Finance journalist Maha Khan Phillips takes on the avatar of gossip columnist Amynah Farooqui, a la Carrie Bradshaw of Sex and the City, in her novel Beautiful From This Angle. The satirical take on Karachi's party circuit is a far cry from the city renowned for being the capital of a 'terrorist country'
Finance journalist Maha Khan Phillips takes on the avatar of gossip columnist Amynah Farooqui,u00a0a la Carrie Bradshaw of Sex and the City, in her novel Beautiful From This Angle. The satirical take on Karachi's party circuit is a far cry from the city renowned for being the capital of a 'terrorist country'
"While waiting for a flight to Karachi at London's Heathrow Airport, I met a Canadian man who, when he found out where I was from, said, 'I just don't understand why you people are intent on killing everybody in the world.'
That was his only introduction to Pakistan," says Maha Khan Phillips, author of the just-launched book Beautiful From This Angle, in a telephonic interview from London.
Maha hopes the book, which is a satirical take on Karachi's Page 3 circuit, will provide readers an insight into the side of the capital city that snorts cocaine, hosts wild parties, and is home to secret AA clubs.
"It's a shame that a crazy minority speaks for us. We are not a terrorist country," says the 34 year-old, who has previously written a children's novel titled The Mystery of the Aagnee Ruby.
Maha Khan Phillips
Sex and the City
"Karachi has all kinds of women, just like any place in the world," says Maha. Women like 24 year-old Amynah Farooqui, the novel's female protagonist, who writes a weekly anonymous gossip column called Party Queen on the Scene. An Amynah, who wears Gucci, smokes Marlboro Lights, and is unapologetic about her life of casual sex and recreational drugs.
"Why do we think that Islam means the oppression of women?" questions Maha, who is married to a "half-French, half-English" man, and is mother to three-and-a-half-year-old son Rohan.
Amynah's best friends are Mumtaz and Henna, characters like Amynah who Maha was able to identify with at different points in her life. "The younger-me could definitely relate to Amynah.
I'm like Mumtaz in the sense that I'm anal about vacuuming my house everyday! I identify with Henna's sense of responsibility towards the less fortunate. And also her guilt. I'm very good at feeling guilty about things" shares Maha.
Karma calling
The freelance finance journalist moved to London in 1994 to study politics and international relations at the University of Kent. And it was a "bizarre fluke" that landed her in her current profession. "I was looking for a job that would pay well.
At the time, I only knew what a stock and a bond was," confesses Maha, who was later told she got the job because "nobody they had interviewed could write," adding, "... this was pre-9/11."
Maha, who describes her youth as "misspent", admits to hating parties. "As a youngster in Karachi, I think it's very easy to slip into a sense of denial, and to live in a bubble while the real world goes on around you," says Maha, drawing parallels with the character of Amynah.
"Most of the party stories are exaggerated versions of stories my very social friends come back with. My cousin was a big help; he is a huge party animal and checked the novel for me to make sure I hadn't exaggerated to the point of ridiculousness!"
Full circle
The book was written as part of the creative writing programme Maha attended at the City University London, and she hopes it will help challenge stereotypes about Pakistan.
"Comedy is a great medium to talk about things that are serious," she says, adding, "Karachi is a place of spice, colour, drama; things are up one minute and then down another. Life in London is staid."
20 December 2006 PARTY QUEEN ON THE SCENE
[Moroccan band] Zazoon, who had never been to Pakistan before, were clearly a little stunned [...] when our favourite soap-manufacturing king, Murtaza Ali, made off with one of their belly dancers against her wishes in a drunken rampage. I'm not joking.
Physically grabbed her off the stage and made a run for it. Take one off-his-face industrialist, one screaming (but still glamorous) belly dancer, the industrialist's five heavily armed guards -- well, suffice it to say, Zazoon have decided not to continue their tour, which is a shame. I just don't understand how we Pakis always mange to give ourselves such a bad name.
Anyway, Arabian Nights was followed by the Sindh Club Ball, which was bombarded by a bunch of religious fundoos with AK-47s who stood outside the gates, eager to rid Pakistan of its sinners.
I hate the bloody fundoos. They are so bloody ugly.SHAVE THE BEARDS, darlinks, and maybe the rest of us will treat you with a little respect.
-- excerpted with the permission of Penguin Books India from Beautiful From This Angle by Maha Khan Phillips; Penguin Rs 250. Available at leading bookstores.
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