ids of contemporary times are accused of not being fond of reading books other than their textbooks. There is definitely some degree of truth in it. With cell-phones, computers, internet and game-boys, there is just too much distraction to read books. However, it goes without saying that a book is a man's best friend.

It is said that reading habits are formed at a young age. To reinforce this, recently Oxford University Press (OUP), along with Khaled Anam, organised an event 'Dosti Kitabon Sey', which literally translates into friendship with books. The event took place in the atrium of Park Towers, Karachi. Read on to find out more about the event...

The event

The event started off with a red carpet ceremony. Soon, Khaled Anam took to stage some 20 children, aged 4 to 12 who entertained the guests with poems and story-telling. Later on, Ameena Saiyed came on the stage and referred to books as companions in our loneliness. She also shared that OUP has planned many other activities for children throughout their summer vacations.

Emanuelle Negwar, director of the Goethe Institute also spoke on the occasion. Goethe Institute has also hosted many activities to inculcate reading habits in children.

At the occasion, Khaled Anam introduced a comic book on Maulana Abdul Sattar Edhi, recently published by OUP. "Our children need to know about our local real-life heroes. Edhi's philanthropy and selfless dedication for the less privileged in Pakistan is surely an inspiration our children need," said Khaled Anam. Actor Farhan Ali Agha's wife also read out an excerpt from the book.

More children came on stage to present their performances which included story-telling, reciting poems, counting in Spanish language and even dances. One of the girls even sang 'Mithu Mia', the Urdu poem based on a parrot. The cutest performance was by a girl named Rameesa, who enthusiastically sang a poem for her mother. Aliya Imam also came on stage with her nieces and nephews, who presented a poem and story. All the children who performed at the event were given gift bags by OUP.

After the entertaining performances, T.V actor Raju Jamil addressed the audience. He went down the memory lane and reminisced that back in 1965, his father Jamiluddin Aali, Ibne Insha and Mir Khalil ur Rahman of Jang, began a reading club guild, 'Anjuman-i-Jang Kitab Ghar'. The idea behind it was to encourage reading habits among the youth. He appreciated OUP's efforts and was quite happy with the fact that someone took such an initiative in today's technology-infested world.

Many celebrities were spotted at the event including designer Samar Mehdi, T.V actors Umair and Sadaf. Authors Rumana Husain and Amra Alam were also present. The event was one of its kind, however, there was a severe shortage of seats and many attendees ended up standing. The sound system could have also been better as many of the children's performances were audible to only those who were sitting in the front rows. We hope that such activities are planned on a larger scale so as to encourage our future generations to develop the habit of reading.

— Event management:

Take II