Ahmedabad Muslims to honour Gita contest winner

AHMEDABAD: A group of city-based Muslims is to felicitate the Mumbai-based 14-year-old girl, who won a contest on the Bhagwad Gita organised by International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) two years ago.
After Maryam Siddiqui stood first in the contest which had more than 3,000 participants, there was fulsome praise for her as she became a symbol of Ganga-Jamuni tehzib.She has been honoured by the President, the Prime Minister and almost all religious leaders for her achievement.
Now, the city-based Welfare Society is going to honour her on Sunday at a function to felicitate meritorious Muslims kids – those who have excelled in academics as well as in sports and cultural activites. The organizers have chosen to honour Maryam also because she was born in Ahmedabad, in the Shahpur area.
One of the organizers, Rafiq Lokhandwala said, “We hold this function every year to encourage students by honouring them in public. We select students who have won gold medals in universities and are achievers in sport or the field of culture. Maryam is from Mumbai but she was born in this city. She is a symbol of a real achiever and her presence at the function will be a great encouragement for others, more particularly with her efforts to transcend cultural barriers.”
Maryam’s father, Asif Siddiqui, is proud of his daughter’s achievements. He remembers how his daughter’s innocent question ‘Who are Hindus?” six years ago led her to cultivate a deep interest in the religious and cultural arena. “When she asked me, I did not have an answer. I took it seriously and began teaching her the Gita. After four years of her study of the book, she lived up to what I taught her about us living in this country in a multi-cultural society and that we have to respect everybody’s faith,” he told TOI.