|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
  |
Town talk theatre A walk into the Dickens’ world The two-day performing arts festival held at Alhamra last week paid homage to Charles Dickens in an innovative and captivating manner — with the audience becoming a part of the performance By Qudsia Sajjad Dickens festival in Alhamra seemed like a really good thing. For one thing it gave people a reason to get outdoors on a chilly winter evening which was a treat in itself. How many times do we get to show our nice and comfy coats. MOOD
STREET dengue
Town talk  *Letters To Taseer II at
The Drawing Room Art Gallery till Feb 23. *26th Lahore
International Book Fair from Feb3-7 at Expo Centre Johar Town. Timings:
10am-10pm. *Lahore Music Forum
monthly concert on Feb 3 at 6:00pm at NCA auditorium. *Critical Mass: Cycling
to start from Neela Gumbad parking lot today at 3:00pm. Dickens festival
in Alhamra seemed like a really good thing. For one thing it gave people a
reason to get outdoors on a chilly winter evening which was a treat in
itself. How many times do we get to show our nice and comfy coats. Coats are exactly what
Dickens is not about. Dickens
wrote about the other side of humanity. For the liberal thinkers, poverty
is unacceptable because, deep down, the liberal consciousness feels an
independent, indomitable will — even when faced with the most adverse
circumstances. The conservative, on the other hand, believes that
following a divine set of directions is good guard against adversity. Deep
down, despite the fact that both believe in charity, poverty appears to be
an invited condition. The inability to survive
in a Darwinian atmosphere is a contradiction of all survival guides ever
maintained by liberals or conservatives. Dickens for that matter takes up
the case of the downtrodden — the ones who did not survive. As a Victorian novelist,
his work is populated with all sorts of characters, the third world
citizens of humanity. In his own childhood, he ended up in a shoe polish
factory. He was lucky enough to leave after only one year. But the
experience seems to have stayed with him. The labouring but innocent
children, kindhearted but mistreated women, cruel thieves, even crueler
patrons, robbers with a conscience — these are the characters in a
Dickensian world. The Dickens Performing
Arts Festival (Jan 21-22, 2012) at Alhamra paid homage to Dickens in an
innovative and captivating manner. There were three performances by
different theatre groups, which also included a mime inspired by Oliver
Twist. The mime was staged in a
makeshift open air theatre right outside the art gallery. Most of the
people were sitting in front of the performance on chairs as well as a
carpet. Some were also seated on the side steps. It was a cozy scene with
the right music and lights accompanying the mime. The mime performance
showcased the plight of Oliver Twist. The choreography was well done, with
the right amount of moves keeping in mind the villainous nature of some of
the performers. The scene where Bill Sikes, Nancy’s tormentor is torn to
pieces by an angry mob was overpowering with just the right amount of
desperation. The angry mob looked more like creatures from the dark though
one can say that was what the mime performance required. The next performance,
‘Mehroom Mill,’ was of a totally different nature. Instead of asking
the audience to sit and watch, it asked them to stand and walk, pretend to
be a group of well intentioned human right activists and try to save the
victims of social injustice. It consisted of a tour with some extremely
realistic portrayals of different characters, sidelined by society, living
in a no-man’s land. Among them, some characters stood out because of
their outstanding performance. Some of them were actually downright
menacing. It was a relief to think this was a performance. But, then
again, based on a reality that no one wants to face. One of the performers,
Hani Taha, gave a convincing performance of a vicious character. Since the
theme of this performance was based on the immersive theatre technique,
the audience cum pretend-activists tried their level best to persuade the
characters to join mainstream society once again. This did not happen. The
characters simply argued their right to stay on the fringes of society.
One wonders if this happened because there was no room in the performance
for redemption, or this is the stark face of reality. Asma Niaz and her group
presented Oliver Twist by Little Dickens: another performance that was
again a tour through Alhamra. An outdoor passage with different characters
thrown in, once again a Dickensian world was presented to a mobile
audience. They followed the main characters Jack and Olivia, through their
journey among the alleys of the poor. This was a good adaptation of street
theatre with convincing performances by the actors. All of them told their
stories to the protagonists of how they became denizens of this dark
despairing world. But the punch came in the end. In a twist to the tale,
Olivia ended up a part of this world. Jack (Sachal Tahseen)
gave a convincing performance as a young man out to tour the other side.
