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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.

Has IPL Become Indian Cricket’s Frankenstein’s Monster?

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Cricket’s once-untouchable bastion, Test cricket, finds itself in a precarious position today. For generations, Test cricket was considered the purest form of the game, revered by former greats for its ability to showcase the sport’s depth of character and skill. It was a format that demanded patience, mental fortitude and tireless commitment. With no limits on overs or innings, the game unfolded at its own pace, allowing for strategic nuance and raw skill to dominate. Now, Test cricket’s charm has begun to wane, eclipsed by a faster-paced era that prioritizes entertainment over tradition.


India’s recent whitewash by New Zealand starkly highlighted the decline of domestic cricket, once a breeding ground for world-class talent. In 1987, despite losing a six-match Test series to Pakistan, Sunil Gavaskar’s masterclass of a knock on an unplayable track in Bangalore exemplified the resilience forged in India’s competitive domestic cricketing system. Unlike today, that defeat did not leave Indian cricket fans wringing their hands in despair.


The roots of this decline can be traced back to the colonial origins of Test cricket itself. Structured by the British, its format is undeniably traditional, with two innings spread across five days. Yet, even after enduring these gruelling lengths, a result is not always guaranteed, leaving fans disillusioned by the unpredictability of its outcomes. This structural flaw, left unaddressed for decades, robbed the format of its appeal, particularly in India, where commercial and entertainment values reign supreme. With Test cricket’s appeal diminishing, the economic viability of the format also took a hit, leading to lower salaries for players and a steady decline in its stature.


Enter Kerry Packer in 1977. The Australian media mogul’s World Series Cricket - featuring the fast-paced, limited 50-over format - offered a fresh alternative. Packer lured top-tier cricketers from the West Indies, Australia, Pakistan, and South Africa with lucrative contracts, a move that sent shockwaves through the cricketing world. As star players defected, Test cricket saw an exodus of talent, leaving the format floundering in its wake. While the dust eventually settled and players returned to international cricket by the late 1970s, one thing had irrevocably changed: one-day cricket, with its promise of action-packed contests, had captured the imagination of fans and players alike.


By 2008, the introduction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) would serve as the final blow to Test cricket’s prominence. The IPL, a 20-over format, offered astronomical sums of money, not just for elite players but for relatively unknown talent too. In the blink of an eye, the focus of budding Indian cricketers shifted from the traditional grind of first-class cricket and Test matches to the glitzy, high-reward world of the IPL. The lure of financial success and the ease of shorter formats meant that players were less inclined to endure the rigor of Test cricket.


Even more alarming is that the appeal of Test cricket among Indian fans has similarly dwindled. Earlier, a match between two Test-playing nations would fill stadiums. Now, the IPL has redefined what it means to watch cricket. The fast-paced nature of the T20 format, along with its franchise-based model, has fostered a fan base that is less concerned with national pride and more captivated by the spectacle. Youngsters in India now view the IPL as the pinnacle of success.


This trend isn’t unique to India; in countries like the West Indies and South Africa, players are increasingly opting for the financial rewards of T20 leagues over national representation, with pride in the national jersey giving way to lucrative contracts.


With the T20 juggernaut now firmly entrenched, is Test cricket doomed to fade into irrelevance? Should cricket boards across the world consider reforming the format into a more result-oriented, limited-over style to attract both players and spectators?


The answer may lie in reconciling the tradition of Test cricket with the demands of the commercialized cricketing landscape. If purists fail to adapt, Test cricket risks becoming the sport’s forgotten relic. India’s IPL has verily transformed into cricket’s Frankenstein’s monster - an uncontrollable force that threatens to consume the very fabric of the game it helped redefine.


(The author is a retired banker and cricket expert)

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