FOR ALL QAZI FANS(to be continued)

Name: Qazi Touqeer

Nick name: Rocky
Age - 20 years
Place - Srinagar

Vitals:

Birthday : June 2, 1985 (Gemini)

Place :Srinagar

Family : Dad was a lawyer, now a Sufi Saint, Mom: is a teacher, Brother : Touseef, Living in Joint family with grand parents. Uncle (Qazi Rafiq) Well known Kashmiri singer

Education: completed 12th

Interests: acting , stage shows, Body Building, Cricket, Swimming

Nature: Truthful, Honest and completely attention seeking.

Fame Jodi: 20th October, 2005

Picked for Fame Gurukul: 2nd June, 2005 (Qazi's 20th Birthday..!!)

Qazi's favorites:

1. Non-veg food: That's something He can't do without. No meal is complete without it. Tandoori chicken and shammi kababs are what He relishes.

2. Jackets: Can't leave home without one; Kashmir's weather lends itself to it. But now Qazi and jackets go together.

3. Michael Jackson and Ricky Martin: His idols for their sheer performances, while He also likes Sonu Nigam when he's on stage.

Qazi as Jodi

[img=http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/9274/qaziasjodi1li8. jpg">

Javed said it all

About Ruprekha: "Your soul is beautiful and it this beauty that shines through in your singing and your looks. You must always stay like this."

About Qazi: "You are a living example of how the tortoise won the race against the hares. You have won because of two reasons. One is your own dedication and determination and the other is the love that all the people of India have showered on you. Take all that love and distribute it in Kashmir."

He threatens to tie up his dreadlocks in a pony for that neat, slick look. He desperately wants to tone his body, since he feels he has shrunk after he stopped working out.

He finds his female fan following unbelievable. And all his bak-bak (he says) is genuine and unrehearsed

Fame Gurukul's most-noticed contestant, Qazi Touqeer, makes no qualms about the fact that, though he wants to be an actor and performer, he applied for the Sony reality show to prove to his family that he was not a good-for-nothing.

"I would never be out of bed before 10 am and didn't even know how to slice an apple. The Gurukul has changed me and my life," says Qazi as tells us his about his journey to Fame…

The mole below my eye
About six months back, I started getting this wart-like growth that resulted in a mole. Initially, I was concerned and wanted to get rid of it. I consulted a doctor but my mother told me to let it be. "Woh tumhare liye lucky hoga."
And it is. My journey to Fame Gurukul began with the mole. The application and the auditions and the final selection, all happened in the last six months. I will never have the mole removed, though I know I want to become an actor — Qazi and the mole; that's another Fame Jodi.

June 2, 2005
Too many things happened on that day. It was the day I celebrated my 20th birthday, the day I was selected to be part of Fame Gurukul. It was the day I landed in Mumbai for the first time. And the day my mole looked bigger! And the day I saw the sea for the first time. Because of Fame Gurukul, I came to Mumbai; this is going to be my home.

Sufi influence
I stay in Srinagar with my mother, who is a schoolteacher, and my father who is a lawyer. Of late, my father has been greatly influenced by Sufi thoughts. We are constantly having people over; he loves to entertain.

People have an open invitation to our home. I have a younger brother, Tauseef. My favourite chachu, Qazi Rafi (a professional singer) and his family also stay with us. The one big regret I have is that I did not learn music from him — it would have helped me in Fame.

Bachpan se hero
At any event, there are some people who hog the limelight; they are the jaan of the party. I was always one of them. Everyone would call me the hero. Nervousness is something I don't know. I enjoy myself on the stage. In Srinagar, I would always take part in the Saaz aur Awaaz concert, which was dubbed the Saaz aur Qazi concert.

Unaffected by J&K trouble
Bomb blasts, violence, kidnappings… people ask me how we stay in Kashmir? I have never been affected by the happenings there, thank god. I led a normal life and did all the things a youngster does elsewhere. I studied at the SP High School and completed my class 12 from Amar Singh College, Srinagar.

Female attention
Honestly, there is no one special in my life. Last week, we performed at a Ganesh pandal and every time I flicked my hair, the girls would scream. It was the same when I performed at the Malhar festival at St Xavier's. It's not that I am playing up to them. I am enjoying myself on stage and I want them to enjoy too.

No playback singer
Why should I? I always wanted to act and perform live. I can't bear the thought that I put so much into a song and, on screen, it is someone else singing. I will act and do playback only for myself. Or I'd rather do music videos

Sami , Qazi's Neighbour Tells us about Qazi :

Qazi had been different right from his childhood. He was witty and tried to look different. He wore long hair and performed dances in gardens and all the places he got to. Even the college senior students wouldn't allow him past the gate without a dance. He never learnt dance or singing from anyone but himself. His room had lot of mirrors and he performed there. Local guys used to make ridicule of his style but I guess they were jealous of his different looks.

