{"id":722,"date":"2018-11-11T13:10:45","date_gmt":"2018-11-11T08:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailystudent.lums.edu.pk\/?p=722"},"modified":"2021-09-18T16:41:43","modified_gmt":"2021-09-18T11:41:43","slug":"metropolis-rendered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailystudent.lums.edu.pk\/index.php\/2018\/11\/11\/metropolis-rendered\/","title":{"rendered":"Metropolis Rendered"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By: Muhammad Hammad Bilal and Heer Cheema<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the discerning words of Mr. H.M Naqvi: \u201cCities are not wrought from just brick and mortar, but are informed by stories\u201d. This idea underscores the crux of the \u201cRendering the Metropolis on the Page\u201d talk that took place on 2nd October 2018. The session was as much a thought- provoking look at literature that defines cities, which in turn define literature, as it was a genial discussion between two literary enthusiasts. Mr. Bilal Tanweer and Mr. H.M Naqvi\u2019s rapport lent itself to transforming A-10 into a receptive hub of ideas.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Comfortably seated, books in hand, Mr. Tanweer, Assistant Professor of Literature at LUMS, and Mr. Naqvi, award-winning author and Visiting Professor at HSS, treated the audience to readings from their works: \u201cLove in Chakiwara and (Other Misadventures)\u201d and \u201cThe Selected Works of Abdullah the Cossack\u201d. They take an inquisitive and considered perspective on South Asian literature, and crucially, pose questions around how characters in stories can affect our perception of the real world. Mr. Tanweer\u2019s light satire was neatly contrasted by Mr. Naqvi\u2019s deadpan sense of humour, both eliciting a number of laughs and applause. Naqvi\u2019s Abdullah is in despair, leading a \u201cfallow existence\u201d in a Karachi that has a \u201cmeager sense of self\u201d \u2013 this link is not a coincidence. Neither is Mr. Bilal Tanweer\u2019s use of Karachi as a setting in his debut novel, \u201cThe Scatter Here Is Too Great\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>These true observers confront the realities of their city: the slums, the dilapidation, the history, the winter, the heat, and the myriad forms and deformities of nature. In their distinct way each of them creates a portrait of their city, weaving an elaborate mixture of lives into the surrounding landscape. One does so through the lens of an assortment of fictional characters, the other by gathering stories of lived experiences. The latter, Mr. Naqvi, takes inspiration from numerous sources, be they historical texts or mere interactions with children playing on the street. In this sense we all have a story to tell.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This idea imbues our words with a sense of empowerment and responsibility, which in LUMS, affects writers, professors and students alike in their ability to inform each other\u2019s realities. Mr. Naqvi\u2019s references to Whitman\u2019s New York, Dickens\u2019 London or what we could now refer to as Mr. Tanweer\u2019s or Mr. Naqvi\u2019s Karachi, serve only to emphasize this bond. Stories and places are inextricably linked in the way that they define us, and each other. This symbiotic relationship between the person and the world they inhabit is, therefore, especially important in the context of shared spaces \u2013 be it Lahore or LUMS.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Muhammad Hammad Bilal and Heer Cheema In the discerning words of Mr. H.M Naqvi: \u201cCities are not wrought from just brick and mortar, but are informed by stories\u201d. This idea underscores the crux of the \u201cRendering the Metropolis on the Page\u201d talk that took place on 2nd October 2018. The session was as much [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystudent.lums.edu.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystudent.lums.edu.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystudent.lums.edu.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystudent.lums.edu.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystudent.lums.edu.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/dailystudent.lums.edu.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":922,"href":"https:\/\/dailystudent.lums.edu.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions\/922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystudent.lums.edu.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystudent.lums.edu.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystudent.lums.edu.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystudent.lums.edu.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}