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Pakistanis, Indians and Thin Skins
Unlike their Pakistani counterparts, Indian writers seem to be cowed down by a general fear of irreverence and open criticism of society and the establishment.
Very much in fashion these days are the talented and versatile Pakistani writers who rarely fail to impress as they churn out one bestseller after another. You cannot walk into a literary festival anywhere in India without bumping into one of them.
But Mohammed Hanif, author of A Case of Exploding Mangoes and Our Lady of Alice Bhatti and, more recently, The Baloch Who Is Not Missing & Others Who Are, is not quite a fashion icon. Indeed, adorned in a mismatched jacket and shoes that were a kind of turquoise blue, during a recent visit to the University of California in Berkeley, the US, he did make a declaration of sorts, but not a fashion statement.
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