My view on the Karachi Literature Festival '12

After having attended the not-so-appetizing dinner the night before, I was in no mood to wake up early the next day but, as it was my "first" ever assignment given to me by my favorite teacher, I had no choice but to brace myself for it and show interest, it was honestly very hard at first but oh well..I had to manage it, somehow. And the more I thought about working on my assignment with a bunch of lazy bums, the more difficult it was to pull myself together for it, but it was something that was assigned to me, and avoiding it would mean getting marks deducted so, that was definitely a "no no" situation in any case. Hence, getting back from the dinner, I decided to read up on the people who were supposed to talk at one of the sessions I had planned on attending at the KLF. It was based on "art history and it's relevance" - honestly, at first when I skimmed through the sessions, this one caught my sight as it had a mere mention of the word "art" in it and personally, I find myself to be quite drawn towards arty stuff so, I decided to attend it the very minute but later, when I found Amin Gulgee being a part of it, I wasn't too amused but I decided to give it a shot as all my group members had agreed too and I didn't want to be a buzzkill for them so we decided to go for it. So then, 10:30am sharp, I reached the venue i.e Carlton hotel sporting a blue Khaadi kurta, I had recently bought, draped in a black shawl and an aqua colour satchel which too was from Khaadi, along with the annual edition Herald magazine which I had just bought a night before to read the write up that had been written on the "Cultural heritage of Pakistan", a note pad and a pen and, voila I was all set to attend the session..(at least I thought so then)..though later, reaching there that early didn't give me a good feeling as I was slammed with the usual sea odor and some bitter memories of high school which quivered as a flash and, I just shuddered at the thought of having spent two years in that prison without complaining. What was I thinking then?! As I entered the gate, I noticed many old, well dressed people, both men and women, admiring the red KLF banner at the main gate which was very much inspired by what you call the "truck art." Although I love truck art, but at that moment, standing there and gushing about the banner looked silly if you ask me so I just happened to smile and walk towards the main hall where the people had gathered. As I passed by the passage, spotted many volunteers painted in makeup, sporting fake smiles and welcoming all the guests. I felt sorry for them as it clearly seemed they were asked to smile and be all courteous though not wanting to, yet HAD to. I met up my team mates who were glaring at every possible guest that was walking in, in a distinct style and were throwing questions at me as if I knew them and not to forget, they were pretty loud. Felt very odd but I couldn't pick a fight, could I? So, I decided to stand away from them pretending I was engrossed in William Dalrymple's speech which I obviously wasn't but it was cool for them to be thinking that ;) Haha When the inauguration speeches ended, all the psuedos gathered and were directed through this main lobby where all the rooms were so, we proceeded like everyone did. Each room was given peculiar names like "Maharaja" , "Maharani" , "Scillinas" etc. As I walked in with my team mates, the room was nice and chilled smelling of fresh paint that later changed into freshly lit cigarette smell that surprisingly took away the heady paint smell the minute Amin Gulgee lit his cigarette to smoke before the session commenced. Shortly, the session kicked off with Nilofer Farrukh's (art crtic) point of view on art and history, in general - how it appears to be decaying with the years passing yada yada. I was quite taken by her expression and for some reason she reminded me a lot of my deceased aunt. She had the same flawless complexion like her, with short grey hair and was approximately of the same built too but she was just a bit taller which really was the only difference I could see. Then when I looked at her closely, she also shared an uncanny resemblance with one of my mum's friend.I don't know maybe her face cut was such and I kept mixing her with people and soon she handed over the mic to the one and only Amin Gulgee who started off bragging about the prolific family of artisans he came from..how his father's company had an impact on him which persuaded him to become what he is today...I bet he's talking about his personal life than his professional life..Haha because that clearly doesn't speak much. :/ His accent was far from what I called "refined or cultured" but he kept going on and on spitting and stressing on every alphabet of the spelling. Glad he ended the discussion before the time that was assigned to him. Followed his discussion, was Asma Ibrahim (an archaeologist and the Director of State Bank Museum) and probably had a doctorate degree too as she kept referring to herself as Dr. Asma. The lady was anything but interesting as a speaker and surprisingly, having studied so much, one couldn't be impressed by the way she spoke. All she wanted was the revival of museums here which was why she was there trying to convince every artist to help her with it though, she honestly couldn't think of many sensible solutions that could be applied in that aspect but, she went on until she ran out of time. Then came Rizwanullah Khan (a complete malang by looks) who happened to be an art instructor at the Visual Arts Dept, KU spoke less and very well. That's the best way to put it. The only point he emphasized was on the importance of "reading" and how it is considered a dilemma in our society. He chose to converse more in Urdu than English but seeing him speak I could very well have an idea that he was quite well read. So, he did leave an impression Hmmm..Last came Taimur Ahmed Suri who taught art history at IVS and SZABIST and was an Oxford University graduate spoke of the mindset people have regarding art or simply anything to do with it. He was quite convincing with the explanation he gave regarding the subject being considered unholy and a taboo in our society. I enjoyed seeing him speak as he was good and also because he was the last speaker..Ahem* I jotted down a lot of points from their discussion which mainly helped me cover that news feature which was immediately turned down by people whom I considered worthy of sharing so that was kinda bothersome. The session ended with a few baseless questions which could be answered more properly, had they been given time but due to running short of the time lapse, it was mainly repetition which I wasn't quite in the mood of hearing again. So, I walked out and decided to attend the amazing "book fair" they had put up. Bumped into a couple of know-it-all relatives. Also happened to spot Shoba De in a bronzey rust sari, with wet curls and a tattoo on the arm. Considering the age she was at, it was commendable to see the stance she walked with. Phew! So, that was pretty much MY view of the KLF. I would be lying if I said it wasn't my cuppa tea, I loved the hoopla of the frenzy festival but I just wish I could have attended better sessions with much more interesting people. That's all. Enjoy reading! :)