SEPTEMBER 7-13 2014
Two motorcyclists manoeuvre Pakistan’s image in the right direction
September 7-13 2014
Feature
Noble Pakistan
Cover Story
Celebrating the nine Pakistanis who have been honoured with the Ramon Magsaysay Award
Taking the High Road Two motorcyclists prove that sometimes the only solution to a big problem is a creative one
32
Feature
Ap(p)t Delivery The Pijjit app helps you find the perfect courier for your overseas deliveries
24
4
36 Regulars
6 People & Parties: Out and about with beautiful people
38 Reviews: Movies and Art
42 Green Thumb: The 11th World
Flower Show in Dublin
Magazine In-charge: Sarah Munir and Senior Subeditor: Dilaira Dubash Creative Team: Amna Iqbal, Essa Malik, Jamal Khurshid, Munira Abbas, Mohsin Alam, Omer Asim, Sanober Ahmed & Talha Ahmed Khan Publisher: Bilal A Lakhani. Editor: Kamal Siddiqi For feedback and submissions: magazine@tribune.com.pk Twitter: @ETribuneMag & Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ETribuneMag Printed: uniprint@unigraph.com
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Grandeur Art Gallery holds an art exhibition on Independence day in Karachi
PhoToS couRTESy cATAlyST PR & MARKETInG
Cyra and Zahra Malkani
Neshmia Ahmad and Nadia Malik with a friend
Saira
Naz Fancy
6 September 7-13 2014
Akram Spaul and Omar Farid with a guest
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Ali
Yaseen Haider with a friend
Rubina Manlkani
Mr and Mrs Onar
8 September 7-13 2014
tÂ
Sadiq Huassin
PhoToS couRTESy cATAlyST PR & MARKETInG
Rind and Syed
PEOPLE & PARTIES Sharmeen obaidchinoy Films launches a series of short documentaries titled I Heart Karachi at nueplex cinemas, Karachi
PhoToS couRTESy KAShIF-ud-dun
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Fahd Chinoy
Abid Farooq
Emu and Nabila
The SOC Films team
10 September 7-13 2014
Seemin Jamali
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Sehr Munir PhoToS couRTESy KAShIF-ud-dun
Sana Sultan
Sameera Raja
Nida Azwer
12 September 7-13 2014
Rukaiya Adamjee
Zeba Husain Mujahid and Almaas Sadiq
PEOPLE & PARTIES dawood Global Foundation hosts the lAdIESFund Evening Seminar and cruise in Karachi
PhoToS couRTESy FARooq uSMAn FoR Tud PR
Zoya Ahmed and Simi Nadeem
Hira Salman and Sabeen Waqar
Hina Fatima
Deepak Perwani
14 September 7-13 2014
Yousuf Bashir Qureshi and Varah Musavvir
PEOPLE & PARTIES
PhoToS couRTESy FARooq uSMAn FoR Tud PR
Amber, Rubab and Shabana
Pinky Durrani
Sidra
tullah Charmaine Hidaya
16 September 7-13 2014
Khalid Mallik
e
Maliha Bhimje
Two motorcyclists manoeuvre Pakistan’s image in the right direction Design by Mohsin AlAM
How do you get people to sit up and take notice of basic issues, such as health, education or human rights, when even the most devastating of conflicts have a shelf life of a few hours? You take your car or bike, whatever is within your means, and set off on a journey to spread the message on your own. If you are lucky and do the job right, you may even raise money for the cause you are championing. A few adventure-loving Pakistanis have done something similar recently and proven that sometimes the only solution to a big problem is a creative one.
