Category Archives: Magazine

Book review: A manuscript best left in Accra

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I often come across poorly composed and rhythmically imbalanced verses on Facebook. They are attributed to famous poets like Ghalib, Iqbal and Faraz. Whenever I see such posts, I make a point of setting the record straight. Most of the time, I am viewed as a troll and advised to appreciate the wisdom of the words rather than being critical of their form.

When I first started reading Paulo Coelho’s latest book Manuscript Found in Accra, I resolved to follow this advice. I can safely conclude that the book is full of worthy musings and quotable quotes on a variety of subjects — from solitude and love to beauty and miracles. Like all his other works, this recent book by Coelho also has its moments of glory when the earnestness, simplicity and clarity of its prose start touching your soul and transforming your thoughts.

Manuscript Found in Accra seems to echo the writings of Khalil Gibran and sometimes also Osho, the Indian mystic. In its style and form, the book appears to be a subdued imitation of the Dialogues of Plato, the gospels and, ironically their counterpart, Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A book for All and None. However the merits of Accra do not redeem its obvious defects and contradictions. Coelho attempts to disguise his string of musings by blending historical facts with fiction. In this case, the titular manuscript is an ancient document written in 1099 by a 21-year-old man on the eve of the Crusaders’ invasion of Jerusalem. It recounts his dealings with a mysterious Greek man, referred to as the Copt, who counsels a group of men and women on their most pressing questions. The back-story serves little purpose, except for making Coelho’s thoughts sound like the knowledge of Jerusalem.

Coelho’s attempt to structure his thoughts by introducing a frail superstructure story seems to have failed. The Manuscript Found in Accra is essentially a book of quotable quotes with a message of self-reform rather than revolution.

Who do you think you are? Three picks on self discovery

1. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Recently retired Harold Fry is surprised by a letter from a dying friend, Queenie Hennessy, who he hasn’t heard from in twenty years. He becomes convinced he must deliver his message in person to Queenie. So he sets off without hiking boots, rain gear, maps or even a cell phone. Available at The Last Word for Rs1,250 (Hardcover) and Rs695 (Paperback).

2. Into the Wild

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given his savings to charity, abandoned his car and invented a new life for himself. During his adventure, he encounters several unique people that change his life before he faces the dangers of the wilderness.

3. On the Road

On the Road chronicles Jack Kerouac’s years travelling the North American continent with his friend Neal Cassady. The two roam the country in a quest for self-knowledge and experience. Kerouac’s classic novel of freedom and longing defined what it meant to be ‘Beat’ and has inspired every generation since its initial publication more than forty years ago. Available at Liberty books for Rs832.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 19th, 2013.

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Book review: Sethji – dirty old men and dark secrets

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At a time when Indian society struggles to find ways to clamp down on rape, Shobhaa Dé’s new book Sethji opens with this crime. Sethji’s youngest son Suraj has raped a young girl. The wily old man finds a way to make Suraj disappear and his daughter-in-law Amrita deftly handles the media.

We are thus introduced to Sethji and his family that has been living in Delhi after gaining a political foothold in Uttar Pradesh. Sethji is the patriarch and everyone else is a dog. We first meet him near naked in all his oiled corpulence on the massage table. His wife Leelaji is dead. His two grownup sons Srichand and Suraj are worth less than the soles of Sethiji’s white rexine sandals and it is only the ravishing daughter-in-law Amrita in the low-cut choli who merits attention. In fact, too much attention. As it turns out, Sethji has more than a roving eye.

Dé does complete justice to her signature style of peppering the plots with chaska and masala. While the immediate disaster is averted, Sethji and Amrita are kidnapped in the aftermath of the rape and what unfolds is their fight to freedom. This drives the plot’s suspense that is laced with romance (plenty of salty language) and a power struggle. The uncompromising, ziddi (stubborn) relationship between the daughter-in-law and the father-in-law keeps the pages turning right to the end with other minor characters often popping in and out of the pages.

Pakistani readers, who already love Dé for gracing the Karachi Literature Festival, will perhaps find it refreshing to read the Hindi/Urdu words worked into the dialogue that make the story all the more real. “You know how women are — all women, no exceptions, not even you,” Sethji comforts Amrita. “They see a powerful, good-looking man and they have only one thought in their heads — how to phasao him.”

As with all her books, we sometimes wonder how much they are based on real life. While at the Karachi Literature Festival in 2012, she gave her adoring audience a sneak peak into what we now know was the book Sethji she was writing at the time: “It is about an oily, sleazy, despicable politician in Delhi,” she said. “I want my future novels to be even raunchier than the old ones.”

