Community Community DPS-MIS Indian film recently celebrities to P6marks 19th P16 play cricket Annual Day under the match in Qatar next theme of Indradhanush- March organised Spreading by Crescent Cricket Colours of Hope. Club. Sunday, December 1, 2019 Rabia II 4, 1441 AH Doha today: 200 - 280 Material shift COVER STORY Lopsided materialism damaging aesthetics of literature, Pakistani icon Amjad Islam Amjad tells Community. P4-5 QUIZ SHOWBIZ The football Soundgarden nominated for fever. the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Page 10 Page 15 2 GULF TIMES Sunday, December 1, 2019 COMMUNITY ROUND & ABOUT PRAYER TIME Fajr 4.40am Shorooq (sunrise) 6.04am Zuhr (noon) 11.24am Asr (afternoon) 2.24pm Maghreb (sunset) 4.45pm Isha (night) 6.15pm USEFUL NUMBERS Mercy Black called, Mercy Black. Fifteen years later she’s released, and DIRECTION: Owen Egerton must save her nephew, who has become obsessed with the CAST: Daniella Pineda, Austin Amelio, Elle LaMont phenomenon. SYNOPSIS: A woman is sent to a mental institution after Emergency 999 stabbing her classmate in an attempt to conjure an evil spirit THEATRE: Royal Plaza Worldwide Emergency Number 112 Kahramaa – Electricity and Water 991 Local Directory 180 International Calls Enquires 150 Hamad International Airport 40106666 Labor Department 44508111, 44406537 Mowasalat Taxi 44588888 Qatar Airways 44496000 Hamad Medical Corporation 44392222, 44393333 Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation 44845555, 44845464 Primary Health Care Corporation 44593333 44593363 Qatar Assistive Technology Centre 44594050 Qatar News Agency 44450205 44450333 Q-Post – General Postal Corporation 44464444 Humanitarian Services Offi ce (Single window facility for the repatriation of bodies) Ministry of Interior 40253371, 40253372, 40253369 Ministry of Health 40253370, 40253364 Hamad Medical Corporation 40253368, 40253365 Qatar Airways 40253374 Frozen 2 Arendelle to travel to an ancient, autumn –bound forest of DIRECTION: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee an enchanted land. They set out to fi nd the origin of Elsa’s CAST: Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff , Idina Menzel powers in order to save their kingdom. SYNOPSIS: Anna, Elsa, Kristoff , Olaf and Sven leave THEATRES: Royal Plaza, Landmark, The Mall ote Unquo Qu te “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” — Confucius Community Editor For movie timings and Kamran Rehmat further details please scan e-mail: [email protected] the QR code above with your Telephone: 44466405 mobile phone camera or visit qatarcinemas.com Fax: 44350474 Sunday, December 1, 2019 GULF TIMES 3 ROUND & ABOUT COMMUNITY After School Activities WHERE: Atelier WHEN: Ongoing Music and arts activities for students taking place after they fi nish their day in school includes Group Music lessons, Hip- hop, Ballet, Drawing and Painting, Drama Theatre & Taekwondo. Ages between 5 and 10 years old after school hours. Hobby Classes WHERE: Mamangam Performing Art Centre WHEN: Saturday – Friday Mamangam is an art and performance centre started with a vision of spreading our knowledge, interests and experience in various disciplines in arts across diff erent Gems and Jewels Exhibition hierarchies and health systems of the local countries for children and adults. WHERE: Museum of Islamic Art Tanzanian communities. Artistic Gymnastic Classes Mamangam has become the favourite WHEN: Ongoing till January 18 A collection of photographs of the wildlife, WHERE: Qatar Academy Msheireb centre for learning. We off er regular classes TIME: 9am onwards landscapes and people of Tanzania taken by WHEN: Ongoing in the following disciplines like traditional The exhibition comes in celebration of WCM-Q professor Dr Dietrich Büsselberg TIME: 3:15pm – 4:15pm classical and folk dance forms, art and the 2019 Year of Culture Qatar-India and will be exhibited. The olympic sport using horizontal bar, craft, drawing and painting, personality presents a look at magnifi cent gems and rings and fl oor exercises on mats for the development and public speaking, Bollywood jewellery from India. Set in Stone: Gems and children from age 4 till 16. dance, contemporary, hip hop styles, music Jewels from Royal Indian Courts showcases both vocals and instrumentals. To develop more than 100 pieces from across Qatar health consciousness, we train them karate, Museums’ (QM) collections, including many yoga with special sessions for kids and adults. masterpieces that have never been displayed Mamangam has also come up with chess and before. robotics in regular batches in an attempt to give a better learning experience, as they sharpen their minds and brains too. For those who wish to register for more details, visit www.mamangamqatar.in Ballet Lessons WHERE: Music and Arts Atelier WHEN: Ongoing TIME: 4pm – 8pm For more info e-mail at registration@ atelierqatar.com or call on 33003839. Short Executive Programme Photo Exhibition: ‘Experience WHERE: HEC Paris Doha Tanzania’ WHEN: December 10 – 11 WHERE: Multaqa (Student Center) Art HEC Paris In Qatar off ers ‘General Gallery at Education City