Afrah Jamal

Thank you Amra Alam for the book loan Published in Daily Times / Saturday, August 20, 2011 Published under the title: Back from the Future Author(s): Imrana Maqsood and Amra Alam Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal The two people present at the book reading session that day are from the small town of Badayun. And they are afraid — afraid that the new generation might find it difficult to relate to their experiences. Or that they might get spooked by the choice of language (Urdu) — or fail to appreciate the underlying message. As the evening commenced, it became increasingly clear — such fears were unjustified. Though they parted company with India some 50 years ago when their family migrated to Karachi, Pakistan — a part of Imrana Maqsood and Amra Alam stayed behind in their beloved Badayun. The other part grew up to be a successful playwright and an equally successful children’s book author. Karachi Halwa Aur Badayun Ke Pairay is a slim little concoction based on their sweetest child...

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, April 09, 2011 By Afrah Jamal T2F may be a popular hunt but it was not easy to find; not without a GPS enabled phone, a knowledgeable Karachiwala or both to lead the way, which is ironic, since that day, it was to be the venue for the launch of a “city guide and features magazine”. ‘Aye Karachi,’ a brainchild of Rumana Husain, has been five years in the making. ‘Aye’ is not a nautical term (as in ‘Aye Aye Capn’) but an Urdu word formed by combining the letter Alif with a Yay (‘O’ in English); this means that the region’s first quarterly, bilingual city guide and features magazine has nothing to do with pirates and everything to do with Karachi. Described as a quarterly portrait of the city, ‘Aye Karachi’ is more than a city guide – and serves to fill a void that few realised even existed. This need was first identified by Rumana when she noticed that while major cities of the world boasted of their own magazines, the commercial hub of Pakis...