Sunday, 14th March 2010 | 6:00 pm

Jihad Against Violence is a poetic memory-play, meant to jolt us out of our complacency with violence in our lives. At once dramatically poignant, and at times hilarious, this play is written and performed by two women activists. It weaves together their memories and desires of the past and the present both from a personal, as well as a political vantage point. It speaks to issues of Muslim womanhood in a patriarchal world, which may be similar to those of the “turd” world in relation to the “first” in our neo-imperial moment which knows no past nor present, only an unending continuum: shall we cry, or shall we laugh? Maybe both … and maybe, just maybe, to dare to have the audacity to hope for change; we can’t go on, we must go on!

Fawzia Afzal-Khan is Professor of English at Montclair State University, NJ. She is the author of four books of criticism in the areas of Feminism, Performance and Postcolonial Studies. Her memoir, Lahore with Love – Growing Up with Girlfriends, Pakistani-Style, has recently been published by Syracuse University Press. She is a frequent contributor of political analyses of Pakistan to Counterpunch, has appeared on Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now, is a trained vocalist in the North Indian classical tradition, and was recently presented with a Public Service Award by the American Muslim Alliance.

Lahore with Love – Growing Up with Girlfriends, Pakistani Style can be purchased from T2F’s Bookshop and Fawzia Afzal-Khan will be available after the readings to sign copies of her book.

Date: Sunday, 14th March, 2010
Time: 6:00 pm
Minimum Donation: Rs. 100
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

Asif Noorani, a versatile journalist, works for the Dawn Media Group in Karachi. He started his career in 1963 as the editor of Eastern Film, Pakistan’s most widely circulated English magazine. He also taught English Literature and is currently lecturing on media marketing at a private university. He writes on a wide variety of subjects; art, literature, humour, music, travel, and even cricket. He also reviews books and music.

In 2008, Asif co-authored a book, Tales of Two Cities, with the noted Indian columnist Kuldip Nayar. The book was edited by David Page of the BBC and published by Roli Books in New Delhi.

A year later when Pakistan won the World Cup Twenty20 Tournament, Asif edited and compiled a book on Shahid Afridi, the architect of the victory. Boom Boom Shahid Afridi is a mini coffee table book and has been on the bestsellers’ list for several months.

Asif is currently working on a book on Mehdi Hasan and has involved his fans, well known personalities and music critics from India and Pakistan. The book will carry two CDs featuring popular and rare songs and ghazals, recorded over the last four decades.

Tales of Two Cities and Boom Boom Shahid Afridi can be purchased from T2F’s Bookshop. Asif Noorani will be available after the readings to sign copies of his books.

Date: Saturday, 13th March, 2010
Time: 6:30 pm
Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support our vision of intellectual poverty alleviation by donating generously.
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

“Spices of madness. The foremost component of change in Pakistan’s literature and the performing arts – the werewolf of Pakistan’s literati.”
F Yazdi, The Nation, 1997

Sarmad Sehbai is one of Pakistan’s most mercurial artists – a poet, playwright and director of theatre and video plays – a man who has struggled towards existential revolution but always shunned intellectual labelism, remaining firmly on the other side of the mainstream.

Whilst studying at Government College Lahore, Sarmad became renowned for his Urdu poetry, which stood out for its fresh imagery and contemporary idioms. After college, he joined PTV and started writing original plays for television and the stage. After scripting a number of ground-breaking plays, Sarmad came to be known as the ‘enfant terrible’ of Pakistan, for his powerful, authentic content, firmly rooted in social realities and local vernacular.

During the military dictatorship of the 1980s, General Zia officially banned cultural and theatrical activities. A few like-minded individuals started performing plays in clandestine locations and one of the first productions was Sarmad’s “Panjhwar Chiragh”. Sarmad was then banished from Lahore and sent off to Islamabad. Eventually, he was re-admitted to PTV where he wrote and directed a number of vibrant dramas, all created with meagre resources and protracted battles with the censor board.

