They quench the thirst of Mangaluru residents selflessly

[email protected] (Pavithra Prakash)
May 25, 2016

Mangaluru, May 25: When a majority of political and social organisations in the city have been blaming the City Corporation for failing to supply water regularly for past few weeks, a small group of people turned Good Samaritans for the helpless families that were hit hard by the water famine.

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For the past two weeks, the volunteers of city based Highland Islamic Forum, have been engaged in providing water to the needy families in different parts Mangaluru for free cutting across the lines of religion, caste and creed without any expectation.

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The coastal city faced acute shortage of water this month as the Dakshina Kannada district received 21 per cent less rainfall last year. A few days ago, the water level at the Thumbe Vented Dam, the main source of water to the city, had gone down almost to 4 feet against the maximum level of 13 feet.

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While houses in some posh areas received water twice a week, some other areas got water only once a week. Houses in some upper-reach areas were completely deprived of water supply for last three weeks. Even though MCC opted to supply water to such areas by tankers, its service was only confined for the roadside houses.

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In such situation, the volunteers of HIF made all possible efforts to ensure that their service reaches to the families staying far away from the main roads. They chose most affected areas in the city for their service. For last two weeks they have been supplying water to 150 to 200 houses every day. They fetch water from wells and transport it in three pick-up vehicles using two dozen tanks to the affected area and provide water to the needy for free. They don't even hesitate to climb the stairs to supply water in case senior citizens or patients live in multi-story apartments.

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HIF president Nazim SS, who is ready to send his team to any part of the city where people are facing acute water shortage, thanks all the philanthropists who helped his forum to engage in this noble cause. He said that Falnir ward Corporator Abdul Razzak provided pump set to extract water from a deep well at Attavar. “We supply water in three pick-up vehicles carrying several tanks of 2,000 litre capacity every day,” he said, thanking industrialist SM Farooq, AK group and Deccan Plastic for providing the vehicles. He also expresses his thanks to Milagres ward Corporator Abdul Rauf for extending all the support.

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HIF itself bears the expense of the fuel consumed by the vehicles besides taking responsibility of the food and other requirements of 10 dedicated volunteers. Mr Nazim and other office bearers of the HIF including Ausaf, Suhail Bolar, Rizwan, Nabeel, Dawood, Saleem Adil Parvez, Mahfooz personally monitor the water supplying mission in spite of their busy schedule.

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They have poised to continue this service untill the Corporation starts supplying water regularly. Subhash Nagar in Pandeshwar, Jain Compound in Attavar, Juma Masjid Road in Bolar, Amrit Nagar, Rosario Church Road, Falnir are some of the areas in the city where HIF supplied water regularly for several days.

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The beneficiaries, who comprise of the people of different religions, classes and sections of the society, mince no words to praise the noble deed of HIF. “They are Muslims. We are Hindus. But, they provide us water for free every day without any expectation. We are lucky to have such selfless people in our city,” said Chaitra, a teacher who resides at Subhash Nagar.

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Chandrakant Nayak, whose family has been residing in the same locality for past 28 years, says that he never experienced such a water scarcity in the past. “We were completely deprived of drinking water. Though we have a namesake well, its water is not fit for drinking or cooking. Corporation's water supply tankers never came this side till now. In this juncture HIF volunteers' selfless service helped us to lead a peaceful life in last few days,” he says.

John D'Souza, whose wife gave birth to a baby a few days ago, says that his entire family is indebted to HIF. “We have a newborn at home and the Corporation has stopped supplying water. We thank God for helping us through these people in our hard times,” he adds.

pavithra prakash

The author is a freelance contributor who promotes co-existence and communal harmony.

Comments

satyameva jayate
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Viren.....
If the faith is strong...no one can convert any relegion.....
But it should be worth a relegion and people should feel that they are following the real god....not story based books and charecters written by authors and created by artists............ Educated people started thinking dear....May god help you too..

Basith hussain
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Masha allah HIF May Allah accept it from you

Mohammed Imran
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Great work HIF. Keep it up. May Allah bless you guys!

shahid
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

See the communal mentality of Viren Kotian...Huttu guna suttaru bidadu...

Saleem Malar
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

great work carry on.