Three picks on power, patriarchs and pushing back

1.  My Feudal Lord (1996)

By Tehmina Durrani

When it hit the literary scene everyone read it in Pakistan. We loved it because a beautiful, well-pedigreed and intelligent woman had decided to head butt the male order. This is the story of Durrani’s 14-year marriage to Mustafa Khar until she filed for divorce. A must-read for any woman trying to maintain a glamorous façade in an abusive relationship. Available at Liberty Books, Readings and Saeed Book Bank for about Rs545

2.  Mafia Queens of Mumbai (2012)

By S Hussain Zaidi

Only a crime reporter of Zaidi’s talents could have brought us possibly the most exciting look at the women of Mumbai’s underworld who are uniquely placed to run drug networks. They slip in and out unnoticed in burqas but don’t be fooled, they are just as ruthless. Available for Rs676 at Liberty Books.

3.  Daddy-Long-Legs (1912)

By Jean Webster

A young orphan’s life is changed when an anonymous benefactor offers to pay for her college provided she writes him letters — which he will not reply to. All she saw of him was his shadow, which was long, leading to the nickname she uses for her correspondence. Daddy-Long-Legs, which has since grown to become a classic, is the story of how she wins him over. Available free on Project Gutenberg

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 19th, 2013.

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Karachi: Then & now

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Khaled al Maeena is sitting in the lobby of Le Méridian in Khobar. He signals towards a Pakistani waiter: “karak chai merey leyeh.” The man is taken aback but hurries to comply.

The name Khaled al Maeena is instantly familiar to anyone living in the Arab world. Known as the ‘editor of people’, he ran Arab News, Saudia Arabia’s leading English newspaper, for 23 years. Today he is the editor-in-chief of the Saudi Gazette.

Recognised as a liberal Saudi, now he primarily writes about social issues but Al Maeena is also famous for his perspective on the expatriate community, especially Pakistanis. Indeed, al Maeena has a soft spot for us mostly because he spent his formative years in Karachi.

Father Raymond at St Patrick’s High School shaped him as did bicycle rides from Bolton Market to Burns Road for Nihari. Food figures prominently in his memories. He recalls Saadullah’s sandwiches at the corner of PECHS Block 2 and how in the early 1960s, Karachi had some really good Chinese restaurants. “I loved eating at Bundoo Khan and Hanifia,” he adds. “Those were such idyllic days.”

As his family had been trading in the subcontinent since the 1920s, this meant that a young al Maeena made many trips between Bombay, Calcutta and cities in Sindh. Eventually, he chose to study in Karachi. After St Patrick’s College, he studied journalism at Karachi University where some of his peers included Khursheed Ahmad and Nusrat Nasrullah.

Back then, Karachi was one of the most beautiful cities of the east after Beirut and Cairo. He would take evening walks down Shaheed-e-Millat Road. “My great uncle had a house there. Every evening, smartly dressed girls would walk in groups. How safe the roads were!” he says. “There was a time when people would drive from Guru Mandir to Tariq Road at 2 am. There was no extremism or intolerance.”

Al Maeena refutes the notion that funding for terrorism in Pakistan came from the Saudi government. He interprets it as money flowing in through individuals. Pakistanis took money from rich Saudis by saying they would build mosques but the funds were misused. He maintains that Saudis have a soft corner for Pakistan.

In May 1998, a few weeks after India’s second nuclear test, Pakistan detonated five nuclear devices and became the seventh country to develop and test a nuclear missile. During that week circulation of newspapers went up fifty percent in Saudi Arabia.

The last time al Maeena came to Pakistan was in 2006 to visit the quake-hit areas. When asked if he would like to visit Karachi again, he says: “No, I do not want to be kidnapped.”

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 19th, 2013.

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Karachi: Then & now

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Khaled al Maeena is sitting in the lobby of Le Méridian in Khobar. He signals towards a Pakistani waiter: “karak chai merey leyeh.” The man is taken aback but hurries to comply.

The name Khaled al Maeena is instantly familiar to anyone living in the Arab world. Known as the ‘editor of people’, he ran Arab News, Saudia Arabia’s leading English newspaper, for 23 years. Today he is the editor-in-chief of the Saudi Gazette.

Recognised as a liberal Saudi, now he primarily writes about social issues but Al Maeena is also famous for his perspective on the expatriate community, especially Pakistanis. Indeed, al Maeena has a soft spot for us mostly because he spent his formative years in Karachi.

Father Raymond at St Patrick’s High School shaped him as did bicycle rides from Bolton Market to Burns Road for Nihari. Food figures prominently in his memories. He recalls Saadullah’s sandwiches at the corner of PECHS Block 2 and how in the early 1960s, Karachi had some really good Chinese restaurants. “I loved eating at Bundoo Khan and Hanifia,” he adds. “Those were such idyllic days.”

As his family had been trading in the subcontinent since the 1920s, this meant that a young al Maeena made many trips between Bombay, Calcutta and cities in Sindh. Eventually, he chose to study in Karachi. After St Patrick’s College, he studied journalism at Karachi University where some of his peers included Khursheed Ahmad and Nusrat Nasrullah.

