Those who know this and are addicted to it shall agree that there's nothing compared to the pleasure of walking into a well-stocked bookshop and browsing through shelves for hours. This is becoming harder to do. Today, when you wish you could even exercise 'online', spending endless hours at your favourite bookshop is a luxury not everyone can afford. Enter online bookstores... yes, in Pakistan too. Time to give Amazon.com a break.

We've all heard wonderful stories of perfectly convenient and safe online shopping (books and practically everything else under the sun) from our friends and relatives abroad. Enviable no doubt. We in Pakistan still have a long way to go in terms of the number of online bookstores, and especially in gaining consumers' trust so that they don't think twice before typing in that credit card number. A little research showed that there are some trustworthy online bookstores in Pakistan who promise safe transactions and free delivery all over the country.

Talking to book lovers of all ages revealed that besides the good old Amazon.com (American) the second most popular online store amongst Pakistanis is the local www.libertybooks.com. A detailed browsing of the site proves that their claim of being 'The complete e-bookstore' is not mere self-promotion. The site offers a large number of various categories to choose from and 15 per cent discount is available on all online purchases with free delivery services in 2 to 3 days. You can check out (and order from) 'Top sellers', 'Fresh off the shelf', 'Top ten bargain books' and 'Bargain book of the day'. The 'Browse bargain' section lets you choose from three categories of available discounts -- 40, 50 and 60 per cent. It's possible to search for a particular book through entering the title, author's name or the ISBN in the search box. This is not all. Also available are some international 'Bestseller magazines', 'Top ten magazines' and 'Top selling newspapers'. The site assures its visitors that 'We use the latest encryption technology; each purchase you make is protected and safe'. Amen to that.

Two more well known Pakistani bookshops providing online services are www.vanguardbooks.com and www.sang-e-meel.com. Vanguard books also offer delivery outside Pakistan within 2 to 3 weeks which obviously is not free like local deliveries which are made free of cost in 3 to 5 days. It was (not pleasantly) surprising to know that all payments (local and international) at Vanguard books have to be made in US dollars and if you're not cool enough to have a foreign currency account, you shall be paying the amount equivalent in Pak. Rs. The site offers to change a faulty copy but you cannot return your purchase.

Sang-e-meel maintains quite a colourful site and being a major Urdu publishing house it offers a large number of Urdu titles, which was heartening to see. There are two categories to choose from -- Urdu and English. Orders can be made by filling out a simple form. It must be mentioned that the latter two and all other legitimate Pakistani online bookstores need to do some major publicity, as none of the people one contacted knew about their existence.

So how many names can people come up with when asked about online bookstores and how many of them order books online? Do they give out their credit card numbers without any hesitation and have they ever faced any hassles or fraud in the process?

Ayeshah Alam, popular mediaperson, mentioned Amazon and liberty books and said that she has ordered books from Amazon in the past and did not feel hesitant to pay via her credit card, as Amazon is one of the most trusted sites in the world. She said it does cost a little more as one has to pay for the international shipment but if one is really looking for a book and cant find it anywhere in the country, one has to pay the price for it. Pakistani bookstores in general need to brush up on the choices available so people don't look at foreign options. She said she has never faced any hassles or betrayal of credit card information in her transactions.

Sarah Humayun, a journalist, has spent time in the US as a student and she quite often ordered books from Amazon, which she found very convenient and cheap, plus there were never any mishaps. The Pakistani online bookstores she is familiar with include liberty books, Oxford University Press (OUP) and variety books but she has never ordered from there as bookstores in Lahore provide not only a huge variety but also some good bargains from various stores stocking old/used books. Online bookstores in Pakistan, she said, most of the time don't have the books one is looking for, and it's easier to find them at one's local bookstore in person.

