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India Today
11-07-2025
- Health
- India Today
Broken elbow, no NCERT, nights on platform: Bihar girl cracks NEET, bags scholarship
Eighteen-year-old Tabassum Jahan's NEET scorecard tells just one part of the story -- a 550 out of 720. But the months behind that number were filled with pain, uncertainty, and several long nights on a cold railway platform.'We didn't have money to stay in a hotel,' says the Gonda-born girl, recalling the 3-4 nights she spent at the Gorakhpur station with her mother. Around a year before this, she had fallen from a stool while cleaning at home, injuring her elbow blocked nerve in her elbow meant she couldn't even hold a spoon, let alone a pen. "We consulted many doctors over 9-10 months with no improvement," she says. One hospital gave them medicines for 1-2 months, but this meant they didn't have money to return home or afford a hotel."My mother would drop me at the clinic and go do stitching work to earn money. Eventually, an uncle told us about a vaid whose sons assured us I'd recover," Tabassum says.'I'd faint from the injections, but still went every day,' she recovery dragged on for over a year and a half. 'I felt very bad seeing my mother ask people for money. That hurt me more than the injury," she is what drove her to wonder about when she would reach a level wherein she could give to others instead of asking.'MAKE YOUR DIFFICULTIES YOUR STRENGTH'Tabassum's father, a farmer in Gonda district, earns just Rs 6,000 a month."My father doesn't have a permanent job. There were times when he worked as a security guard in malls, sold clothes, and did labour work. Now, he is in the village doing farming," she mother does stitching work to make ends meet. She couldn't finish her BA after marriage, Tabassum shared. 'But she always said one thing -- a girl must be independent.'While other students relied on coaching centres and books, Tabassum had only a phone, YouTube, and her willpower.'I didn't even have all the NCERT books,' she said. The medicines during recovery made her drowsy, but she'd fight the sleep to study. 'I used to read because I couldn't write.' A GAP THAT COULDN'T PUSH AWAY HER DREAMSThe injury caused a 1.5-year academic gap. Most students would've given up. But Tabassum couldn't afford to."When my mother used to ask for money and people disrespected her, it hurt me deeply. For me, being a doctor is a profession that receives the most respect, and I wanted that because people never respected my mother and me due to our situation," she was a major inspiration that pushed her to study harder no matter what. "Others might have better resources, but I had my books, determination, and hard work to help me succeed," she even her family wasn't fully supportive. 'My father would say there's no use in English-medium studies when so many basic things are missing. But my mother always insisted that I should study in a way that there would be an outcome,' she were quick to remind her that studying medicine was expensive. But she quietly carried A SCHOLARSHIP CHANGED HER PATHIn 2024, she scored 621 marks. PhysicsWallah Vidyapeeth offered free offline coaching to students above 600 scores, and she grabbed that opportunity.'I will always be thankful to PhysicsWallah (PW) and Alakh Sir for supporting students like me,' she says. She credits her NEET 2025 selections to being able to study offline for free with PW Vidyapeeth, with the help of their modules and test 2025, she cracked NEET with 550. But her future still hung in the balance --- until PW offered her a scholarship worth Rs 4 lakh. 'Now I can study MBBS without worrying,' she TO GIRLS: 'RECOGNISE YOUR INNER STRENGTH'To other students who feel stuck due to setbacks, her advice is sharp and honest. 'Money might buy you books, but it cannot buy you knowledge -- that comes only through your own effort and study.'She wants girls especially to aim higher. 'It is very important to stay independent, and for that, you must recognise your inner strength," she an elbow that couldn't move to dreams that wouldn't stop -- Tabassum Jahan's journey is proof that if you fight through the worst, the best might just be waiting on the other side.- Ends
Indian Express
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Bollywood's ‘mystery girl' died poor and alone, entangled in legal battles and failing health
