Happy Ramzan

     Happy ramzan to all of you , the month of purity and  forgiveness  , the month of giving  and sharing  , holy atmosphere everywhere , people rushing for prayers , I hope they have the same spirit  after ramzan as well  .The mosques in small localities to the big grand  mosques all tightly packed with devotees . A person who barely practices Namaz finds himself in a state of regular worship, late night prayers, combine duas, the sehri, the iftar and taravi all makes this month stand out and make it special.

  

charminar during the month of ramzan

 Other than this , food in ramzan is very special , Haleem and dahi Wada are particularly  made in this month ,haleem  in the beginning  was just a dish , but now it has become a main course  without which ramzan is incomplete ,  that is because of  easy availability of haleem rawa , this haleem rawa  was a rare commodity before ,so only the experts in Haleem brought the rawa  , these veterans  were particular that  Haleem  tastes good  and quality is maintained , but now  since the rawa  became  so easily available.   Every hotel and restaurant, is trying their hand on it but very few could keep up the quality and taste.

A complete info on different   haleems and its outlets in Hyderabad on my next post.

making of haleem 

haleem specially cooked in muddy enclave

  Now we come to the main and important aspect, of this space, that is the business done in this month , the recent estimate showed that ramzan alone brings about a 100 crore of profit  to the country ,The transactions done and material brought is huge and knowing the purchasing power of this month all the stock will come to an end till the conclusion of the month ., the overturn in just this month in a normal outlet would be in lakhs , the bigger franchises won’t tell their exact  figures’ for the fear of sales and tax  deductions . But we can assume that it has hit a six digit for sure. Even petty vendors and peddlers earn enough to pay out their debts and do some savings, Ramzan is a hardcore business month for traders and business men as they get a chunk of profit of the whole year from this month.

people purchasing vigrously 

a lady checking out the goods

The beauty of this month is that all the communities get something from it, so this ramzan let us make sure that we forgive our foes and bury the hatchet. We will have the patience to tolerate each other’s faults and have no hard feelings for one another. May Almighty help us.

Lost Project

This article was written by me  some time back ,  it was meant for  a college  assignment , but was never submitted because none of the other students did it  except me , so the professor decided to scrap the project and conduct an exam instead , so much for the carelessness of my classmates that they had to write an exam . something which could have been easily  avoided by just submitting the assignment ,  I had to put in double time and effort because , I had already painstakingly did the project , preparing for the exam was like very exhaustive , because all my energy went away with the project . Somehow I wrote the exam, and surprisingly scored well, this if not anything gave a good impression on the professor, that I am a responsible student.

A few days back , I was going through my old books when I came across this assignment , I re read it and I think  the project was quite well written , if professor had not scrapped the project I would have easily got an A with a full  impact on my final Report card .  Un fortunately it was just not meant to be that way so I felt that a good writing should be shared, and open for all to analyze and absorb the information.

The assignment was on symbols and visualization, how it has started in the ancient times and how it’s functioning now, in short, a kind of branding done of emperors and kingdoms through pictures and labels from an age unknown to resent coming of consumerism and how they lure the public into their products through videos , sounds , labels and banners .

                               

                                              Here we go

 Visualizations were first used  by the Persian emperor Darius , he unscripted his sculptures and statues throughout the Persian empire , so that the subjects would have a better understanding of him , He was shown as savior of the world , the undefeated and Gods shadow on earth . In his palace, now in Iran, he is shown with a bowl in hand, which was considered sacred in ancient Persia, a symbol of humanity and forgiveness. People from every corner of the empire came to offer   respects and gave their kind ruler gifts   , which were   graciously accepted, and emperor in return gave them a royal token which could be used for any Government or official purpose .The token had Darrius encrypted on it which made him the official face of the administration, people who used those tokens saw him time to time   as their ruler. This smart technique of showing himself as the sole person in the kingdom to be called as king was, very new, it was like making people know something or telling them about something even without them realizing it, So in a way we can say that the Persians were the first ones to use visual aspects like sculpting, and encryptions for branding and marking. This continued for a long time till the Greeks came, and saw this amazing idea and quickly adapted it for themselves.

