Enter Stage Left Voi. 2: A Memoir

Returning to Pakistan in 1970 after a spell in England Salima and her husband Shoaib Hashmi plunge into Pakistani cultural and political life. Along with her teaching at the National College of Arts Lahore where she pioneered a new system of art education Salima also found time to dabble in photography advertising and television. In 1972 Shoaib and Salima conceived scripted and acted in the pathbreaking Akkar Bakkar on Pakistan TV (PTV). Akkar Bakkar ran for six months and became the first Pakistani television programme to win an international award. Such Gup and Taal Matol both hugely popular programmes soon followed. It was a time of creativity and innovation. During this time Salima and Shoaib also became parents to Mira and Yasser. This period of Salimas life came to an end with the ascent to power in 1977 of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq. Amidst a programme of Islamization and a clampdown of dissent Salima also had to deal with her father Faizs second spell of self-exile to Beirut between 1979 and 1982. Enter Stage Left the second of Salimas two-volume memoir brings us up to date with events in Salimas and Pakistans life until the present day.