WiseSindh

My heart really ached when I read a letter to editor by our prominent and veteran short story writer Sir Shoukat Hussain Shoro Sahib in largest circulated Sindhi daily "Daily Kawish, Hyderabad" regarding the crisis in Sindhi Adabi Board (SAB), Jamshoro, an institute established to promote Sindhi literature. Sir Shoukat Hussain Shoro wrote that Sindhi intellectuals, writers and poets' demand was to stop running SAB by unlawful means and appoint a new chairman and Board of Governance (BOG). Sir Shoukat highlighting the importance of SAB wrote that after partition as Hindu Community of Sindh left its motherland, huge gap was witnessed as far as Sindhi literature was concerned, that gap was so huge that even the very existence of Sindhi language was in danger. During that period of crisis Sain G M Syed came forward and took efforts in reshaping of SAB, while it was fortunate that a visionary intellectual Mohammad Ibrahim Joyo became its secretary, who not only published...

India's renowned poet Javed Akhtar and his wife well-known actress Shabana Azmi have announced not to take part in Kaifi Azmi Literary Festival, Karachi, after an attack on Indian paramilitary soldiers took place yesterday at Pulwana. Akhtar to Twitter and said, "Karachi art council had invited Shabana and me for a two day lit conference about Kaifi Azmi and his poetry. We have cancelled that. In 1965 during the indo Pak war Kaifi saheb had written a poem: ‘Aur Phir Krishan Ne Arjun Se Kaha’.” Shabana and Akhtar were scheduled to attend a conference in Karachi in honour of the former’s father, the celebrated Indian Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi. The conference is scheduled from February 23 to 24 at the Arts Council of Karachi. At least 44 Indian paramilitary soldiers were killed on Thursday in Srinagar-Jammu Highway in Awantipora area of Pulwama district. The soldiers were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off as a convoy of military vehicles drove by, some...

From quite some time sale of Sindhi novels had increased, claimed the owner of Kavita Publication, Hyderabad, Mohan Madhosh, while books of poetry were on last number in the list. However, people opted for novels and history books, after that memoirs and autobiographies were also in demand. On every Saturday I and Akhtar get a chance to visit Kavita Bookstore at Gari Khatta, Hyderabad and try to spend some time with its owner Mohan Madhosh, who also happens to be our publisher and his publication has recently published my novel "Rai Diyach" and Akhtar's short story collection "Teeh Minute".  Most of the times we talk about different issues regarding Sindhi literature and its publishing, but today I decided to try something new and asked Mohan a simple question what kind of books were sold mostly nowadays? Mohan without taking any time replied: "From quite some time Sindhi novels are on top of the sale list, novels like Khumach of Akbar Soomro, R...

Karachi, the capital of Sindh is the largest city of Pakistan, being the largest city with people of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds it has seen golden era as well as the darkest periods of time, both politically and socially. However, Karachi even today is known as city of lights and the heart of Sindh. Though there are different lingual and cultural groups in Karachi and each group loves the city in it's own way. Many writers have written about this mega city of our time and glorified Karachi for being what it is. Here is a list of some novels written on Karachi. (1) The Prisoner By Omar Shahid Hamid: The Prisoner is the debut novel of a cop-cum-writer Omar Shahid Hamid published in 2013, by Pan Macmillian, it is spread over 350 pages. The story careens through the streets of Karachi, taking the reader into an all too real world of jihadis, corrupt police officers, and bloodthirsty political henchmen – all placed together in a city where no one is quite ...