COVER sToRy
Riders for a cause by KifAh QAsiM
PHOTOS COURTESY: KHITAB AND NATASHA KHAN
Thirty-year-old Khitab Khan has spent a good part of his life ensuring that the adage of “the spirit for adventure is dead!” never applies to him. Building on his childhood appetite for adventure, he embarked on a motorbike journey across the globe along with his father, Burhan M Khan, this year. And if the duo successfully completes this voyage, they will be the first Pakistanis to have gone round the world on motorbikes. A mechanical engineer by profession, Khitab, from Lahore, lived for nine years in USA studying engineering at Penn State University and then went on to work for HarleyDavidson. After working for a few years, however, he realised that the monotony of corporate life was not something he wished to settle into. He, therefore, left engineering and pursued his first love — adventure. With his father having worked in the air force, the spirit to explore was not alien to the Khan household. In 2012, Khitab travelled from Lahore to London on a motorbike with his father. “I’ve been riding on motorcycles since I was very young; I prefer them over other modes of transportation,” he says, adding that aeroplanes are boring and trains are a passive mode of travel while cars are just pointless. “Motorcycles provide the freedom to truly feel the place one is passing through [and] to engage with the environment.”
Khitab Khan embarks on a motorbike journey across the globe to raise awareness for the lUMs national outreach Programme which provides financial assistance to talented students. The duo is looking for tough routes and remote roads, such as the Road of Bones in Russia where slaves perished, to make their self-funded expedition as unusual and unique as possible. Khitab, who prefers to spend money on moments and experiences that will last a lifetime, says, “Death is inevitable. It is not how many seconds I live that counts, but how fully I live the seconds I have.” Their mission this time, however, is not just limited to experiencing new things but also to promote education — a cause close to their hearts. They aim to raise awareness for the Lahore University of Management Sciences’ (LUMS) National Outreach Programme (NOP) which provides scholarships to talented students in need of financial assistance. Their jackets and bikes proudly bear the NOP logo.
The drive for humanity to push limits has simmered down compared to the past Motorcyclist Khitab Khan
26 Khitab Khan with his father burhan M Khan, who shares his passion for adventure. September 7-13 2014
On June 20, they took their first steps towards completing their 104-day world tour, and after crossing the China border and travelling through Mongolia and Russia, they are now in Seattle, USA, to deliver their bikes, lovingly named Bassanto and BG, to their dealership for repair and service. From here they will go on to ride across Canada, England, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Iran and then back to Pakistan. “It’s been a revelation of how beautiful the world can be,” Khitab says about his journey thus far. From Pakistan’s snow-capped mountains to the breathtaking night skies in Mongolia, he claims to have experienced some of the best moments of his life surrounded by nature. Acts of kindness from complete strangers have been equally encouraging for Khitab and his father. While riding through a remote area in Mongolia, they saw a group of wild horses and stopped to admire the beautiful spectacle. There was nothing in the vicinity but a small tent, from which a girl emerged carrying two cups of tea which she offered to them silently. Her parents then gave them food, again silently. No one spoke the other’s language and yet they enjoyed a comfortable moment together. Similarly, at a rest stop in Russia, a boy handed Khitab their patron saint of luck as a thank-you gift for allowing him to sit on his bike and pretend to ride it. “They (the boy and his mother) knew we had an arduous journey ahead. And while they were in the middle of nowhere, it was not their own safety that the boy thought of,” he says, touched by the boy’s gesture. “There existed no inhibitions, no racial or class differences, or any language barrier in that moment. It was only the purity of his soul that made him do something so kind for two complete strangers.” Such stories of kindness and adventure are replete on Khitab’s Facebook page where he keeps his followers updated. “The drive for humanity to push limits has simmered down compared to the past,” Khitab insists, adding that the blame mainly lies on the emphasis on security by our education
The goodluck charm presented to Khitab by a boy while passing through Russia.
Khitab Khan proudly poses next to a signboard after crossing the dreaded Road of bones in Russia.
I’ve been riding on motorcycles since I was very young; I prefer them over other modes of transportation, Motorcycles provide the freedom to truly feel the place one is passing through [and] to engage with the environment Motorcyclist Khitab Khan system. “We have killed the spirit that took us to the moon. We went there in the 1960s and we haven’t gone any further.” Having grown up in an environment that encouraged independence, Khitab was fortunate enough to pursue his dreams without being judged. And the bond with his father has only strengthened after this shared experience. But this is just the beginning of one of Khitab’s many adventures. He fears turning 70 and not having done enough in his lifetime, such as trekking to the North and South Pole, sailing across the world, climbing the highest peak in every continent, driving from Cairo to Cape Town, going to space, scuba diving with the great white sharks, riding a 12-feet high wave and then writing a book. He wants to experience the thrills of life without having to regret later, and he’s only getting started. Kifah Qasim Memon is a freelance writer based in Karachi. She is majoring in Sociology. September 7-13 2014
27
Muhammad iqbal ghangla embarks on a 60-day tour of Pakistan titled ‘Peaceful Pakistan’.
