Norwegian national day celebrated

When Ambassador Tore Nedrebø welcomed guests at his residence on the Norwegian National Day on May 17, he underlined that it was a garden party, not a formal reception. Hence, no chief guest and no cake-cutting ceremony, he said. But there was the official playing of the national anthems of Norway and Pakistan. The Norwegian one was sung by a group of staff members from the embassy.

The Red Blood Cats band played the Pakistani national anthem and entertained the guests throughout the evening with local sound.

A few days earlier, the Pakistan-Norway Association (PANA) held a breakfast hosted by the PANA president, Dr M. Ali Nawaz, in connection with the national day, focusing on readings from Henrik Ibsen’s epic poem and drama, Peer Gynt.

Ibsen is the closest the Norwegians come to having a national poet with Peer Gynt as the arch typical national character.

He is a dreamer and fantast, yet a creative and human character with great achievements as well as great mistakes in life. One of his weaknesses is that he finds it difficult to take a problem head on, instead wants to go around it.

“He is a Norwegian character but he could actually be from anywhere, including Punjab or elsewhere in Pakistan,” said a guest who had studied Ibsen for her master’s degree in literature at the Punjab University.

At the party, the guests were treated to smoked Norwegian salmon and other international and local food dishes. “I missed the ice cream,” said a Norwegian national of Pakistani origin, who was visiting her parents’ home country after many years.

“In Norway, ice cream is a must since the Norwegian National Day is also a children’s day,” she added.

“In the Norwegian capital, over 60,000 schoolchildren from over 100 schools hold processions through the streets with brass bands in the lead, passing by the Royal Palace with the king and queen waving from the balcony,” she added.

Urdu-Haiku poetry recital held

The embassy of Japan organised a recital of Urdu-Haiku poetry at the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) where eminent Pakistani Haiku poets recited their poems before an appreciative audience.

Naseem-i-Seher, the president of the Pakistan Haiku Society, presided over the mushaira while Ambassador Takashi Kurai was the chief guest and PAL chairman Dr M. Qasim Bughio was the guest of honor.

Ambassador Kurai said: “A Haiku is like a snapshot of only one scene of nature or just one aspect of our life so it is very short and simple but it provides the readers much more than what is expressed by words as it gives us an image of a particular view of nature, the sound of the flow of river or even the smell of grass after rainfall.”

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that dates back to the 17th century and is a condensed three-line poem written in the 5-7-5 syllabic form. Haiku is one of the most important forms of traditional Japanese poetry, which is gaining popularity globally. Many Urdu poets in Pakistan today practice this subtle and evocative form of poetry more than a dozen of whom participated in the mushaira.

Ali Mohammad Farshi, a senior poet, said: “The first Haiku mushaira was held in July 1984 organised by the Allama Iqbal Open Society and back then I was the first Urdu poet to write Haikus. That mushaira became an annual event and eventually became the Pakistan Haiku Society. And now it is wonderful to see more poets and young poets, students attempting this genre of poetry.”

Naseem-i-Seher said: “It was a very nice gathering with a blend of the new generation of Haiku writers and senior poets, both giving gratifying recitals and getting acclaim from the audience.”

Qayyum Tahir said Haiku is a purely Japanese poetic form but here it is written and recited true to Pakistani culture. In other words, it is a plant that has taken roots here.

Khawer Eijaz said: “It is said that Haiku is a snapshot in time. It lets meaning float. Today’s Haiku mushaira proved that one could confidently go in the direction one dreams.”

— Text and photo by Syeda Shehrbano Kazim, Atle Hetland & Shahbaz Chaudhry

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2016