And thus, on a sunny yet pleasant day two of the fourth Karachi Literature Festival Aslam, Kamila and Hamid sat down with Shamsie to figure out whether the subject comes first or the character sketch.

For Aslam, it’s always the subject matter – which means he starts with politics and then proceeds towards characters. In fact, he admitted that the most emotional thing for him on TV was the news. “I wanted to write on honour killings, so I wrote Maps for Lost Lovers.”

Defending the politics in his novels, the writer believed that writing was his political contribution to society. “I vote every time I write a sentence.”

Before the audience could grasp the deeper meaning of this utterance, a group of chattering girls interrupted the discussion. It was hard to tell whether they were oogling at Hamid or Aslam – since both of them were on stage, we’ll never know.

Kamila continued the discussion by admitting that the process has changed for her through her five novels. Initially, she would start with a line and then the ideas would start orbiting around it until a novel was formed.

“The political or historical is embedded in the very character,” she said, adding that if you’re writing about the 1995 summer in Karachi, you can’t talk about driving to the beach. “Anyone who was in Karachi at that time knows that was not the time you could easily drive to the beach.”

Hamid, too, considered writing a political act. To explain his writing style, he read out a quote from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: “The secret to flying is learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss it.” That is how Hamid writes his novels – drafts after drafts until the final piece.

The writers did deny that the 9/11 element in their novels was not planned. Aslam discussed the idea of the Afghanistan civil war and the consequences of the Cold War with Shamsie as early as 1992. “But at that time, I wanted to write about honour killings more,” he said. He got down to writing The Wasted Vigil years later but the idea came much before then.

Explaining his stance on political engagement in novels, Hamid started off by saying that, “It is very hard to be from a Pakistani context, and not be attacked by flies.” He quipped as a fly buzzed around. Continuing his train of thought, he said that, “It is very hard to be from a Pakistani context and avoid politics because it is obvious, frighteningly obvious, that we don’t know what the narrative of Pakistan is.”

Kamila agreed that politics is embedded in our lives to a great extent. “We have people in our families who were witnesses to historical events, so at some point these political events become part of our families’ stories.”

When Shamsie asked the panel on gender divisions in novels, Aslam glanced at Kamila, to which she asked, “Oh, I should speak? Because the word ‘gender’ has been uttered?”

“Men don’t have gender,” Hamid responded, smiling.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2013.

Some 60 writers, journalists and artists are scheduled to participate in 30 sessions on a wide range of topics at the Alhamra Arts Centre on The Mall on February 23 and February 24.

“The festival is long belated,” says Razi Ahmed, the founding director of the LLF. “Lahore is a natural site for culture, and we hope the festival captures the rich, vibrant and pluralistic culture of the city. We want to create a platform where arts of all forms can be celebrated.”

He said that over the years, he had heard the idea being discussed at many social gatherings. So Ahmed and a group of “like-minded and dedicated people” came together to finally execute the idea.

They have assembled a star-studded cast for the event. The speakers include literary giants such as Intezar Hussain, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Ataul Haq Qasmi, Afzal Ahmed Syed, Bapsi Sidhwa and William Dalrymple, as well as young authors like Mohammed Hanif, Musharraf Ali Farooqi, Mohsin Hamid, Daniyal Mueenuddin, Moni Mohsin, Nadeem Aslam and HM Naqvi. Journalists Owen Bennett Jones, Omar Waraich, Lyse Doucet, Ahmed Rashid, Declan Walsh and Khaled Ahmed will be participating in panels.

They will take on topics ranging from politics and cinema to English and Urdu poetry. Parallel sessions will be held from 9:30am to 5:30pm on both days in various halls at Alhamra. Alongside the literary sessions, there will be music, exhibitions and food available. Some 100 volunteers, including students, are to help inform and guide visitors.

Nusrat Jamil, a member of the advisory committee for the festival, says the rich literary offerings are not just for the people of Lahore, but also for those of nearby towns and cities. Having been involved with organising for several months, she says her excitement as the festival actually approaches is growing. “It is just an amazing experience to bring to Lahore what in fact comes very natural to it   literature,” she says.

The city and provincial governments have been helpful, offering the venue, security and advertising space on banners and posters. “They have been very much on board and supportive throughout,” Jamil says.

The festival will be a public affair, meaning entry will be free of charge. However, space is limited and the audience will be accommodated on a first-come, first-served basis, says Ahmed. There will be special arrangements for the elderly and the disabled. As a public event, the festival should generate a wider sense of ownership, he adds.

Like the Karachi Literary Festival, now into its fourth year, the organisers hope the Lahore event will become an annual fixture, with the help of the government and independent groups.

Jamil says that apart from the glamour of watching and hearing literary superstars, there is a need to focus on the basic aim of the festival. “Unfortunately, people have lost the culture of reading and appreciating literature,” she says. The festival should help, but a wider change will require much more. “The greatest of monetary and other investment should be made in literature, arts and culture,” she adds.

The board of directors for the festival includes Hameed Haroon, Nayyar Ali Dada, Fasih Ahmed and Iqbal Ahmed, while the advisory committee consists of Aysha Raja, Mohsin Hamid, Muneeza Shamsie, Salima Hashmi, Ali Dayan Hasan and Nusrat Jamil.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2013.

Speaking at an event titled “How to get filthy rich in rising Asia: In Conversation with Mohsin Hamid” on the second day of the fourth Karachi Literature Festival, Mohsin Hamid and HM Naqvi turned what was supposed to have been a conversation about Hamid’s upcoming novel into a conversation between two novelists about literature, their own personal views on it and the way they practise their craft.

