Mapping Karachi’s Charms and Contradictions

Kamila`s A City By The Sea Is the most pretentious boring piece of crap I have read in a long time. we are introduced to a young boy who emulates greek Gods, and Papa has beautiful white skin and they all speak to each other like they are Shakespeare or something. It is total rubbish born out of cheesy academic Anglophilic understanding of reality.

This article/report is well written and points the reader in the right direction as

far as English literature coming out of Pakistan is concerned. My only reason for

bringing up Mohsin Hamid was based on an opinion that was personal.

``Moth Smoke`` is I believe the best fiction to come out of Pakistan lately. But that is

just my opinion.

(I also wanted to get the interacts going)

I enjoy reading Bapsi, Kamila and others and they make us proud.


And on the comment made by our Indian friend, Rushdie is possibly the best writer

currently published who was born in India. But besides being controversial in the

content of his writing the wily Rushdie is as ``Indian`` as he wants to be.``

He published his first major writing ``Grimus`` as a ``Pakistani`` writer.

Rushdie has many Imaginary Homelands...

Shame?

Romair,

I am a bit suspect of readers who demand a certain ``caliber`` of a very young and diasporic literary scene-esp. when these readers identify the writers as predominantly women. Do you take issue that most of these writers are women? What should they write that qualifies them as ``serious`` writers? Are you not happy that here is one sphere in Pakistan in which women are adequately represented- and quite ironic- a sphere that so far has not been dictated by the institutes of religion and politics? At the same time, I look forward to the day where the work of rural and minority women are published-but I am not complaining in the meantime.

ahmedmadani #29 i am sorry if i convey the impression of being a young person. i am in fact of your generation, having spent half my life (quarter century) inpak and half outpak. i keep in shape though at the gym, which is very exciting and after the workout i feel very happy like a happy drug addict (they say it is endorphins produced domestically by the body, no foreign substance needed). i enjoy classical music which i switch on in the car and which my child changes to latest music which is very good too. so look forward to your write up on classical music. my wife loves pakistani ghazals and i love my wife so i like pakistani ghazals too because they remind me of her when she is not around. l like to read a lot also about everything. particularly latest things happening in science. i worked for the world bank for 26 years, and was very happy working there even when work was a lot because i felt i was working for poor people of the world and so felt very noble and got high (just like with exercise). i met poor people from all over the world - asia, africa, south america - and found them to be very nice people. i loved the bangladesh women trying to make a future for themselves with money from grameen bank. i loved mexican farmers switching from maize to vegetables and talking excitedly about selling to chicago. i met big shot bureaucrats too in poor countries, and found many of them to be very honest and hard working people too and also patriotic and feel sad that people will call them bureaucrats,

anyway, just rambling on. you are a fine gentleman and god bless you

ahmedmadani

I enjoyed reading your posts too.

#28 and #27
Tahmed I enjoyed the pun and it was nice to know some young person ( now a days I find young are mostly punks- I feel i am getting old) like you know about that. ( I was surprised your knowing Potemkin villiage). If you have interest in classical music , I have written short note of appreciation recently.

#28 PM
First request to you is to not address me as MadaniSahib Mr. Madani or A.Madani is very fine.
I thank you for your kind words and accept your good words with humility. If you have interest or want to understand some basics of Indian Classical music drop a line to me at my Email aminapk@yahoo.com. I have written simple appreciation piece of two new young female classical singers. You may understand little of system of indian hindustani Music. I will appreciate input from both of you ( or any others if they have interest, all are welcome ) to improve and make it readable. I know some thing is missing and can not figure out..
Good luck for both young men.

Zeynab Ali,
Thanks for this article.
Haven`t yet read Shamsie, but i liked Uzma A Khan`s Stroy of Noble Rot quite a bit.

AhmedMadani sahib:
Always a pleasure and an ecucation reading your posts. Thank you, too.

Zeynab Ali,
Thanks for this article.
Haven`t yet read Shamsie, but i liked Uzma A Khan`s Stroy of Noble Rot quite a bit.

AhmedMadani sahib:
Always a pleasure and an ecucation reading your posts. Thank you, too.

ahmedmadani #24 the sign of a great piece of work by any individual in any culture is that it should appeal to an individual belonging to another place and time. this is what makes shakespeare great no doubt - although he lived in a vastly different culture, time and place, i can read his lines like ``when this body did contain a spirit, a kingdom for it was too small a bound, but now six paces of vile earth, is room enough`` and realize he is voicing my inner feelings.

