One of the most anticipated sessions of this year’s Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) featured Emmy Award-winning British-Pakistani actor, rapper and activist Riz Ahmed and novelist Mohsin Hamid.

The session, titled, ‘MC Activist’, was moderated by Shahid Zahid, who didn’t have much of a role and let the panelists converse in a free-flowing chat in a packed hall at Alhamra.

Ahmed narrated how he ended up becoming an actor and rapper and that he never thought he’d make it. “I always thought there is very less probability of making it into any of these fields. I thought I won’t last as an actor.” He then talked about his journey of becoming an activist and how some of his rap songs were banned post 9/11, his harrowing experiences at airports after that.

“A lot of times when you’re creating, you’re pushing against the world. Sometimes a creative act isn’t always an act of defiance, but helplessness too,” Ahmed said of his creative process. “In some ways I don’t feel I have a choice but to engage in issues such as racism, Islamophobia, women’s issues, domestic violence, homophobia and so on. It comes from a personal place. It’s an act of survival.”

In the same vein, Hamid chipped in that for him as a consumer of an art form, “I feel a thrill at encountering an artist doing their thing, which is encountering another human being.”

Ahmed also shared how his mother reacted to the characters he played and would even beat him up over them. He went back to his early days and the sense of alienation and loneliness he felt at Oxford University, adding that when one felt like the odd one out, there was an opportunity to do something different to make a mark. He also said he had no problem playing stereotypical roles as long as he felt he could add nuance and complexity to a character.

The award-winning actor said he would love to know about and meet artistes in Pakistan and maybe explore work opportunities.

The session concluded with Ahmed performing one of his popular rap songs to a standing ovation.

In another session, titled ‘Changing Perspectives on Down Syndrome’, moderator Nadia Jamil, and panelists Tania Naima Khan and Ali Allawala talked about children born with the disability. Both panelists shared stories of how they brought up their children with Down Syndrome, how they came to terms with the reality, and the realisation that such children were as ‘normal’ as anyone and lead normal lives.

“We need to change methods of engagement with these children,” said Allawala, who founded Karachi Down Syndrome Program to help parents of such a child understand the disability and guide them on how to engage with their kids.

Nadia said that one should not wait for something drastic to happen to start talking about the disability. “Let’s not wait for an earthquake like Kasur to start talking.” Tania added that there were so many children with Down Syndrome that it’s impossible to ignore them. “One in every 100 child suffers from the disability. That’s not a small number not to accept as part of us.”

While talking generally about child care, Nadia lamented: “If we had not been silent in 2015, 2018 would not have happened in Kasur.”

A Punjabi session, titled ‘Heer Waris Shah Te Ajoka Wasaib’, shed light on the centuries-old love story with Muhammad Saeed as moderator and Punjabi academics Dr Nabeela Rehman and Ebad Nabeel Shaad as panelists. The discussion focused on various aspects of the classical Punjabi romance and how it was still relevant in today’s time. Both panelists separately talked about the male and female characters involved and how they resonated with men and women even today.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2018