{"id":3787,"date":"2018-02-15T17:53:19","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T17:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daastan.com\/blog\/?p=3787"},"modified":"2020-08-17T19:37:19","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T19:37:19","slug":"trailblazers-the-girl-who-preserved-the-word-of-legends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daastan.com\/blog\/trailblazers-the-girl-who-preserved-the-word-of-legends\/","title":{"rendered":"Trailblazers: The Girl Who Preserved the Word of Legends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over the years, Daastan<\/a> has had the pleasant opportunity of involving with us individuals from all walks of life, to help us rework and rebrand the literary industry<\/strong> of Pakistan. We have had intellectuals of the highest order, those seeking Masters and PhD degrees<\/em> and on the forefront of the pack who will change the world, and also those who carried a dream in their eyes and a fiery passion in their heart, but due to lack of opportunities were not able to put their ideas to work. It was people like these, who rose from the bottom and shot for the skies<\/em>, that inspired <\/strong>us the most. And so, we decided to showcase their talent to the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Concept:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We at Daastan <\/a>coined a product by the name of \u201cTrailblazers\u201d<\/em><\/strong>, to exhibit the life<\/em>, the struggle, <\/em>and the consequent successes <\/em>of those who we had seen grow. These were the people who we believed walked a road previously not taken, lighting a fire to help all that would follow in their wake. We wanted our community to see how these people\u2019s efforts landed them in a place where they were socially impactful<\/em>, and empowering <\/em>not only themselves but also all those who were connected to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sameen Aziz:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such person, who challenged the status quo and rose above the rest, is Sameen Aziz<\/strong><\/a>. Though raised in Balochistan, considered the land that offers the least opportunities, she found a passion in her soul for the arts<\/em>, that started from photography. Over the years, that hobby lead her to learn design, and she caught a lucky break and started working with literary platforms like Zanjabeel \u2013 A bookstore by Nemrah Ahmed<\/strong><\/a> and The Ancient Souls<\/strong><\/a>. Eventually, she joined Daastan <\/a>as a Literary Fellow of the second batch<\/a>, and worked on opportunities related to design, and that which was to become the basis for her profession later \u2013 digitizing<\/strong>. During the fellowship, she along with four literary activists digitized a beautiful but forgotten masterpiece<\/a> by an Urdu legend, Hazrat Zaka<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Harf Nagar, A digitizing company by Sameen Aziz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Formation of Harf Nagar:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon her graduation, having found a niche for herself which she excelled, she took the step of forming a company<\/strong> which would help authors in digitizing their content<\/em>, and making it print ready<\/em>, naming it \u201c<\/strong>Harf Nagar<\/strong><\/a>\u201d<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After serving as CEO for half a year, she turned her operations over to<\/a> Ms. Qudsia Jamali<\/em><\/a> <\/strong>– another one of the graduates of Daastan’s Literary Fellowship and an Urdu Editor at Daastan. Ms. Qudsia<\/a> then served an Urdu legend Asrar Jamyee<\/em><\/a>, and digitized his manuscript \u201c<\/strong>Tanz Paaray<\/strong><\/a>\u201d<\/strong>. They were Daastan<\/a>\u2019s company of choice, when we secured the rights to republish Kashmir\u2019s first monthly print magazine<\/em> \u201c<\/strong>Shahadat<\/strong><\/a>\u201d<\/strong>, so as to digitize and bring to the public all that literature which was on the verge of extinction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Asrar Jamyee, smiling as he holds up his published manuscript<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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