by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Halal Food, Halal Industries, News, SMEs
By Mohammed Shafeeq,
Hyderabad : The Muslim holy month of Ramadan is incomplete in Hyderabad without the lip-smacking haleem dish.
Haleem, a stew of meat, lentils and wheat mixed with spices, is preferred for breaking the fast due to its energising nature, high nutritional value and soothing porridge-like texture.
The wide range of haleem available during the season is just amazing. With a price range of Rs 30 to Rs 160 per plate, the season’s flavour is there for every pocket.
Going around this city, a fine blend of tradition and modernity, one comes across “bhattis” or brick-and-mud ovens in front of almost every hotel and roadside eatery.
Every Ramadan, the city sees a huge jump in the sale of fruits and the market is flooded with several varieties of dates, including imported ones. Stalls selling fried items and kebabs do brisk business. The special dishes of the month include dahi bade, but none comes close to haleem in popularity. It is such a craze during the fasting month that it trumps even biryani, the signature dish of Hyderabad.
It’s not just the Muslims who relish haleem during the month. A large number of customers at popular eateries like Pista House, Shah Ghouse and Sarvi are non-Muslims.
As swanky cars slow down at Yousuf Tekri in Toli Chowki, popular for several food outlets, dozens of young caterers scramble to get closer to the vehicles to take orders. Sitting in their cars, young techies, businessmen, families and even tourists can be seen relishing the piping hot haleem.
Every evening, and till the early hours of the day, traffic chaos reigns supreme on this busy road which connects to the IT hubs of Hitec City and Gachibowli.
While the situation is no different in many areas in the old city of Hyderabad, some of the central parts of the city, the chaos in Toli Chowki highlights the intense competition among leading haleem makers.
Originally an Arabic dish, haleem is said to have come here during the Mughal period via Iran and Afghanistan.
The syrupy dish was Indianised with the addition of Indian spices, dry fruits, ghee and a unique style of cooking.
Chefs with their assistants are seen engaged through the day in the laborious process of making the sumptuous dish in large vessels cemented on the bhattis. The entire cooking process spanning about 10 hours is done on firewood.
At every eatery, one can spot two or more men mixing the ingredients and pounding the meat in the vessels with large wooden poles. The pounding ensures that the mixture turns into fine paste. It is served after being garnished with special spicy shorba (meat broth), carmelised onions, coriander and slices of lemon.
Haleem comes in all variants. Mutton, beef, chicken, fish, vegetarian, you name it. Every hotel claims to have its own unique taste. Some serve the mutton haleem in their own style by topping it with fried pieces of chicken, “zaban” (goat’s tongue) and egg.
The price range suits every pocket. Small road-side eateries sell a plate (250-300 grams) of haleem (beef or chicken) for as low as Rs 30 while a plate of mutton haleem at popular food joint Pista House costs Rs 160.
The dish gained huge popularity over the last two decades thanks to Pista House, the brand which has gone global and claims to be the largest haleem maker in the world.
“When we started in 1998, we sold haleem for Rs 18 per plate,” Managing Director of Pista House M.A. Majeed told IANS. Since then its popularity has grown by leaps and bounds and this year even before the start of Ramadan, it received about 60,000 inquiries.
Pista House has tried to introduce something new every year. “This year, we have introduced whole wheat haleem. We use whole wheat grain among other mostly natural and finest quality ingredients. We use less spices. This is exactly the same way haleem is prepared in Saudi Arabia,” Majeed said.
The food joint, which secured Geographical Indication (GI) status for Hyderabadi haleem in 2010, is selling the dish at around 200 outlets in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai. Customers in other major cities in India can also get the sumptuous dish delivered at their doorstep through the Gati courier.
(Mohammed Shafeeq can be contacted at m.shafeeq@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, News, Social Entrepreneur
Syed Usman Azhar serving free food below the Dabeerpura flyover in Hyderabad | K.R. Vinayan (file photo)
By Mohammed Shafeeq,
Hyderabad : Homeless beggars, ragpickers and labourers sitting with plates on a mat are waiting under a flyover. As the clock strikes 12.30 pm, a slim man appears on the scene and starts serving hot rice and dal.
Dabeerpura flyover in the old city has been witnessing this every day since 2012 and not a single day goes without the hungry gathering there for lunch or the man not serving them food. Meet Syed Osman Azhar Maqsusi, who works with unflinching zeal to satiate the hunger of the needy with apt slogan ‘hunger has no religion’.
