The Occasional Shopper (Issue #2) by Haider Ali

BETA

Monday, April 18th, 2011 -------------------ISSUE # 2 -------------------62nd Day of the 136th Academic Year --------------------

s Adil Khalil Rmaam

oooOOOOooo Colour!

Adil Khalil

Saud Baig Adil Khalil

Muhammad Haroon

Your Work! IN PRINT! Saud Baig Julius John

Sidra Asim

THE TEAM

THE OCCASIONAL WHAT?? Not so long ago, there was a tradition. A tradition that brought every man/woman/ being who roamed the corridors and courtyards of NCA into a state of constant vigilance. It was the tradition of THE SHOPPER! Yes, a plastic bag full of water, emerging from nowhere, without any prior warning and climatically exploding on impact against you. It was a moment of shock and awe. More so, it was a moment of the glorious realization that you were, indeed, now soaking wet. Long gone are those days, but despair no longer for THE SHOPPER makes its return in another form altogether, rising up(or falling, one may argue) again to give you the attention that YOU need!

CONTENTS

THIS IS NOT A BANYAN! It is a SHOPPER on wings, descending from the heavens!

Think you can do better? Sending it in! theoccasionalshopper@gmail.com

Report

Beside those who send in material, here is a list of our more permenant staff: Madyha Leghari Hajra Cheema Zoya Gul Hasan Abu Bakr Asif Sania Azher Syed Hasan Haider Hamza Shakoor Zain Naqvi Rizwan Ali Zaidi Haider Ali Uswa Amjad Saba Zaman Zara Asghar Hadia Zahra Zahid Mayo Muhammad Ahmad Khan

R BE

On Textiles Sania Azher

Opinions

On the task of writing meaningful words Zia Ahmed

National College of “Hearts” Aiman Chugtai

Opinions

Something Missing

Muhammad Ahmad Khan

Iss Parcham ke Saye Talay Hum Aik Hein

Aiman Chugtai

Featured Students

YOU

FROM THE SHOPPER

Adil Khalil

Mushtaq ‘Rmaam’ Raja

Photography

Ali Sarmad Khan Fawad Nadir Osman Raheel Ahsan

Submissons

AD C OUL D HER E!!

Muhammad Haroon Saud Baig Sidra Asim Julius John

10 11 12

Literature

Madyha Leghari Zoya Gul Hasan

Archives

Hello! With the release of our second issue we take many steps forward in the progress of THE OCCASIOANAL SHOPPER. With encouragement from student submissions the size of the publication has not only increased, but has also made good use of our intent to use colour. Every issue we will select a few students to showcase their work and their views. It comes as no surprise as they have a lot to say about what they do and how they do it. Beyond that we ask them on how their work is affected by the environment around them. Through all this we’re making an effort to encourage discourse in ideology and philosophy, styles and techniques. We’re still working on regularizing the magazine but we’re not there yet, bear with us a while longer, till we organize ourselves better. The college and faculty have proven to be more than helpful in working alongside us to ensure that magazine becomes well established. Our next aim is to formalize our magazine enough to enable us to reach out to audiences beyond our own college. Thus we are selecting material which will mostly appeal to a general audience. Though we’ve come across many ‘gossip’ oriented submissions, we regretfully have to turn them down due to relevance issues with our reader base. We hope that all of you will continue to show your enthusiasm with your contributions and feedback in order to help us to sustain THE OCCASIONAL SHOPPER! Thank You! =)

EVENTS

Letters to the SHOPPER Caricatures

Red Hot- The 7th Annual Exhibition by Young Artists Date: 11th April 2011 to 28th April 2011 Venue: Alhamra Arts Council Gallery Timings: 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. “An Obsession with Sculpture” Exhibition by Abdul Jabbar Gul Date: 14th April 2011 to 15th May 2011 Venue: The Drawing Room 63-A, Block E/1, Gulberg III Gallery timings: 12:00 pm to 8:00pm

Exhibition of Ayesha Jatoi’s work Date: 17th April 2011 to 9th May 2011 Venue: Grey Noise – 26 A, KB Colony, St 4, Airport Raod, Lahore Cantt. Gallery timings: 6:00 pm to 9:00pm (Contact Gallery before going- 3004298196)

