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Some amazing books to read – so you don’t have to rush through them for classes!

 

Calling out to all the newbies coming to LUMS, welcome to your freshmen year! I know the zeal and excitement at this time of the vacations is soaring – while some are awaiting their acceptance letters, there are others who are casually beaching away and chilling with a good book or a movie. So for those who want to know more about life at LUMS but are too lazy to go check out the internet, worry not, I’ve got you covered.

Following are some of the books, which are a must-read for honestly every person, no matter what major you’re thinking of pursuing. Some of these have phenomenal plot-lines and have served as guidance for many contemporary best-sellers too. So without further ado,

 

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad:

This has to be the most widely taught book in classes at LUMS. Be it a class of African Literature, British Fiction, an anthropology class or a history class on colonialism and imperialism – this book will be studied! Personally speaking, even though the book is really good and impactful, it is not for everyone since it contains a lot of nautical jargons and elaborate, dense language. It definitely isn’t my cup of tea, but I wish someone had told me earlier to read it. It would have saved me all the trouble in classes.

So, I highly recommend reading this book beforehand since it will make you familiar with the text and language, making it easier for you to understand it on a second read.

Courses this would be useful for:

  • African Literature
  • Post-colonial history course
  • British/Irish Fiction

 

 

1984 by George Orwell:

Seriously who hasn’t heard of this really creepy, too-good-to-be-true dystopian novel? Required reading for students since it was published, it ranks among the most terrifying novels ever written. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell’s nightmarish vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one poor stiff’s attempt to find individuality. The brilliance of the novel is Orwell’s prescience of modern life—the ubiquity of television, the distortion of the language—and his ability to construct such a thorough version of hell.

Courses this would be useful in:

  • British/Irish Fiction
  • Socio/History course on totalitarian regimes and politics (mention this book to gain that extra CP point!)

 

 

The Great Gatsby

Yes, you must have seen the famous movie on Netflix with the same name, starring Leonardo Dicaprio as Jay Gatsby; and if you liked the lush setting of the movie (which was truth be told not even close as to what’s described in the text), chances are you’ll love this book! Thanks to its evocative setting, rich themes and masterly prose, The Great Gatsby has secured its standing as a reading-list staple as well as one of the greatest American novels ever written. Here, the moneyed East meets the modest Midwest, and Fitzgerald’s memorable characters — Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker — perpetuate a lavish lifestyle that, alas, doesn’t offer much of a life. The enigmatic Gatsby has the best parties, but it’s Daisy he really wants. He may have no shortage of party guests, but he’s sorely lacking in funeral attendees. A book about loss, longing, identity and the false ideals of American Dream, this book is a must for all introductory level classes.

I know it is really overrated, but it’s better to read and appreciate it at your own pace rather than rush through it in one class. Plus, I can’t say it enough but every-time you read classics, there is always a new perspective that that book has to offer.

Courses this would be useful in:

  • Intro to Literature

 

 

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Here’s the thing about this book: Even if you didn’t like classics you’d probably love this book. It is unique as far as 19th century women fiction goes, but still as relatable today. The language is fairly easy to understand, there is no subtle meaning behind texts (although low-key and very subtly it is screaming feminism feminism!!). It’s a romance, yes, which: extremely normal. But it’s a romance between two characters who are not conventionally beautiful, which is unbelievably rare.

It’s also not a romance or marriage that acts as basically the sole option for its female character. I love Pride & Prejudice, and I think Lizzie Bennet is a feminist (and awesome) character, but there’s no way for that book to end, really, that doesn’t include marriage for her. Three of the five Bennet sisters get married over the course of that book. It either that or the maid status. But not Jane Eyre, here. She does not allow marriage to be the only prospect for her. She goes away and makes a life for herself and then decides whether she wants to follow that path. We don’t even see that in every 21st century romance!

There are other topics also explored like religion, ‘unconventional’ jobs for women (is there really such a thing, even?) and female independence.

Good for you, you’ll be reading this in a few classes this semester (hopefully!) and even if you’re not taking any English courses, I think every woman should read this book atleast.

Classes this will be useful for:

  • Intro to Literature
  • The Victorian Novel: Charles Dickens to Thomas Hardy

 

 

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The brilliant, bestselling, landmark novel that tells the story of the Buendia family, and chronicles the irreconcilable conflict between the desire for solitude and the need for love—in rich, imaginative prose that has come to define an entire genre known as “magical realism.”

Lucky for you, there is ACTUALLY a “Magical Realism” course being offered this semester and guess what – this text is required reading!! But even if you’re not one to believe in anything remotely close to ‘real and magic’ (haha, it is quite ironic), this book is one of those which has an unquestionably beautiful prose, painted with exquisite imagery and a timeless plot and characters. The most wonderful thing about this book is, that even though it is about human interactions, lost love and heartbreak (which is very much real), the text is so blissful, it feels heavenly!

I highly recommend reading this book since it will give you a grasp on what Marquez books are all about. It’s possible you may not read this in every class, but you shall always read a Marquez short story in a class or two.

Courses this would be useful for:

  • Magical Realism
  • Word and the World (although you won’t read this book exactly but you will definitely read Marquez)

 

 

Beloved and The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison

It is no exaggeration to say that Toni Morrison is one of the greatest living literary voices of our time. In every single work published, Morrison has made a point to reveal the complexities of Black lives, whether captured through poetic period pieces, passionate love stories, or shocking dramas. Even if you don’t exactly read this book, I think Toni Morrison is one of those authors whose books you will most definitely read before graduating.

