[Reader-list] A book on Karachi

[gouri]

A PROPOSAL TO PUBLISH THE BOOK

STORY OF KARACHI

IN ENGLISH AND URDU

12 September 2006

 

Background

The Urdu quarterly Aaj (literally meaning "Today") is
published from Karachi, Pakistan, since 1989 under the
editorship of Ajmal Kamal. Usually it is an anthology
of literary prose and poetry from different languages
and parts of the world translated into Urdu, apart
from original, ground-breaking writings in Urdu, for
Pakistani and Indian readership. Fifty-four issues
have come out so far which have secured a small but
meaningful readership for the journal and have been
critically acclaimed.

The Special Issue on Karachi

In 1996, a special two-volume, above 800-page issue of
the quarterly Aaj was published devoted to the city of
Karachi under the title "Karachi ki Kahani" ("Story of
Karachi"). It was very well received by readers and
reviewers alike. The following excerpts from a few of
the press reviews tell about the range and quality of
the material put together in the special issue:

A compendium on Karachi: a hundred years hence, this
two-volume compilation will serve as a source of basic
information about this megapolis.

¯ Muhammad Ali Siddiqui, Dawn, Karachi, 7 June 1996

 

Ajmal Kamal, who produced an earlier number of Aaj on
the ethnic cauldron of former Yugoslavia, has tried to
get to Karachi's personality and its concealed layers
of self-destruction. The two volumes under review are
an act of courage
 Ajmal Kamal has performed the
incredible task of unearthing the real history of a
city exploited by its leaders
 The two volumes of Aaj
provide new ways of looking at the city and ourselves.

¯ Khaled Ahmed, The Friday Times, Lahore, 21-29 May
1996

 

We must all celebrate the publication of the two
volumes of Aaj on Karachi titled Karachi ki Kahani. We
have here, almost for the first time, a window on
Karachi which affords an expansive revealing view of
the various transformations that the city has endured

Karachi ki Kahani may still be partially told but Aaj
has fostered our essential kinship with a city in
which the nation's own crisis of identity must be
resolved.

¯ Ghazi Salahuddin, Newsline, Karachi, May 1996

 

This anthology of writings on Karachi is a painstaking
labour of love, an attempt to rescue the city from the
kind of thinking which can lead only to despair
 The
effort that has gone into the selection and editing of
the material and the translation from English and
Sindhi must have called for almost a superhuman
stamina for work, to say nothing of a dedication to
the ideal of creating an environment of harmony and
peace in a city torn by senseless dissensions.
¯ M. H. Askari, The Herald, Karachi, June 1996
 
 
Contributors
 
The two-volume anthology is dedicated to the memory of
Jamshed Nusserwanji Mehta, Karachi's benefactor and
long-time head of the Karachi Municipality. The
writings of the following are included in the
anthology:
 
Naomal Hotchand, John Brunton, K.R. Malkani, Pir Ali
Mohammad Rashdi, Nagendranath Gupta, Lokram Dodeja,
Sohrab Katrak, Dr. Feroz Ahmed, G. D. Khosla, Mohan
Kalpana, Shaikh Ayaz, Sobho Gyanchandani, Kewal
Motwani, Hatim Alvi, Hasan Habib, A. K. Brohi, Anwar
Shaikh, Mir Imdad Ali, Abdul Hameed Shaikh, Hasan
Manzar, Asad Mohammad Khan, Sigrid Kahle, Anita Ghulam
Ali, Fahmida Riaz, Akhtar Hameed Khan, Asif Farrukhi,
Mohammad Hanif, Zeenat Hisam, Benjamin Anthony, Sharif
Soz, Liaquat Munawwar, Bexter Bhatti, Nasreen Stephen,
Asif Shahbaz, Mahboob Jan, Tasneem Siddiqui, Kenneth
Fernandez, Jan van der Linden, S Akbar Zaidi, Mark
Tully, Arif Hasan.
 

The Proposed Book: Story of Karachi
It is proposed that a book, based on the special issue
of Aaj, be published simultaneously in English and
Urdu under the title Story of Karachi and Karachi ki
Kahani respectively. Each edition (English and Urdu)
will consist of two volumes of around 430 pages each.
The Urdu and Sindhi writings included in the special
issue have been translated into English and are being
copy-edited at the moment. The proposed date of
publication is 01 January 2007. The tentative price of
the two-volume set would be:
 
English: Rs.950
Urdu: Rs.950
 
 
How can you participate?
 
You can participate and earn a grateful
acknowledgement in the proposed book in one of the
following ways:
 
1. Help in getting financial support for the
production of the book;
2. Give design input;
3. Get advance orders for the book

Ajmal Kamal
City Press
Publishing House, Bookshop and Film Club
316 Madina City Mall, Abdullah Haroon Road, Saddar,
Karachi 74400, Pakistan.
Tel: (92-21) 5650623, 5213916
Email: ajmalkamal at gmail.com

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