THEOCCASIONALSHOPPER @GMAIL.COM 2

REPORT

On Textile

India appears to have a diverse textile tradition. The origin of Indian textiles can be traced back to the Indus Valley Civilization. The people of this civilization used homespun cotton for weaving their garments. The first literary information about textiles in India can be found in Reg-Veda which refers to weaving. The ancient Indian epics Ramayan and Mahabharata also speak of a variety of fabrics of those times. . However, with technological advancements the meaning of textile has transformed and its usage has proliferated to the extent that it is even being used in architecture as a building material. Now the question arises, how can one define textile in a sentence? The answer: there is no specific definition up till now. However, for classification purpose, it has been divided into different categories. There is a major difference between textile and textile design. Textile clearly focuses on creating a surface. This surface can be both functional and decorative, but when we talk about textile design in particular, it refers to creating a surface which should be functional, aesthetically pleasing and above all, should fulfill the requirements of the market. At the National College of Arts, Lahore we are taught textile design With all the experience that I have gained here, I would say that textile design is an area in which individuals design fabric for a variety of purposes including clothing, carpeting, furnishing and other purposes. It mainly deals with creating designs for textile in the apparel and furnishing sector. The textile design department covers both surface design and structural design. The field requires special skills to create innovative designs including artistic talent, innovation, aptitude, technological proficiency, commercial awareness of the textile industry, research and data handling, critical evaluation and interpretation of materials and quick decision making ability. Moreover, the main activities included in the practice of textile design are: experimenting with wide assortment of shades, texture and fabric; conceptualizing new innovative patterns; attending trade shows at regular intervals; and being up-to-date with the contemporary trends. Sania Azher is a Third Year Textile Design Student

OPINIONS

On The Task of Writing Meaningful Words Writer’s block is fiction. It doesn’t happen. Just an excuse for pure dumb laziness and a supremely narcissistic and vain labored way to remind oneself of his/her pretentious talented bearings. Just as anyone can sing, cook and laugh, writing is a vocation any one can take up. Nothing to it. Easiest thing in the world. Think about it, you have a brain, don’t you? Out of all the creative forms, it’s writing that asks for the most meager of capital investments: a pen and a piece of paper and if you are anything like me who has a hideous handwriting and finds pushing pencils down on paper woefully tedious, you can always type. No running away from writing. Sure enough, being literate helps and so does a vocabulary but one does not have to worry about that for a thesaurus is never too far away. If soppy dumb housewives wheedle out God awful romance novels and cook books why can’t anyone else? There is an unbound wealth of topics, things and situations one can write about. And don’t let anyone tell you to do cumbersome Herculean tasks like doing research or be more than aptly knowledgeable about whatever you intend to write on. Just choose something to write about and go do it, hammer it down, and scribble it mercilessly. Take cue from the leaders of your country or where ever you work and don’t think. Proceed heedlessly. Write, write and keep on writing till your fingers get crooked or your fingertips lose their sense of touch, smell and taste. When I say to write without thinking, it doesn’t necessarily mean to carve out plain dumb gibberish in the fabric of that most fine, pure and virgin stretch of white. in the mind of rodents you can be sad low timer in de woods Hmm, I wanted to demonstrate a point here but I guess I am talented and am utterly unable to write anything which is senseless. So that what helps to be a good writer talent. Schools teach you how to hone this talent and as you grow up you discover there are fancy schools which can help you with your talent through extorting you to astronomical amount of hard cash in fee, subjugating you to the whim and eventual degradation by your teachers in front of your peers and utter disrespect of people who are weary of the written word (they may number in millions), at the end of which, if nothing else, you will be well trained in the art of filling out birthday cards. To write stories and scripts and other sundry variations of fiction, I find honesty and truth only to be an anchor to keep the whole firmament (feel free to use words in your writing you don’t even know the meaning of, it impresses stupid people) down to our very own flesh and bone world. Honesty and truth helps us relate to a story but you just have to use it enough for the sake of relevance. Don’t over do it. It just has to form the background and the rest is up to the fruitful whimsies of your mind. Quoting a character from Star Trek (one of the various spinoffs), “truth is the lack of imagination”. So in order to be a good storyteller, it is essential that you are a good and confident liar. On the flip side writing up factual stuff or non fiction as some stuck up librarians would correct you, is a piece of cake. You don’t have to invent any spaceship or imaginary betrayals; you are just expected to give an account of whatever. It’s really simple, just think about writing an essay on a trip to the zoo. Zia Ahmad is a faculty member in the Film & Television Department in NCA. Zia did his MA in Film Studies from Kingston University. He occasionally writes for The Friday Times, Pak Tea House and The Paper as well.