His character had the right amount of skepticism and humour. The programme was
arranged by the British Council and The Knowledge Factory. Both did a good
job of organising an interesting festival for Dickens’ bicentenary on
February 7, 2012. It was a decent programme that went on for two days with
screenings of three of his novels along with theatre performances by Omair
Rana and group, Mira Hashmi and her group and Asma Niaz and her group. It was a good experience
to see youngsters working in an environment which gave them impetus to
showcase their acting abilities for a worthwhile reason. I wish we could
do the same for all of our writers. As the last note, fans
of Dickens would be interested to know that Claire Tomalins has written a
biography of the author and this was a part of BBC World Book Club
celebration for Dickens’ bicentenary. This growing old
business is interesting. You look twenty years back to what was an ideal
time to be an idealist and it seems like yesterday. There was poetry in
the air; all of us read poems, wrote stories and talked revolution. This
was a world of books and music and films. Money didn’t figure in the
list of priorities; ideas did. You could almost challenge God. Coming from a generation
that studied in public sector universities, career was just one next step
ahead in life. It wasn’t a matter of life or death. A heart-break was. And then before you knew
it, you’d turned thirty. Thirties, with hopes still alive, were
acceptable after all. There was a sense of loss. About the time that flew
by so quickly. But there was energy, too, and things still looked
possible. There was a marriage to be saved and children to be raised and
raised well. Career now mattered a little more than books or music or
films. And you could juggle around so many things at the same time. Ideas
came as a byproduct of this juggling around and not per se. The forties arrive a
little too early. Suddenly it’s time to take stock. You’ve not even
realised a fraction of your dreams and they tell you it’s time to go
downhill. Suddenly friends from
around the globe descend on you to tell how they’ve climbed the social
ladder faster than yourself. Suddenly you start regretting everything.
Every. Single. Thing. Is this the right time
or is it too late? Did I make the right choice? Do I need money? Yes I do
but how much. Okay that’s not much but why didn’t I work for it,
stupid. Do I really need the money or is it the others who are judging and
nagging me that make me sad. Just when you thought
you had finally saved the marriage and that’s how it’s going to stay
for the rest of your life, you start questioning the institution itself.
Whether this marriage business and children were worth it, you hear
telling yourself silently and then a little loudly when among close
friends. They too murmur in support. After a little while,
it’s time to come back to the same house, the same children, the same
ambivalence. Forties is all about
being opinionated, judgmental, self-righteous, hypocritical and wise; in
fact, judgmental most of the time. Your friends from the
same public sector university that was known for producing leaders (or
clerks depending on which side of the fence you were on) are all in
decision-making positions now, bragging about how they’re changing the
world. You shudder to compare this with their worldview from twenty years
back. See, it’s already looking judgmental. But it’s interesting
to see how the idealism of youth wanes. With your own children you do
everything that you had wished for all the children around you. Or none.
The class-based multiple education systems you had pronounced to fight
against remain and crystallise while your own children go to elite private
schools. It’s interesting how,
over the years, the conversation changes from books to plots of land to
bank loans to investment opportunities to insurance policies to
immigration statuses. People even start asking if and how much had you
saved to send your children at least to LUMS if not abroad. Forties also make you
far-sighted; in the literal sense of the word. As if your body had kept
the count of each day and month and year of your life. Soon after your
fortieth birthday, it’s time to meet an eye-specialist who will get you
in the right frame in order to be able to read everything that you should
have read when you were twenty. More than that, you need it to read your
text messages. From 0.5 to 1.75 is quicker than you think. The
conversation with friends on the lunch table is now about the best place
in Lahore to get ready-made glasses. Not all is bleak about
the forties though. Just when you thought it was the end, there is a
Mehreen Kasana to cheer you up. The joy of reading Kasana is also in the
faith that you have in the young people around you who are thinking and
reading and writing just the way you would have liked it. They are so much
better than you, ready to take on the world. The walk back home is less
tiring thereafter. dengue Last year’s
deadly attack of the dengue virus exposed the government’s inefficiency
in handling emergencies. And it gave people an idea of how disastrous it
can be in times to come. Unaware of the
technicalities of fighting the virus, the government remained busy in