As someone who lost his father at the age of four and who himself experienced the pangs of hunger, Azhar understands their pangs and is ready to do whatever possible to alleviate their suffering.
It was a chance encounter with a homeless woman near the same flyover six years ago which motivated him to launch the free food programme. “Lakshmi was crying due to hunger. I arranged food for her and decided to do everything within my limited means to remove the hunger of as many people as possible,” recalled the 36-year-old to IANS.
Initially, his wife used to cook the food at home and he used to bring the same to flyover for serving the needy. Later, he started cooking under the flyover to save the cost on transportation.
“It started with 30-35 people and today more than 150 people are being provided food here,” said Azhar, who now runs the Sani Welfare Foundation and has hired two cooks.
Three years ago, he extended this work to Gandhi Hospital, the biggest government-run facility in Secunderabad, the twin city of Hyderabad. A van of the foundation transports food for 150-200 people every day.
The Foundation along with NGOs is also running daily food programmes in Bengaluru, Guwahati, Raichur and Tandur.
Azhar is happy that the work which he started alone has motivated many individuals and organizations. “Today you can see many people distributing free food among the needy at various places in the city,” says Azhar with a sense of achievement.
He, however, believes that his dream will come true only when hunger is eliminated from this country and the world. “There should be nothing called hunger,” says Azhar.
He runs a Plaster-of-Paris unit near Dabeerpura and spends a few hours every morning and evening there. “The rest of the time I spend in arranging food at both the places,” said Azhar, who is helped by his brother, his cousin and a couple of volunteers on weekends.
As Azhar sat in his shop, a donor arrived with three bags of rice on his two-wheeler and Azhar himself unloaded the bags.
Last month, he was invited by actor Salman Khan to Mumbai for an event of his foundation “Being Human”. Selected as one of the six real-life heroes from across the country, Azhar had conversation and photoshoot with the actor. The social worker was earlier on a show ‘Aaj ki raat hai zindagi’ hosted by Amitabh Bacchan. Various organizations have also honoured him.
Azhar, however, remained down to earth. “I don’t have an office or staff. There is no change in my lifestyle.”
He doesn’t collect funds. “If people come with donations in the form of rice and dal, I accept it. I don’t accept cash unless the donor is not in a position to bring rice or dal,” he said.
Third among the four siblings, he dropped out of school when he was in fifth standard and started working as a labourer.
“We used to live in my grandfather’s house. He also had a big family to look after. We used to get food once a day and sometimes even that was not available. But whatever may be the situation, we should remain thankful to the almighty Allah.”
For Azhar, the biggest inspiration is his mother, who struggled to bring them up. He believes that Allah is arranging food for the hungry and the needy through him.
“It doesn’t matter who is coming to eat. All I know is they are hungry. It’s in their destiny. Dane dane pe likha hai khane wale ka naam (Every crumb you get to eat has your name on it),” adds Azhar.
(The weekly feature series is part of a positive-journalism project of IANS and the Frank Islam Foundation. Mohammed Shafeeq can be contacted at m.shafeeq@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Corporate, Corporate Governance, Events
Hyderabad : The first edition of AquaExIndia2018, the largest global scale event for fisheries and aquaculture, began here on Thursday.
Delegates from across India and 25 other countries including farmers, industrialists, technology experts, government dignitaries are attending the three-day knowledge and technology conclave and the seafood expo.
Telangana’s Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries Minister T. Srinivas Yadav inaugurated the event being organised by Society for Indian Fisheries and Aquaculture (SIFA) AquaApp and Hitex in partnership with the state Department of Fisheries.
The event features immense knowledge sharing discussions with focus on topics of current industry interests, problem solving presentations by fisheries experts, business exchanges, emerging trends in fisheries and aquaculture and expected future challenges.
Yadav said Hyderabad was proud to host the global event with the participation of large number of aqua farmers.
SIFA President V. Ramachandra Raju said their aim was to find ways to enhance aquatic environments and work towards sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture resources both inland and marine, especially as the demand for fish is rising sharply globally.
“SIFA believes India has the potential to multiply exports several fold and vowed action to realize and reap benefits from sustainable fisheries and aquaculture.”
