ISLAMABAD: As cheap Chinese-made motorbikes flood Pakistan's roads, fans of vintage Vespa scooters are scrambling to find spare parts and preserve models that hark back to a bygone era.
Piaggio's Italian two-wheeler was the ultimate status symbol for Pakistani bike aficionados in the 1960s and 70s, when bicycles outstripped motorbikes on the roads and only a handful of people could afford to import luxury items from
Europe.
Over the past two decades, motorbike ownership rates have skyrocketed in Pakistan, with locally assembled Chinese and Japanese bikes clogging up the roads in a country where much of the population is below the age of 30.
But for the likes of Zubair Ahmad Nagra, who runs the Vespa club in the eastern city of Lahore, new and more fuel-efficient bikes hold little allure.
He drives a Vespa, Italian for "wasp," imported into Pakistan by his father in 1974.
"It was the first motorized vehicle owned by my father," said Nagra. "I've been fond of it ever since."
Many long-term owners find that possessing a Vespa in Pakistan is a labor of love, with original spare parts scant and only a handful of mechanics skilled enough to restore the originals.
In Lahore, close to the Indian border, Vespa owners often have to settle for low quality Indian-made parts or ask for mechanics to fashion new pieces of bodywork from scratch.
Farrukh Shahbaz, who 14 years ago inherited his father's blue 1961 Vespa, has had to have the scooter repaired three times, but he cherishes the love his father had for the machine.
"My father told me it came packed in a wooden box," said Shahbaz, 50.
In the leafy capital Islamabad, once the oppressive summer heat wanes, a handful of Western diplomats can be seen buzzing around on their pastel-colored Vespas.
But they also are thin on the ground. Few expect the tide to turn, with cheap motorbike ownership transforming the lives of many poor and lower working class people in the rapidly urbanizing nation of 208 million people.
Nagra said Vespas were the second best gift Italy gave to the world - "the first being pizza" - as he recalled driving from Lahore to the Chinese border crossing at the Khunjerab Pass, some 15,397 feet (4,693 meters) above sea level in the Karakoram mountains.
"They have not let us down a single time," he said.
Labor of love: Vintage Vespa fans cling to the past in Pakistan
Labor of love: Vintage Vespa fans cling to the past in Pakistan
Cairo book fair breaks visitor records
- Strong Saudi participation underscores KSA’s prominent role in Arab cultural landscape
- Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988, was selected as the fair’s featured personality
CAIRO: The 57th edition of the Cairo International Book Fair has attracted record public attendance, with the number of visits reaching nearly 6 million, up from a reported 5.5 million previously.
Egypt’s Minister of Culture Ahmed Fouad Hanou said: “This strong turnout reflects the public’s eagerness across all age groups to engage with the exhibition’s diverse cultural and intellectual offerings.”
Hanou said the event included “literary and intellectual activities, meetings with thinkers and creative figures, and thousands of titles spanning various fields of knowledge.”
The Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988, was selected as the fair’s featured personality, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of his death.
The exhibition’s official poster features a famous quote by Mahfouz: “Who stops reading for an hour falls centuries behind.”
A total of 1,457 publishing houses from 83 countries participated in the fair. Mahfouz’s novels occupied a special place, as Egypt’s Diwan Library showcased the author’s complete works, about 54 books.
“The pavilion of the Egyptian National Library and Archives witnessed exceptionally high attendance throughout the fair, showcasing a collection of rare and significant books.
Among the highlights was the book “Mosques of Egypt” in Arabic and English, Dr. Sherif Saleh, head of financial and administrative affairs at the Egyptian National Library and Archives, told Arab News.
The fair ended on Tuesday with a closing ceremony that featured a cultural performance titled “Here is Cairo.”
The event included the announcement of the winners of the fair’s awards, as well as the recipient of the Naguib Mahfouz Award for Arabic Fiction.
Organizers described this year’s edition as having a celebratory and cultural character, bringing together literature, art, and cinema.
Romania was the guest of honor this year, coinciding with the 120th anniversary of Egyptian-Romanian relations.
At the Saudi pavilion, visitors were welcomed with traditional coffee. It showcased diverse aspects of Saudi culture, offering a rich experience of the Kingdom’s heritage and creativity.
There was significant participation from Saudi Arabia at the event, highlighting the Kingdom’s prominent role in the Arab cultural arena.
Saudi Arabia’s participation aimed to showcase its literary and intellectual output, in alignment with the objectives of Vision 2030.
The Kingdom’s delegation was led by Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Egypt Saleh bin Eid Al-Hussaini. Also in attendance were Dr. Abdul Latif Abdulaziz Al-Wasel, CEO of the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, and Dr. Hilah Al-Khalaf, the commission’s director-general.
The King Abdulaziz Public Library placed the Encyclopedia of Saudi Arabia in a prominent position at the pavilion. The encyclopedia, consisting of 20 volumes, is organized according to the Kingdom’s culturally diverse regions.
Founded in 1980 by King Abdullah, the library was established to facilitate access to knowledge and preserve heritage collections. Over the years, it has grown into one of the Kingdom’s most important cultural institutions.
Internationally, the library has strengthened ties between Saudi Arabia and China, including the opening of a branch at Peking University and receiving the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Award for Cultural Cooperation between the two nations.
Regionally, the library has played a pivotal role in the Arab world through the creation of the Unified Arabic Cataloging Project, one of the most important initiatives contributing to knowledge accessibility and alignment with global standards.