Although i have not seen the movie potemkin but i have read commentary on it and it too seems to fall in the category of great work: despite the fact that it toes marxist ideology (what else would one expect in russia in 1925!), it nevertheless is poetry in the form of a movie. So maybe i will indeed see it. I am sure the movie potemkin is no potemkin village.
(this last sentence above is my miserable attempt at a literary pun with reference to the potemkin villages of Catherine the Great`s time).

khamkhwa #21: ``...`sir romair` may have been confused with the bangla sounding `ghose` part..... ;) ``

????

temporal #19: ``ever read or heard of zulfiqar ghose?``

Yes.

Following is the list of Pakistan English writers that I have followed, read, read about, bought books by, am starting to read etc. Please add any names that may be missing``

Mohsin Hamid, Kamila Shamsie, Bapsi Sidhwa. Uzma Aslam Khan, Tariq Ali, Hanif Kureshi, Sara Suleri (Goodyear ?), Muneeza Shamsie, Ghose, Munazi Alvi, Maniza Naqvi, Sorriya Khan, Kaleem Omar (more of a journalist).

Muneeza Shamsie covers them in great detail in her book, ``A Dragonfly in the Sun,`` which is what I have been using as my guide. I don`t know of any other authorative piece of writing covering Pakistani English writers.

There are others that she mentions, that I haven`t gotten around to, like, Nadeem Aslam, Adrian A. Hussain, and Adam Zameenzad, Ahmad Ali, Taufiq Rafat etc., that I haven`t gotten around to.

But as I mentioned earlier, the criteria has to be more than merely getting published. That maybe good enough for you and I, but for professional writers, it has to be critical recognition or massive sales. And so far, only Kamila Shamsie and Mohsin Hamid have impressed. The rest, including Sidhwa, lack the wit that is needed to keep a person glued to a book. Though some of the others I haven`t read in too much detail.

Would be interested in your views about Ghose.

response#23..... I feel its like your indian movies( i do not see movies and tv) same story processed from factory assembly line. Indian english writers need to leave confines of rut of indocentric themes and move ahead is my feeling.Or they will be fringe writers with appeal to to indocentric people only ( Its kind of like minority oriented politics) Your brother may not be ``cultured`` person and your prof of english may be cultured by so called our definition. Also life immitatea great arts they say.. We need all. Culture adds fineness and richness to life. And these are quite abstarct additions. Its like hobby, you may like others may feel its waste of time. Some people have it some do not have. One of my child like reading books poems etc. My wife does not like poetry etc. One of my relative is very elemental person. Once his son told him he read good poem the got mad. He said what is use of sweet poem , if you want sugar in tea putting poem is not going to make it sweet. He is perfectly right , its a physical fact. He is never able to understand why people buy book. Very educated people has same view as your brother. In evening of his life Tolstoy was self critical, he denounced Richard Wagner as Musician and he was critical of Shakesphere and all greats of west, as he was worried about how a russian peasant can has any value of classical music of wagner or psychotic stories of hamlet, Othello, kinglear, McBeth etc.( Including his own works). In 1975 Mir Publication put one beautiful in karachi for ).5 rs named October revolution and arts by Russian writer Yuri Davidov and its worth reading if you can get hold of it. The book is in four parts one devoteed to this later evening part of tolstoy when he became violently ``anti art``. The second part was devoted to noted russian cinema maker Sergi Eisenstein and making of battleship potemkin ( spelling does not appear right, It have very nice pictures of above all artists), 3rd was devoted to works od Maxim Gorky and last was on music man Stranvensky. My attitude is its up to you. If you like enjoy or leave it. Good arts gives great solititude is my experience its once response. A religious person may enjoy Haj and can have great happiness, while some are dreadful of that experience. All up to you . nothing wrong or right. Enjoy are leave it, please do not break it.

good luck to all readers

madani #22 my brother says he can never read a novel because he knows its all fiction. make-believe. didnt happen. so he reads non-fiction stuff. like newspapers. or books on whether the dollar is going up or going down.

my english professor at government college would no doubt disagree with my brother. he would say that fiction reflects reality. human feelings and emotions. and those are not fiction.

just thought you might like to know what my brother thinks and what my english professor thinks on these matters.

It is always sad for elder person like me to see people leaving first country and then out of sight and out of mind. Those leaving is personal decision and it can not be lamented or criticised. No doubt engish writers of Indian continent are talented people. These are first generation people with their parents firmly Indians or Pakistanis. And we locals should not get angry as they used the describe in stories our landscape. Some times they are full of contempt, redicule and rarely sympathy for natives. I wonder its like Fraudian slip or just manifestation of theirs parents justification for abandoning old tired country. They always marry nonsubcontinentels its phenemenon or just coincidence. I personally enjoy their success and in addition to many native language writers they have better sense of timing , business sense good public relationship.