Body building was another passion of Qazi and he wanted to be called a muscle-man. As far as I know him he had been very shy in childhood. He attended local school, Jamia Millia in Nawpora where his mother taught us. Like all other students I never thought he would become such a star, but honesty and his out-speaking quality is what I guess won him votes, fans and stardom.

I AM: Qazi Tauqeer

My first brush with spirituality happened when I was a young boy. My father, a lawyer, once visited Ajmer-e-Sharif and came back a changed person.

For seven months he stayed out of the house, lived on chapatti and water and searched for the Ultimate Truth. When he returned, he gave up all things material and started living a simple life. Everyday he would organise a langar at home where the poor were fed free of cost.

The practice continues till today. Soon enough, I began helping out with the langar. While other boys my age were charting out a career plan, I was busy feeding the hungry.

My father's friends began telling him I was wasting my youth. He replied that I would get what none of their sons could even dream of. I guess he has been proved right.

I have always been a dreamer. But I have also believed in the power of my dreams. I don't put my faith in lucky charms and magic spells. I think if your heart is clean, good fortune can never elude you. If you play the game honestly, you are bound to win.

If you respect others, they will respect you. If you're hardworking, nobody can stop you from getting ahead. And if you're talented, nothing can keep you down.

I am just 20 years old — I don't really have a view on the problems in Kashmir. But they do make me sad. I'm not a politician, just a singer — don't ask me for solutions to violence in my home state. I support peace — that's the only way I see out of this mess.

For me, personally, peace comes from talking to people, from joking around with my friends, from making those around me smile. My philosophy towards life is simple — I play to win. And if I don't win, I know a bigger victory awaits me elsewhere.

The importance of being Qazi

When Qazi Tauqeer was born in Srinagar, in 1986 [1985 according to Qazi], India was different. Doordarshan was the single channel on television, Kashmir was at relative peace, and we were far from the 'shining' India that was to follow some years later, at least in some privileged places, for some privileged people. In 2005, Qazi Tauqeer, a singer and performer of some ability, is the latest TV celebrity, winner of Sony TV's Fame Gurukul, in an India with no less than 70 TV channels, a steadily increasing ''shine'', and a much bruised, indeed battered, Kashmir.

One could say Qazi has grown up through a period of huge change in independent India. The spread of markets with increasing opportunities for people and a deepening of political democracy are the upsides, while an increasing disillusionment with a sometimes arbitrary and seemingly corrupt state apparatus is the downside, most brutally exposed in Kashmir.

Markets have brought with them not only a huge range of goods, services and TV channels, but also a culture of individuality, opportunity and merit, quite distinct from the more parochial culture of caste, region and religion which ran and, in some places, still runs deep in India, especially in the functioning of institutions of the state. This is no surprise. The guardians of the state are only human. And humans are fallible, which makes the state fallible. It can be exploitative rather than helpful. This is not to argue that the state should not act at all. It should. But it must be a helpful, rather than cruel guardian.

Qazi Tauqeer's success is good news for India and its people: its underlying secularism, quiet egalitarianism and democratic traditions. A Kashmiri Muslim boy from a less than privileged background received no less than 15 million votes from across India, saving him from eviction from the show 10 times and finally perching him on the winners' podium with a lucrative singing contract and a brand new car as bonus. All that mattered to the voters was his ability — not his religion, not his place of birth, not his economic status. And the voters themselves, a staggering 50 million SMS messages received by the show, at last given a chance to elect someone on merit in a transparent fashion. This was quite unlike our general elections, where religion, region, caste, economic power and a lamentable absence of merit dominate the show. Indeed, barriers to entry are so formidable that the best do not even enter the contest. But lest we damn the state completely, its role in helping Taqueer reach where he did is crucial: the introduction of cable television in Kashmir in 1998 gave Qazi and many like him a connect to the world, and opportunities outside.

Could Qazi's success send out some important lessons for India's pressing problems? India has no greater political problem than that of an estranged Kashmir. Perhaps instances like this will help integrate more Kashmiri youth into the mainstream, rather than drive them to the path of violence. Perhaps the people of Kashmir will come around to see that the people of India at large harbour warmth and goodwill for them, whatever the state may stand for. The state on its part, of late, has been trying to be more a force for the good: a free and fair election, the talk of peace and an attempted healing touch, are a start.

The achievements of Tauqeer, as well as others on television, may also show us the way forward in another pressing problem, that of missed economic opportunities. We need a move up the economic ladder as quickly as possible, for as many as possible. We need opportunities, equal and many. We need merit. And we need the state to provide the basic minimum to all: not only food and clothing but also shelter, healthcare and education, so that people are in a position to grasp the opportunities. We need the right mix of state and markets, sadly missing in India over the years, both in statist India and now in liberalised India. The churning must begin now, beginning with institutions of the state, and then, to fine tuning the role of markets in order to maximise benefits.

Lest we forget, well done, Qazi Tauqeer. May you inspire many more to follow your path to hard won success. And well done, people. Keep voting, preferably on merit. Keep yourselves empowered. You will get what you want, somewhere, and then, hopefully, everywhere.