MY Story: Autobiography

MY STORY
2011
Autobiography
Here is the story of my life covering a perod of about 68 years from December 1942 to February 2011 with glimpses of memory that I could recall on looking back in a calm atmosphere in Musaffah Abu Dhabi.It describes briefly my childhood, school, college days, degree engineering and my career experience besides the description of people, friends, relatives etc. who made an impression on my mind in my lifetime.
DEDICATION I dedicate this book to the cherished memories of my parents, parents in law, my spouse Fahmida, to my sons, daughters and their spouses.I stand particularly indebted to my son Irfan and Kubra Mubashshir who have facilitated my work of recording it during my stay in Abu Dhabi. It was Gowhar my son and Nazia Amin who first motivated me to pen it down, after they heard about certain hair raising incidents of my life.I also felt urge to record my encounters as I was feeling feeble enough after my heart surgery in 2010 and at times felt that I may leave this temporary life without leaving any written reference for my progeny and for others, in order to know the circumstances that prevailed in our times. Our lives teach us many lessons, one being to keep ones mind open for learning from cradle to grave and also to be steadfast in all trying tests that one is put to face in day to day unforseen events.
Er.Mohammad Ashraf Fazili B.E.(Hons.) C.Eng.(I), FIE, MIRC, MASCE. February 25, 2011.
MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.
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About the Author Born on 19th December 1942 in Srinagar Jammu & Kashmir State, educated in Srinagar- Learnt Quran in local Madrasa at five years age; got primary and secondary education in Govt. Middle School Nowhatta (1948-56), M.P. High School Baghi Dilawar Khan (1956-57), Sri Pratap College (195759); Degree Engineering in Annamalai University South India (1959-63); served in J&K Government Public Works Depatment in the capacity of Assistant Engineer, Executive Engineer, Superintending Engineer and Chief Engineer from 1964 to 2003; worked in CIE Ltd. as Construction Manager from 2004 to 2008; Presently Consultant Engineer, Chartered Engineer India (Registered), Fellow Institution of Engineers India, Life Member Indian Road Congress, Member American Society of Civil Engineers, Member Working Committee Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies Srinagar; Member Citizens Welfare Council; Travelled in India, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates; Authored over a dozen books on environment, history and religion; Presented over 50 papers in various Local, State, National and International seminars; Freelance Writer.
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CONTENTS: S.No. 01 Description Introduction/Prayers Page No. 10
02 (SAW). 03 04
In praise of Holy Prophet Muhammad 12 Address to the self. 13
In the superiority of knowledge. 13 In Allahs creation. Hazrat Ali (RA) said.
05
15
06
17
07
Why are we here?
18
08
Background
20
09
My maternal lineage.
21
10
My paternal lineage.
25
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A manuscript-royal order (shahi firman) 34
12 Manuscript of Sheikh Abdul Haq Muhaddis Dehlavi (RA) 39 13 My birth, childhood and school days. 40 My early childhood. 42
14
15
My middle school
45
16
My high school.
48
17
My college days
49
18 19
My selection for degree engineering. 51 After degree what? 59
20 Public Service Commission selectionPosting to D&P Directorate. 60 21 My posting to LJHP. 64
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My posting to JKPCC Ltd.
66
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My posting to R&B subdivision Uri. 68
24 My promotion as executive engineerposting to SDA. 69 25 My posting to U.E.E.D. 70
26 My posting to Circular road project Srinagar. 73 27 My posting to Rural development Department Anantnag 75 28 Pass 77 My posting to National Highway ByDivision Srinagar.
29 My posting to New Ganderbal Hydroelectric project. 78 30 My posting to LJHP Civil Maintenance division Gantamulla. 80 31 My posting to Regional Engineering College Construction Division Srinagar. 81 32 Promotion as Superintending EngineerPosting to SDA 83
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33 My posting as Project Officer Chrari Sharief Development Project. 85 34 Re-appointment for two more years. 85
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Promoted as Chief Engineer.
86
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Joined CIE Ltd.
86
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My open heart surgery.
88
38
My visit to UAE
89
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My aquaintances.
89
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Maps-Photographs.
94- 150
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Preface
Every person on this planet earth is a book in him-self. Ask any one about his introduction, it opens the first chapter of his book. Most of these books pass unknown and get buried with the death of the person; only a few are drawn to record their events that may be of interest to someone. It is said that a person is an embodiment of the nature of the people, he comes across during his lifetime and a give and take takes place when two persons or two cultures meet.
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It is said that human nature has two sections, one being what one inherits from his parents and is called fitrat and is unchangeable, the other being jibilat i.e. what one picks up from the environment and this part is changeable. The first encounter a child meets is his parents, then his brothers and sisters then his classmates, neighbours, relatives and as he joins the mainstream of life, he meets people of diverse figures, interests, temperaments and every encounter gives him a new experience. Now it depends on the nature of his job as to which type of people he meets and to what extent. However for day to day needs there is often a common dealer. What we feel lacking is a lesson on the etiquette for dealings with people.
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IN THE NAME OF
ALLAH
THE ALL COMPASSIONATE ALL MERCI
MY STORY
(1942-2011)
Er. Mohammad Ashraf Fazili ABU DHABI February 2011
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Introduction
WHO I AM
Who are you? the then Divisional Commissioner Kashmir asked me, in a meeting with him in his office. I was stunned, since I was already introduced to him and had had scores of meetings with him in his very office. Earlier I had handed over to him a printed copy of a project document titled Chrar-i-Sharief Development Project. In fact, I had asked his predecessor to write an introduction to my book --Srinagar the Sun city, what it should be? Since the worthy Commissioner could not find time, I took the manuscript back after a period of about 3 months. So I was well known by the officer and his staff. In spite of all this, the officer seemed to be so tense that he lost the sense of etiquette or that it went out of his mind that the person he was talking to was Er. Mohammad Ashraf Fazili. He perhaps could not remember my face even. In fact the worthy Commissioner wanted to locate the missing Superintending Engineer R & B Dept. who was on tour & I suggested to call his next in command, on which he was aghast and advised me to keep mum and that too in presence of my boss and instantly scolded me saying By the way who are you to suggest us what we should do and not do? All my colleagues and my boss were surprised to see the behavior of the Divisional Commissioner. However all kept mum. It was only after a few moments that the worthy Commissioner regained his normal self, when he got up and began to apologize for his uncalled -for momentary reaction, to my genuine suggestion. He also had got
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shaken to recollect that I was one of the senior most officers of the J&K State and this behavior of his was uncalled for. I am reminded of a Police Officer posted in the J&K State, who has written a book titled A MAD OFFICER IN A MAD STATE who writes that on every action of his, he would receive a salute from his subordinates even for pissing in a standing position and the officer would enjoy it. So I thought that I must tell the world who am I? --- Nay WHO I AM We cant guess whether we are here by choice or by chance? If we are here by choice then Almighty Allah must have sought our consent to be transported to the mother earth through the wombs of our mothers. If so be the fact, then according to the Holy Quran, our Allah has asked us in the beginning, when our souls were gathered together: Am I not your sustainer? ALASTO BI RABBIKUM To which we replied, yes ---QALOO: BALA. So we are here by choice and not by chance. 01) Prayer: Here I would like to quote Sheikh Saadi Shirazi (d. 691 AH / 1291 AD)
BISMILLAH-I-RRAHMAN-I-RRAHIM
(IN GRACIOUS THE NAME MOST MERCIFUL) OF ALLAH MOST
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Karima ba bakhshai bar hali ma-Ki hastam aseere hawa
kamandey
Na dreamy gair az too faryad ras- Toei asiyanra khata bakhsh o bas
Nigah dar mara ze rahey khuda-Khata dar guzaro sawabam numa
O Kareem ( Generous) forgive over our present state of affairs, this is because I am prisoner of the rope of desires. We dont have any one to approach to-- except YOU, and YOU are the only one who is the forgiver of the sinners and that is all. Keep an eye on us to keep us away from the path of sin, forgive our sins and show us the straight path. 02) IN PRAISE OF THE HOLY PROPHET MUHAMMAD (SAW) ( May Allah shower his blessings on him): Zaban ta buwad dar dahan jai-e-gir-Sanaye Muhammad buwad Dilpazir
Habibey Khuda Ashraf-e- Anbiya-Ke arshe majidash buwad muttaka
Sawar-e-Jehangir yakran buraq- Ke biguzasht az qasr-i- neeli rawaq
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Till, there is tongue alert in the mouth-Praise of Muhammad (SAW) shall be liked by heart. He, the friend-- noblest of the prophets- That the honored throne (ARSHI MAJEED) is his cushion to recline. He was the rider of the horse of the universe BURAQ, that he crossed across through the blue ceiling(SKY.) 03) ADRESS TO THE SELF: Chihil sal umrey azizat guzasht Mizajey tu az hale tifli na gasht
Hama ba hawawu hawas sakhti- damey ba masaleh na pardakhti
Makun takia bar umri napayidar - Mabash iyman az baziye rozgar
Forty years of your cherished life are gone, your childish temperament has not turned round. Whole life you have befriended the greed and the desire for possession. Not a single moment you busied yourself with good deeds. Dont depend upon the short lived life. Dont be fearless from the deception of time. 04) IN THE KNOWLEDGE: SUPERIORITY OF
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Bani Adam az ilm yabad kamal Na az hashmat u jaho mal o manal
Chu shama az paye ilm bayad gudakht-Ke be ilm natuwan khuda ra shinakht
Khirad mand bashad talabgari ilm-Ke garam ast paiwasta bazaar I ilm
Kase ra ke shud dar azal bakhtyar-Talab kardane ilm karad ikhtiyar
Talab kardane ilm kard shud bar tu farz- Digar wajib ast az pesh I qatae arz
Biru damane ilm gir ustuwar - Ke ilmat rasanad ba dar ul Qarar
Maya moz juz ilm gar aaqili- ke be ilm boodan buwad gafili
Tura ilm dar din u dunya tamam- ke karey tu az ilm girad nizam
The son of Adam finds excellence not by modesty, honor or wealth but through knowledge and resources
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Like candle one should melt as a person without knowledge can not find God The wise becomes the seeker of the knowledge as the market of knowledge is ever full of warmth. He who is destined to be fortunate knowledge prefers /adopts to seek
Seeking knowledge is enjoined upon you, then it is obligatory on your part to dig the earth Go and catch firmly the rope of knowledge It is only the knowledge that shall lead you to the home of peace i.e. the paradise. Dont learn any thing other than knowledge if you are wise, as to remain without knowledge is to be ignorant. For you it is enough to have knowledge in the religion and the world as with the knowledge you can run your assignment in a proper/befitting manner. 05) IN ALLAHS CREATION: Turn your eyes up towards this golden dome as this roof is standing without any pillars. You see the rotating/revolving curtain mover at the apex and see the candles lit in there There is one destined to be a watchman and other a king One is demanding and other extracting the tax One is happy and other filled with pain One is successful and other helpless One is possessor of the crown and other a tax payer One is wealthy and other is down to earth
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One is seated on a gunny bag and other seated on a throne One is dressed in rough jute cloth and other clad in silken clothes One is a beggar and other wealthy. One is a failure and other successful One is drowned in wealth and other in sad state One is full of life and other is dying One is healthy and other a weak person. One is an old man and other in his prime youth One is earning good deeds and other drowned in sins One is busy in praying and other busy in cheating One is busy in good work and having right belief And the other drowned in the river of sins and often busy in fighting. One is of good nature and other of bad nature One is tolerant and other always on war One is in comfort and other in pain One is in hard toil and other has attained his objective One is the ruler in the world of pious men other is a prisoner of the chain of disasters One is residing in the garden of bliss and other living in the company of worry, trouble and hard labor One sends his countless commodities outside for sale and other is worried for a loaf of bread and for the expenses of his family.
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One is smiling like a flower due to happiness; other has a saddened heart to the extreme. One has put his belt on for offering prayers; other has taken his own age/self to the sin. One has Quran in his hands day and night, other is lying senseless in a corner of the bar One is like a nail fixed on the door of Sharah (strictly religious) and other is wearing the sacred thread in the way of kufur (idolatry) One is full of fortune. Knowledgeable, alert and other full of misfortune mindless, shameful One is brave fighter for defense, alert and challenger depicting his bravery, other is chicken hearted, lazy fearful for his life One is a writer-- the possessor of a heart of the honest conscience (zameer) and other is the one who steals the heart and he too is known as a writer.(dabeer)
(Sheikh Saadi Shirazi R.A.) 06) HAZRAT ALI (RA) SAID: I wonder on the proud person who was a drop yesterday and on the coming tomorrow day he shall be foul smelling refuse. I wonder on the person who sees the created universe of Allah and still doubts about His existence I wonder on the person who sees his dying persons around him and still has forgotten the coming event of his death I wonder on the person who sees the first birth and he still doubts the possibility of getting reborn. I wonder on the person who decorates the short lived resting place and forgets the final everlasting destination.
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HAZRAT ALI (R.A.) was asked, What is the best wealth of the afterlife? To which he replied, It is to serve the Allahs creation with good intention and to love them Remember that by the relation of humanity all persons are brothers of each other. (Nahj-ul-Balagah Society Haiderabad A.P). 07) WHY ARE WE HERE? Some say that we are not here by our choice rather we have been ordered to be here for a brief period of a few years and so we are here. Some opine differently saying we are here by choice and not by chance. All our souls were collected together and were asked ALAST-O-BIRABBIKUM --Am I not your Rabb (the Sustainer) we all replied BALAYes Sir and that was the agreement thus we have entered into a contract of our choice by uttering this word Yes. So the Sustainer will not leave us in the larch Just as he has taken the responsibility of our food and nourishment, so has he taken it on Himself to guide us to the right and straight path. Here he has given us the freedom of choice whether to make or mar our everlasting after life by adopting the right course of action prescribed by Him or give in to the temporary pleasures of this very life to leave little for hereafter. As Moulana Rumi says man is made of dust and throughout his life he eats out of the dust as all food stuffs come out of it., thus nourishing his short lived fatty body which goes back to dust. During this brief span of life he is busy in arranging supplies, earning, spending, house building ,marriages of his children etc. and he has no time to think as to what for he has come here and when the end nears he realizes what he had to do but alas that time there is no choice but to leave. If this be the case then an animal who gives his skin to us for making leather goods, gives milk to drink, his flesh to eat and guards us during night ours, when all are in deep slumber. While as we are not capable of all these qualities and still we call ourselves ASHRAF-UL- MAKHLOOQATTHE BEST OF THE CREATION. Perhaps we are equipped with a higher intellect and that is why this title is given to us. Maulana Rumi says that the deal has
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been very profitable. The first about two decades of your life go into innocence, the last few years of the old age need rest; it is only the middle portion of a few years of life that one can earn some good reward for the deeds. Thus the contract is very cheap. A few years of chaste life can earn a person an everlasting blissful life, but alas he has no time to think on the subject. Throughout his life he has been busy in earning, spending, eating, dressing, building houses, rearing children ,their marriage etc. and once the last minute comes, he ponders for a moment, oh! What I was supposed to do? But alas there is no time left and he closes his eyes and returns to his mother earth. In fact the human being is comprised of two objects, the one being the perishable body and the other being the imperishable soul. The body and the life span were given to the person for his spiritual upliftment but he gets busy with other diversions. So is the fate of majority of the people and when we compare with older generation, the newer one is more involved in the rat race of competition in financial progress besides possessing more and more of property, which only just changes the hands on the demise of the holder, who enters the next world empty handed, burdened with the deeds performed by him during his life time. A few days back there was a ceremony of inauguration of IRFANUL QURAN written by Mirza Arif Beg and corrected by Dr. Abdur Rahman War in the University of Kashmir, Where many scholars delivered thought inspiring sermons. Though encroaching upon others time of five minutes allotted to them. Their sermons had little effect as they were themselves violating the rules in presence of the conscious audience. This has been one of our tragedy that what we say. We dont act upon it, besides we do not value the time on any occasion, be it marriage invitation gathering or any other job of responsibility .As Lawrence -- the settlement commissioner of Kashmirwrote a 100 years back in his book The Valley of KashmirThat The pace of life in Kashmir is in consonance with the flow of river Jhelum and there has taken no change of this situation since then in spite of the fact that computer age demands a faster pace of life. However in the end I asked for an answer to my question while the respected scholars
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were taking Kashmiri kahwa. Allah says in the Quran that I am nearer to you than your jugular vein, I would like to know which is this spot in the body which is nearer than the Jugular vein. Secondly it is said that there is a Hadith which says, Iblis (Satan) runs through the blood of a person and that is why even Prophet Mohammad (pbh) used to pray for repentance seventy times a day, though he did not need to perform this act yet it was for our teaching. So both Allah and Iblis reside inside the body and the war between the right and wrong is taking place inside ones body, so I ask when this war is going to end and who is going to win this war in the end? No one could reply with a satisfactory answer 08) BACKGROUND: My application for school admission reads my date of birth as:- 7 th Poh,1999 Bikramicorresponding .to--10 ZILHAJJA . Idd uz Zuha 1361, corresponding to 19th December 1942. My father Pirzada Mohammad Yasin Shah Sayid, the second son of Pir Ahmad Shah Sayid was educated through local scholars like Pir Husan Shah Wafai, besides his own father. He was tipped for going to Lahore or Deoband for Persian and Arabic courses as arranged by Molvi Mohammad Yousuf Shah-- his cousin, but the luck favored Molvi Mahboob Shah of Zoonimar the other cousin, who returned equipped with the Persian and Arabic learning from the Lahore University and took to the job of teaching in Islamia High School till his end. My father was married to Sarwa Bano, a relation of his, living in Konan Bandipora, daughter of Pir Saaduddin Diwani. It was on her very first child birth that she breathed her last and the infant Mohammad Shafi survived only for one year after his mothers death. Perhaps poor and unavailable medical treatment was responsible for the poor survival of people then. My father could not recover from the shock and in order to divert his attention, a second marriage was arranged for him in the family of well-known scholars of Gankhan Khankahi Mualla..Maryam was her name and she was having three brothers and two sisters , their father being Pir Habibullah Ahmadi/Farooqi/Qadiri, who had served as Imam of
th
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the historic mosque at Qaziyar Zainakadal Srinagar for over thirty th years and he was 36 progeny from Hazrat Umar (RA) the second Khalifa in Islam, about whom the prophet Mohammad (PBH) said that if there were any prophet after me it would have been Hazrat Umar (RA), besides it is told that most of the Quran has been revealed in answer to the thoughts rising from the mind of Hazrat Umar (RA) 09) MY MATERNAL LINEAGE:-SHAJRA MUBARAKA IMAM RUBBANI MUJADDID ALF SANI HAZRAT SHEIKH AHMAD NAQSHBANDI SIRHINDI (RA) ( with extension till date i.e. 1431 AH/2010) 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) 13) Sayidna Hazrat Umar (RA) Sheikh Abdullah (RA) Sheikh Nasir (RA) Sheikh Ibrahim (RA) Sheikh Ishaq (RA) Sheikh Abul Fatah (RA) Sheikh Abdullah (Waiz- i- Akbar) (RA) Sheikh Abdullah (Waiz-i-Asgar) (RA) Sheikh Masood (RA)He migrated from Arabia to Baghdad Shareef on the insistence of Abbasi Khalifa. Sheikh Sulaiman (RA)His Murshid was Siri Saqti (RA) Sheikh Mahmood (RA) Sheikh Nasiruddin (RA) Sheikh Shahab ud din (known as Farukh Shah Kabli) He was the ancestor of Hazrat Farid ud din Ganj Shakar and was one among the wazirs of The Sultans of Kabul. He was first among Muslim rulers to attack India and thereafter he captured Iran, Turan, Badakhshan,& Khurasan. He made land settlement among Afghans & Mughals in the kingdom of Afghanistan. In the end he adopted seclusion near Kabul, the place is still called as the Darrai Farukh Shah i.e. Farukh Shah pass. Sheikh Yousuf (RA) He was the successor of his father and went into seclusion in his last days of life.
14)
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15) Sheikh Ahmad (RA) Besides getting family education he got khilfat from Sheikh Shahabuddin Suhrawardy. The Khilfat continued to be transferred from father to son till it reached to Imam Rafi ud Din (RA) 16) Sheikh Shuaib (RA) Sheikh Abdullah (RA 17) Sheikh Abdullah (RA) 18) Sheikh Ishaq (RA) 19) Sheikh Yousuf (RA) 20) Sheikh Sulaiman (RA) 21) Sheikh Nasiruddin (RA) 22) Imam Rafi ud DinHe was the founder of the fort of Sirhind Shreef Punjab. He was an embodiment of the outer & inner Knowledge and was the Khalifa of his father. He took advantage from many Mashaikh which number 80 as per recorded history and in the end he settled at Unn near Multan and became the khalifa of Sayid Jalaluddin Bukhari Makhdoomi Jahanyan and he was honored by the Makhdoom sahib to become his Imam. 23) Sheikh Habibullah (RA) 24) Sheikh Abdul Hai (RA) 25) Sheikh Zainul Abidin (RA) 26) Sheikh Abdul Ahad Sirhindi (RA) (d 1007 AH) 27) Hazrat Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi Kabli Farooqi (Mujaddid Alf Sani) (RA) (d 1034 AH) 28) Hazrat Khwaja Mohammad Masoom Sirhindi (RA) (d 1079 AH) 29) Hazrat Sheikh Mohammad Sibgatullah (RA) (d 1120 AH) 30) Sheikh Mohammad Ismail Ahmadi Bukhari(RA) (d 1153 AH Srinagar) 31) Sheikh Inayatullah Ahmadi (RA) 32) Shah Mohammad Siddiqullah (RA) 33) Hafiz Ahmadullah (RA)(d 1270 AH) 34) Hafiz Waliyullah (RA)His Murshid Sheikh Ahmad Yasvi (RA) and Sheikh Ahmad Tarabali (RA)(d1309 AH) 35) Hafiz Mohammad Shah Qadiri (RA) 36) Hafiz Mohammad Habibullah Qadiri (RA) 37) Daughter Maryam (RA) (d 1424 AH) 38) Mohammad Ashraf Shah Sayid Fazili