A man in the right direction by fAzAl gilAni
PHOTOS COURTESY: MUHAMMAD IQBAL GHANGLA
The small-but-visible Pakistani flag stitched onto Muhammad Iqbal Ghangla’s prominently red-andblack riding gear tells a mostly positive story. Just as his uniform suggests, the man literally wears his heart on his sleeve when talking about his country and riding bikes. Ghangla, who originally belongs to Multan, recently completed a successful 60-day tour of Pakistan, called ‘Peaceful Pakistan’, on the back of his motorbike. The journey was funded mainly by himself along with some support by the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation to promote a resilient image of the country worldwide. And by completing the 20,000km journey in just 55 days, from April 20 to June 14, he now holds a national record for the feat. “I made my first 12-feet long bicycle and toured from Multan to Islamabad on it,” says Ghangla, who was 18 years of age at the time. After reaching his destination within just four days, on February 24, 1992, he received a warm welcome from the sports minister who also awarded him Rs2,000. “I realised that this is exactly [the method] I can [use to] promote my country’s beauty,” he adds. And by the late 1990s, he was ready to take his passion to the next level and pursue long and short bicycle tours across Pakistan. Just when Ghangla seemed to be heading in the right direction, his bicycle was burnt to the ground in Multan during the unrest that followed Benazir Bhutto’s assassination 28 in 2007. “This was the time when I forgot about my dream of September 7-13 2014
ghangla poses with the poster he carried throughout the journey to prove to the world that Pakistan is a peace-loving nation that is safe for tourists. a bicycle tour of the world,” he says. Although disheartened by the incident at first, it didn’t take long for Ghangla to get back on track and pursue his dreams — this time on the back of a motorbike. He saved money over the next couple of years and bought a Sukuki 150cc motorbike on a six-month installment and from 2006 to 2012 covered a total of 60,000km doing several tours of Pakistan. “I have done plenty of awareness tours, including care for the blind, relief funds for earthquake and flood victims, disease control and educational awareness,” says Ghangla. Having set his mind on promoting his country next, he bought a Yamaha Tenere 660cc motorbike along with a camera and a travelling kit for Rs1,700,000 in 2012, after selling a piece of land and set about on the 2014 ‘Peaceful Pakistan’ tour. Before embarking on the long journey, Ghangla did a
warm-up 12,000km tour called ‘Welcome to Pakistan’. He left Multan on November 5, 2012, and reached his final destination, in Islamabad, after 30 days. Fully prepared, he set out for his big mission from Karachi, travelling through numerous cities in Sindh and Punjab, and then from Azad Jammu and Kashmir to Naran, and concluding in Multan. Throughout the tour, he kept his followers updated by posting pictures and statuses on his Facebook page. He held his ‘Peaceful Pakistan’ poster high wherever he went, asking others to do the same, and managed to depict an unfiltered picture of Pakistan. His invaluable experiences, shared with people from diverse cultural backgrounds and ethnicities, have been documented along with Pakistan’s impeccable landscape. Although Ghangla’s journey was mostly peaceful, there were a few bumps along the way. Several tyre punctures, mugging and an accident on the way to Kashmir didn’t deter him as much as the demise of his father during the last leg of his journey. Recalling that day he says, “I tried a lot to get a flight from Gilgit and even from Islamabad, but when all my efforts went in vain, I kickstarted my motorbike and reached home riding all the way from Gilgit to Multan.” This was the toughest 25-hour journey of Ghangla’s life, but despite the impact on his health, he managed to accomplish what he had set out to do. Fazal Gilani is a freelance journalist and former news reporter. He tweets @Gilaniism
ghangla crosses a stream to successfully complete his peaceful tour.
