UAE: Iconic Sharjah stationery shop closes after 41 years - Khaleej Times

UAE: Iconic Sharjah stationery shop closes after 41 years - Khaleej Times
Reservation policies in universities being selectively dismantled: Dr KS Madhavan to TNM - The News Minute
LIVE News Updates: Actor Dilip Kumar admitted to Mumbai hospital after complaining of breathing issues - National Herald
Nehru's Word: Connect with the soil indispensable for life - National Herald

Posted: 05 Jun 2021 08:53 AM PDT

People would pick up newspapers, magazines at the Rolla stall before heading to work.

Newsstands are the kind of a city landmark you hardly ever notice. Like benches and bike stands, you acknowledge them — or their absence — only when you seek one out. As far as news stands are concerned, nowadays, that doesn't happen very often.

In a sign of the changing times where everything is going digital, a four-decade old news stand - Kalpaka Stationary - finally downed its shutters, bringing 41-year-old saga to an end.

Listen to this story and more on the 8@8 with David Light podcast

In a world that avidly consumes content on screens, 67-year-old Athinan Ashokan, decided to call it quits since "business is no longer what it used to be".

Located in Sharjah's bustling Ghurair neighbourhood, opposite the Rolla Bus Terminal, Kalpaka Stationary officially closed down last week, Ashokan told Khaleej Times. His family, including his wife and two kids, had been living in the same building for close to 25 years.

After selling thousands of newspapers and magazines from all over the world, including the Khaleej Times newspaper, the pandemic served dealt a final blow. "I began Kalpaka Stationary as a readymade garments shop, but there weren't many newsstands when I arrived here in 74. That's why I decided to open one in 1980," said the Malayalee from Kerala's Kanhangad district.

Ashokan arrived in the UAE in August 1974 onboard a ship. "I was only 20-years-old when I arrived here. I came here on a work visa and spent some years working in a hotel, a readymade shop, and a supermarket. I saved every penny I made and opened the shop," he said.

Named after the acclaimed Kalpaka Tourist Home in Kozhikode, Kerala, in the heydays, from 6am to 12am, the shop would sell at least 30 magazines and over 50 newspapers in various languages. "We were also popular for greeting cards. During Eid or Christmas or New Year, the shop became so crowded. I wouldn't even have time to have tea," he said.

"Rolla is a bustling neighbourhood. People would stop at the stall before going to work and pick up their favourite newspaper or magazine. We had all kinds of titles - women's magazines, celebrity news, romance stories and newspapers from India, Ethiopia, Sri Lankan, Pakistan, and Indonesia," he added.

The kiosk also sold calendars, stamps, belts, purses, novels, and other gifting and novelty items.

However, Kalpaka Stationary was much more than a newsstand and stationery store. Since it was strategically located near Rolla Park, it attracted visitors from all over. It also served as a tourist and career guide for hundreds and thousands of expatriates who arrived in the UAE in search of better opportunities.

"People would come seeking advice on places to stay, jobs, and good restaurants. Travel agents from Kerala would tell visitors to come to our shop in case they needed help. I've assisted so many people over the years," said Ashokan. Moreover, Ashokan, who ran the newsstand with his older brother Gangadharan also served as sources for journalists.

"Whenever we needed to confirm reports about an incident in the Rolla area, we would call one of the brothers," said Sadiq Kavil, a journalist with Malayalam daily Manorama Gulf.

Ashokan said he is not leaving the UAE empty-handed. A father to two children – a son and a daughter, Ashokan said he could provide his family with a good life. The couple are preparing to return to Kerala in August, said his wife, Reeja. "We are very upset about leaving the UAE, of course. We have so many memories here. My children are going to continue living here. We are hoping we can visit them," she added.

