On Armstrong, Dalrymple And Shobha De

Meanwhile I was utterly engrossed in The History of God The 4,000 Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by Karen Armstrong. I am still amazed at her ability to make complex themes so accessible. She moves with great ease between the familiar and unfamiliar, from the earliest prophets to the Reformation and the religious revivals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Armstrong, a British ex-nun, first encountered Judaism and Islam when she made a television documentary on St. Paul. This took her to Palestine. Amid the fierce hostility between Palestinians and Israelis, she discovered there were many links between the three Abrahamic religions. She began to explore this through her writing, looking at what she described to me in a Dawn newspaper interview as "a triple vision, seeking inwardly the paths to the divine." This has been central to her work ever since.

Shortly after Eid, she gave a talk "What is Religion?" at The Aga Khan University in Karachi. People literally flocked to hear her-- almost 1,000 strong. I had to get there an hour early to ensure a good seat. The overflow from the auditorium was accommodated in adjoining lecture halls with large video screens.

Armstrong who is learned, erudite and forthright, spoke about The Axial Age - 900-200BC - which was pivotal to the spiritual development of mankind and which is the subject of her new book The Great Transformation: The World in the Time of Buddha, Socrates, Confucius and Jeremiah. She went on to describe man's quest for spirituality and transcendence in societies riven by conflict. She spoke of the wisdom of Buddha, the sayings of Confucius, the non-violence of Jesus and The Prophet's many acts of humanity and reconciliation. She said "The bedrock of spirituality is compassion." She is a member of a UN peace initiative, the Alliance of Civilizations, and continues to work tirelessly to build bridges between cultures and faiths in today's fractious and polarized world.

William Dalrymple is another Briton, who brings together East and West in his writings. Now he lives in Delhi with his wife, the artist Olivia Fraser. He has visited and written about Pakistan since he was an undergraduate. He is also a great supporter of The Citizens Foundation (TCF), a charity founded by philanthropists, which has set up numerous schools across Pakistan for underprivileged children. Two years ago, he gave talks for the TCF about his book The White Mughals in London, Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad: the proceeds from sale of books at these events were donated to the cause. This winter he was in Pakistan again for the TCF to speak about his new book, The Last Mughal. In Karachi, the function for some 500 guests was held at a local hotel and I was asked to do the introduction. Dalrymple is witty, articulate, affable and immensely at home in Pakistan: I have never seen him in anything but a shalwar kameez and Peshawari chappals. I have enjoyed his books ever since I read his travel book, A City of Djinns, about his discovery of Delhi and its layers of history.

The White Mughals is a historical work which revolves around the poignant love story of an aristocratic Hyderabadi lady, Khairunissa and William Kirkpatrick, the British Resident The book also explores the many inter-racial marriages between well-born, early 'Indianized' Englishmen in the sub-continent and Indian women of rank. During his research Dalrymple discovered that his eighteenth-century ancestor had married a Bengali lady: her descendants include him and his distant relative, Virginia Woolf.

Dalrymple's new book, The Last Mughal, revolves around the tragic poet-Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, but carries the story of the British in India forward to that great watershed in Anglo-Indian relations: 1857. The book also describes the splendour of Mughal Delhi, its architecture, culture, customs and literature. While Zauq and Ghalib vied for the Emperor's patronage, the British could only see an impoverished puppet-king and all Indians with increasing disdain.

Dalrymple has unearthed some rare, untapped primary material to bring together, for the first time in English, the narratives of Urdu and Persian sources, as well as British records and writings. He is a wonderful story-teller and brings alive a host of full-blooded characters, British and Indian. He does not flinch from sepoy atrocities nor the horror of British reprisals on Delhi after they had re-captured the city.

The Indian writer Shobha De is famous for her racy books and television scripts and her glamour. She was in Karachi to launch a first novel, Kolachi Dreams, by Nadya AR. The young author's in-laws, Farooq and Khalida Rahimtoola, gave a glittering reception to celebrate, with fairy lights, shamiana and sumptuous tea after the speeches. The publisher, Tyaba Habib, spoke on behalf of Sama Books, of which she and Yasmin Qureshi are co-founders. There was much applause for Shobha De. Dressed in long silvery earrings and in a glimmering silver-and-salmon pink sari, she described Karachi and Mumbai as "twin cities". She spoke from personal experience of all the tensions that a new author suffers. She praised Nadya's writing and talent, but the Nadya's speech was all too brief. It would have been good to have had a reading at least.
Muneeza Shamsie has edited three anthologies of Pakistani English writing. She is a regular contributor to Dawn newspaper, Newsline and She, The Journal of Commonwealth Literature and www. LitEncyc.com.