It irks Anjali Raj, 18, no end when someone pronounces Phulwari Sharief, the 
Patna suburb where she lives, with seen (S) rather than sheen (Sh). In parts of eastern India, there’s no dearth of people who do so. In fact, after repeated attempts, she has barely managed to get her parents to pronounce Sharief right. Living in a society where people cannot differentiate between these alphabets, life is never easy. And under the circumstances, you cannot help but appreciate the teenager’s command on the language. The credit goes to her madrasa education.
An alumnus of Madrasa Imad-ul-Uloom Khankah-e-Imadia of Patna city, Anjali topped Fauqania (Matriculation) exams in the non-Muslim category with 805 marks out of 1200. And if that were not enough, she is also a CBSE matriculate. Incidentally, she has done well in both. And most of all, she has made her father, Ajay Raj, a businessman involved in the milk trade, really proud and happy. That we came all the way from Delhi to interview her daughter brought visible pride on his face. I am sure that happiness will last many a lifetime.
He says: “She has been interviewed by many journalists here. But now her popularity has reached Delhi too. I made it a point to teach her Urdu. And look what wonders it has done. It brought you all the way from Delhi.”
Phulwari Sharief is a Muslim majority neighbourhood. It is therefore natural that Ajay has lots of Muslim friends. He always wanted his daughter to study Arabic and Urdu. But he did not know the way to go about it. But then, one fine morning, Waiz-ud-Din Rahman, Urdu teacher at the school where Anjali used to study, advised Ajay to get his daughter admitted to a madrasa. He also insisted that it will help her in the Civil Services exams.
As things turned out, neither Anjali nor her mother appeared particularly enthusiastic. Anjali always wanted to speak Urdu as fluently as her friends and she had acquired a few basics too. But to read in a madrasa was a different ball game and she was not game for it. “I did not like it initially. In fact, I protested hard when papa took me to a madrasa. But as he was adamant I had no choice,” she says. The father offered her a way out. He said that she would continue studying in the CBSE board and attend a madrasa too.
The madrasa she got admitted in was 20 km from her home. Now that created another problem. Anjali was categorical that she would not let her studies suffer because of this. Rahman, her teacher, waived off compulsory attendance.
So how was the first day at the madrasa for a student of an English medium school? “It was all new for me. I was very scared and was looking for excuses for not attending the madrasa. Although I knew all the sums in mathematics, I could not attempt a single one because of the terminologies that were in Urdu. I had done really well in mathematics all along and here I was not able to do a simple sum. It was all so embarrassing,” recalls Anjali. In fact, when she came out, she broke down and made up her mind that she would not return.
But then, Rahman came to her rescue. He told her that these were initial hiccups. The carrot of the Civil Services was again dangled before her and Anjali finally complied. Since her madrasa was quite far she would attend classes just a couple of times in a month. Yet she managed to do well. There are people who question the very basis of how marks are doled out in madrasa and Sanskrit board exams.
But all the negative talk has not daunted Anjali one bit. She is now all set to take the Maulvi (intermediate) exams, one eye firmly on making it to the Civil Services.
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Patna suburb where she lives, with seen (S) rather than sheen (Sh). In parts of eastern India, there’s no dearth of people who do so. In fact, after repeated attempts, she has barely managed to get her parents to pronounce Sharief right. Living in a society where people cannot differentiate between these alphabets, life is never easy. And under the circumstances, you cannot help but appreciate the teenager’s command on the language. The credit goes to her madrasa education.
An alumnus of Madrasa Imad-ul-Uloom Khankah-e-Imadia of Patna city, Anjali topped Fauqania (Matriculation) exams in the non-Muslim category with 805 marks out of 1200. And if that were not enough, she is also a CBSE matriculate. Incidentally, she has done well in both. And most of all, she has made her father, Ajay Raj, a businessman involved in the milk trade, really proud and happy. That we came all the way from Delhi to interview her daughter brought visible pride on his face. I am sure that happiness will last many a lifetime.
He says: “She has been interviewed by many journalists here. But now her popularity has reached Delhi too. I made it a point to teach her Urdu. And look what wonders it has done. It brought you all the way from Delhi.”
Phulwari Sharief is a Muslim majority neighbourhood. It is therefore natural that Ajay has lots of Muslim friends. He always wanted his daughter to study Arabic and Urdu. But he did not know the way to go about it. But then, one fine morning, Waiz-ud-Din Rahman, Urdu teacher at the school where Anjali used to study, advised Ajay to get his daughter admitted to a madrasa. He also insisted that it will help her in the Civil Services exams.
As things turned out, neither Anjali nor her mother appeared particularly enthusiastic. Anjali always wanted to speak Urdu as fluently as her friends and she had acquired a few basics too. But to read in a madrasa was a different ball game and she was not game for it. “I did not like it initially. In fact, I protested hard when papa took me to a madrasa. But as he was adamant I had no choice,” she says. The father offered her a way out. He said that she would continue studying in the CBSE board and attend a madrasa too.
The madrasa she got admitted in was 20 km from her home. Now that created another problem. Anjali was categorical that she would not let her studies suffer because of this. Rahman, her teacher, waived off compulsory attendance.
So how was the first day at the madrasa for a student of an English medium school? “It was all new for me. I was very scared and was looking for excuses for not attending the madrasa. Although I knew all the sums in mathematics, I could not attempt a single one because of the terminologies that were in Urdu. I had done really well in mathematics all along and here I was not able to do a simple sum. It was all so embarrassing,” recalls Anjali. In fact, when she came out, she broke down and made up her mind that she would not return.
But then, Rahman came to her rescue. He told her that these were initial hiccups. The carrot of the Civil Services was again dangled before her and Anjali finally complied. Since her madrasa was quite far she would attend classes just a couple of times in a month. Yet she managed to do well. There are people who question the very basis of how marks are doled out in madrasa and Sanskrit board exams.
But all the negative talk has not daunted Anjali one bit. She is now all set to take the Maulvi (intermediate) exams, one eye firmly on making it to the Civil Services.
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