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA and campaigner Alamgir Khan, whose ‘FixIt’ campaign to cover unsealed manholes in the metropolis gained media attention, was booked on Wednesday for throwing sewage water at the Sindh Chief Minister House. Police said a first information report (FIR) has been registered against Alamgir and his supporters at Civil Lines Station. In the FIR, filed on the government's petition, Alamgir and his supporters have been nominated. On Monday, the PTI MNA had staged a protest outside the Sindh CM House against the non-resolution of Karachi’s civic problems. Alamgir along with his supporters had collected sewage in buckets and thrown it at the gate of the CM House. x

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Wednesday that the government has prepared a mechanism to control hate speech on social media and there would be a strict crackdown from next week. “We have to a great extent regularized hate speech on formal media. I am thankful for the cooperation of the formal media on this. I am happy to tell you that in the next step we have prepared a mechanism in which we will be able to control hate speech on social media,” Chaudhry said while addressing an event.  The minister said a working group of security agencies including the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) determined the capability of fake accounts spreading hate speech on social media. “Our problem right now is that digital media is taking over formal media. It was important for us to regularize this.” Chaudhry added that the government was bringing a new authority – Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority which would be a one window operation to enforce regulations for the digit...

Renowned columnist and author Nadeem F Paracha has claimed that Pakistan would see the era of new social movements and the state would never be able to engage with it in a myopic. Paracha also claimed that there were complex economic and political drivers behind them.  He was also of the opinion that this era was not funded by enemies but they could become bandwagons for varied opportunists. In a tweet Paracha claimed: "Era of the new social movements has arrived in Pak. The state will never be able to engage with it in a myopic, binary manner. There are complex economic & political drivers behind them. They are not ‘funded’ by ‘enemies.’ But they CAN become bandwagons for varied opportunists." However, Paracha also defined great Sindhi poet on twitter as it depended which Shah Latif you were looking for! One who was made by the state, other who was made by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto or another that was made by Sindhi nationalists, However, there are other Shah Latifs a...

Exchange of words was reported by close sources between short story writer Zeb Sindhi and Secretary General of Sindhi Adabi Sangat (SAS) Ahmed Solangi during the inauguration ceremony of late Sindhi writer Ayoob Umrani's novel "Doozakh" held at Sehwan on Friday by SAS, Sehwan chapter. During his speech writer Zeb Sindhi said that Sindhi Adabi Sangat has been divided into two fractions and it has lost its track from a long time, while there was no role of SAS in promotion of Sindhi literature. Zeb further said that vision-less people have taken over SAS, who were just using this platform to get their vested interests, while they have forgotten the real role of SAS, which was to promote Sindhi literature and stand up upon the issues related to Sindh, its people and Sindhi language. To this SAS, Secretary General Ahmed Solangi as reported by the sources replied that irrelevant people were criticizing the Sangat, and those were same people who have not contributed a...

Bombardier Commercial Aircraft announced today that a subsidiary of Chorus Aviation Inc. (“Chorus Aviation”) has finalized a firm purchase agreement for nine CRJ900 aircraft. These aircraft will be operated by Jazz Aviation LP, a subsidiary of Chorus Aviation, under the Air Canada Express banner, making them the first Canadian operator of the new ATMOSPHÈRE cabin for CRJ Series regional jets. Based on the list price of the CRJ900 aircraft, the order is valued at approximately $437 million U.S. "We are delighted that Chorus and Jazz have chosen Bombardier products for the growth and renewal of their fleet. It reaffirms their confidence in the value that the CRJ Series provides to airlines," said Fred Cromer, President, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. "The CRJ900 aircraft is ideally suited to growing markets and is recognized for its superior performance, economics and passenger comfort." “The addition of these new CRJ900 aircraft is part of the ongoing ...

From quite a long time Sindhi literature has broken its tradition of poetry and Sindhi writers have also realized the importance of prose fiction as well. A good number of Sindhi novels and collections of short stories have been published, while a new discussion regarding Sindhi prose fiction has started, which is a healthy sign. Recently I came across with collection of my dear friend Akhtar Hafeez's short stories titled 'Teeh Minute', published by Kavita Publication, Hyderabad. This book contains 17 short stories and is spread over 112 pages. Akhtar is a well-known Sindhi short story writer, blogger and columnist. His writings have direct impact his on readers, while he constantly writes on political crisis in the country, history of Sindh and social issues.  He is bold and blunt in his writings, one good thing about Akhtar's writing is, he fully knows what he is writing and has the ability to present bitter and harsh realities with ease. His published work ...

