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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Maulana’s 'gullak' initiative touches 60K students

Read & Lead Foundation President Maulana Abdul Qayyum Mirza with daughter Mariyam Mirza. Mumbai/Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: In the new age controlled by smart-gadgets and social media, an academic from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar has sparked a small, head-turning and successful - ‘savings and reading’ revolution among middle-school children. Launched in 2006, by Maulana Abdul Qayyum Mirza, the humble initiative turns 20 this year and witnessed over 60,000 free savings boxes (gullaks)...

Maulana’s 'gullak' initiative touches 60K students

Read & Lead Foundation President Maulana Abdul Qayyum Mirza with daughter Mariyam Mirza. Mumbai/Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: In the new age controlled by smart-gadgets and social media, an academic from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar has sparked a small, head-turning and successful - ‘savings and reading’ revolution among middle-school children. Launched in 2006, by Maulana Abdul Qayyum Mirza, the humble initiative turns 20 this year and witnessed over 60,000 free savings boxes (gullaks) distributed to Class V-VIII students in 52 government and private schools. “The aim was to inculcate a love for ‘saving and reading’ among young children. We started by presenting small plastic ‘gullaks’ (savings boxes) at the Iqra Boys & Girls High School, and later to many other schools,” Mirza said with a tinge of satisfaction. Scoffed by sceptics, it soon caught the eyes of the schools and parents who loved the idea that kept the kids off mischief, but gave them the joy of quietly slipping Re. 1 or even Rs. 5 save from their daily pocket money into the ‘gullak’. “That tiny ‘gullak’ costing barely Rs 3-Rs 5, becomes almost like their personal tiny bank which they guard fiercely and nobody dares touch it. At the right time they spend the accumulated savings to buy books of their choice – with no questions asked. Isn’t it better than wasting it on toys or sweets or amusement,” chuckled Mirza. A childhood bookworm himself, Mirza, now 50, remembers how he dipped into his school’s ‘Book Box’ to avail books of his choice and read them along with the regular syllabus. “Reading became my passion, not shared by many then or even now… Sadly, in the current era, reading and saving are dying habits. I am trying to revive them for the good of the people and country,” Maulana Mirza told The Perfect Voice. After graduation, Mirza was jobless for sometime, and decided to make his passion as a profession – he took books in a barter deal from the renowned Nagpur philanthropist, Padma Bhushan Maulana Abdul Karim Parekh, lugged them on a bicycle to hawk outside mosques and dargahs. He not only sold the entire stock worth Rs 3000 quickly, but asked astonished Parekh for more – and that set the ball rolling in a big way, ultimately emboldening him to launch the NGO, ‘Read & Lead Foundation’ (2018). “However, despite severe resources and manpower crunch, we try to cater to the maximum number of students, even outside the district,” smiled Mirza. The RLF is also supported by his daughter Mariyam Mirza’s Covid-19 pandemic scheme, ‘Mohalla Library Movement’ that catapulted to global fame, and yesterday (Oct. 20), the BBC telecast a program featuring her. The father-daughter duo urged children to shun mobiles, video-games, television or social media and make ‘books as their best friends’, which would always help in life, as they aim to gift 1-lakh students with ‘gullaks’ in the next couple of years. At varied intervals Mirza organizes small school book fairs where the excited kids troop in, their pockets bulging with their own savings, and they proudly purchase books of their choice in Marathi, English, Hindi or Urdu to satiate their intellectual hunger. Fortunately, the teachers and parents support the kids’ ‘responsible spending’, for they no longer waste hours before screens but attentively flip pages of their favourite books, as Mirza and others solicit support for the cause from UNICEF, UNESCO, and global NGOs/Foundations. RLF’s real-life savers: Readers UNICEF’s Jharkhand District Coordinator and ex-TISS alumnus Abul Hasan Ali is full of gratitude for the ‘gullak’ habit he inculcated years ago, while Naregaon Municipal High School students Lakhan Devdas (Class 6) and Sania Youssef (Class 8) say they happily saved most of their pocket or festival money to splurge on their favourite books...! Zilla Parishad Girls Primary School (Aurangpura) teacher Jyoti Pawar said the RLF has proved to be a “simple, heartwarming yet effective way” to habituate kids to both reading and savings at a tender age, while a parent Krishna Shinde said it has “changed the whole attitude of children”. “We encourage books of general interest only, including inspiring stories of youth icons like Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai (28) and environmentalist Greta Thunberg (23) which fascinates our students, and other popular children’s literature,” smiled Mirza. The Maulana’s RLF, which has opened three dozen libraries in 7 years, acknowledges that every coin dropped into the small savings boxes begins a new chapter – and turns into an investment in knowledge that keeps growing.

From Banking to Flying

The nine days of Navratri celebrate goddesses who embody strength in different forms; valour, compassion, creativity, austerity, devotion, justice, protection, forgiveness and wisdom. In our annual Navratri series, we celebrate the lives of nine women who strive to build happy and safe spaces for themselves and those around them.


Part - 5


Name: Captain Saudamini Deshmukh | Where: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Name: Captain Saudamini Deshmukh | Where: Mumbai, Maharashtra

Some women have fancy ambitions from a very young age, and they meticulously chase them, while a few just start with a very unplanned and stereo-typical career, but life ends up having something unique in store for them. They are destined to leave a legacy and one such name is Captain Saudamini Deshmukh who has made a significant mark in India’s aviation history. Saudamini began her professional life not as a pilot, but working with the Bank of India from 1973 to 1979. In 1980, she joined Indian Airlines which later merged to become part of what is today Air India or its successors, embarking on a flying career made her name popular among all Indian homes, especially women she silently kept inspiring through her major milestones. She became the first woman to command a Boeing 737 and later, in 1994, achieved the milestone of becoming the first Indian woman to lead an A320.


She has several feathers in her cap. Her first major milestone was in 1985, when she became the first woman check pilot on the Fokker 27 type aircraft in India. Soon in the same year, she also commanded India’s first all women crew flight on the Fokker F 27 between Kolkata and Silchar. Later in 1988 89, she made the country proud by becoming the first Indian woman captain to command a Boeing 737. In addition to this, later she also commanded an Airbus A320, again marking a first for women in India.


Her contribution to the aviation sector was not limited to being just a pilot but she also showed her excellence in some leadership roles. Saudamini also discharged her duties of Deputy General Manager, Operations in Indian Airlines, a managerial operational post, reflecting her rising stature.


Saudamini broke gender norms in an era when aviation, especially in India, was overwhelmingly male dominated, her command of aircraft and all-women crews sent a powerful message about gender equality in highly technical, high-stakes professions. Speaking to ‘The Perfect Voice’, Captain Ankita Dhanawade, 35, who is with Indigo Airlines said, “When I decided to become a pilot 20 years ago, I searched for women pilots in India in Google search bar. Capt Saudamini Deshmukh’s name was the first one to pop up on the search feed. We tend to follow the path that our family members show us. What about Women wanting to step out and create a new identity? Who do they look upto? I had Captain Saudamini Deshmukh.”


“Thanks to her trailblazing work and milestones I was convinced that my dream was achievable. Not just that, her journey also enlightened us on how we could chase our dream. If she could do it against all odds, I could at least try! In an age with no social media and relevant exposure, her work spoke louder than thunder and she paved the way for young women like me to fulfil a dream of becoming a pilot”, added Dhanawade.


After around thirty years of flying, Saudamini retired from active piloting in 2010, leaving behind a legacy that many Indian women take inspiration from to chase a dream that was once too rare and experimental for a woman to opt for.

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