Just two similar giants produced are Vladimir Nabakov and Albert Camus. First ( he wrote in russian some literary work) had memory of Russia his parents abandoned after October Revolution and second who left the country of his birth Algeria and migrated to France and what great literature they produced. It is credt to both they did not carry baggage in later years of their past and its so refreshing compared our english writers. Its evolution , may be still there is literatary romanticism a past romance as world knows the giants this continents produced , those great epics and great treatries on morality ( like story of raghuvansh) or complex social good and bad characters and ethos ( Mahabharat) or romantic erotic poerty produced when europeans were living in caves. It takes time even psycologically to break from folk of birds and start solo flying its dangaerous and thrilling.Its not that uncommon- D.H. Lawrence`s ``Sons and lovers`` a self potrail of his upbringing his love for little elder woman and miserable conditions of rural mines in UK before first world war. ( Actually he wrote boring novel Lady Ch.. lover in later time) These writers will produce much better as they evolve and will not need supports of old countries. In sense they are kind of ``outsiders`` and world is harsh on them and expect them to bring misery as preamble for anything write. I remember just first few pages of novel by A. Camus ( outsider) a man attending his mothers funeral, tired and ready to get our with all fuss and smokes which is resented by attendees. The writers will come out of shell and can appeal to broader number of people. I find Sir Vidyasagar very enjoyable and Jumpa is good as she is very refreshing in writing and like the intricacies in stories. May be my liking may is also reflection of my age. Only fear is they start doing same stories `` of same themes``. It is but natural but well expected it is most easy to tell about yourself or your family ,your friends. But they need to transcend the well travelled path. Boris Pasternak wrote beautiful novel and story kind of himself but then he was able to leave that personal story and what great poetry he produced later. One should read his poetry of later times what beautiful work.

Tagore, Bankimchandra, premchand (just few names of thousands) were never geographically confined in contents all threee were telling stories of their little areas where they lived. But they raised story to universal scale without saying. They traversed lots of areas of life. It is hoped that these writers will soon leave these confined spaces and sour like Phoenix from ``sameness``.Some times they are so predictive when I read Arundhati roys novel knew what will happen, or when jumpa`s women and their behaviour. Mr. Seth seth is better but he writes too ``long`` more like Tolstoy. And Tolstoy tells a story many times in few pages which I like. In Anna Karenina its so simple. It starts `` All happy families are all alike but unhappy families are unique``. Then same things told in thousand pages. Finally it boils down to story telling and content of story. Both can be exciting an example arther Kostlers novel `` darkness at noon`` a beautiful story and story telling.Our english writers have still great scope to improve in both depts, and they will hopefully improve. One thing may be affecting may be need to be published on regular basis that almost forces ``something`` to be produced. How they develop only time will tell. As now these are famous and well paid people they can afford not to produce by quota so expectation is they will produce less , content of story will be better as they all have mastered now art of story telling more refinement is not warranted not needed also.

Now returning to native languages story is not bad, according to data I looked India produced 60,000 books/per year( average of 3 years)+ few thousands from pakistan + BD etc. That is not small numbers.
We had been under outsider Domination for long time. We were poor too long. When you are too poor and oppressed you begin to feel bad about yourself and your culture. Now continent is improoving rapidly. They say soon this continent will be 3rd economy. That will make feel people better about themselves and their culture. This will lead to explosion of creative energies of artists. Now one should understand the tiger was caged under England for so long, its is free first time after long time. He is afraid of world, his leggs are trembling , he has inferiority ( that is reason even in culture it tries to copy english cats, he has forgotten he is tiger) but soon his instincts will grow, culture is in its blood it reflex action , give time. And you will not be discussing ``deshi`` english writers. The tiger will start roaring the jungle a he has memory in his gene , he has strength and stamina, at this time first time he is free to roam and hunt, he is immitating foxes as he has not seen any thing better too long, but greatness is in his blood and he has started moving confidently.
I am noting personally changes in art areas. The development is not uniform. In next 20 years things you never imagined are going to happen.

Even neglected art areas like Hindustani Classical music there upsurge of new artists and new energies only need to look and hear. ( i have appreciated two new artists in classical vocal areas, if you want to read about email me at aminapk@ yahoo.com, can mail you). Economic insurgency is going lead art to new heights , just need time.

wish good luck to all readers.......A.Madani

Very grateful to Zeynab for writing this and sharing her thoughts on an individual who loves instinctively a city that I have been in love with for as long as I remember. I`ve always found it a trifle odd adoring a `foreign` city but then Karachi is, well, Karachi. Thank you so much for reminding me again.

temporal...
[ever read or heard of zulfiqar ghose? ]

...`sir romair` may have been confused with the bangla sounding `ghose` part..... ;)

romair:

ever read or heard of zulfiqar ghose?