Adabi Bethak, a café set up to provide a meeting place for writers, after Pak Tea House closed down, remains mostly deserted. Though some writers visit it occasionally, there are no regularly scheduled literary activities.
Ataul Haq Qasmi, the LAC chairman, has arranged an Eid Milan Mushaira at Adabi Bethak on Saturday. Poets Zafar Iqbal, Shehzad Ahmad, Khalid Ahmad, Najeeb Ahmad, Fatima Ghazal, Aziz Ahmad, Sofia Bedar, Hasan Abbassi and others, will participate in the scheduled poetry recital. The event is scheduled to start at 5:00 pm, with only writers and poets in attendance.
Qaim Naqvi , the Halqa-i-Arbab-i-Zouq secretary, told The Express Tribune that Adabi Bethak was meant primarily to provide a place to poets, writers and intellectuals, to sit down and discuss things over a cup of tea. “The primary objective of Adabi Bethak is not to hold literary activities or formal meetings. It is meant to be a leisure spot of sorts for writers. There is no harm in holding a meeting or literary event there occasionally, but such activities should not be held excessively,” he said.
Naqvi said that writers and poets didn’t have any place to simply sit and relax after Pak Tea House was closed. Adabi Bethak was set up as a substitute for Pak Tea House. “No comparison can be made between Pak Tea House and Adabi Bethak, just as there can be no comparison between the literature of that era and today’s. But Pak Tea House was a place where writers would sit for hours and discuss various subjects. Adabi Bethak should also serve the same purpose.
If writers simply go there to enjoy a chat at Adabi Bethak and there is always a meeting underway, it will annoy them” he said.
The food at Adabi Bethak is subsidised for writers by the LAC.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2010.
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