Daily Times

Contrary to what a lot of people thought, ‘Love in the season of mangoes’ is not Mohammad Hanif’s new book. Stumped for a title for my session with the writer, I suggested a mix from his two books, which seemed interesting. It had the desired effect, since a large number of people turned up to hear him talk. Hanif is a fox. His baby faced graying persona hides a devilishly clever, impishly curious, savagely satirical writer who detests cant more than anything else. While a dry as bones, laconic wit borders on the droll, occasionally self-deprecating remarks about his language abilities (three and a half!) smack a trifle of gleeful arrogance. Hanif enjoys thumbing his nose at authority just as much as he enjoys reading Saadat Hasan Manto and Ismat Chughtai. The latter, he proposes, should be taught at all schools. Yet, for all his exploration of dark, seedy places, one suspects that Hanif has more than a passing acquaintance with that most ephemeral of things: love. It is the only explanation for that tender green shoot sprouting between a Muslim and a Christian against the backdrop of a necrotic world in his second novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti.

Mohammad Hanif was one of many authors, speakers, artists, performers, critics, historians, et al that descended on Lahore recently for three days of what could only be described as a gourmet feast offered at the second Lahore Literary Festival (LLF). The battered spirit brought to its knees by the fallout effects of incessant load shedding, the bitterness of a dark winter, spiralling inflation, constant unease about security issues and utter exasperation at the sight of an ineffectual government stumbling from one issue to the next, was allowed (albeit briefly) to come in from the cold and bask in the warmth of human experience at its creative best.

The Oxford University Press got the first balloon in the air with their feisty, three-day gala sited by the sea. Now in its eighth year, the Karachi Literary Festival has gained enormous stature with its list of national and international invitees and its attention to administrative and academic detail thanks to the pioneering efforts of founder members Ameena Syed and Asif Farrukhi. The 2014 fest was a gala affair with thousands of Karachiites descending on one of the city’s older hotels by the sea. Books were launched, music played, gallons of coffee consumed under canopies threatening imminent collapse as readers and students descended upon the venue.

By comparison, the Lahore Literary Festival is still an infant but a precocious one nevertheless! Almost 100 national and international speakers, presenters, authors and artists entertained, provoked, briefed and critiqued subjects ranging over an enormous range of subject areas in a brief span of three days. The novel and its influence was there in full force, film and film-makers had a voice, as did Afghanistan, education was examined in the light of Tagore’s legacy and rare art exhibits such as Shazia Sikander’s hauntingly beautiful installation works from around the world had the heart singing. With fading memories of a once vibrant Basant culture providing the backdrop, the city reinvented itself in an exhilarating celebration of diversity in creativity.

However, nit picker that I am, I feel that a few changes in the coming years would improve the LLF’s performance further, e.g. the number of participants for any session should be limited to three to allow each speaker a reasonable amount of speaking time. Members of the LLF advisory board should also limit their own presence to a minimum while same day multiple or three sessions for a single speaker/participant over a three-day festival are definitely overkill. The regional language should be allocated a number of sessions given the number of areas that Punjabi lends itself to exploration and understanding, such as the romance, the kalaam (Sufi and contemporary) and the culture as (mis)represented in film. Nevertheless, the credit for an eminently successful LLF goes to a small number of Lahoris; prominent among whom are the brothers Razi and Fasih Iqbal Ahmed. The credit for the clockwork precision with which speakers and audiences were ushered from one venue to the next must go to all the young volunteers who must have lost inches but never their smile during the gruelling three days. Thank you all – it was Lahore at its best, it was Karachi at its best, it is the way we want to feel about Pakistan.

The writer is academic advisor Lahore Grammar School and can be reached at navidshahzad@hotmail.com