LAHORE CULTURAL DIARY: few cultural events due to several impediments

Three exhibitions of paintings and a bi-national Pakistan-India poetic symposium were the main highlights of cultural activities in Lahore, which were hampered by a number of natural and the unnatural impediments - the ongoing agitation of lawyers and the unprecedented heat wave that gripped the city.
Askrai Villas at Lahore Cantonment offered their facilities for the holding of an exhibition on July 5 of contemporary household items.
Aesthetically pleasing and durable items of furniture sponsored by Sfera Home, attracted the attention of a large number of people interested in such items, as hand-carved decorative items with brass and wood inlays. According to the organisers, the theme of the exhibition, conveyed through various items put on for public display, was reflective of a blend of Islamic art, infinity, eternity and timelessness.
The National College of Arts, Lahore, which started two one-year diploma classes in calligraphic and fresco arts, has completed the first term of the course. The classes began in January this year and will end in December 2007. Two top ranking specialists in these arts - master calligrapher Khurshid Gohar Qalam and Ustad Saiful Rehman, painter of fresco art, are leading the team of highly qualified teachers who are conducting these classes.
An exhibition was held recently at NCA to showcase the art works of the students of these classes after the completion of their first term. The items put on display reflected on the keen interest the students of these two classes have been taking in the diploma courses.
The Landmarks of New York was the title of an exhibition of photographs, which opened at Tollinton Market, The Mall on June 6. Sponsored jointly by the American Consulate, Lahore and the Lahore Museum the exhibition was held to mark New York's landmark Preservation Act. Principal Officer at the American Consulate, Bryan Hunt, and Punjab Minister for Culture and Youth Affairs Shaukat Ali Bhatti, jointly inaugurated the exhibition, which was visited by those Lahoris who have interest in the art of photography. Eighty-one photographs featured the history of NYC from 1640 to 2007, signifying some of the most important properties of the city.
Prominent poets from Pakistan and India participated in a grand mushaira (poetic symposium) held at a local hotel on June 4 under the auspices of Bazm-e-Qartas-o-Adab of the National Bank of Pakistan. Among the most prominent poets of the sub-continent, who took part in the well attended event and regaled lovers of poetry with their kalaam were Anwar Masood, Amjad Islam Amjad, Saleem Kauser, Fehmida Riaz, Kishwar Naheed, Shehzad Ahmed and Mehmood Shaam. The Indian participants in the mushaira included Khushbir Singh, Bharat Bhoshan Pant, Nikhat Naseem, Rehana Shaheen and Waseem Brailvi, whose ghazals and poems were applauded by a large appreciative local audience.
At a meeting of the officials of cultural institutions of Lahore held at the Lahore Arts Council on June 3, the Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool stressed the need for upgrading the status of LAC and its Open Air Cultural Complex. While expressing these thoughts he likened Lahore Arts Council to New York City's Broadway Theatre.
The Director of LAC informed the meeting that modern lights and sound systems were being installed at Alhamra and its Cultural Complex on Ferozepur Road to meet the requirements of modern theatre. The Provincial Secretary for Planning and Development also disclosed at the meeting that the Punjab government had approved the setting up of a Rs 30 million cultural complex to be built on a piece of land measuring 20 kanals in the Forest Park along the River Ravi.
The print media in Lahore is currently flooded with stories about the lives and achievements of Indian actors/actresses, which have caused concern among a segment of the population, especially senior citizens.
In this age of modern media devices, the only way to stop the Indian cultural onslaught against Pakistan is to produce interesting and good quality movies, which may be watched not only in Pakistan, but India, as was the case only a couple of decades ago. Mere voicing protests against the onslaught will not suffice to obliterate Indian propaganda from the minds of the youth about its cultural superiority.
Violations of intellectual property rights of authors and industrial patents have been going on in Pakistan despite protests voiced by the national and international victims of these acts of piracy. It has been noticed with regret that the editors/proprietors of a number of national newspapers deliberately look the other way when members of their staff, particularly the young entrants in the field of journalism, lift articles of Pakistani and foreign authors from the Internet and get these published with their own bylines. This scribe has also been a victim of literary piracy and all his efforts to get the pirates punished have failed to produce the desired results.
Inaugurating the two-day World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) Asia sub-regional workshop on the 'Use of Intellectual Property by SME support', Federal Secretary for Industries, Production and Special Incentives said that under-utilisation of the intellectual property system in developing countries was posing a challenge to their compositeness. He referred to the establishment of Business Support Fund by the government of Pakistan and the Competitiveness Support Fund to enhance the competitiveness of SMEs.