National College of ‘Hearts’

Have you ever drowned in an influx of ‘information’ and yet found yourself blinded by an embargo of ‘knowledge’? Have you ever stood by a crowd of imbeciles and figured out that, in essence, it is you who falls in the category of second order retardation? Have you ever questioned your conscience? I feel like the ‘animated chicken’ dancing in the ‘Hilal- Kake’ advertisement ‘protesting’ by calling out ‘Ihtejaaj’! It may sound ironic but that is precisely what the current situation of my fellow brethren is. It is beyond tragic how a melodramatic actor can lead an apparently ‘educated youth’ along the roads of Hamelin. Rings a bell? The Pied Piper of Hamelin and the blind rats that follow? If Mr. Collin David decides to paint and display nudes in his private gallery and later gets beaten up by Mullahs for doing so. Who do you think is responsible for it? The Federal Government or the Provincial Government? If the legal administration of Kinnaird College is taken away from the Christian Association and given to the Punjab Government in the process of Nationalization, who do you believe is at loss? Perhaps, the unethical practitioners who are now answerable to the Government. If it’s claims that you’re making, why don’t you claim for ‘Autonomous’ status rather than a debate over a Federal or a Provincial Institute? (It is for you, to go find out what ‘Autonomy’ means.) Punjab University (the parent body), a Punjab Government institute, elevated its walls just as much as the Federal Government institute did, disallowed its students to park cars in the college premises just as the Federal Institute did, under a protection order from the Punjab Government, in an attempt to secure its students from bomb threats. Perhaps, the Punjab Government has more funds and may just as well allow an influx of qualified teachers and promise ‘permanent jobs’ to the ‘ad-hoc- fifteen years of service’ teachers. Perhaps, a principal who fulfills the ‘criteria’ of a designated Principal can bring about a change for betterment than an ill experienced teacher who jumps up the ladder. These are mere questions that you need to answer before you even have the audacity to claim a ‘National College of Arts’, instead of a marveled manifestation of ‘Punjab College of Arts’. p.s. The allocated ‘quota’ for students from different provinces would cease to change, be it a Federal institute or a Government institute. p.p.s. The least to expect from you, is an educated response. Aiman Chugtai is a Third Year Textile Design student

OPINIONS

Something Missing

Something is missing. As I looked around outside a friend’s house, where I had spent the night, I noticed that my car was missing. It started with a state of disbelief and eventually turned into a state of utter helplessness. Why? Because considering it was 4 in the afternoon, the thieves must have gotten away by now. Because this very house was robbed a week ago, and nothing had been done about it. Because there is something seriously wrong with everything in this country, and let me assure you it’s architectural. His house is in a relatively upscale housing society where a majority of plots have not been constructed upon. This leaves his house in the middle of two empty plots, with many more scattered around. He does not know who lives closest to his left; he does not know who lives closest to his right. The house in front is under construction, and he does not know who is about to move in. I have a hunch no one else, in the surroundings, does either. The dacoits entered by making a staircase of bricks, lying around in the empty plot, and jumped over the wall. There were three of them, and they had a gun. His mother yelled at the sight of men entering her house, but other than my friend, who was in his room upstairs, no one heard her. They took their sweet time to gather all they could and exited the house through the main entrance. Apparently, they didn’t have any vehicles nearby, so they had to walk till wherever their transportation awaited them. All of this is painfully interesting. It is painful because of all the loss yet, it is interesting because there is so much to understand from these incidents. Firstly, let’s consider the looters. Before they left, they apologized for looting the house, saying they have no jobs and have no other way of sustaining a livelihood. Then, there is absolutely nothing wrong with what they’ve done. It becomes the fault of society, which in such cases, is supposed to assist the unemployed and the needy. Since no such assistance is available, they just forced their way into getting a livelihood. So, our issue presents itself in the form of a lack of communal sustenance. Secondly, what point is there of living in a ‘community’ if members of the community do not know about their surroundings. No, these are not communities. Rather, these are individual units living in oblivion. This leads us to a very dire scenario in which families live as individual entities and no support system exists, in case there is a worrisome problem. Let me ask the reader another question: how sure are you that every decision you make will end up the way you want it, without any liability? Living individually will heap all such problems upon the single leading figure of a household of 2, 4, 7 or even more. That, indeed, is a dreadful situation. What if you feel, as a parent, that you, yourself, are