“Beloved” is one of Morrison’s most well-known novel. It tells the story of Sethe, a former slave who escaped to Ohio in the 1870s. But despite her freedom, he finds herself haunted by the trauma of her past. In 1998, there was a film adaptation of the book starring Oprah (I have yet to see the movie though)

Another of Morrison’s book which lands a place on my top 10 favourite books is “The Bluest Eye”. It tells the story of a young black girl named Pecola and her life following the years after The Great Depression. As a black girl, she grew up thinking that there are only one set standards of beauty: fair skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. The story marks her struggles to keep up with her “ugly self” and not only finding her personality and identity through her skin – but also being confident and proud of it. The text is so raw and emotional that once you start reading it, you will be utterly engrossed in the book. The best part is that it is a relatively short book so you can easily finish it within a day or two.

Courses this would be useful for:

  • Magical Realism (again!)
  • African Literature/ Post-colonial Literature
  • Contemporary Short Stories
  • Early 20th Century American Fiction

 

For courses this would be useful for, I have listed the ones that have been offered before and the ones in which I have already studied the said book. Maybe the instructors would choose to tweak the course outline a bit, but one thing’s for sure: these texts will provide you with a sound understanding on good prose, plot and characterization and they are just really good books to read even if you just want to curl up in your bed with a book and tea.

 

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In Conversation with Kamil Ahsan, ex-President PLUMS and Assistant Editor at Barrelhouse

Meet Kamil Ahsan, an alumnus of LUMS, from the batch of 2012, and ex-President of PLUMS. He graduated with a PhD in Biology from the University of Chicago, and is currently pursuing another in History at Yale. He is also an independent journalist, writer, and assistant editor at Barrelhouse. His writing has appeared in Dissent, Jacobin, The Nation, L.A. Review of Books, A.V Club, Tanqeed, Salon, Aeon, and others. You can find him at kamilahsan.com, or on Twitter @kamuleosaurus.

Hi Kamil, It’s good to hear from our ex-President, the whole PLUMS team is delighted to hear about your project.

Hi Saif. That’s so delightful to hear! Yeah, it’s a little strange to think about how it’s actually been 7 years since I graduated, because on some level I remember it like it was yesterday, but also, I feel very old, hah! PLUMS was so foundational for me as a writer and editor. I’m so excited to reconnect with the people in it right now.

Could you tell us something about your experience as the President of PLUMS?

Oh man. It was nuts, in so many ways. I think PLUMS is a really good experience in some pretty key ways. I was in the first SSE batch so I was over the moon to be President but it’s a steep learning curve, organizationally. I remember my senior year was when we launched The Box Move which was huge, and I stepped away from being a writer and was just editing a lot, liaising between people, sending lots of emails, and learning InDesign! Which was all incredibly helpful later on to be honest so I’m very happy that I learned all that. But at the same time, I do think the way LUMS under-budgets its publications society is…disillusioning. I felt a little defeated, as a writer specifically. That took a bit to come back from.

Let’s talk about Barrelhouse. Could you walk us through what it is and what it plans on achieving?

Ah. Well, Barrelhouse is an institution. I think the US literary scene is so vibrant and exciting, there’s so many literary magazines, both print and online, that it can be daunting and also hard to see from outside the US, apart from the big-wigs, say the Paris Review or the New Yorker. Barrelhouse is very much a healthy institution, it’s both in print and online and I’d been in awe of their pop culture-adjacent work for quite some time before I joined the team! I think it has incredibly ambitious plans. Apart from the magazine, we have conferences, workshops and even a Barrelhouse Books division, so it’s very much a community too. The wonderful thing about Barrelhouse is that in the US, starting out as a writer is very hard. Despite that, in just over the past year, we’ve had a print issue devoted to people who had never published before! We had a special issue for Latinx contributors. And now we have the desi issue!

I’m very proud that we’re really trying to fold people in, instead of keeping them out. And the work we receive (and we get so much) is just incredible. I have a question for you though before you ask another, hah. How daunting is it for you and other writers to be at LUMS and see the writing landscape that you hope to contribute to? I know the scene in Lahore has improved massively since I was there, with The Aleph Review and others. But I’m curious about your perspective.

I feel the opportunities are limited to start off with. By that I mean two things. First there has been a commercialization of writing. Most writing is not for the sake of evoking a sense of learning in the reader but for the sheer desire of earning.  My reference is towards freelance content writing etc.  Second, I feel there aren’t many institutions in Pakistan (like Barrelhouse) that would encourage writers to exhibit their creativity. Lastly, I feel Urdu creative writing has largely remain otherized from the realm of literature (particularly among our generation).

Yeah, 100% Bohat mushkil hai. I think this is true of everywhere but in Pakistan especially, newspapers rule the roost, nai? So LUMS students, if they’re prepared at all, are much more prepared to write non-fiction, or become journalists. Which is great! Even in the US, I got my start as a journalist. Laikin that lack of options, it’s sad. And non-English languages tou door ki baat hai! That’s even sadder. By the way, as a quick recommendation, if anyone hasn’t heard of or read Qurratulain Hyder’s Aag Ka Durya (or the English translation River of Fire) you must. I wish that was part of my education, but sadly it wasn’t.

Thank you.  I will look into that and ask others to do the same. Having said that could you explain to us a little about the collaboration? What’s the purpose of the project?  What exactly is Barrelhouse looking for?

So the reality is that Barrelhouse is a US-based magazine. Even people like me are based in the US. One day hopefully we can start crossing state lines better, but given that even India and Pakistan often don’t receive each others’ works, US is a whole other story. At the same time, this issue is the first collection of both native and diasporic South Asians. Shockingly, it hasn’t been done before! So yes, plenty of our contributors live in South Asia currently. I think with this issue we’re looking to show people that there’s a lot more to desi literature than the barray naam, Mohsin Hamid, Kamila Shamsie, Arundhati Roy etc. And God love their political views, I am a ride-or-die Arundhati Roy and Mohammad Hanif fan. So really it’s about desi writers kar kya rahein hain? And hopefully, with this issue where we have so many different genres and styles and aesthetics, some young desi writers will recognize themselves in it and feel a little less alone?