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So my mother was 37 in the serial from Hazrat Umar. In this dynasty Sheikh Abdullah bin Umar (ra) the second in the serial married Hazrat Fatima daughter of Imam Hassan (ra) and according to Abu Jafar Muhaddis, their progeny falls among Sayid th dynasty. It was Sheikh Masood the 9 in the serial who migrated from Hijaz to Baghdad on the persuasion of the Abbasi Khalifas. th The 13 in the serial Sheikh Shahabuddin known as Farakh Shah Kabli was the ancestor of Hazrat Masood Ganjshakar who was one among the Ministers of Kabul. He was the first among Muslim rulers who attacked neighboring countries like India and captured the countries of Iran,Turan,Badakhshan,and Khurasan. He made settlement of revenue records among Mughals and Afghans in the Kingdom of Kabul and fixed permanent boundaries, which had remained standing till 1231 AH. In his last days he abandoned the worldly grandeur and went into seclusion at a place near Kabul th called Darra Farakh Shah. The 15 in the serial Sheikh Ahmad besides obtaining education from his dynasty ,became Khalifa of Sheikh Shahabuddin Suhrawardy. Thereafter his son sheikh Shuaib became the Khalifa and then his son Sheikh Abdullah got Khilafat from Hazrat Bahauddin Zakaria of Multan and the Khilafat continued to be handed over from father to son till Hazrat Imam nd Rafi- ud-Din-the 22 in the serial became the Khalifa. He was the founder of the fort of Sirhind Shareef and was the embodiment of the scholarship of the inner and the outer knowledge. He was the khalifa of his father and got benefitted by the guidance of many Mashaikh of the time, whose number is mentioned in the history books as about 300. In the end he became the Khalifa of Sayid Jalaluddin Bukhari Makhdoomi Jahanyan at the place called Unn at Multan and Makhdoom Sahib (ra) proposed him to be his Imamthe leader in the prayers. Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi ,Kabli, th Farooqi, Mujaddid Alf Sani was the 27 in the serial. He put new life in the Islamic faith and practice after opposing the new mixture th of religion promoted by the Mughal King Akbar. The 30 in the serial was Sheikh Mohammad Ismail Ahmadi who travelled to Bukhara and then reached Kashmir via Lahore and is buried in Dabtal Gurgari Mohalla Srinagar in his own compound where
th
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Khwaja Habibullah Attar (ra) is also resting which has been made th into a grand shrine. The 35 in the serial has been Haji Mohiuddin Miskeen, who has written Kashmir History named, Tarikh-i- Kabir. th The 36 in the series has been Hafiz Mohammad Hasana great scholar who has written many books on Islamic religion like Khutbat-i- Hasan, Sharhi Aurad-i-I fathia, Sharh-i- Kibrat-i- Ahmar etc. Most of the members are called Hafiz (i.e. who remember whole of the Quran by heart.) My grandfather from mothers side th was Hafiz Mohammad Habibullahthe 36 serial. He led the prayers as Imam of the historic mosque of Qaziyar Zainakadal Srinagar for about 30 years All other ancestors residing in Gankhan on the bank of river Jhelum near the Shrine of Khankahi-Mualla used to lead the prayers as imams in the historic mosque of Masjid-i- Zainul Aabidin close to the Budshahs tombthe burial place of the King Budshah and his ancestors and his progeny, besides other sufi saints. Mirza Haidar Duglat another Mughal who ruled the Kashmir for a brief period is also buried in the same graveyard. My mother Maryam, had three brothers and two sisters. She was the last but one in the order and was the last survival and passed th th away on 18 September 2003/ 20 Rajab 1424 AH Thursday. She is buried at Umerhair Buchpora near Masjid-i- Bilal adjacent to my fathers grave Jenabi Mohammad Yasin Shah Sayid Fazili who th passed away on 15 May 1987/ 17 Ramzan 1407 AH Friday .My father- in- law Khwaja Nazir Ahmad Kashtwari-- retired Under Secretary General Department J&K Government, passed away nd th on 2 November 2005/ 28 Ramzan 1424 AH. He has been a great inspiration to me and has contributed a lot in framing of my later personality. He has been a person possessing unparallel rarest qualities, which need another book to describe. Similarly my mother-in-law Halima Begum has been a pious huri of paradise living in this world. She would always keep herself busy on prayer rug (Jai Nimaz) and at the same time attend to other jobs of nd kitchen when required. She passed away on 2 April 2007/ 11 Rabiulawal 1426 AH .Such pious people are getting rarer with the
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passage of time May all their souls rest in peace with everlasting blissful life hereafter. Aameen! 10) MY PARENTAL LINEAGE: The handwritten Shajra Nasb by my grand grand father Sheikh Abdul Gani Shah Sayid Zoonimari traces his ancestor to Sheikh Mohammad Moomin- a pious person in knowledge and practice who was initiated into Suhrawardy order directly by Sheikh Baba Daud Khaki (ra) (d 994 AH). His son Sheikh Mohammad Aalam was initiated by his father and was God fearing in knowledge and practice. He was married to Sajida Begum- the daughter of Sheikh Hasan Kamraji son of Sheikh Husain Kamraji the son of Sheikh Gaziud din (Ganesh Koulwho got converted at the hands of Sheikh Hamza Makhdoom Sahib, when Ganesh Koul Qanoongo i.e the custodian of the law, met the Sheikh Makhdoom under the shade of a chinar) His son Sheikh Mohammad Salih a God fearing in knowledge and practice and busy in tiring worship of Allah initiated by Sheikh Maroof son of Sheikh Mohammad Fazil Zoonimar son of Sheikh Moosa Zoonimari son of Sheikh Gaziuddin . The Governor of the time Ata Mohammad Khan who built the fort of Kohi Maran (Hari Parbath) in Srinagar used to come to him for obtaining his blessings. One day the Khan brought a tray full of gold coins to present to the Pir who refused the same and on insistence he lifted one coin with his thumb and forefinger and on pressing it blood oozed out of it filling whole of the tray with the blood. The khan had no alternative but to surrender. He passed away at the age of 101 years and is burried at Zoonimar.His son Sheikh Mohammad Sabir was initiated by Sheikh Yaqoob Chattabali brother of Sheikh Mohammad Fazil Zoonimari, besides his own father Sheikh Mohammad Salih. He was God fearing in knowledge and practice and had reached to the climax of the inner and outer knowledge and practice. The Governor of the time Sheikh Ghulam Mohiuddin and other nobles of the city used to attend his place for inviting his blessings. He passed away at the age of 89 years and is buried in Zoonimar. His son Sheikh Mohammad Tajuddin was initiated by his uncle Sheikh Abdurrahman Khoihami. His wife was from Peshawur. I was told
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by Pir Mahboob Shah one cousin of my father that he had received a letter from Molvi Mohammad Yousuf Shah-the Mirwaiz from Lahore stating that while paying aid to by cash to the Kashmiri migrants, while all got Rs. 5000 per head, I was given the double amount of Rs. 10,000 on hearing by the concerned commissioner that my mother was from the family of Taj Sahib as the commissioner happened to be his disciple, besides having a th relation with him.Taj Sahib passed away on 6 Shawal 1306 AH at the age of 95 years. From the revenue records obtained by me from the Muhafiz Khana, his name is recorded as Taj Shah Sayid. His son Sheikh Abdul Gani Shah Sayid Zoonimari was initiated by his father. He had four sons and three daughters. One of his daughters was married to Molvi Rasool Shahthe Mirwaiz of Kashmir, the founder of Anjuman- i- Nusratul Islam. It is said that he had no child even after two decades of marriage. One day the couple stayed at Zoonimar at Gani Sahibs house. In the morning Mirwaiz Rasool Shah went out for a walk and met a sufi saint absorbed in other world. The saint gave the Mirwaiz two apples.On asking he disclosed the matter to Gani Sahib, who predicted birth of two sons; one would die after attaining youth and the other would make their dynasty famous and the prophecy came true with the birth and the death of one son and the second son was Molvi Mohammad Yousuf Shah the Mirwaiz of Kashmir, who migrated to Azad Kashmir in 1947 and found time to translate Quran into Kashmiri language for the first time.It is said that he too had no child for over two decades and he adopted his nephew Molvi Mohammad Yasin the son of Molvi Mohammad Yahya residing at Naid yar Srinagar. However Molvi Yousuf Shah got a son born to his wife after his maternal uncle Per Ahmad Shah Sayidmy grand father gave him a talisman (taweez).On his departure to Azad Kashmir, he had attended our home one night before and had given me a five rupee note which was preserved by my father. We had preserved certain letters from him and in one he greets me on passing my degree in engineering. This late birth of Molvi Mohammad Ahmad Shah as a result of the prayer of my grand father was confirmed by Molvi Mohammad Ahmed Shah
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When I met him last on his visit to the valley. He said that his mother would often relate this episode to him. Another story related to me, by one of the relatives belonging to Mayan Uri stated that the spouse of Pir Abdul GaniShah Sayid Zoonimari was one of the nephews of Baba Daud Mishkwati (RA) buried at Ganderpora Idgah Srinagar.It was Molvi Kabir a relative of Baba Daud Mishkwati who migrated from Ganderpora Idgah to Mayan Uri. The cause leading to his migration has been that one Raja Zabardast Khan of Khatana Uri rebelled against the Maharaja Partab Singh, for which he was chained by neck in the prison. In a helpless situation ,the Raja took one of the prison employees into confidence and asked him to convey a request of prayer for his release to some spiritual saint- known to the employee. Molvi Kabir of Ganderpora being a famous Pir was approached by the prison employee, who gave him a piece of paper written and folded and asked the employee to tell the Raja to keep this folded paper in his ear and wait for the middle of night. Having done all this, the Raja found his chains opened at midnight and some person carries the Raja all the way to his home at Uri. The home people get surprised to see the Raja with his long nails and long hair grown to him. The Raja takes a bath and puts on the Rajas dress but early in the morning the men of Maharaja reach his house searching for him and carry him back in to the durbar of Maharaja. Who orders him to beheaded, but when the sword is lifted, the throne of the Maharaja gets overturned and on enquiry the whole story is told by the Raja. On this the Maharaja sets him free and restores him back his area. The Raja stays for a week in the house of Maulana Kabir and requested him to accompany him to his place at Uri. On reaching Mayan the Raja selects a piece of land in thick forests and orders the construction of a house for Molvi Kabir . Thus Raja Zabardast Khan prevailed upon Moulana Kabir to shift to Mayan Uri. This was the reason why the inlaws of Gani Sahib migrated to Mayan Uri later on one son of Gani Sahib also got married in Mayan in the same family of Pirzadas. Another story told by one of the cousins Pir Shareef Sahib is that Gani Sahib used to pray on a round grass mat ( called Tsangiji in
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Kashmiri) laid in one of the small rooms of the personal mosque which is still standing at Zoonimar. One day a disciple was in the room and Gani Sahib had to go out for some work. Gani Sahib advised the disciple not to put his foot on the mat. The disciple was curious to see what would happen and he stepped over the mat. When Gani sahib returned he found the disciple missing. He asked the people around to search for the missing person and to their surprise he was found with both hands and legs tied with rope and lying in a bush of sooi grass. (sooi grass causes lot of pain when touched and the pain does not go even after hours together). Perhaps it was a test to his discipleship. The second daughter of Gani Sahib was married to Pir Mufti Nasruddin Diwani of Konan Bandipora. They got a son named Mufti Hisamuddin Diwani- a pious scholar, Mufti, Hakim and most soft spoken person I have yet to see. His one son is settled in Tujar sharif besides his one daughter. Another son is residing in Konan Bandipora. His other two daughters are married to a Makhdoomi family at Makhdoom sahib and one among these has settled in Kerala. Another eldest son Abdu- r-Rashid got killed in 1947 riots in Deoband Punjab.The second son Abdul Hamid Diwani passed away a few years back in Azad Kashmir The third daughter of Gani Sahib was married to Pir Mohammad Yousuf of Kaich Budgam.Their progeny continues to reside there and Molvi Mahboob Shah Zoonimari has married one of his daughters in that house. One son of Gani Sahib Pir Mustafa Shah migrated to Urapash Ganderbal as pulled by his preceptor Rasool Shah, whose shrine is preserved in Urapash. Pir Mustafa Shah was married to the sister of Pir Hisamuddin Diwani of Konan Bandipora from whom they had the only son Pir Mohammad Amin Shah Fazili who was married to my cousin Amina Bano-- the daughter of Pir Ghulam Mohammad Shah sayid Fazili. The other two sons Pir Rasool Shah and Pir Mohammad Shah continued to reside in their ancestral house at Zoonimar. The fourth son Pir Ahmad Shah got married to the daughter of Khwaja
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Ahmad Shah Dedmari residing at Kalal Doori Naid Kadal Srinagar.He purchased a piece of land at Kalal Doori and built a house over there. Himself he established a school at Midroo Tral and taught Arabic, Persian and other courses there. When a few years back I visited the spot at Tral, I found an old man over there who remembered the establishment of the school by my grand father. He stated that Pir Ahmad Shah had made a blind man to memorize Masnavi of Movlana Roomi and after the departure of Pir Ahmad Shah on the death of his father Pir Abdul Gani Shah Sayid Zoonimari in 1335 AH at Zoonimar, the old man had learnt the remaining lessons from that very blind man. Such was the quest for learning those days, when to get a teacher was also a good luck, being a rare commodity. The arrangement for the space for the school was also made in a dramatic manner. When the Zaildar of the area had refused to provide the land being honored by the people as a ruler, however he agreed to make the space available only after he received a slap from the Pir sahib in presence of the public around. Pir Ahmad Shah performed Imamat in the historic Lali Masjid at Naid Kadal and at Dasli Masjid in Pandan Malaratta for about 30 years. He also taught Quran to hundreds of children, many among whom still meet me to tell about those glamourous days. However I being an infant when he left this world have no idea of his person. However my mother told me that when he breathed his last he asked for arranging his bath and then asked my father to read loudly the tobathe prayer of repentence from the sins written by himself and asked permission from each member of the family around including his brother who just entered the scene at that very moment with a bunch of daffodils in his hand and when my mother asked Pir Sahib what to do with this child, his words were that he should be given education and thus he left this world in a conscience manner .He was buried at the grave yard of Khwaja Azam Dedamarithe great historian and spiritual saint near the shrine of Baha-ud-Din Ganj Bakhsh (RA) Srinagar. May his soul rest in everlasting bliss and peace. Aamin! Pir Ahmad Shah had two sons, Pirzada Ghulam Mohammad Shah Sayid and Pirzada Mohammad Yasin Shah Sayid. The
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former had three sons and two daughters namely Pirzada Ghulam Rasool Shah Sayid, Pirzada Mohammad Yousuf Shah Sayid, Pirzada Ghulam Ahmad Shah Sayid, Amina Bano, Atiqa Bano and the later had only one son Pirzada Mohammad Ashraf Shah Sayid and that is me. My father passed away on 17 th, Ramzan th 1407 AH/ 15 May 1987 i.e. (Jang-i-Badr dayFriday in the night hours at the time he used to pray for Tahajjud) and was buried at th Umer Hair near Bilal Mosque. My mother passed away on 29 th rajab 1424 AH/ 18 September 2003 and is buried by the side of my father. That was about our immediate ancestors. The oldest written record that we possess mentions that Sayid Baqir came from Iran and lies buried at village Thune near Wusan Kangan. He was accompanied by 1002 persons and passed away in 655AH.i.e. before the conversion of Rinchen Shah in /1320AD. The other record we possess is Arabic commentary of Sura Fatah of the Holy Quran,the last page written by Syed Sadruddin Mohammad Abul Safa Husaini in 691 AH, again before the advent of Bulbul Shah (ra) and Shahi Hamdan (ra) who left this place in 786AH.Another hand written document is Awrad of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakaria of Multan who passed away in 666 AH.There is also a travelogue in Persian language of holy places of Islam in Central Asia in the time of Hazrat Abdur-r-Rahman Jami (RAa) (d 898 AH). My parental lineage is getting traced to Hazrat Sayid Jalaluddin Bukhari Makhdoomi Azam Sharifullah Mir Surkh Abul Barakat Shershah born in Bukhara Shareef and migrated to Ucha Multan(an old place near PANJNADWhere five rivers meet) (d 490 AH /1091 AD) and was initiated into Suhrawardia order by th Hazrat Bahauddin Zakaria Multani (ra) He was 17 in the serial of progeny from The Prophet Mohammad (pbh) He had five sons namely Sayid Ali, Sayid Jafar, Sayid Ahmad Kabir, Sayid Sadruddin Mohammad Gous, Sayid Bahauddin. His shrine is located in Ucha Multan, He was married to the daughter of Sayid Budruddin Phakri on the instructions of the prophet Mohammad (pbh) in the dream to both the sides. One of his sons Sayid Ahmad
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Kabir Bukhari had three sons (1) Makhdoomi Jahaniyan Jahangasht (ra) who was born in Ucha Multan and had his initial education from his uncle Sayid Sadruddin Mohammad Bukhari (ra). He travelled far and wide and got the title Jahan Gasht--.i.e. he who travels around the world. He visited Kashmir in 748 AH and was welcomed by the woman saint of the time Bibi Lalla Arifa on reaching Herapora a village at Shopian South Kashmir.. This was the time when Sultan Qutbuddin was ruling the country. The second son of Sayid Ahmad Kabir was Makhdoom Sayid Sadruddin Raju Qatal and the third son was Sayid Ali. The 20 in the serial of the lineage is his son Hazrat Sayid st Mahmood known as Sayid Naasiruddin Bukhari. The 21 serial is his son Hazrat Sayid Alauddin Bukhari who reached Kashmir along with Mir Sayid Ali Hamdani in 785 AH. He stayed for 12 years at Sikandarpora Tehsil Beerwah Budgam. He passed away in 803 AH and is buried in the premises of the tomb of King Zainul Aabidin Budshah at Zainakadal Srinagar. The 6 in the serial from Makhdoom Jahaniyan i.e. 25 from the Prophet (pbh) was Hazrat Sayid Jamaluddin Bukhari the Khalifa of Haji Abdul Wahab who reached Kashmir in the time of Sultans and initiated Hazrat Sheikh Hamza Makhddom Kashmiri into Suhrawardy order and stayed in Kashmir for about six months. The Shajra Nasb of Sayid Jalaluddin Mir Surkh Bukhari is as under: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) Hazrat Mohammad (pbh) Hazrat Ali Murtaza (ra) Hazrat Imami Husain (ra) Imam zainul aabidin (ra) Imam Baqir (ra) Imam Jafar Sadiq (ra) Imam Musa Kazim (ra) Imam Ali Raza (ra) Imam Mohammad Taqi (ra) Imam Ali Naqi (ra) Sayid Ali Ashhar (ra)
th th th
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12) 13) 14) 15) 16) 17) 18) 19) 20) 21) 22) 23) 24) 25) 26)
Sayid Abdullah (ra) Sayid Ahmad (ra) Sayid Mahmood Bukhari (ra) Sayid Jafar bukhari (ra) Hazrat Aliabil Muaid Bukhari 9ra) Sayid Jalal Azam Bukhari (ra)Sayid Jalaluddin Mir Surkh Bukhari Hazrat Ahmad Kabirul Haq bukhari Hazrat Sayid Jalaluddin Makhdoomi Jahan Gasht (ra) ---Hazrat Sayid Mahmood Naasir-ud-Din (ra) ---Hazrat Sayid Rukn-ud-Din Abul Fatah (ra) ---Hazrat Sayid Mahmood Abul Qasim (ra) ---Haztat Sayid Mohammad (ra) ---Hazrat Sayid Haamid (ra) Hazrat Makhdoom Sheikh Haji Abdul Wahab Bukhari Dehlavi (ra) Sayid Jamaluddin Bukhari (ra)the Murshid of Hazrat Sheikh Hamza Kashmiri (RA) Hazrat Baba Daud Khaki (RA) describes the shajra nasb of Sayed Jalal-ud-Din as under: Syed Jalal-ud Din S/O Syed Ali S/O Syed Jafar S/O Sayed Mohammad S/O Sayed Mahmood S/O Sayed Ahmad S/O Sayed Abdullah S/O Sayed Ali Ashqar S/O Sayed Jafar shafi S/O Sayed Ali AlHadi Alnaqi S/O Al Imam Al Jawad Altaqi S/O Ali S/O Mosa Raza S/o Imam ul- Alam Moosa Kazim S/O Imam Jafar Sadiq S/O Imam alnasir Mohammad Albaqir S/O Imam Zain-ul-Aabidin S/O Imam Shahid Hazrat Imam Husain (AH)
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S/O Imam Ali Murtaza husband of Hazrat Fatima Zuhra (RA) S in law/ and Cousin/O Hazrat Muhammad Al Mustafa (PBH) He also narrates that Hazrat Sayed Jamal-ud- Din Bukhari occupies a place of pride by his order and that of his Khalifas in the group of the Guides of Suhrawardya silsila of Qutb-i-Alam (Makhdoom Sayed Jalal-ud-Din Bukhari) The order of Khalifas is as under: Sayed Jamal-ud-Din Syed Sadr-ud-Din Bukhari Makhdoom Haji Abdul Wahab Dehlavi ( his brother) Makhdoom Sayed Haamid Uchi Bukhari Makhdoom Sayed Muhammad (his father) Makhdoom Sheikh Sayed Mahmood Abul Qasim (his brother) Sheikh Sayed Rukn-ud-Din Abul Fatah (his father) Sheikh Sayed Haamid Kabir (his father) Sheikh Sayed Mahmood Naasir-ud-Din (his father) Makhdoom-i- Jahaniyan Qutb-i-Alam Amir-i-Kabir Sheikh Sayed Jalal-ud- Din Hasani ul-Husaini Bukhari (RA) By another means Sheikh Sayed Haamid Kabir had the Khilafat of Sheikh Zain-ul- Aabidin also, who in turn had it from Sheikh Kabir-ud-Din who in turn had it from Shaikh Sayed Sadr-ud-Din Muhammad known as Sheikh Raju Qital and he in turn had the Khilafat from his brother Makhdoom-i- Jahaniyan Jahan Gasht Hazrat Sheikh Hamza Makhdoom Kashmiri had His disciple Hazrat Sheikh Baba Daud Khaki (RA) His disciple was Sheikh Mohammad Moomin Shah Sayid Suhrawardy (RA) (the ancestor of the author) F/O Sheikh Mohammad Alam Shah Sayid Suhrawardy Zoonimari F/O Sheikh Mohammad Salih Shah Sayid Suhrawardy Fazili Zoonimari F/O Sheikh Mohammad Sabir Shah Sayid Suhrawardy Fazili Zoonimari
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F/O Sheikh Mohammad Tajuddin Shah Sayid Suhrawardy Fazili Zoonimari F/O Sheikh Abdul Gani Shah Sayid Suhrawardy Fazili Zoonimari F/O Pir Ghulam Ahmad Shah Sayid Fazili settled at Kalal Doori Naid Kadal Srinagar. F/O Pirzada Mohammad Yasin Shah Sayid Fazilisettled at Bachpora Srinagar F/O Pirzada Mohammad Ashraf Shah Sayid Fazilir/o Bachpora Srinagar Kashmir. (Author) ( Retired Chief Engineer PWD J&K Government) 11) A MANUSCRIPTROYAL (SHAHI FARMAN) ORDER
Another manuscript (SHAHI FIRMAN) in Persian language which is well preserved by all the chain of the ancestors, the writer of the manuscript describes that his ancestors came from Wilayat ( a name ascribed to the countries like Saudi Arabia, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Middle East). It states that if you feel it necessary to bring the Panjawand (Punjab) country into captivity, you will have to encounter the lions of the plains and the tough soldiers and that time your bravery shall be put to real test and you will know as to how the iron cuts the iron. If you are a king then God will bestow the country to any one of us in the battle field. I am waiting to have your glimpse on the way and if you come in this manner, you will be received with a grand reception. No need to tell you any thing further. Chapter 2: Now when the royal order (Hukmi Alam Tab Hukmi Khaqani Zilli Subhani) has dawned from the horizon of kindness. We bestow the governance of the province of Rahimabad from the crop time of khariff to Umdatul Mulk Mubarazuddin Khan Bahadur. The reign of all the powers we hand over to him, since we like his expertise, generosity and bravery. No stone should be left unturned in his obedience. Keep us informed about the condition of
