Kamran Khan : The man who would be cricket star

Before IPL:
I noticed a news article and my heart was glad from inside.It stated:"Shane Warne is all set to unleash a fiery Indian teenage pacer Kamran Khan in the second edition of the Indian Premier League. The charismatic Rajasthan Royals skipper calls him 'Wild Thing' or 'Tornado', and says the fast left-arm slinger is capable of hurling the ball at more than 140 kmph."A player from nowhere was coming on the cricketing stage of India.

Azamgarh was in the eye of the nation for all wrong reasons. And to be Muslim from such district is more sinister than anything in these days. In such troubled times for the town, which has forgotten the likes of Kaifi Azami, the advent of a new star in form of cricketer Kamran Khan is a welcome change. He hails from Nadva Sarai, Azamgarh.To even know name of that exact place in Azamgarh, It was great surprise for NRA ( non residential azamgarhi) like me. My mother has studied there in her childhood days hence heard of this remote small village.For clarification, Nadva Sarai village was in Mau district but now falls in Azamgarh commissionaire.

Biography and profile will be spread here and there now on the newspaper or internet. Left-arm seamer Kamran Khan was picked out of obscurity when the Rajasthan Royals signed him up for the second season of the IPL. Darren Berry, the team's director of coaching, spotted him in a Twenty20 tournament in Mumbai. He had no first-class experience and Kamran had spent his nights on railway stations when travelling for cricket trials. When he was handed a US$24,000 contract by Rajasthan, Kamran told the Indian Express. "Had this money come two years back, I might not have lost my mother.I always had monetary problems. I never dared to ask money from my brothers. I had one pair of white clothes for trials."

Rise to fame at IPL:
Kamran bowled just one over in the Royals' losing warm-up game against the Cape Cobras Saturday. He bowled a lethal yorker to knock off the stumps of Cobras captain Ontong [Youtube Link]. Even the fake ipl player blog ,he is termed as Akram Azam. A great compliment from a blogger who has tarnished image of many cricketers...

Kamran was overwhelmed by the change in his fortunes over the last few weeks. "Even until few days ago, nobody knew me. I used to play at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai and just hoped to keep on doing the hard work. I'd gone for trials to every part of UP but without success."

Warne’s immense faith in Kamran’s showed when the veteran preferred him over others for the last over and the deciding Super Over.Warne said: “I told him don’t worry about the Super Over. If you hadn’t bowled such a good last over, we would not have been in this situation.”

From now on:
I had long before watched a movie called 'Iqbal' and now it appears like same story of picking a diamond in the rough. Nothing is like success, everybody (like me also) embraces a winner. New success stories will be formed and every Tom, Dick & Harry will run to take credit of his exponential rise. I do not know how far he will go in this cricketing world but he has changed the face of Azamgarh. Atleast a new hero is born in the Azamgarh....

Azamgarh Connection

I was attending a dinner last night at a friend's friend house when an interesting conversation happen. The host is from Tamilnadu for the sake of the information of readers.

Host: where do you originally belong from ?
Me: Azamgarh.
Host:I have heard the name of this small town in some context. (not remembering)
(After 10 seconds of pause...)
Me:You may have heard this name in the wrong cause.
Host:Yaa, Terrorist origin or something like this..

I was ashamed by the image projected of my native place in so wrong perspective.But the image is not completely false, a bit of truth is in it.If you want to know about this god forsaken place read these articles. Azamgarh Connection-1, The Battle Of Azamgarh and Azamgarh: the gulf connection.

No one knows about Ayodhya Prasad Singh “Hariaudh” a national fame Hindi poet or Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi. These names are no longer an example to emulate for the new generation of Azamgarh specially the youths of Muslim community. Deprived of higher education, the young and the restless of the village have no option but to take up jobs in West Asia or Mumbai. Few of them are ill guided in the name of religion by fanatics.

There is a general feeling in the Muslim community, and not only in Azamgarh, that after every terrorist act the police pick up innocent Muslim youth at random and even if they let them go after interrogation, their lives are already destroyed. They lose their jobs, marriages break down, their Muslim relatives and friends too start avoiding them, not to speak of their Hindu friends or employers. This has already happened to several Muslim youths in different parts of the country.

Injustice to Muslims is the foundation of terrorism.It gives them a chance to spread the propaganda of segregate and orthodox Muslim community. Hindus are not only bystander and victims of the violence. The hatred and intolerance to mix with the people of other caste and religion is most widespread in them.

Any authentic, well-meaning leadership would have guided them towards deep introspection as to why educated Muslim youth, particularly from Azamgarh, are getting involved into terrorist acts. Instead they are being led into total denial of the very existence of the militant fundamentalism virus imported from Saudi Arabia - Pakistan - Afghanistan region that is gradually infecting Indian Muslim youth too. There is enough evidence to suggest that this is happening, but our leaders, both political and theological, are leading the community into total denial. This does not bode well for the Indian Muslim community. The genuine worries of the Azamgarh Muslims are being channelised into wrong directions.

It is easy to blame the police and the government. Not that they do not deserve that blame sometimes. But while we have to try and keep them on their toes, through peaceful protests, through political mobilisation, and so on, that is not going to solve our problems in the long run. We need to introspect deeply and awareness should be our main function for bringing peace.