Saleem Malar
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Great work carry on

NOOR
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Nobel QURAN tells us that ALL MANKIND is descended from ONE couple (ADAM & EVE ) Thus we are all bro & sis's and our differences is Languages and colors are but a MERCY that we might know ONE ANOTHER. Language and race should never be a reason for discriminating against people.
A MUSLIM should maintain good relations with HIS RELATIVES, but he should not unjustly FAVOR them over OTHERS. Further, A MUSLIM must be good to HIS NEIGHBORS, no matter their RELIGION. But the PROPHET MUHAMMAD pbuh taught us that a \NEIGHBOR\" is not just the one next door but includes all those up to 40 houses in all directions - effectively whole neighborhood...

If a MUSLIM works for the society with good deeds without showoff or expecting anything from people ... Then ALLAH will reward them... That's the purpose A TRUE MUSLIM will expect from ALLAH alone and not from PEOPLE...
When God promises... Then we should help and doesnt expect anything from people... Success and contentment in life comes when we OBEY the CREATOR alone & follow his messenger's advice.

Great work from HIF...May ALLAH reward YOU guys for helping in times of NEED..."

Unun Hasan
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Works like this is the true charm of Islam. We are being doubted of the intention because totally non existent from the side Of the so called Muslims. HIF kudos to u people. You have restarted good works which belonged to muslims, that was forgotten by them since a long long time ago. May the merciful Allah bless u and shower his mercy on you all.

aharkul
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Great Work HFI. May Allah (SWT) reward you in each and every walks of life. Keep it up doing such work.

May Allah give you all a Paradise for your endless help to the sufferer. Aameen.....

Naina
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Hey Viren Kotian!

Oara pokkade kullu maraya.. ninna desett yankleg mone thojpaayere avondijji... bele malpunaklaanda malpaad. ee podu cheddi pard badd kovi pathd shastrabhyasa malpu.

Asif
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Masha Allah...great works....all good deeds with out any expectations in this world will be rewarded ... In Sha Allah

Farooque
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

well done HIF, i would loved to join your social work if i would be thr.

Monika
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Good work HIF and all supporters. You are a role model for other groups.

Deepak Roy
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

No words. May Allah keep them happy always.

Niyaz
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

some cheap mentality people who spent this month in fighting against each other in the name of AP-EK after tight se PK, must learn from HIF

Priyank
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Really good work. god bless them .

Fayaz
 - 
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

indeed a wonderful job. really appreciable. this is why Mangalore is called a city of kind and noble people. unfortunately because of some goons and politicians perhaps the cities imaged is damaged.

Viren Kotian
 - 
Tuesday, 24 May 2016

No doubt a good work. but is there any hidden agenda behind this service? Pavithra mam, plz try to find out. We have experienced the service of Christian missionaries, whose only aim is conversion of innocent hindus.

CK Nayak
 - 
Tuesday, 24 May 2016

God bless you HFI. you did a great job. people of mangaluru should learn from you.

Madhu
 - 
Tuesday, 24 May 2016

Good write up Pavithra mam. You have brought to light the noble deed of noble people of our city.

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Ram Puniyani
January 22,2020

Shivaji is a great icon in Maharashtra. Different sections of society have given him very high status, though for diverse reasons. Folklores about him abound in the state. His statues, popular songs on him are very prevalent. These folk songs (Powadas) praise his multifarious actions. So it was no surprise that when Jayabhagwan Goyal, released his book, ‘Aaj ka Shivaji: Narendra Modi’, at religious-cultural meet organized by Delhi BJP, there was a strong resentment in Maharashtra. Various leaders from Maharashtra were furious. The Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut challenged the Shivaji’s descendent, Sambhaji Raje who is in BJP and is member of Rajya Sabha, to resign on the issue. Sambhaji Raje in turn stated that "We respect Narendra Modi, who was elected as the prime minister of the country for the second time. But neither (Narendra) Modi nor anybody else in the world can be compared with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,"

Not to be left behind Jitendra Awhad of NCP felt Modi-BJP are insulting the pride of Maharashtra. It is not the first time that controversy is erupting around the Maharashtra warrior of medieval period. Earlier we had seen Sambhaji Brigrade demanding the ban on James Laine book, Shivaji: ‘A Hindu King in an Islamic Kingdom’, for its objectionable content. Bhandarkar Institute in Pune, which had helped James Laine in his research, was also vandalized. At another level there was a talk that Babasaheb Purandare, a Brahmin, who has written some popular material on Shivaji will be made as the Chairman of the committee for statue of Shivaji. Maratha Mahasangh and Shiv Dharm officials objected to a Brahmin heading the committee for a statue for the Maratha warrior. The caste angel in Shivaji’s case is coming to the fore from quite some time.

