The roads surrounding the Alhamra were vehicle-lined as far as my bad-sighted eyes could see, and there was no parking space left by 11 am for even a motorbike. The event was not some political rally or a pop-star’s concert, but the Lahore Literary Festival (LLF), which to the delightful surprise of booklovers like me was more heavily attended than its debut last year. The halls were packed to capacity and people queued in an uncharacteristic show of civilised behaviour. The army of young volunteers ensured that there was no chaos anywhere. It was amusing to see many known names lining up to attend sessions of the literary type, sans any VIP — commonplace in Pakistan — treatment.
One of the sessions I enjoyed the most consisted of one of Pakistan’s most respected names in literary, academic and artistic circles, Navid Shahzad, and one of our best writers, Mohammad Hanif, of The Case of Exploding Mangoes, and Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. Ms Shahzad’s magnificent reading of excerpts from Hanif’s book and a column on Manto made his words more sparkly, more wickedly funny than they appeared to me when I read them earlier. The banter between the moderator and the writer, punctuated with solemn comments on the Baloch missing persons, and the satirical look at the grave events in Pakistan’s history made it a rare literary delight.
Women on the Verge — of any and every thing — highlighted the dilemma of some very fine writers being labelled ‘women writers’ in the so-called man’s world of literature, and the art of juggling family and literary lives. Reminiscing about their intellectual journeys, the ups and downs, the joys and trials of making it big, Manju Kapur, Namita Gokhale, Muneeza Shamsie and Shobhaa De talked to the eminent writer, the dead-panning hilarious Alex von Tunzelmann, and the interactive session was a hit with the audience.
Ahmed Rashid, Amit Chaudhari and H M Naqvi made the panel of male writers on ‘the place of fiction in a non-fiction world’ where the discussion ranged from their personal experiences to many international names who have made the amalgamation of fiction and non-fiction an extravaganza of fun and knowledge. Michael Dwyer moderated the talk between the three very diverse writers who elaborated the challenges of keeping any writing interesting for the very discerning reader in a globalised arena of instant news, gratification and the ability to be bored very easily.
‘India, a cultural conundrum?’ was a very animated discussion between two Pakistanis and two Indians, which, interestingly, focused on many things but the topic. That is, sort of, a given when the panelists belong to Pakistan and India, letting no public forum be devoid of the airing of grievances and the ‘shoulds and coulds’ of Pakistan-India policies that affect the narratives the public tend to base their perceptions on. The very elegant, former PPP minister and ambassador to the US, Sherry Rehman, the well-known Indian correspondent for The Telegraph and The Guardian, Maseeh Rahman, the renowned politician-lawyer-writer Aitzaz Ahsan and the novelist Shobhaa De talked about this and that, and the conundrum of culture remained unsolved. Alex von Tunzelmann seemed at a loss for words, for once, as to how to steer the talk back to the topic but the session was a success with the audience, notwithstanding the off-topic discussion.
The last day for me ended with Happy Things in Sorrow Times, the poignant story of an Afghan girl, and her journey of survival and love. It was a pleasure to see a very dear friend, the very lovely Tehmina Durrani, talk about her literary journey, breaking of taboos, making it all on her own terms, not caving in to odds — of becoming an outcast for years, about defying all man-made norms to carve her name in a splendour all her own. Rashed Rahman, the moderator, kept the talk fluid, engaging the writer in an interaction that was engaging, introspective and enlightening.
At the end of every session, the Q&A raised many a hand, and many a question. The audience’s interest in reading, literary discourses and questioning-the-guests was very interesting, nott to say, surprising. The yawn-worthy were the ones who rambled on without asking a precise question and the annoying were those who asked such long questions that some people dozed off while pretending to listen. Yes, I was one of those who asked a question after every session and, in my defence, I kept it all terse and relevant (well, as far as my self-criticism goes).
The three-day LLF was noteworthy for a plethora of reasons, the response of the public being one. This was one forum where the celebrities were of the literary type but the audience’s desire to say hello, get a picture taken, a book or a slip of paper signed was ditto to that at a film event or a musical concert. Here the celebrity being cheered was not a film star, sports hero or a politician but the writer whose last book clicked with the reader, or whose views resonated with the listener. The accessibility of the guests was one of the biggest delights for the audience, as there were no burly guards to shoo enthusiastic fans from the stage (post-session), no starry airs about the very famous personalities who looked and behaved like real people.
Hina Rabbani Khar was one of the most-surrounded speakers and, to her credit, she smiled/signed/posed for pictures with an endearing humility that is uniquely her own. Vali Nasr and Tehmina Durrani were also big sensations, not just because of their famous names but also, I think, for their 200-watt dazzling smiles. Jugnu Mohsin and her need-no-introduction husband, Najam Sethi, posed for many pictures and signed many autographs. Mira Nair, Mohsin Hamid and Vikram Seth — the international celebrities — were treated just as they should have been: like international celebrities. Shazia Sikander, an old college friend, and one of Pakistan’s most celebrated painters of international fame, was another very sought-after name, and the pretty Sikander was as gracious as her work is splendid. Mohammad Hanif was as witty and gracious off-stage as he was on-stage. The stunning Kathak dancer, Naheed Siddiqui, sweating after her almost hour-long performance, was the personification of sweet self-effacement and endless smiles, as many gathered around her backstage, sort of tongue-tied after her breathtakingly beautiful performance.
Meeting Dilshad Khan, the beautiful Indian from the family of stunners (film stars Feroz and Sanjay Khan) was a pleasure, albeit the subject of our brief talk was heartbreaking, to say the least. So was my meeting with the festival director of the Internationales Literurfestival (Berlin), Ulrich Schreiber, who introduced himself to me, shaking his head at the cruel judgments of media trials, as he chain-smoked and took pictures. I also had a lively tête-à-tête with another need-no-introduction writer, the very charming Ayaz Amir.
My interaction with the gossip-columnist/writer Shobhaa De and her subsequent mention of that in her gossip column was an oh-so-stark reminder of one thing: the appearance of being politically incorrect is one thing but truth is the last thing that matters to someone whose claim to fame is dishing tackily spiced-up gossip on all she meets — celebrity or not.
It was a pleasure to meet many twitter friends/acquaintances and real-life ones. Raza Rumi, Faiza Khan, Munizae Jehangir, Sadaf Aijaz, Ayesha Siddiqa, Gul Bukhari, Ali Salman Alvi, Amir Mughal, Feisal Naqvi, Yaqoob Bangash, Rameeza Nizami, again the names are many, and my head hurts thinking I have to wrap up soon.
A very special thank you is in order for my very sweet young friend, Murtaza Qureshi, of Newsweek (my friend Zarmina Durrani’s son), who not just picked-dropped me home but also ensured that I got there in time for all sessions to get a decent seat.
The list is endless, and the column is word restricted. I could go on for many more hundreds of words but then this is not the Iliad, and I am no Homer. I have the limitations of time, space and words. And I have a deadline. Ergo with love from me to Lahore, and the LLF, until LLF 2015…à tout à l’heure.
(Concluded)
The writer can be reached at [email protected], and on twitter at @MehrTarar