Back then, Karachi was one of the most beautiful cities of the east after Beirut and Cairo. He would take evening walks down Shaheed-e-Millat Road. “My great uncle had a house there. Every evening, smartly dressed girls would walk in groups. How safe the roads were!” he says. “There was a time when people would drive from Guru Mandir to Tariq Road at 2 am. There was no extremism or intolerance.”

Al Maeena refutes the notion that funding for terrorism in Pakistan came from the Saudi government. He interprets it as money flowing in through individuals. Pakistanis took money from rich Saudis by saying they would build mosques but the funds were misused. He maintains that Saudis have a soft corner for Pakistan.

In May 1998, a few weeks after India’s second nuclear test, Pakistan detonated five nuclear devices and became the seventh country to develop and test a nuclear missile. During that week circulation of newspapers went up fifty percent in Saudi Arabia.

The last time al Maeena came to Pakistan was in 2006 to visit the quake-hit areas. When asked if he would like to visit Karachi again, he says: “No, I do not want to be kidnapped.”

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 19th, 2013.

Like Express Tribune Magazine on Facebook to stay informed and join the conversation.


Karachi: Then & now

Leave a reply

Khaled al Maeena is sitting in the lobby of Le Méridian in Khobar. He signals towards a Pakistani waiter: “karak chai merey leyeh.” The man is taken aback but hurries to comply.

The name Khaled al Maeena is instantly familiar to anyone living in the Arab world. Known as the ‘editor of people’, he ran Arab News, Saudia Arabia’s leading English newspaper, for 23 years. Today he is the editor-in-chief of the Saudi Gazette.

Recognised as a liberal Saudi, now he primarily writes about social issues but Al Maeena is also famous for his perspective on the expatriate community, especially Pakistanis. Indeed, al Maeena has a soft spot for us mostly because he spent his formative years in Karachi.

Father Raymond at St Patrick’s High School shaped him as did bicycle rides from Bolton Market to Burns Road for Nihari. Food figures prominently in his memories. He recalls Saadullah’s sandwiches at the corner of PECHS Block 2 and how in the early 1960s, Karachi had some really good Chinese restaurants. “I loved eating at Bundoo Khan and Hanifia,” he adds. “Those were such idyllic days.”

As his family had been trading in the subcontinent since the 1920s, this meant that a young al Maeena made many trips between Bombay, Calcutta and cities in Sindh. Eventually, he chose to study in Karachi. After St Patrick’s College, he studied journalism at Karachi University where some of his peers included Khursheed Ahmad and Nusrat Nasrullah.

Back then, Karachi was one of the most beautiful cities of the east after Beirut and Cairo. He would take evening walks down Shaheed-e-Millat Road. “My great uncle had a house there. Every evening, smartly dressed girls would walk in groups. How safe the roads were!” he says. “There was a time when people would drive from Guru Mandir to Tariq Road at 2 am. There was no extremism or intolerance.”

Al Maeena refutes the notion that funding for terrorism in Pakistan came from the Saudi government. He interprets it as money flowing in through individuals. Pakistanis took money from rich Saudis by saying they would build mosques but the funds were misused. He maintains that Saudis have a soft corner for Pakistan.

In May 1998, a few weeks after India’s second nuclear test, Pakistan detonated five nuclear devices and became the seventh country to develop and test a nuclear missile. During that week circulation of newspapers went up fifty percent in Saudi Arabia.

The last time al Maeena came to Pakistan was in 2006 to visit the quake-hit areas. When asked if he would like to visit Karachi again, he says: “No, I do not want to be kidnapped.”

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 19th, 2013.

Like Express Tribune Magazine on Facebook to stay informed and join the conversation.


Travel: Jordan by ruins

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The first thing that strikes you is the poverty and not just in the shape of the old refugees from Palestine and new ones from Syria. Buildings stand half built. My friend points to a couple of high-rises that seem to go up 40 floors. He says construction was abandoned about 10 years ago as architects had forgotten to design a sewage system for the towers.

The city does not seem planned in the academic sense. Much like Karachi, roundabouts or ‘circles’ as they are referred to locally, serve as geographical reference points.

USAID stamps assert themselves on most plaques at tourist attractions. Expats tell me that the US has pumped huge sums of aid into Jordan. Research tells me that after Afghanistan and Pakistan, the third highest amount of American aid goes to Jordan.

The Umayyad Monemental Gateway to the palace on the Citadel hill in Amman

“Jordanians are confused about the US,” says an American. “On the one hand they are giving Jordanians all this money, and on the other hand they’re starting all the wars in the Middle East.” It makes it hard for them to form a single opinion about the US.

I can relate.

Feeling cheated

I started feeling cheated by pictures of Queen Rania. Jordan might not be the powerful, liberal country its representatives make it out to be. The litmus test was the way women were perceived.