Perhaps it is fitting that the talk was so unexpected, because it appears that the novel itself is little like what its title promises. Hamid himself calls it “a book that pretends to be a self-help book”, and its first few lines borrow a routine from stand-up comedians to mock the very notion of a self-help book. (Only an excerpt of the first chapter was available at the festival: the book is due to be launched next month.)

Naqvi opened the conversation by asking Hamid about his unique narrative style. In the case of “How to get filthy rich in rising Asia” for instance, Hamid employs the tone of a narrator who is addressing the reader as if they were the protagonist, describing the story in an ever-so-mildly sardonic tone. Hamid revealed that he arrives at the final shape of his novels by simply trying to tell a story and then missing, going through several drafts before he arrives at the narrative structure that readers eventually see.

“I have always been fascinated by an aesthetic of leanness,” said Hamid. “And I have always been fascinated by architecture, the structure of a story, particularly modernist novel architecture.”

In some ways, more interesting about the book and talk was what was not said. The book, for instance, contains no names of places – or even characters, it seems. And the conversation contained no talk of a stereotypical, “Slumdog Millionaire”-style, rags-to-riches story.

“The story is about a place that may very well be like Lahore, but it will never say,” said Hamid. “I did not want to use brand names because I wanted the reader to be free to come up with their own perceptions of it. I think novels are much closer to video games than they are to movies because the reader has a much more active role to play in it.”

Then came a somewhat amusing reminiscence on the part of Hamid of having grown up with “choose your own adventure” books and having played “Dungeons and Dragons” (a role-playing board game), which he attributed to having influenced his thought process about what narratives and stories should be.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2013.

She often appears in textbooks, with an almighty sword raised aloft as the flames of war devour the world around her. But when you mention the equally valiant and intelligent Hazrat Begum Mahal, who for nine months resisted the colonisers’ bid to take over Awadh, most people just scratch their heads. The begum, who was one of the wives of Awadh’s ruler, Wajid Ali Shah, was not intimidated by the colonial rulers’ firepower. Her husband was exiled to Calcutta when the British annexed Awadh (in present-day Uttar Pradesh) in 1856. Begum Mahal did not budge though – she tried to keep the British at bay.

On day three of the fourth Karachi Literature Festival, however, the valiant lady who somehow slipped into obscurity drew quite a lot of attention. Journalist and writer Kenize Mourad, who has written a rich narrative on the life of Begum Mahal titled ‘In the City of Gold and Silver’, read excerpts from her work.

To say that the Society Suite at the Beach Luxury Hotel was packed more tightly than a wad of paan in a jowl wouldn’t be an exaggeration – there were far fewer seats than people. But even the elderly easing into the room cautiously on crutches didn’t seem to mind standing for a good half an hour as they listened to Mourad wax lyrical about Begum Mahal’s bold resistance to British rule. So packed was the room that one rotund gentleman even tried to hold his stomach in before muttering “this is insane” and snaking his way to the door through the sea of people.

“I couldn’t believe that there wasn’t much written about this extraordinary lady,” said Mourad. She was drawn to Begum Mahal after one of the brave lady’s counsels came to her in the 70s and recounted tales from the past. “I then searched for her in the libraries of Oxford and Cambridge, but I couldn’t come across much material.”

It was then that she decided to travel back to Lucknow and meticulously collect accounts from families known to have resisted British rule. She pored over documented correspondence between Begum Mahal and other rebels. What emerged was a spectacular account of a begum who shed her veil, abandoned opulence and thundered into battle on an elephant with her army during the War of Independence in 1857.

“Begum Mahal was only 24 years old when she said that she was ready to put up a fight against the British,” said Mourad. “After the colonial powers took over Awadh, Begum Mahal fled on horse but still organised hit-and-run attacks on the British.” After the revolt petered out, Begum Mahal fled to Nepal where she died.

But why was the life of this extraordinary woman not documented the same way as that of the Rani of Jhansi? Mourad has one theory. “I think it has to do with Partition. At that time, nobody in India would want to pay tribute to a brave Muslim lady who went out of ‘pardah’ (veil) to fight the British.”

But the people attending the Karachi Literature Festival just couldn’t seem to get enough of her. When scholar Aliya-Iqbal Naqvi, who moderated the session, told the audience that Mourad’s book had been sold out and that people would have to place orders outside, there was a sudden rush for the door, even though one more writer was in line to speak about her book.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2013.

“The story is about a place that may very well be like Lahore, but it will never say so,” said Hamid at Karachi Literature Festival earlier this month, where the unofficial launch of the book took place. “I did not want to use brand names because I wanted the reader to be free to come up with their own perceptions of it.”

The story follows the template of the life of a young boy from rural poverty to considerable wealth and then to death. Each chapter follows a phase in his life and the character is seen as a vehicle for the reader who learns about how to get rich.

“I don’t think there is more of a drive to get rich in South Asia as there is for quicker change. There is a lot of insecurity, so there is this brutal upward and out sentiment,” explains Hamid. “It’s an environment in which everyone is obsessed with money.”

The idea for the book dawned on Hamid when he was at a party in New York with a friend, an editor at a literary magazine, as they laughed about the difficulties of literature. “We joked about how hard writing literary fiction can be and I told him that my next novel will be about self-help,” says Hamid. “The more I thought about it, the more I explored the idea. Fiction is kind of like self-help.”

Like his other novels, Hamid uses a different narrative voice and writes How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia in second person. “I never want to do a book twice; so each time when I try to write differently, I don’t know what I am doing and I struggle for years,” explains Hamid.

