MITHI: Speakers at a webinar showered praise on Thari writer Prof Noor Ahmed Janjhi for having penned two books which were virtually launched on Monday.

They said at the launch of ‘Jay to anja na jato’ by linguist and social scientist Prof Janjhi that globalisation, which the author had discussed in the book, had interlinked different socioeconomic structures around the globe but it had mostly benefited the haves and deprived have-nots of choices.

Prof Janjhi said that through his book he had shared his insights with youths about contemporary themes, socioeconomic mobi­­l­­isa­­­tion throughout the world and negative aspects of globalisation and profiteering presented in his own thesis as ‘alam pasandi’ against alamgiriyat.

Writer Dr Bakhat Jamal Shaik read a paper on main points discussed in the book and appreciated deep thinking and thorough coverage of themes in a compact form by the author.

Mir Mansur Mangrio, young writer and critic, shared his views about awards in literature and said that only the author who wrote in English could have sublime awards. But creativity had no limitations of languages, he said.

Prof Siddique Unnar, educationist, spoke on linguistic aspect of cultural globalisation.

Dr Mazhar Dootiyo, Dr Sher Mehrani, Dr Kirshan Lal, Dr Shahmurad Chandio and others also spoke at the webinar.

The speakers at the launch of the other book by Janjhi titled Folk Songs of Thar said that the book revealed culture, geography and history of Thar along with mercantile and psycho-social profile of its society.

They said the songs were a mirror of a society and were mainly composed by women. The launching session was hosted by T2F.

Prof Janjhi shared the process and motivation for writing of this book and said that as he himself belonged to Thar, he could relate to the songs of Siraman Teej, Hamarcho and Chirmi.

He read out a few lines from the song of Chhail Bhamariyo and said that the songs reflected different layers of Thari society.

Advocate Shahab Usto said that Janjhi had done a great work to represent different dimensions of Thari society. The book introduced to the reader cultural profile of Thar and spurred him to pay attention towards preservation of cultural heritage, he said.

He said that people like Prof Janjhi were highly committed to the motherland.

Dr Saadia, a research scholar, shed light on different shades of life in Thar and especially focused on interfaith harmony in the area as she observed during her visit to different villages and towns a few years ago.

She pointed out relevance of the book in a broader perspective of the subcontinent.

Ms Shabina Faraz, a journalist working on environment, shared her views in light of her visits to Thar and highlighted the importance of cultural aspect of Thari folk songs.

Mir Mansur Mangrio highlighted popularity of Thari folk songs and gave example of Shaikh Ayaz who had been highly impressed by these songs and composed new folk songs as well.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2020