Reading matters

Oh, all the places one goes to learn a few new things every day — the books, the newspapers, the magazines, the TV, the videos on the internet, or just talking to somebody or listening to the radio. Again and again one realizes how little one knows about the world,  There is so much time and still it's never seems enough to suck up the endless stream of information.

The in the UK published GRANTA comes out on a quarterly basis with stories, poems and photography by various authors from around the world who always provide a new point of view. They have a knack of finding fresh and interesting writers, and many of these writers who have appeared first in GRANTA are now well known here. The latest funky looking copy of GRANTA has just arrived on my doorsteps, and this time the issue  had a very different feel. As always it is completely devoted to one subject only, in this case it is PAKISTAN.  The cover was commissioned by a Karachi-based artist who normally paints trucks and other vehicles in wild beautiful colors. Once I saw a movie that took place in Pakistan and I noticed that all the trucks and trains were painted in these intense colors. The trucks for instance might be dilapidated, old, overloaded and appear dangerous to maneuver around, but they are attractively decorated. And so it is with the new November issue of Granta, the high gloss cover shows the biggest splash of colors. Every article brings Pakistan to life, the different regions, the different cultures (with a plural), the traditions and religions (although it is now mainly Islamic), the tribes, the wars, the leaders, the corruption, the castes. This country is filled with 200 million people speaking nearly sixty languages and brought into nationhood under the auspices of a single religion, Pakistan is divided  and destabilized with ongoing conflicts in Iran, Afghanistan and Kashmir.  It is a country of jihadists and anti-Americanism. All 18 stories are seen from varioust angles,  and almost all are written by men.  The authors either live in  the cities, in the country, on the coast, or they are Pakistani living in America, or England.  All the writers were new to me except one, Moshin Hamid whose book "A Reluctant Fundamentalist" I had just finished. All the  writing is fine and  a great mix of reportage, fiction, poetry, nostalgia. I could not stop reading the issue non-stop.

My favorite was the first piece, Leila in the Wilderness, a fable to me. A long piece about two star-crossed lovers, Leila and Qes, and it dramatizes the age-old prejudices toward the birth of girl babies and how this is still surviving in Pakistan. The shortest story in the collection was Mohsin Hamid's "A Beheading";  it was startling and made a strong point on how it is to try to live and work under a repressive intolerant regime. All stories are varied, and each is good. Arithmetic on the Frontier introduces the Pashtun machismo. They live in the North West Frontier where hospitality is inevitable to friend and foe, but tribesmen old and young all brandish their Kalashnikovs. They seem to be smiling and then the fire starts. Written by a Manchester Guardian correspondent who accompanies a civil servant, Jasmal Kawal, and his body guard through the country. The astonishing fact is that Jasmal is all, a lawyer and chieftain, a landlord and warlord. Murder and fighting are constant preoccupations in the Pashtun territories. Besides hospitality, the second requirement is to observe Pashtunvali, the honor code of conduct. Everything must be revenged and nothing is ever forgotten: a murdered relative, a philandering wife, or maybe just a casual insult, A profusion of blood feuds take place non-stop. It is a wild story and completely incomprehensible to my mind.

And so it goes on. How can the Western World lead by the US ever to intrude successfully in such a big muddle and change things that have not been changed for centuries? I quote a remark from the book by a man interviewed by the author in the story of The Trials of Faisal Shazad: "... If you train American-born guys, spend a lot of money teaching Arabic, the culture, the most they get, even after all that, is 30 per cent".