Sarmad is frequently admonished for not having been more prolific. His response: “The mainstream art mafia does not allow me to do my work.”

Rejecting a society increasingly dominated by consumerism, Sarmad has distanced himself from the mainstream art world and is currently writing poetry and a novel in English.

Date: Wednesday, 10th March, 2010
Time: 6:30 pm
Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support our vision of intellectual poverty alleviation by donating generously.
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

Using Social Media to Market Your Business:
A Workshop by Shahjahan Chaudhary
Tuesday 9th March | 6:00 pm

An Evening with Poet and Playwright, Sarmad Sehbai
Wednesday 10th March | 6:30 pm

A Lecture-Demo by Ustad Zafar Ali Khan (Gwalior Gharana)
Friday 12th March | 6:30 pm

T2F is proud to offer lessons in eastern classical and semi-classical singing by Ustad Zafar Ali Khan, a vocalist and composer representing the 28th generation of the Gwalior gharana.
Details: http://www.t2f.biz/eastern-classical-singing-classes

Readings and Conversation with Asif Noorani, Author of “Tales of Two Cities”
Saturday 13th March | 6:30 pm

“Jihad Against Violence” – A One-Act Play by Fawzia Afzal-Khan
Sunday 14th March | 6:00 pm

Opening Date: Monday, 8th March 2010 | 7:00 pm

Pakistan is labeled as a war-torn nuclear power besieged by terrorists, intolerance and corrupt politicians.

How do we begin to change that?

We start at home.

D.U.C.K! (Designers United for a Cause – Karachi) and Rebuild-Rebound are non-profit organizations initiated by a handful of Indus Valley Alumni who are bringing together designers, photographers, sculptors and visual artists to exhibit their work, create awareness and raise funds for humanitarian causes.

To Karachi With Love is one of a series of events aimed to raise awareness about the loss of lives and destruction that followed the suicide blast on Ashura at Bolton Market in Karachi. All funds collected will go to the rebuilding of the market and surrounding area.

100% of the proceeds will go towards renowned architect, Shahid Abdullah’s efforts to reconstruct the affected area and to the shopkeepers whose livelihoods have been put on hold for the past three months and still await the end of the reconstruction. Their lives may never be the same again but we can help be a part of the change.

The change can begin from your heart. Show Karachi some LOVE!

The exhibition will continue until Wednesday, 17th March 2010

Opening Date: Monday, 8th March, 2010
Time: 7:00 pm
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F | Faraar
Address | Map

Ustad Zafar Ali Khan received vocal training from the age of 6 by his father, Ustad Qudrat Ali Khan. His vocal repertoire includes khayal, thumri, dadra, ghazal, geet and kaafi. He is well-versed in the tabla and harmonium, and his compositions have featured in the media, including films, television and radio.

Lesson Structure

• 15 minutes of riyaaz – vocal exercises to stretch and train the vocal chords and tune the ear
• 20 minutes of sangeet – bandish, ghazal, khayal etc, to apply riyaaz training to the delivery of sangeet
• 25 minutes of theory, including Q&A

Important Notes

• Classes will be held on Saturdays and Sundays from 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm
• Classes begin on April 3rd 2010. Enrollment will close after the second class
• Duration: 3 months / 24 classes
• Cost: Rs. 1,500 per class
• E-mail sabeen@peaceniche.org to register

Lecture Demo by Ustad Zafar Ali Khan

Ustad Zafar Ali Khan will be at T2F on Friday, March 12th at 6:30 pm, to introduce himself and his approach to teaching singing. If you are interested in getting vocal instruction from a scion of the oldest classical gharana, come and meet the Ustad, hear him sing and sign up!