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the people over there so that no cruel person coerces any weak person..The straight-forward behavior and truthfulness must be the result of the fair dealings with public and the employees and landlords (Jagirdars) must be made accountable. Whoever turns away from our obedience, he should be warned in such a manner that others take a lesson from it. Whatever event takes place, should always be brought in to our notice. The yearly tax like elephants, horses besides other things presented by the people living near foothills should be dispatched to our durbar. All the army officers or those appointed in other fields in this province , all those persons should consider the Sobedar Umdatul Mulk as a permanent Subedar and should not act beyond his advice and farsightedness.He has got to be obeyed .Any complaints made in his durbar about any one need got to be got rectified. Any jagirdar who disobeys his advice, the Sobedar should change his jagir and submit report to us, so that we depute some one else in his place. No violation of the orders be done in this connection. That is why these orders have been issued by us. It is also enjoined up on us that we should bring the Gods creation on the straight path after pulling them out of the narrow lanes of straying darkness (i.e. guide them )But all these things are possible to be achieved when we appoint a pious religious Qazi (justice) in each city.so that people can see the example of patience and piety. Since all these qualities are are found in Khwaja Gayasuddin, so we shall bestow this grand post to him and he should immediately try to decide all the cases according to shariah with full attention, and whichever case is presented to him, he should act according to shariah without leaving behind the fundamentals of religiousness. The futwa based on shariah should be issued in such a manner that he should be able to bear the responsibility on the day of judgment hereafter. It is enjoined up on the common people that they should consider such a Qazi as a permanent one and obey and honor him and whichever worldly or religious
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matter is presented to him, they should according to his opinion. Whomever the Qazi appoints his deputy in exceptional circumstances , he should accept his invitation and obey him and act on his advice, which shall reflect the obedience of the King. His orders should be listened with conscious ears and without any violation. He should be obeyed by the person to whom he serves the orders. Since it has come to our notice that Khwaja Mohammad Baqir is famous for the able administration and bravery. So as per the royal procedure we assign the protection and kotwali of Daulatabad. He should ensure to adopt the path of truthfulness and remain abreast of the peoples plight, so that the people over there remaining safe in the cradle of peace live happily free from worries and pray and seek from God the betterment of the everlasting kingdom. They should be particularly careful not to be carried away by the rumors. The people should be forbidden from such acts, so that no unrest takes place among them and he should show sympathy to the people to such an extant that he shall be able to pass the test of having discharged his responsibility amicably on the dooms day. The prices of food stuffs and other commodities should be kept in a balance so that the crops dont become costly. All the events should be brought in our notice. It is the responsibility of the people over there to obey the Kotwal and not act against his orders, thereby avoid violation of our orders. We hereby order the allotment of 300 bighas of uncultivated land from Pargana Allahdadpur which is his native place for helping his domestic maintenance to Sheikh Abdul Gaffar and his sons to enable him to utilize every year its income from the crops grown therein, on his own expenses and pray to Allah for our governance and administration. The chowkidar or the officials of the area must handover the crops to Sheikh Abdul gaffer and they should ensure no hindrance to him in the collection of all income, royal tax or fine amount and do not demand to issue new orders repeatedly, neither disobey his orders.
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From the history book The Later Moghuls page 137 to page 154 the following extract references have been recorded to know about this Mubariz Khan under reference, which may provide a clue to the manuscript referred above. rd (Page 137)--- On the 3 Feb. 1724, before the wazir had fully shown his hand a firman was handed over to Abdul Majid Khan son of Mubariz khan, governor of Hyderabad appointing his father to the whole Dakhin as deputy for the infant Prince Shaharyar Shah and not long after upon the death of this infant, the appointment was confirmed to Mubariz Khan in his own name. Page 138---Mubariz Khan the then governor of Hyderabad, who was thus set up as a rival to Nizam-ulmulk, was a native of Bulkh, Khwaja Muhammad by name. In 1137 H, (1724) he was a little over sixty years of age. His mother had brought him to Hindustan when he was a boy. After a time he obtained imperial employ in various offices at the Court; and finally secured his position by marrying a daughter of Inayatullah Khan Kashmiri, a man high in Alamgirs favour. He was made Bakhshi to Alamgirs youngest son kam Bakhsh, and afterwords faujdar of Sangamner. The first title given him was that of th Amanat Khan; and in the 47 year of Alamgir (1114-1115 H., 1703-4) the faujdari of Baizapur, about 48 miles from Aurangabad, was added to his former district. In Bahadur Shahs reign he was in charge of Surat : the then Wazir, Munim Khan, having the very highest opinion opf his good qualities, which he held to be established by his very appearance. He was promoted on the death of Ghazi-ud din Khan Firoz Jung, in 1122 H.-(1710) to the Government of Ahmadabad Gujarat. Jahandar Shah (1712) removed him to the charge of Malwa, and for his victory over Islam Khan of rampura in that province he was created Shahamat Khan. Early in Farrukh-siyars reign (1713) he again received the Government of Gujarat, but had held it only two weeks when he was superseded by Daud Khan Panni. He was transferred to the province of Hyderabad in
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the Dakhin, and finally received the titles of Imad-ul-mulk, Mubariz Khan Bahadur, Hizbul Jang. He ruled in Hyderabad for nearly twelve years. Finally Mubariz khan was killed in the battle he faught against his rival Nizam-ul mulk and was buried in the plain outside the town of Shakar-khera (now called FatehKhera). Later on the son of Mubariz Khan, Khwaja Ahmad Khan was made Shahamat Khan and Khwaja Mahmud Khan became Mubariz Khan after Nizam-ul-mulk occupied the city of Hyderabad and the country around it. G.M.D.Sufis Kashir page 290 quotes about Mir Inayatullah Khan Kashmiri Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad Shah ascended the throne of Delhi in1719 A.C. Muhammad Shah invested Mir Inayatullah Khan with the Governorship of Kashmir. Inayatullah khan was a Kashmiri by birth, and was descended from Qazi Musa Shahid who was killed in Yakub Shah Chaks days. Inayatullah was origionally Mir Inayatullah, and later became known as Mir Inayatullah Khan. He had six sons of whom the more notable were : the elder Hidayatullah known first as Wazarat Khan, then as Sadullah Khan Mir-i-Saman,and 2) the younger son was Atiullah Khan who was given as title his fathers nameInayatullah Khan. Mir Inayatullah is known in Kashmir as Yanna Sur as he built the wall or sor of Hazrat Makhddums mausoleum. Yanna being nicknamed from Inayatullah. His mother, -Hafiza Maryam, taught the ladies of the royal seraglio in the days of Aurangzeb Alamgir, notably Zeb-un Nisa. Hafiza Maryam's mother Jan Begum, the daughter of Mulla Sharif Mir Adl taught the princesses in the Shah Jahans time. Aurangzeb Alamgir had such a great confidence in Inayatullahs ability that he made him Vazlr-i-Azam, when Nawab Umdatul Mulk Madar-ul-Maham Jafar Khan, the Prime Minister of the realm was ill. Inayatullah compiled the Ahkami-Alamgiri. All signed royal commands were collected and edited by him under the title of Kalimati- Tayibat Alamgir had a
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high opinion of Inayatullah's literary attainments and was impressed by his diction, style & mode of calligraphy. Inayatullah was handsome, good natured, grave and scrupulously honest. He was simple in his habits and loved to mix with fuqra or friars. In1724 A.C=1137 Ah, Inayatullah was reappointed governor of Kashmir, third time but died after a few months at Delhi. 12) MANUSCRIPT OF SHEIKH ABDUL HAQ MUHADDIS DEHLAVI (RA) Another manuscript we have is written by Sheikh Abdul th Haq Muhaddis Dehlavi (RA) dated 10 Rabi-us-Sani 1018 AH.This pertains to the Shajra of five silsilas i.e..Alqadirya, Alshazilya, Almadinya, Alchishtya, Alnaqshbandya starting from the Prophet Muhammad (PBH) up to Sheikh Muhaddis Dehlvi and then to Khwaja Haider bin Feroz Kashmiri the contemporary brother in Allah (Al Akhun Fillah) of our ancestor Sheikh Mohammad Moomin Shah Sayid Suhrawardy (RA). A similar manuscript is on 14 pages handwritten by Khwaja Azam Dedmarithe historian and the sofi saint. This is Shajra of five silsilas namely Kubravia, Qadirya, Suhrawardya, Naqshbandya,Chishtya starting from the Prophet Mohammad (PBH) up to Sheikh Mohammad Murad (d 1160 AH)the murshid of Khwaja Azam Dedmari (d 1179 AH). There are many more manuscripts which have no beginning or end pages; some pertain to travelogue in Muslim Countries of Central Asia like Bukhara, Tashqand, Samarqand, Heart etc. Some pertain to Sufism or various types of worship in which earlier people would remain busy round the clock. Some of the manuscripts are the hand written pamphlets of Hazrat Amir-i-Kabir Mir Sayid Ali Hamdani (RA) written by Khwaja Amir-ud-Din Pakhliwal. Some manuscripts are
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pertaining to the Naqshbandi silsila of sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi (RA) and his descendants. This was some information about our ancestors, part of which I have tried to cover in my book in three volumes, Hamare Aslaf aur Mashaikh-i-Kashmir. A) MY EARLY DAYS (1942-1948) 13)MY BIRTH, CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL DAYS: The child survived from the first wife of my father Mohammad Shafi was brought up by my motherthe second spouse of my father till he was of one year of age and to the dismay of the family he also left this abode. None of the four babies born to my mother after having a couple of scissoring operations survived except one Abdul Gani for about a year or so. So it called for some spiritual support and after approaching some saintly person for praying for a surviving child, I was told by my mother that she had a dream, when she saw a baby wrapped in pashmina shawl being given by an attendant at Hazratbal Srinagar and after the passage of nine months another scissoring brought me out in this world. All my childhood I have been receiving extra care, being the only son of my parents. I was not allowed to mix with rough children and even from the nearby school I had to ensure return in time. My mother would teach me how to spell words of Quran when I would be in her lap while she was cooking food on fire hearth. I still remember she tried to teach me the tajwid of the word MABSOOSA, Where S is to be pronounced as TH using teeth and tongue only, besides sentences of the Urdu primer saying Huqqa na pi, yeh burry aadat hay i.e. Do not smoke, It is a bad habit, thereby simultaneously imparting me with the moral education. My father would give me lessons on the learning of the alphabets of Arabic, Urdu and even English
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at this very early stage. The saint who had prayed for my survival had asked my parents to distribute a special kind of bread called ROTH in Kashmiri on my every birthday th which fell on Id-uz-Zuha and on 12 birthday have a ram killed and distributed among neighbors and relatives. My mother would meet the expenses for all this by spinning pashmina yarn. I was sent to nearby maktaba to learn recitation of the Quran at the age of five years, in which I completed the same besides memorizing some lengthy suras of the Quran. I was the youngest student attending the maktaba and I was afraid to see the long staff of the Molvi Sahib which served as a deterrent to ensure memorizing of the lessons. I was too shy to even hand over the fees of one anna on every Tuesday to Molvi Sahib, which would be found in my pocket by my parents and they would pass it on to the Molvi Sahib later on themselves. One reason of not allowing me to play with the children of neighbors was that one day while playing there was a spot where there had been well, which had turned hollow below the ground level and now on stepping on its surface it gave in and I remained clutched to the top surface while the rest of my body was inside the well. It took time for some elder person to come to rescue me from dropping down. This caused a stir in our family. On another occasion a piece of glass entered my foot causing me lot of bleeding and took a long time to heal the wound. Thus my parents would prefer my indoor safety rather than risking my injury. Even inside my home .while I was playing with a tin box, I fell on its sharp edge causing me injury below my right chin again adding to the worry of my parents. For learning calligraphy in English and Urdu, besides completing the shortcomings in the recitation of the Holy Quran and learning of Persian books like Karima Nam-i-Haq,Gulistan Bostan of Sheikh Saadi (RA), Ikhlaq-iMohsini etc, I was sent to the house of Hafiz Mahmood Shah Wafai (RA) at Anzimar Khanyar-- an aged Molvi who would correct my recitation of the Holy Quran and his son
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Kh. Ghulam Mohammad Wafai-- the professor of Persian in Oriental languages in M.P. Higher Secondary School Baghi Dilawar Khan Srinagar, who taught me English calligraphy besides other Persian books and the other son Kh. Ahmad Shah Wafai a scribe of The daily Khidmat who taught me Urdu Calligraphy. This course was to be attended either before or after the school hours. I recall one incident when I slipped on the brick laid steps of the lane just outside the Wafais house and my chin got shifted on an angle resulting into misalignment of my upper and lower jaw. Being shy I attended the class in Wafais house as it was, of course bearing all the pain whole of the time and on rushing back to my home I showed the jaw to my father, who just pushed my jaw back on the proper alignment and it was O.K. 13) MY EARLY CHILDHOOD: However I completed the recitation at the age of five years and was made to memorize most of the last Para of the Holy Quran by my father, besides some vital ayah therein. My father would develop my interest in the Holy book by explaining the meaning along with the historical tales of the Holy Prophets narrated therein. Later as stated above, I made many revisions when my father took me to an old bearded Molvi sahib with red dyed beard namely Kh. Mahmood Shah Wafai, who remembered the whole Quran by heart and would ask me to see if he has read the whole chapter correctly, when he would recite the same extempore and I was asked to keep my eyes on the printed words of the Holy Quran. Sometimes he would be faster than my speed of checking. Besides I would get a headline written in English and Urdu on the top of the fourline/ two line note book from the two sons of Kh. Mahmood Wafai namely Kh. Ghulam Mohammad Wafai (English) and Kh, Ghulam Ahmad Wafai (Urdu0 the former being a teacher in the Oriental College MPH School and the later a scribe of the Urdu Daily Khidmat. I
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would often catch cold being allergic to the cold atmosphere in winter and when it took long time to get cured a Hakim Sahib from Sonamarg with green turban and a hanging pathkha on the back of his turban came to our house and gave me some powder to smell and immediately a form of dark brown fluid looking like the blood oozed out of my nose and there was much relief, however another Hakim Hisam-ud Din of Konan Bandiporathe cousin of my father prescribed a mixture of almond oil, darichini oil and a pinch of opium to be mixed to form round tablets and this too helped me in overcoming the frequent bad cold. Another teaser was the pain in the feet due to abrupt cooling of the feet and red spots would appear under the skin in the feet with biting pain as if caused by the prick of small needles. This too got cured by washing the feet in warm water and application of some tube over the skin. Early in the morning the vegetable growers would come to clear the pit latrines and carry the fecal matter to the fields and allow it to decompose and then use it in the vegetable fields, Thus there was no pollution flowing to the water bodies through the surface drains, which too were absent, besides a rich manure would be available for no extra cost We used to go to Shalwari to get the green vegetable known as Hak or the vendors would bring the same to our doors in huge baskets made of willow twigs. Such a tasty Hak is not seen now. The milk had to be got from the gujris living in the lane nearby. They had cows accommodated in the ground floors, which were warm enough in the winters and these people would even sleep in the same area on a raised platform to escape cold and also save the fuel needed for heating or for kangristhe fire pots used to keep warm in winter. The cow dung would be dried up in the open compounds and its smell had made us immune to it due to its frequent spreading in the area. This dried cow dung known as Buth in Kashmiri would be sold to use as fuel for use in earthen hearths and the fire tongs obtained from it would be used in Kangris The bread had
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to be got from the baker, who would sell these hot from the earthen oven called tandoor in Kashmiri to the people waiting for their turn. There was no radio around in my childhood. Then our neighbor brought gramophone record player to his home and we would at times go to listen the songs and music. After some time he got the radio and we also purchased a locally assembled radio to listen news and also the Kashmiri and Urdu songs with music. We would get entertained by the songs sung on the marriages called Wanwun and dance with music called Rauf in Kashmiri. This Rauf was also sung by the girls on Eid days to express joy. A maktab /school to teach the recitation of the Quran to the locals of the area was functioning in our home in the days of my grandfather Pir Ahmad Shah Sayid and it continued in the days of my father & my mother, till we migrated to Bachpora in seventies. When slightly grown up, I would maintain a register of attendance of the students both boys and girls.My father had a watch makers shop at Drugjan Dalgate .He sometimes took me there and I would enjoy watching the Army Officers stopping in a vehicle and getting their watches repaired by my father. One day a football struck in the shop, breaking some of the glass panes of the almirah inside the shop, on this the football was confiscated and I used to play with it in my early days of childhood. These days I remember a gardener dressed in Khaki colored dress with khaki turban used to come to our house on a bicycle along with a basket full of various kinds of fruits mostly pear, apples, apricots etc. these fruits would be kept hidden from my sight as I would get loose motion on taking these fruits. However rarely I would be given some of these fruits with great care and caution. In the early child hood I had collected lot of toys and stored in a box and would play with these when alone. In the evening I would watch the movement of groups of birds like pigeons, crows from the open gallery on the top floor of our house and would listen to their chirpings along with some friends who would come to my house.
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Sometimes we would attempt to catch sparrows by trapping them under the basket but these proved to be cleverer. During the day time in leisure hours I would play the Guli Danda (Lathkiji Loth) and (saza long) with friends and also would play with a rolling rubber cycle ring .We would also make small channels for irrigating temporary mini gardens made in the small ground space. In winter there would be at times heavy snow fall and the snow from the roof tops was got rolled down by engaging labor to save the roof from collapsing under its heavy weight. This would result in heaps of snow in the compounds and in the narrow lanes, which would get frozen and would not be removed till the temperature improved and the mounds of snow would melt resulting into muddy lanes being unpaved. B) MY STUDIES (1948-1963): 14) MY MIDDLE SCHOOL: I was admitted in the nearby Lower Middle School th Nowhatta Srinagar in the first primary on 12 :Jaith 2005 at the age of plus five. It was an experience to see how the teachers mostly Pundits with colored turbans on would take pains to teach every lesson to the students. A wooden takhti called Mashiq had to be rubbed with green leaves and then by the round edge of the glass bottle to make the surface shine and then both the sides were to be written with ink made of white Baramullah soil (mitti) and the pen would be made of Nar grass grown in Dal Lake. On one side a page of Urdu and on the other side math assignment had to be completed. The punishment for not having done this home task would be to remove the pants and ride on another student nominated for the purpose and biting Soii grass would be splashed on the naked body causing an unbearable pain. This acted as a deterrent for the rest of the students who would remain punctual in the home work and would also remain
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attentive to the lesson taught by the teacher. I still remember Master Sona Koul and master Mana Kak, the later used to use his finger with force on the earlobe as a punishment for not being attentive in the class and that is why we used to call him Kana Kak(Kan means the ear in Kashmiri) I still remember the pleasant mornings when before starting the classes, a prayer meeting would be held in the open compound of the school followed by a brief lecture on different current topics by the Head Master. There was a drill period and a period for recess as for lunch. The classes were held from 10 Am to 04 PM except on Sundays and public holidays. I recollect that when I was of 7/8 years of age, I fell ill due to loose motion and got reduced to Skelton as all the treatment was not working, so much so that I was rendered weak and in a state of trauma, I would feel I am in a green garden and I would speak out loudly here it is only sabzari- sabzar i.e.greenery and greenery only..Later on when I recovered , I had to explain why I was saying like that. On another occasion my father fell severely ill and he used to shout in high pitch, La ilaha IllallahGod is One; my maternal uncle would irritate him by saying , no there are two , on which he would shout on a louder pitch his own words ; besides my father would relate how he finds himself in a garden with excellent fragrance and he would take deep breaths as if he was actually smelling the fragrance; he also related how the Nakir, Munkar came and were asking him questions and he was answering them which we were hearing clearly; and when we lost all hopes a famous physician of the time Dr. Noor-ud-Din Khan prescribed a small bottle of medicine to be given by a few drops and watch the recovery in 24 hours. This was the last possible treatment and Alhamd-u-Lillah thanks to Allah he recovered and it took him a month or so to gain normalcy. My father was jack of all trades and a master of many fields. He had learnt the craft of repairing the watches after having