In the souks for every 20 men, I see only one woman. In Jordan, by the age of 24 you are assumed to be married, friends tell me. Women, foreign women more perhaps, are hassled by the young men. In most cases, they shout haram, bandying it about unlike how we do in Pakistan.

I can’t say that the women are more conservative because I saw a lot of local Jordanians who were not. There are women who were the hijab and those who don’t. It’s perhaps evidence of natural diversity within a religion or culture, but I expected more respect from the men. The officer giving me a visa on entry asked why my head was not covered if I came from a Muslim family.

Hadrian’s Arch in Jerash built in 129 AD

The scene

Restaurants are buzzing in Amman, especially if you walk downhill from the first and second circles. Jordanians enjoy going out, smoking sheesha amid bites of hummus and muttabal. The food is divine. It is safe to say all those falafel places I ate at while studying in England were doing it wrong. Jordanians also enjoy a good barbeque. They don’t skimp on the meat.

The sights

Speaking in broken Arabic, only using words such as yanni and taqreeban, I take a taxi to one of the best viewpoints — the Citadel.

It is in this spot that the Roman Temple of Hercules stands next to the Byzantine church and the Umayyad mosque alongside an Early Bronze Age cave. You even walk through a broken Ammonite palace.

Rub a dub dub

The session at the hamam proved to be one of the highlights of my trip. Before you go, ensure you are extremely comfortable with your body. They will ask you to wear nothing but your underwear. Don’t worry, it’s segregated. If you feel uncomfortable, I suggest closing your eyes, because the women who work there don’t take no for an answer.

Remains of the Temple of Hercules, dedicated to the deity and constructed between 161-166 AD

You are first shoved into a steaming sauna that blinds you temporarily. In the midst of your yelps of pain an arm pops through the plastic curtain and hands you a pomegranate juice slushy. Savour this till the end.

After the sauna, another sweltering experience awaits in the jacuzzi. After your pores are opened, you lie on a marble slab where you are scrubbed to remove the grime. After they exfoliate the top three layers of your epidermis it’s off to the massage and then to a wooden coal steam room.

Jerash

At these ruins I saw the grandest, largest display of Roman architecture I could possibly lay eyes on at a single site. It had everything I studied in history class — the arches, the hippodrome for horses and chariots, the central plaza encircled by pillars, the fountains.

Walls of the city of Petra laced with tombs that have fallen victim to earthquakes and erosion

The most spectacular part was being able to walk in the grooves that chariot trails left behind centuries ago.

Petra

There’s a public transport strike for buses leaving Amman. At the time, rumours were circulating that three university students had been shot dead.

Finally on route to Petra, the journey seems bland. Flat desert and sporadic ghosts towns don sides of the roads.

Petra was first ‘sighted’ in 1812, by a Swedish man pretending to be a Muslim trader. Claims go as far back to 300 BC of when it was created. For centuries it remained unknown to the world outside. Bedouins, a nomadic people spread all over Arab world, inhabited the built-in-stone structures and lived here for years without telling non-natives of the existence of Petra.

The end of the entrance to Petra, As-Siq, is a narrow crevice, making it hard for people to discover the city in olden times

You almost miss the narrow opening on the left that takes you into Petra. The entrance is so tall that it has its own name: As-Siq. It is over 1000m. A shallow groove in the wall shows a water irrigation system along the entire way in. The walls reach up to 80 metres in places as if the city wanted to keep itself a secret.

Most of the statues are damaged. Guides say much of Petra was hit by earthquakes in old times, but the dwellings remain. Many Bedouins still act as tour guides, giving camel and donkey rides.

Here, the ultimate destination is the Monastery. What you see along the way is forgotten up a grueling hike through sand, stones, stairs, with Bedouin women selling you their jewelry for almost any price. If you ignore them, they shout, “It’s the same way down!”

The monastery, like every other building, that been carved horizontally into a thick stone wall with stunning precision.

They say Petra was abandoned eventually as trade routes went elsewhere. I can’t imagine why, or how anyone could leave it behind.

Not far from the monastery are viewing points where you can look over the entire valley. A Bedouin says that there is a river with lush green trees below, and that I can see Syria from here.

“Syria? From the south of Jordan?” I ask.

“Yes,” he replies.

I only believe the first half of his sentence.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 19th, 2013.

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Green car: The juice on hybrids in Pakistan

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If you lived near the Lahore airport and had to drive to Mall road regularly, you’d be open to buying a car whose fuel cost you less. Amir Riaz has that 50km commute, and he’s quite frank about his decision to keep a hybrid car. “I have a [regular car] too,” he told The Express Tribune. “But I prefer taking my [hybrid]. It is just sensible. It consumes one-fourth of the fuel.”