Darius the great 

Darius the great  addressing his people

Alexander the great as we all know a lot about him, because his life and time were recorded by the Greek historians, and obviously they wrote all nice about him. When he conquered Persia, he was amazed by some ideas which the Persians were using which   never ever existed in Greece. Of course he took those ideas and put Greek names on it, and destroyed the whole Persia, this was all recorded by the Greek historians, we never know the Persian story because it was burned to ground, and those who remained were stripped of their positions and sent to far corners of the empire. We say Alexander the great because the Greeks said it, the Persian point of view was very different, they would say Alexander the damned or Alexander the destroyer etc.  , as he invaded their beautiful cities plundered and burnt them down to ashes, cities like Persepolis and bectra were wealthiest and magnificent of the ancient times, all at Alexander the greats disposal. not only this the Greeks felt themselves to racially sophisticated and advanced then any civilization , so they showed their civility by burning down their conquered  kingdoms one by one , the mindset of east and the west started from here .

City of peropolis , which was plundered by Alexander , it was one of greatest cities of ancient times 

city of Bactria  

Persia , the financial capital of the east .

So now mighty Alexander conquered the biggest empire  in the world , but  how can he administer it , he is Greek a foreigner who has occupied a land which he is not familiar with , the people are seeing him with strange and curious eyes  when he walks the streets of Persia , they are still devoted to their old king Darius , who is killed , by unknown force . The blond hair, blue eyed Greeks are quite different from brown skinned dark haired Persians, these two civilizations have everything different from clothing to society to language to customs traditions, religion and even food.

the Persian empire 

Alexander knew this and wanted to fill  the gap ,  he would bring some administrative changes ,  a scheme were Persians who married Greeks would be given good position in the government and children  who are born to them would be sent to proper Greek schools for education and military training , they would be treated equally .He also re installed the expelled Persian ministers of the time of Darius , to their old positions , and ordered them to do what they used to do before the conquest , These ministers were skilled and knew Persia like no other , and had good experience in handling big empires ,thanking the kind ruler they started their work as they use to . The traders and travelers were given safe passages, markets were established were Greek and Persian merchants, all the skilled workers were brought back and from haywire and placed at proper factories. In short life in Persia started to get back on its legs and slowly recovered from the disaster it went through because of its current ruler. By now even Alexander and his few generals  started to look like a Persian , they wore a robe , applied Kohl in their blue , green ,eyes ,  and tried hard to curl  their straight blond hairs in a Persian way .

Alexander in a persian attire

Alexander a mighty conquerer  , but a gay , thats the reason he could control a large army  of men 

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With the help of local ministers and workers and few of his loyal generals Alexander had got a strong foothold in Persia , winning a battle was  hard   , but winning peoples heart  is much harder , Alexander had an impression of furious and brutal king in whole of Persia , people considered him to be a plunderer and destroyer , the simple fire worshiping people were traumatized when they saw Greek hordes destroying everything coming its way , this  never happened on the land of Persia for over many centuries , Persians were comforting and faithful that their beloved emperor would never let a scratch come on his people . Alexander wanted the same kind of faith and trust on him by the Persian people, he did not like that even after so many years of his rule people still preferred Darius.

Alexander played with many different ideas, but was not satisfied with the results. One day he was wondering around the ruins of  the Palace of  Darius 2 , he recalled that he burned it down a few years ago , but still the palace had a few walls , pillars and entrances but turned black because of fire , suddenly his eyes fell on the statue of Cyrus the great , the first Persian king who established achemanid dynasty , Alexander immediately climbed the horse and went to his mansion   to share  with the generals a brilliant idea he  got .

palace of Darius the great  , which Alexander burnt to ground

In next few months thousands of coins were minted  with Alexander’s face upon it , this new currency was introduced in all the trading places across the empire , the coin depicted Alexander as a Persian king , the currency started going in to the common hands , and the daily usage of it in every class of the society  made him a recognizable face , The Persians slowly started believing him as their ruler , the best part of this plan was that , the currency was common throughout the empire which made the whole region into one economy and by this trading grew and prosperity increased , the empire was peacefully progressing for the first time in the hands of Alexander .

