I came to Kolkata in July 2010 for doing a three months research on Muslims in India, their identity construction/ negotiations of belonging and the question of Affirmative Action. Another researcher introduced me to Md. Alamgir, one of the founders of Tiljala Shed, and he as well as his son Shafkat and the whole team of Tiljala Shed gave me a warm welcome and helped me a lot with my research. They introduced me into Kolkata’s Muslim community, provided important contacts for interviews, accompanied me to the slums and bustees and gave me deep insights into the lifeworlds of Muslims in Kolkata as well as into the work of Tiljala Shed.
I got to know some of the employees of Tiljala Shed and can say that everybody works very hard for the betterment of the poor and disadvantaged. I highly value and appreciated the work of Tiljala Shed!
For me personally, through the close collaboration together with Md. Alamgir and Tiljala Shed I gained a lot of insights on current problems of the poor and what can be and is done to help them.
Without the help from Md. Alamgir, Shafkat, Aftab Bhai and all the others from Tiljala Shed my whole research would not have been possible and I’m extremely thankful to them!