Career Guidance Management – The Navigator Programme’ WHEN: Today WHERE: Right Track Consultants, Al Executive Short Programme with HEC Paris TIME: 4pm Sadd Affi liate Professor Wolfgang Amann. This ‘Experience Tanzania’ is a yearly project WHEN: Sunday – Thursday two-day programme will give aspiring and supported by Student Aff airs Division of TIME: 6pm – 8pm current and future managers a solid, hands- Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar that allows Career guidance for course, country, on introduction to the challenges and key students and faculty to explore and immerse college and entrance for students of Grade tasks of general management. By the end of themselves in Tanzanian urban and rural IX-XII, of all curriculum. Career assessments this session, participants will have gained cultures. During their trip, WCM-Q’s administered for stream preference, career a profound understanding of the roles and aspiring physicians off er basic healthcare test, branch preference, personality, tasks, the opportunities and challenges, and services to the locals as a way of giving multiple intelligence and learning styles the necessity to bridge as well as combine back to the community and learn about and productivity. For more information, insights from leadership, governance, and the lifestyles, traditions, socioeconomic 55448835. strategy. Compiled by Nausheen Shaikh. E-mail: [email protected], Events and timings subject to change 4 GULF TIMES Sunday, December 1, 2019 COMMUNITY COVER STORY “There’s now more noise than real appreciation” — Amjad Islam Amjad, Pakistani literary icon By Mudassir Raja is work has a universal appeal. His subjects are people with all their characteristics, instincts, emotions Hand responses; their hatred, love, lust, selfi shness, dreams and deprivations that are beyond the confi nes of time and space. An Urdu poet, lyricist, playwright, and columnist, septuagenarian Amjad Islam Amjad stands out in the galaxy of men of letters in Pakistan. Raised to lasting fame in 1979 when his drama Waris became instant success with Pakistan Television (PTV), Amjad’s enduring literary works have proven his worth. Born in 1944, the iconic literary fi gure has been bestowed upon with Sitara-e-Imtiaz for his literary contributions that span over half a century. Author of more than 40 books, he has received many other awards for his literary work and screenplay for TV, including the prestigious Pride of Performance. Amjad was born in Lahore of British India, but now Pakistan. His family originally hails from Sialkot. He received his secondary education in Lahore, and graduated from Government Islamia College Civil Lines, Lahore. With MA in Urdu Literature from Punjab University, Amjad began his career as a lecturer in Government M.A.O College Lahore. He worked as a director in Pakistan Television Corporation from 1975 to 1979, before returning to teaching. In 1989, Amjad was appointed The significance of material things have increased manifold in our lives. I am not against material gains but the trend should not be lopsided. You cannot evaluate SUNDAY a good poem or song in terms of money. When you treat a creative piece as a materialistic thing, it CONVERSATION loses its real spirit ‘ — Amjad Islam Amjad ’ Sunday, December 1, 2019 GULF TIMES 5 COVER STORY COMMUNITY as Director General of Urdu Science “popular trend”. However, I still Board. He has also worked as a believe that we have a very strong project director of the Children tradition. Slowly but surely, the Library Complex. Amjad is the modern trends are getting merged writer of many celebrated drama with the traditions.” series for PTV while his main focus The major concern of Amjad remained writing Urdu nazms. however, is the fast dwindling Among his most notable dramas are reading habits among people. Waris, Dehleez, Samandar, Raat, “The worst thing is that due to Waqt and Apnay Loug. unfair promotion of English, our Amjad, who is also very well- new generation has been unable known for a specifi c genre of poetry to read Urdu script. I fear after 20 called azad nazm (free verse) taking years, we will not be able to have the genre to a next level, expressed such an enthusiastic Urdu literature his uneasiness over the current audience that we see in Doha trends and tendencies in Urdu every year. However, currently our literature. literature is not lagging far behind “Our literary traditions have been other contemporary literature. very rich. We have infl uences from Like the beauty of other eastern the British and other European Semantic languages, Urdu keeps a literature. In fi ction, we particularly particular singularity. Poetry still see the infl uence of Russian dominates eastern literature. We literature especially post-Russian have been trying to keep up pace Revolution. We also have strong with the modern trends and retain traditions coming from Turkish, our literary identity at the same Iranian and Hindi literature. The time.” world has fast shrunk to a small He insists that literature all place thanks to the Internet and around the world isn’t passing social media.