For example, one of our writers, Ahsan Butt, a Canadian-American writer wrote a really beautiful story called “The Installation”, sort of a noir essentially about a woman’s journey into a space where she experiences…death, perhaps? And I remember throughout the editing process I understood what he was doing only partially. And it’s only recently that I told him: “Ahsan, this is…philosophical fiction! And it’s keenly Muslim philosophy, perhaps a bit Sufi.” But it doesn’t immediately come off that way, it’s not on-the-nose, there’s nothing obvious about it. Aur hum “secular” log, we’ve become very used to “secular” fiction from our big-name authors, no? Or if not secular, they explore Islamophobia and other major political issues, but without really digging into issues of faith because let’s be honest, they’re all as secular as secular writers can be. I’m not much of a believer myself, but Ahsan’s story really did shock me. It made me think of all the religious people in my life and it made me understand and empathize with them. And koi terrorism sherrorism ki baat nai hai, you know?

Well, tell us about the literary usage of the word “Desi?” Do you think the issue is still a contentious one to date? By that I mean can you talk about negative connotation we have with the word when we have to refer to South Asian Brown writers.

That’s a great question. It’s, I think, the central question for this issue, for all our contributors.  See, now, I don’t know if this is true for you, but it’s definitely true for me and all the people I grew up with and the Indian friends I made in Chicago who had just moved from India, that we had never really questioned the word “desi.” I’ve always loved it, it seems like it includes all of us, all these people who are separated by borders and wars and violence and occupation, whether they’re in South Asia or abroad.

But that’s just not the experience of a lot of South Asians who grew up here! I remember being very surprised that “desi” was contentious actually, because in the US, the Kashmiri writer Feroz Rather told me, it’s sort of used to describe mostly North Indians and Pakistanis. So it’s used in very exclusionary ways and it’s become contentious. That said, can we reclaim that word? Itna barra sawaal hai, so all we can do is publish the conversations our contributors are having and leave it to readers to decide! We have completely different backgrounds and experiences, might as well show it!

What do you think, was desi ever contentious for you?

To be completely honest I have never heard South Asian writers being referred to as Desi. You know them mostly by their names, or their work is categorized as Brown (non white)  literature. I think this has more to do with the image the word evokes? What is the first thing that comes to my mind? A Pakistani writer (perhaps writing in Urdu)  for an audience based in the native country. A cohesive example in that regard: Manto or Patras Bukhari.  It’s difficult to associate the terminology Desi with say Mohan Hamid or Kamila Shamsie.

That’s interesting. I feel like I always unconsciously heard it used as anyone who was born in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, though I do think people excluded Sri Lanka and Nepal, and unfortunately, for obvious reasons, Kashmir. Or even anyone whose parents were born here but immigrated. Like hummaray cousins jo England gaye the, wo desi nai hain?

Half desi. Even Lumunites aren’t pure desis. I dont know who qualifies as desi anymore. Perhaps we should wait for the barrelhouse edition to tell us that!

Ah, so you mean privilege is a way to think about someone who is desi.

Upper middle class and rich people are less desi than everybody else. Like I said there is a negative connotation so yes desi is someone I would envisage as less privileged. But at the same time for me what it takes to be desi also constitutes your likes and dislikes. Listening to Bollywood songs makes you desi. On the contrary, listening to Tame Impala or sasta Edm doesn’t.

Ah, acha acha. Matlab, the opposite of burger. That’s interesting. I don’t think I ever grew up with that idea, but these things shift a lot! In this issue, some of the older writers have completely different perspectives to the others. For me, it’s a political imperative. Vijay Prashad has talked about this, but I don’t want to buy into nationalisms and country names and bureaucratic terms. Let’s open it all up. After all, we don’t deny Barack Obama’s “Blackness” because he’s wealthy.

I think privilege is very important, just not so much in the term desi for me. I hate words like paindu where they’re pejorative but a lot of my friends who are leftists like me just proudly call themselves paindu if they do come from lower income background. So…you know it’s tricky, but interesting. I can tell you, I feel like the creators of LOST: the issue will show conversations like this one. But it would be hard to find answers.

Do you think writers working for (or contributing to) Barrelhouse face some sort of backlash from the society at large. Considering from the documents you sent, some of the short stories revolve around controversial themes like homosexuality, human trafficking.

Well, yes. Of course! I talked about a story that’s very Muslim and it’s sitting right beside horror stories, queer narratives, we even have a really wonderful erotica story in the issue. I think that privilege plays a part in the fact that many if not all of the writers are somewhat insulated from backlash, either because they’re wealthy or live abroad. But it’s also something we shouldn’t necessarily be thinking about. After all, somehow, Mohammad Hanif’s A Case of Exploding Mangoes, which had very risque gay sex scenes, did very well critically!

I think when the day comes for a writer to face backlash on things like this, we need to reckon with state censorship. That’s our job making art. And art that isn’t provocative in some way or form isn’t pushing the needle forward.

Though, it’s fun to note that it’s not the first time desi writers are doing this. Ismat Chughtai, Manto, Faiz, Qurratulain Hyder were all extremely bold and provocative.

I’m so proud of our artists and the way they collaborated with the writers. Just all very radical artists doing great things with such intellect.

Acknowledging the fact that English literary work in Pakistan reaches just a small proportion of the total Pakistani population, do you think the creative work will be less impactful?

So, that’s an interesting question for two reasons. First, there actually are queer traditions in Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, what have you. They’ve often been shoved under the rug but our lack of awareness about them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I know people doing PhDs on exactly this. It does exist, and this idea that South Asian society is this homogenous monolith is obviously wrong.

