Aga Khan Foundation

New Delhi
Alumni Meetings in India A group of ISP alumni met in New Delhi in April for a meal and a good time. They were Seema Alavi (ISP 87-90), Professor of History at Jamia Millia University; Sunil Batra (88-89), Child Psychologist and Educator; Seema Kazi (ISP 02-05), who has just returned to India after completing a PhD in Gender Studies at the London School of Economics; Jaffer Khan (84-85), the Principal of an architecture firm in Bangalore; Suneel Padale (05-06), who was for many years with the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme and the Aga Khan Foundation and now works for the German Technical Cooperation in New Delhi; Subramanian Pattabiraman (03-04), a development professional working for the Delegation of the European Union in India; Tanee Trivedy (93-94), an Educational Consultant from Mumbai; Pinki Virani (79-82), freelance author and journalist; and Vinay Viswanatha (06-07), a public health specialist at the Community Health Cell in Karnataka.

Seema Alavi made a presentation about her new book, Islam and Healing, which describes the extent to which Unani, an Islamic healing tradition, has interacted with Indian society and politics as these evolved and flourished from 1600 to 1900. It is a pioneering work on the social and medical history of Indian Islam and is centered on the struggle to preserve a specific culture of healing. An interesting discussion followed, since many of the group had personal experiences with Unani, which is still practiced in many places in India. Several programme staff from the Aga Khan Foundation Delhi office, Ratish Nanda for the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and Catherine Hieronymi from Geneva were also present. Somnath Badyopadhyay, Senior Programme Officer for Rural Development, made a presentation on the activities of the Foundation in India, including its new area development programme in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Alumni Meetings in India While in Delhi, Catherine also met two other former ISP scholars, Alok Mathur (ISP 90-91) and Nigor Mouzafarova (ISP 01-02). Alok is the Director of the Rishi Valley Institute for Teacher Education and Nigor is a Tajik health specialist who is working for the World Health Organisation’s East Asian Regional Office in New Delhi. The conversation over a spicy North Indian meal touched on many topics, including the state of education in India and life in the Central Asian country of Tajikistan. The Institute that Alok and his wife have started is part of the education work of the Krishnamurti Foundation, which runs five schools in various locations in India. Alok has been with the Foundation for 26 years, first as a teacher at the school and later in more administrative roles. The Institute he runs provides in-house support to teachers at the Rishi Valley School and also reaches out to support teachers and other schools interested in a holistic basis for education.

Karachi and Islamabad
Alumni Meetings in India and Pakistan In Pakistan, Catherine met four recently returned ISP graduates. They were Falak Madhani (ISP 06-07), who returned last year from the UK after her MSc degree course in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and at present is working for the Aga Khan University School of Nursing as coordinator of their international programmes; Nida Alavi (ISP 06-08), an Early Childhood Educator with the Teachers Resource Centre in Karachi; Ishaq Khan (ISP 04-05), a Biomedical Engineer with the Aga Khan University, and Aslam Aman (ISP 03-04) (see below left) who has a degree in International Development from Cornell University and has started his own consulting business in Islamabad.

Alumni Meetings in India and Pakistan All of these alumni are keeping in touch with the Aga Khan Development Network in one way or another. Falak and Ishaq are working for AKU; Nida is working for an institution with close contacts to the education programmes of the Network; and Aslam’s consultant firm was holding a training session for AKDN’s Earthquake Rehabilitation Program when Catherine was visiting.

Alumni Meetings in India and Pakistan Another former scholarship recipient, Samir Hoodbhoy (AKH 63-64), took part in the ISP applicant interviews held in Karachi in early May. Samir has an AB in Engineering Sciences & Applied Physics from Harvard University and an MS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rhode Island. His expertise is in a variety of fields, including engineering software development, telecommunication systems, urban planning and local government. He has worked in many public and private sector organizations in the USA and Pakistan and is at present the Managing Director of a data communication firm in Karachi. Samir is font of knowledge and was a great asset to the interviewing committee where he represented the Aga Khan Foundation (Pakistan).