accusing other players for the mess; learning things the hard way at the
cost of people’s lives. Eventually, it sought expert advice from
countries that have had a history of fighting the disease. Presently, there appears
to be a lull in the activity of virus carrying mosquito — but that does
not mean their threat is over. Though the advent of winter has brought
down the number of cases being reported, experts believe the virus may
become more deadly if timely measures are not taken, like destruction of
larvae and mosquito eggs in and outside houses, once the temperatures
start going up. While surveying the
government’s preparedness to counter the virus when and if it strikes,
TNS discovered the Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has revised
the roles of different departments and assigned them new responsibilities
— on the basis of their capability, efficiency and dedication. Importantly, CM is yet
to realise the need for the appointment of a provincial health minister
and get rid of this additional responsibility himself. In a major move, the
Punjab government has announcement 1,818 new posts under the Prevention
and Control Programme of Epidemics for Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad,
Gujranwala and Multan. These include posts of additional director-general
(vector-borne), managers for postings in operations wing, partnership,
enforcement and training wings, entomologists, data entry operators, lady
health workers, sanitary patrol and environment inspectors and so on. Dr Mujtaba, a former
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) representative in the local government,
terms this mere eyewash and says, “without punishing the culprits,
things will not improve”. Though the government
acknowledged that fraudulent activity had taken place, nobody was
punished, he states, adding: “Why are people not arrested? The only
outcome of this activity will be more spending and eventually the
taxpayers will have to bear the burden of salaries and perks of 1,800 more
employees.” He tells TNS,
substandard sprays were used last year and in many areas the spraying
activity was not conducted at all, “yet payments were released”. Javaid Shaida, deputy
director at Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), says the Punjab
government has given the department the prime responsibility of dengue
prevention. For this purpose, he says, 5,000 plus staff of the Authority
was made to sit in a gathering with the DCOs, Commissioners and other
related officials of the Lahore Division, which also includes Kasur and
Sheikhupura districts, where they apprised of their new responsibilities. Shaida says PHA Director
General (DG) and PHA Deputy Director (DD) Shehzad Tariq went to Thailand
on a course for this purpose and are now training the staff on modern
lines. For example, the gardeners are watering plants and grounds in a way
the water seeps into grounds immediately, fountains have been shut down
both for energy saving and as a preventive measure and lakes in parks are
filled with larvae eating fish. Larvicidal activity is going on at
different locations in collaboration with the district government. Shaida adds the
procurement and use of spray is fully under control and they can even
account for every drop of the spray. “We have asked people to take care
of things inside their homes; whereas PHA will take care of everything
outside.” Preventive measures
inside houses are also of extreme importance. There have been reports of
cases even during extreme winter. Doctors believe this may be due to the
presence of mosquitos indoors where warmer temperatures are maintained. Punjab Auqaf Department
is one such entity which is sensitising general public on the issue, says
the department’s Director General Religious Affairs Tahir Raza Bukhari.
He tells TNS the prayer leaders of the city have been taken on board and
literature is shared with them on creating awareness among people from the
platform of Mehrab-o-Minbar (Places from where prayer leaders speak and
lead prayers). The focus of counselling,
he says, is to create awareness among people to keep themselves and their
environs clean to keep diseases at bay. An official at the City
District Government Office Lahore (CDGL) says on condition of anonymity,
that CDGL gave a dismal performance last year due to the authoritarian
control and strange policies of the DCO who has immense support of certain
quarters. “He is so influential that Punjab government even introduced a
bill in the assembly to justify posting of this Grade 18 officer on Grade
20 posts. Responsibility of anti-dengue measures has been put on PHA just
to save him and other inefficient CDGL officials in case of poor show in
times to come,” he reveals. Dr Jalal Arif, Professor
at University of Agriculture (UAF) Faisalabad believes there’s a need to
do indigenous research on the behaviour of local mosquito. It’s quite
probable it has developed resistance to sprays in use here or there’s a
change in its habits or the remedies effective for one strain of virus are
being used for strain of another type which makes them useless. caption (Top) Lakes in parks
have been filled with larvae eating fish. (Above) Fumigation to keep mosquitos
at bay.
