Welcome to Awais Central
Welcome to Awais Aftab's personal website. Consider this your quick start guide to who he is and what he's been up to.
Awais Aftab wins Merit Award!
Awais Aftab won the award for merit in the category "Best Diarist" at the Pakistan Blog Awards 2011.
Awais Aftab nominated for Best Diarist!
Awais Aftab's blog has been nominated for the Best Diarist in the second annual Pakistan Blog Awards.
"Awaisaftab.blogspot.com narrates my distinctive way of seeing and relating to this world. It is a journal of my philosophical investigations and a record of my existential search for authenticity. The thoughts and selections encompass a wide range of fields such as philosophy, religion, literature, art and psychology, as befits a diarist of intellect. The recurrent theme of the blog is the individual, and his relationship with the society, and his place in this universe." Click here to vote--voting closes 28th November 2011! [Voting has closed now; you may however still comment.] Awais Aftab voted Best Individual Blogger!
Awais Aftab won the award for 'Best Individual Blogger' in the first ever Pakistan Blog Awards, a joint event organized by Google Pakistan and CIO Pakistan.
"Like everyone else, he has a distinctive way of seeing the world, and his blog is precisely about that. It contains his thoughts and selections on various philosophical and everyday issues, often phrased in innovative ways. The recurrent theme of the blog is the individual, and his relationship with the society." 'Our Intolerant Youth': Awais' column in The News
Awais Aftab was invited to write a column for the Opinions section of Pakistan's most widely read newspaper, The News. You can read it here!
An Excerpt from "Psychedelic"
"...The modern versions say it’s a kiss. For the more austere early story-tellers, it is enough for the frog to spend the night on her pillow. According to Brothers Grimm, she throws the frog against the wall. Whatever. Boom. Abracadabra. The frog mutates into a handsome prince.”
What a cliché. “A Freudian would say…” Mumbo-Jumbo. “…that it is the story of a young woman getting over her fear of sex. But Joseph Campbell, influenced by Jung…” I hate these crappy psychologists. “… believed that Frog represents the Shadow. The archetype. The kiss is symbolic of the acceptance of the unconscious by the conscious. The prince without a shadow. An act like that, I would symbolize it with nothing less than sex. A mere kiss?” Why do children need to read Jung-Freud wrapped up in a cookie anyway? “You read a lot, don’t you?” “I work in a library.” She sparkles; and saying so, without warning she leans forward on her toes and presses her mouth onto mine. I stand uncertain. She could have thrown you against the wall. ---- 'Psychedelic' is Awais Aftab's foray into experimental fiction (available here) presented as three episodes of the protagonist's life, in no particular order. Entitled "The Shadow", "The Kiss" and "The Prophet", they showcase his versatility as a writer and his desire to test his creative limits. |
Header © Daniel Speck, freestockphotos.com