Unfortunately it took the release of the film for me to discover the awesome book. But luckily as I had just decided to get hold of a copy, I spotted a seminar at my uni that was, among other subcontinental fiction, dealing with the book. On the next few pages I intend to share my interpretations of the story, snippets from secondary literature about the novel and its author, Mohsin Hamid, as well as anecdotes from the post-colonial studies seminar that I attended at Universität Potsdam at the last weekend of June 2013. It’s already been a little while but it’s usually good to let things sink in and simmer for a little while before writing about them. Attending a conference on ‘Cultural Diplomacy in Afghanistan and Central Asia’ before and one on ‘Cultural Diplomacy throughout the Commonwealth on Nations: International Cooperation across Six Continents’ helped a lot with the historical understanding and putting the novel’s narrative into context.
Posing with the Pakistani flag at Wagha Border Closing Ceremony. A lively discussion erupted in class about whether you can write a book about Pakistan without mentioning the religion that is featured in the country’s national flag.
Ice-cream in Pakistan 