I have done plenty of awareness tours, including care for the blind, relief funds for earthquake and flood victims, disease control and educational awareness Bike enthusiast Muhammad iqbal ghangla
29
ghangla parks his motorbike at the side of the road to rest before resuming his journey. September 7-13 2014
FeATURe
Noble Pakistan Nine Pakistanis have been honoured with the Ramon Magsaysay Award — Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize BY NUDRAT KAMAL DesigN BY MUNiRA ABBAs
For most people, an award can be a source of confidence, encouragement or pride. But for the nine selfless Pakistanis, who have been honoured with the Ramon Magsaysay Award, this prestigous feather in their cap never went to their head. The award, which was established in 1957 — in honour of Philippine president Ramon Magsaysay, widely lauded for his integrity and pragmatic idealism — has been recognising people and organisations committed to community service for over 40 years. Its recipients include a wide range of people, from Mother Teresa to the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, as well as nine Pakistanis, with The Citizens Foundation (TCF) being the latest recipient.
32 September 7-13 2014
Akhtar Hameed Khan Year of the award: 1963
SOURCE: FILE
Abdul Sattar Edhi and Bilquis Edhi Year of the award: 1986
Akhtar Hameed Khan, a development activist and social scientist, who set up a comprehensive project for rural community development, known as the Comilla Model, was the first Pakistani to be honoured with this award. He also started the community development initiative Orangi Pilot Project (OPP), in a squatter town on the edge of Karachi. The idea behind OPP was that local residents should be trained and equipped to solve their community’s problems such as sanitation and low-cost housing on their own. The OPP model is now replicated all over the country, along with other developing countries in Asia. Upon receiving the award, Khan said at the time, “It is indeed an honour for me to be associated with the name and tradition of the late Ramon Magsaysay who combined in himself the qualities of a statesman and administrator. It is a combination which is rare but most needed in the newly liberated countries, much troubled as they are by conflict and alienation between the common people and their rulers.”
Abdul Sattar Edhi and Bilquis Edhi, the forces behind the Edhi Foundation, one of the biggest non-profit social welfare programmes in Pakistan, have dedicated their lives to the service of the poor and the marginalised. The Edhi Foundation provides round-the-clock emergency assistance, shelter for the destitute, orphans and the mentally challenged, drug rehabilitation services, free medical care and legal aid for the poor among a multitude of other services. Today, the foundation has over 300 centres across the country. The couple released a joint statement upon receiving the Ramon Magsaysay Award, saying that they thought of it “as a debt, always reminding us to pay it back by more devotion to humanity.” They vowed to use the money they received as part of the award to open up another foundation in the country. PHOTO COURTESY: AYESHA MIR
Asma Jahangir Year of the award: 1995
PHOTO COURTESY: TARIq HASSAn
Leading lawyer and human rights activist Asma Jahangir, who was also the founding member and former chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, has done significant work in Pakistan to prevent the persecution and exploitation of religious minorities, women and children. Upon receiving the award, she said it “has a special significance, as it comes from a country that is rich with a tradition of liberation movements and a society that has the most active and robust social action groups”. She also added that she felt a bit embarrassed when comparing “what little we have achieved against what still has to be achieved.”
FeATURe Dr Adibul Hasan Rizvi Year of the award: 1998 Dr Adibul Hasan Rizvi is a urological surgeon who founded the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) by transforming a department of urology at the Civil Hospital, Karachi, into the country’s largest kidney disease centre and public health facility. For Dr Rizvi, the award provided an impetus to continue providing state-of-the-art health facilities to the underprivileged. “This award has propelled me and my colleagues at SIUT to consolidate and expand our work being mindful of future generations. Let it never be said by them that indifference, cynicism and selfishness made us fail to live up to the ideal of humanism which the Magsaysay Award encapsulates,” he said in his acceptance speech. PHOTO COURTESY: ADIBUL HASSAn FACEBOOK PAGE
Tasneem Ahmed Siddiqui Year of the award: 1999 Tasneem Ahmed Siddiqui went to great lengths to regularise Sindh’s katchi abadis and bring them into the ambit of the provincial government as the director of the Sindh Katchi Abadi Authority. Rejecting the stereotype of the poor as freeloaders and criminals, he saw the katchi abadis as centres of dynamism whose occupants were both industrious and resourceful. Siddiqui also developed Khuda ki Basti, a housing project for the urban poor. He was appreciative that the Ramon Magsaysay Award recognised his work as a member of the government and said that the award “supports the view that good government is possible if the method of governance were to be redefined and government decision-making made more participatory.”