Thursday, 4th March 2010 | 6:30 pm

Munzir Ahmad, the grandson of “Deputy” Nazir Ahmad and elder brother of Shahid Ahmed Dehlavi, reached out for his gun more readily than the pen. A reputed shikari who hunted big cats all over North India with a passion, became a champion of animal conservation when he realized that the forests and wildlife were under serious threat of extinction. Around this time, he was also inspired to write Big Cats of India. He spent many years writing the book but died before it could be published. Nearly thirty years after it was written, the book has just been published from Karachi and seems more relevant now as the threat to wildlife has become even more serious. Full of interesting accounts of jungle lore, the book provides an occasion to discuss and debate the larger questions around wildlife in South Asia.

Programme

• Introduction to the book and author by Masroor Ahmad
• Memories of Baray Bhai (author’s nickname) by Dr Aslam Farrukhi
• From Shikar to Wildlife Conservation by Obaidullah Baig

About the Author

Munzir Ahmad (1903-1986) was born in Delhi and went to school in Aligarh. He then studied law and graduated from Delhi University. Despite his literary lineage, he became fascinated by game hunting during his student days. His love for nature and the pursuit of his hobby took him to the jungles of the “United Provinces” where he spent 40 years interacting with nature and wildlife. Like most big-game shikaris, his long association with wildlife and “big cats”, brought about a metamorphosis in his relationship with wildife. Munzir Ahmad’s book, Big Cats of India, is a record of his observations of the lives and ways of big cats in their natural habitat.

Date: Thursday, 4th March, 2010
Time: 6:30 pm
Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support our vision of intellectual poverty alleviation by donating generously.
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

Sunday, 28th February 2010 | 4:30 pm

Dr. Clarence Lusane will talk about how jazz has been politically and ideologically appropriated by a wide range of social groups throughout the international community.

Dr. Clarence Lusane is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations in the School of International Service at American University and an expert on Minority Rights. He is also an author, activist, scholar, lecturer, and journalist. For over 30 years, he has written about and been active in national and international human rights, anti-racism politics, globalization, U.S. foreign policy, and social issues such as education, crime, and drug policy. He has lectured and presented papers at a wide range of colleges and universities including Harvard, Georgetown, University of California-Berkeley, University of Chicago, Yale, London School of Economics, and University of Paris. Dr. Lusane is currently Co-chair of the Civil Society Committee for the US-Brazil Joint Action Plan to Eliminate Racial Discrimination, a bi-lateral agreement involving governments and civil society.

Date: Sunday, 28th February, 2010
Time: 4:30 pm
Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support our vision of intellectual poverty alleviation by donating generously.
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

Opening Date: Thursday, 25th Feb 2010 | 6:00 pm

“Carving our perspectives, etching the skeleton of our subconscious, we are what you made us. As a triad of aspiring artists, we each examine our experiences within the labyrinth as it shapes our outlook of the world”.

Zeerak Ahmed
Growing up with artists in the family, I’ve always been passionate about the subject. After successful art grades throughout my O-Levels and A-Levels at the Karachi Grammar School, I decided to take it up as my major at Hiram College (USA), where I am pursuing an undergraduate degree in Studio Art and a minor in Music.

Shoaib Rizvi
I grew up in Karachi and studied at Karachi Grammar School. Being born into a family of doctors sparked my early interest in science. However, receiving classical sitar training and voice training from a very young age, resulted in my interest in music, and eventually painting. I graduated from Karachi Grammar School in 2009 having studied both art and the sciences. I will be attending Imperial College in London to read medicine in October 2010.

Abdullah Khan
I am a nineteen year old freshman at Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida, where I am working towards my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration. After completing my O-Levels from Karachi Grammar School, I moved to a boarding school in Switzerland, where I was exposed to a multitude of cultures. Piling up experiences left me curious and wanting to indulge, document and keep creating. My biggest influences are the world I am a part of and the people in it. I love loud music and the wind blowing in my face.

