- 08 Nov 2010
Promoting peace through poetry - 05 Dec 2010
Remembering the poet of revolution and romance
- RSS
- Today's Paper
- Subscribe
- beta 2.1
Alerts
Pak Tea House
One wonders if the Punjab govt could think of buying it from the owner and dedicating it to the intellectuals.
In his article published in this newspaper on May 8, 2010 titled “Tea, anyone?”, Ahmad Rafay Alam lamented the death of the historic Pak Tea House in Lahore. This was a chai khana where writers and poets would gather, sip tea and discuss literature, art, politics and more. The place closed down a few years ago because the proprietor decided to make some money by selling the place. One wonders if the provincial government could think of buying it from the owner and dedicating it to the intellectuals of the country.
Since the closing of the place, writers have shifted to other venues, none of which match the Pak Tea House. Lahore lovers lamented the demise of an institution. This chai khana had an extraordinary history. Great men and women of Pakistani literature gathered here to discuss ideas and share their art.
As I read Alam’s article, I wanted to share with him the agony of seeing Pak Tea House dying much before it was physically closed down. My argument is not, too, different from Alam’s. According to him, the death of the place was inevitable due to problematic urban development. I would just like to add that the famous chai khana could not escape extinction because it had become intellectually stale and unviable before it tuned financially burdensome.
Its strength was the environment which it was a part of. During its heyday, the Tea House was part of a constellation, including the Pakistan Writer’s Guild and the Progressive Writer’s Association. There were big names that represented an age when minds were not constrained by xenophobia and intolerance at the social, political, economic and cultural levels.
The demise of the aforementioned institutions lay between two critical fault lines. First, the 10 years of military dictatorship of General Ziaul Haq took its toll on the country’s intellectual life. The period from 1977-88 was known for injecting corruption amongst the intelligentsia. The provision of plots, jobs and cars to intellectuals, or gently coaxing them during the annual writer’s conference, were some of the many ways of soft harassment.
The state raised an intellectual brigade which was meant to create a hyper-nationalist and xenophobic mindset. Radio and television encouraged the baba culture (installing some men of letters as the voice of wisdom) which promoted compliance and collusion with the state. Icons of Urdu literature such as Ashfaq Ahmed, Bano Qudsia and Qudratullah Shahab built a cult that encouraged patience and forbearance of dictatorial regimes and authority. Just like older Muslim philosophers who wrote and created ideas at the behest of emperors, a number of intellectuals knotted their prose and poetry to ensure silencing of public agitation by using tools of religious and national ideology. In return, these people were guaranteed perks. Some writers were installed as head of public institutions, from where they were not removed until they died.
The second fault line, which was a natural consequence of the first one, was the intellectual inferiority of the bulk of the intelligentsia. This problem was most pronounced amongst those writing in Urdu. Therefore, the development of Urdu literature is far inferior to what we will find in other literatures in the world, or even in our own region. Added to this was the problem of the demise of Urdu as a language of social mobility. The upper-middle class stopped reading books in the national language which made literature financially unviable. Zia’s era brought in drugs and the Kalashnikov culture, compounded with neo-liberalism, which swept away almost everything else.
Since the state was trying to dumb down resistance, especially in Sindh which had a richer tradition of literature that captured the sentiments of its people, national languages were pushed to the back. Literature in other languages had to face a double whammy of resistance from the state and native Urdu-speaking writers and critics. The latter did not think much of anything unless it came from across the border.
To add to Rafay Alam’s voice, the Pak Tea House died pretty soulless. A country’s literature encapsulates its dreams and desires. The men and women of letters are makers of dreams — khaboun key suratgar. No wonder the decades of insipid literature has produced a nation that cannot change its fate and awaits messiahs.p
Published in The Express Tribune, January 2nd, 2011.
Reader Comments (16)
Opinion Latest Stories
Blazing trails: Australia and Pakistan
Australia will support new govt in its efforts of good governance, economic development as it faces challenges ahead.
Naya Pakistan!
Federal govt, which remains as elaborate as before 18th Amendment, has been trying but failing to make ends meet.
Achakzai’s pie-in-the-sky formula
If Achakzai can make peace in Gulistan, I will be a little more confident of his scheme apropos of the TTP.
Blaming Imran (II)
To say that the abysmal state of Pakistan cricket is his doing, like Aamir Sohail has done, is absurd.
A letter to overseas Pakistanis
There are many here, in Pakistan, who fight for justice, for equality, for education and for freedoms.
Blaming Imran
I would like to point out that Sohail himself captained Pakistan after Imran’s retirement. What accolades did he earn?
Provincial budgets — practice in devolution
Pakistan’s political governance structure is taking shape in a manner that appears set to serve the country well.
NSA and the PRISM programme
Pakistanis who use Google, Microsoft and Facebook on a daily basis may want to reconsider their options.
Recent Slideshows
More in Opinion
Suhrawardy and Jinnah
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, redistributed or derived from.
Unless otherwise stated, all content is copyrighted © 2013 The Express Tribune News Network.
Technical feedback? [email protected]
One can go further back than Zia. The intolerance of the nations elite towards certain languages and ethnic groups has been ingrained from the onset and only intensified and codified during Zia’s era. Liaqat Ali Khan for example had a particular disdain for the Sindhi language, discouraging its schooling and codifying such bias via policy. Recommend
Dear Ayesha:
God has given you the power to write, I am sure that God would have also given you the power to speak.