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undergone the prevalent method of education mostly of Persian and Arabic books to be learnt from a scholar individually including the learning of the Holy Quran. He had a shop at Drugjan Dalgate, where I remember I used to accompany him and saw mostly army officers coming to get their watches repaired. Any watch that could not get repaired anywhere would be set right by him. I used watch minutely the minutest screws and the imported instruments he was using, using magnifying eye glasses. He could even indigenously manufacture spare parts of the watches, even if it would take days together. He was also leading the morning and evening prayers as Imam of the nearby Dasli Mosque at Pandan Malaratta. He had also learnt the art of embroidery to its perfection and would keep himself busy with that when free. He could also make unique designs of tilla golden thread embroidery on the ladies pherans in spare time. He knew how to deal with the sale and purchase of Pashmina in raw and thread form. In earlier days he had opened a branch of Co-operative Bank at his residence at Kalal Doori, when some loans of meager amount used to be advanced to the needy people, as majority of the people were poor and could not sustain with poor means of earning. However this system had involved him so deeply that it had become a problem to get rid of this responsibility as those who had taken the loans were mostly unable to return the same within the prescribed time. Finally the Govt. called for depositing the records back and the long outstanding loans were waved off and that was an occasion to rejoice for all connected. In his later days my father would write accounts of some factories working with Kashmir Govt. Arts Emporium, besides he used to teach the recitation of the Holy Quran to hundreds of children like his father, a very straining job calling for deep patience and skill. He had owned many tools from his father, like book binding equipment consisting of a wooden press with wooden screws called Skeenj in Kashmiri besides a long sword like blade for
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cutting the pages of books. There were tools of masonry and those of carpentry etc. . In my school as in other Govt. schools, all the subjects were taught in Urdu language and the first English primer was taught in the sixth class. I took Arabic as an optional th th subject from 6 to 8 class. There was a subject of Dinyat which would impart moral education, which has been totally eliminated from the curriculum now. The words of the science teacher Mr. Prem Nath with yellow turban on his head are still in my memory, so are those of Mr. th Jagannath form- master of 8 class. I recall the day when he slapped me on my face for some reason and I complained to my father about it, the next day my father accompanied me and asked the teacher to confirm if he had slapped this boy; on his affirmation my father told him that this has caused imbalance, please slap him on the other face as well, so one can guess the parent teacher attitude in framing the personality of a growing child. The form teacher would teach us mathematics and algebra was my pet subject. 15) MY HIGH SCHOOL: From 9 class onwards I took admission in M.P. Higher Secondary School Baghi Dilawar Khan Srinagar. Suddenly all the subjects were now in English language and it was felt difficult to adjust with new medium. Here Urdu was an optional subject. I proffered to choose nonmedical instead of medical subjects. Having scored good th th marks in 9 class, I was enrolled as roll no. one in my 10 class. In the Matriculation Examination in 1957, I scored the highest marks in the school. Since it was a multipurpose school, a period was fixed for learning any of the prescribed crafts, in which I selected carpentry as my subject. There was a vast playground attached to the school and often we could play football, hockey after school hours. However during the recess period also the boys used to play the small hard cover balls. One day a
th
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group was playing the match in the recess period and by chance the ball struck my leg and it got diverted into a different direction. On this a stout boy thinking that I had hit the ball deliberately struck my head with his own head and it caused swelling on my forehead. When my father saw this, he immediately accompanied me to the school and went to see the Principal, who was in a meeting with other teachers. My father criticized the school discipline and told the Principal that we dont expect this type of behavior from your students. The Principal Mr. Abdul Aziz of Jammu was a thorough gentleman, who had been short at in 1947 communal disturbances and he had lost his child in his lap besides losing his little finger too. He explained al the situation to my father in such a patient manner that the atmosphere cooled down. He also assured my father that the culprit shall be dealt with, so that he does not repeat such act again. Having already learnt the calligraphy, my English teacher would get impressed by my hand writing and would show my note book to each student of the class to improve their respective hand writing accordingly. Sometimes he would express doubts, if I had written it myself or got written by someone at home. But how could he know that I was the first person in the dynasty to learn English language, as till then the medium of education was Persian or Arabic th I had never seen Lal Chowk. Till in 9 class we were taken by the school to Palladium Cinema to see the film Jagiriti. We would however be taken to excursion to Mughal Gardens in Doonga Boats through Dal Lake and that would be a full day job, leaving early in the morning and returning late in the night. This would be a most enjoyable experience. 16) MY COLLEGE DAYS: My next institution to join in 1957 at the age of 14 plus, was Sri Partap College Srinagar where I passed my Faculty of Science (F.Sc) examination in 1959. There
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were veteran professors like the Late Principal Mr. S.L.Raina,the Late Prof. Mohammad Sultan Wani ( His English teaching is still inscribed in our hearts.) Prof. Hamidi Kashmiri ( His English Poetry teaching was so charming) prof Ashai-the Math teacherI would score 100% marks in maths and he still remembers my roll no twenty eight (28)I met him only a few days back in a seminar in Kashmir University and made him to recollect those golden days.prof. Durrani the physics professor had a style of his own. He was replaced by Prof. Abdul Salam Dhar--HOD Physics. There was an open fight between the two professors Prof. Mohammad Yousuf ( commonly known as jandguru) and Prof. Abdul Salam Dhar, on handing and taking over of the charge and that too in presence of the students, when one of the two caught the other by his tie and the other crushed his thumb by biting it.Education is supposed to make a person thorough gentleman, but there are general exceptions perhaps the moral education and its practice is missing. The chemistry was taught by Prof Nandlal Wazir, then Pof Zutshi and finally by Prof. Nasrullah Mir. Why there were so many changes. Somehow there were some naughty elements also in our class as usual. One day while writing the lengthy formulas of organic chemistry, one of the naughty students made a paper plane which straightaway landed on the cap of the professor and this made all to laugh. That was the day the Prof. left the class and refused to teach them. Then the HOD Prof Zutshi took the class. Again on the very first day a wrong word made him to leave the class, never to return. Then came Mir Nasrullah, who on entrance in the class straightaway reached the front student and slapped on his face without any reason. This caused pin drop silence and the same situation prevailed till the last day of his class, when he was transferred to become the Deputy Commissioner of Srinagar. He was also the son in law of Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad. The Chief Minister of J&K State. Mention needs to be made of the demonstrator of the chemistry
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laboratory Mr. Ghulam Mohammad Bandey. He took pains to teach such a naughty class. His pet sentence was: What can I will do for you? Though every day of ones life provides a chance to have a new experience, yet it is only some memorable events that make deep impression and get stored in ones mind to be able to relate when the occasion demands. I remember that one day the two of us cut the photograph from the front page of a newspaper in the library and we were caught red handed by the librarian. Both of us turned pail. On this the librarian took us to his room and said that we must be bold enough and not turn pail. A mistake has been committed but you must be able to face the odd situations too. This gave us encouragement and at the same times a realization of not repeating such an act. So there were mature people too, whom we met. We would go to the college all along on foot covering a distance of about 6 Kms. to and fro-- all through the dense traffic from Naid Kadal to the S.P. College and it would be a pleasure walk. It was in 1959 that I passed the FSc exams. It would be a great time of rejoicing on each passing of the exams and my parents and relatives used to be very curious and eager to know the results, so that they would come to greet us on the occasion. In fact I was the forerunner and others in the dynasty followed me for higher education. 17) MY SELECTION ENGINEERING: FOR DEGREE
Since there was no Engineering College in the J&K State then, the Public Service Commission would conduct interviews to select the suitable candidates for different Engineering Colleges all over India. I too applied for the interview of PSC against an advertisement. One day I received a telegram from PSC, stating that I have been selected for the Engineering Degree Course at Annamalai
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University South India .My parents were not ready to part away from me for such a long period for obvious reasons. The other candidate selected in the same University was one of my class mates namely Nizam-ud-Din Mattoo. He came to my home to ask me when to leave for the place. Since we had little exposure and going alone would have been an uphill task, I got encouraged by the company and it was the persistence of Mr. Nizam that my father agreed to send me along with him, besides there were other four selected candidates to travel along with us on the same route up to Madras It was an experience to have the first journey, which became so easy for the other three years and we would come home for a month after every final exam, besides we had educational tours with our class to East, North, West and South India in the last three years and in the first year I along with my classmate Jaharlal Bhattacharya of Tripura went to Bangalore and Mysore of our own for a week or so. In addition to this we used to go for survey camp in the hilly areas which called for strenuous hard work in rough conditions. Here I would like to describe our first journey to Annamalai University and the welcome we received in the form of rigorous ragging for a week and then the routine classes we had to attend. There had occurred severe floods in May 1959 and the tourists had got stranded here for a pretty long time and they had to sell their belongings for their survival. Now all the six of us got the air ticket from Srinagar to Pathankote. The sky was so thickly overcast that our plane could not take off for seven consecutive days. Every day we would carry our lunch and have it at the Old Airport and return disappointed. My mother would become happy as she was least willing on my being away from her sight. However It was on the seventh day that there was a gap in the clouds and our Dakota plane took off and I remember that we had our lunch with fish at Pathankote airport restaurant. In the evening we boarded the jam packed train to Delhi. There was no space except in the
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passage and whole night we spent standing awake, listening to the abuses of the tourists against the Kashmiris as they had to sell them all belongings for their survival. We had to bear with patience the bitterness vomited by the sufferers of the road blockade.We reached Delhi the next day and had to catch the GT Express in the evening. A similar situation was found in this train also as we had no place to sit, not to talk of putting the luggage on some vacant birth. We had to spend second sleepless night standing till one birth got vacated late in the night and we provided one hour of rest by turns to each one of us. The situation improved on the next night, but another enemy of hunger started to annoy us as we could not any food provided in the train due to different flavor and taste, We however got hold of some bananas till we reached Madras. One co-passenger added to our woes when he said that the Annamalai University is located in Rajasthan and not in Madras State. But since we had a letter on a student already studying over there, we could not get misled. We reached Madras Railway Station in the evening and after parting away from other four friendswho had to report to Guindy Engineering College, we boarded the train to Chidambaram. It was early in the morning that we reached the Chidambaram railway station and when we went out to see the place, the first sight that we had was of people in line openly defecating on a nallah bank. This was quite a surprise to us as here we maintain strict purdah by having covered latrines even in the villages. We changed our clothes and boarded a block cart- the only transport available there and reached the hostel building of the Engineering College of the Annamalai University. All the three Kashmiri students who were one year senior came to see us in the room of late Er. Mohammad Aslam Khan. Since we were exhausted in the strenuous journey, that too without any break, we needed some rest, but hardly ten minutes had passed when a rogue looking person entered the room asking firs Nizam to stand up and
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declare his identity. Since Nizam was wearing an Afghan cap, the rogue looking person asked him to remove his cap which is considered quite insulting. He also started asking him, if he is the agent of Sheikh Abdullah who was in prison in those days or a Pakistani agent. We had never expected such a treatment after covering such a long distance. Next the rogue turned to me asking my name. having been irritated, I rebuffed What business have you got with my name? OK we will see you later were their answer and he left the room. Our Kashmiri seniors advised not to act tough as they would give us tough time. For the next seven days, we had to play hide and seek to escape the wrath of the seniors who would be ragging all the newcomers. In fact to save myself from any further teasing I just kept my knife with walnut handle and cover on the table, which acted as a deterrent to them and it made them to report the matter to the warden, which recoiled on them with an advice from the warden for a soft treatment. It was on the seventh day called Hat Night that was the last day of ragging when all the new comers were taken out in undershirt and underwear in the open ground and all were painted with oil paint from head to toe with boot polish rubbed on their faces. With bear feet, carrying their chapels in their raised hands, all the juniors were made to form rows and march through the streets of Chidambaram replying to the slogans in Tamil Languageto the amusement of all the passersby and shopkeepers. The march ended in the afternoon and the last ritual was that the junior was caught by the arms and legs by two persons and thrown into a pond filled with dirty water and two persons in the pond ensured that the junior gets a few dips so that some of this water goes into his stomach and then he is thrown out of the pond thus calling an end to the miserable ragging. The rest of the day one has to remove the oil paint with kerosene oil or thinner which again is painful as hairs also get pulled along with it. After taking a full shower one puts on fresh clothes and there is a dinner served in an open compound followed
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with a stage drama where a junior rags a senior student in presence of all the staff, seniors and juniors. Hence forth all become friends with the advantage that one gets introduced to most of the seniors and ones talents also get exploited. You are made to sing songs besides dancing etc. The ragging at times could take the shape of vengeance and caused occasional deaths also where after it was even banned, but somehow it gets repeated, every year as the first year seniors want to take the revenge of the fate met by them at the hands of their seniors and the cycle goes on. Both of us went to see the Registrar of the Annamalai University, the next day of reaching the hostel. We were surprised to mark the difference of behavior from that of ours, where access to the Registrar for a student was a remote possibility. The worthy Registrar clad in a simple dress of a kurta and a dhoti almost barefooted stood up from the chair to receive us and personally accompanied us to see the Vice Chancellor, who again was so kind to make us feel at home by asking us all about the prevailing conditions in Kashmir. This was the year 1959, i.e. 51 years back. Those days Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was in the jail and he wanted to hear from us about the prevailing political situation in J&K State. After asking us to report to the Principal Engineering College, which was within the premises of the University about half a kilometer away, we again were surprised to see the registrar calling us on the road side from behind, after we had covered about half the distance on foot; when we turned back he asked us about our hostel arrangement. We told him that we need the hostel accommodation, he took us again to the VC, who gave us a letter on the warden of the hostel for providing us the accommodation. In fact due to severe ragging we sometimes thought that perhaps we had committed a mistake in coming all the way from Kashmir to receive this sort of unpleasant treatment, but the attitude of the VC and the Registrar made us to reverse our thoughts and later on we found all the people very
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friendly, gentle, civilized with simple living habits but high in thinking. The rest of the period of 04 years was most enjoyable. We were given an education loan of Rs. 8000/only in 04 yearly installments. One day we found a letter affixed on the notice board of the College inviting applications for receiving UGC scholarship after appearing in the written test in two papers, one pertaining to Engineering subjects and the other about the General Knowledge. Both of us applied for it. We were only beginners but all the local students had already covered preliminary subjects of Engineering in the previous year, having passed the Pre Professional Course - (PPC), besides they were better equipped with the General Knowledge. We just filled up the answer papers according to our common sense and again to our surprise, both of us were selected for the scholarship. There was however a condition that the offer shall continue in the following years subject to the condition the marks obtained in each final examination shall be above 65 %, Which I obtained with Gods grace and I got the scholarship for all the four years. This helped me a lot to sustain during the period of the engineering course. We were also lucky to have only four year course while as most of the other colleges including the Guindy Engineering College of Madras city where our four other friends joined had five year course. One difficulty we had was the accent of English language used by the professors, we could not differentiate between the letter M and N as the spelled it as Yem and Yen. This caused confusion particularly in math subjects. However with the passage of time we became used to it and we overcame the stumbling block. Our classes would start early in the morning mostly practicals in various laboratories and then we would go to the mess for breakfast at 08 AM. The forenoon session would be till noon time followed by lunch period and the afternoon classes would end at 04 PM. The toughest time would be the workshop period in the afternoon, when on the peak of
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heat with the increased temperature of the tin/asbestos covered sheds iron had to be made red hot in the burning coal of the hearths and tools had to be manufactured by hammering the same with 10 kg hammers or molten iron was to be poured in the moulds in smithy section or making of various machine parts in the lathe section etc. Having experienced the extreme temperature conditions with the drenched body in the sweat and the resultant wet clothes, the other outside hot weather would be felt tolerable. To culminate all this a hot cup of coffee in the hot brass glasses would make the body sweat further and after taking arrest in the respective rooms, a full shower bath with sea water as supplied in the water taps would provide a relief from the exhaustion of the days work. The evenings would be very pleasant as we would go in for an evening walk along the railway track, after having the dinner. Often there would be USIS informative shows projected on the screen in the hostel compound or weekly English / Tamil film shows in the open air theatre in the University grounds. Many a time there were organized classical singing and Bharat Nat yam/ Kathkali dancing performances by veteran singers/ dancers in the magnanimous university hall. Sundays would be off and we would visit town market, though most of the stationary items were available in the hostel itself. I purchased a bicycle for going to the college and also to the market. On Fridays we the five Kashmiris would go to the mosque in the town for noon prayers and on Idd days we would be invited by an Iranian migrant family in the town to share lunch with them. Sometimes on Sunday mornings, we would go to see English movies in the theatres of the town. In the first year I along with my friend from Tripura namely Jaharlal Bhattacharya went on tour to Bangalore and Mysore during the summer holidays. In the second year we were taken by the college to Mumbai, Bangalore, Mysore, Kerala etc. We met Governor of Maharashtra Mr. Prakasa at his official residence in the Malabar Hills. In the
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third year we were taken to Kolkata and its surroundings and in the final year were taken to Missouri, Roorki, Delhi, Agra etc. In Delhi We met the Then President of India Dr. Radhakrishnan at his residence near the Parliament House. On getting introduced to each of us he asked, how come you have gone from one corner of the country in the North to the other corner in the South, to which I replied that it is the PSC that makes the selection of deputation to various Engineering Colleges all over India and we have no say in the matter. It is said that travel makes a man perfect and one faces unique situations and ones patience is put to real test. On one occasion when travelling from Kashmir to Madras, I boarded the Delhi bound train at Pathankot, my colleague Mr. Nizam went to buy tickets from the station counter. He took some time and meanwhile since we were exhausted in the bus travel from Srinagar to Pathankot, I had just gone in to sleep and when in the mid night I got up, I found my colleague missing. There was no alternative but to continue my journey. I reached Delhi, stayed in the railway station itself for two days to check every train coming from Pathankot, and it was on the third day that he appeared out of the train door. Since there was no communication link possible, it was a real test to my patience .On another occasion, when we were on college tour, we had to wait in the train for a few hours during the night and we slept on the births and the seats available to us. I had got the space on the top birth and it is in the deep sleep that I rolled down on the floor, luckily without any injury. With the sound of my fall, there was a hue and cry as other students also awoke found to their surprise a thief running away with a hand bag of a student, who was too heavy to run after the thief. He however escaped others too who rushed after him, thus our colleague lost all the belongings he had with him. By my fall from the birth others were saved as the thief seems to have had vaster plan of robbing the people under deep slumber.
