لاہور: ایک مقناطیس – زاہدہ حنا

لاہور مجھے مقناطیس کی طرح کھینچتا ہے۔ اس کی قدیم تاریخ، اس کی گلیوں میں اڑتی ہوئی غزنوی، غوری اور تغلق لشکروں کی دھول، ان کی تلواروں سے قتل ہونے والوں کی کراہیں اور ان کے چنگل میں پھڑپھڑاتی ہوئی عورتوں کی آہیں۔ تمام مناظر آنکھوں میں زندہ ہوجاتے ہیں۔ مغل بھی فاتحوں کے انداز سے آئے تھے اور پھر لاہور کے ایسے اسیر ہوئے کہ اس کے در و بام پر اپنے نقش چھوڑ گئے جو آج بھی سانس لیتے ہیں۔
یہاں نورجہاں ایک معتوب اور معزول ملکہ ہونے کے باوجود اپنے محبوب جہانگیر کا شایانِ شان مقبرہ تعمیر کراتی ہے اور خود ایک ایسی قبر میں سوجاتی ہے جس پر خود اس کے کہنے کے مطابق یہ مصرعہ صادق آتا ہے کہ برمزار ما غریباں نے چراغے، نے گُلے، نے پر پروانہ سوزد، نے صدائے بلبلے۔ نادر شاہ درانی اور احمد شاہ ابدالی نے اس لاہور کو کس طرح نہیں روندا جس کی آبادی میں مسلمان بہت زیادہ تھے۔
مہاراجہ رنجیت سنگھ نے اسی لاہور میں اپنا دربار سجایا اور اسے لاہور کی تاریخ کا ایک یادگار باب بنادیا۔ اور پھر آج کا لاہور جہاں پھولوں نے سرخ، عنابی ،اودے اور نیلے پیرہن پہن رکھے ہیں، جہاں فوارے اچھلتے ہیں اور برابر سے گزرنے والوں کو اپنی پھوار میں بھگودیتے ہیں۔
یہاں کے تعلیمی اور تہذیبی ادارے صدیوں کی تاریخ رکھتے ہیں اور اسی لیے لاہور مجھے مقناطیس کی طرح کھینچتا ہے۔ وہاں سے کوئی دعوت آئے تو دل شاد ہوتا ہے اور دعوت بھی اگر ہماری طرح دار شاعرہ یاسمین حمید کی طرف سے ہو جن کی دل گداز شاعری اپنا ایک خاص اسلوب رکھتی ہے اور جنہوں نے کئی برس سے لمز کے گرمانی سینٹر برائے زبان و ادب کا انتظام و انصرام سنبھالا ہے اور اپنی ذمے داریاں بہ حسن وخوبی نباہ رہی ہیں۔

مضمون کا بقیہ حصہ پڑھیے

Lahore’s love for renowned poet

Faiz was not just a phase
The poet, who died in 1984, remains well loved in the city he made his home for
decades.

By Kamila Hyat’s story for The Gulf News

Lahore: A celebration of what would have been the 99th birthday of poet Faiz Ahmad
Faiz is on in Lahore, with a series of art exhibitions, poetry recitations and more.
The poet, who died in 1984, remains well loved in the city he made his home for
decades.

A museum set up in a private house as ‘Faiz Ghar’ (the house of Faiz) pays tribute to the
poet while his verses remain a feature in many school text-books.

Saray Jahan Mein Dhoom Hamari Zubaan Ki Hai

* Mahmood has written Urdu in Persian and Roman English scripts in an overlapping design

LAHORE: Tongue in Cheek – artist Shoaib Mahmood’s latest exhibition opened at the Drawing Room Art Gallery on Monday. The artwork, a reflection of what the artist has seen and observed in society, delighted art enthusiasts with its imagery and artistic beauty.

Mahmood has used two statements that have been ingeniously written in his artwork: ‘Saray Jahan Mein Dhoom Hamari Zubaan Ki Hai’ (Our language is popular in the entire world) and ‘Urdu Europi Zubanon Ki Yulghaar Mein Jaan-e-Balab Hai’ (Urdu faces extinction because of the domination of European languages).

Nadeem Aslam reading from The Wasted Vigil

The Wasted Vigil is Nadeem Aslam’s third and most powerful novel yet. It follows the lives of five damaged souls dealing with the repercussions of the “War on Terror” in later day Afghanistan. A work of deepest humanity, “The Wasted Vigil” offers a timely portrait of this region, of love during war and conflict. At once angry, unflinching and memorably beautiful, it marks Nadeem Aslam as a world writer of major importance.

Nadeem shall be reading from ‘The Wasted Vigil’ and answering your questions at the Sayeed Saigol Auditorium on 10th April between 5-7pm.

This event is being arranged by The Last Word in collaboration with the LUMS Literary Society.

The Life’s Too Short short story Prize

Entries are invited to the first ever Life’s Too Short short story prize.

For more information, go to http://www.lifestooshort.pk/

Entries will be judged by a panel consisting of Muhammad Hanif, Kamila Shamsie and Daniyal Mueenuddin.

First prize is Rs. 100,000/-, Second prize is Rs. 20,000/- and Third Prize is Rs. 10,000/-.

The ten best short stories selected by the judges will be published as an anthology.

Participants must be of Pakistani origin. Stories should not exceed 5,000 words. Entries must be in English. Poetry will not be accepted.

Entries must be mailed to entry@lifestooshort.pk

Submission deadline is 30 June 2009.

Lahore: the City of Sin and Splendour

Courtesty Pakistan Paindabad blog

Bapsi Sidhwa’s Lahore is a lovingly embroidered family heirloom.

[By Gaurav Sood; the author is a US based political and media analyst. He occasionally writes at Spincycle; picture by Asif Jafri]

A city hasn’t been showered with such love since Dalrymple wrote about Delhi. Bapsi Sidhwa’s edited volume on Lahore in fact far exceeds it. After all, Dalrymple was nothing but a foreigner who had only spent a few years in Delhi when he wrote the book, while Sidhwa in her endeavor is accompanied by a range of distinguished authors and intellects, only tied together in their love for Lahore.

The love for the city, its landmarks, its famed cuisine, its gourmets, its brutalizing summers, its people, its stories, and its relationships shines through on every page.

Every great city deserves an admirer and chronicler of the calibre of Bapsi Sidhwa – someone who will perspicaciously and assiduously collect stories that celebrate her beauty and look unflinchingly, yet lovingly, at her bruised soul and her warts.

The Book

The book strikes an immediate rapport that is akin to being invited to an intimate familial Punjabi gathering. I felt alternately like a kid sitting on the lap of my maternal uncle being told stories about the city, a young adult guiltily listening to the adult conversation about the brutal tales about city’s history, and an objective adult reflecting on history, and politics.

There is a warm intimacy that suffuses each of the stories in City of Sin and Splendor: Writings on Lahore. The additional element of emotional immediacy comes from stories that talk about things we South Asians have grown up with. All of it is made available ‘naturalistically’ by the craft of authors who rarely go beyond what is known. It is an important talent. For authors are always tempted by superfluous cleverness. It is the Jane Austen method of writing in some ways – writing honestly, perspicaciously, and often with great wit about what is known without flirting with the unnecessary or the arcane. It is grounded writing. The authors use words that are well worn and apt and not ones with peripatetic grandiloquent pretensions. The resulting atmosphere in the book is not stifling because of the self restraint, but educated and homely.