Encouraging, upwardly mobile Muslims on the increase .. TOI ..

MUMBAI: Last week, a group of Muslim NGOs organized a motivational talk in a city hall for aspiring engineers, doctors and other professionals. It was called 'Leap Talk' and had half-a-dozen achievers — academics, technocrats, businessmen and bureaucrats — sharing their mantra of success with aspirational young people. "The hall was packed and we were surprised by the enthusiasm the Muslim youth showed to join the job market," says Farid Khan, one of the organizers. Surprising though it may sound, Muslim youth is increasingly motivated and career-conscious, defying the 1990s stereotype of being an angry, uneducated, unemployable and unemployed bunch. The communal and polarized atmosphere of the 1990s is a thing of the past. Instead of picketing thanas and staging protests, Maharashtra's Muslim youth are joining others on the highway to cushy jobs and a comfy life. 

Imran Khan, 31, is managing director of the Rs 180-crore Western India Metal Processors Ltd. He recalls the jeers he and two Muslim classmates — actors Zayed Khan and Arif Khan — faced at a prestigious school in Mumbai. "Tum teen khan/Gadhe pe ho sawar aur jao Pakistan (You three Khans, ride an ass and go to Pakistan)," his classmates would say. When he finished school, Khan worked hard to turn the moribund family business into a multinational company. "Perhaps no Muslim child today has to suffer those humiliating remarks," he says, an unlikely victim in his smart clothes and with his swanky car. 

Khan's parents did not allow him to head to a US university because he was "the only male child in my family" but he says he has not suffered from it. "In retrospect, I think I was lucky to stay back in India and be part of the inclusive growth the country has witnessed in the past few years." Khan is the stereotypical Muppie and Muslim upwardly mobile professionals are pushing the boundaries like never before. A decade ago, it would have been unthinkable for a Muslim woman scientist to work alongside non-Muslim men at the prestigious Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). Today, Meher Tabassum, a scientific officer with the Centre's research and development wing, is a role model for many. "Muslims, especially girls, are looking beyond home science courses and making careers in pure science and technology. Globalization has opened limitless opportunities and Muslims too are grabbing them," says 36-year-old Tabassum, who has a gross salary of Rs 85,000 per month. 

Clearly, today's young Muslims are dreaming of lives far removed from the cloistered, ghetto existence of yesteryears. Their dreams are being nurtured by Muslim-managed institutions such as the Anjuman-e-Islam in Mumbai. With more than 1,00,000 students in its 100 institutions, including colleges of catering, pharmacy, engineering and polytechnic, the Anjuman symbolizes Muppiedom or Muslim aspiration for educational and economic advancement. 

The Anjuman's president Dr Zaheer Kazi is emphatic about the change. "This year one of our students topped the diploma engineering exams in Maharashtra while most of the toppers in various engineering branches are from our college." He adds, "Our engineering and catering students are getting 100% placement." 

Armed with good degrees, Muslim youth are now knocking on the doors of public sector enterprises such as the Indian Railways and banks. Salim Alware, member of the standing committee on National Monitoring Committee for Minority Education (an HRD wing), sees a definite surge in Muslim interest in public sector jobs. "The underworld used to fascinate Muslim youth three decades ago. Then came the Gulf boom and many Muslims went to the Gulf. But now, as the charm of the Gulf has waned, many Muslims have turned to opportunities in the railways, banks and bureaucracy," says Alware who writes a column on careers for the Urdu daily Inquilab. 

As education becomes a priority for young Muslims, more and more doors are opening to them. Shezan Ali Hemani, 18, cracked the IIT Joint Entrance Exam as well as MBBS entrance test this year. "I chose the latter as I always wanted to become a doctor," says Hemani whose father runs a successful shipping business. He wants to follow his own dreams. "My father turned stone into silver. I am trying to turn it into gold," he says. 

These individual success stories are good news for the entire community. Salil Bubere, an international student counsellor who holds a degree in computer science from the University of Wales, chose to counsel students rather than becoming a computer engineer because "I love to help others find avenues of knowledge." About his non-Muslim sounding first name, Bubere, 25, says, "My father named me Salil, a common name among Hindus and Muslims, because he was worried about the discrimination in Indian society. He was needlessly worried. Our society has changed. The job market evaluates you on the basis of your qualification, not your religion." 

This monsoon it's raining opportunities and Muslims too are grabbing them. if they need just a little push, career camps and sessions such as Leap Talk are steps in the right direction

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