Far beneath the glossy surface, beyond all the glitz and glam, lies a layer in Bollywood stained by the blood, sweat and tears of countless people who are now long forgotten. While the 'hard work' of those at the top is often spotlighted and hailed, the gruelling struggles of many others rarely reach the public eye, simply because they didn't succeed. They are unfairly judged as 'failures' and subsequently ignored. But history does not belong to the victors alone; it belongs to those who couldn't finish the race as well. And one such star, who once soared higher than any of her peers but eventually died a forgotten figure, was veteran actor Sadhana Shivdasani (known mononymously as Sadhana), whose life was nothing short of a tragic tale. 'Death proved to be a salvation for her,' late actor and talk show host Tabassum emotionally told SCREEN when Sadhana passed away at the age of 74 in 2015. Tabassum wasn't wrong. Not only had Sadhana's health significantly deteriorated by then, but she was also struggling financially, with no one to support her. Both the industry and her so-called 'fans' turned a blind eye to her, and Bollywood's 'Mystery Girl' took her last breath in desolation. Tabassum revealed that only a few from the industry, friends and relatives came to bid her farewell. Don't Miss | Legendary Bollywood music composer lived as paying guest in final years, banned family from attending funeral Born on September 2, 1941, in Karachi to a Sindhi family, Sadhana's family moved to India after the Partition in 1947, when she was just six years old. 'We moved from Delhi to Benaras to Calcutta before settling down in Mumbai in 1950,' author-columnist Dinesh Raheja quoted her in a 2012 article for 'Main apne mohalle ki dada hua karti thi (I was a bully in my neighbourhood). I was a tomboy. I made the best maanja, and I would fly kites while an aide of mine would hold the firki.' After settling in Mumbai, she was enrolled at the Auxilium Convent School in Wadala. 'Even while in school, I had made up my mind that as soon as I finished my schooling, I would become an actress,' she once told Star and Style magazine. With that firm dream, she eventually joined the Filmalaya School of Acting, where she met director RK Nayyar — whom she later married — while he was preparing to direct Love in Simla (1960). It was Sashadhar Mukherjee, the owner of Filmalaya Studio, who spotted her in an advertisement and got her enrolled in the acting school. Interestingly, Love in Simla, which Mukherjee himself produced, marked the debut of both his son Joy Mukherjee and Sadhana as leading stars. Although she had previously made an appearance in a song in Raj Kapoor's Shree 420 (1955) as a child artiste, and in the Sindhi film Abana, it was Love in Simla that gave her her first major break. The film was a massive success, and her Audrey Hepburn-inspired 'Sadhana fringe' became a trendsetter, establishing her as a fashion icon. From Bimal Roy's Parakh (1960) and Amarjeet's Hum Dono (1961), where she starred opposite Dev Anand, to Krishnan–Panju's Man-Mauji (1962) with Kishore Kumar and Raj Khosla's Ek Musafir Ek Hasina (1962), which marked her reunion with Joy Mukherjee, everything she touched turned to gold. Of the 19 releases she had in the 1960s, a whopping 11 were reportedly hits. Thus, she quickly became a formidable force in Bollywood. In her early days, she was bound by a three-year contract with Filmalaya. 'I was paid Rs 750 a month for the first year, Rs 1,500 a month for the second year, and Rs 3,000 a month for the third year,' she recalled, highlighting her rapid ascent to stardom. Even at the peak of her fame, she maintained warm relationships with her co-stars, particularly Rajendra Kumar, with whom she worked in HS Rawail's Mere Mehboob (1963). She once shared that he often called her 'Bhapa' (elder brother in Punjabi). Her mother even expressed a desire to see her married to 'someone like Rajendra Kumar.' But by then, Sadhana had fallen deeply in love with RK Nayyar. In fact, Rajendra Kumar shared a close bond with both of them. She once named Rajendra Kumar, Sunil Dutt and Shammi Kapoor as her favourite heroes to work with. She also described Dev Anand, her Asli Naqli and Hum Dono co-star, as 'like a charged battery — a mini dynamo.' 'I really cannot talk much about my female co-stars because I cannot make friends very easily. And even when I made friends, I preferred the males to the females. Sitting and talking about household chores was not interesting to me then. I hardly knew anything about it. So at parties and premieres, I was always with the male crowd,' she told Star and Style magazine. Amid all this, her love for RK Nayyar endured. They eventually tied the knot in 1966. 'I was friendly with Nayyar right from my first film, and though we lost touch with each other for a couple of years in between, it was always only Nayyar for me. I remember how my parents put their foot down and said no initially. After all, I was just 17 when I married him.' But her happiness was short-lived. In the late 1960s, she began battling hyperthyroidism. Not only did it affect her health, but it also forced her to step away from acting to begin treatment, costing her several roles that would have helped her soar more. Although a sport, she was hurt when director HS Rawail replaced her in Sunghursh (1968) without informing her. 