The Princeton graduate’s first novel, Moth Smoke, published in 2001, was an instant hit. It tells a story about an ex-banker living in post-nuclear test Lahore who falls in love with his best friend’s wife and turns to heroin abuse. The book has been tabbed to be adapted for screens by Indian director Rahul Bose.

“They will hopefully start filming this year,” says Hamid. “It was supposed to start in fall, but then was delayed.”

In 2007, he published his second novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which is about a Pakistani man who leaves his successful career in the US after a tragically failed relationship and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The book has become an international best-seller and has also been adapted by film-maker Mira Nair for a Hollywood film of the same name.

“Some people say that my books are filmic and that you can easily see a movie in them; but they are not structured like films,” says Hamid. “The story may be cinematic, but the actual novel is not. To excavate a cinematic story out of The Reluctant Fundamentalist was tricky. It required several different screenwriters and a few years to get a working screenplay out of it.” Since he typically uses different forms of narration, the process becomes challenging.

While he is confident in experimenting with different forms of writing, Hamid is also unafraid to voice his political opinions. “I think politics is hitting us over our heads in Pakistan,” he says. “Even if you don’t do anything, you will have to take the hit on the hand; and most people I know do something, but I see that as being a citizen [Pakistani].”

Hamid also explains how he wants his readers to perceive his books. “The writing itself is separate from activism,” he says. “I don’t want my books to be instruction manuals telling readers that this is how you should act or this is what you should believe.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2013.

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KARACHI: Like his prose, historian William Dalrymple’s speaking skills are spellbinding. On Monday, the people who attended the launch of his latest book ‘Return of a King’ at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture seemed to be in a trance as he spoke for well over an hour.

The book, which is about the first British invasion of Afghanistan, gets its title from Shah Shuja, an Afghan king who the British brought back to the throne. It is the last of a trilogy about the East India Company – the first two books in the series being ‘The White Mughal’ and ‘The Last Mughal’.

“The book is about the failure of around 20,000 troops of the British and East India Company as they marched into Afghanistan in 1839,” said Dalrymple.

Just three years later, out of thousands of troops, only one man, Sir Brighton, survived. “He survived because he always carried a literary magazine which would sheild him from swords. Always carry a literary magazine with you,” quipped Dalrymple.

He then went on to paint a humorous account of the army to a giggling audience. “They had 30,000 camels – 30 to carry wine and 10 for cigars. They had everything, but they didn’t have a proper map. They had no idea where they were going,” said Dalrymple.

“British intelligence was as clued-up then as it is today. Once the British got in, they were confident that they had easily occupied Afghanistan…similar to how [Tony] Blair and [George] Bush felt.”

The British didn’t build fortresses around their camps and they did not know how to survive in the cold weather.

The nail in the coffin was when they started chasing after Afghan women, chuckled Dalrymple. Alexander Burnes, the troop’s intelligence officer, got intimate with a girl working for the nobles of the Afghan court, and this greatly upset them.

Dalrymple said favourite line in the book is when the Afghans say, “We have to put a stop right here otherwise these [troops] will ride the donkey of their desires into the field of stupidity.”

As people queued up for the book signing session, Dalrymple said his next book would be on art and culture.

Gazing at the crystal ball

“I don’t know contemporary Afghanistan better than I know the 19th century Afghanistan,” said the author. But he did share his views of what he thinks will happen when the US pulls its troops out from Afghanistan in 2014. “There will be decentralisation. The situation would be similar to the Indo-Pak proxy war. In the worst case scenario, Afghanistan could be like a second Kashmir.”

He said there is no reason why Afghanistan has to be a war zone, adding that countries should stop spending their resources on training Afghan soldiers and fighting their wars. “Afghanistan has never paid for its own army or for their conquests.”

He added that when he went to Afghanistan for research, the tribesmen told him that the foreigners enter the country for their own interests.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2013.

In a telephonic interview, the writer spoke to The Express Tribune about his recent trip to Pakistan and revealed his patriotic side. He moved to England with his family when he was 14.

“Even when I’m in England, Pakistan is home to me — when I think of birds, it has to be bulbuls and not any western birds,” he says, with a sudden brightness in his voice. “Jasmine, motia and gulmohars are what I relate to when it comes to flowers.” The author admits he is very patriotic. “I sleep a lot better and deeper when I’m here — that has got everything to do with my coming back to Pakistan today.”

Aslam admits that the Pakistan he left behind and the one he came to witness today is interestingly different; it’s been almost 20 years since he last stepped foot on Pakistani soil. “Well if Pakistan changed in my absence, then I changed too — I’m an adult now and when I left the country, I was a child,” he says.

“With all these years behind me, I really wanted to come back to Pakistan and at the Karachi Literature Festival (KLF), when someone in the audience asked me what made me come back, I was dumbfounded,” says Aslam, stating that his entire immediate family is based in England. “I had no answer — I had never really thought about it.”

The realities of life

Aslam’s writings capture the essence of love and loss; when asked how closely he experienced these two things in life, he says, “Faiz [Faiz Ahmed Faiz] once advised the young, ‘mohabbat karo’; it’s not always about romantic love, love is of various kinds.” He feels a relationship should not be based on hatred for the other.

“And loss is one of those challenges in life that we will have to face; something we hope will just go away,” he continues, adding that we hope that somehow the loss is undone. “The ultimate hope we have in this dark hour is to appreciate that person more — it’s a great struggle to get over the loss.” He admits that time heals nothing.

