On hearing about the death of Pakistani writer and Karachi-ophile Ardeshir Cowasjee I recalled a year ago, how I wrote a series of blog posts titled the Grand Old man of Karachi . It was a four part series where I took excerpts from his columns that I found most memorable. It ranged from reminding the people of Pakistan that the state was not defined by religiosity to documenting state manipulation and nepotism.
He was a critic at his heart and many of his admirers found that side of him as abrasive and difficult. Despite that knowledge, I decided to e mail him the link to the series. I was honest in my e mail writing that as a regular reader of his column I was also critiquing his views.
To my surprise he replied and below are a few excerpts of his e mail:
He was a critic at his heart and many of his admirers found that side of him as abrasive and difficult. Despite that knowledge, I decided to e mail him the link to the series. I was honest in my e mail writing that as a regular reader of his column I was also critiquing his views.
To my surprise he replied and below are a few excerpts of his e mail:
Reading it brought back so many memories of things that I had actually forgotten I had written.Not of course the major issues of the Supreme Court and Asghar Khan's petition -but anecdotes such as the Rafi Raza one.What a fine job you have done and I am indeed impressed and grateful.Disrespect does not come into it at all.Thank you - and may you have a good new year.
AC
So the critic took criticism.. i can think of no finer measure of a man..Rest in peace
He replied to my email also and was gracious in his reaction to my comments.
ReplyDeleteI think we were all his fans. He will be missed. He will live on in our memories and in us ad he touched us all.
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