Doosri baat yeh hai that interestingly in this issue we have writers who are very interested in having their work translated, and though it’s an English-language issue, there is actually some interplay with Urdu. “Barri Ammi” by Palvashay Sethi is one of those. It is an incredible story that I’m formatting right now that has Urdu script in it.I love that we’re not translating it. We’re not pandering to people who don’t read that language. If they want they can copy-paste it into Google Translate.

Impact tou mushkil sawaal hai. There are so many things that don’t have impact. Journalism from Indian-occupied Kashmir is so sparse, for example, for the most part we have no idea what it’s like for people in essentially the world’s biggest open-air prison. Feroz Rather who I mentioned earlier has a story that he’s really keen on writing for Kashmiri readers. So, it’s tricky, because scale is always tricky! But having the sort of institutional backing at Barrelhouse that we do helps us reach a lot of people. But even if it didn’t, I’d do it for the worth of even one person reading it and thinking “yaar, that feels like me/my family/my life!” Interestingly, Palvashay is a writer who is very keen on having all her work translated. Which is true for many of our contributors who’ve published books too.

Interesting. So my last question for you is: What are your expectations from the project? Are you keeping your hopes high *fingers crossed*?

Hah! I don’t know what my expectations are to be honest. I’ve been pouring myself into this for so long, and this is really a lifelong dream for me. I’ve wanted to do it ever since I can remember so right now, I just want to deliver. And then sleep!!! I do want to mention just in closing that I’m really excited to reconnect with PLUMS people for many reasons. And one of those reasons is very simply this sort of defeatist attitude that I think, when we are writers in LUMS, it’s such a natural thing to feel! Get a few likes on a post we’ve spent ages writing and it feels like no one’s reading and no one cares! That kind of environment is really stifling, so it’s not that I want to “give back” to be honest, it’s more that I wish writers who are coming into their own realize…it’s not hopeless! Haan, it’s hard work, crazy hard work.

I remember one time I was in Lahore right after the Youhanabad attacks and I was writing a story on it for Tanqeed. I remember feeling like the whole air around me changed when I brought it up with people. They just…didn’t want to talk about it! Or if they did, the Uncles we all have hahaha, they would be very nationalistic. The best conversation I had was actually with the maid who worked in our house at the time, who was Christian, and I just remember having this lovely conversation about how deeply the word “choora” hit as a pejorative, you know?

I think LUMS main we’re so used to self-criticizing ourselves as being in a bubble that we also…forget to leave it. Like, go to Youhanabad! Report on it! Talk to people. In Chicago some of the most life-changing experiences I’ve had was just me taking the subway all the way down south to the Black segregated neighborhoods and talking to them!

Now whether it’s journalism or fiction that comes out of it, does it matter? We can make art that matters. We probably have to get better at listening first. But it’s definitely not hopeless. The minute we buy into that, that’s when we’ve been censored. And especially with the Aurat March recently, we know what that censorship does over the long run! I’m so happy to see all of that, and disgusted by the response, but it’s a movement! Fiction has movements too! One of our artists quite literally was one of the most prominent activists in the Aurat March. And you can tell in her art!

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Godspeed, PLUMS! A Farewell Note by the Vice President

Like you, I also feel a social pressure to write something cool, but for a moment, let’s be ourselves. Let’s bravely face our humble, real selves and leave our cool masks on the shelf. We, millennials, associate our identity with  plenty of artefacts; social media, pop culture, Netflix and the stories they tell. We know these distant, detached stories told to us; those that we can only see or hear through a device, but not touch or smell. We know less of our own selves and the immediate surroundings which can be seen, heard, touched, smelt and felt – realities that are more certain than the former. We all carry an urge to be “cosmopolitan middle class individuals through indulging in transnational consumerism of things, ideas, ideologies and cultures”. But imagine that internet or cable networks cease to exist today; then what are you? Who are we? How will we have conversations? The consequences will be horrendous: our Johnny self will become Jamshéd and will fall short of “pickup lines”.

“World will always look for unstable, impulsive, hormone-imbalanced youth to further its propaganda on one hand, and grumpy, old, arrogant lot on the other.”

Our identities depend on these distant stories so much that if they cease to exist, we would be nothing. This is our weakness. We have built the world around us, but there is nothing inside.

پڑھ پڑھ علم  ہزار کتاباں،  کدی اپنے آپ  نوں  پڑھیا  نئیں

جا جا وڑھدا اے مندر مسیتی، کدی من اپنے وچ وڑھیا نئیں

We must link the immediate with the distant. As our sense of reality is dislodged from our immediate surroundings, we are pushed to a conundrum of expectations that inculcate a façade of a “certain” future. But that “future” never happens. You’ll be asked to connect the dots, but the expectations will align them in a way that the line goes in a direction that the “expectors” wish. When we pursue life with a detached sense of reality, we deceive and lie to ourselves about the “is” through “ought”. The world disappoints us each time; and unlike our numb “reality”, these contradictions are felt bitterly through all our senses! As what is, exists independent of what we think is, and we do not run over the bus when we have our arms crossed, the bus still runs over us.

I’ve been believing in something so distant,
as  if  I  was human!

I’ve been denying this feeling of hopelessness,
in  me;  in  me!

So much in this world, ultimately, tends to move from instability to stability. Perhaps that explains our need for certainty and meaning. But to reach the highest level of certainty, we need to conjoin all our senses to know, than relying on only seeing and hearing through devices. We are only exposed to the ‘distant’; detached from the ‘immediate’. We are an unstable generation plagued with a weaker sense of certainty than our ancestors. Perhaps this is the “instability” that reflects as mental illnesses, among other reasons?

