“You are what you read”

And I’m totally convinced that this is true. My childhood was very mobile as my father was a judge and used to get posted in different cities of Punjab after every two-three years. Because of this, we got very discreet education. By the time, i appeared for my O-level exams, i sucked big time in my English Language course. I would give full credit to my lack of reading and poor educational guidance by my teacher. In my first attempt, i scored poor grade and in a hope to improvise it, I decided to re-take the exam later.

I didn’t opt for any tuition but concentrated on two things, practicing the past papers and reading anything and everything that came my way. Intellectually, i would say, those were the best years of my life. I read classic and contemporary. Then i jumped into Urdu literature. Bano Qudsia, Ashfaq Ahmed, Salma Qanwal, Razia Butt were my new found mentors. My interest in Urdu poetry kindled as well. I read Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Perveen Shakir, Nasir Kazmi, Faiz, Ghalib, Qateel Shafai and what not. It seemed like i was in constant search of literature and the more i read, the more i fell into it.

I remember those were the times, when the only channels of Pakistani media (PTV or NTM) would play drama serials based upon the novels of our Urdu writers. “Uroosa” and “Bandhan” were the blockbusters during my childhood. There were writers with brains and people with literary sense to admire them. It was a beautiful romance between those who wrote and the ones who read it.

Well, with time, my passion for both reading and writing faded as i got more absorbed into the college studies and there was a clear disconnect until the time i married this guy, who was creative in nature and had an eye on good writers. I don’t have a big library at home but we do have a reading corner where world’s finest books are placed. He gets the recommendation from our teachers, further references from the books and in general interest in a particular topic.

He is a loyal visitor of Readings Book Shop and goes there every fortnightly. Book shops have an ambiance of their own. So in his previous visit, they handed him a pamphlet regarding the fair which was to happen in the first week of February (happening now) and he made a point that we will not miss the event!

So yesterday was its first day and that’s when we decided to go. It is happening at Lahore Expo Center which is a gigantic space to hold big exhibitions. To my happiness, there were hundreds of cars parked outside the main venue. There were around fifty  stalls and the place was dotted with students, teachers, families and anyone you can think of.

As we entered the hall, I was astonished to see the variety of stalls and the amount of books neatly placed there. Here is a look!

In my teens, i had read a book called “Ali Pur ka Ailee” (Rating 4.2/5) and always wanted to read its sequel (Alakh Nagri) by Mumtaz Mufti. This is his autobiography but unfortunately the book was also out from the library. Thankfully, after fifteen years, i saw the books and they took my heart. Those were my picks from the festival along with a third book “Sophie’s World”…They all looked so superior and out of the league that i couldn’t resist buying them…I’m an extremely happy shopper as most of the publishers and book stalls were giving 15-30% discount which is huge!!!

Since the exhibition is running quite successfully, i would urge all the Lahorites and visitors to pay a visit. You won’t even notice how time would fly reading the prefaces and going through the aisle. This is a very good must-go activity and you may take your kid along as there were a couple of stalls for kids to color books and do other activities.

Till then, happy reading!