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In the first/ second year of our course, we went for survey camp to Trinelvalley/ Tiruannamalai. We were assigned to prepare a detailed project report of Naveli Lignite Corporation, which we visited where coal was being excavated openly from over 100 ft. beneath the soil as no tunnels would work due to presence of water all around. The project was being executed with the Russian collaboration A steam turbine power house was commissioned to be run on the lignite obtained from the mine , besides a huge fertilizer plant also had come up as the underground black coal layer was covered with a thick white layer of fertilizer, which needed processing to make it fit for use by the farmers. A huge township was to come up alongside the project to accommodate the foreign advisors/ experts, senior/junior staff members besides the skilled /unskilled workers. A surgical instrument factory was also to come up nearby, for which we had to design the infrastructure. I scored highest marks on my project report under the able guidance of the HOD Civil Mr. Venkataraman and that made me to get Honors grade in the final examination of B.E. Civil. 18) AFTER DEGREE WHAT? Immediately after appearing in the final year exams in April 1963. we were served with the appointment orders in Neveli Lignite Project, even before the results were declared, but as usual with other Kashmiris we were feeling home-sick and we rushed home and waited for the results till September1963. Due to turmoil in the Government no PSC exam was conducted for about a year and we had to remain idle, meeting three Chief Ministers who changed chairs, till finally Kh. Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq the third Chief Minister in succession was kind enough to accede to our request, when the two of us-- Nizam-ud Din and myself met him at his Jammu residence. Within a period of one week the PSC advertised for the Assistant Engineers posts and the
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interview was fixed to be held at Jammu the w3inter capital of J&K State. We two had joined the Design & Planning Directorate as technical assistants to remain busy till the PSC selection could materialize but we were deputed to Jammu Office, for which we were not prepared as we had been home after four long years. This made us to resign from the D&P Directorate, thus confronting the Chief Engineer Mr. B.N.Mengi a very strict and disciplined officer. The irony was that the same Mr. Mengi was the technical expert in our interview at PSC. We thought that because of our resigning, he may be biased against us but it proved otherwise. Since I had feared well in the interview. C) MY CAREER (1963-2003): 19) PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION SELECTION:POSTIMG TO D&P DIRECTORATE: I got selected as 10 in the list. The posting to various departments i.e. the Roads & Buildings wing. And the Hydraulic wing was ordered in May 1964, in the PSC selection list itself. However the non-influential candidates like me though figuring in the R&B list was posted to the same old Design & Planning Directorate, which seemed to be like a prison without any substantial activity, except some small survey and project report preparation of certain bridges, roads& buildings. The monthly salary for the one year probation period was Rs. 200/- plus Rs. 8/only as DA. This amount would get spent in the daily tea we used to have in our office. One incident is worth recalling that since the Chief Engineers office was a moving office, it would shift to Jammu the winter capital with Durbar move . There were a few divisions like Structural Wing, Irrigation wing, Electrical wing who would stay in Srinagar as similar wings existed in Jammu as well. Our Structural wing was given some assignments for
th
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project preparation of a few bridges. Roads during the winter period. Which we completed in the prescribed time and dispatched copies of the project reports to the Chief Engineers office for his perusal and onward transmission to the concerned department for their execution. It seems that due to some lapse the CE was not shown the project reports and these remained packed in his office. We being the juniors sensed a sort of fear from CE among all the staff as there were incidents like-- once a subordinate saluted the CE when he was driving his car and on reaching office the CE called an explanation from the subordinate for diverting the attention of the CE while driving which could cause an accident. The CE would impose fine on his orderlies for causing any damage due to their mistake and it was their practice to make good the loss out of their own pocket before it would be known to the CE. So before the CE reached back from Durbar move our Executive Engineer tried hard to get transferred outside the Department and he handed over his charge to the next in command-- a senior Assistant Engineer. He too having sensed the oncoming confrontation with the CE left for some foreign country and although there was a lot of other non- gazetted senior staff like Technical Assistants, but I being the only gazette officer, though junior most; the axe fell on me to take over the charge of the Executive Engineer as well as that of the Assistant Engineer. Having put in hardly a years service only it was an experience to face a boss the like of whom I never came across later on, during all my tenure of service of 40 long years i.e. 1964 to 2003 On reaching Srinagar the CE called for the progress reports of the work done in the winter by the respective wings. Having had the impression that perhaps no work has been done as his Technical PA had kept him in the dark, the CE ordered stoppage of the salary for all the staff including that of the orderlies. On our part we submitted our progress report and also showed him the records where under we had forwarded the Project Documents, on which he was surprised and banged his
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technical staff, who again tried to find faults with the work done by us as a mark of retaliation. For instance they pointed out that at a place there was a spelling mistake committed by a Section Officer by writing the word dadum instead of datum, so the CE called me and pointed out the mistake on the L-section of a road and held me responsible for the lapse since I was in the chair of Executive Engineer. Now I could realize the reason of the voluntary transfer of my Xen and the Senior AE. I tried to defend myself as I was nowhere in the picture, but the CE stated that this shows that all this data is a cooked one made at home, without conducting any survey, so the entire cost of survey etc becomes recoverable from you. It seemed that the CEs ears would be poisoned by some biased close ups, who would make themselves more popular with such a dry person. Such bureaucratic approach exposes the culprits and as an Officer writes the APRs of the subordinates, the subordinate also carries an impression of the boss throughout his career and vomits it on a suitable occasion, like the one I am doing it at the end of my tenure. Besides all the subordinates frame a joint opinion about the actions of their bosses and thus another APR of the boss gets circulated from person to person, which builds the reputation of the officer concerned. The CE was not satisfied with this wholesome progress report furnished by us. He wanted to calculate the number of working hours in the total number of working days and accordingly furnish the details of the work done by each individual, which included plotting, design, surveying etc. We prepared the revised progress report accordingly and submitted to CE who asked the Office Superintendent to examine it and resubmit. For about 15 days no reaction was received from the CE and when reminded the CE called for the revised progress report from the superintendent and to the ill luck of the official, someone had played a mischief of misplacing the progress report, on which the official was placed under suspension by the CE .Since the ministerial staff could not
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wait long without their salary, they approached the Honble Works Minister, who came personally to request the CE to release the salary of the staff. The CE bluntly refused to release the salary of the staff or the Honble Minister could sit in his chair and release their salary. So this effort also failed. Finally the CE called a meeting after the lapse of a month and after asking the gazette staff, if they have complied with the orders of not drawing the salary from the treasuries as was the practice then. The salary of the non gazetted staff was already drawn by the Drawing & Disbursing OfficerThe Executive Engineer Electrical Wing, but was not disbursed as ordered by the CE, and it was not agreed by the DDO to refund the same to the treasury as desired by the CE. The CE gave a long lecture on the price hike since he joined the service when he was getting a salary of Rs. 75/- per month and when compared to the escalation of the prices of the commodities the increase in salary was disproportionately meager. Thus it needed hard work to get entitled to the salary and with a great reluctance the CE ordered release of the salary. After some time a group of ours was deputed for the survey of 132 KVA Jammu Srinagar transmission line, which we completed and submitted its project report and it was on this very report that the concerned department executed the erecting of the line on the transmission towers over the mountain tops, which can be seen while one travels on SrinagarJammu National Highway.. It was after about four years of stagnated life that I made representations to the Govt. for shifting me to the field. No one was prepared to listen till I made a direct application to The Honble Minister PWD, who called for my file from the Secretary PWD. It was surprising that the Secretary denied existence of any engineer bearing my name in the records, on which the Honble Minister threw my file on his face and an order of my transfer was issued to (105 MW) Lower Jhelum Hydroelectric Project Baramulla,in 1967, again outside my parent R&B Department.
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20) MY POSTING TO LJHP: The situation at LJHP was still worse as no work was going on because the work had been put to halt due to some problems referred to Dr. K.L.Raoan authority on the subject. Again it was after a long wait and lobbying that I along with my other colleague Er. Abdul Majid Baba was posted to the respective subdivisions of the project. There was no infrastructure for the staff and most of them would shuttle from Baramulla about 10 Kms. away. The two of us rented a house at Nowshehra 05 kms away towards Uri and we would walk down the distance to Gantamulla as only a meager or over loaded transport would ply on the route. Though we were entitled to residential allowance, yet in spite of staying at the project site, we were denied the residence allowance for the reason best known to the higher ups. Having practically no work to do, we were supposed to receive our bosses on their weekly site visits and arrange for their lunch out of our salary. All the staff and workers were fed up with the set up and wanted a change of the system. One day The Honble Chief Minister passed through the area while on his tour to Uri and heard the public demand. The next day a new Chief Engineer was posted and after some time a green signal to resume the work was also received. I spent 04 years in LJHP and once the excavating machines arrived, we started completion of the platform cutting with the help of dozers, draglines, excavators and dumpers. The site being across river Jhelum on the right bank and excavation of a canal with a capacity of 7000 cusecs was to be excavated with the help of these machines, which would be lined as per design. During excavation some copper coins were found in earthen pots with a figure embossed on these. A similar figure was found embossed on the stone slabs erected vertically in a line at the end of the flat stone slabs-- looking like a graveyard. There were also two raised round hillocks
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along the alignment of the canal, which while excavating were found to be Buddhist Stupas and the coins and the stone carvings also seemed to belong to the same period. Perhaps the Archives Department has kept a record of the site, as a team of theirs paid a visit of the area. One gets a new experience by working with every new person who has his own individual way of dealing with subordinates, his higher ups and general public and it is here that one takes a lesson from the type of situation that arises and how it is tackled. The new Chief Engineer suddenly became active and started showing his authority by marking the staff absent in the office, when they would be in the fields and again vice versa. Like Mr. Mengi he too seemed to be getting carried away by hearsay. When the staff got frustrated it generated a strong reaction against the injustices of the CE This news reached the local press , who played it with headlines and the close ones of the CE began to intervene to put the matters straight. Why should such a behavior be adopted by such high ranking officers is not understood, perhaps we are yet at the evolutionary stage passing through the first century of our independence from the British Bureaucratic Rule. Though we have gained independence from their physical rule, yet we are enslaved by their habits, dealings, and all bad things. A strange thing happened that once The Honble Minister of Power visited the site and having got gratified by one of our colleagues got an out of turn order of promotion issued by the Honble Minister. When it came in the local press, a huge resentment was generated among the J&K State Engineers and the Orders had to be got with drawn by the Government the next day. Such were the circumstances we were working when the interests of common persons would get marred by the high handedness of the higher ups. Again all the staff would go to their homes on Sundays at weekends, there were some bosses who would themselves leave the area for their homes, but mark their
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subordinates absent and even stop/recover their salaries. There was no realization that each employee is working for his family and has to be given time to attend to them as well, as otherwise he shall not be able to discharge his duties properly when he remains in a in a vexed position. Such erring officers realize their mistakes when a similar axe falls on them too as no officer/ official is above board, It seems that humanitarian aspect is missing in some cases, while as there are some who are very considerate and they know how to increase the efficiency of a person by the proper treatment. I again represented for my transfer to my parent R&B Department as 04 years at a place was enough, when the practice was that transfers should be affected after a stay of three years, but who follows the rules. It is only when the child weeps that mother feeds him with the milk. There were only a few blue eyed boys who would change their seats, holding prime positions and being in the good books of their bosses would not allow the entry of a new entrant, who would be thrown from one corner to other. One of our colleagues represented for his transfer to an idle place D&P Directorate, for which also he was asked to provide gratification and this issue became public later on. 21) MY POSTING TO JKPCC Ltd. After knocking many doors I was finally transferred in 1970, to J&K Construction Corporation again outside my parent R&B Deptt. It took the management many months to obtain a contract of a new work from the departments of J&K Govt. and I was posted among others as a Manager in charge of Wool Grading Centre, which was to be constructed departmentally under UNDP program, where one had to work himself from orderly to the top of management, carrying the responsibility of watch & ward of materials spread at the work site, with a couple of chowkidars , who could even play a mischief; beside being
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responsible for the targeted progress of work to earn the targeted benefit for the corporation. It was here that one day a vigilance team took the samples of cement concrete, mortar, plaster etc. for testing in the laboratory, the results of which were known after a year from Jammu lab. and the mixes were found richer than the designed ones. But this event gave me sleepless nights to find that it was on an anonymous complaint on 10 pages filed by a well-wisher, who wanted me and my father to pressurize to surrender land to his plot of land which he intended to purchase .He even went to my higher officers to explain his demands and also filed a suit in the court of law where his son was the judge and the case was manipulated to be heard by another judge who also was his relative. He ensured non delivery of summons to us which resulted in to issuing of warrants in the name of my father who was too gentle to face the court under such duress. It took about a year or two to face these odds for no fault on our part and finally on examining the facts, the Honble court dismissed the case in our favor. A Kashmiri saying is: PITRI NAI ASAN HOONI WUNGANIf there are no rivals, the dogs will bark upon you Another work I was put in charge was the construction of an earthen dam at Karapora village near Pakherpora in Pulwama where three dams, the other too being at Yus marg and Tujan village, were started simultaneously. About 200 laborers for either of the two neighboring dams i.e. Tujan & Karapora were imported from Bilaspur, who were stationed at the work sites making all their arrangements of shelter, rations, medical aid etc. Here again due to faulty system of working a lot of tension was generated when no funds were released for the work done by the concerned departments and in turn the labor had to suffer when their ration and other provisions had to be ensured to be delivered to site in advance. It at times made us to reach the breaking point of proceeding on leave as the higher officers would not shoulder the music
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of the suffering laborers that we were facing. The five long years at a place of such an adverse atmosphere was enough to request for a change and I was transferred to R&B Deptt.in 07/1975. Since no blue eyed officer could be shifted, I remained without sub division and was again tossed to Agriculture Production Deptt. again outside the parent R&B Deptt .just after two months only. Here I preferred to remain as technical PA in the division that had the jurisdiction of the entire valley, which later on got divided in to district wise divisions. A two months target of unmanageable expenditure in a single block could make one fall in to the vigilance trap and I just avoided it. I was retransferred to the R&B Deptt. in 04/1976 and posted as a technical PA to SE R&B Deptt. We were a few sufferers of similar fate and gathered together to meet the Honble minister PWD with a representation furnishing the details of favoritism prevalent in the Deptt., on which he called for the stay list of all the staff and it was with a heavy heart that the Govt. finally posted us in the subdivisions though in far flung areas of border locations like Uri. Tanghdar etc. There were some black sheep who managed by fleecing the higher ups, to get promoted from Overseers to Assistant Engineers and then to Executive Engineers, though they were only the diploma holders, thereby encroaching upon the seniority of the degree holders here again we were the immediate victims and we had to remain on a lower post as compared to our sister Hydraulic Deptt. 22) MY POSTING TO R&B SUB DIVISION URI Uri was a challenging place as the upkeep of the National Highway 1A from Baramulla to Uri border was the responsibility calling for constant vigil in view of the army traffic. Credit goes to the field staff particularly the gang coolies, who were duty -bound and disciplined lot. A few bridges not getting completed for years together for one
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reason or other were got completed departmentally at the cost of the defaulting agencies. A few link roads were taken up for construction besides the new Uri Office Complex across Nand Singh Bridge, facing Lagama bazaar at Uri. A daily get together by the officers posted at Uri would provide us time to relax after the days fatigue. I still remember the pleasure of working under a matured officer Er. Miraj-ud-Din Ginai, the like of whom I couldnt meet in the rest of my career. Interaction with the army was a unique opportunity to view their living and meet their courteous officers. On my transfer on promotion, the last day being the Holi and I had to carry my reliever to the last Kamaan Post, we were all hugged by all the soldiers numbering about a hundred and we almost got crumbled by their grips and here one could feel the love that a human being stores for his fellow beings irrespective of color, creed or caste. 23) MY PROMOTION AS EXECUTIVE ENGINEER--POSTING TO SDA: I was posted to LJHP Gantamulla on my promotion to the post of Executive Engineer in 02/1979, but as usual a blue eyed officer got my posting modified within the same day and handed over to me the modified order and though I had joined in the LJHP, I had to proceed to the modified posting to Srinagar Development Authority Sewerage and Drainage Division. The charge was the completion of the disputed bottle necks left in complete in the Nallah Mar Road Project from Khanyar to Kawdara. It was a tough going to face arrogance like usurping of the acquired land for which compensation stood paid by the SDA under the pretext of a banner Maqbooza Ahl-i-Islam with a green flag or Mosque Land, on which the interested elements wanted to construct shops for themselves. In this effort some respectable citizens would also get involved. There were some works left undone by certain agencies who wielded high local influence and it was a great risk to get
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these works done through other agencies at their risk and extra cost and it would involve facing all kinds of threats and abuses. To add fuel to fire though there were some experienced hands among the staff, some immature staff would create problems and would invite a good banging, which made some to seek jobs even outside. In addition to all this there were instances of financial indiscipline, which emboldened a newly posted Administrative Officer to rope in the Vigilance Deptt. to investigate the works of another B.C. division in SDA having major work load. The AO pampered the employees union of the semi-govt. organization to confront even the Vice Chairman of the Authority, who chose to proceed on leave rather than face the music, which had no precedence in his service tenure as narrated by him to us, when all the officers went to meet him at his residence, when he would refuse to meet any one from the staff of SDA due to disgust. It was only on the intervention of the Honble Chief Minister that the VC resumed his official routine work, when the mischievous AO was attached back to the GAD and suspended on subsequent noncompliance of the Govt. Orders. 24) MY POSTING TO U.E.E.D: The Sewerage & Drainage Division was transferred along with the staff to the newly created Deptt. of Urban Environmental Engineering (UEED) in 1980 and was charged with preparation of Sewerage and Drainage Project for the Left Bank of River Jhelum of the Greater Srinagar City, Low Cost Sanitation Scheme of Srinagar with UNICEF assistance, Solid Waste Disposal Scheme of Greater Srinagar City, Design of the Drainage Scheme of Bemina, Nund Reshi and Sheri Kashmir(Qamarwari) Colonies .All the schemes were completed ahead of schedule under the guidance of a capable and seasoned Chief Engineer Er. G.R.Mir The consultants for S&D Project were the Delhi based Consulting Engineers, who came up with a detailed project report for both the
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Sewerage and the Drainage separately, but the implementation got halted for want of finances and only slip shod arrangement was adopted later on for the spot treatment of drainage only and a garland sewer was constructed around Brar-i-Numbal mini lake in the heart of the old city. For the construction of treatment plants on the out skirts of the city, land was acquired at Alochi Bagh and acquisition proceedings were on the anvil for the proposed site at Malroo village on the North west, Noor Bagh, Idgah Ali-Jan Road on the North, besides the proposal for reorientation of the house boats, only slip shod arrangement was adopted later on for the spot treatment of drainage only and a garland sewer was constructed around Brar-i-Numbal mini lake in the heart of the old city. For the construction of treatment plants on the out skirts of the city, land was acquired at Alochi Bagh and acquisition proceedings were on the anvil for the proposed site at Malroo village on the North west, Noor Bagh, Idgah Ali-Jan Road on the North, besides the proposal for reorientation of the house boats along Dol Demb in the Dal Lake and provision of an underwater piped connection to the proposed treatment plant across the boulevard near Convention Complex. Some stoneware pipes were also procured and stored in the acquired land at Alochi Bagh. It is not known under what scheme the spun pipes are being laid now-a-days in the lanes and by-lanes of the city, when the sequence of working in the project document was to start from the tail ends with particular strict care for the invert levels. The scheme needs to be made public before the work is started, so that they also remain informed what is being done in their area. The irony is that even the sign board indicating the name of the agency or the department executing the work is missingresulting in to the communication gap between the public and the Govt. The matter was raised in the print media as well but with no response.