Venu Dantuluri, Founder & CEO, AquaApp said the event marked the beginning of a new era in Indian fishing industry. The challenges of sustainable development require new approaches in the search for solutions to augment ‘Blue Revolution’ and tackle the acute problem of food security, he said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Iran President Hassan Rouhani arrives at the historical Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad on Friday. (Image – The Hindu)
Hyderabad : With a call for unity among Muslims across the world and the announcement of his readiness to simplify visa procedure for Indians, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Friday wound up the first leg of his India visit.
In a rare gesture, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who is a senior Shia cleric too, visited the historic Makkah Masjid, a Sunni mosque, to offer Friday prayers and called for unity among Muslims across the world.
Addressing the congregation after the prayers, he said unity among Shias, Sunnis and other Islamic denominations was only solution to the problems faced by the Muslim world.
Rouhani urged Muslims to treat all human beings with love and affection in the true spirit of Islam.
On the second day of his three-day visit to India, he joined common worshippers in offering prayers at the 17th century mosque, noting that Friday prayers symbolize the unity among Muslims as they come together to pray.
“If Islam is presented before the world in true sense, then the whole world will love this religion,” he said.
He underlined the need for tolerance and for recognizing all Islamic denominations and respecting them. “They all can be compared to streams which come from a single spring and all these streams eventually into one ocean,” he said.
Alleging that enemies of Islam were creating rift among Muslims, he said the message of Iran was peace and unity.
His visit to the mosque and call for unity is significant as Tehran is locked in a bitter proxy conflict with Saudi Arabia and its allies in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
The Iranian leader said the massacres in schools and university campuses in the US show that materialistic civilization is no guarantee for human welfare and development.
He condemned the travel ban imposed by the US on some Islamic countries by branding Muslims as terrorists. He said Islam is based on kindness and affection.
He quoted Quran to say that the light of Allah can never be extinguished. “Despite all hostilities towards Islam the future belongs to Islam and future belongs to Asia,” he added.
Rouhani announced that Tehran is ready to simplify visa procedures and hoped India will reciprocate to facilitate easy movement of people between the two countries.
Stating that India and Iran share many commonalities, he called for further strengthening bilateral ties.
He said Iran with its rich resources of oil and gas was ready to help India to meet its requirements.
He announced that Iran was ready to allow India access to Chabahar Port to facilitate transit to Afghanistan, Central Asia and Europe.
Rouhani said Iran and India can cooperate in areas like industry, agriculture and advanced technology and take steps to contribute to the interests of both the countries and the region.
Earlier, the Iranian delegation led by the President visited Qutub Shahi tombs here. They went around the Qutub Shahi tombs complex, housing mausoleums of rulers of the Qutub Shahi Dynasty (1518-1687) who had Iranian lineage.
Rouhani had addressed Muslim leaders and religious scholars after landing here on Thursday on a three-day visit to India at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He addressed a meeting of Iranians settled in Hyderabad on Friday evening before leaving for New Delhi.
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan, Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mohammad Mahmood Ali and senior officials saw him off at Begumpet Airport in the city.
In Delhi, Rouhani will hold bilateral talks with Modi on Saturday. He will also call on President Ram Nath Kovind.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
Hyderabad : Police in Hyderabad on Wednesday registered a case for hurting religious sentiments of Muslims against the director of a Malayalam movie, whose song featuring actress Priya Prakash Varrier has gone viral.
On a complaint by some youths in the old city of Hyderabad, the police registered a case against Omar Lulu, director of “Oru Adhaar Love” and some others.
The case under Indian Penal Code’s Section 295 (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) was registered at Falaknuma Police Station, said Deputy Commissioner of Police V. Satyanarayana.
According to the police official, the case was registered on a complaint by Abdul Muqeet and others, who alleged that the names of Prophet Mohammad and his wife Bibi Khateeja were used in the song. They sought immediate ban on the song as it hurt their religious sentiments.
The DCP said the police were investigating the case and appropriate action would be taken after taking legal opinion and ascertaining the facts.
The song “Manikya Malaraya Poovi…” went viral in the social media over the last few days apparently because of the wink by Priya.
Abdul Muqeet, an engineering student, told reporters that he noticed the objectionable part of the song while listening to it on the internet. He informed his other friends and they decided to lodge a complaint with the police. He said if necessary they would take legal action against the filmmaker.
The Malayalam film is scheduled to be released on March 1.
—IANS