SOURCE: FILE
Dr Ruth Pfau Year of the award: 2002 Dr Ruth Pfau is a German nun who has been working tirelessly to fight leprosy in Pakistan for the past 50 years. She runs the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre and it is due to efforts by her and her team that Pakistan became one of the first Asian countries that have successfully controlled leprosy. Dr Pfau said in her acceptance speech that the award went a long way in “helping Asia to discover, rediscover, find, cling to and confess its values — values of the intellect and heart.”
34 September 7-13 2014
PHOTO COURTESY: CHEREE FRAnCO
Ibn Abdur Rehman Year of the award: 2004 Ibn Abdur Rehman is a leading peace and human rights activist who has been influential in promoting peace between India and Pakistan, as well as advocating other human rights issues in the country. Speaking about armed conflicts during his acceptance speech he said, “It has been our experience in South Asia that absence of armed conflict does not amount to peace. It has also been our experience that peace is not an ideal that can be pursued in isolation from other concerns of the people.”
PHOTO COURTESY: ZAFAR ASLAM
The Citizens Foundation Year of the award: 2014 TCF was set up in 1995 to improve the dismal state of education in Pakistan. According to Asaad Ahmed, the CEO of TCF, “It is a great honour not only for our organisation, but also for this country.” But he is quick to point out that the award has just reinforced the organisation’s zeal and determination to continue to bring high quality education to those who cannot afford it otherwise. TCF already runs 1,000 schools across the country, giving full or partial scholarships to 145,000 students. The average fees a child is expected to pay per month is Rs100, and the rest of the tuition, including the cost of textbooks and uniforms, is covered by the organisation. “As nice as the award is, for us the most important thing is our work. Education remains a major problem for Pakistan and TCF still has a long way to go,” says Ahmed, adding that more than 150,000 schools are still needed in the country. “There is still a great need for better quality as well as greater quantity of education. A lot more work and investment is required.”
Awards such as this are a great way to recognise and celebrate the work that is being done towards improving society. It is also a welcome reminder that although we may still have a long way to go, there are people out there who are taking the road less travelled. T Nudrat Kamal is a sub-editor at The Express Tribune. She’s pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature. She tweets @Nudratkamal
35 September 7-13 2014
Ap(p)t delivery The Pijjit app is a matchmaking service of a different kind
By AmnA KhAwAr DESIGn By SAnOBEr AhmED
Most of us know the pain of asking for favours from friends and relatives overseas to bring back the latest iPhone or designer bag on their next visit to Pakistan. But a new application called Pijjit, allows you to find the perfect candidate to deliver goodies from anywhere in the world at your doorstep. The new peer-topeer shopping and courier mobile app makes requesting goods easy and efficient, and relatively hasslefree.
