otherpakistan.org

GUEST BLOG by Bradistan Calling Dilnawaz Inqalabi

A nation’s power and might is not in its tanks and missiles but is known by its intellectual capability, knowledge, innovation, creativity and through its respect of human rights and freedom of expression.

The talk of doom and gloom in Pakistan, after a flurry of bad news on the economic front and the terrorist attacks have created doubts in the minds of even the hardest of incorrigible optimists and patriots about the future of Pakistani governance. As the poet philosopher Iqbal said in his poems, ‘this soil is very fertile’, (translated verse).  It is as true today as on the day of creation of Pakistan.

I met a bearded university professor teaching primary school kids for charity in the Northern Areas whose research thesis was Sir Francis Bacon. In the field of scientific innovation we can hold our heads high on names like Dr Abdus Salam, Dr Parvez Hoodbhoy and Professor Attaur Rehman.

Our creative genius in arts and literature has been recognised the world over in people like  Faiz, Sadqeen, Guljee, Bapsi Sidwa, Tariq Ali and Hanif Kureishi.

Today via Other Pakistan we want to talk about literary prose of Pakistani authors and writers of Pakistani origin, the list is endless. In 2007 and 2008′s bestseller lists worldwide, Pakistanis authors have been in more bestseller lists than any other English speaking nationality outside of the UK and USA.

Even prolific writers from India do not come close, with the notable exceptions of Arvind Adiga Booker Prize winner  of “The White Tiger”  and Khaled Husseini the Afghan American author.

A few weeks ago I got my copy of the Christmas Gift Guide by the European bookseller giant Waterstone’s and was amazed to find two books by Pakistani authors Mohsin Hamid and James Caan described as  the books for a perfect read on Christmas morning.

In the main Booker Prize, Mohsin Hamid was short-listed in 2007 for his novel “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” which is currently in the top 50 of the book sales charts in the UK and Europe.

Mohammed Hanif was long listed in 2008 for his debut novel “A Case of Exploding Mangoes” and is short listed for the first book award from one of the biggest English language newspapers in the world namely The Guardian.

Yasmin Hai’s book was serialised for BBC  Radio 4, Mohammed Hanif’s book has been reviewed by BBC Asian Network whilst James Caan is a celebrity business tycoon appearing on BBC shows. Tariq Ali is on a major book tour of North America and Hanif Kureishi keeps appearing on European channels from time to time.

Bollywood director Rahul Bose is making a movie on Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid and many of Bapsi Sidwa’s books  have been adopted for movies like Earth.

Currently busy in a project in central library, I cannot help but notice Benazir Bhutto’s autobiography “Daughter of the East” is in very high demand and so is Mukhtar Mai’s “In the Name of Honour”. Borrowers have to go on a waiting list for Mohammed Hanif and Mohsin Hamid’s books and the library has had to order the audio version of both books to cope with demand.

In the Urdu section my favourite Mustansar Hussain Tarar is still the front runner, closely followed by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto’s multiple biographies, even Oxford freshman Bilawal Zardari is popular.  General Ayub Khan is back on the book shelves in the urdu reincarnation of his biography “Friends, not Masters”.

A local book store selling discount books for Christmas has a high stack of  General Musharraf/ Humayun Gohar’s fictional adventure “In the Line of Fire” and Saira Ahmed’s “Disgraced” right next to Cherie Blair’s (the wife of ex British Prime Minister Tony Blair) “Speaking for Myself” (reduced price to clear stock).

My local Oxfam’s charity bookstore has books by Tehmina Durrani, Abdul Sattar Edhi, Hanif Kureshi, Sara Sulehri (daughter of journalist ZA Sulehri) and the Pakistan tourist guide co-authored by cricketer Imran Khan.

Pakistanis , no matter where they are, love to write and enjoy great books. Such Pakistani bestsellers would be wonderful present to give friends and family in any season.

Bestseller list for 2008/09

1. Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist

2. Mohammed Hanif ‘s A Case of Exploding Mangoes

3. Tariq Ali’ s The Duel

4. James Caan’s The Real Deal

5. Yasmin Hai’s The Making of Mr Hai’s Daughter:Becoming British

6. Ziauddin Sardar’s Balti Britain

7. Nadeem Aslam’s The Wasted Vigil

8. Hanif Kureishi’s Something To Tell You

9. Bapsi Sidwa’s Pakistani Bride

10. Amir Khan’s Boy from Bolton: My Story

And finally

11. Tahir Shah’s The Caliph’s House and sibling Saira Shah’s Storyteller’s Daughter are honoured as authors of dual Pak-Afghan heritage.

Dilnawaz Inqalabi is proud to spread the word and good books to the all Pakistanis in the diaspora and the homeland.

Bradistan Calling or Dilnawaz Inqalabi is a proud Pakistani living in Bradford, West Yorkshire (Little Pakistan).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 @ 8:02 pm on the category Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.