August 17, 2003

Dr Adil Zareef is a lecturer at Khyber Medical College, Peshawar. He has worked in policy making in the NWFP health department and is a member of Sarhad Conservation Network

FASCINATED by books from childhood, Dr Adil Zareef is an avid reader. His romance with books, which started at a young age with Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie, has taken him to all the big political names. Now Chomsky, Arundhati Roy, et al are on his reading list.

Although he is a busy man, Zareef manages to squeeze out moments to indulge in his favourite pastime. For him reading is the “end of imagination” and he makes it a point to read a book every night.

He has just finished reading Stupid White Men by Michael Moore. Since Zareef is a politically conscious person, who appears to be an intellectual anomaly in MMA-dominated Peshawar, books on politics and international affairs, especially those, which question the American neo-imperialist drive, attract him. Stupid White Men, which has been an international bestseller for several months now, has naturally bowled him over.

He says, “The break-up of the Soviet Union and the resulting mayhem caused by the so-called free world, the increase in global poverty and the resurgence of communicable diseases is shocking. I have lately become a compulsive cynic and (mostly) a political reader as it has confirmed my belief in the inequity of capitalism (free markets)—the bazar—where everything is up for sale: politicians, bureaucrats, nations and even militaries which will now act as mercenaries for the doomed American multinational colonizers.”

The book he is reading is a raucous political commentary from an insider, considering Moore is an award winning American filmmaker and critic. It unmasks the hypocrisy of American policy makers and the corruption of the American system. It is furiously funny and takes the steam off all the American haters. How else would a reader react to a book that calls George Bush “son of the Bush” and has other unprintable epithets for the leading American lights.

“We were never so anti-US as I have become lately during Bush Jr’s Administration. It is shocking how perceptions about the US have changed recently. Noam Chomsky has helped us understand the complexity and nature of US imperialism. Only if these writings could be translated into local languages to inform the public about the real face of the ‘leader of the free world’,” Zareef remarks.

How would he explain this strong reaction in him? Zareef says that belonging to the ancient Gandhara region, he feels his people have a natural inclination towards mysticism and spirituality, which time and politics may have diluted. During the 1930s and 40s, the Khudai Khitmatgars believed that violence and intolerance have to be shunned to achieve progress. This dream was shattered by the British and later by successive Pakistani administrations.

The other book Zareef is reading is of a different genre. Learning to Dance Inside by George Fowler takes the reader on a journey of spiritual ecstasy. This appeals to Dr Zareef’s “peaceful” side. He quotes Fowler, “This sublime state of ultimate personal fulfillment is alone adequate, in turn, to convince the human race to drop at last its fear-driven competition, its rank greed, its endless squabbling. Only then universal compassion becomes realistically attainable.”

Ultimately reading is meant not only for emotional satisfaction or personal reward but a means of self-discovery and fulfillment and learning more about cosmic reality. Sadly, life is too short to read (and learn) about complexities of this universe. We can only attempt to do so.

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