Asim Zubair, the PakistaniAmerican entrepreneur who created the Pijjit app. PhOTO cOuRTeSy: ASIm ZuBAIR
36 September 7-13 2014
While the system of transporting goods across the world through personal contacts is a time-honoured one, it’s not always reliable. Pijjit, on the other hand, connects those wanting their goods delivered to ‘social couriers’ — people with a little extra space in their luggage — willing to shop and carry goods in exchange for a fee. The idea came about when Pakistani-American entrepreneur, Asim Zubair, asked a friend to bring a homeopathic medicine for his father from Pakistan, but did not receive the critical medication after the email slipped through the cracks. Zubair realised that there had to be a dependable and systematic way for people to obtain goods and one that didn’t involve requesting for favours or paying excessive shipping costs. Through Pijjit, shoppers can list the products that they want, for example a Vaio notebook, and then search for social couriers travelling to the required location. One can read their profiles and reviews, communicate with them through the app and ultimately choose the right person to bring the commodity. Simultaneously, a person with an upcoming trip can become a social
courier by creating a profile, listing their upcoming travel plans and the available space they have and either browse current requests or wait to be matched. Both parties also rate each other at the completion of a transaction which can serve as a reference point for other users. Not only do users get their products reliably but social couriers are able to earn extra cash which allows them to subsidise their travel costs. Recently a traveller heading to India made $50 by delivering a tablet computer to a shopper there and another heading to Los Angeles by car made $50 by transporting baklava for a baker in San Francisco. What’s interesting about Pijjit is that it works both ways — a person can request for goods one day and be a social courier the next. Since Pijjit is a pure peer-to-peer platform and anyone can join it, establishing trust between anonymous parties is critical in order to ensure that transactions are fair and the merchandise is handled appropriately. To that end, the app screens users by checking background information such as phone number and email addresses during onboarding, and provides detailed user profiles and member reviews to leverage social networking as a means of preventing wayward behaviour and making informed decisions. But even then, like all other enterprises, it does not guarantee 100% safety for users. As the venture is breaking new ground, there are certain challenges to address. One potential issue is around the insurance of shipped goods and providing coverage for damaged contents. The other involves providing an enhanced platform to offer escrow and secure payment services. Another possible concern is running into possible customs
Obtain goods from anywhere in the world through the Pijjit app. SOuRce: PIjjIT
A simple user interface enables requesters to connect with and vet social couriers easily. SOuRce: PIjjIT
regulation problems if social couriers carry merchandise that exceeds a specified quantity and value. Similar to apps such as Airbnb, where people rent out lodging, or uber, a car service app that gets you a taxi, private car or rideshare, Pijjit capitalises on the sharing economy that has been unleashed through the power of technology. The platform creates an online marketplace where people can ‘rent’ out their empty suitcase capacity with those looking to ‘hire’ space from a traveller. Through a decentralised service, it is able to solve a persistent problem at a price that would be deemed too unfeasible for a traditional business. With over 20 years of experience in venture development and product management, Pijjit is Zubair’s first commercial venture. he launched the app in may at the Organization of Pakistani entrepreneurs (OPeN) Forum in Silicon Valley, a network of entrepreneurs and professionals who help each other to achieve their professional goals, of which he is also a member. Although thrilled to launch his own company, Zubair realises that being an entrepreneur entails certain risks. “One of the biggest inhibitions that early entrepreneurs have is what if I fail? Big deal if you fail! What will happen?” he argues. “yes, you will lose time and money but you will gain tremendous experience. It
is important to understand where you have failed, what you did to recover from that failure and how you moved forward?” he adds that budding entrepreneurs should be mindful of what is brought to the table outside of money and advises them to seek mentors who have undertaken similar ventures currently, Pijjit is available on android and future plans include an iOS version. Recently Zubair even launched a Kickstarter campaign to promote Pijjit on a global billboard — the moon. If funded, Pijjit’s logo will be noticeable to people across the globe. campaign backers can have their name or message scrolled and a $100 contribution will get their donor’s picture projected on the lunar surface. Since advertising on the moon is no small feat, if unsuccessful, Pijjit will invest the funds in more conventional marketing outlets such as local billboards. While Pijjit users get their goods delivered, they also end up making new friends. One of the ‘social couriers’ was even invited to attend the recipient’s graduation party. Since the app is fairly new, it does not have a significant user base as yet but all that may change once Pijjit advertises its global pigeon mission to the moon.
Amna Khawar is a digital marketer and freelance writer based in New York. She tweets @amnak1 September 7-13 2014
37
ART
Moving Stills Inaam Zafar revisits history in his exhibit ‘dih-still.ed’ By ShAnZAy SuBZwARI
Beguile — a still of a monkey in a military suit.
In the midst of the deepest silence — a still of a lone, shadowy figure depicting anonymity.