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (IEC), Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET), Jamshoro celebrated graduation ceremony of four-month ‘Bridging the Job Market Skill Gap for General Post Graduation Degree Holders, Small Business and Entrepreneurship’ program and 1 st and 2 nd winners of Student Startup Business Competition 2 nd cohort (SSBC) announced here on Friday at the IEC, MUET, Jamshoro. Prof. Dr. Mohammad Aslam Uqaili, Vice Chancellor MUET was chief guest in the ceremony. Whereas Prof. Dr. Tauha Hussain Ali, Pro-Vice Chancellor MUET, and Mr. Tahir Mehmood Chaudhry, President and CEO, Pakistan Institute of Entrepreneurship, and Turnaround Management Consultant & Chartered Member of Turnaround Management Association Pakistan was guest of honor to the ceremony and other Dean and faculty members attended the ceremony. The HEC program beneficiaries and SSBC 2 nd Cohort winners were also part of the ceremony. Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Umrani, Manager IEC...

Today I had chance to hear a German writer, Stefan Weidner at Khanabadosh Writers' Cafe, Hyderabad in a session "Meet The Author" moderated by Arfana Mallah. According to the berief introduction presented by the moderator Stefan is a German writer, translator and literary critic. He has studied Arabic and Islamic Studies and Comparative Literature at the universities of Göttingen, Damascus, Berkeley (CA) and Bonn.  He has published several volumes of fiction, travel writing and essays, focusing on the relations between Islam and the West. As a translator he has presented to the German public some of the most eminent contemporary Arab poets such as Adonis, Mahmoud Darwish, Badr Shakir as-Sayyab, Nizar Qabbani and others. In 2016 he published the first complete German translation of Ibn al-Arabi’s  most famous volume of poetry Tarjuman al-ashwaq. From 2001 until the closure of the magazine in 2016 he was editor-in-chief of Art/Thought – Fikrun wa Fann, a bi-annual j...

From quite sometime I have been working on topics related to fiction, style and storytelling, I have discussed trends and techniques, since I believe fiction is like a deep raging sea where different topics and angles pop-up immediately and one begins to ponder on these things. However, there are some theories regarding that are only used to bore the students in narrow classroom situations by teachers. If you ask me what is literature? I could answer this question in two different ways and both mean the same thing. (a) For me literature doesn't mean to convince people to your beliefs,                                    or (b) For me literature means to convey your thoughts to people. Though I like discussing about literature but I hate arguing about different things related to literature. In my study regarding novel, novel writing and different kinds of novels, I have come across with a...

Scheherazade  is a major female character and the storyteller in the Middle Eastern literature One Thousand and One Nights. In Sir Richard Burton's translation of The Nights, Scheherazade was described in this way: "Scheherazade had perused the books, annals and legends of preceding Kings, and the stories, examples and instances of bygone men and things; indeed it was said that she had collected a thousand books of histories relating to antique races and departed rulers. She had perused the works of the poets and knew them by heart; she had studied philosophy and the sciences, arts and accomplishments; and she was pleasant and polite, wise and witty, well read and well bred." The story goes that the monarch Shahryar  found out one day that his first wife was unfaithful to him. He thus resolved to marry a new virgin each day as well as behead the previous day's wife, so that she would have no chance to be unfaithful to him. He had killed 1,001 such women by the ...

Germany’s ambassador to Pakistan, Martin Kobler had bought a Pakistan-made bicycle after hours of struggle in Rawalpindi. “Uff, was a hard choice day! wanted to buy a bicycle made in Pakistan, it was hard to find one, but finally bought a read one”, the envoy had  tweeted . Kobler, however, didn’t reveal his plans for the bike’s makeover, until today, when he tweeted that his new bicycle was painted with Pakistan’s traditional truck art. “Here it is!! My Pakistani bicycle is ready with amazing truck art. Haha, love it now more”, he  tweeted . He further wrote that he rode the bicycle in the streets of Rawalpindi and that it ‘felt great. His bicycle’s makeover received overwhelming response from the Pakistani tweets, who not only lauded the ambassador’s idea but also thanked him for promoting the truck art, a form of expression native to Pakistan. One of his followers even  tweeted  pictures of Multan’s traditional tile work, suggesting the envoy to t...