Name: My Life
Author: B. sheikh Ali
Publisher: Knowledge Society publications, Mysore
Year Of Publication: 2009
Price: Rs 250
Pages: 493+24 Coloured Pages
Reviewed by : Mushtaq ul Haq Ahmad Sikandar
Human life from cradle to grave is so complex that if we start scribbling it down from the day one till death still many vital experiences, incidents and lessons would be left out!! Writing about one’s life is the most difficult form of genre when it comes to objectivity because frequently they are either exaggerations or self appraisals with little for others to inspire from! But the present autobiography under review by the academician, activist, educationist, historian, scholar and social activist is truly awe inspiring and exceptional in its tone and lucidity.
The author nostalgically traces his childhood and the days through which he struggled hard to carve for a good education and how he overcame the obstacles which hindered the completion of his education. He traces lamenting how his own relatives let him down and strangers came to his rescue. Moharrum would remind him of the “Ganesha Festival of the Hindus and Shab-e-Barath was celebrated as our Diwali Day with crackers and other fireworks. All those rituals have now disappeared but they were very much in vogue in my childhood” (P-14-15). This very much speaks about the Fraternal, Pluralistic and joyous culture prevalent in those grand old days which now have been replaced by materialistic, competition driven and consumerist culture.
As a student author choose History as a subject for his specialization and he thinks that history is liquid philosophy which is in motion, and he very well deliberates about his struggle to secure a place in History Department which was ruled by Brahmans, but he still made his way and proved his mettle. He relates his experiences which he had during his stay as a research scholar at England and America, though critical of their materialism, immorality and ungodliness, the author is all praise for their manners, culture, scholarship and student-teacher relationship. The author is a prolific writer who hasn’t forgotten his native land and wrote extensively about Haider Ali, his son Tipu Sultan and their role in the struggle against the British Colonialism. It has been generally observed that scholars and academics rarely come out of their cosy cocoons and spent their entire lives engaged in scholarly debates, discussions, hair splitting and penning down tomes but Sheik Ali is truly an exception to those cave dwelling scholars who despite his busy schedule as a teacher-scholar has done extensive job as an Institution Builder which will continue to pen down men in addition to his scores of books. He in vein with Sir Syed built numerous chains of institutions and livelihood generating centres where education and vocational training is imparted to the deserving. He was the source behind the proper consolidation of two new universities as he assumed the charges of Vice-Chancellorship of newly formed Manglore and Goa Universities and appraisingly depicts how many obstacles and road blocks he had to came through while assuming and discharging this difficult job, though at times circumstances and environment along with the staff was against him but he wasn’t cowed down.
Indian universities in contrast to the Western ones are still in infancy when it comes to scholarship, teaching and research and our Vice Chancellor being a student of western universities can well understand this fact because the Team Spirit, Motivation, Inspiration and Student-Teacher sacred bond is completely missing in our highest seats of learning. “The most important function is to motivate the faculty to do creative work. This is also a very difficult task in an environment where University System is a white elephant consuming enormously and producing little of effective output. Elephants are either in the temples or in palaces for show purpose. To put these massive animals to good use requires great skill. Our faculty, by and large believes in counting thirty days, draw the salary and count thirty five years draw the pension. Of course there are a few notable exceptions, but majority do not size up to expectations. Our universities have become white elephants, ivory towers, with high qualifications but the net result is, they dig a mountain and bring out a mole. In such a situation to motivate the staff to creative work and bring about an intellectual ecology was a hard job” (P-331). This clearly depicts the plight of the university faculty which can well be understood by this verse of Akbar Allahbadi
Hamare Hazrat Bhi Kya Kaar Haee Numaia Kargaye
B.A Kiya, Naukar Huwe, Pension Ley, Aur Mar Gaye
Our Man did a wonderful job, passed B.A, was employed, got pension and died”
This quality to inspire, motivate, and make others work brings out that author is a great administrator too.
After retirement from active life, every person dreams to spend the last days of his life in peace and solace but the deplorable condition of his people and the writer inside the author didn’t let him opt so, and he initiated a series of Social and Educational activities under the Sultan Shaheed Educational Trust, in a mature age which people think is good for rest and meditation only, but author proved that Social Service is the highest form of Meditation and first step while bringing oneself nearer to Allah. Though he laments that Muslims don’t pay much attention to these causes and at times he was coerced to step down but still his indomitable spirit didn’t let him to opt so.
In spite of having struggled for more than eight decades author is still carrying on, and being a prolific he is bringing out more volumes from his pen despite having written scores of books in both English and Urdu on diverse topics, he still doesn’t want his pen to break and ink to dry as he believes that “the life is a gift of God, but good life is the gift of the good use of intellect”.
The autobiography is a worth read, as it inspires one to struggle higher and higher in life not for his own good only but for the whole humanity. This unique book portrays the amalgamated life depicting how to add and balance administration-education-research-scholarship-social service-teaching-writing and many more apparently diverse fields. Overall the book will prove a worth inspiring read for hues of all shades though cultural critiques may at times find the author being swayed away by the dominant discourse, race and his consent being manufactured and some of his views hard to digest. “Forget the politics of the English, as a race they are a gem of people. All qualities of high character are concentrated in them, that is why they ruled over the world for quite a long time, nearly for two centuries” (P-67). “They are certainly superior and they are conscious of their superiority which they use to overpower and dominate others. If you ignore this weakness of the British, they are a gem of people” (P-200-201). Also the spelling mistakes at times too sour the taste of reading this unique struggle of a common man who made it to the top making him immortal.