Street food in Hyderabad Rebecca Ursani

Rebecca Ursani
BS-III
Roll number: 2K14/MC/81

Feature
                         Street food in Hyderabad
Marcus Tullius Cicer said 'Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body'. But is the food we eat cultivating our body?
Street food in Hyderabad is considered its true essence. Though the quality of the food sold in streets is not virtuous yet it is eaten very fondly by all middle and higher class people. Basically when one is bored of home cooked meals, they try the food prepared on carts or the barrows under the dimly lit bulbs. The carts are decorated with the big trays arranged line wise containing sliced tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, beetroots and corns etc. The ingredients are kept in a way that any person other than the workers working for their food cabins, would never like to spoil the presentation arranged beautifully. When the meal is fully cooked it tastes so yummy that one cannot resist but eat it. From Hussainabad to Latifabad, from Paraitabad to Phuleli, from Heerabad to Qasimabad. Risala road's Shabeer haleem and biryani which is most selling biryani in the town, Gadi khatta's Kaloo kay pakore, Saddar's Mr. Vaari chaat house and gol gappay. Gidu Chowk's breeze fish point which is ofcourse very tasty with lots of spices and is more enjoyable when eaten with hot Chappati. Oh and how can we forget Halwa Puri of Tower Market and Chaye (tea) of Khadra Gali! The local crispy samosas and pattees, chola chaat and biryanis, one kebab and egged burgers with a little buttered breads and sandwiches made of boneless chicken and eggs served with red and white sauces and finely cut potatoes with chaat masala sprinkled over are surely mouth watering but the after effects of eating these meals are harmful for the health. It certainly causes unbearable diseases like ulcer, increase fats, typhoid, cholera, kidney infections, gastro intestinal and many other diseases because the cooks do not make sure of their cleanliness. When only the names sound terrifying then no wonder the diseases itself would be so much horrible. Majority of the citizens are totally acquainted with the outcomes of consuming street food and the main reason of causing these diseases is the use of cooking oil which is already used since two to three days. It is estimated that about seventy to eighty percent of people in Hyderabad feast upon street food out of which are the bachelors that live far from their families and are dependent on the cheap eatables. The food rich of fats and the food which contains the ample amount of oil is so delightful and scrumptious that people just cannot help avoiding it but eat it.
Andy Rooney says 'I don't like food that's too carefully arranged; it makes me think that the chef is spending too much time arranging and not enough time cooking. If I wanted a picture I'd buy a painting'.  He says true enough. Presentation in serving does matter but when people are out waiting for the food to be cooked and ingest it hurrily and the smell of cooking eatables makes them more impatient, people do not care about the results that they are going to face after eating. The passersby are attracted by the fragrant and the sounds of ssst and pop of the food being friend in the hot oil. The solution to these diseases is that people should start making the same eatables in their homes which are more nutritious and healthy because their recipes are as simple as making solution of water and juice powder.
It is okay to enjoy the street food once in a blue moon because this also counts in perks of life. 

Cowsjee Jehangir Mental Hospital

It tells no tale or story.

Feature 
Cowsjee Jehangir Mental Hospital

Rebecca Ursani
BS-II, Roll number: 2K14/MC/81

'I always had a desire to know asylum life more thoroughly - a desire to be convinced that the most helpless of God's creatures, the insane, were cared for kindly and properly'. Nellie Bly.

Mental hospital locally known as Giddu Bandar is situated in Hyderabad, Latifabad. Sir Cowasji Jehangir who was a philanthropist and a civil engineer when he saw some naked people gathered around some trash looking for food to eat. This view provoked him to do something for such kind of human beings and so he established an aslym which was previously named as Mental Asylum and Custodian Care Hospital.

You think you know exactly who and what are mentally disabled people? If yes, think again.

The main entrance, the main gate of the hospital is so giant that it feels like you are entering some royal palace. After walking some distance is the main hall where to the left is registration office and offices of the doctors, to the right is the O.P.D.  where the neurotic and psychotic patients are treated. Upstairs is the female ward. Going back to the main ground, there are different wards all around at some walking distance from every ward. There are total eleven wards which include forensic ward, rehabilitation ward, aggresive ward, chronic ward, emergency ward. The patients there are very artistic but alas! we fail to recognize them in person. If anyone wants to see how true and sincere those patients are to their art and their talent they should atleast visit the rehabilitation ward. 