Adnan Adil was the first person to mention three names of sites where he frequently shops for books. Amazon.com, Goodbooks.com (British) and Liberty books. He agreed that ordering from Amazon and Goodbooks costs a lot as charges also include custom duty and sometimes it takes about 3 to 6 months, which becomes frustrating. It becomes much more expensive if only 1 book is ordered. He praised Liberty books for their quick and free delivery but pointed out that there is a lack of variety and choice in their online store. The huge variety that is always available at their local outlet is never available online but nonetheless he trusts them with credit card information and enjoys receiving his order at home which includes 15 to 20 per cent discount.

Host of a popular radio show about books called '89 chapters' on City FM 89, Mahvesh Murad is a major book enthusiast (obviously!) and orders books regularly from Amazon.com and Barnes&Nobles.com. Liberty books is the only local online store she knows of but she has never ordered books locally because she believes that the experience of visiting a bookstore in person is actually far better than ordering online. Mahvesh usually gets her international orders delivered to friends and relatives in the US who are about to travel to Pakistan, for fear of them getting swallowed up in the local snail mail system. She wishes local bookstores had a larger variety and she could find everything she wanted here, not because it would be cheaper (because it isn't) but because, according to her, the joy of exploring a good bookstore isn't something that can be replaced by a website, no matter how good the website is!

Haleema Kaifi is a young lecturer at Lahore's Kinnaird College teaching English literature and pursuing her Ph.D in English language teaching. An avid reader, she spends a lot of time visiting local bookshops to find relevant books for her research. She has ordered books and research papers from Amazon.com a number of times when she could not find them anywhere in the country. She mentioned Liberty books and OUP as the only Pakistani online bookstores she knows and trusts and has ordered from there too. Haleema also complained of the lack of relevant books both online and locally. As a Ph.D scholar she empathizes with her fellow scholars who frantically search for material locally but at last have to pay exorbitant amounts to foreign online stores. She also feels, and one agrees, that Pakistani online bookstores need to make some major additions to their available stocks so those who cant find time to visit stores in person or don't live in the major cities of the country, can have access to all sorts of relevant material whether it's for academic purposes or sheer pleasure.

Pearls Of Calligraphy

Khurshid Alam Gauhar Qalam

Sang e Meel Publications, Lahore.

Year of Publication: 2005

Pages: 136

Price: Rs 3000

The Wonders of Calligraphy

Khurshid Alam Gauhar Qalam

Sang e Meel Publications, Lahore.

Year of Publication: 2006

Pages: 220.

Price: Rs 4500

Both directly and indirectly calligraphy has played a major role in the development of visual arts in Pakistan. While some have been trained calligraphers and have limited themselves to its more conventional role the others taking a leaf out of its formalism have weaved the tapestry of painting.

One of the contemporary modern masters of calligraphy Khurshid Alam Gauhar Qalam learnt the art of calligraphy from two distinguished teachers Ghulam Nizamuddin and Hafiz Muhammed Yousaf Sadidi. Since Lahore with Delhi and Lucknow had been acknowledged as the centre of calligraphy many masters like Imam Verdi, Mir Ali, Muhammed Afzal Qadri, Noorullah, Qazi Nematullah, Hidayatullah, Maulvi Syed Ahmed Emanabadi, Munshi Abdul Ghani Shirin Qalam, Maulvi Abdullah Warsi and Sheikh Ahmed Johar carved a place for themselves. The works of Imam Verdi and Rahim ullah Khattaat can be seen now at the Faqir Khana Museum.

These masters helped in evolving a definite style and a significant change was brought about by Abdul Majid Parveen Raqam in the Nastaliq script. He can be called the inventor of the Lahori Nastaliq. His efforts were furthered by Tajuddin Zarrin Raqam, who fought against odds to get calligraphy acknowledged as an art form during the colonial period. After him the same tradition continued with Sufi Khurshid Alam Khurshid Raqam, Hafiz Muhammed Yousaf Sididi and Syed Anwar Hussein Nafees Raqam. They are taken as the leaders in the Arabic scripts as well as Nastaliq with Yousaf Sadidi, in particular, introducing many new bearings to the Nastaliq script and taking to great heights the Parveen Nastaliq. He established himself as an innovative calligrapher in a very short time and has left a number of creations including those inscribed at the mazar of Qutbuddin Aibak and Minar e Pakistan.