The exhibition will continue until Sunday, 7th March 2010

Opening Date: Thursday, 25th February, 2010
Time: 6:00 pm
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F | Faraar
Address | Map

Tuesday, 23rd February 2010 | 6:30 pm

Renowned architect, town planner and writer, Arif Hasan will trace Karachi’s history from the time it was established as a fortified trading settlement in 1729 till today. He will discuss its pre-1729 places of Hindu and Muslim pilgrimages and local folklore; and apart from history, will discuss the City’s post-partition master plans, their successes and failures, and analyse its present civic problems and sociology.

Asim Butt’s graffiti practice engaged the politics of the moment. It evolved from large scale murals executed in the aftermath of America’s Shock and Awe campaign in Iraq to a more hit-and-run style responding to the imposition of Emergency rule by General Pervez Musharraf in November 2007. Most recently, Asim created public art at the site of the Metropole Hotel and started a campaign to preserve parts of it as a heritage site.

In his own words: “The process of creating public art raises awareness about art as a vehicle of social change, creates foment about the social and political themes running through my graffiti, creates alternatives for channeling political will, creates ownership for civic space so often the victim of the Tragedy of the Commons in Pakistan as well as interjects with a unique aesthetic into a commercially dominated visual domain”.

Date: Tuesday, 23rd February, 2010
Time: 6:30 pm
Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support our vision of intellectual poverty alleviation by donating generously.
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

Saturday, 20th February 2010 | 6:30 pm

Professor Aijaz Ahmad has taught at universities in the US, India and Canada. In New Delhi, where he resides, he has been a Professorial Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. He has also held the Rajiv Gandhi Chair at Jawaharlal Nehru Univeristy and the Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Chair at Jamia Millia Islamiya University. Currently, he is on the editorial board of the Delhi-based publishing house, LeftWord, and Senior Editorial Consultant for news magazine Frontline, where his political essays appear frequently. He writes in English, Hindi and Urdu. Some of his books in English are Ghazals of Ghalib, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, Lineages of the Present, Globalization and Culture: Offensives of the Far Right, and Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Imperialism of our Time. His work-in-progress is provisionally entitled In Our Time: Empire, Politics, Culture.

The discussion will be moderated by:

• Syed Jaffar Ahmed – Professor of Politics & History at Karachi University
• Asif Farrukhi – Writer and Critic
• Nadeem Khalid – Activist

Date: Saturday, 20th February, 2010
Time: 6:30 pm
Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support our vision of intellectual poverty alleviation by donating generously.
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

Wednesday, 17th February 2010 | 6:30 pm

Artificial volcanoes? Ships creating clouds over the oceans? Forests covering the Sahara Desert? These sound like crazy ideas, but they are actual proposals from top scientists for cooling Earth – approaches known as geoengineering.

The planet’s temperature keeps rising, driven by humanity’s increasing emissions of greenhouse gases. But the world isn’t making much progress on tackling the root problem – emissions from power plants, cars, buildings, and more. So scientists are increasingly talking about radical ideas of how to cool the planet, by blocking some of the sunlight hitting Earth’s surface, or through planet-scale projects to suck up greenhouse gases and lock them away.

But some of these approaches could have serious side-effects, such as disrupting the monsoons that more than a billion people in Asia and Africa depend on. Hacking the planet like this is a risky way of dealing with global warming. Do we understand the planet well enough to tinker with it like this? Who decides where to set Earth’s thermostat? And how do we regulate these technologies?

About Mason Inman

Mason Inman is an American journalist, currently based in Karachi, who covers science and the environment for National Geographic News, New Scientist, Science, Nature, and other publications. He also blogs at Failing Gracefully.

Date: Wednesday, 17th February, 2010
Time: 6:30 pm
Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support our vision of intellectual poverty alleviation by donating generously.
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

Sunday, 14th February 2010 | 6:00 pm

Mohammed Hanif, author of A Case of Exploding Mangoes, will introduce the authors after which H.M. Naqvi, Kamila Shamsie, Musharraf Ali Farooqi, and Nafisa Rizvi will read from their works. The readings will be followed by a discussion led by the regional judges of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2010; Muneeza Shamsie (Regional Chairperson), Dr. Upamanyu Pablo Mukherjee, and Dr. Stephanos Stephanides.

