Thousands thronged to the city from far and away
The city of lahore has always been a wellspring of literary goodness. The third Lahore Literary Festival was no exception this year as it brought together authors and book lovers from across the country for a three day mega event.
The festival was packed from the start. more than 60 thousand people belonging to all walks of life flocked to Alhamra Arts Council in Lahore to see and listen to their favourite artists and authors, some of whom are very reluctant to come out in public.
The sessions kicked off with the keynote address by Romila Thapar, introduced by Ayesha Jalal. Romila Thapar talked about how we cannot just divorce the past from the present but we have to take both of them in perspective. That without a past we cannot look at the present with justice and without looking at the present, the past will remain something distant and unrelated to us. The keynote address was well received by the audience.
The rest of the day was filled with colourful events, from celebrating the different colours of Seraiki literature to talking about the experiences of writers who had written their first books and were just getting started in the literary world with The Trials of Writing your First Novel.
The first day came to a close with the wonderful performances by Poor Rich Boy.
The second day started early with even more attendees coming in. The volume of people lining up to see the various sessions was enormous and even in the streaming halls were standing room only. One of the highlights of the Urdu session was the discussion on Urdu columns and columns in general titled “Aaj Ka Column” which had Yasir Pirzada, Kishwar Naheed, Wajahat Massod as panelists and was moderated by Arif Nizami. The session touched from the issues of censorship to the issues of how we have become intolerant of worldviews other than those that closely match ours.
The discussion touched on the so called Malala/Aafia dichotomy, and how both were represented differently in the Urdu and English print media. Yasir Pirzada opined that most of this is what he would call “shop journalism” in which each journalist and columnist has a particular product they are peddling and that they will disregard every other thing that is related to it or opposed to it.
Wajahat Masood criticised the way columnists play with the religious sentiments and emphasised that they have a level of responsibility, being opinion makers for the public.
Among various books that were launched, the translation of Ali Akbar Natiq’s book into English by Ali Madeeh Hashmi was an interesting one to say the least. The Translation was titled “What Will You Give for this Beauty” and the launch had both the author and the translator present. Natiq told us about his experience, writing stories and how the stories he writes are essentially the things he observes, settled in a different format. He talked about how you can find stories everywhere, from a bus journey to a walk in the park but you have to go out of your comfort zone to find them. He emphasised that you cannot even find stories if you never venture out of your established routines and stick to a sheltered lifestyle.
The discussion touched on the so called Malala/Aafia dichotomy, and how both were represented differently in the Urdu and English print media. Yasir Pirzada opined that most of this is what he would call “shop journalism” in which each journalist and columnist has a particular product they are peddling and that they will disregard every other thing that is related to it or opposed to it
Hashmi and Natiq discussed the art of translations and how certain things are so rooted in the culture and history to become nigh untranslatable, not to say of things that have no equivalent in another language at all. The discussion was punctuated with laughter and little jokes by both guests.
In the Q&A, Natiq talked about how the curriculum has become inadequate and it needs a radical revitalisation project to bring it up to the mark. He lamented that the curriculum does not introduce our youth to the wealth of literature available to us and instead forces them to study things with little to no substantive quality, essentially turning them away from the book reading habits altogether.
Another very interesting book that was launched amid both fanfare and occasional dissent by troublemakers was “The Colonel who Would Not Repent”, by Salil Tripathi. The session was titled “An Interview with Bendali History” and was paneled by Salil Tripathi, Sadaf Saaz Siddiqui and Hina Jillani. The session was moderated by Taimur Rahman.
The book in question provided a detailed account of the atrocities and war crimes committed by the Pakistani army in the then East Pakistan, with personal accounts and statistics backing it up. It also talks about the assassination of Sheikh Mujib and his family and the root of the current power struggle in Bangladesh.
Salil Tripathi talked about his personal memories of the war times, reminiscing about when his mother would cook food for the soldiers going across the border. He also talked about how he himself would stage plays to raise money for the refugees. Talking about the book, he talked about the importance of not forgetting history and preserving the accounts while the original affectees were still around as evidence of the mistakes for the future generations. He talked about why he thinks now was an especially pertinent time to bring this book forward as the war crimes trials are happening in Bangladesh and how they might not be perfect but are at least a start.
Sadaf Saaz Siddiqui shared her perspective of the Bangladeshi issue, talking about the systematic rapes Salil had talked about in his book and talked about how the women were treated later in their own country. She talked about how they were initially venerated and given acceptance and treatment but later the support was taken from them and they were abandoned by their own government. She likened that with the way the Bangladeshi nation itself become disillusioned with the nationalist sentiment and how that led to the eventual military takeover.
Hina Jillani also stressed the need of our education system to tell our youth about all the mistakes committed in their name, sharply criticising the military apparatus that committed the crimes, covered them up and later pardoned everyone involved. She drew parallels with the Balochistan issue and talked about how they are both similar and unique.
During the session, a heckler walked out, calling the book and the whole session “rubbish” and screaming about how the army is fighting to keep the people safe, shouting about Indian conspiracy. Luckily, no one walked out with him, with people actually shouting about how Pakistan should apologise for the events of ‘71.