Alexander finally a Persian , accepted by Persians

Alexander a foreigner who attacked on Persia, which was very different from the place he belonged, stuck to his thinking and finally made Persians to accept him as a ruler. He might have many reasons for his success but the main thought which changed the whole perception was the currency, which depicted him as a Persian, the branding and visualization  self-helped him establish as a ruler in a foreign land.

Alexanders  empire at its peak 

                                                                  MASS FOOLING

Another emperor who used visualizations to his purpose was, the founder of the Roman Empire, the one and only emperor Augustus. He was an able administer , and good politician who could gather a waste territory into one single unit , he conquered and established an effective empire and fully functioning bureaucracy  , military , administration and trade .In short he with the support of few could  make SOMETHING out of limited resources , and that’s the reason why he is called Augustus the great .

Augustus the great

Augustus the great was considered great because he achieved an impossible feat. but this could not be possible without bloodshed and violence ,  there were many who opposed him  , who did not like his way of  functioning the govt , which was a kind of dictator ship  and complete surrender , he also had many enemies at the beginning of his campaign . He may be the person who united warring territories by conquering them , and established a system , but he wanted complete surrender and  could not stand any oppression from anyone from anywhere  , so how did he gained an absolute power , without compromising on anything .

Augustus  military campaigns 

Augustus genocide on the rebels

Augustus rule , the first roman empire .

He simply killed and massegerd who ever came to oppress him , the prisoner cells were full of such rebels who were tortured to death without any trials , All of this mass murders and genocide were kept secret from the public and Augustus made sure that he had a clean image in front of his people , so what DO YOU THINK HE DID , he built up life size statues all over his empire depicting him as the most kindest and benevolent  rulers , the statue showing an innocent smiling  face with simple clothing and a helping hand raising towards the public , in reality Augustus was quite opposite .but in ancient times very few people could see their ruler in person , so everyone  in the empire came to believe the statue was the exact copy of their ruler ,  and the great emperor was satisfied  that was  working   on his people  .

Augustus glorious statues , which changed   peoples  perspective about him  

His impression as a kind ruler was fully realized when, once he was going through the Tiber river when a group of happy and enthusiastic fisher men surrounded his Royal boat and thanked him for being their ruler and promised that they would do anything for him, much to Augustus surprise he responded in confused but delight full manner and exchanged pleasantries with the fisher men. The same night the emperor commissioned a few more statues to the near and far corner of his empire   , full of excitement that, every single soul should know who their master is.

the innocent smiling face of  the emperor 

In short we can know here that even at the times when there was no press, media, radio or Internet, A simple statue could show a ruthless and a harsh ruler into an angel of mercy .After Augustus this idea was used by all the roman emperors and we still see them around Rome but most common statue is of Augustus. Using of statues, banners, paintings and monograms were fully functioning in ancient and medieval times  for different purposes .

press

media 

internet

radio

Today  have different sources for publicity. We can get information on almost anything at any time, there are tools through which you can design and image in many aspects, you can stay connected with everyone around the world, there are immense possibilities you can think and imagine in today’s times.

And todays leaders are using all this to its full capacity, to make their people believe that they are the one who can be their leader, and with all this tools and application for disposal, the people are still getting fooled and trapped by fake promises, as it’s the reality, no matter how much the world changes, the mindset of the people remain the same.

  

  

KHILWAT

 Where are all those lavish days gone, when the royalty was at its peak , Hyderabad was a city of royals and nobles who were titled as nizams  and  Where are all those lavish days gone, when the royalty was at its peak , Hyderabad was a city of royals and nobles who were titled as nizams  and piagahs all of whom built some magnificent palaces , buildings , mosques  , kotis etc. .