The hybrid guzzles less gas because it uses a combination of petrol and electric power (in the form of a battery). Pakwheels CEO Raza Saeed says over 90% of the hybrids sold on their website are the Toyota Prius manufactured in Japan. Other choices include the Insight and Reborn by Honda or the Civic hybrid. Some high-end names recently introduced to Pakistan are the Porsche hybrid and the BMW 7-series.

Porsche Panamera S-E Hybrid

While prices may vary depending on the model of the used car, something like the Toyota Prius will set you back 1.4m rupees. If you’ve got the cash to spare you could consider what Porsche, Mercedes and BMW have to offer at a hefty price tag of Rs13.5m. Porsche Pakistan CEO Abuzar Bukhari brought in the first luxury hybrid, the Cayenne, which gives 13.75 kilometres a litre. Interestingly enough, this is an SUV giving you better road mileage than a much smaller non-hybrid 1300cc or 1000cc car. “Pakistanis should not be limited to […] for hybrids,” he argues while naming two companies. “We Pakistanis deserve better, why buy used cars from other countries?”

Imports are the most obvious option, though, especially since no one is making them locally. These hybrids, many from Japan and the UK, are being brought over the Afghan border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. However, the majority of them are arriving at Port Qasim in Karachi. About two out of 10,000 used cars reaching Karachi shores each month are hybrids.

The hybrid is considered more environmentally friendly and economical when it comes to fuel consumption. And as petrol prices rise in Pakistan, some people are thinking this type of car is a better option. But despite these positives, this technology is struggling to become a viable player in Pakistan’s controlled market.

No bang for your buck

The government has put the squeeze on importing used cars. It now says that you can’t get them if they are more than three years old. It used to allow used cars that were up to five years old until the end of 2012.

According to official car import numbers, over 1,140 Toyota Prius were imported from July to October 2012 compared to less than a thousand units before the end of the previous financial year. But then the official policy changed.

Honda Insight Hybrid

“[Newer] used cars mean a higher price,” explains Salman Hameed, a hybrid dealer in Lahore. He was getting up to 70 cars until the government changed the rules. Now it’s just 20 and he thinks demand could sink further. This means that dealers like Hameed who used to be getting the 2007 models are now forced to get the 2010 ones. This means an average price difference of Rs400,000. “But it is also a newer car,” he says.

All of this would change if the government gave local manufacturers incentives. If not, people like Pakwheels CEO Raza Saeed feel that the market for hybrids will remain small because the choices are so limited. If local companies made the car, it would be cheaper and hybrids could possibly become the norm.

Take the example of India where there has been a concerted push by the government. Today, one of India’s leading local manufacturers, Tata, produces the Nano hybrid which is known as the world’s cheapest hybrid at a mere 100,000 Indian rupees.

On the other hand, in Pakistan, the government has deliberately kept a tight fist to protect the existing local car industry. The Federal Board of Revenue, which is the brains behind the import policy on hybrids, openly says it will not be opening the doors on this new technology because local manufacturers will be affected. FBR spokesman Israr Rauf admitted the previous government hadn’t done much to encourage it either. “We have to wait for the next budget first,” he says. “Even then, it is unlikely of the government to take any drastic steps to push local manufacturers to incorporate greener cars.” There is no roadmap on how to factor it into the budget either.

Honda Civic Hybrid

“The real issue today is that mainstream parties we have spoken to have little clarity on the long-term role of hybrid automobiles,” says Syed Umair, the head of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce’s environmental committee. It is certain though, that globally petrol-only cars will go, he adds.

Features and what to look out for

Hybrids are popular because people think they offer better mileage. Honda’s hybrid switches between the battery and fuel at a speed of up to 40km. The Prius operates dually at a speed of up to 120km, says dealer Hameed.

The ordinary hybrid car will likely have automatic windows, steering, a push start button, a remote key and a CD player. Others feature bluetooth, a GPS system, a back-view camera, an auto parking system, a hard-disk drive and a mini-disc player. Some more modified versions have two additional features of cruise control, a keyless entry by touching the car door and a keyless start option.

The deal-breaker is that these used cars don’t come with insurance. For some models the battery needs be changed after 200,000km which is about five years. When you buy one, advises Hameed, make sure you check that the battery is original and the synergy driver has not been tampered with.

Another concern is whether we have enough mechanics versed in this technology to repair them. But as has been proven in the past, when the market grows, eventually the manpower catches up. For now, it seems though that unless the government moves, hybrids will be stuck in the back seat.

Hybrids available in Pakistan

Cars                         Price                     Models

Toyota Prius            Rs1.4m-Rs3.2m          2003-2011

Honda Civic             Rs1.6m-Rs1.8m          2006-2010

Honda Insight         Rs1.7m                         2008-2010

Porsche Cayenne     Rs17m                          2013

All the cars mentioned above are imported

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 19th, 2013.