not able enough to raise a child? What if both parents intend on working full day jobs? Who, then, takes care of the kids? What would happen if you fall seriously ill and no one else in the house knows how to drive you to the hospital? More frightening is, if you, as the leading figure of the house, died? Let me assure you that these issues, in fact, recently arose due to development patterns. The Mohallas of our region very efficiently addressed these concerns and that too, without the need of hiring outside help, or sending children to daycares, which, in themselves, are run by strangers for all we know. Mohallas were introvert societies which depended on the units within it to assist each other. It was not necessary that your neighbors be family relations. The number of interactions on a daily basis made the bonds even stronger. Everyone entering and exiting the community was recognized. Where one family might lack, the other compensated. More so, while growing up, it was character building! Deceit, greed, envy and other moral ills have plagued our society, and it shows in all walks of life as well as our social behavior. These come, essentially, from the lack of character instilled into us during our childhood, and all this is due to the sudden movement away from the mohalla. The mohalla provided a variety of figures to learn from. Where one lacked, the other took over. Where both parents were involved in jobs, the joint sitting of older women took care. If a child had the hints of going astray, he would be quickly corrected. These societies built up on lessons of the old, rather than learning them anew. The organic growth of these societies ensures that no gap is left unattended. Everything grows forth from the main; rather than scattering about, as in the housing society my friend lives in. For me it is essential, that man does not live in conditions where he feels alone and helpless. However, as time has passed by, we have moved away from such a society, and developed so called ‘planned’ communities. Along with this, there have been rapid developments in the way we go about our daily life. The mode of transportation has completely changed. Occupations have changed and thus the skills required, have changed. Energy needs have changed, and the way we run our homes have changed. This is where the challenge arises. How do we adapt the mohalla to modern day patterns of life? How do we ensure that the well being of every individual becomes the responsibility of the neighborhood, keeping in mind the faster pace of today? Something definitely is missing, and it’s the person next door. Muhammad Ahmad Khan is a Fourth Year Architecture student and enjoys having random discussions with himself

Iss Parcham Ke Saye Talay Hum Aik Hein.. How often have you been distracted enough during a drawing assignment that your construction lines find themselves tangled in a mayhem of linear inequities. (Perhaps, ‘Never’ is the answer I hear from my otherwise engaged friends, swearing at the thought of my dissatisfied grumbling at drawing assignments when they are caught up in a bundle of reading assignments.) But trust me it’s an ordeal to do a line drawing assignment with an unfocused, loosely wandering, aimless mind. With the cricket match playing behind me and Pakistan bowling its way through the West Indies team, I could hear shouts of joy and excitement from neighboring apartments at the victorious fall of wickets. It brought a huge smile on my face, for it made me relish the joy that this game brings us. ‘United we stand’ (for one thing at least ) At the same time, it made me question my integrity, my faith at this absurd notion of ‘unity’ that we propose. Perhaps, I might never have questioned myself upon this issue and would’ve gleefully promoted a patriotic, united image of us a nation, if it wasn’t for last week when a friend accused me of being a ‘RACIST’. (I’ll have to admit that I wouldn’t mind being called a racist when it comes to my opinions against the ‘gora’ race or the ‘chapta’ race or for that matter the ‘habshi’ race. The titles I’ve used are self explanatory, I believe). But the word ‘racist’ coming from a Pakistani brother did indeed seem more than a passing comment, a joke. It was very much an accusation, a title, only bestowed upon those who make derogatory remarks about people belonging to other provinces. In the art world we speak of ‘Orientalism’ i.e. the Occident’s bias against the Orient. In psychology, we speak of ‘Ethnocentrism’ and western preconceived notions against the eastern society. We indulge in these debates quoting popular philosophers and anthropologists, not realizing that perhaps we are just a leaping into ‘Popular Culture’ itself without going through any productive change in our own mind frames. We blame the Hindus for their unjust, stratified cast system, ranging from the Brahmans to the Shudars. We speak of Islam as a religion promoting equity and quote time and again from the Prophet’s (may peace be upon him) last sermon at the occasion of Hajj which speaks of an egalitarian society. Yet, when the issue of marriage arises in any of our households, matters of ‘baradari’ and ‘zaat’ hold foremost importance. I’m not saying that I’m not a part of it or it’s completely wrong. Perhaps, our parents are right, considering the issues of integration that may arise with cultural and linguistic differences…but really? Is this the equity that we promote? Or is this the much displayed ‘unity’ that we theatrically propose? Questions again! Questions that we need to answer for ourselves before we find ourselves tangled in those construction lines; the ones that I still can’t get right, on paper. Aiman Chugtai is a Third Year Textile Design student