   I happened to go to chowmuhaLLA PALACE , ALSO KNOWN AS Khilwat in Urdu , it was the official palace of Nizam the sixth Mir Mehboob ali khan , and other nizams before him , located in old city a few miles  from charminar , and adjacent to Osmania hospital . The Khilwat was the center of administration when royals were active. As you enter, you’ll see large garden, and at the bottom of the area a mansion designed in indo European style with a tinge of rajputana designs, the garden is really beautiful with big lawns and designed trees everywhere, as you keep going  a cool breeze of air passes through you, Even in  May when heat is at its peak , the palace was quite cool, the trees and grass wet from pouring water, just watered by the gardener, the fresh air changes the whole atmosphere  of whoever enters  .

As I was wandering around the facility, I saw another gate and just at the entrance, there was another gate a few kilo meters away. There are about three main quarters in the khilwat , all of whom had the royals residing. and around the corners there were small houses were servants lived , at the Backyard of the palace there was a stable were horse s were kept , but later on during the time of sixth nizam it was renovated into a car parking , a big parking was constructed were all of the nizams cars were assembled , the nizam took any of those cars according to the occurrence , the cars included many vintage ones  , some of them even manufactured especially for the nizam , the sixth and the seventh  nizam were especially enthusiastic car collectors , the ceremonial Rolls-Royce  was the most distinct one in all of them  , it was for the parade and marches or public appearances., a special seat was made for the nizam were he could wave at the public without getting up from his it , the little though worn out is still very attractive .The parking is really huge so huge that it could accommodate a few Boeings .

NIzams rolls royce

                                                  

the car was custom made especially for nizam the seventh

The next palace was quite far away I had to walk a good 10 minutes   to reach the main section , the middle one was the main palace were the last two nizams would Addressed the public and administered the state ,  left and right were the galleries of old photos , all the generation of the Asif jahi dynasty , their achievements , their constructions , their demography , photos with the renowned personalities of that time ,  their relation with the British , photos with early leaders of the congress ,  the first telegraph telephone , postal services , railways and most important the first airport ever to be built in south India , was by the nizams . Hyderabad was nothing but a hard work of Nizams which clearly was seen here.

The next room was of memento’s given to the Asif jahi dynasty by different people and groups , it had a silver Charminar , mecca masjid ,a layout  moaazam jahi market , and a curtain with Asif jahi flag on it ,  a moon which was designed on the name of the first Asif jahi king Qamar , which in Urdu means moon . Which later became the symbol of the Nizams. There was also many quranic scriptures, there was a shirt with complete Quran written on it. Another was a medium sized blanket which had scriptures in Arabic, it was written below that whenever a new  royal child was born he was wrapped  in that blanket after the bath so that he was safe from devils planning’s , they thought that the royals would easily get into satanic influence , which they somehow did when they grew up .

The next room  was of crockery and utensils of the era , plates and saucers which had The photo of  sixth nizam on it , a huge flower pot , paintings of the nizams and cups , his walking sticks his boots , gloves his pens and monograms , his stamps etc. .A chandelier and small crystals around it, depictions of his hunting expeditions, his associations and folks etc.  All these were kept in beautiful displays.

                                                                                          

the family photos

The final one had all artillery and the weapons, this was the most interesting of all the rooms, it had almost all sorts of swords, arrows and shields. The nizams had one of the biggest army , who had defeated Marathas and the Mysore regiment  , they also helped the British in world wars  so this was un doubted the best part of the palace , the Nizams had spears which were technically fast travelling than any one , made of light wood , it could  go at long distance with less effort . the swords were majestic , especially the ceremonial swords which were used during the swearing of the nizams  , a few steps left t were the  rifles , the bolted rifles which were used in 18th and 19th century , we had to put gunpowder in it and a bullet and mince it thoroughly . When fired it would release huge smoke with heavy back repulsion.