While there is no dearth of controversies around Shivaji, it is also true that each political tendency has created Shivaji’s image from their political point of view. Who was the real Shivaji, is the question. One can see two clear streams of projection in this matter. On one hand there is an attempt to present Shivaji as the anti Muslim King, a king who was respecting Cows and Brahmins (Go Brahman pratipalak). This view was brought forward from the times of Lokmanya Tilak and picked up by Hindu nationalists, who have been looking for icons in history to suit their political agenda. Nathram Godse, while criticizing Gandhi says that Gandhi’s nationalism was dwarf in front of the one of Shivaji or Rana Pratap.

In tune with this the Hindu nationalists are promoting both these as icons of Hindu nationalism and giving anti-Muslim slant to the whole discourse. This discourse also hides in this the Brahmanical agenda of Hindu nationalism as Cows and Brahmins are presented as the central object of veneration by Shivaji. This image of Shivaji fits well into the current agenda of Hindu nationalists, being spearheaded by RSS Combine.

It is because of this that for seeking votes in Mumbai Narendra Modi on the eve of 2014 elections stated that Shivaji attacked Surat to plunder the treasury of Aurangzeb. This also presents Shivaji-Aurangzeb, Shivaji-Afzal Khan interactions as battle between Hindus and Muslims. The truth is that Surat was plundered for its wealth as it was a rich port city and Bal Samant’s book on the topic gives in depth description of the same. It is noteworthy that Shivaji began his real career of conquest in 1656 when he conquered Javli from the Maratha Chief Chandra Rao More. He took over the treasures of this kingdom. That it was not a Hindu Muslim battle becomes clear when we know that in confrontation with Aurangzeb it was Mirza Raja Jaisingh who was negotiating and engaging with Shivaji on behalf of Aurangzeb. And Shivaji had Muslim officers like Kazi Haider as confidential secretary and many Muslim Generals in his army.

Darya Sarang was chief of armor division, Daulat Khan was in-charge of his naval division; Ibrahim Khan was another general of significance in his army.  This mixed up administration just shows that the kings were not having Hindu or Muslim administration depending on their religion. In the confrontation between Shivaji and Afzal Khan, Rustam-e-Jaman was Shivaji’s side and Afzal Khan had Krisnaji Bhaskar Kulkarni on his side.

As far as Shivaji’s popularity is concerned it was due to his being a King with welfare of his subjects in his mind. He lightened the burden of taxation on the average peasants, and reduced the domination of landlords over the serfs. This picture of Shivaji is well documents in the booklets by Com. Govind Pansare (Who was Shivaji) and Jayant Gadkari (Shivaji: Ek Lok Kalyankari Raja- Shivaji: King doing People’s Welfare). He did not belong to the warrior caste so Brahmins had refused to coronate him, for which purpose Gaga Bhatt a Brahmin from Kashi was brought in with heavy fees. Teesta Setalvad’s hand book on History for teachers underlined this fact.

Today while BJP-Brahmanical forces want to present Shivaji as worshipper of Brahmins and cows, the non upper caste have seen through the game. As such it was Jotirao Phule who brought forward the caste angel of Shivaji as he wrote Powada (Poem) in his honor and today dalit Bahujan are not toeing Hindu Nationalist projection on the issue.

The likes of Jayabhagwan Goyal of BJP as such are trying to give two messages through such attempts. One hand they want to paint Shivaji in anti Muslim and Brahmanical color, they also want to give the subtle message of similarity of this presentation of Shivaji with what Modi is doing. Non BJP forces have seen this game and want to present the other picture of Shivaji, which was highlighted by the likes of Jotirao Phule and which today many of those standing for rights of dalit-Bahujan are trying to articulate. The criticism of the said, book, since withdrawn is on these twin aspects. One about the picture of Shivaji who was concerned about welfare of the farmers, and two his respect for people of all religions.

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