September 14, 2003

Mrs Nasra Wazir Ali is an academician and social worker. She is the founder trustee and administrator of the Nasra Schools

WHEN there’s no school and no engagements to keep, Mrs Wazir Ali is surely indulging in what has been her favourite pastime from as far back as she can remember — reading.

“I like reading about things that are true and current,” she informs me. Hillary Clinton’s Living History, which she has recently finished reading, provides her with just the kind of stuff she wants to read. “I liked Hillary’s candid style. She is such a well-known personality and readers like me are interested in the private lives of celebrities. Reading Hillary made me feel as if I was communicating with someone I knew. Suddenly I realized she is as normal a human being as any of us.”

Mrs Wazir Ali is impressed by the writer’s liberal thinking. “I found it interesting to read about the humanist dimension of Hillary Clinton. She also emerges as an able minded politician who promises to carry with dignity her new role in American society.”

This book was borrowed from her daughter, Shahnaz, so it had to be returned. Had it been one of her personal collections, it would have been sent to the school library. Mrs Wazir Ali truly believes in the benefits of reading and all the teachers of her school have been asked to read at least one book a month and submit a short report on it.

Mrs Wazir Ali says, “I used to read fiction in my college days but now I like to identify with real people. So accounts of real life experiences are far more interesting.” She further adds, “Actually, I like to read about things I already have some knowledge of. I would hate to read a novel set in Africa, a place whose customs and traditions are totally alien to me. To enjoy such a book, I would first have to dig for some background information about the place for which I don’t have the luxury of time.”

But she doesn’t mind reading stories based on true events. She brought out two novels, Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind and its sequel Haveli. Written by Suzanne Fisher Staples a novelist who writes for young adults and lives in Tennessee, US, Shabanu is an award winning story set in our Cholistan desert in Sindh. In the book, Shabanu, the young spirited heroine, is faced with a dilemma when she comes of age. She is to be married to the brother of a wealthy but despised feudal lord. To accept her father’s decision would bring prestige to her family, albeit force her to live in bondage forever. If she rebels, she would shame her clan.

The novels were sent to Mrs Wazir Ali by Frances Stickles, a very old friend of hers who lives in the US. “We’ve known each other for over 50 years now. Frances sends me books and boxes full of reading material for the school. Since Frances has lived in the Middle East for a number of years, she can identify with the plight of the Palestinians. A book both she and Mrs Wazir Ali thoroughly enjoyed was Ghada Karmi’s In Search of Fatima. “The book had us overwhelmed by a sense of familiarity and personal connection,” she says reminding me again of her preference for the true and the current.

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