A Literary Evening with Fatima Bhutto by Dr. Fathima Nazir Imtiaz

Venue: Park Street Mews Ware house, Colombo 02, Sri lanka.

Mother and I are book lovers. With my profession and my commitments at home I have limited time to read. Few of the booker prize winning editions I purchased nearly a year back have been barely scanned. This year around I got only a few Daphne Du Maurier classics ( of the abridged cheaper versions I had read as a child).

When this opportunity came up to see Fatima Bhutto speak in the Heart of Colombo it was a rare opportunity and something not to be missed…thus we took advantage of the occasion and purchased out tickets for the talk show…arranged grandfathers to baby sit the girls and my baby son and off we went to see Fatima.

We reached Colombo 02 pretty fast since I live in Colombo 05 ( taking into consideration the state of our dilapidated roads). But Park Street per se was pretty dark and finally when I found parking space it was nearly 5 minutes to 7. with a heavy heart we sat at the back.

A lady walks in to introduce Fatima and asks us to come and fill in the first row… I was lucky to sit right in front with mother.
I was amazed with her beauty… up until then, I hadn’t seen her pictures on the web just on the papers only.. it was her sheer beauty that caught my imagination the most.

The first few minutes when the chairperson introduced her as the grand daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the niece of Benazir Bhutto my imaginations were of what a beauty she is… now I read that George Clooney too had a heavy crush on her!

She spoke with a lot of confidence and I realized that she had raw talent… her writing skills and her warmth and charisma, its not something you pick up half way down the line. Its something that had been instilled into her at a tender age and its Allah’s blessing for her.

Sri Lankan Airlines had flown her to Colombo. Organizers of the Galle Literary festival were thankful. She was housed at the Galle Face Hotel…what a co incidence, they had reserved the “dynasty suite” for her the suite her grandfather stayed in when he visited Colombo some thirty plus years ago long before she was born. The very same phrase that she very much likes to disown has been after her even right here in Colombo.

She told how surprising it was to find her grandfathers coat hanging in the hotel.. a nostalgic moment for her indeed.

She makes an effort to try and look at everyone, though we were seated at the edge of row one.. she makes an effort to turn and acknowledge us. I very much fascinated by that gesture.


Her books..

She spoke about her love for poetry.. how her father encouraged her to write. He had always been very supportive. He harnessed her talents and see how she turned out.

She talks of what prompted her to write her second book 8.50am 8th oct 2005…The devastating earth quake which left behind so much damage, didn’t have enough exposure. And the corruption that came along with all the aid flowing in is unbelievable.Fatima was pleased to have seen how much the south of Sri Lanka had improved since the Tsunami of Dec 2004. its just that all the funds flow into the pockets and bank accounts of corrupt individuals and the poor mans plight goes un noticed.

Songs of Blood and Sword… that’s a book I am waiting to read. The reason that prompted Fatima to write this she says is because she wants people to know about the history of the family and to tell all their stories.

Now what I like about this is that, we get to read about the Bhutto family from someone who is unbiased. She is not a Pro- Bhutto. She is not going to mask all the negativism about the family. If she feels we are going to learn from those mistakes she will definitely publish each of those memories however painful they may be.

Dr.Fathima Nizar Imtiaz

Colombo,Sri Lanka

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