Dr. Upamanyu Pablo Mukherjee is an Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies at Warwick University, UK. He was born in Kolkata, India, and has worked, studied and taught in India and England. He is the author of ‘Crime and Empire’ (OUP, 2003) and ‘Postcolonial Environments’ (Palgrave, 2010), and a wide range of scholarly articles and edited collections.

Dr. Stephanos Stephanides is an academic, poet, critic, translator and documentary film maker. He was born in Cyprus but since he was a child, he has lived in several countries. He returned to his native island in 1992 where he is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Cyprus. He is on the editorial board of a number of academic publications and is the author of several books.

Muneeza Shamsie is a Pakistani writer, critic, bibliographer and editor of ‘And the World Changed – Contemporary Stories by Pakistani Women’. The Feminist Press edition in the USA won the Foreword Bronze Award and the IPPY Gold Award for the best anthology by an independent publisher. She contributes regularly to the Pakistani press and international scholarly publications.

H.M. Naqvi has worked in finance and taught creative writing at Boston University. His debut novel, ‘Home Boy’, has been published by HarperCollins. Presently he resides in Karachi.

Kamila Shamsie is the author of 5 novels, most recently ‘Burnt Shadows’ which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and is being translated into 21 languages. She was born and grew up in Karachi, and now lives in London.

Mohammed Hanif’s first novel ‘A Case of Exploding Mangoes’ won the Commonwealth Prize for first novel, the inaugural Shalkti Bhatt prize and the Corine Award in Germany. It was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and James Tait Black Memorial Prize and longlisted for the Man Booker. Hanif works for the BBC and is working on his second novel.

Musharraf Ali Farooqi is the author of ‘The Story of a Widow’ which was longlisted for the 2010 IMPAC-Dublin Literary Award. He has translated the Urdu classics ‘The Adventures of Amir Hamza’, ‘Hoshruba: The Land and the Tilism’, and the forthcoming poetry collection of Afzal Ahmed Syed. He is currently the Urdu Publisher at Oxford University Press.

Nafisa Rizvi started her career in advertising. It took her over a decade and a diploma in advertising to figure out that she was in the wrong profession. She then took to teaching and is presently assisting A level students with art theory courses. Nafisa recently published her first novel, ‘The Blue Room’. 

This event is sponsored by Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2010 which is organized by the Commonwealth Foundation with the support of the Macquarie Group Foundation.

Date: Sunday, 14th February, 2010
Time: 6:00 pm
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

Opening Date: Thursday, 4th Feb 2010 | 5:30 pm

“Based in part on my experiences living in Karachi, Fever Dreams is a non linear narrative of the imprints this city has left on me, from monsoon power cuts to winter riots. It is the tale of a sojourn through deep waters, a subterranean world where fantasy and memory, myth and reality combine, and the possibility of escape, of finally coming up for air.
Reem Khurshid

Reem Khurshid was born in 1986. A self-taught artist, she divides her time between painting and creating customized apparel for fellow sneakerheads. In 2009, her work was published in CURVY, an annual art book celebrating one hundred established and upcoming female illustrators from around the world, and exhibited at the book launch held in Sydney, Australia. As resident artist/co-founder of indie netlabel Mooshy Moo, she has also produced album art for local acts Dalt Wisney and Mole. Fever Dreams is her first exhibition in Karachi.

After the opening, there will be a music performance by Mole accompanied by Reem Khurshid painting live on canvas.