I have built this as a foundation to encourage you towards “originality”, and “being yourself” in your creative projects, which you must understand in terms of eliminating the problem I have  put  forth.  We  are  a society, a community that has a common goal: writing. All our departments work together to produce this end, learning manifold skills in the process. As I see a promising future of this newspaper, it is imperative  that we preclude this ‘millennial problem’ of detached reality, disconnected from our immediate surroundings, in our writings. Let’s link the distant to the immediate. Right now, for instance, we are students at a university. What being a “student at LUMS” means, is for us to define; not just the administration or faculty; not Google; not Instagram, not JSTOR and certainly not Netflix.

کوئ  دور  رہ  کے  قریب  ہے

کوئ قریب رہ کے بھی دور ہے

Should we be “critical”? A popular concern found in the students’ culture these days, is of “thinking out of the box”. What we don’t realise is that when we go out of the box, we jump into another box and stay there. Should we, then, keep jumping through the boxes persistently to facilitate inquiry? I never really understood that. If you wish to “deconstruct”, you find yourself in Jacques Derrida’s box—you may choose to stay there, perhaps because it’s a “French” box.  But following the earlier logic, no matter how much we jump, we are tempted to make a box around us; of certainty; of stability; and stay there even when it starts corrupting with contradictions. And do you see, we have the audacity to see this world in a “horse shoe”? If we realise our surprising abilities, no horse shoe will be able to theorise us.

If we believe that there are no absolute right or wrong – or no “box” – we will still be tempted to generalize our personal right and wrong to the world. Maintaining a façade of acceptance of others’ values counts to nothing if, by practice, we still move towards the absolute in many respects. Just because we say or believe that we are not, does not change the practical reality and its consequences. Isn’t that we are tolerant in being, tolerant in sayings, but intolerant in doings? Though we have grown apparently elastic in it, we still compete to be the demagogue.

As this society is relieved from resource dependencies, you will witness this newspaper leaning towards such direction, which will be an existential threat. I already see certain factions running after it like wild hounds. There is apparently a consensus among the academics that being completely value neutral is impossible. For a person, I find it true to a vast extent, but not for the institutions. For a newspaper that hosts a constellation of persons, using this consensus to justify propaganda is precarious; it can compromise free speech, result in compelled speech and a lack of diversity. You will see dominance of one narrative and exclusion of others. The contrarians will be discouraged to write or enter the society altogether. The newspaper will attract a label and facilitate cult formations on either sides, which is a catastrophe. We don’t want to see an “Intellectual Dark Web”, do we? Cults are, by definition, exclusive; when you make one cult, four more cults will be formed around you. Would you wish such a campus?

I declare this society open for all kinds of students—Northerners and Southerners alike, brand schoolers and non-brand schoolers alike—if they can think originally and be themselves. For how long can we hide behind an arbitrary grandiose of city, or a brand name of a social engineering factory? We are someone else too, without association to these jewels; someone more than a market niche. We must not be eager to replicate the tyranny of the world inside the campus. The world outside is, but a huge ego-sizing contest. In reality, their ego is the same; it is the gazing of the shadows that misguides them. Thus, those who are farther from the light, see  bigger shadows of their egos, and those who are closer, know their place and that of humanity very well. I encourage you to be the latter, and not the former.

The media in the world too, is accused of showing a distorted reality to facilitate narratives. They have to, but we dont. As I depart, I recommend the Editorial Board of PLUMS to maintain as much value neutrality in the editorial policies as it is possible, and to avoid implicit and explicit association with any ideology or narrative that must govern all writers. As I stated earlier, we will be tempted to turn populist, towards any side of the spectrum. But the highest level of maturity is when we strictly observe that what we are tempted to do is not always what we should do. Though it generally happens in the world outside, it is not best for us students. We are here to learn acceptance of differences, not activism and propaganda; the former is harder to learn; the latter is, or soon will be, instilled in us by the logic of the world anyway; as we let it.

Another reason why I deplore propaganda through the newspaper and its unapologetic affiliation with a narrative is to keep us students from being used. We get used by the things we don’t know how to use. We don’t control the narratives that we are a mouthpiece of, someone else does; who doesn’t love us as much as we begin to. How does religious fundamentalism use us, tapping into our beliefs, which they don’t themselves respect? How does right capitalism use us, taking advantage of our greed, avarice and vanity; feeding us theories of individual agents, then treating us as collective? And how does neo-Marxism and postmodernism use us, capitalizing on the “millennial weaknesses” these days? Karl Marx or Karl Mask? Taking a moral high-ground in the comfort of the blanket about the complicated world (immediate reality) that we never interacted with! Have we read a book called the world? What we say, remains in our throat, as we say so to be sublime characters, online or otherwise. It was all a meaningless hashtagging and posting, until they said it can change the world, and we adopted it impulsively to get meaning, stability and certainty in what we were habitual of doing meaninglessly. Can it really change the world? We were never critical of its premises, as what the world is and which direction of “change” it must follow, are not questions devoid of narratives, shortcomings and interests. The list above is not exhaustive or literal, be imaginative! We are in a world of defenseless lawyers and diseased doctors. All in all, we are not the end for them all, but a means to an end unknown to us.

Some cover their propaganda under cunning “rationality”, others facilitate demagoguery by a façade of compassion and piety. Serving humanity in saying, could be feeding our vanity in doing. They are a “public consent” away from a vulgar dictatorship that they had been hiding all along. Seemingly benign, inherently sinister!

Faking compassion for politics, rather; harms the very regime of it, by making the public skeptical of its discourse whenever it is signaled—failing to distinguish the fake from the genuine. Let the postmodernists disagree.

ہے علم جسے ہو حاجتِ  اندازِ بیان، محض رعب
پاک علم ہو گرچہ سادہ، کرے شعلہ بیان زدوکوب

Yet another choice is edginess, but that too is meaninglessly endless. You get edgy, edgier, edgiest and then what? You “walk over the edge”?

