Revival of baithak culture
Those lamenting the loss of the Pak Tea House in Lahore, look around you. The baithak culture is back. Baithak: a place to sit, eat, share ideas, create change, and most importantly, a place to just be. The trend is not just to have a restaurant, a cinema or a book store, but to have an amalgam of these under one roof. They are not exclusive clubs but open houses, requiring no membership, nominal, if any, entrance fees and operating on a first come first serve basis. Designer outlets like Melange now house cafes on the side, as do art galleries like Nomad; similarly, ...
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Lessons from a soap box factory
Here in Pakistan, there is a famous fable about a soap factory. Several stores in a wealthy country complained that they had ordered soap but had only received empty boxes. Recognising that they had a problem in their factory, the management thought long and hard to find a solution. In the end, the company purchased a machine worth a million dollars, and hired an employee to observe the boxing process. Problem solved. Soon after, a Pakistani company ran into the same issue. The management thought long and hard to find a solution. In the end, the company purchased a big fan and placed it ...
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A discourse on creativity
Writing fiction is akin to erecting a temple of consecrated ideas which, like religious convictions, should be sacrosanct for the author. However, it is disconcerting to note how this analogy can be brazenly distorted to signify that the essential quality of a literary work is in the framework of ideas inherent in its plot. Such a line of reasoning casts aside the importance of stylistic merit and hence, it can be argued, that literature which presents strong ideas without much sophistication, is a weak portrayal of the author’s flair for creativity. Literary creativity is a two-pronged concept that entails ...
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The more opinion the better: A blogger’s defence
Blogging is a good democratic avenue for self expression. Some find a blogger’s desire to write offensive, and that is fine. I’d like to turn their attention to their computer’s ‘Shutdown’ setting. If one doesn’t like what my blog or any particular message board they stumble across says, then by all means, don’t participate. Because it is the ability to participate in the debate that makes the blogosphere democratic and unique. Blogging, is a right. If I or any other member of the blogosphere decides to express an opinion then that should be lauded (I laud myself all the time!). It is ...
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The common thread of genius at TEDx
This week, the city of Lahore got under my skin. It wasn’t just the idiosyncrasies and beauty of the city that crept into my resolutely Karachi-heart, but the people that I was able to meet. I was attending TEDxLahore, and in the lead up to the conference on July 31, I tagged the team for three days, meeting a rag-tag group of individuals from various backgrounds who had little in common besides their unwavering belief in the ideas they wanted to present to Lahoris (and Pakistanis) via the TEDx platform. In the absence of local arenas to showcase developing research, ...
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Milan Kundera: high peaks, deep chasm
Who’d have expected an author’s fortunes in Hardywood to fluctuate so much with a single novel-screening? In the past, popular authors have been dumped unceremoniously, but has there ever been an author who, in a single novel-screening, has impressed the viewers greatly, and then, only a few hundred or so pages later been discarded with unspeakable disgust? Indeed a high peak, and then a deep chasm. Milan Kundera’s novel “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting” was the first translation screening in Hardywood; in that sense, his debut was historic: Hardywood has always been hesitant in allowing translated novels, believing that in ...
Read Full PostTEDx: stand up and sing
I had the good fortune of attending TEDx Karachi today. The men and women who spoke about ‘What Pakistan Needs Now’ exhausted me – they were engaging, innovative, thoughtful and above all, active. They put to shame all the drawing-room conversations and critiques of what plagues our cities, society and country. The audience applauded at all the right moments – we gave nods of approval to small ideas that mushroomed into actions and organizations affecting the lives of hundreds, optimistic pronouncements about Pakistan and its strengths, affirmations that our nation can be corruption and bribery-free if we as individuals refuse ...
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