The final session of the second day, was an absolute delight, with Naseeruddin Shah, Heeba Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah presenting the poetic parables of Vikram Seth and James Thurber. The crowning moment was the performance of the long poem “The Elephant and The Tragopan” by Vikram seth. The poem which started with an overt environmentalist method touched on so many deeper levels, going from corrupt politicians to the way governments become privileged elite instead of serving the people that brought them there. The heartfelt and wonderful performance earned raucous applause as the second day came to a close.
The third and final day dawned and the people flocked once again to listen to their favourite authors, enjoy the work of their favorite artists and to buy more books at the Annual LLF Book Fair.
Aasma Jahangir said that fiction complements journalism and both can be an important force that can help change the future. She talked about the cultural devastation she witnessed in places like Afghanistan and talked about how that basically takes people’s identities away from them
The session “Ismat Chughtai, Defining and Era in Leftwing Urdu Literature” was paneled by Ameena Saiyid, IA Rehman and was moderated by Ali Madeeh Hashmi. The discussion ranged from Ismat Chugtai’s work as a prototype for the next era of both leftwing and feminist literature to her personal life, beliefs and how that affected her work. IA Rehman said that Chughtai was a feminist before the modern face of feminism appeared.
Saiyid said that while Chughtai was influenced by Rashid Jahan, she was herself a person of such influence that we can see her views even in the modern feminist narrative. The panelists said that Chugtai was one of those that practiced what they preached and that she was the embodiment of an independent women.
The session “Footnotes from the Frontline” was paneled by Asma Jahangir, Joe Sacco, Romesh Gunesekara and Yasmine El Rashidi and was moderated by Basharat Peer. The panel talked about how journalism from the frontline is different from regular reports and they discussed the role of fiction in helping give a better picture of the state than just a plain report.
Romesh Gunesekara talked about how his journey as a writer started by writing about anything he could find beyond his doorstep and how it evolved into storytelling eventually leading him to tell the stories of the Sri Lankan Civil War that raged on for decades. He emphasised the importance of preserving the memories of wars and other atrocities so that the future generations know what happened before them and that it doesn’t disappear from memory. He talked about the importance of talking to people, drawing parallels between the first and second world wars. He lamented that while we have imperfect records of the first, we do have people who saw the second and preserving that is important while they are still alive.
Joe Sacco Shared his experiences as a journalist, as a comic book artist and then his foray into Comic Book Journalism or “Slow Journalism” as he called it. He talked about how being a journalist gives you a sort of unprecedented access to people and he can basically ask them anything. He shared his experience reporting from the war torn regions, first from the Gaza strip and then from Bosnia. He said that even with conflicting reports, his storytelling-kind of journalism allows him to report things that would not have been possible otherwise.
Aasma Jahangir said that fiction complements journalism and both can be an important force that can help change the future. She talked about the cultural devastation she witnessed in places like Afghanistan and talked about how that basically takes people’s identities away from them. She talked about the effect conflicts have on women and lamented the fact that we still don’t have room for women on the negotiations table, when we can have a war lord on the same table negotiating things for himself.
Yasmin shared her experiences while reporting front line from Egypt during the revolution. She talked about how she felt that she was a witness to something greater and not just a reporter. She talked about how the protests were initially small and organised at a very local level but the emergent factor brought them together so quickly that they culminated in the legendary Tahrir Square.
The book discussion regarding Abdullah Hussain’s writings was a jam packed event, where more people were waiting to get in outside the hall than there were inside the hall. Abdullah Hussain was on the panel and the moderator was Dr Asif Furrukhi. The discussion was lighthearted and playful, discussing everything from the core of Hussain’s stories, to the stories themselves to why Muhammad Khan became Abdullah Hussain when he wrote a novel.
Abdullah Hussain cheerfully regaled us with his memories of writing the stories, talking about how Daud Khel was such a boring place devoid of entertainment that to combat his boredom, he wrote a novel that eventually was known as “Udaas Naslein”.
Hussain shared his experience with almost being banned, twice, and how that sort of thing affects newer writers. He shared the time when he was awarded the “Adamjee Prize” for “Udaas Naslein” and President Ayub Khan suggested that he should start writing “qaumi novels” for the nation.
Hussain also talked about how both he and his characters in his novels are on a quest for justice and that is the driving theme of all his work.
The panel was interrupted by people demanding to be let in, talking about how they had come from so far away to see their idol and they deserved a place in the hall, going so far say that this is all because regional nepotism was happening, as A writer of Hussain’s statuer certainly needed a bigger hall.
The final session was a double presentation. The first part consisted of the launch of “One Billion Rising” which had speeches by Kamla Bhasin, Eve Ensler and Monique Wilson who all passionately talked about the issues facing women the world over and how the issues are far reaching and not just limited to their effect on women. The second part was a series of performances by Rafi Peer Theater of Sufi heritage. It included performances by Saien Zahoor, Wahdat Rameez, Hasnain Javed, Ustad Krishan Lal Bheel and Akhter Jalal Zehri.