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Sadegh Hedayat visited India and was back to Tehran in September 1937. But his exact date of arrival in India is still a mystery. However, it is confirmed that he visited many cities of incredible India like Bombay, Bangalore, Hyderabad etc. in the years 1936-37. Hedayat’s tryst with India was quite friendly and his later writings covered a great deal of depiction of that country. The stories that he had written in the post period of his visit to India consists of beautiful tapestry of Indian believes, culture, customs and tradition and his seminal work The Blind Owl can be seen as one of the finest pieces of Indo Persian literature where he made a fusion of Iranian plot with the elements of Indian customs and culture. It was the article- Hindustan Dar Aieneh-i-Buf-i-Kur, written by Dr. Syed Akhtar Husain which made the world realize that, a writer who had spent around two years  in India and infused India in his  Persian writings, ironically, remained unnoticed by the Indians. Hedayat who depicted the history and culture of India in his writings at the time when India was witnessing  the twilight of Persian literature in the sub-continent. Dr Hussain believes that Indian scholars must come forward to write  details of Hedayat’s footsteps in India in order to pay him their debt. Being a student of Indo Persian literature and of Dr. Syed Akhtar Husain, I deem it my duty to write in this article about the foot prints of Sadegh Hedayat in India through his letters and stories. This article is a result of my visit to the places where Hedayat was moving during his stay in India,  his friends and hosts in India and ups and downs he faced in the country- all has been covered in this paper along with the photographs.

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A greenhouse experiment was conducted during the growing seasons (2008/2009 and 2009/2010) to investigate the effects of water quality and soil amendments, irrigation methods and rates on tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L. cv. Red Gold) yield and water use efficiency (WUE). Irrigation management treatments were fresh (0.86 dS m-1) and saline waters (3.6 dS m-1), surface and subsurface irrigation methods, 2, 4, and 6 L h-1 irrigation rates applied at the same irrigation duration and interval, and clay deposit, organic matter, and control amendment treatments. The results showed that differences among treatments were highly significant (P< 0.05) for tomato yield and WUE. The interactions between water quality and the other three factors were highly significant (P< 0.05). Applying fresh water and clay deposit amendments in sandy soil under subsurface drip irrigation at 2 L h-1 flow rate irrigation, water saving occurred due to improving soil water distribution in root zone. On the other hand, fresh application of saline water and clay deposit or organic matter amendments in sandy soil under subsurface drip irrigation method at 6 L h-1 flow rate, reduced both high cost of water desalinization and deleterious effect of saline water. Therefore, this management practice is recommended for greenhouse tomato production.

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Xylitol is the first rare sugar that has global market due to having beneficial health properties and being an alternative to current conventional sweeteners. Biotechnological production of xylitol by Candida tropicalis DSM 7524 as an alternative to chemical method for the fermentation of xylose to xylitol was studied. Banana peel was used as a substrate for xylitol production. Hydrolysate was detoxified by neutralization, activated charcoal treatment and vacuum evaporation. Effect of pH was tested for C. tropicalis at three different levels and pH value of 2.5 was found to be the best; producing 24.7 g L^-1 xylitol. Rusks were prepared by replacing sucrose with xylitol at different levels. Physicochemical analysis of rusks at different intervals of storage i.e. 0, 10, 20 and 30 days was carried out. Hardness decreased significantly (P< 0.05) from the treatment having 100% sucrose(4,950.6 g) to 100% xylitol (3,090.3 g) upon replacing sucrose with xylitol, while fracturability value increased from 71.90 to 74.26 mm for the treatment containing 100% xylitol.Color value and water activity of rusks increased significantly with the replacement of sucrose with xylitol. The increase in moisture content and decreasing trend in other parameters with storage were observed in rusks. Xylitol has low calorific value as compared to sucrose so it can be incorporated into dietetic foods which may help in controlling sugar level in diabetic patients.

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Effect of methanolic leaf extract of Moringa oleifera for the stabilization of butter oil with modified fatty acid profile at ambient temperature was investigated. Twelve Sahiwal cows of first and early lactation were randomly stratified into two groups in a completely randomized design and fatty acid profile of milk fat was modified by feeding 300 grams calcium salts of fatty acids (per cow per day) to one group (G-1) and the second group was not fed on calcium salts of fatty acids (G-2). Concentration of long chain fatty acids (C18:1 to C18:3) in milk of G-1 was increased from 30.33±0.174b to 35.36±0.14a% as compared to G-2. Milk fat of G-1 was turned into butter oil. Moringa oleifera leaf extract (MOLE) was incorporated into butter oil (from milk of G-1) at three different concentrations: T₁= 400, T₂= 600, and T₃= 800 ppm. All these treatments were compared with a control, without any addition of MOLE. Peroxide value of T₂ in Schaal oven test (after 90 days of storage) was 5.35±0.29b as compared to control 16.64±0.42a (meq /kg). p-anisidine value and induction time (after 90 days of storage at ambient temperature) of T₂ and control were 12.45±0.63b, 28.67±1.36a (meq kg^-1) and 10.84±0.28a and 3.95±0.14b hours, respectively. It was concluded that Moringa oleifera leaf extract at 600 ppm concentration may be used for the enhancement of oxidative stability of butter oil with modified fatty acid profile at ambient temperature.

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Continuing agricultural expansion and urban development in Saudi Arabia, (located in an arid climate), together with an increased demands for more water supplies, calls for more efficient irrigation practices, and an increase in Crop Water Productivity (CWP). Throughout the present study, a deficit irrigation system was investigated for its impact on soil salinity, crop response factor (Ky), CWP, and a crop, namely cucumber’s (Cucumis sativus L.) yield. Cucumber seeds were planted in a greenhouse equipped with drip irrigation system. The crop evapotranspiration (ETc) was assessed through Pan Evaporation method (PE) and estimation based upon Penman-Monteith equation (PM). The results revealed good agreement between PE and PM ETc. The irrigation treatments consisted of four levels of ETc (40, 60, 80, and 100% of ETc) in addition to the traditional one as practiced by local farmers. At the 60 and 80% ETc treatments, the deficit irrigation was tested at different growth stages (Initial, developmental, middle, and late stages of crop growth). Each of the treatments was carried out in three replicates. The results showed that soil salinity in general increased with decreasing level of applied water. The crop cucumber could tolerate shortage of water during the middle season growth stage, when the Ky values ranged between 0.57 and 0.76. The level of water used up in 100% ETc treatment was much lower than that in the traditional drip irrigation as practiced by farmers. In other words, the CWP values increased with water consumption being decreased. The results also indicated that the highest values for CWP were found for the most stressed treatment of 40% ETc, while on the other hand the overall crop productivity had decreased.