Photo: SAT/NN
MELBOURNE, 20 October: Alumni of India’s Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) here today celebrated the Sir Syed Day with a pledge to take the message of Sir Syed (founder of the AMU) further to enhance the community with modern and scientific education.
In her speech Prof. Rukhsana Saheba quoting Sir Syed’s famous quote – “India is a beautiful bride, whose one eye is Hindu and the other Muslim” said the AMU is the hope of humanity and Sir Syed’s thinking was education is the tool for social change.
Photo:SAT/NN
In his speech, prominent literary figure Rashid Sultan said the missions of Sir Syed were to promote Urdu and setup the AMU for which he made big efforts. The promotion of Urdu, Rashid Sultan said, could be done by AMU alumni with financial contributions.
Photo: SAT/NN
Chief Guest Prof. Akthar Kalam detailed his life as a student in the AMU and touched some of the nostalgic memories. He emphasized the importance of ‘Ganga-Jumani’ culture which, he said, the AMU stood for.
One speaker disclosed there were six Urdu teaching centers supported by the Victorian School of Languages for young students in Dandenong, Werribee and Roxburgh Park, Blackburn, Geelong, and Shepparton. Attempts are being made to get Urdu as one of the subjects of VCE, he said.
A tasty dinner preceded the Mehfil e Ghazal which saw about ten singers singing two ghazals each. The singers were Robbie Kerr, Neeraj Sharma, Prashob Pillay, Sunil Tayagi, Yusuf Sultan, Raheela Sarma, Veena Sholapurkar, Raman Singh, Saurabh Mishra, and Lateef Ayyubi.
