Name: Ali Mashal Khan Roll No: 20-10926

Interview

Narration of the story:

The person I interviewed told me that his experience about learning is memorable, ''participating

in Lahore Literary Festival LLF-2017'', when he came for studies to Lahore. He had the chance

to meet and see different authors from different parts of the world. They talked about different

ideas and different thoughts. It was a great experience of being in the literary environment for

him; He had the chance to ask questions from them and had literary conversation with them. He

said that, “he came to know about the environmental issues which the world is facing though

LLF”. He had the chance to listen Reza Aslan, a Muslim turned atheist who converted to

Christianity before finally re-converting to Islam; his journey about inquiring and understanding

different religions and world through research and insight. It helped him thinking that the world

is much bigger than pursuing for materialistic needs only, that there is a world of knowledge and

wisdom that exists too which can be used to make this world a better place. The writers he

interacted with were not super-humans but ordinary people like us, who had spent their entire

lives understanding the different aspects of the world, societies and the people living in it. He

read different books that increased his attachment and love for books, besides learning directly

through listening to different speakers and authors. He started visiting and attending different

conferences and talks, afterwards.

Analysis:
The key aspects of his learning are that he learned new things in a literary festival where the

environment was purely education-centered. That conference also gave him insight about authors

that he met in the conference. He listened to different authors who talked about their books and

researches and shared their experiences with the audience. He also came to know about diversity

of knowledge and books through this festival which definitely increased his knowledge.

Both, authors (from Pakistan and other parts of the world) and audiences were involved in this

whole process. That was based on talks and listening and question/answer sessions.

The actual learning took place by listening to the talks of the authors who talked about different

issues and their books as well. That increased his learning and he also got motivation from those

authors and the environment; As he told me that being a student of English Literature that

experience helped him to be introduced to the practical field of his academic learning/degree.

I think it wasn’t only intellectual learning, besides that it also included psychological factors as

he said that the event had affected him in a positive way and his motivation was boosted. It also

seems that his personal observations that would be categorized as “self assessment” and learning

through that, as he was involved in the whole process of learning through observation and

interacting with different scholars he came to know that there is much more to this universe than

just reading academic texts.

This experience influenced his behaviors later in positive way. It enhanced his enthusiasm and

motivation for the quest of knowledge. He became motivated towards his studies and started to

read different books other than academics. His views about life also changed where he thought

that life was more than pursuing material benefits. He also understood through that experience

that knowledge should be based on critical thinking and inquiring it throughout the life.
Knowledge and wisdom became a journey for him that was bound only to academic degree.

After attending this event, he started visiting and attending different intellectual talks that

increased his insights and knowledge.

This experience was quite interesting. I think that he related his theoretical knowledge with the

practical life by meeting different intellects. It shaped his life in very positive direction. He was

influenced by that event very much and it seems from the story that his behavior and thoughts

changed. By going to such festivals and conferences, one always gets motivation and becomes

focused about studies.

The most interesting part for me after listening to his life experience is that knowledge is not

something to be accepted blindly but something that should be critically analyzed and inquired

before accepting it.