The assassinating gun was most interesting, it was just the size of your palm, just bang into some one and no one would know. The cutting dagger which would open three folds when inside the flesh was also amazing, the armor shields to protect from swords and arrows, the helmets. The chains etc.   Were all a military unit of the Nizams.

                                                                                                                      

                                             

                                        

                                                                                             

           

             

As I was going on to the garden before the last room , there were people talking , about how almost seventy percent of artifacts were missing , and only a few of small things remaining , which were also sold  illegally to the private collectors . The chowmuhalla was locked for about five decades before it was officially opened, and when it was opened it became an open pray for, art smugglers and private dealers who could get a good price of these antiques in national and international markets. All of the valuables disappeared in short period, and before governments official orders came up for restoration of the palace, what remained was what we see in the museum.  It’s really saddening that our rich history is getting derailed away by some opportunists and corrupt people who belong to our own country and govt. So forth no measures had been taken on searching those artifacts, not even a complaint registered, such a pity.

                                                                         

Our historical monuments are our assets, our identity, if we let loose our identity we let loose ourselves.

All in all chowmuhalla or khilwat was a great experience  , it depicts the time which was not far away  from ours but still it is no more , the big halls , the gardens , designed windows , magnificent divan’s ,

The great HA;LL WAYS , beautiful tapestry , cool grass , criss croos trees , elevated chandeliers , vintage cars , old accessories , pigeons flying in the open space with a echoing sound  , far distant a few men playing an old qawwali , it sounds so deep and sweet that it shakes some ancient memories  in your soul

The memories which you never thought existed, those smells and sounds, and that soothing air coming from century old trees, it is UN describable.

If you are a Hyderabadi , and has some connection with this city , you will find Khilwat a soul soothing experience.  

   

the soulmate

meeting a soul mate is a powerful and life changing experience, and once you experience this kind of intimacy with someone its hard to part ways , there's is no turning back on . this  connection of souls and all the essential qualities you look for in a partner will be there, communicating your thoughts , experiences and even problems will be easy , and comfort level you share with the person will be rare, not all couples are lucky enough to meet their soul mates , some people are too busy running after material comforts , money fame or leading unhealthy life seeking the pleasure of soul mate in some other means.
                 
                     The following are the  symptoms you find when you meet your soul mate .

HAPPINESS - yes , you find happiness and there's no room for bitterness , or arguments in this relationship , you are too busy spending your time in the moon lit sky , or going for long walks , without caring about outside issues.





SOUL ATTRACTION - the moment you meet this person your soul will remember the connection  you had across the life time and this will be basis of growing bond between you two .you are magnetically pulled towards each other , no matter how much you try to avert this connection , you will give up in the end , true love will always conquer .

INTERESTING CONVERSATION - communicating will be fun between you two ,and no matter what you will talk about , you cannot get enough of each of each other , you will be ready to sacrifice sleep money and other necessary things to spend time with this person . Every minute that you spend with each other will be worth all the trouble  you go through.


TRUST - even if you are a kind of person who have a hard time trusting others , you will find yourself   trusting this person  completely , it is rare to find someone who you like wholeheartedly and the excitement of meeting your soul mate is unexplainable.

SIMILAR LIFE PATHS - the goals purpose in life and the desires will same for both of you , and the depth of understanding that you both have will be un matched with any other bond that you have with other people in life .


GROWING OLD TOGETHER  - you cannot imagine any one else , otyher than your soulmate standing by your side , forever and always . if you are lucky enough ,you  will experience this connection in life time itself  ..

OVERWHELMING  LOVE - Soul mate love is not known for being easy  . you fall in love instantly  , but it takes time for you to take a responsibility  of such magnitude  and intensity . Most of them just leave it on time to tell them what was all that , but they should know that if they delay it for more they might loose something worth a life time . some times its Economic problem or something of career related , but you should work it out before its too late ,  you don't want to live in a regret that how imperfect your life is without that special someone, who shakes your soul inside out .