'After I signed Sunghursh, my thyroid problem cropped up. So I called Mr Rawail and told him to sign another heroine. He dismissed it with 'If I could wait so long for you for Mere Mehboob, I can wait for Sunghursh too.' However, five days later, I read a huge ad in the SCREEN newspaper declaring Vyjayanthimala as the heroine of the film. It hurt. I didn't talk to Mr HS Rawail thereafter.' Sunghursh featured legendary actor Dilip Kumar as the male lead. Also Read | Inside Vivek Oberoi's Dubai home: The 'money-man' with net worth of Rs 1200 crore who grows 'kadhi patta' and collects 'desi' art During this period, she also lost the chance to work in Raj Kapoor's Around the World (1967). Though she returned with hits like Intaqam (1969) and Ek Phool Do Mali (1969) after the treatment, offers gradually began to dry up in the 1970s. Before slowly stepping away from acting, she tried her hand at direction as well with Geetaa Mera Naam (1974), featuring herself, Sunil Dutt, Feroz Khan and Helen. Soon, Sadhana quietly exited the limelight. Her final film, Ulfat Ki Nayi Manzilein, was released much later in 1994. Tragedy struck her again in 1995 when RK Nayyar passed away due to asthma, leaving her completely alone, as the couple had no children. Sadly, this wasn't by choice. 'I have very few regrets — losing my baby was one of them,' she told Raheja, revealing yet another painful chapter of her life. Though she once preferred male company, in her final years she grew close to contemporaries like Waheeda Rehman, Nanda, Asha Parekh and Helen, who became her emotional support system. The group met for lunch every month, offering her some solace. In her last years, however, she also became entangled in legal battles. There were three cases involving Sadhana. While one was filed against her by the landlord of her Santacruz building, Yusuf Lakdawala, another was filed by her against the same landlord, alleging harassment. The third was a defamation case that emerged from the dispute, filed by Lakdawala against her. By then, Sadhana was struggling both financially and physically, unable to keep up with her health expenses and legal costs. Though she pleaded for help, no one came to her aid. Sadhana breathed her last at a Mumbai hospital on December 25, 2015, after a brief illness.
Khaleej Times
20-06-2025
- Health
- Khaleej Times
Dubai: Boy left brain-damaged after pool mishap, family faces Dh100,000 medical bills
A Dubai family is looking at over Dh100,000 in medical bills and lifelong care for their only son after a swimming pool accident in their community. Indian expat Tabassum and her husband moved to the UAE just last month in hopes of a better life for their children. But instead, they are now grappling with an uncertain future after her son, Ali, almost drowned in a pool. As they had arrived in the country just a few days before the incident, they also did not have any insurance coverage. After arriving in Dubai during the first week of May, the family moved into a residential community close to the Al Qudra area. For them, the best part of it was the common pool. Three of their four children, aged 3 to 14 years, knew how to swim and loved it. On the fateful day, their elder children, two daughters aged 14 and 10 and Ali (9), played in the big pool while the youngest daughter stayed in the baby pool. 'They were old enough to take care of themselves, and all three of them were strong swimmers, so we didn't pay attention to them,' Tabassum told Khaleej Times. 'We were focused on my little one in the baby pool.' 'No idea what happened' At one point, Tabassum's eldest daughter, an award-winning swimmer, gave strict instructions to her brother and sister not to foray into the deep end of the pool and went over to the baby pool to play with her sister. 'She was there for hardly five minutes,' she said. 'When she went back to the pool, Ali was underwater. At first, she thought he was playing with her, but then she realised he was drowning. She and I immediately pulled him out, and she began performing CPR on him. Within two or three minutes, the lifeguard arrived." Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels. Ali was found in the exact spot where his sister had left him, where the water just reached up to his chest. 'I have no idea what happened,' Tabassum said. 'He knew how to swim, he was old enough to take care of himself, he was in a spot in the pool where his feet could touch the floor, and we were close enough to hear him cry. Not once did we hear or see anything amiss.' Ali was rushed to a private hospital, which was located close to the community. He was immediately put on ventilator. 