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Copy right: The Last Word

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Eve Ensler is lying on top of Coetzee. Roth is cheek by jowl with Rilke. Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K. The students greet each other with comic cries and sodden collapse. Their summer has been bloated with criminal pleasures. My very photogenic mother died in a freak accident (picnic, lightning)…

This is the world that awaits anyone who walks into The Last Word, Aysha Raja’s independent bookstore. It is not the place to go if you want the latest Paulo Coelho or a Sophie Kinsella. Only those used to the onomatopoeic somersaults of Tom Wolfe and the kind of syntax that emerges from German translations will feel at home here. E-book fans. Don’t bother.

Of course, Pakistan has a selection of solid, serious bookstores from Quetta to Islamabad (see box), but what sets this one apart are Aysha Raja’s likes and dislikes.

“Like any self-respecting independent book[store], [The Last Word] is informed by my tastes and preferences,” she says unapologetically. “A lot of publishers I work with often say that by their standards I have a very intellectual readership.” They have commented on how highbrow her customers’ tastes are.

This debunks the myth that Pakistanis don’t read or that we don’t enjoy a little Leviathan post our postprandial constitutional. “I never seem to have enough copies of Infinite Jest,” Raja explains, “but I will struggle to sell a single copy of the Twilight series. My business runs on my taste so I have to be really careful while choosing the right kind of books.”

And thus, while she prefers having a range of titles in fewer quantities to a handful in large quantities, this means higher costs and the risk of running out of certain copies. “But at least the book shop is in a position to constantly yield gems to discerning book buyers,” she adds.

Selfish motives

PHOTO SHAFIQ MALIK

After having moved to Lahore in the early 2000s, Raja found herself returning from occasional trips to Delhi with suitcases full of books. “I couldn’t fathom why we didn’t have the same variety across the border. I was always envious of their bookstores,” she says. “Accessibility to books with ease is a fundamental right.”

And then, in 2005, when she was pregnant with her daughter Leila, she visited a bookshop in Istanbul called Robinson Crusoe 389 on the hip stiklal Caddesi. “It was the perfect embodiment of a small independent book shop and served as the inspiration [for my own],” she says. The name The Last Word summed up her ambitions. She wanted the book shop to be the destination for cutting-edge, definitive works of fiction, non-fiction and the creative arts.

Raja, who was a lawyer for eight years, started out by opening her home to readers with a small exhibition that relied on their interest and her coffee table more than anything else.

“You can do such things in Pakistan with ease. It is an unregulated society, where there is no need to seek permits and loans. I never felt the limitations taking on a huge endeavour here.”

She is candid that the business plans that were drawn up for her would have in all probability turned her off the idea except for the fact that she was committed. Guts made up for a lack of business sense.

PHOTO SHAFIQ MALIK

She invested heavily in the inventory before publishers extended her credit and after starting out in her own house she was lucky to get space at PFDC. “I am eternally grateful to Seher Saigol for allowing me the opportunity to set up shop with no overheads whatsoever,” she says. The Last Word eventually found its home at The Hot Spot in Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore and recently moved to Roadside Café in Karachi. She is going to open at Mocca café in Islamabad by the end of May or in June.

The big break came when a Random House editor urged her to promote Mohammed Hanif’s A Case of Exploding Mangoes. “The manuscript was amazing and I was sure that this book would create ripples in the literary landscape,” she says. “I never had imported from India [though]. It was my first time, and there were obviously problems because of the animosity between the two countries. The people at the customs office were suspicious about the name of General Zia on the book.”

It has been names like Hanif’s that has made reading sexier in Pakistan in the last decade or so. It also helps that in the sub-continent we are still in love with the feel of the weight of a book and the smell that nestles in its spine. Bricks-and-mortar bookstores still have plenty of cultural currency in Pakistan.

“I remember talking to Hanif Kureishi about the turnout on the reading gathering which is merely fifty abroad,” recalls Raja. “He was amazed that we can easily gather 200 people at any reading gala. It shows that there is a lot more intellectual curiosity over here.” For Raja this means that it is more and more important for publishers to target this part of the world.

PHOTO SHAFIQ MALIK

Aside from benefiting from a serious reading population, Raja’s success lies in stocking what she is curious about herself. “I tend to enjoy more left wing literature, by that I also mean non-fiction.” This means increasingly buying from Verso (Tariq Ali) to stocking the shelves with works on the movement of the Arab Spring. It is at The Last Word that you will find Jane Jacobs, the Hummingbird Bakery’s Home Sweet Home, Jeanette Winterson, Oliver Sacks, Phaidon’s art books, Le Corbusier, The Velveteen Rabbit.

