‘A World of Tomorrow’ festival concludes

LAHORE

Attracting huge crowds all the three days “A World of Tomorrow” — the international festival by Beaconhouse, under its School of Tomorrow (SOT) events, concluded here on Sunday. 

The third day witnessed an influx of several hundreds of people who enthusiastically attended various events. Beaconhouse-Newlands, TNS Beaconhouse and Beaconhouse Liberty Campus had also hosted concurrent sessions with a continuation of the foreign film festival.

Different panel discussions and talks on topics ranging from gender issues to media, heritage, poetry, curriculum, cyber-crime and cyber-security and sports were held simultaneously allowing visitors to choose from their list of interests. 

The day began with a panel discussion focusing on the question, ‘if media controls global thinking, who controls global media?’ 

The sessions on issues relating to transgender people and one entitled “Shayari 101” drew the largest crowd in the morning. The speakers in the session called on members of society to make room for trans-people and allow them opportunities to make them economically viable citizens, by giving them representation in the population census and electoral forms. 

In another session, eminent poets and personalities, including Munnu Bhai, Kishwer Naheed, Aitzaz Ahsan and Attiya Dawood enthralled the audience with their poetry. Munnu Bhai emphasised the role of poetry as a catalyst of change in social attitudes. 

Apart from these, there were a multitude of concurrent sessions on topics ranging from moral policing, a conversation with the women’s football team, global security, the upcoming US elections, private-public partnership in education, the arts and popular culture and fashion for the future. 

Celebrities like Ali Azmat, Adnan Malik, Tina Sani, Tapu Javeri, Jimmy Nelson, Deepak Perwani, Sheema Kirmani and others were part of various sessions. They felt that such opportunities for intellectual debate allow people to get multiple perspectives on thought-provoking topics in order to reach their own conclusions. 

“An Evening with Zia Mohyeddin” was another highlight of the day in which the maestro of Urdu recitation hypnotised the gathering with his witty, eloquence and humorous style. 

The three-day festival ended with a concert by Atif Aslam who mesmerised the audience with his unique vocals and popular tunes. According to the organisers, the next in the School of Tomorrow series of events is planned for February 2017, in Islamabad.