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com

Dhanusha Gokulan

Originally from India, Dhanusha Gokulan has been working as a journalist for 10 years. She has a keen interest in writing about issues that plague the common person and will never turn down a human interest story. She completed her Bachelor in Arts in Journalism, Economics and English Literature from Mangalore University in 2008. In her spare time, she dabbles with some singing/songwriting, loves travelling and Audible is her favourite mobile application. Tweet at her @wordjunkie88

Reservation policies in universities being selectively dismantled: Dr KS Madhavan to TNM - The News Minute

Posted: 16 May 2021 12:00 AM PDT

In a chat with TNM, Dr Madhavan talks about his recent article on sabotaging reservations, for which the University of Calicut sent him a show cause notice, and about dissent in universities.

On April 21, Dr KS Madhavan a well-known public intellectual and Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Calicut, co-wrote an article in the Malayalam newspaper Madhyamam, on how reservations are allegedly being subverted in Kerala's universities. The university authorities issued a show cause notice against him on April 29, alleging that the article had violated Rules 58A, 60, and 62 of the Kerala Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1960, and tarnished the university's image. Dr Madhavan's article also said that the National Commission for Scheduled Castes had asked the University of Calicut for a detailed report on the "sabotage of reservation rules".

Dr Madhavan, however, told TNM that the purpose of the article was not to malign the reputation of any one university, but to expose such social exclusions happening in universities all over India. "There is an anti-reservation mentality prevalent among people. My writings aim to educate people about the purpose of reservation and make them see it as an instrument of social justice. There should be inclusive education policies to ensure this," he said. The article also sought a judicial enquiry regarding reservation violations.

The Hindu reported that the Kerala History Congress and many academics like Sukhadeo Thorat, economist and former chairperson, University Grants Commission, Uma Chakravarthi, feminist historian, K Satyanarayana, Professor, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, Nissar Ahammed, academic and writer, and M Kunhaman, economist, had come out in support of Dr Madhavan.

However, a press release issued by the university claimed that it was not trying to curtail the professor's freedom of expression. The article, the release said, had tried to create confusion among students and candidates who might apply to work in the institution.

TNM spoke to Dr Madhavan about the space for dissent in universities and his article on sabotaging reservations.

India had a low score of 0.352 in the Academic Freedom Index published in 2020. Recent developments in the country such as the resignation of Ashoka University professors Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Arvind Subramanian seem to corroborate this claim. What is your take on this?

The culture of public criticism and dissent based on constitutional morality and principles of freedom of expression has been considerably reduced to a cultural environment of intellectual confinement on the one hand, and through the instituted mechanism of authoritarian regimes on the other.

Academic activism as intellectual and scholarly engagement in civil society at large has been disciplined through institutional embarrassment and dictatorial dispositions by the authorities who follow an authoritarian social morality. The autonomy and inclusive participation in production of critical knowledge, on society and culture, is an ethical necessity of intellectual production and actualisation of full citizenship on par with constitutional morality and an inclusive idea of social justice.

Do you think that universities in Kerala are also becoming intolerant towards dissent?

There are two aspects in this. One is the social prejudice of the system as it always keeps its structural hierarchical values of an age-old system of inherited dominance manifested largely through individuals whose degenerated social morals dominate the system, including institutions of higher learning. The second is the systemic transformation towards the centralisation of power and institutional authoritarianism that produces partisan and parochial inclinations regulating the everydayness of institutional academics.

India has produced many brilliant academicians who have actively spoken for social justice. How do you think these actions affect India's academic culture?

The academic institutions in India are going through a perilous but historic crisis in which the edifice of democratic secular outlook, and critical and rational disposition are coming to a disastrous edge. The authoritarian gaze and intellectual monitoring on academic practice and public intellectual engagement on issues of constitutionally guaranteed affirmative policies and civil rights by the university system with its administrative logic devoid of academic sensibility and institutional ethics seem to be an act of intimidation. The administrative and authoritarian logic behind this intimidation aims at monitoring the freedom of academic articulation and intellectual public engagement. The constitutionally guaranteed principles of reservation and inclusive policies for attaining social justice in the public university systems are being confined to a selective dismantling.

In your article you mention an "anti-reservation mafia hegemony in universities". What do you mean by this?