Aslam feels the Pakistani society can only change if we make a conscious effort. “It’s wrong to say that Pakistan is a failed state — how many times have we tried to make it better?” Aslam asks. “Not 10, 20, 50 or even a 100 times; but yes, if you have tried at least a thousand times, then say Pakistan is a failed state and then I might agree.” He adds, “But before that, do show me what you did to make things change.”

In an interview with The Express Tribune earlier this month, Aslam had emphasised that had he been in Pakistan, he wouldn’t have been a writer. When asked to elaborate on this statement, he says, “Every street in Pakistan has produced a poet; some have produced writers. But these are special people who are weak [need support].” He feels he is a “weak person” and believes it depends on the state to make something of these weak people and support them in their careers. “I am not bashing Pakistan here, but I feel people have a responsibility to make sure these things are fixed,” he adds.

Aslam has 11 novels on his current agenda and all would be based in the city of Heer — the name he uses for Pakistan. “Heer is a legend almost 400 years old — she was rebellious to the core,” he says, intrigued with the idea. “While some consider her a hero, others consider her tribe [Jhang] a symbol of shame as this eventually led to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi — a militant organisation.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2013.

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NYPD Detective John Tallow has had a really tough day. His partner just had his brains blown out by a naked stranger with a shotgun who Tallow then had to shoot down. As if that isn’t bad enough, he’s just discovered an apartment full of guns — mounted on every available surface like a mad man’s abacus.

Each gun turns out to be connected to an unsolved homicide spreading as far back as twenty years. Each gun appears to have been specifically chosen for its victim. Each gun has been used to kill just one person. Each gun is an artifact, a piece of code, of information forming the whorls of an insane killer’s thought process, ‘rippling patterns of gunmetal, from floor to ceiling’.

As intriguing as this apartment full of guns seems, it is a huge Pandora’s Box for Tallow, who is forced to deal with the consequences alone, in a department of under-staffed police officers. Tallow forces himself out of the ennui that has shadowed most of his professional life and throws himself into finding the man who is responsible for hundreds of seemingly unconnected deaths. With guns that have been stolen from police evidence storage facilities and even the gun used by the notorious Son of Sam, the case gets deeper and more complicated with every new piece of information Tallow unearths.

Tallow is helped by two trusty sidekicks — a pair of Crime Scene Unit officers who provide much of the comic relief in Ellis’ dark, cynical look at America’s aggressive gun culture. The incongruity of the violence posed against the flippancy of two uber-smart and socially awkward CSUs raises Gun Machine well above regular ‘serious’ crime fiction. Of course, that this is written by Warren Ellis is perhaps enough in itself to make it significantly better than standard police procedural books.

Gun Machine’s anonymous villain is known only as ‘the Hunter’ — a perfect example of how Ellis sharpens his characters down to one perfectly defining aspect.  It helps Ellis maintain his relentless edge, the narrative aggressively rhythmic, and all dialogue quick fire and whip-smart.

While this is an incredibly entertaining, smart book, it is all flash and very little flesh. The actual plot is a little tenuous, and it is a little absurd how easily Tallow seems to put everything together, like a savant detective whose incredibly convenient epiphanies and experiences allow him to connect a string of incredibly convenient coincidences. It’s all of course entirely implausible but in the end, what does it matter? Gun Machine is glorious pulpy entertainment at its very best.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, March 3^rd, 2013.

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KARACHI: Amar Sindhu represents the voice of oppressed Sindhi women who are kept in cell-like houses.

At a book launch for her book ‘Ojageel Akhyan Ja Sapna’ [Jagti Ankhon ke Sapne, Dreams With Open Eyes] at Karachi Arts Council on Sunday evening, Sindhu’s colleague, poet Masroor Pirzado appreciated how she encourages women to come out of their homes and help make a different society.

Several Sindhi writers, poets and literary persons participated and appreciated her work. Though Sindhu has been writing for years for different newspapers, this is her first book, which has been published by Auratzaad.

“Everyone has to play his/her own role and I am satisfied that I do whatever I want to do,” Sindhu told The Express Tribune. “I have three things on priority – romance, revolution and resistance.”

One of the top feminists in Sindh, Sindhu talked about the rights of Sindhi women, insisting that all women should have equal rights. “They must be given freedom and equal opportunities. I stand with this gender, which is being neglected and ignored for thousands of years.”

Sindhu hopes that the coming generations will have what their ancestors were deprived of. “This generation is lucky enough to be able to give true dreams a reality,” she said.

Writer Fehmida Riaz also appreciated Sindhu’s poetry, which is written in Sindhi and translated into Urdu. Sindhu’s poetry is a hope for the youth, she said, adding that her recent work depicted her extraordinary personality.

Women like Sindhu, who raise voices, are rarely born, said writer Zahida Hina. “Her poetry shows how she keeps resistance and revolutionary thoughts alive.”

Pirzado admitted that Sindhu was a rebellious voice, and that her message is being conveyed to women and men alike not only through her poetry but her writings as well.

Tanveer Anjum, Attiya Dawood, Rukhsana Preet Chunnar and Arfana Mallah also spoke at the launch, while Suhae Abro, a female folk dancer, also performed on the song sung by Aksa Bhutto.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2013.

For many of us thus, it would be highly fitting to know that a stream of research coming from the psychology departments in York University and University of Toronto in Canada is evidencing that fiction-reading leads to one being more empathising and socially intelligent.

How come?

One of the two principal figures leading this research is psychologist Keith Oatley (University of Toronto.) His main argument, found in a sequence of articles he wrote for the Greater Good Science Center at Berkeley University, A Feeling for Fiction and Changing our Minds, is that reading fiction develops in one the ability to construct a map of the thoughts and feelings that are occurring in the minds of other people. This is what developmental psychologists refer to as ‘theory of mind.’