I have compiled this article just randomly and adapting some paragraphs from here and there. But the incident is true one. Just randomly found links for those who wants to know about problems of our country and voice of minority.

1-You could find a distinct voice on Islam here in this article.
2-Gul Panag clarifies her views on Terrorists and Terrorism. It is not any commanding article from a politician but it is very honest opinion .
3-At last about my native place, Azamgarh: Where guns have replaced roses!

Azamgarh:The Gulf Connection

I was once asked about famous people hailing from my home town, Azamgarh. I cannot name even one of eminent fellows. Few of us will know the name of Rahul Sankrityayan or Kaifi Azmi. Fewest of us have heard the name of Ayodha Singh ‘Harioudh’ & Shibli Nomani. These names are not even famous now in Hindi or Urdu speaking belt of India. Contrary to this, Dawood Ibhrahim, Abu Salem & Ejaj Lakedwala are renowned names from Azamgarh to Dubai.
I have mentioned them in my previous post:Welcome to Azamgarh

Now, Abu Basher has added his name in this eminent list of role models. It is slight different case now. All of the previous names were criminals but now emerging names are terrorists. There is a place called Saraimeer in the Azamgarh district. It is strong hold of Muslim population. Sadly, most of the wanted criminals originate from this place. But in truth, Azamgarh is like a dormant volcano. Only lava of this volcano is erupting and causing destruction at different places.

Some clues to Azamgarh's troubles are to be found in its economy. Despite being home to 4 million people (of whom 58 per cent are Hindus), the district has no industries worth taking note of. Despite a more-than-evident desire to acquire the tools to succeed (computer training and English speaking institutes are a rage), there are no universities or engineering colleges. But there is money. In Sarai Meer, Sanjarpur, Beenapara and the neighbouring areas, big, gleaming cars jam narrow lanes, tiny shops yield the latest gadgets and acres of green fields are broken up by tall white mansions. It's not money from the country's economic boom but from the Middle East where almost every family has a member.

Majority of the young people left here for various places in the search of job. From 08/09/2008 to 21/09/2008, 1125 people applied for passport from this region.90% were destined to go to gulf countries. This place is really prosperous without any industries. There is continuous flow of petro-dollars from the gulf. There are branches of 4 nationalized and 2 local banks in Saraimeer. Monthly turnover of the one branch of nationalized bank is about Rs. 5 crores. The Hawala exchange also generates the Rs. 25 crores per month. In short, there is monthly turnover crosses the record of Rs. 50 crores. Any entrepreneur is listening to this!!!! Still most of my fellow ITBHUians have not heard of this terabithia. Pay attention to this, Azamgarh is just 99 km away from the Varanasi.

Major portion of these petro dollars has been invested highly by the community only in building Madarsas. Now, it is claimed that new members of terrorist are breeding in it. Azamgarh is becoming nursery for terrorism. There is no direct control of educational policy in these schools by government. Government fears from the uprising on direct intervention with minority population. Some selfish people are nourishing unwanted elements in the protection of pseudo secularism.

Most of this money is spend in vain and no development of the place has taken place. Job scenario is still the same and flight of people to Bombay and gulf has not stopped. Previously all criminals were nobody at home. Like all those who have left this place, they have excelled in other place. But these terrorists have been trained at home only. Local leaders of Samajwadi party & Congress were advocating freedom of Abu Basher for vote bank politics. Local police shows zero resistance against criminal elements .It is not all doom picture here. There is enough socialism that no big communal riots have taken place here since independence. Hope, it will be maintained in future.

Muslims of Azamgarh

Despite all rumors,The below link gives optimistic view of this place:
Muslims of Azamgarh: who are they, what are they?

Welcome to Azamgarh

Do you know any city named Azamgarh?
Off coarse, you will be briefed by various news channel telling Azamgarh as den of terrorists. Azamgarh, a small sleepy town in eastern UP, is under scanning again, for all the wrong reasons in national bulletins. But,my amazement to these lies in the fact that this city is mine hometown.
I will give you 3 links to understand the unique background of this place.
1-Azamgarh in Wikipedia
2-Azamgarh in Government website
3-Azamgarh in Historical Percepts

Few days ago, I was tracing the roots of cultural,political and social fabric of this district.I have not lived at this place from my birth. My paternal side belongs to Azamgarh and maternal side belongs to Mau (a district formed by the division of Azamgarh in 1988). Still, except my father all my relatives are in these two district.This place really is far beyond any city in India at least 20 years.

Azamgarh backwardness lies in the mindset of the people residing there. People can't think beyond government job and mostly divert towards teaching profession. Their mentality is same as it was 10 yrs ago. Fundamental thinking here is based on, how to get a government job by any means if possible. This mentality makes the people frustrated when they didn't get a government job. Polluted politics and crime is another factor which are responsible for this worst condition of Azamgarh. Main problem is the participation of students in these act and lack of career orientation. Major cities near Azamgarh for higher education are Varanasi, Allahabad and Gorakhpur. Only few educational institutes has been opened here recently and progress is quite satisfactory. I am still working for more facts and will tell you soon.