Ameena Ahmad Ahuja

Ameena Ahmad Ahuja was born to a British mother and Nuruddin Ahmed, a barrister and litterateur. She did her training in art at the Slade School of Art in London.[2] She is a former member of faculty of the Department of Russian at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)[2] and, besides Russian, she is proficient in languages such as Persian, German, French, Hindi and English.[1] Her career also covered stints at Columbia University as a lecturer of poetry and as an Artist-in-residence at the Harvard University and her exhibitions have been staged at many places in India[3] and abroad including Moscow, Tokyo, Venezuela, Columbia and New York.[4] She has served as the official translator during the visits of Soviet dignitaries including Alexei Kosygin, Nikolai Bulganin, Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev to India.[1]

She was married to Vishnu Ahuja, a diplomat and former ambassador to the USSR and had opportunities to visit many countries, accompanying her husband, who has since died.[1]

She is the author of the book, Calligraphy in Islam, a text in Urdu, published 2009 by Penguin India.[5]

The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2009, for her contributions to Arts.[6]

• Ameena Ahmed Ahuja (2009). Calligraphy in Islam. Penguin India. p. 120. ISBN 9780670082605.