When one identifies with the emotions that are materialising in another person, it is called empathy, one of the core aspects of emotional intelligence. According to Oatley, fiction – and in particular narrative – is an exercise in empathy. In reading narrative, we join ourselves emotionally with the protagonist, in a manner experiencing his or her emotions as they navigate through the struggles in their lives. The overarching importance is in the fact that we, the reader, get to view situations from the articulated points-of-view of others.

Additionally, we lend ourselves to situations we have never yet experienced, understand the ways of people completely peculiar to us, and thus begin to acquire familiarity with such novelties that we may later face in life; novelties we would otherwise be helpless to understand except through one awkward effort at a time, usually exposing us to great friction with the unfamiliar environment first.

In other words, reading provides us with: “the ability to sensitise…to the emotions of other people, transcending the limits of our own experiences and perspective” (Oatley.)

Oatley also refers to a range of philosophies that speak of virtues of reading that augment his findings. The primary case, coming from both Indian philosophy and Western tradition, is that fiction allows us to immerse ourselves in a setting and appraise the circumstances therein, as well as the feelings of the characters involved and their social implications, without the self-interested and pre-meditated frame of mind that one would have in real life. Oatley refers to Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments, in which Smith extols reading for its ability to make one an “impartial spectator” in other people’s lives. As such, in reading, we view the injustices that we commit, or are victims or witnesses to, in a new light – one that is free of the self-preservation biases that exist when these experiences happen to us in reality.

The test

So with all the thunder surrounding fiction’s ability to engage the ‘theory of mind’, the hypothesis was finally put to the test. Studies confirmed that fiction readers have better social abilities – they score substantially better on tests involving gauging other people’s emotions from photographs and also do somewhat better at drawing conclusions about others’ lives after watching them interact.

So while Oatley has brought exhaustive detail to the matter, the central theme remains quite straightforward: fiction is about the challenges that individuals face as they navigate through the social world. As such, reading fiction gives one expertise in identifying with the struggles that manifest in the lives of others.

For those of us who are game, that has the most profound richness for our interactions with our family, friends and co-workers and fellow citizens.

The author is the head of Scholars by Profession, a local research-initiative. Find out more at www.facebook.com/scholarsbyprofession

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2013.                

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The launch at the Avari hotel on Sunday was delayed by 30-minutes as roads leading to the venue had been blocked by police due to protest demonstrations over Saturday’s incidents in Badami Bagh.

The attendance was low. Nadia Jamil read excerpts from Sidhwa’s recent collection of short stories, Their Language of Love. The 20-minute recital left the audience mesmerised. The stories described the emotional agony of Partition and its consequences for people, especially women.

This was followed by two readings from the Junglewallah Sahab translated by Dr Muhammad Umar Memon, Professor Emeritus of Urdu Literature and Arabic Studies at the University of Wisconsin.

Jamil asked the panelists if they believed silencing of minority voices would continue in Pakistan.

Journalist Khaled Ahmed said while it was impossible to predict the future, there was a growing aggression in the society. “There is a strange views deep-rooted in the Muslim mentality that the stricter a religion the better it is,” he said. “Historically, Muslims have always produced great scholars when oppressed, a trait which they abandoned once they came into power. And when they [Muslims] move towards democracy, they become aggressive,” he said.

Justice (retd) Javid Iqbal suggested that the religious intolerance could be countered only by a deeper knowledge of various religions. He said that with commonalities amongst religions often sidelined, people were ignorant when it came to understanding different religions and their values. “Minorities today are intentionally made to feel insecure and abandoned,” he said.

He noted that religious practices needed to be understood to move the society towards a harmonious state. Ironically, he said, when Sidhwa’s book The Crow Eaters came out, there was a growing resentment from within her own community  the Parsis  which was annoyed at her for writing a satirical account of their lives.

Expressing his disappointment at not being invited to the Lahore Literary Festival, writer Mustansar Hussain Tarar regretted that the organisers had failed to invite authors of the “cursed and despised” Urdu language. Tarar read a small English essay on Sidhwa in which he admitted that one of the greatest blunders in his writing career was not agreeing to translate The Crow Eaters. “Had I translated it, I would have been part of the international glory,” he said. Calling Sidhwa a “daughter of the city [Lahore]”, Tarar said she would forever live in the hearts of people on account of her work.

Writer Intezar Hussain said that with the translation, Junglewallah Sahab, the Parsi traditions which Sidhwa had narrated in The Crow Eaters would be available in Urdu. He said Urdu literature had accounts of different religious traditions and values, through fiction and otherwise. He said there was a great need to continue the practice.

Walking down the memory lane, writer Bano Qudsia narrated her first meeting with Sidhwa in the 1980s when publishers were hesitant to publish The Crow Eaters. The first account of Qudsia’s meeting with Sidhwa left the hall echoing with laughter but Sidhwa in tears. “Bapsi’s writings are rich with the beauty and fragrance of all that is Pakistan,” Qudsia said.

The evening ended with Sidhwa briefly commenting on the recent events in Lahore. “There is reason for not smiling today…what has happened in Badami Bagh. If there is anything that can stop me smiling, it is such unfortunate events,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2013.

KARACHI: Here’s a tongue twister for you: Nine years of success celebrated with nine photographers on March 9. Got it? Good.

Upon completing nine years of her brand Kiran Fine Jewellery (KFJ), jewellery designer Kiran Aman celebrated her success in an unconventional manner; she asked nine extraordinary female photographers to exhibit their work and compiled it in a book Kam Sukhan — a must-add to the coffee table collection.

