Jugnu Mohsin’s talented mimicry of Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif, the late Benazir Bhutto, a posh Englishwoman, the late Princess Diana, a cockney Londonder, and Altaf Hussain, caused roars of laughter at the literature festival. Mohsin was drawing from many years of writing critical and humourous articles in the caricaturised voices of her subjects. Ali Aftab Saeed provided the questions in the discussion, ‘Making of Political Satire,’ and Mohsin brought humour and the poignant thought about the need for all leaders to be humble enough to consider themselves human. Humour is a “tool to contend with reality,” she asserted, and though she and her husband, the team behind The Friday Times, have suffered at the hands of humourless leaders in the past, they have also helped to develop a politically-charged satire of personalities in Pakistan.

The one major criticism of Mohsin’s methods came during the questions and answers, and was respectfully placed for her consideration. “Is Pakistan a place where ideas cannot be the subject of satire?” asked an audience member. “Can ideas not be criticised in Pakistan, like they are in the great novel Nineteen Eighty-Four? Are we limited to criticising only personalities?” The audience was appreciative of this question, and it brought to surface the severe lack of political ideas among the politicians. Their vague stances are not capable of being ridiculed, because they are mostly inherently ridiculous. Their personalities and the way they speak offer more fodder for humour than anything else.

Unfortunately, the last day’s panel discussion on ‘Humour as Subvertor’ became a farce because Mohsin, who was supposed to moderate, was too ill to attend. Even Mohammed Hanif, one of the star guests on the panel, arrived late and appeared incapable of keeping a single line of thought going. Much of that discussion veered completely off topic, into the value and merits of Punjabi literature, and whether it would survive. The best takeaway from that panel was Ali Aftab Saeed’s live rendition of his anti-establishment hit song ‘Aalu Anday.’

A more nuanced and productive discussion was between miniature artist turned multi-scope artist Shahzia Sikander, novelist Kamila Shamsie, and American arts curator, Diana Campbell. The three made for an interesting mix in the panel discussion ‘Dissonance and Detour.’ The title was taken from an artwork and book by Shahzia Sikander, and served well as a starting point from which to generate discussion on how the production of art or literature comes about. Shamsie said she was not the kind of writer who plans out everything and fills in the gaps. Rather, she said her method of writing incorporates detours as an essential component. As an example, she cited her new novel, A God in Every Stone, which started off as a novel that was planned to cover the period from 1930 well into the 20th century. But then it became a novel that instead covered the period from 1915 to 1930. Sikander agreed that her creation of art has also been saturated with meanderings from one aspect of the art to a more developed one as it progresses.

The aspect of dissonance was also explored, upon prompting from the audience. Sikander explained her idea of dissonance, by which she meant that her art cannot contain only one idea or one direction; it has to incorporate the multiplicity of directions and ideas in a whole that becomes at least partially dissonant from within. Shamsie agreed, and argued against the concept of “comfortable” art. “The day an artist starts making comfortable art, is the day the artist starts dying,” she said.

To take this concept a step further, there is the life of Vikram Seth to consider. Writing does not have to be the sole intellectual pursuit of a writer. To witness multiplicity of endeavours, one needs only to spend one hour with Seth. He speaks many languages, has many disparate crafts, interacts with the muse in many different ways. Calligraphy, singing, languages, etc, all these were on display in his talk on ‘A Writer and His Other Arts.’ While much of the discussion between moderator Asim Fareed and Seth focused on music and Seth’s novel, An Equal Music, the audience was shown glimpses of his other talents near the end. Slides of Chinese and Arabic calligraphy lit up the screen, and Seth even hummed a few strands of the song ‘Awaara Hoon.’

There need to be more panels with such multi-talented people as Mohsin and Seth on them, to help the audience understand and appreciate the analogous and mutually beneficial connections between the arts. More panels with artists and writers talking about each other’s crafts would also be welcome. The point at which creation takes place is worth the investigation.