I have gone through your entire article, word by word and sentence by sentence and agree that whatever you have written is absolutely correct.
The day when we will come out from the shell, Pakistan will be a great nation on the world map. What we need is sincere and honest people who should work for the country without any obligation and interest.
After 64 years of independence, today Pakistan is a different country.
Writers like you can make all the difference. Let’s save Pak Tea House in Lahore and make more Pak Tea Houses in other cities as well. Recommend
Ashfaq Ahmad gave the title “Badshah” to General Ayub Khan and “Shehan-shah” to General Zia-ul-Haq. He was advisor in education ministry during the dark era of Zia but still potrayed himself as an intellectual and spiritual figure. Recommend
I have been to Pak Tea House twice in my life. It was 2004, and Pak-Tea House was dying at that time. Later in 2008, I was around Neela Gunmbad area, and noticed it was closed. I thought it was because of some other reason. Our National Language is Urdu, and the most creative work was done by post-partition Pak-Tea House based intellectuals.
I am not hopeful that Punjab Govt will come in and do the necessary to save this Literary heritage of our short-lived country’s history.Recommend
Good and sensible way to understand all institutions
and role of Xenophobia by the State-owned writers
and their plans against the people of Pakistan in the
name of Pakistan and its Nation
perhaps still there is time and space for correction,
remedy and rectification, one can hope with certainityRecommend
What an irony,the most liberal institute(Army)patronised the most conservative elements in Pakistan resulting in the current mayhem by which we are engulfed.Zia was not the only responsible for bringing this tailored cultural (as Musharaf Tailored Democracy) but this is in the Army as an institute where the problem lies.Recommend
It is yet another insightful article of Doctor Sahabe. one can easily and partly agree with her punchline i.e. the injurious side effects of the ” decades of insipid literature which has produced a nation who is unable to change its fate and awaits of some Mesiha. Recommend
What a dream? She is correct but look at her solution: Government should buy it??? could those rich intellectuals not come up with their own money to save this monument? Whoever will pay for this (unless donated money) will control the editorial policy of this chai khana. The spirit of volunteerism and building private institutions with donated money is still not fully institutionalized in Pakistan yet. The cases of Shaukat Khanam hospital etc., are the cases of individual efforts, not social or societal mobilisation. Pakistanis need to be awaken from their long slumber they have been in since four thousand years ago. Let me correct myself and call Pakistanis as the people of the plains of Indus and its five tributaries.
Thanks Ayesha for your Military Inc and now this.
M. Naim Shaikh
[email protected]Recommend
Sad. Another nail in the coffin of original, homegrown intellectual and cultural heritage that is fast becoming a faded memory.Recommend
I have good memories of Pak tea House: When I studied in Government College in 50s. I took part in GCDC plays, edited Ravi and wrote short stories and poetry. It was common to walk to Pak Tea house from New Hostel in the evrenings and be seen with those assopciaited with literatire.That was a good time. My talents were limited and decided to call off writing. Just as well. But I think of good old days and some of my friends I had and met there.
That was another era. But I thank Ms. Siddiqa for bringing back the memories. may be it is because I was young, the period appear to be much more tolerant and easy going than. Whenever I am in Lahore, which is rare enough lately, I visit Govt. College and those places; there was Zelins in lower Mal Road. Sometimes feel I will meet some of my friends. We laughed together, discussed books, films and politics. We were leftists then. I am only slightly left, but more liberal. PTH, I dream of you and my lost friends. Good bye but remain in my dreams.Recommend
I am surprised that we do not allow parallel narratives to develop in Pakistan. Whereas, Ayesha claims that Qudratullah Shahab, Bano Qudsia, and Ashfaq Ahmed, were part of an effort to strengthen dictatorship, now it seems that the only narrative that is acceptable, is the democratic nation state. Nation states are a product of the post colonial experience for most Muslim states, and the near history of these areas is that of Kingdoms. The fact that liberal, secular writers, would like to rewind history and make Pakistan into a secular state, with no identity, may suit them, but it does not suit Pakistan. Writers who supported and developed the thesis of a homeland for muslims, and aided the state in its quest to formulate an Islamic Identity, are no longer in fashion. We must encourage parallel narratives, and the quest for Islamic Identity in the post colonial muslim world is as important as the need to define nation states in a democratic dispensation. Recommend
Ayesha, probably the worst gift given by Zia to Pakistan, imbedded intelligensia. Keep writing and take care. Recommend
exactly correct and right description,,,,,,,,,,Recommend
exactly correct and right description,,,,,,,,,,,,,Recommend
In the age of internet, who needs books and tea houses? the writers and intellectuals can simply communicate with each other via skype :) There is no need to ‘save’ pak tea house, as it would serve no practical purpose.Recommend
This might sound a bit harsh but I cannot stop myself from saying that the author has made sweeping generalizations. She has no links to literature and that’s visible from her writing. How could she say that Urdu literature is devoid of substance? Some of the best literature in Urdu was written during Zia era and some writers have constantly written exceptional prose and poetry. Kishwar Naheed, Fehmida Riaz, Intizar Hussain, Mustansar, Faraz and dozens of other names come to mind.
Intellectual inferiority. Like seriously? This is an affront to Urdu literature and letters. Just so you know, even Ms. Qudsia has written exceptional literature. I don’t agree with her ideology but no one can deny the intricacy with which she weaves her characters and creates the narrative. Please don’t take the lack of understanding of Urdu literature among the readers of this paper as a resource to build your uninformed discourse upon.Recommend