05-25-2007, 12:08 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>A temple-cum-school in Rawalpindi that serves the blind, but fails to look after them </b>
By ANI
Thursday May 24, 01:42 PM
Islamabad, may 24 (ANI): It is a magnificent 19th century Hindu temple that stands in Rawalpindi's Kohati Bazaar area, but its inmates cannot enjoy its magnificence for they are blind.
It is a shame for those who run the Government Kandeel Secondary School for the Blind in the Mandir Kalyan Das. They have eyes, but are blind to the plight of their inmates.
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 after Hindus left the city in 1947. The temple survived as a place of worship until 1958 when a school for the blind was started by Begum S.M.A. Farooq. At that time, according to the Dawn, it had a Baradari with rooms for worshippers, a pond and a hermitage.
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 Zia-ul- Haq's Islamisation programme was in full bloom.
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.
Sultan Mirza, the school principal, says the law of the land does not permit changing the character of a religious place and wants the government to restore the temple for the tourists. (ANI)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070524/139/6g707.html
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
By ANI
Thursday May 24, 01:42 PM
Islamabad, may 24 (ANI): It is a magnificent 19th century Hindu temple that stands in Rawalpindi's Kohati Bazaar area, but its inmates cannot enjoy its magnificence for they are blind.
It is a shame for those who run the Government Kandeel Secondary School for the Blind in the Mandir Kalyan Das. They have eyes, but are blind to the plight of their inmates.
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 after Hindus left the city in 1947. The temple survived as a place of worship until 1958 when a school for the blind was started by Begum S.M.A. Farooq. At that time, according to the Dawn, it had a Baradari with rooms for worshippers, a pond and a hermitage.
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 Zia-ul- Haq's Islamisation programme was in full bloom.
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.
Sultan Mirza, the school principal, says the law of the land does not permit changing the character of a religious place and wants the government to restore the temple for the tourists. (ANI)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070524/139/6g707.html
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->