She has close to 5,000 titles in stock from publishers ranging from the big six, including Random House and Penguin, to the smaller imprints such as Verso, Persephone, Hesperus, Quirk and specialist publishers such as Phaidon, DC Comics/Vertigo, and Gollanz. “Being a boutique book shop we largely air-freight our titles in to keep the wait time as little as possible,” she explains. And readers are free to interact on their Facebook page if there are any special requests or recommendations. Her range of fiction is heavily influenced by customer preferences and feedback. These days, Mohsin Hamid’s How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia and Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilaka are flying off the shelves.

On her bedside table, metaphorically speaking, is Come to the Edge by Joanna Kavenna, one of Granta’s recently heralded Young British Authors, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore that will hit the shelves in June, and Sex and the Citadel by Shereen El Feki. “I read a lot and yet not enough,” she admits. And like any serious reader, she is usually juggling two to three books at a time. She reads every day, in the car, at home, in waiting rooms. Forget TV and Twitter. You’re more likely to find her behind a book.

Although she prefers 20th century works to the more contemporary literature coming out today, most of what she reads is usually published within the last 12 months. (She abhors chicklit). She is drawn to explications of the human condition and the art of writing. “I find it imperative to read [about] how superficial and base we’ve become. That’s what literature does; it puts our values and ideas under the lens and shows us how flawed we are. We could do with the constant reminder[s].”

Don’t ask to borrow a book. She doesn’t lend them to friends because she becomes “unbearably passive aggressive trying to secure their return”. And while she can’t bear to damage a book, somehow they always end up ravaged by the time she is through with them. She only recently started annotating the ones that she was reviewing. Now Leila’s school permission slips, shopping receipts, flyers are morphed in bookmarks.

As for perhaps writing her own book some day, Raja knows it is unlikely. “I cannot open myself to be scrutinised that much.” She would rather read about the lives of others.

Kitabain.com

Founded by Usman Siddiqui and Jawad Yousuf, this website provides an online marketplace for independent sellers of new and used books, as well as rare and collectible titles.   (021) 32426851

Gosha-e-Adab, Quetta

Housed in the historic, Kabir Building off Jinnah Road, Gosha-e-Adab was founded in 1962 and is one of the oldest and most prominent bookstores in Quetta. The place to go for books on Balochistan and its society. (081) 2820375, 2843229 goshaeadab.com.

We also recommend Bookland on M.A. Jinnah Road  (081) 2824295 and New Quetta Bookstall on Jinnah Road  (081) 2842882

Ferozsons, Lahore

This bookstore is over a 100 years old. It was founded by Al-Haj Maulvi Feroz-ud-Din. (042) 111-62-62-62

 Readings, Lahore

Readings opened in 2006 and claims to be the largest bookshop in Lahore that provides a large range of old books at affordable prices.   (042) 11-11-26657

Thomas and Thomas, Karachi

The oldest surviving bookstore in Karachi, Thomas & Thomas has been standing tall since before Partition and was run by a British gentleman before it was bought in 1948 by Mohammad Yunus’s family.  (021) 35682220

Saeed Book Bank, Islamabad

The well-stocked Saeed Book Bank was founded in 1955 by Saeed Jan Qureshi with the aim of “making books assessable and knowledge affordable”. It has expanded to Peshawar as well. Phone: 92-51-2651656-57-58

Liberty Books

Established in 1961, Liberty Books is best known for distributing new titles. They deliver to your doorstep as well (libertybooks.com).  (021) 111-117-323 

The Strand, New York City

If you are ever in New York, do visit The Strand at 828 Broadway (at 12th St.). It opened in 1927 and has 18 miles of books or over 2.5 million used, new and rare titles.

Foyles, London

London is full of beautiful bookstores but we thought we’d mention Foyles because of the one-of-a-kind Ray’s Jazz cafe on the first floor. Open up the new book you’ve just bought, take a seat at one of the rough hewn wooden tables and lose yourself for hours.

Daunt Books, London

Even if you don’t buy anything here, you have to see Daunt Books at Marylebone High Street once in your lifetime if simply for its Edwardian interior. You will never want to leave the long oak galleries that are bathed in sunlight filtering in from the graceful skylights above.

Primrose Hill Books

One of Aysha’s favourite spots. PHB has been called one of the best small bookshops in London. It is located on a quiet Victorian terrace — the best natural vantage point in London for a spectacular view of the whole city.

London Review Bookshop

According to Snipe’s Kate Weston, LRB’s classy dark exterior opens into a small yet spacious, light and well stocked bookshop. It opened nine years ago to bring people a range of literary and academic titles.

Robinson Crusoe 389, Istanbul

Whether you’re looking for a specific book, or just want to browse, Robinson Crusoe 389 is perfect with its floor to ceiling book stacks. Twenty-minutes away from Taksim Square, it’s the most well-known English language bookstore in Istanbul.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 19th, 2013.

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Gadgets: Tech for Time Pass

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The pen is mightier than the rubber band

This is a working pen that doubles as a surprisingly accurate rubber-band shooter. Continue working while you protect yourself from invading seniors all for just about $ 10.

