Karachi Literature Festival Remembers Ibne Safi

Literary fraternity at last recognizes Ibn e Safi. The occasion is 3^rd   Karachi Literature Festival 2012. In session titled “ THE RE BIRTH OF IBN-E-SAFI, Sher Shah Syed, Khalid Jawed, Shakeel Adilzada and Ahmad Safi paid tributes to legendary author.

I personally think that ibn e Safi phenomenon  was never dead and people never lost touch with his writing, so the talk about his re birth is just another cliché of the literature fraternity, which means nothing but a face saving one for them.

Frere Hall

One of the most beautiful sights of Karachi this is majestic building of Frere Hall, which now has been opened for general public after years. This houses the impressive Sadequain Gallery where breath taking ceiling mural is a treat to watch, also every Sunday now there is an arrangement of Books Bazaar in the Lawns.

Colors, Flowers and Smiles

A Flower Show is in exhibition till tomorrow at Beach View Park organized by Karachi Horticulture Society, and what a joyful experience it is, seeing Beautiful flowers, plants, garden accessories amid the most robust audience, who seems really cheered up in the most beautiful environment. A tour of the exhibition is sort of a fantasy trip where nature and human craftsmanship are amalgamated to produce the most pleasing sights that one can witness.

Karachi Literature Festival

The second Karachi Literature Festival ended today, for me the highlight was the address by Karen Armstrong where she very lucidly spoke about compassion and the ego that comes in the way of compassion.

The Rising Tide

The above is a beautiful view of Mohatta Palace Museum on Sunday 19 December 2010. I went to this impressive place to see an outstanding art exhibition by 40 new and established artists. The exhibition has been named THE RISING TIDE : new directions in art from Pakistan 1990-2010.

It is being exhibited under 11 interesting titles:
1-Cartographies of Intimacy
2-The Urban Transitions
3-Language of Belonging
4-Ghosts in Turret
5-Mauj Media Collective
6-Desperately Seeking Paradise
7-World Plane
8-Between the Real and the Fabricated
9-If you are everywhere
10-City, Citizen and Space
11-Imagined Works Envisioning Spaces.

The exhibition will remain on display till 1st March 2011, it is a worth watching show.

Dancing Chefs

Expo Center Karachi is exhibiting a gorgeous annual event ALL ABOUT LIFESTYLE. This exhibition started today and will go on for 3 days ( 7th to 9th November). Above is a picture of chefs in live action where they were singing, dancing and preparing delicious biscuits and cookies! Wow! It was just a thrilling sight.

Law and Order in Karachi

An amorous and lovely sight, couple of crows seems in complete peace with pigeons and in the background is the beautiful Sind High Court building.

Caged Birds

This is hustling and bustling 'BIRDS BAZAR' near Empress Market. One can find every known bird caged here. It is so much crowed with visitors that one have to wrestle through to reach near the caged birds who look so helplessly at each visitor and seems saying:
"Azad muj ko kerdey O qaid kernay walay"

Few years back when I visited this place I purchased a cage full of about fifty small colorful birds and asked the vendor to free them, he opened the cage door to free the beautiful small birds. They instantly started fleeing and on seeing them flying out I had a great sense of satisfaction, but in the next moment I was totally devastated when I looked up, as hundreds of kites were diving, snatching and devouring the small birds…

Karachi Port at Night

The illumination in the distant is Karachi Port at Night, where ships are docked and loading and unloading of containers go on round the clock. This is a view from Karachi Club.

Ramazan Cricket

Karachi is experiencing religious fervor in the holy month of Ramazan and on the same time it is also experiencing the festivities like the regular Ramazan Cricket. Karachi is the place where genesis of T20 Cricket took place many many years ago in the holy month of Ramazan when the idea of a brisk version of cricket germinated in the minds of cricket lovers of this city. Since then Karachi regularly holds T20 matches. Some matches start around 4 pm and end well before Iftar time. There is also a super league where matches take place after Taraveeh prayers and end at midnight. The above is a match in operation on 6th Ramazan 17th August 2010 at AKU cricket ground between PPL and NJC. PPL cricket team is batting and needs 18 runs to win in last two over and the match is promising an exciting finish but see how a crow sitting on the fence seems totally disinterested of proceedings!