Time: 7:30 – 8:30 pm | Cover Fee: Rs. 100

The exhibition will continue until Wednesday, 17th February 2010

Opening Date: Thursday, 4th February, 2010
Time: 5:30 pm
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F | Faraar
Address | Map

Sunday, 31st January 2010 | 6:00 pm

Zehra Nigah is one of Pakistan’s most prominent and loved poets. She burst onto the literary horizon as a child prodigy in the 1950s and has consistently been hailed as the one voice worth listening to on the mushaeraa circuit.

In an interview conducted by Aasim Akhtar, Zehra Nigah says:

A great poet is one who can form his own school of thought and inspire younger people. Political acumen is essential to great literature. How can a sensitive writer be oblivious to his surroundings?

Zehra Nigah has published three volumes of poetry, Shaam ka Pehla Taara, Waraq, and Firaq. She says she has never felt the urge to be prolific, to write when there is nothing to say. Yet every word that emerges from her pen, every syllable that she speaks, carries the spark of a luminous intelligence. (Some excerpts from the Hindu Literary Review)

We are truly grateful to Zehra Apa for always readily agreeing to come to T2F and to Dr. Asif Farrukhi for moderating the evening.

Date: Sunday, 31st January, 2010
Time: 6:00 pm
Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support our vision of intellectual poverty alleviation by donating generously.
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

Saturday, 30th January 2010 | 6:30 pm

Shades of Prey, a 52-chapter murder mystery set in Karachi, is the culmination of the project, A Novel Experience, which began at Generation’s School, Karachi, in 2005, with the intention of enhancing the writing skills of young people. Its authors are currently at college at a variety of institutions in Karachi, Lahore, and New York. Four of the six authors will be present at the book reading.

“Shades of Prey’s universal appeal lies in its being a gripping page-turner with an intriguing twist in the tale. But Shades of Prey is more than that. The backdrop is recognizably Pakistani. As the action moves across the urban landscape of parks, shopping malls, fun-fairs and suburban communities and enters the workings of newspaper offices, schools, police stations and television channels, it explores the functioning of our society.”

Lynette Viccaji – Teacher and Coordinator, English Literature
Convent of Jesus and Mary and The Lyceum, Karachi

The novel will be available for purchase at T2F’s Bookshop. If you already have a copy, bring it along and get it signed!

For more information and to view excerpts from the novel, please visit www.shadesofprey.com

Date: Saturday, 30th January, 2010
Time: 6:30 pm
Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support our vision of intellectual poverty alleviation by donating generously.
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

A Novel Experience
Readings from Shades of Prey and conversations with the authors of Pakistan’s first collaborative novel
Saturday Jan 30th 2010 | 6:30 pm

An Evening with Zehra Nigah
Readings and anecdotes featuring one of Pakistan’s most loved poets
Sunday Jan 31st 2010 | 6:00 pm

If you’d like to say a few words about Asim or share memories, videos or photographs, please let us know before Monday so that we can accommodate as many people as possible.

In Complete Solidarity!

T2F: mariam@peaceniche.org
Citizens Archive of Pakistan: citizensarchive@gmail.com

Date: Monday, 18th January, 2010
Time: 6:30 pm
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Sunday, 17th January 2010 | 6:30 pm

Bindiya Chamkay Gi is a short documentary-narrative focusing on the life of Bindiya Rana – an outspoken member of the Khwaja Sira (or Hijra) Community in Karachi. The film traces a day in her life and portrays the legal, social and cultural challenges that her community faces in present-day Pakistan. Bindiya Chamkay Gi is Ragni Kidvai’s first complete film, and is part of an academic thesis-project focusing on the Khwaja Sira Community in Karachi.

After the screening, Bindiya will talk about her new organization, GIA, and the work they are doing in the areas of transgender rights and social justice.

About Ragni Kidvai

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Ragni Kidvai has been politically active from an early age. Starting with a high school internship at a video-production house, she has been using the media as a tool for social justice work ever since. Ragni went to Hampshire College in the US to study Political Philosophy with a focus on Identity Politics and Video Production. Ragni now lives and works in New York.