 

Of course, if you are a professional then you will need the Office Warrior, which can be loaded with 144 rubber bands and will equip you to take on the entire board of directors! It’s made of handcrafted wood and costs $ 900 from kleargear.com

Fake it till you make it

And here is a contribution from the world of nerds and geeks to the world of haute couture. These funky tattoo sleeves will have you looking tough and macho or cool and radical in the blink of an eye. Just pull them on and go out and strut your stuff. They come in pairs, one with black tattoos and the other with colour motifs. Switch them around or wear one on each arm. We have seen them advertised on olx for Rs120 each.

Shaken and stirred

No self-respecting geek is worth her salt unless she is too lazy to get her own coffee. We believe even stirring it yourself is too much. Which is why we need the Self Stirring Mug! At a touch of the button in the handle, your beverage will begin to spin into a dizzying vortex. I am not sure if it is available anywhere here except online, and it’s not really cheap with prices starting at Rs1,000.

Not for sale

Only the Japanese could come up with the anti-rape dress. We are not quite sure why. But the logic is that this skirt transforms the wearer into a vending machine. The idea is that the woman would be camouflaged and the would-be attacker or rapist would simply walk past her. We are not even sure where you could get one.

Extreme sport

The ball that bounces on water is already a well-known product the world over.

According to the MIT Tech Review, the Waboba (water bouncing ball) works because it is hollow and soft. The physics of shallow angles, bowl-shaped depressions and aquaplaning are involved. All we care about is that it’s fun. It comes in different versions with a variable bounce and even post-bounce accuracy so that it doesn’t change direction. Available online from various website for Rs1,500.

Undercover policing

We like this invention for its sheer creativity. An Indian student has created an anti-rape bra that can deliver 82 electric shocks to the would-be perpetrator and is equipped with communication software that alerts the police and the girl’s family. It also has GPS so that the target can be located. It’s called SHE (Society Harnessing Equipment) and once the pressure sensors are activated, it can deliver up to 3,800 kilovolts. It is expected to be available soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 12th, 2013.

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Movie review: The Croods – What kids can teach us

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In theory we want our children to grow up to be fearless and adventurous. We wish we had a little more spunk and didn’t scare so easy ourselves. A film like The Croods reminds us of those noble aspirations in a time when the instinct of Pakistani parents to protect their children keeps them from discovering the world.

At the centre of this animated 3D comedy is the feisty broad-faced girl Eep (Emma Stone), whose character is worlds apart from the stereotype of the slender heroine with a well-coiffed do. Eep’s thirst for adventure sets her at odds with her father Grug (Nicholas Cage) who puts safety at the top of his family’s needs — no one leaves the cave or does anything new.

As history has taught us, this philosophy of life worked in prehistoric times, which has been lusciously recreated by the team at DreamWorks who worked with writer-directors Chris Sanders and Kirk DiMicco. The problem is that your comfort zone can become a cage.

Luckily for Eep, an earthquake marks the start of her adventure as it forces her father Grug to abandon the cave with his family and embark on a road trip that will change the course of their lives forever. Thus The Croods is a story of survival, discovery and adventure packaged with slapstick humour and plenty of action. It is perhaps the story of today as well for are not all families trying to cope with change and a generation gap.

Natural calamity is not the only twist in this adventure. Guy (Ryan Reynolds) enters the picture. His relatively modern lifestyle, which includes animal skin shoes, eating from a plate and the ability to light a fire, give this primitive story an additional spark. Combined with his survival instinct and a mind full of ideas, Guy gives the Croods a lesson in embracing change without fear.

Though full of fun, this visual marvel does drag at certain points with repetitive hunting sequences and apart from Grug, Eep and Guy the other characters (Ugga, the attractive mom, Thunk, the chubby middle child, Sandy, the toddler with an insatiable appetite and Gran, Ugga’s mother) contribute little to the overall plot. This is a small price to pay for an important lesson though.

Watch out for these animation movies

1.Monsters University

The much-awaited prequel to 2001’s Monsters, Inc, is finally set to release in June. Set about 10 years before the events of Monsters, Inc, this film will show Mike Wazowski and James P Sullivan as an inseparable pair, wasn’t always the case. Monsters University unlocks the door to how Mike and Sulley overcame their differences and became the best of friends.

 2. Epic

We never tire of the good old-fashioned battles between Good and Evil. This time-tested formula was used by the creators of Ice Age and Rio, to tell the story of a teenage girl who finds herself magically transported into a secret universe, which she ends up saving with help from a team of whimsical characters.

3.Planes

Cars created quite a buzz in 2006 so we’re hoping Planes can soar high as well. After Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, director Klay Hall introduces you to Dusty, a crop-dusting plane who dreams of competing in a famous aerial race. But, what’s stopping him from realising his dreams is well, a fear of heights.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 12th, 2013.

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