Lahore within

Source: The News

Link:  http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=209500

Friday, November 20, 2009

Harris Khalique

It was some conference in Kathmandu many years ago where I first spent time with Indians. I had neither been to India before nor to the UK or North America where one would meet so many. My only interaction until then was limited to meeting a few people who visited Pakistan to meet their relatives. They were generally unassuming Muslim Indians who would come here to attend a niece’s wedding or to offer condolences on an uncle’s death. After spending a couple of days together in Kathmandu, Indians and Pakistanis became friendly. I must say that the Pakistani contingent was far more informed about India than they knew about us. It seems to be the case still, partly because of Bollywood and partly because of our Indo-centrism in politics and foreign affairs. While sitting in a café almost every evening in Kathmandu’s famous tourist market, Thamel, Indian colleagues would debate about India-Pakistan relations, Kashmir and the need for peace. There was only one wish they all had in common, irrespective of whichever part of India they came from – the wish to visit Lahore.

In later years, I had the chance to become friends with many Indians while visiting India, the UK or other South Asian countries. I found the same desire for seeing and experiencing Lahore among most of them. For those coming from this part of the subcontinent who themselves or their parents had migrated during partition, the city lives and thrives in their imagination. For others, it is a city they fancy after hearing a lot about it from their seniors or reading about its history and culture. In subsequent years, some were able to visit and enjoy the ambience of Lahore but most couldn’t.

It is not just limited to Indians. When people from other parts of the world visit Lahore, they develop a liking for its architecture, gardens, culture and food. Punjabis anywhere in the world see it as their cultural capital while writers from any part of South Asia or those in the diaspora see it as one of the bastions of Urdu literature. Lahoris enjoy a unique pride and even those who have just migrated to the city, start being boisterous about their Lahori identity in no time.

But for most, even those who wrote their fond memories or now write about the history and culture of the city, Lahore is about the festival of Basant, the fort, the mosques, historic buildings from Mughal and British periods, The Mall, canal, parks, savoury dishes, fashion, models, film stars, artists, singers, concerts, shopping areas and affluent women and men exhibiting snazzy clothes and eating sumptuous food.
Sami Ahuja, the accomplished story-teller, takes us to a different Lahore in his latest collection of short stories, “Roonumai Mein Zam Honay Ka Mujrim.” He brings back the city that belongs not to the kings, princes, viceroys and governors, but the city that belongs to their subjects. In 14 stories, 12 about the residents who live by the 12 gates, one about Tibbi and one about Mori, Ahuja artfully renders the suffering of the working class, the poor and the oppressed, who were a majority in the past and who remain a majority now. Some of Ahuja’s earlier work is not only laced with historic metaphors but at times his language is not within the reach of an untrained reader of Urdu literature. The latest book is more accessible and confirms that Sami Ahuja loves real people of Lahore more than the ornate Sheesh Mahal. Recommended reading.

The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and rights campaigner. Email: harris@spopk .org