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A cheaper alternative to the costly sanitary fitting not affordable by the common man was to go in for a twin pit type latrine, which involved the construction of two adjacent pits with soil base and perforated honey comb single brick lining connected to the fiber glass commode having about one inch water seal. The pits are to be used after a period of 03 to 04 years use and a rest of about a year decomposes the contents to yield rich compost in the form of a dry powder to be used in the gardens. The substructure was provided by the Govt. and the superstructure by the house owner. We invited the pioneer of the scheme Mr. Bindeshwar Pathak of Bihar State to implement the pilot project of Srinagar city on the left bank of River Jhelum and Nigin lake fringe and passed it on to Srinagar Municipality for completion. The project could be later on extended to other areas as well, but it seems that this too has failed here to carry on although 21 countries have adopted the scheme under UNDP. The Solid Waste Scheme was got prepared through the Delhi based Consultants M/S Universal Enviroscience after getting the survey done besides the laboratory tests of the samples of solid wastes all over the city. It was recommended to go in for the mechanical Compost Plant as it was found suitable for the composting and till such time when the Compost Plant comes up, sanitary land fill be resorted to. The later part of the sanitary land fill only was resorted to and continues till date even after 30 years now, causing resistance from the neighboring locality and the mechanical compost plant never came up and there seems no intention of the concerned department to think about it. It is again an irony that I was proposed to be deputed to Japan for on the spot observation of the scheme there, besides other sanitary schemes, but the file was got misplaced in the secretariat as usual with the papers that have no followers pursuing their process. I saw the Delhi Plant of Delhi Municipal Corporation giving excellent results and Central Govt. provides 50% subsidy on the compost sold to the farmers. A review meeting of
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all the concerned state held in the Housing Secretariat at New Delhi was also attended by me, where the states were demanding more assistance on submission of their progress reports and our state was an exception. A survey was also got conducted in small and medium towns of the Valley, of the existing status of the sanitation on the prescribed format of the UINDP with frequent visits along with the UNDP team to these areas.
25) MY POSTING TO CIRCULAR ROAD PROJECT: The four years stay at a place was enough to call for a change and in spite of reluctance from the new Chief Engineer late Molvi Bashir Ahmad to relieve me of my charge, I joined the new place of posting in 1983 in the Circular Road Project manned by the Public Health Engineering Department. It was a challenging job to make agree the house owner to get displaced in to a colony on a plot offered on a subsidized cost, but to construct a new house was a taxing job for him, particularly to a small shop keeper or a lower middle class employee. The shifting of a boatman on the dry ground would result in to many mental and psychological problems. I remember a boat man who had been given a plot had occupied one more adjacent plot by force and was using abusive language to show his offensive attitude. I was told that in the earlier times a hot headed community when not remaining in peace with other fellow beings were shifted to live on the surface of Dal Waters in the doonga boats, which carried a kitchen and a couple of rooms sufficient for a family to live in. The cool temperature and the moist serene pleasing atmosphere kept their brains also in cool condition. Perhaps the reversal of the process was recreating the hot heads. A boatmen colony in the Bemina area would always come out in processions with unending demands.
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I once suggested to have a planned housing colony constructed on the foot hills facing south at Ganderbal and Khunmoh and offer the same to the displaced house owners to relieve them of the resultant strain on account of dislocation and house building, however this point of mine was not well taken. There were some hard nuts to crack who had taken the compensation but not vacated the houses, for which the SMC and the Police Deptt. were roped in to get the structures demolished. In one case the house owner wielded influence from the Central Govt. for allowing him to continue the illegal occupation, which was refused to him and the structure raised to ground. Another house owner would fall ill on the same day when the demolishing team would reach his place and he got cured once the feat was accomplished by him himself. Many of the house owners had approached the courts on one pretext or other and we had to monitor the progress of each case in different courts. Once I had to deal with the rude behavior of an MLA on refusing an unreasonable demand from him, for which I had to bear the consequences later on, which was preferable rather than falling in his trap. There had been many chronic cases which were not getting settled in spite of dozens of the meetings with the house owners in the High Level Committee chaired by the Divisional Commissioner; the meetings would be held after the office hours and sometimes would extend up to late in the night. The Circular Road Project was transferred to R&B Deptt. and fresh attempts were made to settle the cases with the help of the local MLAs Thanks to the Chief Engineer who gave me free hand to settle cases of least resistance like the one involving the Govt. Departments. The first attempt I made with the Police Deptt. for widening the Karan Nagar Batamaloo Road succeeded when the IGP asked for the reconstruction of the fence along with the Gate. I started the work of dismantling the next day. Till then many meetings with the Deptt. had brought no results. Perhaps the new Governor Mr. Jagmohans interest in the
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development works also made the parties to avoid confrontation. The next party was the Fire Brigade Head Quarters, whose Director was reluctant to surrender the land for widening and on knowing that the Police Deptt has agreed to surrender, he had no other option. The other achievement was made by widening the Karan NagarJahangir Chowk road, on the land of the Food & Supplies Deptt., which also provided the space for construction of the shop lines to accommodate the dislocated shop keepers particularly those located in the prime place of the Jahangir Chowk. Once a UN team paid a visit to the project who was accompanied by a retired British Army General. He was shocked to see the age old structures made of Maharaji bricks being demolished. He commented that had it been in England, we would not remove the age old structures, which serve as antique architectural remains an attraction for the tourists. In fact in a similar situation in Europe, perhaps in Netherland, the vehicular traffic in the narrow lanes of the old city was banned and a ring road was constructed around the city, so that a citizen has to walk up to a kilometer or so to overcome the general obesity and the existing narrow roads provided a playing space for the children and a new city was planned on the outskirts of the old city. 26) MY POSTING TO RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENTRE WING ANANTNAG: In 1987 I was transferred to Agricultural Production Deptt. and posted to Rural Engineering Wing Anantnag, Here I found a different set up. The technical staff up to the JEs level was under the administrative control of the nontechnical Block Development Officers, who would allot the works to the different agencies on the recommendation of local MLAs and the Bill was to be test checked by the Executive Engineer at the end and the payment was made
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by the BDO. It was just like to lock the stable when the horse was already out. It was all a politically controlled affair and non-technical officials were designated as JEs who were promoted as AEs and even as Executive Engineers, who were later on demoted on the qualification bar imposed by the Govt. The faulty working was discussed in a state level meeting and it was agreed to place the JEs under the administrative control of the Executive Engineers as per the minutes issued. There were some transfers warranted due to over a decades stay at one place. In one case I took the approval of the Director Rural Development for issuing a transfer order of two JEs but to my surprise the order was cancelled the very next by the worthy Director and on enquiry it was surprising to note that he backed out and denied having given any approval for the same. I immediately referred the matter to the secretariat, but received no response. Sensing something fishy I wrote a detailed letter pointing out the faulty working, which involves expenditure of the funds allotted from the Centre under different Yojana programs, with a copy to the Central Govt., which pinched the Commissioner, who held another hasty state level meeting to discuss other issues besides showing the resentment on my action. The resentment was coupled with a transfer order and the reliever occupied my chair without proper handing and taking over of the charge to my surprise. I decided to resist this type of humiliation and reported the matter to the Honble Minister, who realized the ambiguity of the case got the transfer order rescinded by the concerned Minister. After some time I myself requested for my transfer and order was issued without naming any reliever, It was 1990 with militancy at its peak and an AEE of our staff was shot dead in cold blood, I handed over the charge to the AEE and joined the new place of posting after availing the leave for performing the Hajj Pilgrimage Here I would like to state, how I was drawn to proceed on the Hajj pilgrimage. my father had intended to perform the
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Hajj in the years 1984, 1985 and1986, but at the time of submission of the form, he would tell me I will let you know the next day morning, whether to submit the form or not and all the three years, he answered in the negative, perhaps he had seen a documentary on the Hajj Pilgrimage and he found himself too feeble to stand the rush of people seen in the documentary. After he passed away in 1987, I had a dream of the Holy Prophet (PBH) and I decided to proceed on the Hajj pilgrimage. On enquiry from the Divisional Commissioner, I was given to understand that the selection of the Hajjis for the year had been completed a week back, but on taking leave of the Div. Com.,I was told to recheck at 04 PM. It was surprising to know that 150 more seats had been allotted to the J&K State by the Centre and I filled in the forms for my mother, my wife and myself, but again the destiny had fixed our date for the pilgrimage the next year in 1990 as all the additional seats were withdrawn at the last moment, when only 04 days were left to take off. So it was in the year 1990 in the peak of the militancy that we performed the Hajj pilgrimage. It was curfew in the city of Srinagar on our leaving as well on our return. 27) MY POSTING TO NATIONAL HIGHWAY BY- PASS DIVISION: The new place of posting was in the R&B Deptt. but again a foul was played by the internal changing of my posting to Sheri Kashmir Medical Institute Soura (SKIMS) instead of the Project Circle Division1 (The National highway Bypass division) as indicated in the Govtt. Order.. This was the height of favoritism shown to the Officer holding the charge of the division and I approached the Honble Court of law for the redress of my grievances and a stay order was issued to the new arrangement made internally by the CE. Thus I made the forced landing in my parent R&B Deptt., but all along I could feel that the blue eyed boys would command more intimacy with the higher ups
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due to long standing relationships developed over the time, even the distribution of funds would be made on the partisan basis, when I was holding the charge of the entire by-pass highway except the first Kilometer, which was held by the sister division and they would be funded 80 t0 90% of the total kitty for the obvious reasons. There were a couple of months of the strike by the Govtt. employees and during the course the bearings of the two major PCC bridges on the National Highway Bypass were blasted, calling for their urgent rehabilitation, but the threat of the militants not to restore stood in the way, however the Delhi based consultants M/S Fressinite were asked to suggest the measures, who made a quick dash to the site and the work was taken up on war footing as per the project report. Meanwhile in view of the insurgency in the valley many bridges were damaged all over the valley and the Deptt. ordered the supply of Baily Bridges of different spans from M/S Garden Reach of Kolkatta and their proper storage called for a methodical handling, so that no part would get mingled up with that of the other spans Some of the bridges were got launched through the army as they were trained in the job and in the mean while our staff also picked up the method involved in the launching of these bridges. 28) MY POSTING TO NEW GANDERBAL HYDRO ELECTRIC PROJECT: Again in 1992, the staff of the division was transferred to the Power Development Deptt. and was charged with the construction of New Ganderbal Hydro-electric Project at Ganderbal (65 MW). The work on the construction of the infra-structure was started. One of the components of the project was the construction of a tunnel from Prang to Ganderbal to serve as water conduit with a branch supply to Rangil water treatment plant for the augmentation of the water supply to the city of Srinagar. In 1994, I was deputed to Delhi for some discussions about the project with the Central Govt. and on my return I was surprised to find a
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transfer order within the PDD, managed by a blue eyed boy through the influence of a local contractor wielding political influence. I was left with no other option but to comply and join the new posting at LJHP Civil Maintenance Division Gantamulla Baramulla. Here I must mention an unfortunate event, which taxed my energies for a pretty long time and resulted in to the delay of my due promotion from the post of the Superintending Engineer to the post of the Chief Engineer. One day I was introduced to a person in my office at Ganderbal, who after enquiring about my earlier postings asked me to come to the Vigilance Deptt. for certain clarification if needed. He verified my signatures on some bill of a few thousand Rupees test checked 10% by me. On my affirmation, he said that this is one of such bills which has been paid up by the BDO at Anantnag, I had been transferred four years back from Anantnag and had nothing to do with the payment, which is all done by the BDO as pleaded by me, but the gentleman said that then this work may not be existing on the spot to which I replied that these are generally flood protection works and are designed to stand the major yearly flood and these four years have seen many such floods which have even washed away the concrete bridges even, so how can you expect it to be there. However I along with my concerned As went on the spot and luckily found the work in tact as it was a small edge wall of stone masonry in cement mortar protecting the school ground and any work done in a village is with the consent of village level worker (VLW), the village Sarpanch and the local MLA and is always the talk of the town. On enquiry the locals denied any ones inspection of the work in the past four years of turmoil, hence the report seemed to be a cooked one, just for the extraction of gratification from the employees, using wolf and lamb tactics. We took the photographs of the site and showed the same to the gentleman, who appeared to get convinced by our statement, but having got no axe to
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grind, he did not remove the name of the work from the list and we had to face the court of law for the remaining many years and pending clearance from the Vigilance Deptt., my promotion to the post of the Chief Engineer was delayed at the appropriate scheduled date, again providing a chance for my immediate junior to get promoted. It is again a height of things that my junior was promoted one year earlier than the due date, due to obvious reasons and though I was given post facto sanction to the promotion as Chief Engineer after my retirement ,with effect from the due date, but my claim for my promotion on the same date as that of my immediate juniors. one year earlier, as per the standing rules were entertained by the Honble Court of law, which the Govt. is yet to implement. This was one of the sad parts of my story, but this exposes the working of the Govt. functionaries, which damage the career of the innocent persons while as the real culprits get scot free by their devised methods to please people. The irony of the fate is that these very damaging people who act as guards against the corruption get promoted with awards, besides accumulating ill-gotten wealth through such coercion and undue extraction without getting noticed by any counter vigilance Deptt. 29) MY POSTING TO LJHP MAINTENANCE DIVISION: CIVIL
In the LJHP, the first task I had to face was that in the time of my predecessor the cashier of the division was robbed off the entire cash of a few lakhs of Rupees while on his way from Baramulla treasury to Gantamulla Divisional Office and the matter was being investigated by the Police Deptt. There was a huge staff all from the completed project of the LJHP with little work to do, but enough time to hold demonstrations making demands along with the other employees of the PDD. Some of their leaders were working as indirect contractors or were doing other
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business besides drawing salary from the Govt. exchequer. To add to this there was a lot of threat created by the ongoing insurgency, which had crept into the staff members also. The other issue was that the civil and electrical staff were at cross, blaming each other for any break down on one pretext or the other. My fate was repeated here by having a junior to me by about three years to be my Controlling Officer, who would feel pride to have senior officer among his staff. This is because the promotion in the Electric Deptt. are being made faster than those in the Civil Departments. In this situation it was high time to save one self from the humiliation. 30) MY POSTING TO REGIONAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE CONSTRUCTION DIVISION: I got transferred in 1995 to a peaceful place like the College Construction Division REC Srinagar, where my predecessor had migrated to Jammu and his office room was covered with cobwebs on my entry there. The premises was guarded by the BSF/CRPF camps stationed in one of the college buildings and some construction work was going on being looked after by the AEE.As in every place there was a different experience of the work culture. Here there was a Building Construction Committee that would meet occasionally under the chairmanship of the Chief Engineer R&B Deptt. Kashmir. All allotments of works/approval of the rates/estimates would be made by the Committee. The structural design would be furnished by the College Designer and the Architectural Designs by the College Architect. There would be some charges raised to be shared by the designer including the principal, besides crediting as revenue to the College exchequer. The building under construction was estimated on the basis of load bearing walls of brick masonry with the foundation of the rubble stone masonry in cement mortar and the tenders were received invited accordingly and the
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rates approved and the work allotted. However before starting the work, the structure was redesigned as a framed structure of RCC beams & columns with brick panels in cement mortar. This had resulted in to a sea change in the quantities and also resulted in four times increase in the overall cost of construction. Since the college designer would furnish designs in piece meals on different stages of the work i.e. the plinth level, the slab level, the roof level etc., the final clear picture of the estimate could emerge only after receiving all the designs of the building. The normal procedure would have been to cancel the allotment at the initial stage itself and invite fresh tenders in view of the change in the structural design, however this had not been done by the BCC and when the matter was put before the BCC, they wanted to shift the blame to us, which had no basis and it all recoiled on them. The college staff also seemed to find faults with the Principal, who happened to be my class mate in my college days and again I had to face the dictation of a colleagueat times a humiliating situation. Another revelation I got was that instead of economizing the cost without compromising the safety of the structure, as is the purpose of the engineering design, heavier section were proposed to swell the cost thereby increasing the commission amount shared by all concerned. Some of the teaching staff had a narrow outlook and would consider every person passing by their side as a student whose attendance needs to be marked by them. Once the College staff was called by the militants who were putting up in a house nearby outside the Hazratbal Shrine, we two (me and my AEE)thought it better to see them before they pick us up as we were not protected on our transit to and fro from our residences. They just kept us in the house for the night and asked us to send the Principal and ask the other staff to report to them. We conveyed the message and it was all for extortion. There were over thirty gunmen, two of them being from Bangladesh and we heard cries of torture during the night
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hours, even we two were not allowed to perform ablutions for offering the prayers and we resorted to tayammum and prayed on the newspaper. Two gunmen were kept as guards in our room. It was only after a couple of days that the clashed with the police and the house was surrounded by the police and the inmates were asked to surrender, which they refused resulting into their getting charred alive when the house was put to fire 31) PROMOTED AS SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER AND POSTING TO SDA: In 1997 I was promoted as Superintending Engineer and posted in the Srinagar Development Authority, with the charge of preparation of the project for The Inland Water Transport over River Jhelum from Pampore to Chattabala distance of about 27 Kms. The Delhi based M/S RITES were retained as the consultants and after conducting a detailed survey along with our staff, they came up with a project report along with the tender documents all complete. The experts recommended its implementation in phases and proved it to be financially most viable, besides providing an alternative route/system for the travel of the commuting population and also serve as a tourist attraction as most of the old city with its historic/religious places is located on the either banks of the river Jhelum. The minimum water depth required for the drag of the vessel was only one meter, which was always available. The preparation of the Project Report involved the consultation charges of Rs.25 lakhs. It is again unfortunate that by an unrealistic over ruling the expert opinion by a non-technical bureaucrat, the project was shelved and is gathering dust on the shelves of the LAWDA. In fact the facility could be extended in the long run to Khanabal on the South and to Baramulla on the North of Srinagar including the Dal, Manasbal and Wular Lakes. The attention of the Govt. was drawn through the print media as well, but to no avail.