The rehabilitation ward is for those patients who are progressing towards being healthy and gaining back their mental ability gradually. Their you will get to see the drawings made by them which are even hard to believe that they are actually made by them.Those drawings are displayed on almost every wall of the ward. The ward has different rooms for watching t.v, for performing artwork that includes the handmade things with colourful beads, buttons, flowers etc. The cells are quite big and the locks of cells are enclosed in a small cavity just beside the door of cell. Rooms for patients are upstairs. 

The rehabiltation ward is about seventy four years old and it doesn't seem like it's that old from its outer appearance. The very interesting thing in this ward is that the gatekeeper of this ward is the one who was once a victim of mental illness. Yes. He was also a patient once who is now absolutely perfect and doing job here. There is a psychiatry institute in rehabilitation ward where the students of fcps, mbbs come to learn. As you enter the ward, to the right is the room where students are taught about psychiatry, proceeding forward to the left and downstairs is the library where all sort of books are available that the students need. Upstairs is a big auditorium where the functions are held for patients' entertainment. 

All the wards have sufficiently big ground for playing games. Patients are mostly fond of playing cricket and its a wonder how they play it very finely. 

The patients there are very humble and kind unless you tease them. The patients in this hospital are treated healthily by making them play games, they have their mental as well as physcal exercises. The patients that are found guilty of committing crime and are sent through court and law are kept in forensic ward. The chronic ward includes the patients who are waif, those who have no family or are abandoned by their families. There are some who have been living here since twenty to twenty five years because they are homeless and that the hospital is their home now.
 
The best thing about this hospital is it provides free admission, free medication, free nursing and everything free. They treat their patients like their families and not patients. They make sure about their hygiene as well. The patients there will make you smile with their talks because they are so innocent, so pure that you will enjoy their company most likely. 
One of the patients had a small conversation with me.
'Salam api, kya haal hain?'
'Main theek Alhamdulilah. Ap sunayen'
'Allah ka shukar hai. Main Karachi se aya hun Navy me kaam karta tha. Is hospital ko ap dekhna kaisa aalishan karke jata hun'
'In shaa Allah, kyun nahi'
'In shaa Allah'

 On visiting female ward, you will get to meet females that are interested in showing you their talents, they'll sing songs for you, recite naat and more.
 According to Dr. Amir, they are running the hospital very well but the community response is very poor. Our people have their own perception regarding mentally disabled people. Even if the person is mentally well, our society will bite his head off   by calling him mental again and again and again. The patients' families deny of accepting them their family members. The main reasons behind this mental illness spreading is that people think that get him married, he will be alright. No. That's not the solution of this problem because if the mental patient gets married, the illness can be spread genetically in his or her next generation.
 
Our community needs to educate themselves regarding this issue and our youth should think sensibly over it and spread awareness.

This practical work was carried under supervision of Sir Sohail Sangi     

Interview of Zaibunisa Mallah By Rebecca Ursani

Interview of  Zaibunisa Mallah

 By Rebecca Ursani Roll No  81

 BS- II 2^nd semester October 23, 2015

 Zaib-un-nisa Mallah originally belongs to a small village known as Moula Dino MirbBahr where she together with some other women started Marvi Samaji Taraqiati Tanzeem that specifically works for women only in 1994. She is currently the vice chairperson of her organization.


Q: How did you start your organization?
A: Initially, we started from our own home along with five to six women in our village which caused the other women to laugh on us. We heard taunts from them that now the women of our village will also start working like men. Nevertheless, by the time, thirty to forty women were gathered when we held our first session in which we elected the bodies for president, vice president, general secretary, joint secretary. We elected those women who were more or less familiar with the education. My mother was the elder one in our village. She was always helpful to people when in need and people used to obey her so we made her the president of our organization. Then we started moving forward by starting our first credit scheme that was to take thirty rupees monthly from every woman and then we opened an account in the First Women Bank in Hyderabad where all the money was saved. In 1996 we were invited by the two institutes for a visit to Ghotki to attend some program. That was the first time in our lives we left for the trip to Ghotki which was followed by astonishment. We were surprised to see a different and a big world for women there. There we realized there was much space for women and we have just started working for them in our small village so we better build contacts with the institutes and the women present in the program in order to make our organization successful. We also composed a song for all the ladies 'Tum Sindh ki maa ho socho zara, tum hi se humain ye kehna hai. Aulad tumhari daulat hai, taleem tumhara gehna hai'. This was being sung by us all the time that we made all the women cram the song both in Urdu and Sindhi which was later on sang by a poet more beautifully. Our second step was to communicate with the outer world i.e the city side. Though our village was near to Hyderabad but there were no roads to get linked with the cities. Therefore, for this matter we approached the wife of DC Rizwan Siddiqui and requested her for the roads to be made which she approved. Now that the roads were made, we realized the making of roads had simplified the lives of many people, the marketing system had increased for women due to incoming and outgoing from village, the girls that were only confined to study till fifth class were now able to study further in the city. We also constructed a school named Agha Khan Community Based Education Society. Besides that, our village pull was broken due to which it was being hard for people to reach at the other side of the pull, for that we encountered MPA Kulsoom Nizamani she repaired us that broken bridge. Likewise, all the problems that were not being resolved, we five women always tried our efforts and solved those issues. We provided water. We presented water supply scheme in our village and some more small villages from our own quota, we constructed roads in all those villages, provided drainage system within five years. 