Date: Sunday, 17th January, 2010
Time: 6:30 pm
Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support our vision of intellectual poverty alleviation by donating generously.
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

Saturday, 16th January 2010 | 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Animation and Visual Effects is arguably the most rapidly evolving industry in the world. From Star Wars to Avatar, visual effects have come a long way. This fascinating session, conducted by Rehan Zia will demonstrate how computer generated characters and visual effects are combined seamlessly with live action film footage to take you through magical environments, realms of mystical creatures, and the ends of space.

Digital Multishot Photography techniques and their application to computer generated images will also be discussed.

About Rehan Zia

Rehan Zia is an amateur photographer and Demonstrator in Computer Animation and Digital Effects at the prestigious National Centre for Computer Animation, Bournemouth University, U.K. He was responsible for establishing and heading the Department of Media Studies at Iqra University before leaving for the UK to pursue a Masters in Digital Effects. He is also a moderator for www.cgexpanse.com, the Pakistani Digital Artists Forum.

Rehan is starting his PhD (By Practice) in the same discipline and wants to contribute as much as possible to academia and the local industry during the course of his research.

Date: Saturday, 16th January, 2010
Time: 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support our vision of intellectual poverty alleviation by donating generously.
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

Opening Date: Friday, 15th Jan 2010 | 5:30 pm

“My work deals with unwelcome external interferences in an individual’s everyday life. More recently, these interferences have evolved into those of a rigid, frustrated society that is found flourishing within our permanently gridlocked political and economic system. Through my work, I illustrate the individual’s varying reactions to these interferences, where these reactions range from acceptance to disconnection and even rejection”.
Sophiya Khwaja

Born and raised in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sophiya attended the National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore, where she selected Printmaking as her field of choice. After three years of intensive etching, she pursued a two year Printmaking Masters program at the renowned Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) that she attended on a Fulbright Scholarship awarded in 2004. Her focus through the duration of her MFA at RISD was also primarily on etching.

Back from RISD, Sophiya now resides in Islamabad, Pakistan, with her husband and is currently exhibiting work both in Pakistan and the United States. She is also a visiting professor of Printmaking at NCA.

This exhibition marks the inauguration of “Faraar”, a new PeaceNiche project created especially to showcase the work of emerging artists, designers, and photographers.

The exhibition will continue until Sunday 31st January 2010.

Opening Date: Friday, 15th January, 2010
Time: 5:30 pm
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Sunday, 3rd January 2010 | 6:00 pm

The nine Rural Support Programs featured in Mahmood Hasan Khan’s book have helped organise over a million rural households into participatory organizations with nearly two million members. Discover the stories of ordinary men and woman who have made a demonstrable difference in their communities through participatory rural support programs.

About Mahmood Hasan Khan

Mahmood Hasan Khan is Emeritus Professor of Economics at Simon Fraser University in Canada. He has been a keen student and researcher of different aspects of agricultural and rural development, particularly in Pakistan, for over 40 years. The author has published thirty-five articles in professional journals and seven books, and co-authored five books. His well-known titles are: The Role of Agriculture in Economic Development (1966); The Economics of the Green Revolution in Pakistan (1975); Underdevelopment and Agrarian Structure in Pakistan (1981); Climbing the Development Ladder (1998); and Agriculture in Pakistan (2006). Mahmood Hasan Khan has worked as a consultant for international organisations, including OECD, ILO, FAO, IMF, UNDP, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Islamic Development Bank, and several public and private sector organisations in and outside Pakistan.

This event is brought to you by Oxford University Press

Date: Sunday, 3rd January, 2010
Time: 6:00 pm
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

Friday, 1st January 2010 | 6:00 pm

“By the Long Partition my purpose is to emphasize that 1947 was only the beginning of what was necessarily a long, drawn-out process of dividing a territory and its people into two distinct nation-states. Although there has been a lot of argument over why partition took place, we have not paid enough attention to understanding the historical process of partitioning itself.”

