“Egypt writes, Lebanon publishes and Iraq reads”, was the mantra that used to succinctly describe the publishing industry and reading habits in the Arab world.

The problem with this mantra was that it was considered a bit trite. Then a survey a few years ago added a new dimension, rendering the old notions outdated, too. The survey revealed that the UAE was the ‘most reading country in the Arab world’, with Lebanon following closely behind. In the realm of publishing, Egypt, Qatar and the UAE had risen from the ranks to join Lebanon. As for writing skills, though Egypt’s supremacy was unchallenged till then, according to the survey, the ‘most reading Arab countries,’ such as the UAE, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, might pose some threat in the future, as these countries had left Egypt far behind in the field of reading.

During the communist era, Soviet Union claimed to be the most reading country in the world, but that indeed included a plethora of books on communist ideology. The Soviets used to publish translations in many languages and I still remember buying some Urdu books, printed in the USSR, from a roadside bookseller dealing in second-hand books. One of them was Urdu translation of Maxim Gorky’s ‘Mother’. But that was some two decades ago. Those translations in many languages meant for overseas readers might have qualified the Soviets as ‘the most printing’ nation but not ‘the most reading’ nation of the world.

Yet one feels the Soviets must have ranked much high on the table that reflected most reading nations, as in the Soviet era, for Moscow’s population of about eight million, there were some 4,000 libraries.

After reading these statistics about the Arab world and Moscow, I naturally thought of Pakistan, particularly Karachi. How many libraries do we have in Karachi for a population of about twice as much? And the mantra for Pakistan could be something like: Lahore writes, Lahore publishes and Lahore reads.

As for reading habits in Pakistan, a Gallup survey revealed a few years ago that about 25 per cent of Pakistanis read. The optimistic survey concluded that it was quite encouraging, considering the literacy rate that was hovering around 55 per cent at that time. Some believe that since then the literacy rate has gone up to 59 per cent in our beloved country. But the ‘definition’ of literacy is quite different in Pakistan and it says that anybody who has elementary reading skills, such as ability to read newspaper headlines, should be considered literate. In other words, the real literacy rate is much lower than the perceived 59 per cent. That makes it all the more encouraging and optimistic.

Do Pakistanis really read that much? I am not sure, but I can tell you that quite a few publishers are doing a roaring business in the country. Those ‘God’s chosen few’ are the ones who are smart enough to have been chosen by some bureaucrats as well.

They publish, say, 1,000 copies of a book and find some good bureaucrats. Yes, believe me! Just like cops, there are good bureaucrats and bad bureaucrats, too. The good ones are those who tell these publishers that they are well-read, cultured and understand the importance of libraries and literature. They are always willing to promote reading habits in our beloved country by helping some publishers. Through the magnanimity, cultured-mindedness and courtesy of these ‘rightly placed’ bureaucrats a few hundred copies of these books are purchased by our culture-loving, beloved government. In the case of the province of Punjab, this figure may go as high as 700 copies as there are more government libraries in Punjab (don’t even think of comparing these figures with the libraries in Moscow, ah, those infidels!).

There are some even better bureaucrats. These are the ones who can write, or at least that’s what they think. They look for some good publishers. Yes, believe me! Just like cops and bureaucrats, there are good and bad publishers, too. The good publishers are those who help our beloved government promote reading habits in our beloved country by sending books to the government libraries, though they have to charge a bit of money for this philanthropic little deed (handling and postage charges are not included, they are billed for separately). Now the surest way to promote reading habits in the country is to write a book, get it published by a ‘good’ publisher and, just by chance, get paid in the process. Somebody has said that when men and mountains meet, great things happen. Similarly, when good bureaucrats and good publishers meet, great things happen: great purchasing orders are generated, great amounts are paid, libraries receive great books, some great writers are born overnight and, call it a coincidence or bonus, economy gets a boost since bank deposits, too, get a boost. In such cases, the ‘royalty’ paid to such bureaucrats who at the same time happen to be writing geniuses could be astounding in a country where merely uttering the word ‘royalty’ makes publishers burst into laughter.

But then what happens to the books shipped by the good publishers to these libraries? Though the visitors to our public libraries may not be in great numbers, the permanent residents of these libraries, rats, cockroaches and, in some cases, termite, have great literary ‘tastes’ and are very ‘fond’ of books. Unlike readers, the discourtesy of library staff cannot discourage them (though some of them suffer from bad breath after devouring the books written by good bureaucrats).

I have seen libraries where bookshelves are locked and they have been locked for ages as the rust on them will tell you. Even the librarian may not remember where they had put the keys after locking the shelves years ago. The biggest hindrance in promoting reading habits is the staff at some of our public libraries.

But let me add here, in all honesty, that some of the most courteous human beings I ever met in our society were library staff.

For example, the staff members at Punjab University Library were astonishingly courteous and cooperative. During my visit last year, I found the library well-stocked, well-lit and well-managed. The notoriously long load-shedding was not a problem since generators kept the power supply uninterrupted. With huge number of rare books and with what is known as ‘open access’ in library science’s terms, I found some old gems and got them photocopied at my convenience. The library opens early and remains open quite late into the evening. What was a treat to watch was the fact that all the reading halls were filled with readers — though mostly students, teachers and scholars — till the closing hours. The recording and issuance of books is fully computerised.

Similarly, the halls and shelves at Lahore’s Government College University Library are a sight for the sore eyes. Its staff, its collections and the facilities are of the kind a book lover dreams of. Another library that has the most courteous and cooperative staff I have ever found in a library is Karachi’s Bedil library. But more about it some time later.

What we need most is the libraries with courteous staff who does not consider the visitors a cause of inconvenience but a guest and incidentally a reason for the very existence of the library that employs them.

drraufparekh@yahoo.com