Second Writer’s Meet-Up at SS

It was a merging of writers’ groups in Islamabad.

It’s been a dream of mine for ages. The dream is to hold regular writer’s and artists’ meet ups at my studio. So, finally, this year I held the first one in January, First Writer’s Meet-up at My Studio.and now was the second one last weekend on April 28th, 2018.

You see, we writers, artists, poets are very sensitive people. On top of it, most of us are introverts. We also need our own space to create our work. In the process we get into a shell and then it’s hard to get out there and see where we stand in this world of ours. So, it is vital for us to find like-minded people with whom we can discuss our own work, see theirs, and discuss common issues.

The meet-ups went well,  we all enjoyed it. This time, I had got a sound system activated, which made the videos more understandable. Otherwise, if you cannot hear what is going on, it’s of no use.

Finally, I realized, I need help to do my events, which I’ve been handling single-handedly so far. Even though it is at a small scale, I do need help. So, when Mahru Najam, my student-turned-friend offered to help, I jumped for it. So she made the announcement, and came to the event with her three friends. I love to have young people at my events, and they are always more than welcome. – That doesn’t mean that the rest of us aren’t young!

So, previously, Ammar Masood (son of Masood Anwar) had come and it was great having the famous television anchor of the late night shows there with us. I’ve interviewed him and his father for daily Dawn, as well as his first wife. He told everyone that ‘I’m happily married twice!’ which is so wonderful. (He married second time after his first wife passed away.) Considering, that in today’s world, it is difficult to be happily married even once, what to say about twice!

So, anyhow, Atle Hetler, our Norwegian writer was there too. This time, I merged another group into the meet-up. Shabnam Riaz who has her own Art and Writer’s Guild which is a fortnightly event, also came along with two more poets.

Sarmad Sarosh  read out his poem in Urdu and Mazhar  in English. I constantly tease Sarmad that his poetry usually goes over my head due to the Urdu being so strong. (while mine is so weak!)

So, then there is Shagufta whose Punjabi poetry is very touching, as well as her English one.

Nigar Nazar came, who actually has urdu comic books on serious issues touched with humor. At our event she read out a poem which was absolutely amazing, by an anonymous poet. ‘A little of me died.’ I think every Pakistani can specially relate to it.

The young people who came with Mahru had come unplanned, so did some poetry recitations, while one of them read out a humorous article of mine… the Chalan Story in which Nigar is also mentioned, and tells how I got the ticket while driving in Islamabad, and what happened afterwards.

Each one of us was enjoying sharing our work with such an appreciative audience. Who else would know the work that goes into writing?

Mudassar whom my daughter Nadiya had met during a trip with Adventure group to the Northern areas, himself called, to join in. His reading also was greatly appreciated.

Atle, adds his Norwegian and Swedish literature excerpts complete with poetry opening out another world to us all. Yet, making us realize, that deep down how much the same all human needs are!

One of the young girls Abiha

read out a humerus piece from my book: My Life, My Stories, The Chalan Story:

Shabnam Riaz read out her own poetry which was awesome. She is a great fan of dandelions and has a poetry book by that name! She has three books published so far. She holds fortnightly meet-ups in Behbud’s roof top restaurant, where the group meets.

This event was important because writers and readers from different writer’s groups sat together sharing each other’s work in three different languages: Urdu, English and Punjabi. So it felt great, as everyone can get the gist of what is going on. Here is Quratulain reading Faiz:

Just to prove the success of the event, my Magnolia tree burst into bloom (after four years, that I’ve had it planted ) in my garden. So, it was a very happy time of year!

Stay blessed and cherish the talents that you have been blessed with, polish them and nourish them. We all need each other’s thoughts and feelings so we can truly empathize with each other. 🙂