The
students of a private school had an interesting sight waiting for them at
the end of the summer vacation last year: a long queue of people sitting
on the ground outside the park nearby. In fact, it became a daily
occurrence. That queue of people consists of the young and old alike. Many
wrinkled faces are peering from underneath dupattas. A few stand, leaning
against the railing, while most sit on the ground. Only one aged woman
sits on a stool. While the group consists of all age groups and both
genders, they do have one thing in common: they are all obviously from the
low-income group. And sitting there, they have nothing to do but watch the
long queue of expensive cars with girls in ironed and starched crisp
shalwar kameezes waiting to be dropped off at the school gate. Opposite them is a
clinic: Ceragem, whose motto is “healing your life” by using the
portable thermal massager. The CEO, Ali Farooq, is
happy with the class divide created outside, because he wants to provide
free of cost treatment only to those people who can’t afford doctors and
medicines. When affording people visit, after a four day free trial, they
are encouraged to either join the queue outside existing for the general
public or buy their own machines, so that they don’t ‘eat some poor
person’s right.’ He assures TNS though that this isn’t a charitable
organisation or an NGO. “We don’t take any donations. We are a
commercial organisation.” The history behind it is
that two old friends from Aitchison College, Ali Farooq and Shehryar A
Sheikh, both businessmen, opened this clinic to do something for their
fellow Pakistanis. The therapy offered in the clinic is Korean
jade-therapy and all the staff has been trained by Koreans. It is a
therapy which is, to date, available in 72 countries around the world. It
is applied on 15 pressure points on a body; the pamphlet lying on the desk
has a long list of maladies which the therapy is supposed to treat. They
are paralysis, diabetes, problems related to kidneys, liver, heart, lungs,
low blood pressure, obesity etc. He tells TNS about the
jade stones: “260 types exist but only one works for this therapy. Work
is being done to find whether it exists in Balochistan; till now, it is
only found in Korea.” They have a clinic here
in Ghalib Market Gulberg III, to cater to people from all over Lahore.
They have centres in Karachi and Faisalabad as well. This branch in Lahore
has been operating for the last 8 months now, and is their ‘duaaon wala
centre’. Mahmood Ahmad Butt , the
branch manager explains: The therapy is supposed to have multiple benefits
as it purifies the blood, removes clots and improves the circulation, thus
all organs and body parts get blood supply and start working. The energy
which comes out of these special Jade stones does it all. A young girl in the
queue outside thinks it helps, quoting a drastic decrease in the blood
sugar levels of her diabetic mother, who has stopped all medications after
starting the therapy. They operate on a first
come, first serve basis. Above the office, a small 30-bed hospital has
been created. Towards one side, seats have been placed and patients are
being shown a documentary on a large screen about the therapy; it has been
made easy, so the illiterate and worker class can understand it. A time-table on the wall
announces the times of the 18 half an hour shifts held daily from 8:30am
to 5:30pm. All in all, they cater to about 540 patients in a day. The therapy involves red
and yellow jade stones, which are warm, and are put on various pressure
points of the body. A young woman, Zaina, is lying on one of the beds. She
is there to get relief for muscle aches, and asserts “Araam hai” while
a woman lying in the bed opposite has just started coming a few days ago,
and says that she does not feel much difference. Many children are around
too. A young boy is standing next to a bed. He tells TNS, “I hurt my
leg. There was swelling and I couldn’t walk. The doctor said I needed an
operation. I did not get one; after this therapy I am better.” A toddler suffering from
cerebral palsy, whose neck is very stiff, is laughing in his mother’s
lap as she explains that she has noted an improvement. His smile is
clearly visible and infectious despite the bent neck. Clearly, the duaaon
wala centre has been aptly labeled. Newspapers these days
feature articles and photographs about too many queues – the queue
outside utility stores selling flour a few rupees cheaper, the queue at
CNG stations, the queue of cars at security check posts scattered within
the city to try to prevent untoward incidents… Basically, a study of
queues will give one a fair report of the problems besieging the country
today. This queue, though, is
different. It represents something bigger than itself. It signifies that
humanity in ordinary Pakistanis isn’t dead – it is alive and kicking.
Against all odds, the helping hand reaching out to those in need hasn’t
dropped. And this article was
written to give you proof of that, to surprise you by the significance of
this new queue, just as the students in their cars were surprised by its
very existence. caption The new queue.
|
|