FEATURED STUDENTS

Adil Khalil We started off casually, asking him how much sugar he takes in his tea. One teaspoon was his answer, though he also found it necessary to mention that he only drank tea in college. More formally, we began by asking him about how we had heard a lot about the use of computer graphics he employed in his work. He corrected us, claiming, he works visually, depicting his work through sketches. Repeatedly over the meeting he kept emphasizing on how important skill is for an architect. For him, form is something that should be a direct product of the work of the hand saying “I’m not against using computers; I’m against not using the hand”. He believes that as you move your hand, you’re paying for attention to the detail of what you are making, “CAD has never influenced my manual work but my manual work I feel has influenced my CAD design”. Talking about how computers are used as a tool, he discussed the language of softwares and compares them to the human body, and how it works around the ‘Golden Mean’. He feels that once we start using softwares for generative processes, we let go of our own architectural language and start depending on the software for it. There, he thinks, we lose hold of the art in our architecture. It is here, where he thinks, he would differ from eminent architects such as Frank Gehry. “All you have to do is give a set of base instructions to the software, and the rest it generates for you. Essentially the entire design process in the middle is completely lost. You could do this an infinite number of times till you achieve the desired form, it’s a reset button”. He went on to tell

us how he would rather prefer being more closely involved in the process. There he talks about the work of Antonio Gaudi and how his work is a polar opposite and entirely a form of art. That doesn’t mean that he disregards technology altogether. He has a considerable command over many software’s, just that he prefers using them only to render his work further or explain his concepts more clearly. He then talks about how once out of NCA, the market requires your skills more than anything else, “Till you open your own firm, you’re working for someone else and developing their ideas. So what they want from you more than anything else is to be able to render their designs and get it done as quickly as possible”. Here we then question him about how he reflects upon the curriculum of the Architectural Design degree in NCA. “NCA initially began as a crafts school but overtime it developed into a more theoretical place. Fine, it’s good to have a grasp over your ideas, but your philosophies on architecture will take years to develop. What I believe in more is if in these five years of college education you can focus more on enhancing your skill, because immediately after college it’s the skill and craft that is required more. ” Near the end of our discussion, he reminds us again of how much he believes in orthodoxy by saying “…the use of a Rapido pen is respect for the line in drafting”. At the end we ask him if there is anything else he would like to add but he finds it important to focus on his previous point, “Just make sure you get the part about developing your skills across more than anything else”.

Mushtaq Rmaam Raja After being hounded by a few of us Occasional Shopper committee members Mushtaq Raja, (perhaps more commonly known by his pen-name Rmaam), finally managed to extract some time from his busy schedule to have a conversation with us. Mushtaq Raja is a Fourth year student in the Department of Fine Arts, specialising in the Sculpture Department. He belongs to Sindh, and lives in Karachi. The conversation began with questions regarding the formal inclinations of his work. “Mein zyada tar comics ke saath kaam karta hun. Comics ho gaye, illustrations hotay hain, story boards, comical portraits, cartoons hotay hain, caricature hotay hain. Zyada interest comics mein hai. Ye isliye ke aik to iss mein fantasy ka role hota hai, characters ki apni fantastical dunya hoti hai. Aap ne dekha ho ga iss mein sab se zyada different cheez hoti hai iss ki line quality: aik energy hai, mujhe lagta hai ke drama sab se best comics ki line quality hee se capture ho sakta hai.” “Keeping in mind all that you have said about your interests so far, why did you decide to specialise in the department of sculpture?” “Actually aap ko sha’id meri baaton se andaaza hua ho ke my interest actually lies in character designing. Since we don’t have a separate department for character designing, I looked up the Character Design subject course outline on the internet. Agar aap bhi dekhen then you will discover, that in order to understand character designing the first step is to understand 3-dimentionality. One of the most interesting things about comics is the constantly shifting camera angle, and you can never capture that through your drawing until you have a thorough understanding of every possible angle of looking at something. You can walk around a sculpture; view it from top, bottom, and every possible angle. That is why I decided to opt for the Sculpture department. Miniature painting wali tabiyat meri hai nai werna wo bhi kaam acha lagta hai, laikin aik jagah par tikk ke kaam nahi kar sakta mein.” When asked about any artists that may have influenced him, or those that interest him most, he replied, “Jonson bohot inspiring lagta hai. Wo comics banaata hai. Uss ka kaam bo-