Calligraphy which is valued in the Muslim civilization has its antecedents in the ancient world. As the need was felt to encode human learning and expression in the written word the initial script Hieroglyph written in two types Pictograph and Ideograph was developed. By the interaction of the two types an alphabet was evolved. Twenty-two sounds were selected which were denoted by as many pictographs. It may be mentioned that the Hieroglyphic script followed different styles in China, Egypt and Iraq, the three centres of pictographic writings in the ancient world.

Remaining in the Middle East in the era before Christ Masnad and Hamier scripts were invented. When the Nabataean people rose to power the script of the same name originated and from it was developed the Muallaqi script. About two hundred years before the advent of Islam, Hirah was developed which later came to be known as Kufic and the Holy Quran was scribed in the Jazm, a nascent form of Kufic script.

Hazrat Ali took special interest in developing the script into calligraphy by presenting the script in geometric forms and different numerals. During the Ummayad reign many types of Kufic scripts were invented Mudawwar, Yatm, Makki, Juft, Tajawwid, Saiwati and Qatbatul Muharrar invented the following four scripts also during the Ummayad rule -- Tumar, Jalil, Nisf and Thuluth. During the Abbasid rule Sajlaat, Khafif Thuluth, Khafif-u-Thuluthian and Riayasi. Ibne Muqla claimed great fame by devising the Naskh, Muhaqqaq, Rihaan, Tauqi, and Riqa.

The Nastaliq was devised by Mir Ali Tabrezi from Iran. Although the art of calligraphy had been practiced during the Sultanate period yet it flourished greatly during the Mughal rule. But it went into decline during the colonial rule and a conscious effort was made to glorify what was in the western tradition. This resulted in the neglect of the local arts and crafts.

After the creation of Pakistan many painters inspired by the art of calligraphy brought it very close to painting. Shakir Ali, Hanif Ramay and Sadequain all either made innovations in calligraphy or their paintings were deeply influenced by its stylization. The next generation persisted with the same trend. Ahmed Khan, Askari Mian Irani, Aslam Kamal have all explored the middle ground that has existed between calligraphy and painting.

Actually it was Sadequain who placed calligraphy in the modern context. In a societal set up where paintings are either commissioned for pubic monuments or are bought by individual buyers from galleries to be displayed in homes Sadequain's calligraphy served both ends. It was again deemed proper and even fashionable to hang calligraphy in the rooms by the well heeled.

Khurshid Alam Gauhar Qalam has with rare diligence stuck to a more traditional role. The two volumes are a very good example of the craftsmanship of the master as these beautifully produced editions cover the range with fine specimens of Nastaliq, Shikasta,Thuluth, Maghrabi, Diwani, Kufic, Badi and Naksh scripts.

Some of the works by Khurshid Gauhar Qalam include the Holy Quran in four hundred and six styles kept in thirty showcases at the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad, Surah e Rehman over a total length of three hundred and eight feet and Darooj Taj over one hundred and eight feet in the extension of the mausoleum of Syed Ali Hajweri, popularly known as Data Ganj Buksh. He is the only calligrapher from Pakistan whose work is on permanent display in the British Museum.

Book publishing in Pakistan has come a long way and now colour printing qualifies to be in the highest qualitative bracket. Scores of printed reproductions in both the volumes have done full justice to the meticulous effort that has gone into the making of these calligraphies.

2006 was an unfortunate year for our literati. It saw the demise of a number of eminent writers, poets and intellectuals including some of our topmost men of letters like Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Shaukat Siddiqui and Munir Niazi. These three literary moguls were widely admired and greatly respected for their literary achievements. Their selected writings had been translated into many foreign languages and, therefore, they had become sort of representative of our letters and culture. The other writers who passed away during the past year were also important in their own way.

