up the Trust for its maintenance. He constructed the temple of the family deity, Jagannath Diu, and the mosque opposite each other because he wanted the estate to be the melting point for all communities. The Trust ensures that every Muslim festival is observed at the mosque. Hafiz Mohammed Hanif, who performs the azaan every day, has been associated with the mosque since childhood as his father, Moran Miyan too was an employee of the estate. The namaz is offered by Hafiz Mohammed Moqimuddin, whose father also worked here. “We have two Muslim employees who ensure that all the five time prayers are offered right on time and punctually. The atmosphere of the palace is such that no one hesitates to walk in,” said Hiren Mullick, a member of the Mullick family and spokesperson of the palace. The mosque is also unique for its architectural features. Its dome has gothic features and the green colour has been kept intact since 1790, when the structure was built. “The number of people who pray at this mosque has grown manifold over the past two centuries and many have offered to renovate the mosque so that it accommodates more people. But we don’t want to disturb the uniqueness of this mosque,” said Mullick.


(Times News Network-Aug 9, 2005)

From selling seashells to recycling old clothes, the young planners had thought about everything. At the Tsunami Challenge recently, a Business Plan competition was organised by Tata Consultancy Services, IIT Madras and Stanford University of the U.S.


The contest was part of the Business Association of Stanford Engineering Students (BASES) plan to promote social entrepreneurship among college students in developing countries. This year’s contest focussed on social projects to help the tsunami-hit communities. The four-member team of Crescent Engineering College, Vandalur, walked away with the first prize of Rs. 1 lakh for ‘Shore-up’, a plan that involved collecting seashells, processing them for silica and selling them to industries. IIT Madras bagged the second prize of Rs. 75,000 for designing a cycle with a carrier for fisherwomen to transport their ware. The third prize of Rs. 50,000 went to IIT Kharagpur for a proposal for sharing of information among villages. “Over 101 entries were received from colleges all over India, mostly from Tamil Nadu. The proposals were evaluated on the basis of their social impact, the team’s expertise, feasibility and financial sustainability,” said Ashwin Mahalingam, vice-president, BASES, who, along with another BASES-ian, John Taylor, served on the jury. For the winners from Crescent College — R. Prabhu, P. Sriraman, K. Pranesh and Sayed Imtiyaz — all in the final year of Computer Science — the proposal involved intense field work, including visits to Nagapattinam. Their plan would help each shell collector to earn not less than Rs. 70 a day. The students hope to start work on the project once their course finishes and hand it over to the target community.

A goat nearly killed a man when it butted a father in the stomach with its horns. Al-Riyadh newspaper reported that the father bought the goat in celebration for his daughter’s transfer from a small village to teach in Ahsa. When the father was getting ready to slaughter the goat, it charged, butted him hard in the stomach and ran away leaving the man in a serious condition. The family took him for treatment to a nearby hospital and decided to delay the ceremony and buy food from a local restaurant instead of slaughtering the goat. As for the goat, it was sold back to the animal market.

(Arab News)

A cat lives in one of the houses of Islamabad region in Urumieh, which since aquaintance with chickens has become fond of them. The love between them is so that even after giving birth to its kittens, the cat continues to take care of the chickens. They are so intimate that they cannot stay away for seconds. Kittens of the caretaker cat indicate a sense of passion towards the chickens and play with it. Neighbour cats fear from attacking the chickens. The cat also has already taken care of eight chickens last year.