A.M.U. not only gives you a degree but it also gives you a name (called ‘title’ in Aligarh lingo). More often than not, the new name sticks with you for the rest of life. More on A.M.U. nomenclature system sometime later, but right now I remember a very interesting anecdote about a person whose ‘title’ was (yes, you guessed it right) bakraa.
His actual name was Nafiis meaning exquisite. I don’t know how and why he was named bakraa. What I did hear was that he was not very popular among the students during his earlier stint as the Proctor. A couple of years ago he was appointed the Proctor again. He hadn’t exactly endeared himself to the students during this duration and obviously the title was still the same, bakraa. It has been the tradition of A.M.U. that high officials always offer their Eid and Bakreid prayers in the main mosque of Sir Syed Hall. Once during Bakreid prayers Nafis saahab was sitting near the Imam while he was delivering the Khutbah on the suitability of the sacrificial bakra during Bakreid. According to eye-witnesses, the Imam used the exact same words and used it forcefully and repeatedly:
qurbaanii kaa bakra to nafis hii honaa chaahiye (The sacrificial goat should be exquisite).
Needless to say, the audience was in splits and the Imam was clueless.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
That’s hilarious! We also had a bali ka bakra in class who would get blamed by us whenever something went wrong. Well one day we got caught because he wasn’t present and we still blamed him.
Glad that you like it.
I heard another version which went something like this:
There was a meat shop (I think on Medical Road) that had a banner which said “Yahaan par bakray ka nafis goasht milta hay“, and someone later changed it to “Yahan par Nafis bakray ka goasht milta hay.”
I’m not sure if either of the stories is true, but they’re both funny.
Nafis Sahab humare provost huwa karte they un dino. Rajdoot motorcycle thi unke paas.
Ek martaba unki petrol tank mein kisi ne sugar daal di…
MM Hall ke Dining Hall ke main door par hi ek roz ek bara sa poster dekha us par likha tha…Sunday ko Bakre Ki Nafees Biryani milegi.
Dodhpur mein Laddan Chai wale ke barabar ek Kabab ka stll tha wahan par ek roz dekha yeh poster
“Yehan bakre ke Nafees Kabab milte hain”.
aur subse oonchi to yeh thi ke Ziauddin Hostel ki side ki deewaar ka plaster ukhar gaya tha uski marammat huyee..cement abhi geela hi tha ke kisi ne nihayat hi khushkhati mein yeh likha “Yehan par bakra likhna mana hai.
Stories are true….I witnessed some of them as I was the resident of Ziauddin Hostel(name has been changed now) and Nafis sahab was our provost back then. He got this name as he did not have complete beard. He had few hairs on his chin. People with that kind of beard are called “bakra daarhi”. Thats how he got this nick name of “bakra”.
The acutal story of Nafiis Bakra goes like this.
During the very violent tenure of “Syed Hamid” as Vice Chancellor (1980 onwards). Dr. Nafiis Ahmad was appointed the Proctor and he was also the Provost of M.M. Hall. There was a big incident of AMU Student Union office bearers (Irfanullah Khan – Pres. Mohd. Furqaan – V.P and M.A.A. Fatmi -Secy.) getting involved in a student struggle. Irfan bhai resided in 90, Allama Shibli (earlier known as Ziauddin Hostel). His room was raided by Dr. Nafiis at the behest of Syed Hamid (VC), during this raid Irfan Bhai (though very passive) got irritated at the excesses, beat Dr. Nafiis with his Chappal and calling him adjectives and “Bakra” because his beard was like a Bakra.
Thereafter, Irfan Bhai was rusticated & this gentleman came to be known as the famous Nafiis Bakra and to this day Bakra remains. There are many stories of him thereafter.
I was in AMU during 1979 – 1984 and bear witness to the murderous atrocities committed by Syed Hamid and his sycophants in the name of discipline.