Launched on Saturday, March 9 at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecure and distributed free of charge, Kam Sukhan is an arrangement of nine photographers’ images and stories behind them.

The theme of Kiran’s work, the book and the celebration was the essence of women. “From her inhibitions, struggles, and fears, you’ll learn of patience, forbearance and resolve; and in time you will find that her spirit, ever-daunted, is a pearl made of steel,” said Kiran.

She designs jewellery pieces calling them “extensions of her” and works only in gold as its strength, warmth and malleability are authentic representations of the women who wear her brand.

The dexterous clickers were each given a white, diagonal wall to showcase their images and a chance to speak about their work. While each lady had her own style, some that stood out were mirror, cloth and canvas printing; projections, reflections and papers were also used; and every single photograph was excellent in its own way.

The team of Kam Sukhan welcomed guests and directed them to the temp photo gallery bustling with people, including celebrities like Mahira Khan, Feeha Jamshed, Nida Azwer, Misha Lakhani, Maheen Khan, Tofiq Pasha, Adnan Pardesy and Amean J.

Every once in a while, a server offered hors d’oeuvres and cinnamon iced-tea, and an apology for the delay was announced. The guest of honour, model-actor Aamina Sheikh also appreciated the photography of each woman. She spoke in length about womanhood and how the work displayed in Kam Sukhan captures the beauty of women. “To me, this [Kam Sukhan] was an awakening; I felt that the fate of womanhood and this planet is one, also because it is the woman who channelises life on earth,” said Aamina.

Farah Mahbub (Khaamoshi Sunn) :

”It took me seven months and I got to meet people and students in a different light. She describes her collection as the sound of silence: esoteric, intimidating and perfect.

Lali Khalid (With each of us inside me) :

”Lali explains her collection: “Building a language from expressions, emotions and moments, my photographs are a reflection of my inner personal qualities.

Shalalae Jamil (Big time sensuality: Women and the camera) :

”She describes her work as: “A rumination of how the female body or face projects itself towards the camera, each image creates its own [potential] narrative.

Qurat-ul-ain Khalid (Ummeed-e-Subh) :

”People weren’t just looking at the photos and liking the ‘pretty’ images. They were interested in the thought behind those images which covers the purpose of the event.

Mahwish Rizvi (Constant bad faith) :

”My experience was surreal. The exhibition space was brilliantly designed — I was the youngest amongst all nine; but Kiran Aman had faith in me.

Insiya Syed (Unabridged and unpublished) :

”The experience of being a part of this project was personal for me — from observing my grandmother really closely and trying to make sense of the dynamics of her relationship with my father.

Nazia Akram (Compass) :

”It was my first exhibition and book launch in Pakistan. The exposure was great, and the event was well organised. Every woman’s work was different from the others; it had individuality even though it was the same theme.

Adeela Badshah (Ghunghat) :

”I was a part of the project from inception as project manager and one of the photographers. The night of the event felt magical and full of incredible positive energy. All of the photographers were unique and each talked about a different aspect of the subject matter.

Khaula Jamil (Shana Bashana) :

”Every woman in my pictures has a story of love, dedication, inspiration and resilience. They smile and bid you a good day, working in careers which, until a few years ago, were unheard of for women to pursue.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2013.

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Love is a many splendoured thing, the poets tell us. But is it flexible enough to withstand the critical scrutiny of analytic philosophy?
Irving Singer does just that. Or did — he initially found that the linguistic nit-picking of modern philosophical method produced chapters that were “just dreary and unproductive of anything”. Perhaps this may be why most analytic philosophers today leave the subject to film-makers, poets, composers, dramatists, novelists, and visual artists to explore instead.

What Singer does is look at historical developments in the conceptualization of love in literature, and in older philosophical writings where the topic was deemed worthy of discussion. From this, he distills his own insights, losing neither rigour, nor engaging in useless hair-splitting or jargon-laden sophistry.

This short book is a sort of summary of his large three volume opus on the topic: The Nature of Love. So why is this a “partial summing-up”? Not having read his other works, I can’t quite say why, other than assume that there may be some details left out.

Singer explores the concept of romantic love as a recent idea and theological issues of transcendence versus immanence. He discusses the historical emergence of medieval courtly love, the 19th century romantics, modern approaches from Freud to Sartre, and political, existential, creative, and scientific issues that the investigation of love involves.

What emerges from all this is Singer’s summary of his own philosophical vision in general—a modern naturalist and a pluralist who respects human individuality, integrity, and diversity, and who is not an idealist in the traditional sense. Nonetheless, it’s clear how much he respects the traditional paragons of the discipline, especially Plato, for their contributions to thought and civilization. He is also convinced that while there is not a single answer to bigger questions related to human nature such as the nature of love, we can nevertheless make ever finer distinctions and do much to clarify, rather than obfuscate.

Truly, Singer demonstrates that we can engage in an intelligent inquiry into any subject — including something so hopelessly messy and emotion-laden as love — and come out with useful insights that help us get a handle on it.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, March 10^th, 2013.

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NEW DEHLI: A Pakistani writer Shazaf Fatima Haider recently launched her debut novel in India named ‘How it Happened’, with the central idea of arranged marriages.

Shazaf, a 30 year old teacher from Karachi, wrote about the funny side of arranged marriages and how the various cultural backgrounds in Pakistan add more humour to the phenomenon. The genre of the book is satire and humour.

The story revolves around the ‘Bandian’ family where ‘dadi’ (grandmother) the protagonist is searching for a Shia Muslim groom for her granddaughter Zeba. The author has put herself in the shoes of Zeba’s younger sibling Saleha.

