Interesting blast from the past

Islamabad : In its programme for the month the Asian Study Literature Group featured a multi media/conversation/book launch of Fakir Aijazuddin’ book, ‘Sketches from a Howdah,’ which was held at hotel and well attended by members and friends.

Welcoming the gathering, ASG President Parvin Malik introduced the author and chief guest, British high commissioner, Thomas Drew and then requested the author to introduce his book. A fascinating account of the travels of the subject of the book, Lady Canning, and the past in general, was presented along with a colourful slide show.

Charlotte, Lady Canning, the modest and self-effacing consort of the 1st Viceroy Lord Canning, was much more than just a dutiful wife. She was a very gifted water colourist and a shrewd observer of the social and political scene of India in the late 1850s. Her observations were always acute and sympathetic, especially so in the aftermath of the tragic events of 1857.

As the ASG blurb said, “Fakir Aijazuddin has drawn on the rich vein of material contained in Lady Canning’s detailed journals and frequent correspondence with her family and especially with Queen Victoria whom she served as Lady in Waiting for thirteen years. The book most sensitively marries Lady Canning’s paintings and sketches with her own descriptive text. She would have been gratified that at last, her perceptive and lively accounts of the often hazardous journeys she undertook across northern India as far as the fabled Khyber Pass, into the Himalayas, her trek to China, and sojourn in Central India have a newer, wider audience worthy of her intrepid endeavors!”

British high commissioner, Thomas Drew and Indian high commissioner, Ajay Bisaria also spoke on the occasion, while the author signed his books and answered questions.

Fakir Syed Aijazuddin, OBE, FCA, has had a distinguished professional career and an internationally recognized art historian and author of more than a dozen books.