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The other anomaly I had to face in the SDA was that my subordinate (the JE) when I was Xen in this very SDA in 1979, was now my boss, who was extremely short tempered and had little patience to hear or bear the routine stresses which at times resulted into breaking of the glass top of the table by his fist blows, causing injuries of the officers sitting around and at times reporting the arrogance of the subordinate to the Chief Minister against the proper procedure, and even running after an agency through the streets in the public eye, with a gun in hand snatched from his PSO and then patching up with the agency by embracing him and sharing a kabab in a meeting. It all looked childish. There was such an indiscipline that at times we had to face the assault of the lower staff who were asked to bear the wrath of the people, whose unauthorized structures were demolished by them without any police protection arranged by the concerned officers in charge, who would hide themselves to escape the expected assault from the aggrieved employees, who were welded in a union of theirs. There was financial indiscipline as well as due to turmoil the tendering process also had become tedious and the Ministers approval was got to execute works on the work order basis, but many agencies had to suffer as the works on verbal orders were not got regularized. Since I had nothing to do with these other works it was tried to drag me also in the controversy, which I turned down and on the transfer of this charismatic boss, the new boss handed over the entire list of the works to the vigilance for their verification. Meanwhile I was given the additional charge of the Project Director Building Centre, which again was in shambles due to the mismanagement of the incompetent officers manning it. However attempt was made to put the train back on the rails by arranging the equipment needed for its effective working. I was also asked to scrutinize the estimates and tenders and a few major works like the SDA Office building at Bemina, the abandoned Shopping Complex near Batmaloo Bus Stand, SDA store premises
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opposite old transport yard near Mirza Afzal Beg Bridge, Development of parks in Bemina, Completion of Directorate of Economics & Planning at Bemina, The telephone exchange building at Bemina, shifting the transport agencies to the Fruit Mandi at Parimpora in the newly provided space, Development of the Fruit Mandi Parimpora, Development Parking space opposite Nehru Park at Gagribal etc. A joint demolition drive with SMC and Police Deptt to clear the River Jhelum banks from the encroachments of the house boat and doonga owners. 32) POSTED AS PROJECT OFFICER CHRAR-i-SHARIEF DEVELOPMENT PROJECT: 33) REAPPOINTMENT FOR TWEO YEARS MORE: In 06.2000, I was transferred to the Chrari Sharief Development Project as its Project Officer and on my retirement in 12.2000, I was reappointed for a term till completion of the project as approved by the Honble CM on the file, but the secretariat had inserted the word or two years, whichever is earlier and it took more than a year to arrange funds amounting to Rs. 25 Crores as a loan from HUDCO, who released about Rs. 04 Crores with the rider that the remaining funds shall be released proportionate to the progress of the physical achievement on the ground. We had targeted the completion of the project by 2004, but on completion of my two years reappointment and simultaneously with the change of the Govt., I sought the consent of the new Govt. regarding my continuance or otherwise. I was given OK to continue, but after a few days again as usual a non-technical blue eyed boy managed to influence the Govt. and got an order of posting issued in my place, which resulted in the closure of the project due to his non-performance. This was in spite of the fact that I had requested for posting at least a technical hand as warranted by the nature of the job, but
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who was there to listen. The political considerations overrule all other preferences. Unfortunately the resultant damage done is unaccountable-- but who cares? Here too I had a narrow escape on an earlier occasion from an assault launched by some arrogant local agencies, who wanted to make their axe grind, which I turned down by reporting the matter to the Minister concerned, who banged them, but I told him on his face in his office chambers in presence of all the representatives of the local agencies, to arrange my replacement. However I was asked to continue with an apology tendered by the defaulting agencies. 34) PROMOTED AS CHIEF ENGINEER: The orders of my promotion as Chief Engineer w.e.f. 03.2000 were issued later on, when I pursued the matter in the secretariat, however my claim for effecting my promotion one year earlier, when my immediate junior was promoted remains yet to be settled despite the orders of the Honble High Court. And the same are expected to be issued once the normal working gets resumed as the past 03 months have witnessed unprecedented scenario of strikes, protests, curfews and it is only a day or two in a week that people are allowed to move out of their homes to arrange for their eatables. This is self-imposed restriction and suffering for an unforeseen future. D) POST RETIREMENT: 35) JOINED CIE Ltd. (2004-2008): In August 2004 I joined a multinational company having over 100 outlets in different countries of the world. I continued to work there through all thick and thin. To start with, there seemed to be a vicious circle finding faults for nothing as most of the skeleton staff was idle and as is known- the idle mans brain is devils workshop, one had
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its living example here. Some maintenance of the assets and soil testing for the proposed construction of a five star hotel over the existing factory site,its dismantling besides renovation of the residential house at Shalimar was got executed with the close monitoring by the newly appointed Vice Chairman, to whom full co-operation was extended till he also became the victim of the prevailing atmosphere in the set up. It was strange that an illiterate daily wager was put in charge of marking the attendance of the staff and he could dare mark them absent when they would be present. This left no room for discussion and my sensitivity on such issues made me to rethink my continuity in the set up. Meanwhile I proceeded on a months leave in 2008 on the marriage of my two sons There was some health problem too and the worthy VC assumed that I had given up the job. Being a retired Army General, he dealt issues on the same footing and as is the order in the army:-- Lad Marey SipahiNaam Baney General Ka i.e. The soldier fights the battle and the General gets the award. Due to my acquaintances with all the concerned departments of the building permission and persistent follow up I go sanctioned the building permission case of the proposed hotel complex at Shalimar within a period of six months only, when it takes years together even on making payment of gratification wherever bottlenecks are faced. This was possible of course with the support of the VC, but with the attitude shown by the setup of the CIE. the efforts put in seemed to go down the drain. The year 2007 was an unfortunate year for me as my savings of about Rs. 12 Lakhs, which I had made out of my GP Fund, Gratuity, and Pension Contribution etc. were taken by a person confidentially from me with the malintention of never to return and this gave me sleepless nights for about two years as I tried to suppress my feelings within myself to avoid anxiety of my dependents, but it adversely affected my health and also the required attention to my routine interests.
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36) MY OPEN HEART SURGERY (2009): It was in December 2009, that one day I felt a little pain in the lower rib on the right side after walking a kilometer or so. I brushed it as some strain. After a few days the same pain was again felt and again I ignored it; a third day it happened even before walking. I got alerted and got tests like echo done, I was recommended to go in for TMT test which again showed a similar pain in the end. Next I got CT angio done, which alerted my family as it showed blockage in the heart, so I was rushed to Delhi and an angiography at Escorts Hospital showed two no 100% and one 60% block, warranting an open heart surgery. We rushed to Dr. Anil Bhan, who got me admitted in the recently inaugurated Hospital Vedanta Medi City th Gurgaon New Delhi. I was operated on 17 December th 2009 and woke up to my conscience on 19 December my birthday. I was discharged from the hospital after12 days. Presently I am regaining my lost strength, though I am lighter by about 10 kgs., and find pleasure in gardening. This has helped to supplement the vegetables to our kitchen, besides to others in these days of strikes and curfews. Thus an adversity can also be put to ones advantage. With the experience gained over time one learns to take advantage of the situation in which one is put to. Throughout my service tenure I have been interested in spare time in reading the books purchased from bookshops or obtained from the libraries etc Since according to the age old manuscripts with us dating back up to 800 years, our ancestors have been literate when most of our society has been drowned in the illiteracy and ignorance. Our ancestors had developed relationships as far as Rawalpindi. Lahore in the United India,(now Pakistan). Even the disciples in spiritual field used to visit from these places from Sind, Kabul and Bukhara. This all happened when there were no transport facilities like
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those of the present day and people would travel long distances in search of a spiritual guide, who could make their path easier and quicker to reach their goals. The similar traffic would move from Kashmir to various directions, where besides business objectives, the spiritual guidance would also be obtained. 37) My TRAVEL TO UAE (2010): In December 2010 I paid a visit to UAE to see my son Irfan besides to escape harsh winter of Kashmir.I have described the- development of the twin cities Abu Dhabi and Dubai in a separate article-A Tale of Two Cities, besides a couple of articles on The Grand Mosque of Abu Dhabi, published in The Greater Kashmir in January 2011. We were entertained at get- togethers by many of our aquaintances over here and time slips out here without a feel of it.Here I could recall my past memories which generated this book called My Story
38) MY AQUAINTANCES: I must tell something about my close acquaintances, like my spouse, my children, my in laws, my first relations, my friends and my immediate neighbors, the surroundings in 1947 to date i.e. 2010 covering a period of 63 years and the prevailing unprecedented and unforeseen events to put on record the circumstances that shaped our living and are a cause of the aspirations for our future. The first person a conscious child encounters with is his mother and I can recall she taking care of my all needs at her inconcenience.I also recolect me playing indoors with my father and find pleasure in turning pages of the books of first primary class. My mother was full of love for others and all ladies who came to converse with her would hug me and even kiss me, being a precious survival as the
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only child out of the five painful births.In contrast my father was a reserved person with a sense of discipline and commanded respect from all near and dearones as he was helpful in finding solutions to their day to day problems and also in the settlement of their mutual disputes.The other most lovable person I came in contact was my maternal aunt Halima Begum who loved me along with her other children. I still remember sitting in her lap of green pheran with tila work, but unfortunately she left this world on the seventh day of her fifth child- birth.The infant Nayeem was brought up in our house for about a year,but after shifting him back to his parental house he too did not survive any more.I would enjoy playing with these cousins and those at home including some neighbours and other relatives of my age group.I would also enjoy playing, occasinally with the other cousins belonging to my maternal uncles, who lived at a farther distance.A get- together on marriage or other functions would be a time to enjoy. Sometimes annual functions of religious nature would also be an occasion to meet others.As I grew into a lad, I would like to visit the house of my fathers maternal aunt at Maharaj Gunj, where I could find friends to play with, besides she was one of the noblest ladies managing all the home affairs which included caring for her bed-ridden husband Qazi Ghulam Mohammad Patloo and rearing of three naughty children from her husbands second wife who had passed away leaving infants as such. My early playmate was Tahira (Toilala)- my maternal cousin as she was braught up by my mother-her mother having passed away in her childhood. Adjacent to our house there was residing a Lady namely Lalbhai belonging Jammu.They would get walnuts in bulk from their orchards and for days
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together break these for obtaining kernels. I would be often taken there by her daughter Zubaida besides her son Mohammad Ibrahim would take me to bazar on his bicycle to my enjoyment. One morning we found all their belongings scattered in their compound and it was said that burglars had stolen things from their house during the night hours.Later on they sold the house to a Waza (professional cook).I would meet my other maternal cousins at Fatehkadal, Basantbagh. Kalaiandar,whenever my mother took me their along with her or during marriage gatherings.There were other cousins of my mother at Fatehkadal, Gankhan,around my age with whom too I would enjoy playing when there would be an occasion to meet. Some of these memories leave indelible marks till last. Elder to me was my maternal cousin mohammad Shafi Kanth, who would always be well dressed his father being an expert tailor and I found him collecting photos of world leaders from freely distributed magazines like Soviet Union and other newspapers and he would paste these on walls of their only room at Khoshasahib Khanyar or frame these. Later on he got interested in photography and got job in F&S Deptt. My other elder maternal cousin was Mohammad Abdullah Majaz, whom I found often well-dressed and was a frequent visitor to our house. He would even stay in our house occasionally.He however got sick in early age and was admitted in the Chest Diseases Hospital in Drugjan Srinagar.Later on I came to know that he had become sick because of the torture, he was subject to by the Bakhshi Regime for being an activist of Political Conference led by Kh. Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Qarra. In fact one morning he brought a round object wrapped in a cloth and kept the same in an
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almirah in our old house at Kalal Doori prohibiting us not to touch it. On taking it back, he told us to remain awake and listen its result in the midnight.Later on we came to know that a blast had taken place on the historic Hari Parbhat Fort top the same night, while he himself was found by his home people sleeping in his bed in his house at Kalaiander which too was located near the fort area.He would also be distributing his party posters to the tourists, for which he is reported to have peen tortured and that caused his early death at an age of 30 years only. My fathers cousin around my age was Qazi Ghulam Nabi Patloo.I would frequently go to their house as we th had a common tutor in 8 class.We would often exchange letters commenting on the current topics which helped us to improve our vocabulary.Sometimes we would play games in their compound along with his two elder sisters. The other friend of mine was late Abdul Bari Diwani of Konan Bandipora. He had become my friend when I visited his place in my childhood. Later on he was working with a tradesman at Maharaj Gunj and we would often meet. Earlier we would exchange letters too.Many a time he would stay in our home. He helped me a lot in my marriage arrangement and got himself too married but unfortunately met a fatal accident in a vehicle in the forest. A frequent visitor to our house was my fathers friend Kh. Ghulam Nabi Misgar.He would visit our house everyday morning after having a long morning walk. He would never use Kangri-a firepot even in severe winter, besides he was keeping a robust health.He would discuss the current topics with my father over a cup of salt tea. Later on he turned to be a sofi saint and people would throng to him for praying for their needs.
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Among the fathers relatives we had an occasional visitor his cousin namely Mufti Hakim Hissam-ud-Din Diwani from Konan Bandipore. He was most soft spoken and scholarly.I have yet to find such a sweet person.He would go off his way to entertain us, whenever we found an occasion to visit his house at Konan.I remember that in absence of any electricity, he used to read books under oilwet wick lamps and had a big collection of books. Besides he would make medicines out of forest plants and would treat the local population. The other friend of mine from the same neighbourhood was Farooq Ahmad Diwani- the brother in law of my father through his former marriage.He maintained the relationship with us and would often visit us in Srinagar.He too waould go ou of his way whenever we visited his home. I have yet to see a person taking care of his aquaintances asking about their welfare and helping them solve issues if within his capacity. There is a huge list of people whom I had the opportunity to meet and the list of the same shall appear separately along with the details of encounters as my memory shall help me.
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The Solar System rotation,revolution and heading to?
in
motion-all
in
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Our Earth is a speck in the universe full of galaxies of stars numbering billions and trillions.
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Our Earth photographed from space
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THE WORLD MAP
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J&K STATE
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Sirhind Sharief Punjab India Multan Pakistan
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Bukhara Central Asia
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THE HOLY KAABA IN MECCA
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THE MAUSOLEUM OF THE HOLY PROPHET MOHAMMAD (PBH)-- MADINA
MAULANA RUMI
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His Mausoleum at Konya Turkey
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Sheikh Saadi Shirazi
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His Mausoleum in Iran
Tomb of Hazrat Makhdoom Jalal ud Din Bukhari Multan
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t Tomb of Hazrat Makhdoom Jahangasht (RA) an Tomb of Hazrat Baha ud Din Zakaria (RA Multan
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Tomb of Baba Farid Ganjshakar (RA) Lahore and Tomb of Shah Ruknuddin Alam (RA) Multan
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Ziarat of Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi(RA) Mujaddid Alf Sani Sarhind Sharief Punjab India
Shrine of Hazrat Sheikh Hamza Makhdoom Kashmiri (RA)Sultan-ull Arifeen
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Hazratbal Shrine Srinagar
Ziarat of progeny of Sayid Abdul Qadir Jeelani (RA) Srinagar
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Ziarat of Kh Moin ud Din Naqsshbandi Srinagar
Khankahi Mualla Srinagar Kashmir
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I with my father Pirzada Mohammad Yasin fazili at Kalal Doori House Srinagar
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My father Pirzada Mohammad Yasin Fazili with Tawhida in his lap.
My Mother Maryam cropping mint in the garden at Bachpora Srinagar
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Mohammad Ashraf Fazili (04-05 years age) (The Author)
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1st year Degree Engg.
2nd year degree engg.
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3rd year Engg.
Final year Engg.
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On farewell day
With Mr. Mohammad Shafi Kanth and maternal uncle Pir Ahmadullah Qadiri
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With Pir Atiqullah Qadiri on a marriage gathering.
With my maternal uncle Pir Atiqullah Qadiri
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Myself with Nizam ud Din Mattoo
Myself at The Taj Mahal 1960
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3rd year students with Mr. Prakasa governor of Maharashtra at Raj Bhavan Mumbai-1962
With Mr. Prakasa Governor Maharashtra at Raj Bhavan Mumbai
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On tour to Ootacamund- 1962
With Nizam ud Din Mattoo and K. Krishnan classmate at Missouri
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With Jaharlal Bhattacharya and K. Krishnan class mates at Missouri
Exhibition modelChurch made of laminated bamboo using no nailswon 2nd prize in1963, with Prof. Srinivasan our Guide, Parandhaman and Nizam ud Din Mattoo
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Kh Nazir Ahmad Kashtwari Retd. Under Secretary General Department J&K Government.
My Parents in law
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At Hira Cave where 1st verse of The Holy Quran was revealed ( Photograph taken in Hajj-1990)
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My family L-R Gowhar, Tawhida,Abida,Irfan and Fahmida,myself and Salama servant.
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L-R My father, mother, Jaw- lala, Fahmida and I with Daisy in my lap on the roof top of our old house at Kalal Doori Nayed Kadal Srinagar.
With my Mother Maryam
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At The Taj Mahal with Baby Irfan.
Irfan at Shalimar
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With my mother and Tawhida in my lap
Tawhida in Jamia Mosque Srinagar
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My Mother Maryam
Tawhida at Convent School
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Gowhar in Burn Hall School
Gowhar and Tawhida
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Tawhida and Gowhar
At the Nishat Garden 1967
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Abdul Haq Barq And Kh. Mohammad Amin Buch ( The two intimate faithful friends )
With Prof. Mohammad Sultan Wani (Retd. Principal Degree College Baramulla)
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With my friend Dr Mohammad Akram on his marriage
(L-R) Khurshid Ahmad Kashtwari,G.M.Kashtwari,Ahmadullah Kashtwari.Gh.Husain Kashtwari, Pirzada Ali Mohammad and myself at a dinner in Ghani's family at Bagi Ali Mardan Khan Nowshehra Srinagar
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As organizer National Seminar of Agricultural Engineers at Srinagar 1989
With Mr. B. K. Nehru Governor J&K Stateat home given in Raj Bhavan Jammu to participants of National Anatomical Society Conference at Jammu.
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With Mr. B. K. Nehru Governor J&K State- at home at Raj Bhavan Jammu
National Road Safety Conference held at Srinagar by IRC & R&B Department Kashmir
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Institution of Engineers J&K State Center Srinagar
36th Engineers Day -The Institution of Engineers J&K State Srinagar
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40th Engineers day 15th September 2007 - IEI J&K State Center Srinagar
Addressing IEI J&K State Srinagar
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In my office at REW Anantnag
L-R Myself, Mr. M.Husain ACD,Mr. Masoodi Director RDD,Central Govt. Officers at Pahalgam
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L-R Myself, MLA Qazigund Mr. G.M. Shah, Er.BL Razdan AE,Er.Mansoor Husain JE
L-R Myself, Mr. Dan O.Dell (UNICEF), Er. B.A.Gangoo.Er. Koul
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L=R Myself,Er.B A Gangoo, Er. Koul
At Shalimar Gardens Srinagar March 2010 after my Heart Surgery
Page
146
In Abu Dhabi Feb. 2011
A road map for future developing towns
Page
147
Burj -Khalifa- The Worlds tallest building in Dubai.
Page
148
Jumeirah Towers Dubai
Sheikh Zayed Bridge at Abu Dhabi
Page
149
The Grand Mosque Abu Dhabi
Page
150
Page
151