'After five days, he was on oxygen, and then he was able to breathe on his own,' she said. 'The doctor said that all the reports are normal, but the MRI shows he has hypoxia. This means there is damage in his brain, which will take a long time to recover. He cannot eat or drink; listen or speak or control his brain. However, I'm hopeful that he'll improve.' Could not afford the treatment Ali is now at home but requires full-time care. The family have not been able to clear the outstanding hospital bills. 'We brought him home because we could not afford to continue the treatment,' said Tabassum. 'Right now, we are trying to manage at home, but we will not be able to keep it up for too long.' She said the couple were excited when her husband got the opportunity to move to Dubai. 'We thought we would finally be able to give all our children a global education and better future,' she said. 'But now, we are looking at going back to India as we cannot afford the treatment and the school fees here.' However, she is still hopeful for a miracle. 'We're now trying to reach out to charity organisations in the hope that someone might be able to help us,' she said. 'Our dreams for the bright future of our children have been shattered, and we are drowning in the debts of medical bills, but I keep praying to God for some help.'
Indian Express
07-06-2025
- Health
- Indian Express
Doctors remove LED bulb of toy phone from infant's respiratory tract in Ahmedabad
A nine-month-old Junagadh-based boy, who had accidentally swallowed an LED bulb attached to a toy phone, was successfully treated at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and the object successfully retrieved from his body, said people familiar with the matter on Saturday. The child, identified as Mohammad, son of Tabassum and Juned Yusuf, a carpenter, had been coughing for the previous fortnight, following which he was taken to a pediatrician in Junagadh, said his parents. During an X-ray, the doctors found an object lodged in his respiratory tract. The doctors recommended the boy's parents, residents of Mangrol in Junagadh, to a private hospital in Rajkot but since the cost proved prohibitive, the parents took him to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. The child was immediately admitted to the Pediatric Surgery Department of the civil hospital on June 3. Head of the Pediatric Surgery Department, Dr Rakesh Joshi, and Dr Nilesh from the Anesthesia department along with their team successfully conducted a bronchoscopy (medical procedure) and extracted the LED bulb from the right main trachea of the child. After the operation, the child's health has been improving, said a doctor familiar with the development. The child is now healthy without any other problems, so he will be discharged from the hospital soon, said the doctor.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
The Serpentine Pavilion 2025 Is a Poetic, 'Breathing' Installation That Calls for Unity in Challenging Times — Here's Our First Look
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. It's not every day that I get to start my day with a morning stroll through the ornamental, teeming-with-wildlife mosaic of colors, textures, and water games that are London's Kensington Gardens, the Grade II-listed green lung situated west of the sprawling Hyde Park. Today, though, the press preview of the Serpentine Pavilion 2025, which will grace the lush grounds of the namesake institution's southern gallery in one of the best design exhibitions in the British capital between June 6 and October 26, makes for an exception — and one well worth the 8:30 AM showtime, too. The brainchild of award-winning Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum, whose practice strives to develop spaces that unfold in harmony with, and contribute positively to, the environment around them, investigating the impact of our presence on Earth, and her firm, Marina Tabassum Architects (MTA), the Serpentine Pavilion 2025 is, as hinted by its title, a physical as much as a metaphorical Capsule in Time. Now in its 25th edition, the Serpentine Gallery's initiative, kick-started by a cinematic steel and glass structure signed by legendary Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid in 2000, lends its outdoor stage to the preoccupations of our era in a poetic exploration of presence and absence, light and darkness, balance and transformation. For Tabassum, A Capsule in Time, her first-ever project realized outside of Bangladesh and her debut at working with wood, is an opportunity to manifest the function that architecture fullfils in our lives, she tells me over an email exchange ahead of its reveal, which is welcomed with speeches by Serpentine's CEO, Bettina