Mohammad Hanif Ramay was the first to exit the scene. He died on the very first day of 2006 at the age of 76. He was a writer, social and religious intellectual and artist. His political achievements were also notable. A close friend of ZA Bhutto during the 1970s, Ramay had become guru of the ideology then known as Islamic Socialism. He edited two literary journals Swera and Nusrat. Only two weeks before his death, his book Islam ki nai Qudreen was published.

Malik Museebur Rehman was not a writer but he greatly patronized Urdu literature. He managed the publication of many deceased writers' books, provided financial assistance to some deserving men of letters and also instituted two medals that are given to South Asian Urdu writers every years. He died in Lahore on April 2.

He was followed by poet and novelist Hussain Anjum who died in Karachi on April 19, 2006 at the age of 67. He was the founder editor of the monthly Tallu-e-Afkar and also edited the monthly Urdu International.

Mir Khuda Bakhsh Marri, 80, former governor of Balochistan met his end in the second week of May. He compiled a collection of ancient Balochi poetry and also wrote a book on the history of his province in two volumes.

Zafar Samdani, translator, novelist and newspaper columnist breathed his last on June 4, in Lahore.

Author of many books, Dr Yasin Rizvi was also a noted journalist; he passed away in Islamabad on June 20.

Having enjoyed the enviable status of a father figure in our writer community for almost quarter of a century, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi breathed his last in Lahore on July 10, 2006 just thirteen weeks before his admirers were to celebrate his 90th birthday.

Qasmi was an eminent member of the Progressive Writers Association, and also joined the communist party. He was a poet, short story writer, critic, journalist and editor. He has left behind six collections of poetry, eleven volumes of short stories, and four books of critical essays.

Successful screenwriter Sikeydar, too, died in July. He penned about a hundred scripts for Punjabi and Urdu films. Hook, his autobiography, was published only a few weeks before his demise.

Dr. Mohammad Maruf was a well-known Iqbal scholar and educationist. He taught philosophy at the Government College, Lahore and also served as director of the Punjab Textbook Board before his death in Lahore on August 13.

Manzilain Gard ki Manand was being hotly talked about in the literary circles when its author Khalique Ibrahim Khalique passed away in the last week of September. He was 80. He was an important writer and was well-known throughout our region for his Urdu and English writings.

Khalique Ibrabim Khalique breathed his last in Karachi and the writers of the city were to mourn another poet, Ziaul Haq Qasmi, in the last week of October. Qasmi was generally taken as the best humorous poet of his time. He was 72.

Another poet who died in the same month was quite younger. Anwar Sajjad Anwar died in Lahore at the age of 52 and has left behind two volumes of verse.

The last month of 2006 deprived us of three renowned writers. Shaukat Siddiqui, 83, was the first to leave us mourning. Progressive novelist and playwright Siddique is rated as one of the greatest Urdu fictionists in modern era.

Intizar Hussain has rightly described him as the people's writer. Khuda ki Basti, Jangloos, Kamingah and Char Dewaree are his widely acclaimed books and will remain popular for a long time to come.

Novelist and teacher Ghulam Jilani Asghar, 75, met his end in Sargodha. He was a noted member of the Sargodha school of writers which is headed by Dr. Wazir Agha.

Munir Niazi, 78, was the last victim of the year that was particularly unkind to writers. He is now being remembered as the last of the bohemians who passed their days on and for poetry.

The departure of all these men of letters has certainly created a huge vacuum.

Punjabi literary pieces

The maiden issue of the Faisalabad passed Punjabi language literary Journal Jaag has been published. It carries literary pieces of Madame Ajeet Caur, Dr. Jugtar, Afzal Ahsan Randhwa, Mushtaq Sufi and some other well-known Punjabi writers. Jaag is edited by Tariq Gujar who writes in the editorial note that Punjabi culture is based on humanism and religious tolerance and Punjabi literature has always promoted these values. The publication of Jaag, he adds, has been undertaken to highlight Punjabi culture, history and arts.