December 14, 2003

Ali Dehlavi is an economist, specializing in international trade. He is the director of the Pakistan Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, Islamabad

“I STARTED reading books at around the age of fifteen, when I felt that there was something missing from my life,” says Ali. When he took the first step into the world of reading, Ali was attracted to works on the subjects of philosophy, history and French literature.

As philosophy is the love of wisdom, Ali’s love of books led him to read Mortal Questions by Thomas Nagel. This is a book that Ali has particularly enjoyed reading, and it is basically a collection of essays that have been written in philosophy’s true analytical tradition. The author has investigated the questions of our feelings about death, war, political power and gender equality and other subjects relating to philosophical analysis.

“This is not just a well-written exploration into some of the fundamental issues governing our lives — this book explains religion to me,” says Ali. “The different chapters in this book all relate to various real-life scenarios. It is a work that can help you identify with ordinary, everyday life situations. One quotation from this book that really appeals to me is: ‘It is conceivable that there exist facts whose truths do not lie in proposition expressible in the human language’. What the author is saying here is that if God is eternal, then that is a fact; however, we are not able to express this truth in our own language.”

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck, which was published in 1945, is another favourite of Ali’s which he has just finished reading. “When I want to read poetry and relate to the more sensitive side of human nature, then I find Steinbeck’s approach a very delicate one,” Ali says. “I feel that I can relate to the characters in this book, and I personally feel that this work of his, has a spiritual warming effect. It has a beautiful, simple language which is really heartening.”

Cannery Row is a story of a group of characters living in Monterey, California, and although basically poor people, they have managed to secure happiness and beauty from life. The author has depicted a story where only the fittest survive and many short stories come together to show the spirit and goodness that the downtrodden characters portray in this narrative.

“It is chapter two of this novel that has really impressed me,” says Ali, “because it has two paragraphs of Steinbeck’s philosophy, and is beautifully written. I have even learnt some of the prose by heart.”

This part of the narrative tells us that happiness does not desire immense wealth or grand moments — it is the small and simple things that offer the greatest contentment. Ali says that in this part of the book, Steinbeck talks about the ‘outsiders’ in the story who have learnt the hard lessons of life, not by experiencing harshness, but by recognizing it. “I also like the particular statement made by Steinbeck where he comments that what good does it do to a man to return to his prospects with a blown prostrate and a gastric ulcer? Here the author is basically saying that after working so hard all of your years, can you really enjoy life when you are old?

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