“I grew up listening to stories of my mother’s home town in India and so the fictional town of ‘Bhakuraj’ was born as this vital, bizarre place full of eccentric people,” Shazaf explained during her interview to Reuters.

As Shazaf’s grandparents had passed away before she was born, she yearned to have agrandmother who cared for her as much as ‘dadi’ did for Zeba. Hence, the character of grandmother came to life. The author told that the Bandian family is unlike her actual family in every way.

Shazaf didn’t feel the need to carry out any research as she had encountered quite a few interesting ‘arranged marriage proposals’ herself.

In reply to a question regarding sectarian violence she answered, “Never make the mistake that what is happening on the political scene is a representative of what the ordinary citizen thinks or wants – people desire unity, peace and stability, not violence and bloodshed.”

Shazaf has started work on her second novel and her words of wisdom for upcoming writers is that don’t ‘reject your own work’ and show your work to ‘that one person whose opinion you trust’.

HONG KONG: Pakistani writer Musharraf Ali Farooqi was nominated for Asia’s top literary prize with his book “Between Clay and Dust” but failed to win.

Farooqi’s book “Between Clay and Dust”, his debut novel, was among five books shortlisted for the $30,000 Man Asian Literary Prize, with entries across the region from Turkey to Japan.

The winner was author Tan Twan Eng with “The Garden of Evening Mists”, a novel set during the aftermath of the Japanese occupation of Malaysia.

It is the second time the prize has been won by a novel originally written in English. All previous winners, except Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco (2008), won as English translations.

Last year’s winner was South Korean author Kyung-Sook Shin for her novel “Please Look After Mom” that has gone on to sell more than two million copies.

Born in 1968 in Hyderabad, Farooqi is an author, novelist and translator who divides his time between Toronto and Karachi and has published both adult and children’s fiction.

The 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize shortlist

- “Between Clay and Dust” – Musharraf Ali Farooqi (Pakistan)

- “The Briefcase” – Hiromi Kawakami (Japan)

- “Silent House” – Orhan Pamuk (Turkey)

- “The Garden of Evening Mists” – Tan Twan Eng (Malaysia)

- “Narcopolis” – Jeet Thayil (India)

“Breath of Death”, is a medical thriller by Shafqat, who co-wrote cricketer Javed Miandad’s autobiography that was published in 2003.

Narrating the story, Shafqat, who is also a neurosurgeon and cricket enthusiast, drew inspiration from his medical background as well as the growing militancy and terrorism within Pakistani society.

Going by PD James saying that all the fiction is largely autobiographical, Shafqat’s characters also emerged from his real-life experiences of life at a hospital, meetings and discussions with colleagues and dealing with illnesses related to the brain and the nervous system.

“That makes the happenings in my novel very much believable and for that reason potentially terrifying,” said Shafqat, as he explained that the country, at present, had only experienced the form of terrorism that is confined to bullets, grenades and bomb blasts. “There is, however, a chemical and biological dimension of warfare and weaponry that we have never experienced in incidents of terrorism,” he said. “Aur Allah kare kabhi na aye [God forbid it may never come].”

Nevertheless, Shafqat presented a possibility of the latter form of terrorism. The plot was set in Karachi, featuring regular work days at a certain “Avicenna University Hospital” until things went petrifying with the arrival of a number of unusual brain infection cases.

The subsequent build-up, based on the investigations by a neurologist, who teams-up with a group of bright medical students, promises enough twists, turns and atmosphere to keep even hardcore thriller connoisseurs intrigued.

An avid fan of Pakistani English fiction writers, Shafqat received inspiration from the works of Mohammed Hanif, Kamila Shamsie, Daniyal Mueenuddin and HM Naqvi. He has been writing stories and articles since he was a child and had been motivated by his school teacher, Ashfaq Hussain, at Habib Public School. “You could write exceptionally well but since you have made up the mind to pursue medicine, going about writing will be of no use,” Hussain once remarked and these words stuck to the student’s heart.

Shafqat managed to save his writing flair despite his long medical career – from being in the inaugural batch of Aga Khan University in 1984, to obtaining a doctorate in neuroscience from North Carolina’s Duke University, followed by a residency and fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

In the late summer of 2000, Saad returned home to Karachi in what he described as a “visceral urge” and was appointed assistant professor of neurology at AKU. His obsession with cricket revitalised the flair for writing as he started contributing a regular column to Dawn and to the ESPN website Cricinfo.

Around three years later, a mutual friend got him in touch with Javed Miandad and that turned out to be a significant break in his life. “The experience of co-authoring the biography was a breakthrough that gave me the encouragement that I can produce something, which would be on a par with contemporary fiction.”

It was a feeling of “restlessness” that led him again to the path of fiction writing. “You feel that you just want to express yourself and want to be heard,” he said. And when it came to writing a medical thriller, the feeling was no different. “I felt like I wanted to tell a story, the way I really enjoyed narrating anecdotes and stories to my friends.”

The first shipment that arrived at Liberty Books was sold out and Shafqat now awaits the second shipment from Chlorophyll, a New Delhi-based publishing house that launched the book in India. Shafqat has planned a formal launch for his novel at the T2F on March 30.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2013.

KARACHI: Renowned late barrister, Azizullah Shaikh, who rubbed shoulders with Pakistan’s top political leaders, including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, was unable to pen down his experiences during his life. But almost six years after his passing, his daughter Naseem Islam, succeeded in narrating Shaikh’s stories through a book.

The book, Story Untold: From Bhutto to Benazir, which was compiled and edited by Humair Ishtiaq, was launched at the Karachi Arts Council on Monday.

