Muhammad Hanif graces ILF with wit and candour

0
318

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad’s Hotel Margalla is abuzz this weekend with literature lovers, prominent writers, analysts, researchers, intellectuals and artists gathered for the Islamabad Literature Festival organised by the Oxford University Press Pakistan.

The theme is “The Focus is Tomorrow – Reflecting on the Past”, and the organisers have once again put together a stimulating programme with much to offer for people of various interests, from discussions on contemporary themes in Urdu and English literature, local history, and anthropology, foreign policy challenges, feminism, identity politics, trends in education and economics, etc.

One of the sessions that generated a lot of excitement amongst local bibliophiles was the book launch of the Urdu translation of Muhammad Hanif’s popular satirical fiction “A Case of Exploding Mangoes”.

It’s not too often that book lovers from the twin cities get the chance to mingle with the international bigwigs of Pakistan’s literary scene, and social media profiles were subsequently aflush with star-struck selfies and autographs with the author.

Muhammad Hanif’s debut book garnered international acclaim upon publication in 2008 as a boldly irreverent fictionalised account of the enigmatic General Zia-ul-Haq and his assassination under mysterious circumstances in 1988.

Despite its lack of serious geopolitical insight and cliched tropes about Pakistan (brutal insecure dictators, shady intelligence officers, misguided Jihadis and desert intrigues) the book won a fair share of accolades due to its humor and originality.

The ILF session was peppered with some of this wit and insights into the author’s mind that have made him one of the most prominent Pakistani columnists in international publications.

“Phatey Aamon ka Case” has been translated from the source material by Urdu writer and poet Syed Kashif Raza, and published by Karachi-based publisher Hoorie Noorani. The book generated controversy from the get-go due to the public’s skeptical reception of the title which was perceived as “too literal” – the trio presented their justification saying Urdu had no substitute for the dual use of the word case which could mean ‘carton’ as well as ‘story’.

Kashif said being the son of a Pakistan Air Force officer made him familiar with the lingo and colloquialisms used by Hanif in the book, who himself trained as an Airforce pilot at PAF Academy during his youth, and used his experiences as fodder for writing the story.

After a burst of dedication that lasted 7 months, Kashif was done with his book translation however Hanif admitted to his procrastination of many years in getting the book into publication.

A large publisher approached for the task took many more years, citing typical fears of censorship due to the “sensitive” nature of the book that deals in such irreverent fashion with Pakistan military’s shenanigans. Hanif’s pleas that the work is harmless satirical fiction and that the original book passed the censor board’s chops were to no avail.

They then took the book to Hoorie Noorani of Maktaba-e-Danyal, a small independent publishing house she inherited from her late father Malik Noorani and now runs as a labor of love. Hanif warmly appreciated Kashif’s dedication towards his book and also the publisher’s valuable support saying “sometimes all it takes is an intelligent woman to get something done”.

Hoorie spoke of the importance of making the book accessible to the majority of Pakistani audience especially the youth that prefers to read in Urdu, and encouraged others to take up translations of major Pakistani English language works.

The panel shared humorous anecdotes about the ubiquitousness of military culture and lingo around the world, and its omnipresence on the Pakistani public psyche.

Kashif said that the Zia years, with all its tumult and idiosyncrasies, generated an array of unique pop-cultural moments that are only familiar to those who lived through them, hence they are important pieces of cultural references that need to be preserved.

In answer to a question, Hanif revealed the difficulty of depicting General Zia as a literary muse, as virtually no written account on his multifaceted and enigmatic personality exists despite his decade-long rule and a towering presence on the social, political and cultural psyche of the nation.

The question and answer session presented a somewhat puzzling array of thoughts from the Islamabad audience, with one saucy lady claiming to be a qualified translator confronting the writer with an audacious ‘how dare you” for translating the text without a degree in translation.

Others hurled Hanif with accusations of being a US “agent”. It would be welcome to see Islamabad folks come up with more constructive and logical critique at such events in the future.