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April 13, 2008
At a glance
Baghdad Jal Raha Hai (Baghdad Burning)
By Riverbend
Baghdad Burning, as the title reveals, is a categorically narrated nightmare of Iraqi society. It portrays the harsh realities of extreme brutality and inhuman attitude of America and its allies in Iraq. The writer has focused on the actual happenings of the ‘war on terror’, which the western powers have undertaken in the name of peacekeeping. The young writer, who is in her mid-20s, narrates the day-to-day atrocious incidents taking place in Iraq.
Riverbend, as she calls herself, has provided her reader with vivid descriptions, featuring the cruelty of American foreign policy in the region. She has given a detailed account of the strategically planned drama to establish its control and domination on the oil reserves of the country.
She manages to provide her reader with a true picture of how American soldiers enjoy their power to kill, loot and plunder innocent citizens. The episodes of destruction and massacres in Falujah, Karbala, Najaf, Abu Gharaib and Baghdad given in the book are eye-witness accounts of the torture inflicted upon innocent Iraqis.
One could say without doubt that Qaiser Saleem, the translator, has done justice to the original work. One finds this book worth reading as the narration by the translator grips the reader’s mind exactly like the original.
Going through the book one feels that American actress Susan Sarandon has very rightly said that anyone who cares about or feels for Iraq must read this book.
— Yasmin Mustafa
Translated by Qaiser Saleem
Media Graphics, Karachi
208pp. Rs200
Pooray Tan ka Audhura Pan
By Nadeem Sibtain
Nadeem Sibtain’s second book, Pooray Tan ka Audhura Pan (incompleteness of a complete body) is divided into two parts: his collection of poetry and his paintings. Published in the second half of the previous year, the book gives the feel of a three-in-one book.
The first part consists of reviews by famous poets, writers, politicians, and scholars on Sibtain’s latest poetry book, Lamhay Lamhay. His paintings based on his poems make the second part of the book. Last but not least is the poetry collection itself.
Sibtain is a progressive and revolutionary poet, and his poetry stretches on a vast canvas, portraying the inequalities, corruption, cruelty, gender bias, and many such problems of our society. He portrays these problems with great feeling and agony. His romantic poetry also carries deep emotional content. It is, however, very difficult to say whether he is a better poet or a better painter.
— Shaista Saeed
D-Kanz Communications, Karachi
193pp. Rs200
The Struggle
By Maryam Ali
The Struggle by Maryam Ali has been rightly named so as it represents the true spirit of Islam and highlights the doctrine of the religion through the eyes of a young person. Some of the fundamental values that are brought forward for discussion, as well as a means for inducing motivation to follow Islam and its principles include modesty, humbleness, patience, tolerance, compassion and even philanthropy.
The book is a reminder to all about the innumerable sacrifices made by the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) from the time of the first revelation till the time the religion was deemed to be ‘perfect’ by God Himself. It recounts the struggle he endured patiently to practice the teachings of Islam and in turn preach them to others, all the while inviting them towards the ‘truth’.
As stated in the Foreword, ‘the book portrays the real and untarnished image of Islam as cast on an innocent mind of a young child. This is a true image, because (a) child’s mind is free of prejudices, bias and other ailments’. These words are a true representation of what the intention was behind the compilation of this book.
— Haneen Rafi
Khwaja Printers and Publications, Karachi
54pp. Rs200
Irrigation and Hydraulic Structures: Theory, design and practice
By Prof Iqbal Ali
The art of applying water to the land dates back to the beginning of human civilisation. The Egyptians were the first to build canals for the sake of irrigation or supplying water to their fields and crops. The subject of irrigation has always been of a great worldwide significance as it is fundamental to the provision of food for the billions of people inhibiting planet Earth.
Irrigation and Hydraulic Structures covers the theory, design, principles and practice of the canal irrigation system components. Written by Prof Iqbal Ali in a thorough and easy-to-understand manner, the book literally follows the flow path of the irrigation water up to the canal outlet. All chapters included in the textbook comprise solved examples and a set of questions at the end.
This is the third revised edition of the book as the first and the second editions were published in 1993 and 2003 respectively. The second edition was translated into Chinese and republished by the Teijin Institute of Water Resources, Development and Investigation in China in the year 2006. The book is now used in over 700 engineering universities in China as a reference book, which is not only a matter of pride and honour for the book and its author, but also for the country.
The author is a water resources and environmental advisor and is counted among the leading civil engineering consultants of the country. Now internationally recognised, Dr Ali has to his credit a large number of research papers published in various national and international journals. His other work includes Basics in Water and Wastewater.
— Rabail Baig
Allied Book Company, Lahore
ISBN 969-8160-02-7
506pp. Price not listed
Dukh Na Rasai Ka
By Naheed Zubairi
In her poetry book, Dukh Na Rasai Ka, Naheed Zubairi writes, ‘In our society, it seems as if we are running barefoot in a very hot desert. However, there are people like me for whom the sun is blazing even hotter.’
Naheed comes forward as a very sensitive person who feels deeply about the injustices and the burning issues of the Pakistani society, and writes about these admirably, touching upon the most sensitive of norms and values of our society.
Though an anonymous ustad seems to have made corrections to her poetry, she does not seem happy about them. However in my view, the ustad has improved many couplets and there is still room for improvement.
— Shaista Saeed
City Publications, Karachi
189pp. Rs200
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