AN INTERVIEW WITH PROF. FARIDA KHANAM

got married and got settled in the cities. I still had no formal education. I continued to stay in the village. When my father lived in Rampur in the 60s, we got a chance to study in a girls’ madrasa till 5th standard. This madrasa was called ‘Bachchiyon Ka Madrasa’. I was probably thirteen or fourteen years old at the time. Meeting my relatives who had received education was a matter of great envy for me. My mother Sabia Khatoon Alwi was very fond of getting education. She belonged to a Syed family. In a Pathan household, a woman had no place except in her home and hearth. This tradition still lingered in my family. When my father moved to Delhi as the editor of Al-Jamiat (an Urdu weekly), Dr Mahmood Qadri, an acquaintance of my father, informed him that he had made arrangements for girls’ tuition at his home. He then also arranged that these girls could appear for private exams at Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University. The facility for private and external exams was specially put in place to help girls from backward background. When my father found out about this facility, he told my mother about it. My mother was thrilled to hear about it. She arranged to send me to New Delhi by train and told me that my father would be waiting for me at the Railway Station in New Delhi. Just imagine a girl of 13-14 years of age, who had hardly ventured out of her home, was travelling all alone in a train, which was about a 26-hour journey! Dr Mahmood Qadri has had a huge role in my life. He allowed me to stay in his house for six months. I could not stay with my father as he was allotted just one room from his employers. Dr Mahmood’s daughter, Juwaria was also preparing for her class X exam. He treated me as his daughter. We studied together. Without attending previous classes, I directly appeared for class X. The result was quite expected. I failed in a couple of subjects. I think I was very different in my formative years. I didn’t cry, I just started preparing again. I took the exam in the next year. This time around, I got good grades. Soon, my mother joined us in New Delhi. Maulana Asad Madani, the then president of Jamiat Ulema, arranged a nice big room with a balcony for us. Thereafter, it became relatively easy for us. I then took class XI exam. Dr Majida Asad was then teaching at Delhi University. She and her husband being aware of the backwardness of Muslim women in education, had established a tuition bureau at their house. It was their way of serving the society. Dr Majida had a Ph.D. in Hindi. Her husband Mr Asad was director in the NCERT. They had appointed very good teachers for every subject. Here we got the opportunity for the first