Q: There must be narrow minded people in your village to allow their daughters to go schools. How did you afford to gather the girls for education and control the situation?
A: There are so many people who still don't allow their girls to educate themselves because they think either they will run away or will marry of their own choices. In last five to ten years we have succeeded in proving them wrong by standing firm in our objectives, not moving back from our positions and by acting on what we spoke, they gradually started allowing their women to go schools. When I and my husband started working together, the people of our village used to abuse us, they used to talk filthy after us but by the grace of Allah, teachers that are teaching today in our school are the same girls that were once restricted by their families. I suppose this is one of our biggest accomplishments.


Q: What so far are your achievements till now?
A: I have been received awards of Sindh level and also the best social activist. PTV channel has also made a drama on my life, my education. The story of that drama is based on real stories of women who have succeeded in their life.

Q: What is Marvi Samaji presently working for?
A: It works for women's rights, jobs, facilities, health, education, agriculture. In health we have worked on hospitals, dispensaries. In agriculture we have lend the women loans so that they work side by side with their husbands because a woman does work all the time but her role is never noticed. We have provided tube wells in the villages as well. As from the legal point of view we help those women who marry against their families and then their husbands also leave them. When neither her family nor her husband accepts her, we refuge such women.

Q: How and when did you realize that you should play your role in society or any other important role that spreads awareness?
A: Actually my husband used to work in an organization Hamdard Nojawan Itehad Samaji Tanzeem. They used to arrange blood for the patients and other social works. As my husband used to stay busy all day in his job which caused many fights between us that he doesn't give enough time to his family which made him show me his activities by showing me the photographs and movies of his organziation's labor. That was the time I realized that our village is way backwards than other villages and that we should also start working for our village's progress. My husband permitted me for this but he also asked me to get permission from our elders. My mother who was a helpful lady to everyone agreed, my brother in law who was a big doctor in the village also agreed and my father in law who was the chairperson of panchayit committee also supported me for this plan. So, I never had any problems from my family. They always supported me for this good deed.

Q: How important and hard it is for a woman to work in our society?
A: It is definitely very very difficult for a woman to work but Allah has blessed her with a strong heart, she is confident enough, she can do whatever she wants and she can cross all the hurdles that come across her way. All she requires is self confidence and. As a loaf is distasteful without salt, a society is incomplete without a woman. Its important for a woman to work in every field. Be it politics, health department, or any social job because a woman is another name of change. If you inactive a woman then you will find the man of that family inactive as well.

Q: From which social activist you have been inspired?
A: My mother and my husband.

Q: You have had your role model in your life. Would you like to be an ideal for others too?
A: Of course I want to. In fact I already am for my family, my children and other people.

Q: Have you ever felt emotionally attached towards any victim you come across?
A: Yes, there was a girl who escaped her home and her village with a boy whom she loved since the age of ten. When they were caught by the police and went back to their homes, the girl's family fixed her marriage with her cousin that caused the girl commit suicide without informing anyone. When she was brought here in the hospital she was in a very critical condition and her only last wish was to see the boy she loved. She died at the spot and we came to know the boy she loved has lost his mental ability. That was the time I thought we have became such enemies of love and the happiness that too of our own children. People care about their ego but not about their children. Parents have the right to teach the right or wrong to their child but they do not have the right to bound them in anyway. I was feeling extremely enraged at that time and I still feel sorry for this, we could not do anything for her.

Q: Woman in today's world is still treated inferior. How do you think can we overcome this gender discrimination?
A: First of all the very main thing is education wether for a man or a woman. Secondly, mental health is important. In our society what happens is our parents keep their children away from theirselves. They do not pay much attention to what is happening in their children's lives. So the roots for gender discrimination start from our own homes. Parents should build a friendly relationship with both boy and the girl so that they may share their issues with their parents and not get afraid in talking anything. Parents think if it is a girl we should keep her fr
ightened from the outer world. It is therefore totally wrong and parents should encourage their children equally.