Khayyam — a portrait of a military man.
According to the dictionary, ‘distill’ means ‘to fall or exude in drops or small quantities’, and the process of distillation results in the purification of a liquid, by extracting its very essence. Sanat Gallery in Karachi is currently exhibiting artist Inaam Zafar’s collection, whose title ‘dih-still.ed’ puns on the work’s intrinsic nature, as well as its subject — painted ‘stills’ from a movie. However, this is no ordinary movie. The year 1981 saw General Zia’s military stronghold in Pakistan, along with his shunning of everything that came into conflict with it. That very year, veteran filmmaker, Jamil Dehlavi, released an English-language film based on an unfavourable, fictional martial law regime, called The Blood of Hussain. According to graphic designer and movie buff, Ajmal Hussain, the film also alludes to the seventh century events of Imam Hussain’s martyrdom, who refused allegiance to Yazid. Unfortunately, Ziaul Haq banned the film in Pakistan, and Dehlavi went into exile.
While the film has remained largely out of the picture since then, Inaam Zafar chose to revisit that chapter in history through his small oil on canvas paintings of stills from The Blood of Hussain. At first glance, the works’ size, neatness of display and muted colours might seem contradictory to the fast-paced, dizzying brightness of cinematic films, but that was a deliberate decision by the artist. Even though the work was initially conceived as a single large polyptych, it was reconsidered as smaller pieces in order to draw the viewer’s attention and provide a more intimate experience. The subject choice might also seem unusual but Zafar states that apart from being a cult movie, the “subject of the film still remains contemporary to some extent and resonates with the current situation”. It is interesting to note the artist’s ability to generate emotion and dialogue to matters long forgotten, while also introducing their own concerns and interpretations of the subject.
Some of the painted stills on display include images of an aeroplane in mid-air, lone men waiting for sunset, portraits of military men in their daily routines, soldiers opening fire and various animals such as deer and vultures in waiting. Zafar says he particularly enjoyed pieces that didn’t bear any direct resemblance to the film and remained ambiguous, since they allowed him to personalise the references better. While the paintings may seem unclear to those who have not seen the film, and perhaps new to even those who have, they are an example of how artists can distill information from various sources and, with creative insight, make it their own. The exhibition may also bring about a renewed interest in the The Blood of Hussain, and reignite a conversation on censorship in Pakistan. The exhibition will continue at the Sanat Gallery in Karachi until September 11.
38 September 7-13 2014
Shanzay Subzwari is a fine arts student. She tweets @ShanzaySubzwari
War-torn The Railway Man settles an old score By ViVian J XaVier
The effects of war are brutal and live with those who witness it firsthand. Civilians are often empathised with as the casualties of a choice made on their behalf. Little thought, however, is given to the men and women who are sent to the frontline to fight the war that was thrust upon them. The ones who return keep fighting even after it has ended. Frank Cottrell Boyce and Andy Paterson have adapted this real-life struggle into the movie, The Railway Man. It tells the story of Eric Lomax, a British Army officer, who was sent to a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in 1942. His memoirs about his time in the British army and as a Japanese prisoner of war (POW) serve as the basis for the movie, which oscillates between 1940s Singapore and 1980s Britain. When we are first introduced to Eric Lomax in 1980, he is sifting through a railway schedule at a veteran’s club, a place he frequently visits. It is the only place where the patrons understand his predicament and one of the patrons is his friend and fellow army officer, Finlay. When Lomax is indecisive about seeking a woman he met a few days ago on the train, Finlay pushes him to pursue her and