Justice (Retd) Majida Rizvi, who was Shaikh’s student at the SM Law College and later worked as a lawyer during the time Shaikh was a judge of the Sindh High Court, believed that such committed people are a rare breed in the country. “He was an interesting person and dedicated to his profession.” She called the book ‘historical’, saying her mentor had elaborated facts precisely.

Seasoned politician Sardar Sherbaz Khan Mazari, who was the chief guest at the event and only spoke a few words due to his ailment, said that the country deserved good people like Shaikh. “He was honest and one of the good ones,” he said.

Dr Jaffar Ahmed of the Karachi University opined that education institutes in the country have stopped producing politically aware people. “We have political leaders with foreign degrees but who lack political wisdom,” he said. “Books of serious nature on political history are seldom written. Shaikh’s book is an addition to the political history of Pakistan.”

Ishtiaq, while analysing different chapters of the books, discussed the author’s experiences during different political governments and dictatorships. According to him, the late barrister was a secular and liberal person and dreamt of a democratic Pakistan.

Shaikh, who belonged to Sukkur, got married to an Italian girl, Adriana Raimendo, but no one from his family could speak Sindhi. “My mother always insisted that my father speak to us [his children] in Sindhi,” Islam told The Express Tribune. “He was a great father and a great husband.”

Shaikh was suggested by his friends to author a book on the multiple political scenarios during his time. He started writing the book in 2007 but passed away the same year. “He couldn’t complete his book – I decided to try and make his dream come true,” said the barrister’s daughter, adding that she was in possession of countless historical data. “I have managed to record several documents of my father’s but hope that someone else will also compile and write more books on those materials.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2013.

In Good Faith is Saba Naqvi’s insight into India’s religious diversity. It is a matter-of-fact, hopeful journalistic exploration of the deeper layers of Hindu-Muslim unity that has been a part of India’s history and exists to date. She undertakes this journey as a result of her own identity crisis and her search for a safe India, bringing to light many interesting facts that have been either overlooked or deliberately withheld for political ends.

Coming from a mixed Shia-Christian background herself, Saba also brings in her personal experience of belonging to a family that is geographically and culturally divided. Her simple style keeps the reader with her as she walks us past the diverse and multi-cultural fabric of India, from Bengal in the west to Rajasthan in the east, from Tamil Nadu in the south to Kashmir in the north. Not to forget, the state of Maharashtra. The book is like a documentary film that zooms in and out of these pockets and she composes these regions into chapters, making the necessary connections very well. The reader will find details of sufi saints, gurus, devis and devtas, the various places of worship and fusion cultures like that of Bhakti and Sikkhism. The roots of Hindu-Muslim unity go back to Mughal rule in the subcontinent. We are also shown the role of the Marathas (an Indian warrior caste) and the Shiv Sena (the Hindu Nationalist Party) in a different light.

The narration is spiced by references to Indian films that have dealt with Hindu-Muslim unity. Political and geographical references feature in the background, such as the sundarbans of Bengal, the deserts of Rajasthan and the rugged mountainous terrain of Kashmir, making her composition very vivid and interesting.

Though her facts are supported with references, some of them could call for further clarification. For instance, she claims Ashura processions in Moharram began nearly three centuries before the Ganesh and Durga pooja processions, and portrays a softer stance of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire, towards Muslims, in particular sufi saints.

One can easily see the similarities between Pakistan and India in terms of being multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural states — one as the alter ego of the other. Though I would hardly classify the book as esoteric, one must indeed be of an open mindset to appreciate the author’s effort.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, March 24^th, 2013.

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The masters of story-telling Saife Hasan, Asma Mundrawala and Mahvash Faruqi call their project Zambeel Dramatic Readings — which has gained popularity over just a few years. They work towards reviving Urdu literature and recite works of notable writers with the use of dramatic readings, gestures and background music.

While most people would prefer to spend their weekend nights elsewhere, a large number of guests were seated in the open hall of T2F to hear the story of Taoos Chaman Ki Mayna read by Ehteshamuddin along with the trio of Zambeel. The hall was fully occupied by enthusiastic listeners from ages 10 to 65, waiting for the story Taoos Chaman Ki Mayna — which lasted 90 minutes.

The tale is based in Lucknow, during the last years of Vajid Ali Shah’s reign in the mid-19th century. The main character Kalay Mian (Ehtishamuddin) is a single parent raising his daughter, who wishes that her father would bring her a mayna when he returns at night. To fulfill her wish, Kalay Mian took several days to plan and steal one of the 40 maynas from the king’s royal garden where he was employed. The story is full of wit and beautiful dialogues penned by Masud, narrated as a first-hand account by Kalay Mian.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2013.

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Fifteen year old child activist Malala Yousufzai’s struggle for education will be read worldwide in a book deal reported to be around £2m according to The Guardian.

The book titled “I am Malala” will be published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson in the UK and Commonwealth and by Little, Brown in the rest of the world later this year.

The book will be a story of her struggle and of the incident that nearly killed her in October of last year.

Yousafzai said: “I hope this book will reach people around the world, so they realise how difficult it is for some children to get access to education.

“I want to tell my story, but it will also be the story of 61m children who can’t get education. I want it to be part of the campaign to give every boy and girl the right to go to school. It is their basic right.”

Malala was shot at point-blank range by a Taliban gunman as her school bus travelled through Swat Valley on October 9, in an attack that drew worldwide condemnation.

She has since become a global symbol of the campaign for girls’ right to an education and has been nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Malala, after recovering from her surgeries, enrolled in a school in Britain to continue her education.