MY Story: Autobiography

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MY STORY

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

CONTENTS: S.No. 01 Description Introduction/Prayers Page No. 10

In praise of Holy Prophet Muhammad 12 Address to the self. 13

In the superiority of knowledge. 13 In Allahs creation. Hazrat Ali (RA) said.

Why are we here?

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

A manuscript-royal order (shahi firman) 34

My selection for degree engineering. 51 After degree what? 59

20 Public Service Commission selectionPosting to D&P Directorate. 60 21 My posting to LJHP. 64

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

My posting to JKPCC Ltd.

My posting to R&B subdivision Uri. 68

24 My promotion as executive engineerposting to SDA. 69 25 My posting to U.E.E.D. 70

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

Promoted as Chief Engineer.

Joined CIE Ltd.

My open heart surgery.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

THE ALL COMPASSIONATE ALL MERCI

Er. Mohammad Ashraf Fazili ABU DHABI February 2011

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

Karima ba bakhshai bar hali ma-Ki hastam aseere hawa

Nigah dar mara ze rahey khuda-Khata dar guzaro sawabam numa

Habibey Khuda Ashraf-e- Anbiya-Ke arshe majidash buwad muttaka

Sawar-e-Jehangir yakran buraq- Ke biguzasht az qasr-i- neeli rawaq

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

Hama ba hawawu hawas sakhti- damey ba masaleh na pardakhti

Makun takia bar umri napayidar - Mabash iyman az baziye rozgar

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

Bani Adam az ilm yabad kamal Na az hashmat u jaho mal o manal

Kase ra ke shud dar azal bakhtyar-Talab kardane ilm karad ikhtiyar

Biru damane ilm gir ustuwar - Ke ilmat rasanad ba dar ul Qarar

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.

MY STORY-(1942-2011) completed in Abu Dhabi in 02.2011.