Though I am a big fan of feminists, as they say “men are trash”, I rather contend; why are they so lenient? How about the whole world is trash? Why is there a food-chain? We complain about the game theory, but why are the
resources scarce? Isn’t water running out, in our immediate reality? What will we do? If the world is this trash, does that imply we must adjust and be trashy ourselves? Or that we must manage to make it less trashy? How do we do it? Resource allocation? Modernization? Eliminating grand narratives? Revivalism? Hedonism? World abnegation? Self-purification? Which is the best answer? No one is sure. Façade of certainty! We are all internally scared and insecure; and we hide this behind the veil of vanity. Some get to shout and hurl through a pedestal; others get to sit with a European leg-cross at an NGO’s event. Their sayings are not doings, and doings are not what they speak of; their thinkings are not feelings, and feelings are not for what they think; their beings are not what they are, and what they are, they don’t want to be! They are distant, and all alike. They will bring us nothing, but make us become like them. You’ll be swimming through life somewhere, but your heart will float elsewhere; the heaviest of its pieces will be drowned, others will go here and there.

حق نوں آکھ کہ ہک کرے

ترا    ٹوٹا    پھوٹا     دل 

But the world will always look for unstable, impulsive, hormone-imbalanced youth to further its propaganda on one hand, and grumpy, old, arrogant lot on the other. We must spare ourselves from this game, at least as long as we are in the university or in the learning stage – or in a hormonal imbalance, for that matter.

Growing up is not a choice, but a necessity, for if we act like a pre-pubescent kid, the world will treat us like one; that treatment will less resemble that of our parents and more so of pedophiles. We would never know when, where and how were we ripped off.

Yet I’m militantly against pessimism, though I know that my words reek of it. But it only reeks to those who have learned to be governed by it; I have conjured all optimism in my Urdu poetry; those who cannot read it, missed out on it.

ٹھانی تھی دل میں اس نے اک آرزوۓ عروج

کہ  کردار   باکمال   ہو ،  شجاع   خوب  خوب

کروں  میں کچھ ایسا  کہ عالم حیراں   ہوجاۓ

ٹالوں  میں  وہ  بلا،   کسے  ٹالی  نہیں  کبھو

ملے  اسے    جلال  و  اضطراب  و  استطاع

مگر    بلا   نہ   آئ ،   بلا    ٹالتا    وہ   کیا

جب  کام  ہی  نہ  تھا    تو  کامیاب   کیا  ہوتا

نہ  تھا کوئ  فرعون  تو  موسیٰ وہ  کیا  ہوتا

جانا، کہ   مصیبت  بھی   ہے  اک نعمت  خدا

مانا،  کہ  اہم ہیں   یہ  فتن ، فِسق  اور زبوں

نہیں  ہے  دنیاۓ عفریت و عزازیل بلا  مقصد

دجال   نہ    فضول،   نہ   یاجوج  وَ ماجوج

The only acceptable activism is one that originates from yourself; from your immediate reality, that is: you are a student at a university—which is just one shallow instance. What concerns do you face being a student? Ask yourself! Would you not speak of non-profits shifting from social service provision to a mere donation collection; from “altruism” to “greed”? Do you see your peers implicitly excluding NOP scholars and then rant on LDF about mutual acceptance? Do you  recognize imposters amongst you, who talk of feminism, tolerance and piety, but do the opposite? But first sweap your own house, as the most immediate is, yourself. For us, it is less terrible, as this is our age of making mistakes; though it’s over for those who sit in offices. It is when you are aware of the immediate reality first, you are good to talk about the distant matters, while maintaining a link. And for that, you do not need to follow an ideology or a school of thought. No PhD knows more than you, what being a student at this university today feels like. You own this domain. You have the right and legitimacy to speak out through the platforms that PLUMS provides. Lastly, be critical, but not in the manner described earlier.

Words never erupt out of a newspaper to grab anyone’s collars. I have no right to obligate you to listen, nor have you, to constrain me to explain. As through this, I do not seek the limelight; I never wanted to be noticed. But I humbly put these words out, so the consequences that are not consistent with them, are off my shoulders. Mera Ranjhan hun Koi Hor!

If Harvard Crimson can last more than a century, this newspaper can last as long as LUMS itself, and it will (IA). With this hope, I bid farewell, both, as the Vice President of PLUMS (EC’19) and as a student at LUMS. Khuda Hafiz!

 

 

 

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Sonder and Mokita: In conversation with Haider Ilahi

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge”- Stephen Hawking

There is something to be said about a person who draws knowledge from the world, the people and the events surrounding him, the good and the bad; and turning it into a symphony of words that speaks to the soul. Like a tree with its roots firmly in the ground with the world spinning quickly by, as years turning into aeons; people into a kaleidoscope of colours whirling into a spectacular illustration; time burdening it with its age-old secret and the dawning truth ageing it further every day.

There is nothing more radical than to learn, unlearn and relearn oneself from the knowledge that one is provided with and it was by chance that I stumbled upon somebody quite similar to that. From the batch of 2019, Mr Haider Ilahi tells us about what he learnt so far from his experience as a member of the LUMS community and how it shaped him as a person.

Sleepless due to reading Songs of Blood and Sword the whole night, downing a cup of coffee and making our way towards Khoka in the chilly November morning, I and my two friends went to meet Mr.Ilahi as he greeted us with a polite smile.

We started off by asking him about his routine.

Q: How do you usually spend your day?

 A: Previously, I would sleep and wake up very late. I wanted to adjust my routine since it was messing my day up. Directing my biological clock to wake up at 6 am, I started rising to a clean, empty and quiet campus giving me a clear head to think. I have my breakfast and then do my readings outside with the music always playing in the background. Then my friends begin to wake up and I start wasting time (smiles!). By the end of the day, I go to bed early usually around 10 or 11 pm and even though it’s really hard, I still try to maintain this routine.