The functionalities and managerial enactment in our public university system is largely guided and controlled by individuals of non-academic ambitions whose short-sighted interests embarrassingly regulate the system of higher education as a system of exclusion in multiple ways.

You write that the "reservation system is being systematically undermined during faculty appointments to universities in Kerala". Can you explain this?

The academic standpoint on social exclusion and inclusive developmental and inclusive educational policies are set aside in our university system. It seems to be an act of silencing the production of academic knowledge that emphasises the need for social inclusion of marginalised communities.

In 2019, the National Commission for Backward Classes served notice to 23 national law universities in the country for flouting reservation rules. So, it's a pan-Indian phenomenon. Why do you think this is happening in spite of a legislation in place?

The intellectualisation of everyday lived experiences of communities of disadvantaged historical experiences and minority cultural location is an inevitable part of the public intellectual life and entangled engagement in the democratic civil society life.

I'm an academician trained in institutional social sciences and in the intellectual protocol of history, engaged in dissemination of democratic ideas and constitutional values in civil society for about two decades. As a practitioner of critical social sciences, I've been focusing on the study of instituted and hierarchical exclusion of people and their material life in the historical past of the Indian subcontinent and contemporary societies. The process of institutional exclusion and systemic nullification of communities of Dalit subaltern social locations and identities is a subcontinental problem in the South Asian academia and institutions of higher learning. As it is happening in the most subtle ways in the everyday public institution systems, it needs global attention and specific remedies in accordance with the social and cultural systems, in which the historical system of exclusion has been developed as a hierarchical system of exploitation.

LIVE News Updates: Actor Dilip Kumar admitted to Mumbai hospital after complaining of breathing issues - National Herald

Posted: 05 Jun 2021 09:27 PM PDT

India reports 1,14,460 new COVID-19 cases, 1,89,232 discharges, and 2677 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per Health Ministry Total cases: 2,88,09,339 Total discharges: 2,69,84,781 Death toll: 3,46,759 Active cases: 14,77,799 Total vaccination: 23,13,22,417

Nehru's Word: Connect with the soil indispensable for life - National Herald

Posted: 05 Jun 2021 08:30 PM PDT

"We cannot go back to that old pantheistic outlook and yet perhaps we may still sense the mystery of nature, listen to its song of life and beauty, and draw vitality from it. That song is not sung in the chosen spots only, and we can hear it, if we have the ears for it, almost everywhere. But there are some places where it charms even those who are unprepared for it and comes like the deep notes of a distant and powerful organ. Among these favoured spots is Kashmir where loveliness dwells and an enchantment steals over the senses….

"I do think that life cut off completely from the soil will ultimately wither away….The competitive and acquisitive characteristics of modem capitalist society, the enthronement of wealth above everything else, the continuous strain and the lack of security for many, add to the ill-health of the mind and produce neurotic states….

"It should be possible to organize modern industry in such a way as to keep men and women, as far as possible, in touch with the land, and to raise the cultural level of the rural areas. The village and the city should approach each other in regard to life's amenities, so that in both there should be full opportunities for bodily and mental development and a full all-rounded life….

"Artificial fertilizers are in great demand to-day and I suppose they do good in their own way. But it does seem odd to me that in their enthusiasm for the artificial product, people should forget natural manure and even waste it and throw it away…. Some experts say that artificial fertilizers, though producing quick results, weaken the soil by depriving it of some essential ingredients, and thus the land grows progressively more sterile. With the earth, as with our individual lives, there is far too much of burning the candle at both ends. We take her riches from her at a prodigious pace and give little or nothing back….

"Science gives power but remains impersonal, purposeless, and almost unconcerned with our application of the knowledge it puts at our disposal. It may continue its triumphs and yet, if it ignores nature too much, nature may play a subtle revenge upon it. While life seems to grow in outward stature, it may ebb away inside for lack of something yet undiscovered by science."

(Selected and edited by Mridula Mukherjee, former Professor of History at JNU and former Director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.)

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