LAHORE: On the concluding day of the 10th three-day Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) on Sunday, literature lovers swarmed the Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall, to attend different sessions, including thought-provoking discussions, book launches and live music.
On the first and second days of the festival, there wasn’t any music performance, however on the last day, instrumentalists of the Alhamra Performing Arts Academy added spice to the event by playing the flute, the sitar and the tabla.
An important and environment-friendly gesture by the festival organisers was availability of paper glasses at the venue to drink water, instead of plastic water bottles.
The festival also witnessed the opening of permanent Alhamra Book Shop in the foyer area of Hall No 1.
At one of the sessions titled ‘Photography the Fact’ known Indian photographer Raghu Rai was in conversation with renowned Pakistani architect Nayyer Ali Dada. The noted architect explored various aspects of photography, while sharing his own journey. Mr Dada, introducing the photographer said Rai had excelled in his field to the extent that his photographs were considered on par with paintings.
Rai, also a photojournalist, emphasised on purity, be it any field of art. Every art should mirror humanity, he added. In 2019, Paris Academy chose Rai as the best photographer for the depth his photographs. The award givers were of the opinion that his photographs were on par with paintings and literature.
Elaborating on the purpose of photography, Rai said as honest journalism was considered the first draft of history, so an image that captured the time was the first draft of visual history. The sense of wonder a photograph created, could not be created through a painting, he added.
Rai shared with the audience that he wanted to become a singer because he liked music a lot, but his father never agreed to it, so he became an engineer and worked in a company for two years. However, things changed for him when his first photograph found place in the Indian daily, Times of India. During the session, Rai also showed some of the photographs he took on different occasions, including those of mother Teresa and those capturing culture of Rajasthan.
In another session, an Urdu novel by known playwright, novelist and educationist Asghar Nadeem Syed – Jahan Abaad Ki Guliyaan (streets of Jahan Abaad) — was launched.
About the novel, moderator Nasir Abbas Nayyer said that time in which this novel was set was the most dreaded period of the country’s history — the 11 years of Zia regime. He said the novelist had fictionalised a historical account of those dark days.
The author said that his novel was the outcome of woe and remorse of his generation which was young during Gen Zia’s martial law. He regretted that the effects of that dark era were still there. He said that after writing plays for around three decades, he thought what could not be said through the drama, should be described in novel. “Through this novel, I have brought forth the experiences, the pain, sorrow and the agony me and my generation faced during those 11 years [under Zia]”. He said the novel had many stories, of Pakistan and of England, and tells how things were manipulated here and there during those days.
In yet another session, ‘Culture Wars and Curriculum, Language and Culture in Multicultural; Societies’, Javed Malik and Nadeem Farooq Paracha threw light on how learning was impacted by ideological wars. Mr Malik, while peeping through the history’s curtains, shared with the audience how Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was an enlightened, educated soul who tried to create awareness among the Muslims to motivate them to get education, especially science subjects.
He also pointed out contradictions in the reformist with regard to women’s education.
Nadeem Paracha lamented that not much work had been done on curriculum in Pakistan. He regretted that folk music and regional languages were discouraged in schools and colleges. Keeping in view different political and social interests, it was quite problematic to come up with a single national curriculum, he said. He said it was important to spread education among the working class and the women.