Korek, Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist, and the architect herself. Image 1 of 2 Image 2 of 2 "The relationship between time and architecture, between permanence and impermanence, of birth, age, and ruin, is intriguing," she says of the antithesis that characterizes the commission. "Architecture aspires to outlive time — it is a tool to live beyond legacies, fulfilling the inherent human desire for continuity after life." But time isn't the only thing this discipline escapes. Through our experience of it, Tabassum appears to suggest, we can transcend other boundaries, too, whether cultural or geographical, and find new ways of being together in an in-between place charged with the most remote, disparate histories and, therefore, more universally resonant. She is already putting this concept into practice. The community-gathering power of Shamiyanas, the uplifting bamboo and cloth tents that, "convening hundreds of guests on any occasion", serve as a staple of Bengali weddings and beyond, for example, was deep on her mind while working on the Serpentine Pavilion. Its half-capsule structure, composed of two vaulted canopies and two semi-domes separated by pathways and a courtyard, leans into the ritual and blissfulness of days spent out in the sun, whether in Bangladesh or England. "8,000 kilometers from London, the Ganges delta is a fluid landscape that tells the tales of movement and impermanence," Tabassum says. "Two-thirds of Bangladesh is a product of progradation, an active delta hydrology formed by the rivers Padma, Meghna, and Jamuna." There, dwellings change locations as the rivers shift courses. Despite the apparent migration, "memories of those lived spaces continue through stories and parables," she adds. Like the rest of the architect's experimentation, A Capsule of Time speaks to that state of ever-becoming, of transience and mutability, by letting the natural elements take control of its plan. It is a lesson I learn at my very expense while waiting for the pavilion's inauguration to start, as a cold breeze begins to weave its way into the project's open structure — an omen of the smoke-thin drizzle that's about to follow. And a reminder of the unpredictability that rules all kinds of life. "In Bangladesh, we don't build a lot with wood because it's not one of our materials," Tabassum explains. Still, the medium's functionality was instrumental to the Serpentine Pavilion 2025, as it might be to its afterlife. "We are hoping to bring the construction to a different venue, and using wood meant that we could create a structure that could be easily dismantled, taken away, and reassembled." Image 1 of 4 Image 2 of 4 Image 3 of 4 Image 4 of 4 Obtained from locally sourced, glued laminated timber, the zigzag sections of A Capsule in Time are complete with translucent polycarbonate panels that brighten up, dim, and coruscate in response to light. It is only when sunshine passes through them, casting dramatic geometrical shadows and amber tones onto the floor, that Tabassum's airy structure feels complete. Only when people probe its perimeter, occasionally stopping to look up at the slices of sky caught between its iridescent arches, pick up one of the books stored in its shelves, or sit down at its benches to scribble into their diaries, chat with a friend, or read one of their own, that the installation feels most alive. There is no separation between the inside and the outdoors in the architect's Serpentine Pavilion, her fluid design simultaneously aiming to embrace both. Just like there is no distinction between the humankind and the rest of the natural world when it comes to taking turns to interact with its softly undulating surfaces. That, Tabassum explains, is the intention behind the Ginkgo tree that sits at the project's heart — to redirect viewers' attention to the primordial source. To open our eyes to our shared origins, our roots. And show that, in dialogue, people, too, can thrive. "2024 has been a year marked by intolerance, wars, countless deaths, protests, and suppressions. Differences of opinion and respect for cultural diversity and societal norms are at an all-time low in many parts of the world. But how can we transcend our differences and connect as humans?", asks Tabassum. The answer comes, again, from the breathing core of the Serpentine Pavilion 2025, its Ginkgo tree. Chosen by the architect for its demonstrated ability to resist and continuously re-adapt to the threats posed by the environmental crisis, it is a beacon of hope that proves that, even from hardships, stems positive growth, so long as we find room to confront them, reconcile, and evolve. Marina Tabassum's Serpentine Pavilion 2025, A Capsule in Time, is free to access at Serpentine Gallery through October 26. Plan your visit.
