Afrah Jamal

Published in SHE Magazine / March 2013 Edited by : Bapsi Sidhwa Reviewed by : Afrah Jamal Bapsi Sidhwa is an award winning author, essayist and playwright who recently edited an anthology that takes a sweeping view of the ‘ Paris of the East ’ which is a time traveler’s guide through Lahore based on the recollections of several narrators. The montage shows the city, a survivor of world wars, under a monarchy, occupation or Raj, between dictators, a victim of pillaging and partition, and beyond. These excursions provide wonderful snapshots of Lahore - ‘ a city of untold monuments ’ at different junctures. Their collective musings used to commemorate a great city are housed within a structured format, divided into seven parts – each holding a precious set of testimonials from various eras. It is the Lahore of yore. Kipling, Faiz, Manto and Iqbal hail passerby’s - Ismat Chughtai relives the days when her book was put on trial - Manto joins the hilarious charade. Kris...

Received some wonderful Images through email today. Thank you Bakhtiar Khalid. They were taken by one Bill Spence(born August 12, 1940 in Iowa City, Iowa). He was with a US Army Security Agency in the early sixties and snapped his way through Peshawer (the same), Badaber Station (Bases were called Stations back then) Lahore, Rawalpindi, Kaghan Valley, KhyberPass, Kohat, Darra Adem Khel, Pak-Afghan border....all the way to Kabul, Afghanistan. Images Posted on my Facebook Page Here "A performer, teacher, recording artist and a hammered dulcimer player from New York. Spence began playing the hammered dulcimer after hearing Howie Mitchell at the 1969 Fox Hollow Festival in Petersburgh, New York. He made his first dulcimer following a plan in Mitchell's book. The only hammered dulcimer recordings available at the time were by Mitchell and another player, Chet Parker on the Folkways label. Spence developed his own style, working out tunes he heard on recordings of other instrum...

(No Chinese feathers were ruffled during the making of this book) Published in Daily Times / Saturday, July 23, 2011 Published Under the Title: The new Peking order Reviewed by Afrah Jamal July 1971 is an eventful month for Nixon’s National Security Advisor (at the time referred to as a Secretary of State in everything but the title). He disappears from Pakistan, resurfacing in Peking and no one is the wiser. He manages to keep at least one of the two secret servicemen in the dark about the (earth-shattering) nature of his whirlwind trip. The secret mission to China, undertaken at Nixon’s behest, marks the beginning of a beautiful (!) “ period of strategic cooperation” that has somehow passed numerous stress tests, withstood serious setbacks (Tiananmen Square) and seemingly insurmountable obstacles (Taiwan). Archived issues of TIME magazine reveal that this former Secretary of State (1973-1977) was once hailed as “ the American magician ” by the Egyptians and labelled a “ su...

Wallace, Robert (Author) and Melton, H. Keith (Author) with Schlesinger, Henry R. (Author) Foreword by George J. Tenet Former Director CIA Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal Published in Daily Times / 06 Nov 2010, under the title: I Spy With My Little Eye Some in the intelligence business have been dismayed to find that they have been using gadgets relegated to spy museums long ago. As agencies operating under the espionage banner usher in a new era of covert warfare, asking the public to admire their enterprising nature may not be wise. Getting the agencies to set aside their secrecy clause long enough to admit to their past may not be possible. The ‘top gun of OTS’ CIA’s Office of Technical Service have been engaged in a battle of wits for half a century and their stories are worthy of attention. An insider’s look at the world of espionage especially OTS or ‘America’s Q’ and its fearsome capabilities besides being a cause for concern for rival agencies is a chance to observe ‘histor...

Thanks to Liberty Books for the review copy Published in Daily Times under the heading: Lahore Durbar in free fall Reviewed by Afrah Jamal After the Mughals exited, but before the British arrived, the Lahore Durbar was presided over by Maharaja Ranjit Singh Bahadur, affectionately known as the ‘Lion of Lahore’, who makes a brief appearance in Amarinder Singh’s narrative, but leaves a lasting impression on his history. Ranjit Singh, who has been described in the book as a great man and an outstanding military commander, was a mass of contradictions. For instance, he was against the death penalty but not averse to robbing widows, believed treaties were meant to be broken but treated the vanquished with kindness, and thought nothing of inviting guests only to divest them of their most prized possession — like the Kohinoor diamond. He may have spent the better part of the day leading military campaigns, yet he did not always harbour territorial designs and is said to have waged a...

Published in Daily Times / Apr 24, 2010 Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal They came for the trade. And found something better. When the dust settled, an empire had changed hands. The architects of the change, who bore witness to the rise and fall of the mighty empire, imprinted their impression upon their adopted homeland. The land, in turn, left an indelible mark on the newcomers. Richard Holmes, himself a soldier and a leading military historian, looks beyond the empire carved from the remains of another civilisation, steering past the colonial designs of the company and later the crown. He seizes upon the red coat and brings the British solider to life by sharing extracts from his letters and references from archived documents. Using their words to animate the land of the pagoda tree (page xxv ) — as 18th century India came to be known — and letting their experiences set the tone, he rekindles the magic that went with the trappings of a sahib and the horror inherited with and inflicte...