Q: How do you help the rape victims? Do they get any justice?
A: I am afraid we are unsuccessful in this case. We are upset from justice. I have never seen or heard any justice being done with any rape victim except for a woman in Punjab who was raped but she never lost her spirit. But in Sindh the girls who are raped either committ suicide or are murdered because the court system of ours is worthless. The cases are not heard properly by the judges, lawyers are usless to fight the cases. This is the reason rape cases have became a very odd thing in today's world.

Q: Have you done enough for the society or do you want to see yourself more successful?
A: No, I have my further plans.

Q: What is Marvi Samaji further looking for?
A: We have planned to upgrade our school. Increase the number of classes till college. Secondly, build an awareness centre where all the problems should be solved and do not approach police for every little problem. Thirdly, we want to build a hospital for health problems.

Q: Do you want to convey any message to the upcoming generation?
A: My message for all man, woman and children is that focus on your studies, build good relations with your parents and maintain your character and concentrate on your destiny. Your problems will automatically be vanished. Learn to move step by step but don't jump. If you will jump you will fall badly. Inshaa-Allah our new generation will be very successful.

October 2015
This practical work was done under the guidance of Sir Sohail Sangi, 
Department of Media and Communication Studies, University of Sindh.        

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Memon Profile by Rebecca Ursani -2

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Memon Profile by  Rebecca Ursani Roll No:  81 - Page-2

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Memon Profile by Rebecca Ursani -1

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Memon Profile by  Rebecca Ursani Roll No  81- page -1

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Memon Profile by Rebecca

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Dr. Ghulam Nabi Memon

Profile by Rebecca Ursani Roll No 81

People often run after success and their destinations, not realizing that success lies in the journey, not the destination. Such is an example of success  and fruition that is Dr. Ghulam Nabi Memon. He is a man of integrity and leadership who has lived a fortunate and prosperous life.

 Dr. Ghulam Nabi Memon stepped into this world on 6th January, 1950. He originally belonged to Khyber where he started his primary education but due to the heavy flood occurence in his hometown which was wholly destroyed, he shifted to Hyderabad with his family permanently. He then resumed his studies and secured highest rank in both ninth and matric standards. Because he was an intelligent young man, he topped in the college and got admission in medical school on merit basis. He had not decided his goal of life till high school, the time he set his goal of life was when he used to watch the doctors roming in the hospital next to his school wearing white aprons and handing stethoscopes. He was technically inspired by the getup of doctors that how charming they look. However, when passed intermediate, his family got him married with his first cousin but it was his courage that he did not give up on his studies, he was smart enough to look after his family and concentrate on his studies simultaneously. 

Dr. Memon used to live in the hostel in the last few months of exams to appear so that he could give proper time to his studies and not get disturbed by his family and then he preferred to spend weekends with his family at home and give them time.

After passing medical, he got demonstratorship in Liaquat Medical College. Later on, he started his career as a medical officer in Matiari. He has almost enjoyed all the higher posts in medical field and proved to be a hardworking doctor. He has previously been an assistant professor, regular medical officer, worked in local government as health officer, police surgeon, DHO Hyderabad, Deputy DG, DHO in East Karachi, Additional secretary, Managing Director and finally ended his career and retired as Director General Health, Sindh. 

The cherry on the top is he has translated Health Technicians' three volumes into Sindhi language and has also remained the editor and proof reader. Beside that, he was appointed as the first principal of Para Medical Institute from 1987 to 1990 and the project that made this institute, made four more branches of it in Karachi, Larkana,Nawabshah and Sukkur that too were made under the supervision of Dr. Memon. Also, he was the first one to introduce entry test in Sindh in 1999.

He generally enjoyed getting transferred to various areas where he could make his name and position strong. In between his career he had to take break for two months due to his kidney infection which then he got cured. On being asked what are his further goals in life, he replied reminiscing his whole career and with a very kind tone that he has served his 34 years of life in the field of Medical. Now that he is done with his career he wants to deliver his whole experience of life and transferring what he himself has learnt from his life by currently teaching Community Medicine to medical students in Indus Medical College, Tando Mohammad Khan.

 Dr, Ghulam Nabi Memon is a man of humble and generous nature, a good listener, a good helper and he tries his best to be helpful to everyone in any possible manner. He is an alive and kicking example for all the youth especially the biology students.