Q: What kind of literature do you like?

A: I used to read a lot of fiction but I am lucky in the respect that I really like the courses that I take. So, primarily, having just started my senior year, this is the first semester that I am really involved with my course packs. Usually, it would be me opening my books only during a mid or a final, but now it’s constant. So, whenever I am free and have to read something, I’ll do a reading of the course that legitimately interests me like philosophy or sociology. When I do have the time, I try to find novels and books suggested by friends. But I hardly have the time right now, so it seems to be just course packs.

Q: What about your childhood book-preferences?

A: It would be novels, crime stories, and detective stories. Even now, some of the favourite books that I go back to are fiction; which I used to read when I was really young. So, uh, it wouldn’t be surprising that I go back to those Famous Five books (we all laugh) that usually send me back to my childhood. But other than that, philosophy would be my preferred genre.

Q: What made you decide upon your current major?

A: I had an understanding that I would do Political Sciences but my father wanted me to have an open mind about choosing another major if it appealed to me. He personally wanted me to take Economics but, ultimately, he left the choice on me saying that I should analyze my penchant as well as my strengths and weaknesses. When I came as a freshman, I took a month or two to contemplate and then decided on doing Pol Sci and stuck with it. Despite that, even though I am a Pol major and its requirements aren’t very stringent, I promised myself that I’ll take up courses from other disciplines as well except for SDSB, which I had to take eventually as an out-group (the word ‘unfortunately’ was left unsaid). This really broadened my perspective as a whole.

Q: Apart from studying, what hobbies do you indulge in like sports etc?

A: I used to play a lot of football before I came to LUMS. For some personal reasons, I gave that up. It was hard because at that point football was the only thing I was really passionate about. So when I gave it up, I had to sort of find a replacement for it; something to keep me active in a way. Then by the end of my sophomore year and the beginning of my junior year, I found that spark in a specific branch of academics. Met with a couple of teachers who really inspired me to align my goals and ambitions. So if I had to choose now in retrospect, I’ll always choose this over football as it is something much more fulfilling and gratifying.

Since he mentioned music previously,

Q: What about your taste in music and did it develop over time?

A: Yeah, it did develop over time. If I had to go and pick one genre, it would be Blues. I have discovered some of the most incredible blues artists from the 60s and even early 30s. Other than that, since it’s in my blood probably, I have recently started to get really deep into Sufi qawwalis since almost all qawwalis do use spiritual and Sufi takes. As my Punjabi isn’t really good, I have sort of become a student of that. So, 50% it’s qawwali and 50% it’s blues.

Q: What are your thoughts on Iqbal since you mentioned that you respect his philosophy?

A: Well, I can’t talk about Iqbal without talking about society because even my own opinion is formed partly due to society. So when I was growing up, I understood Iqbal as how he was taught: “Qoumi Shayar hain” and “Unko Pakistan ka khwaab aya tha”; that’s all very nice and cute but in my junior year I heard about a course being offered called ‘Philosophy and Poetry of Iqbal’. This course was being taught by the only person I call my teacher, Sir Koshul. Since it required the consent of the instructor, the professor took my interview. I remember when he asked me why I wanted to take this course up, my reply was that one of the things my father used to talk about was my generation; that the most unfortunate aspect of our generation is that we haven’t studied Iqbal well and even if we have, we didn’t try to understand him. That really stuck with me. At that time I was trying to study Kant and Nietzsche on my own and, although it was fun, there was a thirst and a void inside me as if I was missing something. So, ultimately, I stumbled upon Iqbal and truth be told, that course changed my life. It was primarily the philosophy of Iqbal but the poetry of it cannot be separated as they complement each other.

Q: Why did Iqbal impact you so?

A: This course and Iqbal’s ‘Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam’, it struck me really deeply and my whole life was turned upside down.  Those questions that plagued my mind, Iqbal answered them.  Culturally specific and contextual, Iqbal is not just for Muslims only. He is beyond that; he is universal. Iqbal understood the fact that the need of the current day and age, and I hate using this word since it has an extensive debate behind it, is for us to reconcile things ‘rationally’. For instance, and I speak personally, growing up in a Sunni Muslim not-so-extremist family I would have questions about my religion and somewhat related aspects.  When I would look for the answers, religion would always say this is where you take a leap of faith.  Kind of like religious schooling in subtext. Whilst from my school to my university, the exact opposite coaching’s been done: to perceive everything rationally and build reasonable, sound arguments so it could all make sense. So you can imagine the conflict inside me and I notice this about a lot of people in my generation as well. The disparity has expanded so much that both of our domains do not even see eye to eye most of the time. It has thus created a perception-gap throughout because we have failed to understand the needs of our time. And Iqbal talks about this in the preface that the need of the time requires a method that is physiologically sound and mentally adequate or something along these lines. That is why Iqbal is so exceptional and made so much sense to me. Where religion told me to take a leap of faith and I couldn’t uncover any empirical or sort of logical reason for that, Iqbal resolved my conflict through his philosophy and I started seeing patterns in things as my observational sense got acute. I feel like he is truly misunderstood whenever I have this conversation, even with my friends. I apologize if this is getting lengthy (we didn’t mind at all), but Iqbal is a teacher of mine and I think everyone could learn from Iqbal regardless of what their personal inclinations are towards everything. Religion, faith, science, whatever belief you hold; I think if you respect the text and go to it as a student, you’ll take a lot from it in the end.

Q: How did these texts change your perception?