Join us at T2F to find out more about Vazira’s views on the making of modern South Asia

About Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar

Vazira is interested in cross-border and interdisciplinary histories for rethinking a divided South Asia, as well as the politics of violence and its impact on history-writing itself. Her first book, The Long Partition and the Making of Modern South Asia: Refugees, Boundaries, Histories, was published by Columbia University Press in 2007, and Indian and Pakistani editions of the book came out in 2008. At present she is working on the history of archaeology on the northwest frontier of British India, on the borderlands with Afghanistan, and her two sons are globe-trotting with her to archives in South Asia and Britain.

Zamindar moved from the Netherlands to Brown in 2006, and teaches courses in the history of colonialism and nationalism in South Asia, including the Partition of 1947 and Gandhi.

This event is brought to you by Oxford University Press

Date: Friday, 1st January, 2010
Time: 6:00 pm
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
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Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

Tuesday, 22nd December 2009 | 6:30 pm

There is perhaps no instrument other than the telescope that has so changed fundamental perceptions about humanity and its place in the universe. Galileo, 400 years ago, pointed his telescope skywards and saw an imperfect universe – with blotches on the Sun and craters on the Moon. But his telescope also opened up a universe of objects invisible to the naked eye – such as the moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn. This was only the start of our journey. Since the time of Galileo, our telescopes have unveiled newborn stars shrouded in gas and dust, planets around other stars, gaseous nebulae containing the building blocks of life, comets crashing into planets, and a universe consisting of hundreds of billions of galaxies.

In this exciting Science Ka Adda session, Salman Hameed will highlight key discoveries, from Galileo and Herschel to the Palomar Observatory and the current Hubble Space Telescope, that have had the biggest impact on the way we look at ourselves and construct our place in the universe.

About Salman Hameed

Salman Hameed is an astronomer and Assistant Professor of Integrated Science and Humanities at Hampshire College, Massachusetts. Currently, he is working on understanding the rise of creationism in the contemporary Islamic world and how Muslims view the relationship between science and religion. He is also working with historian Tracy Leavelle at Creighton University to analyze reconciliation efforts between astronomers and Native Hawaiians over telescopes on top of sacred Mauna Kea in Hawaii. His astronomy research focuses on star formation in spiral galaxies. He has taught “History and Philosophy of Science & Religion” with philosopher Laura Sizer, “Science in the Islamic World” and astronomy courses such as “Introduction to Astrophysics” and “Search for Life in the Universe”.

Visit Salman’s Science & Religion Blog: Irtiqa

Date: Tuesday, 22nd December, 2009
Time: 6:30 pm
Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support our vision of intellectual poverty alleviation by donating generously.
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
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Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

A full day event on August 11th 2009 at the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi, Careers 2.0 will use stimulating panel discussions, thought-provoking dialogue and highly interactive sessions to bring about a revolution in the learning culture of our youth. This is a great platform to learn about new career trends, emerging industries and build rapport with industry leaders.

From resume writing and interviewing skills to career development tips and insights on starting your own business, Careers 2.0 has it all.

Some of the speakers at the event will be:

• Syed Mustafa Kamal – City Nazim Karachi
• Tanvir Haque – Former Head of MBA & Graduate Recruitment at SCB
• Sabeen Mahmud – COO, b.i.t.s. and Director, PeaceNiche
• Adnan Asdar – CEO, Multinet Pakistan
• Rahila Narejo – CEO, Narejo Human Resources
• Aun Rahman – Director, Acumen Fund Pakistan
• Nadeem Baig – Director of HR, EMAAR Malls Group
• Saleem Qureshi – President / COO, HireLabs
• Salman Abedin – Director Strategic Planning, Starcrest
• Hassan Bin Rizwan – CEO Prymus Technologies

More Information
Careers 2.0 Website
Careers 2.0 Facebook Page