soon Lomax and Patti are married. But what should have been a honeymoon turns into a nightmare for the couple as the ravages of Lomax’s wartime experience manifest themselves in his posttraumatic stress disorder. The movie then takes us back to 1940s Singapore where Lomax and Finlay were officers in the Signal Corps. After the British Army surrendered, they are taken as Japanese POW and forced to work on the Thai-Burmese railway or ‘death railway’ as it came to be known later on. The torture at the hands of the Kempeitai, the Japanese army’s military police, when he was just 19 years old haunts him even 40 years on. He decides to confront his torturer at the behest of his friend and wife and what transpires in the light of this decision, towards the second half of the film, is the only way to deal with his pain and guilt. The movie wavers from the book for dramatic effect in many respects, but is very watchable nonetheless. Fans of the book may want authenticity, but faithful adaptations are incongruent with the breadth and scope of a hundred-odd-minute film. Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman play Eric and Patti Lomax respectively. Stellan Skarsgard and Jeremy
Irvine round the cast off as Finlay and the young Lomax. Firth and Kidman deliver cool, restrained performances that one has come to associate with the epitome of Britishness; they never misstep as actors or edge towards melodrama with material that could have easily been interpreted that way. Jeremy Irvine does great to channel a young Firth. They are not easy shoes to fill, but the reason why Colin Firth recommended the young actor himself for the project is evident in his riveting performance. Audiences will be reminded of the 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai while watching the 1940s wartime scenes. This movie is steely and forgiving at the same time. It deals with the trauma of war that stays with one long after the last shot has been fired and proffers the importance of forgiveness. It is saccharine but leaves you moved. Not too many movies like these are made these days where a leisurely paced story and strong performance take precedence over chaotic editing and explosions. rating: Vivian J Xavier is a cinematographer. He tweets @vivianjxavier
Floral Olympics Participants from Pakistan put on their flowery best at the 11th World Flower Show in Dublin By Our COrrespOndent PHOTOS COURTESY: WAFA
Floral aficionados from all across the world flocked to the Royal Dublin Society in Ireland, for what is popularly known as the Olympics for flowers or the 11th World Flower Show, in June this year.
nafisa tapal’s arrangement, depicting the theme ‘Living on the world’s edge’, which won the first prize.
shivika Gupta’s arrangement, depicting the theme ‘round & round the seasons go’, won the second prize.
42 September 7-13 2014
The flower show was arranged by the World Association of Flower Arrangers (WAFA), a non-profit organisation of floral art societies, which was founded in 1981 to create and strengthen bonds between its various member countries and promote an exchange of information concerning floral art and allied interests. The annual flower show — which had over 20,000 visitors this year from places as far off as Argentina, Barbados, Canada, Australia, Jamaica, Peru, South Africa, even Uruguay and South Korea — is one of the several avenues through which the initiative seeks to achieve its goals. This year, the historical venue provided a grand stage to over 600 contestants from 31 countries, including 60 Pakistanis, to display their floral arrangement skills. Each contestant had five hours to create their arrangement, the exhibits for which were divided into 33 categories, including several segments for the younger participants as well. The job was even tougher for Paul Duggen, who was entrusted with supplying the
specific list of flowers and foliage requested by each participant. The 42 judges from 18 member countries, including Naushaba Khalil from Pakistan, had the Herculean task of picking out the best from each category. And Pakistan managed to shine in several of the categories. Shahimah Sayeed bagged the special award for best use of texture in the entire show. Sayeed, along with Nafisa Tapal, Farah Aquil and Monazza Jamal also received the first prize in their respective classes while the latter managed to bag award for the best petite exhibit as well. Commendations were awarded to Sofia Javed, Irum Kamran, Fehmida Hashmi, Khadija Jamal, Riffat Shaheen and Muleika Sayeed. The young competitors were not too far behind and also brought back laurels. The best junior exhibit was awarded to Aamna Adil while the first prize went to Maryam Bangash. Commendations were also awarded to Anum Feroz and Rafay Ali Khan. “Hearing Pakistan’s name at the award ceremony was a source of great pride,” says Kamran. “It was great to show the world that we are also blossoming as a nation.” The next WAFA show, which is scheduled to take place in Barbados in 2017, promises to be an equally rosy affair.
Aamna Adil’s arrangement for ‘Best Junior exhibit’.
Munazza Jamal’s entry for the ‘Best petite exhibit’.
shahimah sayeed’s arrangement for the category ‘Best use of texture’.
Farha Aquil’s arrangement, depicting the theme ‘trifles and treasure’, which won the first prize.