hot amazing hai, aik a’ala skill nazar aati hai. Bohot realistic form mein banaata hai, line quality ka control to buss...! Bohot acha kaam hai! Mein isske type ka kaam karna chahta hun in terms of his skill. Mein laikin apne character design karna chahta hun. I want to make my own heroes. Like baahar walon ke paas apne heroes hain, jaise Spiderman, Batman, waghera. Bas aik baar skill perfect ho jaye...” Raja went on to admire the works of foreign artist Ron Mueck and local artists Mohammad Ali Talpur and the illustrations of Sajid Qureshi. The next question we asked resulted in a rather disappointing answer. We asked him as to whether the course taught at the NCA was such that had aided him in acquiring the sort of skill that he had initially thought he would learn by studying Sculpture in this college. “Jab mein pehle NCA mein Sculpture department ka kaam dekhta tha to kaam faraq tha. You could see the skill, the level of understanding, the sensitivity...that work could inspire anybody. Laikin afsos hai ke jab hum aa’e to riwayatein badal ga’een. Jaise hee hum aa’e unhon ne kaam hee badal diya.” Mushtaq next spoke of the tension between the traditionalists and the would-be innovators, and about the shift towards experimental work. The essential resource of Art, which is Beauty, has begun to obliterate. “Mein bohot shukar guzar hun R.M.Naeem sahab ka. Unhon ne jo First year mein figure drawing ki classes kerwa’een unn se mujhe bohot faida hua. Mein sculpture mein kaam apne andaaz se hee kerun ga, jis mein skill and realistic form ki knowledge dikhay. Mere khyaal mein pehlay har artist ko skill aani chahiye, phir experimental ki taraf jaa’en. NCA mein loge skill se hat-te jaa rahay hain, ‘shashkon’ ki taraf jaa rahay hain. Kuchh issliye bhi ke time nahin lagaate. Shortcuts! Whether or not the artist likes to work with realism, the skill factor is essential, spending time with the work is important, so that you may grow with your work and your work may develop with you. I am hopeful still for the fate of Sculpture in NCA, because I believe that there are sculptors in Fourth year as well as in Third year, who understand this need for skill and honesty.”

PHOTOGRAPHY

SUBMISSIONS

Top: Portal II, Emulsion and enamel on paper, 2010, 92x77cm Right: The red scream, Emulsion and enamel on canvas, 2010, 90x60cm Far Right: Play II, Emulsion on paper, 2010, 70x88cm Cover: Play I, Enamel on canvas, 2010, 122x97cm

A painting can either be resolved in the head and executed, or one can start without preconceived notions and resolve it on the canvas. I prefer the latter. Sometimes I let the surface of the empty canvas dictate, at others, I begin with random strokes, and

Ali Sarmad Khan. A young woodcutter looks back in despair near the India-Pakistan border, Sulemanki. Shot using a Sony a200, desaturated in Lightroom CS3

build on them. Accidents that happen on the canvas are vital for me. Archetypal images that are embedded in our collective unconscious appear frequently in my paintings. My work is self-analytical. I delve inward to perceive beyond the persona and ego in an

attempt at self-discovery. Lately, my art practice has taken a shift towards reflections on culture and society through the use of ambiguous visual idioms. Julius John

Fawad Nadir Osman. Two children looking out of a window. Taken near one of the gates of the walled city of Lahore. Nikon D3000, F/8, Exposure time: 1/1000 sec

