Laaleen Sukhera: In search of modern day Austenistani heroines
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What would Pride and Prejudice in Pakistan look like? LaaleenSukhera, the editor of Austenistan had some ideas. With her own writing featured in the compilation of short stories, Sukhera saw many parallels between the worlds she and Jane Austen inhabited.
“Socially and culturally, the Indo-Pak subcontinent is so similar to Austen’s Regency era with our obsession with marrying well, our class conscious, ancestral and even feudal backgrounds, and our inherent snobbery, our countries are teeming with modern day Austenistani heroines balancing their independent spirits with societal constraints,” she would tell journalists.
In India Today, a journalist who had read Austenistan enthused: ‘From ex-husbands who are more substance abuse than substance to aunties worried about virginity; from Dubai and London-based eligible bachelors to Lahore and Rawalpindi-based smart bachelorettes, Jane Austen couldn’t have found a more appropriate home for her class-obsessed, marriage-oriented society.’
The connection isn’t always so clear to Janeites, as devotees of the author sometimes refer to themselves. They wonder what Elizabeth would look like in Pakistan. Some of the questions Sukhera has had to field include: “Will she be wearing a burqa?” and “Do they allow women in Pakistan to read?”
For Sukhera, the delights of Pride and Prejudice are timeless. She says: “Jane was far ahead of her time with her brisk dialogue, concise descriptions, biting wit and sass, the brilliant repartee between characters, and her astute social commentary. Her characters are universally appealing, relatable and will never go out of style.”
This ardent fan realised she had company when she founded the Jane Austen Society of Pakistan. It started in 2015 as the Jane Austen Society of Islamabad. Within a year, they had chapters in Karachi and Lahore and became the Jane Austen Society of Pakistan. Today, they’re an online community of 1,700 from 45 countries around the world.
The group is famous for their annual costume party, which typically unfolds in a house in Islamabad or Lahore. A journalist from the Times of India described the gathering as comprising two dozen Pakistani women kitted out in ‘empire-waist dresses and pearls, their gloved hands dangling reticules as they take their place around a table laden with cucumber finger sandwiches, Victoria sponge cake and Earl Grey tea.’ On their second gathering, Sukhera dressed as Caroline Bingley.
It’s worth noting that 7% of their membership is male, even though one of this rare breed is yet to show up at the annual costume party.
Aside from being chair of JALF’s Pakistan chapter, Sukhera is a professional advisor at the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation, founded by Ms Austen’s fifth great-niece.
Sukhera graduated with an MSc in Professional Communications and a BA (High Honours) in Screen Studies and Communication & Culture at Clark University in Massachusetts. Today, she wears many hats: she was the series coordinator for ITV’s award-nominated documentary, After The Bradford Boil, produced a health talk show at Geo News in Lahore, field produced at the Merrill Lynch Video Network in New York, worked in advertising on Fifth Avenue and interned with the late Ismail Merchant. More recently, she has consulted on public relations including the Queen’s 90th birthday and Spanish cultural celebrations in Pakistan.