Karachi's Ecological Center

Karachi has very few ecological centers, Malir river bank is one of those, lush green, with serenity and beauty of its own, and after recent rains it is looking just majestic.

Road Side Book Stalls

This is one of the many road side book stall of Karachi, where daily hundreds of people read newspapers headlines for free. This bookstall besides newspaper caters to popular magazines and also popular literature. This is the stall from where during my school days I used to get my, The Cricketer, Sportstimes, Nigar weekly(film magazine), Subrung Digest and Ibne Safi’s Imran Series.

Karachi Parks

Lately Karachi is thriving with beautiful Parks. These Parks are coming up in every locality and are adding to the beauty and freshness of City life. Above is a night view of ASKARI PARK at University Road.

Wisdom of a Commoner

This lone fruit merchant does not sell fruits only , if you have time, he can give you a word or two of wisdom also. The common person of Pakistan is wise and selfless.

Blossoming Nurseries

These days in early summer, nurseries in Karachi are Blooming and flourishing with summer plantation, onec in a while visiting them and buying a plant is such a joyful and exciting endeavor. The picture shows of one such nursery located at Karsaz near Maritime Museum.

Walking with Moon

The full moon overlooking at AKU(Aga Khan University) jogging track, what a wonderful experience of walking along-with full moon, a sense of extreme well being of body and soul emerging simultaneously.

Pigeons and a slice of light

The collection of forty-one paintings, rendered in oil on canvas by incomparable JAMIL NAQSH were displayed at Momart Gallery, and Book named ‘Pigeons and a slice of light’ was also launched. Book is about Naqsh’s most recent painting with a beautiful introduction “Myths and Memories: An Artist’s Inspiration” written by our finest art critic Marjorie Husain.

The painting at display are just breath taking, the colors and the usual rendering of pigeons in various positions is astonishing. All paintings with a singular subject are very different and engaging. Use of various textures shows the command that Naqsh has on his medium.

Karachi Literature Festival

Karachi hosted a grand Literature Festival which was organized by British Council and Oxford University Press on 20th and 21st March at Carlton Hotel. I had an opportunity of attending three sessions on 21st March. First was A TRIBUTE TO QURATULAIN HYDERN,

second was DISCUSSION ON WORLD OF URDU SHORT STORIES

and third SUFISM AND LITERATURE.

Personally I liked the panel discussion on Sufism and Literature although Amar Jaleel a renowned writer whose name was on the panel could not attend, still others conducted it well but Fehmida Raiz stole the show while rendering her translation of Rumi is a very beautiful style.

More of such festivals are certainly required in Karachi where these days the only entertainment with Karachiites is eating out.

Today's Dawn with Arman

Please see Daily Dawn's magazine IMAGES today, which has a wonderful article on Waheed Murad's glorious movie ARMAN. The article is written by the most talented, stylish and eminent scholar KHURRAM ALI SHAFIQUE.

Challenging Life

The picture is a bit murky it was taken while I was going back to home in the beautiful coastal city and the twilight had just set in. The scene is not unfamiliar, a bus and on all around and on top of bus people riding their luck while taking huge risk and hazard. I referred to the web dictionary to find what risk and hazard means to which I found this:

” hazard: a source of danger; a possibility of incurring loss or misfortune; "drinking alcohol is a health hazard"

I think , since drinking alcohol is not a cultural norm of the civic metro hence people take a chance with sitting on the bus top or hanging from all sides, a huge possibility. Then some lines of poem read long ago resonated in the ears which sounded the true spirit of the bravery to which we are daily witness on the streets:

“We all tend to play it safe once in a while.
I had been playing it safe for a long time
and ultimately no longer had a life!”

So, this is a life, playing it while setting aside the safety,or if put in right words its Challenging Life.