Sidra Asim

Raheel Ahsan. Main courtyard NCA. HDI.Fish-Eye Lens. Canon 550D

Saud Baig Unreal (Left) “My painting of a portrait, in black, is primarily on human expressions”. An expression is born of certain conditions, moods and intuitive responses . The one I depict, is the persona of a girl. I have placed blocks on the left side of her brain,which acts as the cognitive of mankind, and on her lips, which produces sound as responses. The blocks are in black because it shows something which is not clear enough to a watchful eye. The whole image is in black tints and strokes because of the “secret nature” of all those persons within this tint, who dwell in such zones of definition.” Fragment of Comic (Right) “This is a part of my comic. I started drawing poses which I never could have thought of making as unexpected fights and events. It’s in mixed medium from the chapter blood line and it’s based on free masonic forces.” Muhammad Haroon

Shah Abdullah

LITERATURE

By Madyha Leghari

Her words had nettled him. They hung heavy in the humid air of late August, refusing to let him breathe. The smell of routine wafting in from the cooking supper didn’t help matters either. He felt… provincial. There, he had thought the word to himself. There was no turning back now. No sooner did the thought occur to him, than a feather quill, dipped in the richest of blue inks, ferociously scribble it away for all eternity. The farthest corner of his mind had cast a shadow that engulfed his very being. He sulked. Flicking ash from a burning cigarette, he suddenly stood up and starting pacing. The settled gloom must’ve been reluctant and his heart throbbed with the shock of his moving body. He opened his eyes a little wider, paid acute attention to the sound of his feet on gravel, and the way his arms flapped to create ripples in viscous air. The world was going hysterical around him in a million ordinary ways. He observed. He observed himself observing. “I do have a splendid mind”, he thought to himself. “Splendid”, he whispered to himself trying to coax the feather quill to record it. Wasn’t he, after all, looked upon as an exceptionally bright young mathematician by his peers? Didn’t numbers speak to him, in moments of unusual clarity? Couldn’t he set words free when he wanted to? Why, just this Tuesday, he had delivered a discourse of such promise that the most hardened skeptics were left nodding their heads. He was an interesting person, he knew. At crunch time, opinions he never knew himself to hold began manifesting themselves as he heroically contained the infinite within the finite. Didn’t she after all depend on him for sustenance? Here, he paused to smell the dinner she was dutifully cooking in the kitchen. Righteously vexed. His dinner. His kitchen. He felt

The Day After Yesterday

a glow descend upon him like pixie dust in fiery motion, with all the glory of a bruised hero. Why, then, had she discarded his opinion with a laugh, that tinkled in its earnestness? How did she know what was best for their child? He knew he should stop now, while he was honorably indignant. He knew the only outcome of digging deep was a find. Of what sort, he wondered. Of what sort, he feared. He knew he should march right back in (feet against gravel, arms against air) and demand an audience. He knew. And the fact that he knew was problematic to his splendid mind. He looked down at his feet, shifting rock and earth as he walked. Hadn’t this piece of land already been trod upon by another man in another time? Slightly troubled, he looked upwards to the skies, stubbing out the cigarette under his shoe. The stars locked him in a mute unnerved stare. They shone. He deemed himself the occasion. He was grateful. A mere rustle told him she had stepped out to call him in for dinner. He broke his deadlock to see how wistfully she glanced up at the very stars. He felt deceived. She blinked and looked at him. Surprise widened her eyes for a moment, barely perceptible. Her eyes glazed over. She knew there had been a riot.

By Zoya Hasan Sickening palpitation Tectonic movement Mountains give way to the sea Stark white excuses Eyes dart thereThere and back again Crescent-shaped ideas Take a day To become a full moon The field is barren The grass is tired With blades bent in protest Thoughts in blue-print Could wash away the present The day we sit and draw Draw over the day after yesterday

Jumble

By Zoya Hasan

Dots of blue, dashes of red Walk hand in hand Along the stark white road, Meet a trail of yellow And merge— Faint purple lines Take a casual stroll, Orange specks follow Jump into a pool of gold, Everything overflows. Buckets upon buckets Of magenta rain Excite the deep sienna, Who rushes wildly Kicking all comrades, Making them collide Atoms of water at hundred degrees Celsius Warm, warmer, boiling. A burst of orange Lights up their faces, Prepares them for Black Who enters in all his glory: Great and majestic, He stands in a corner, With a swish of his wand Makes them all freeze— Seep into the surface, Rich and glossy, Glossy and fine.