A: For that, I’ll talk about the point where I started to understand things or rather, I thought I started to understand things and that came from the fact that if I had a text in front of me, whether it be of Allama’s or any other’s, I had to treat it with respect. More than knowledge, it is the self-discipline that is necessary to understand something. My favourite movie of all time ‘Good Will Hunting’ has this powerful scene between Will and his therapist Sean where the therapist says: “You think I know the first thing about how hard your life has been, how you feel, who you are because I read Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you?” So whatever surface idea you garner, that’s probably the worst interpretation you can attain from a text. The text Sir Koshal is teaching us, he is still working on it and even now he goes back to his very beginnings. And it’s only due to self-discipline that you start forming your own conclusions which are very sound, probably by not endorsing anyone else’s opinion. When we come to the Quran, the stipulation in which the country is right now is most likely because people have reduced the text. They have reduced God. Had they grappled with the text, had they had the self-discipline; this country wouldn’t be suffering from the current repercussions. Not saying that I have that sort of self-discipline and this is perhaps the reason I haven’t picked up Quran’s translation till now. The other end of the spectrum is that you start understanding it and you begin discovering things that are fascinatingly tangible for your inner world. Then yes, your life changes, your company changes, your friends change and your relationship with the world changes. It’s because your understanding of the world has changed and if it is worth something, you will definitely change.

Q: You talked about having some questions growing up. What were those?

A: There were a lot of questions that plagued me. I’ll talk about three of the most primary ones here. One of them was the biggest contradiction that I and most people find in religion: predestination and free will. If everything is pre-decided by God then where is this supposed free will? It bothered me a lot not being able to comprehend why I can’t understand my religious conviction. The second thing that troubled me was the nature of time. There are a lot of ways to understand time but how I perceived it was through observation. The earliest memory I have is of my mother picking me up as she prepared breakfast for me and my siblings when I was very little. Now, it’s the same mother and it’s the same Haider but when I am climbing stairs with my mum, she asks for my hand to help her ascend. This is how I understand time: seeing parents age, seeing myself grow and watching myself as I change. Thirdly, I started questioning death. I have seen death very closely and well everyone is subject to it; this developed a curiosity inside me to discern the nature of death in its truest form. So, these were the queries that I had growing up and the most intriguing thing is that many philosophers have presented these questions with answers of their own but none of them really stuck with me. That’s where Sir Basit Koshul came into the picture; he taught me about 150-200 pages of Iqbal thoroughly and that sort of lead to a mental progression for myself.

Q: The way you perceive different aspects of your life probably vary from that of your peers. Did you ever feel the need to make them understand your point of view?

A: The beauty of life is that every person lives his life in a unique way. Again Allama when he talks about human ego, call it a soul, a spirit or whatever, he says that every individual is a unique ego and everybody is looking at life with a different intellect. Doesn’t mean that somebody’s way of perceiving it is better than any other’s or only one way is the True way. These are just general rules for surviving on this Earth; a necessity if you may. It’s essential even to look at things in your own way and be respectful of how others are looking at them and then exchange ideas among yourselves. So when I am with my friends, this is the only sort of conversation that I have. Better to understand another than to gossip about someone else. Be respectful, be kind and you will start to realize that even though you might be looking at things through a different lens, you will be able to see the beauty in it. It’s really exciting if you and your friend perceive the same thing completely differently. And nothing is more beautiful than when this difference allows you to achieve the essence of that very thing.

Q: Did it change your perception of the institute that we study in?

A: I don’t want to scare you guys but I am sure that you all must have heard a lot when you first started studying here like there is freedom of inquiry, free objectivity and well the very best of education you could get in the entire country. After three and a half years, I would say it’s been probably the exact opposite. Because if LUMS is claiming this, then there sure are some conflicts within this claim. And for that, I will have to talk about rationality, something I am very cautious to talk about since we have understood it in a very restricted way. Weber gives four modes of rationality: theoretical (computative and analytical), formal (cause and benefits), practical (actions and reactions) and value (judgment mostly). What the university does and what science and each of its discipline do is endorse only formal rationality. This is the only form of rationality that they accentuate and consider to be ‘true’. According to them, the other three modes never existed. This approach is nothing but similar to a donkey whose eyes are blindfolded and is told to tread the path (this cracked me up since it was primarily apt).

“Never reduce your texts, your approach or your vision.”

And make no mistake about it; religion does the exact same thing with value rationality. So you need to reconcile the conflicts within by broadening your spectrum as these assertions make you question your courses, your chosen discipline, your degree and even the very claims that lead you to spend giant amounts of money in these four years. It is my right as well as my duty to question what this has given me in the long run. The point is that there is always more to a picture than someone would tell you. The university is, in my opinion, swindling you. That is why you need to be critical in your approach and question things. But they never address these issues because if they did, they are most likely screwed.

Q: How can we overcome such dishonest ways in your opinion?

A: Primarily by starting talking about it as it can’t go on forever. This has to change. So, talk about it and hopefully, someone with courage will stand up against it. This is all about progression. You play your part and hope that the next person plays their part for there will always be a next person. There shouldn’t be any despondency regarding this. Just keep playing your part and imparting something from it onto someone else so they can make their own choice by looking at the evidence and thus furthering the process. The change is sure to transpire. One thing I would say is that there is too much deception in this world; a lot of mirrors around creating an illusion of reality. So travel, it cleanses your mind. Take some time to yourself; take a step back to sort of escape that tornado of life. Breathe. Think. Analyze what is happening around you and to you. This is very necessary and I am kind of becoming an extremist in this (chuckles). This is how I start and end my day and I wouldn’t want it any other way since it is innately very enjoyable. If it’s chaotic inside, it will be chaotic outside and if it’s peaceful inside then it will be peaceful outside. Write if you need to. Because writing has given me a channel to express my inner-self through words and resolve the inner workings of my mind which, to be honest, has been a lot of help in bettering my life.

Quoting one of his favourite verses of Iqbal;

نوا پیرا ہو اے بُلبل کہ ہو تیرے ترنّم سے
کبوتر کے تنِ نازک میں شاہیں کا جگر پیدا