----- Original Message ----- From: "BlindNews Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 10:52 PM Subject: A temple serves the blind, shames the blind
> DAWN.com, Pakistan > Thursday, May 24, 2007 > > A temple serves the blind, shames the blind > > By Mudassir Iqbal Raja > > RAWALPINDI, May 23: It is a magnificent 19th century Hindu temple that > stands in Kohati Bazaar in Rawalpindi but alas its inmates cannot enjoy > its magnificence. They are blind. > > It is a shame for those who run the Government Kandeel Secondary School > for Blind in the Mandir Kalyan Das. They have eyes but act as stone blind. > > Built in 1880, the temple complex has been brutalised and vandalised over > decades and is in a state of decay, losing fast its intricate paintings > and carvings inside. > > It was abandoned as Hindus left the city in the frenzy of mass migration > of populations that followed the independence of India and Pakistan in > 1947. > > But the temple survived as a place of worship until 1958 when a school for > blinds started by Begum S.M.A. Farooq was shifted into the complex. At > that time it had a Baradari with rooms for worshippers, a pond and an > Ashram. > > In 1975 the school was taken over by the government. A new building was > erected for the school after razing the Baradari and the Ashram in 1986 > when Gen Ziaul Haq's Islamisation programme was in full bloom. > > His civilian successors were more concerned with securing their political > heritage than preserving the minorities' heritage. > > Today the main prayer room in the temple complex is being used to store > the broken furniture of the school. Idols of Hindu gods are all gone but > their images are still visible in paintings as are artistic floral > carvings in the main prayer room. > > Four small rooms of the temple have been closed because the roof leaks. > That has saved some small idols from the vandals but the decoration work > at the ceiling is fading in the dampness. > > The many spires in the temple complex are still imposing but 60 years of > neglect has made them colourless. White paint given to brighten a canopy > inside the complex in fact buried its original floral work. > > One could only sympathise with Kalyan Das and his brother who raised the > edifice in his memory as Kalyan Das was childless. > > A senior teacher of the school, a native of Rawalpindi, said Muslims > vandalised the temple at the time of partition. But luckily the school > administration prevented the same happening to the temple in the wake of > the demolition of the historic Babri Mosque in Varanasi by Hindu zealots > in 1992. > > Mr Sultan Mirza, principal of the Kandeel School, said the law of the land > does not permit changing the character of a religious place and wanted the > government to restore the temple for the tourists. > > Kalyan Das' admirers occasionally visit the temple, glad that it was still > serving a good cause and praying that it opens the eyes of people with > vision too. > > > http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/24/nat20.htm > > -- > BlindNews mailing list > > To contact a list moderator about a problem or to make a request, send a > message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > The BlindNews list is archived at: http://GeoffAndWen.com/blind/ > > To address a message to all members of the list, send mail to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Access your subscription info at: > http://blindprogramming.com/mailman/listinfo/blindnews_blindprogramming.com > > To unsubscribe via e-mail: send a message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in either > the subject or body of the message Send instant messages to your online friends http://in.messenger.yahoo.com To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
