Written by Akhtar Hameed Khan from 3 Sept 1969 to 21 Jan
1970 this book is a dairy of day to day account of his time spent in Princeton
USA. Originally written in Urdu this book is translated into English by Aquila
Ismail.
Born on 15 July 1914 Akhtar Hameed Khan rose to one of
the most prominent social scientist of the twentieth century. He rose to fame
with the establishment of a Rural Development Academy in Comilla East Pakistan in
1960s and a rural development program in Karachi named Orangi Pilot Project in
the 1980s.
Dr. Khan was invited to Princeton University to deliver a
series of lectures in September 1969. There during his stay he recorded his experiences
and observations. He also included various developments in American academia
and also expressed his thoughts on various developing issues. In this book he
mentions the books which he read during his stay. Dr. Khan frequently mentions
Tolstoy and Buddha. Moreover Khan discusses human greed, life in general, miseries
of the underprivileged and the American way of life.
The author in his spare time attends a Beatles concert,
watches plays and attends university debates. In addition to that he comments
on how the student movement in US is against the American atrocities in Vietnam.
Khan visits churches and synagogues. He also briefly narrates his experiences
inside these places of worship. Akhtar Hameed Khan attends many lectures by
different professors at Princeton. In the US he also meets economic experts,
government officials and officers from Pakistan. In addition to that he writes
about the opinion divide among students in American institutions.
Throughout the book Dr. Khan mentions various couplets
from different poets, both eastern and western poets. For one hundred and forty
one days Dr. Khan stayed in the US and closely observed through his engagements
the people and society of the United States of America.
0 comments:
Post a Comment