If Harry Potter were desi, his broom would be a jharoo and his Snitch a laddoo
Harry Potter’s last film is coming out (in Pakistan) on July 22 and somewhere in semi-peaceful parts of Karachi, not shown on TV, a couple of kids are getting ready for the biggest event of their lives. If their city will allow them to. When Harry Potter’s last book was released, bookshops around the world were told to release Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at exactly the same time, lest some overeager fan typed up the book on the internet and ruined it for everyone by not operating on GMT. That meant at 4:30 am every book outlet in Karachi ...
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A 55-year-old security guard with a big dream
Sitting at the entrance to the computer lab, at the Aga Khan University (AKU), seemingly like the many other guards around, he wears the usual uniform as people passed by him. What not many notice is that on his desk sits a copy of Thomas Hardy’s “Far from the Madding Crowd” and during the breaks he gets, he sits and reads voraciously. Saleem Akhtar, 55 years of age, has picked up his books again, and he is on his way to becoming an Intermediate graduate. Standing at about five feet four inches, sporting a henna-stained beard with half-rimmed reading glasses ...
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Riaz wanted to learn English
It was almost 11 years ago when I stopped my car at the Teen Talwar traffic light to be greeted by the usual herd of beggars, windscreen cleaners and newspaper sellers. One of the newspaper sellers, Riaz, a total of four feet in height, asked me for a lift to the Marriot signal. Irritated by the commotion around me, I chose to ignore him. Rather than moving on, he boldly walked in front of my car, locked eyes with me, stuck his teeth out like President Asif Zardari would, if he stared at the sun, and performed a mini-break dance ...
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Reading for the soul: Helping kids love books
Today was the last day of my self-conceived experiment at a school in Lahore. A few months ago I had offered three hours a week of my precious time to read stories to my daughter’s kindergarten classmates. I was convinced that after months of interacting with these children I‘d be able to flush out and pacify a bully terrorising my delicate daughter. It would also, I reasoned, provide a good opportunity for a bookseller like myself to test that age-old lament that the youth of today lack the attention span for books – although granted, by “youth” most parents ...
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Let’s talk about sex
While the Behavioural Surveillance Survey (BSS) found a vast majority of young people in Pakistan to be sexually active, another study showed that Pakistan is witnessing a rise in sexual abuse cases. Statistics released by an NGO, Sahil, in a report called “Cruel Numbers Report 2010,” reveal that victims of sexual abuse comprise 73 per cent girls and 27 per cent boys. These findings mock the belief that young people do not know, need not know, or, have nothing to do with, sexuality because they are protected by Pakistan’s culture and tradition. Abuse and violence shouldn’t be the only standpoints to ...
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Should Justin Bieber replace Osama bin Laden?
Okay, so now that big bad Osama bin bad hair day is dead the question that all of us are asking is “who will be taking over as the head of al Qaeda?” The position definitely requires charismatic leadership and the ability to strategize but if the group is to stay relevant they may want to think about a new kind of leader. Here are my suggestions: Justin Bieber: Who better to lead a bunch of frustrated, young kids with way too much spare time on their hands in an ultimate battle of good against evil? Bieber is (insanely) passionate, has a (zombie-cult) ...
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Review: Jabbar’s ‘living, breathing, bustling Pakistan’
Fanning optimism may not have been right for Javed Jabbar at a time when people, by and large, are coming out of the state of denial, the comforting persecution complex is losing its hold on the paranoid national psyche, the intelligentsia has slackened its search for scapegoats; the fatigue of complacence has started to hurt; and a kind of rudimentary self examination is in process. His new book, “Pakistan – Unique Origins; Unique Destiny?”, which counts 57 blessings that will lighten any heart heavy with doubts and misgivings and lull some back to the stupor they were just waking from, ...
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Two sides of Iqbal
April, on account of his death anniversary, has been Iqbal’s month for us. Too much has been written and published on Iqbal over the decades for me to say something comprehensive about it here. The Iqbal Academy and the Academy of Letters have produced the voluminous Iqbaliat kay sau saal (One hundred years of Iqbal studies), but if you expect it to represent the gist of all that has been written on the subject over the decades you’ll be disappointed. In fact, let me warn you of a failing up front. But first let me mention another anthology that attempts ...
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Banning opinion: What would Gandhi do?
In the words of 16th century English author and philosopher Francis Bacon: Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. In the 21st century, a section of Indian politicians want to add one more line to this sentence: some books are to be banned without reading and knowing the name of the author. Pulitzer Prize winning author, Joseph Lelyveld’s book Great Soul: ...
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There’s a mighty pretty book in town
A book of English poems by a Pakistani is immediately suspect. It’s not something you’ll allow into your bookshelf without checks and a passport. And given the pernicious proliferation of blogs and undergraduate bunk (literal and figurative) everywhere, especially of the poetic variety, you will be justified about ten out of ten times in denying it entry. Also, given the present literary mood and climate in our part of the world, a book of good English poetry by a South Asian is really like a dancing eunuch who shows up unannounced at the genteel party of the South Asian ...
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