HYDERABAD, June 17: Saint Augustine's adage “the world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page” fits fine when one treks through the pages of 'Neel Nady Kinaray' (At the bank of river Nile) of Aftab Memon – a refreshing travelogue in Sindhi language.
A galaxy of writers gathered at the Sindhi Language Authority's Dr Nabi Bux Hall for book launching on Thursday appreciated the author for taking pains compiling facts and figures through human lenses. This would surely introduce a new trend in travelogue writing for the writer had pictured the scenes in a thespian style. The work is an amalgamation of two shades.The SLA Chairperson Dr Fehmida Hussain, short story writers Vali Ram Valabh and Ghulam Nabi Mughal, and a former culture secretary Shams Jafrani launched the book.
Mt Valabh, delving on the continuity in contents, likened it to Altaf Sheikh's style who is a proud author of 76 books. Literature on travel has no boundaries but there could be a romantic or historical inkling to its script and this piece is a novel in the format of a travelogue.
Portrayal of typical Thari flavour in the book speaks volumes of author's proximity with this area. He did justice by following the line of a travelogue by making it a cross-cultural and trans-national master piece, said Valabh.
Mr Mughal was all praise for the portrayal of events in the most beautiful and depicting manner. Though, Altaf Sheikh himself is a classic writer and has penned down so much of stuff that now readers find repetition of expressions every now and then, said Mr Mughal but with the pledge that it ought not taken as a demeaning exercise. Readers pin hopes on Aftab for introducing new trends in his genre.
Author's love for land, people, rivers, mountains and fountains is another name of his travelogue which can be called a memoir of his feelings and expressions, said Dr Fehmida Hussain about Aftab Memon and his newly published book.
Shams Jafrani regaled the audience with author's personal life, especially his firebrand student activities, commitment to professional life and his mannerism as a civil servant. Regarding the book, he said history, literature and geography are all based with a tinge of love for Sindh, along with author's frank comments on rulers.
Finally, it was the turn of writer to express his own views. Aftab Memon termed his labour as an exploration of Egypt within the framework of its cultural and historical context.
Some may call it a novel while others a travelogue but to me it's my personal observation, expression and fruit of interaction with people of different cultures and languages.
“Though my initial endeavor was to pen a novel, then a travelogue of Russia but settled on Egypt, of course due to obvious reasons.”
A progressive writer in student's days became an occasional writer in Sindhi dailies after joining the Civil Service. With creativity his style and reading his passion, Aftab Memon had made a debut in literary filed while edging towards the retirement. The book is his second toil
Diversity of field can be gauged by his profession as an engineer and infatuation to literature, history, philosophy, politics and culture studies.
“We Pakistanis are mentally prisoners of greatness and grandeur of Middle East”, he said to an Egyptian friend while attending a seminar there a few years back. The book is an outcome of that trip.
There are no two opinions in regard to olden trade and cultural ties among Indus Valley Civilization, Mesopotamia and Egypt via sea routes. In ancient Egypt, the word for cotton was Sindh, suggesting that the bulk of that civilization's cotton was imported from the Indus Valley.
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