Crumbling Away

Falling in love for the first time is something almost nobody forgets –the blow to your sense, the pumping adrenaline, and the starry-eyed expressions.

That is how the first experience of stepping into the Walled City is. It catches you with a punch to the sensory system almost knocking you off your feet, putting you into a daze for a few seconds and unnerving you.

Almost like the first time you fell in love.

A strong pulse pumps through the lanes, towering buildings, encroached stalls and excessive human and animal traffic.
The City vibrates with activity in every nook and corner and the din of humans and machines alike fill your ears till you can’t even hear your own thoughts. It is dark, suffocating and noisy yet it attracts you. Maybe it is the history of the people and the place which arouses the curiosity.

As the first rain of winters lashed across the city, I, with a couple of colleagues and a photographer, set out to discover the Walled City of Lahore and the Gates that ‘protect’ it. We wanted to explore the Walled City, also called Androon-e-Shehr or Old City, but more than that our main focus was on the 13 Gates of Lahore as Urban Landmarks and to see how these famous Landmarks are faring.

These gates have seen many enemies and have protected the citizens of the Walled City from harm and war. However, when the British attacked Lahore, they demolished all of the gates except Roshnai Gate. Some of the gates were restored again but not built as exquisitely as they had been before. Delhi Gate and Lohari Gates were an exception, however, and their ornamental structures still remain, even though they are mostly damaged today.

Our first stop at the Bhatti Gate was the most disappointing of all. It broke my heart to see how cruelly we treat our heritage. You stand outside the grand opening to the Bhatti Gate and all you see is lost grandeur and pride left to rot. The Gate that once stood strong is now camouflaged with electric wires, neon yellow banners, bird nests and dirt.

Some part of Bhatti Gate is occupied by Police Investigation and the rest is surrounded with shops and stalls. There are many people there who have not left their ancestral homes, no matter how inconvenient life is for them.

“This is our ancestral home. I was born here and I will die here. We, people stick to our root, our soil and our homes,� says 70-year old Mohammad Bashir from Bhatti Gate.

The shopkeepers asked us to read the board, which the Culture whatever Ministry has put up outside the Bhatti Gate. Another wave of disappointment overcame us when we could not find the ‘board’ that revealed the history of Bhatti Gate. Hidden behind layers and layers of political and religious invitations and advertisements was the history of the Gate. Like the Gate itself, the board had been tampered with, damaged and left to rot. Surprisingly, the shopkeepers and people who lived in the Bhatti Gate area were oblivious to this fact.

An old man helped us remove the dusty advertisements as a public service and also so that we could read what was beneath it. However, we were surrounded by dozens of dangerous-looking men by then, who asked us not-so-politely to take our unholy hands off the grimy papers that held God’s name and Ayats from the Holy Quran…Ironic, isn’t it?

The next gate is the Mori Gate, which was the smallest of all the Gates of Walled City and was not really a gate; it was used to dispose off waste of the city. However, the residents of the Walled City consider it a gate therefore it is important to count it in.

Next came the Lohari Gate or Lahori Gate depending on how we interpret it. According to Mohammad Azam, a guide cum security guard at Delhi Gate, the Lahori Gate is named such as it faces the city of Lahore. Whereas others say it is Lohari Gate because many ‘Lohars’ or blacksmiths were found around this gate.

Swamped with people and cycles in the front and a long line of vans and cars at our back, the team went silent and alarmed. Uh-oh! We had no choice but to enter the Lahori Gate and find our way out of it. (This is the part when I lost my life-long fantasy to live in the Walled City.)
So, we were stuck in the narrowest possible lane I have ever seen in my life and we had no inkling as to where we were supposed to turn or most importantly HOW?! After a good thirty minutes and a distance of hardly a kilometer, we managed to come out of the area onto the main street.

The famous and most awaited Shah-Alami Market was next. The Shah-Alami Gate was destroyed way back in 1947 and since then nobody has thought of resurrecting it. The shopkeepers there do know where the Shah-Alami Gate once stood, but there is nothing but a road and heaps of ugly buildings in the whole area.

The Mochi Gate does not exist anymore, even though the Gate leads to Mochi Bagh where many of Pakistan’s leaders have delivered speeches. The area in and around is known as Mochi Gate; however the gate itself is nowhere to be seen. The surroundings of this area are the same old story –electricity wires criss-crossing, open drains, encroachments and choked with smoke.

Akbari Gate was named after the Mughal emperor Akbar and this is another gate which is not to be seen anymore. The Akbari Mandi, a market founded by Akbar is still there and is known by the same name. The masalas are arranged in old-fashioned way in open sacks and the heaps of red, black and golden look beautiful. however if you are not used to a lot of masalas or have a sensitive nose you’ll be sneezing all the way through Akbari Mandi.

We entered this market through the backside of the Shahi Hamam at Delhi Gate –which even though is under better care than the rest, still needs a lot more attention. Wrinkled old men gossiping with neighbors and shopkeepers while beggars lined the entrance to the Delhi Gate. Mohammad Azam, the tour cum security guard mentioned before, took us on a tour of the Shahi Hamam. He told us about all the gates of Lahore and a brief history on the Walled City. The Shahi Hamam is a work of art by the Mughals and it is a landmark in its own. The Wazir Khan Mosque is also present at a short distance from the Delhi Gate.

In place of the Yakki Gate are several shops, stalls and a lot of animal waste. However, the shrine of the Pir Zakki, after which the Gate is named is still present.

The Sheranwala Gate was called Khizri Gate after the patron saint Khizer Ilyas. Once you enter the Gate you will find a tomb-like place which according to some local people is significant because of Hazrat Khizer’s saaya (shadow). The name was changed to Sheranwala Gate when Mahraja Ranjit Singh placed two domesticated lions at the entrance of the gate to warn and terrify invaders. This gate still exists and terrifies those who care about such unique landmarks, now exposed to danger…

From Sheranwala Gate you come to the Kashmiri Gate –so named because it faces Kashmir. It is present in its renovated form, but it is important to note here that this Gate does not seem like it was renovated anywhere in the recent past. Another smudge on the beautiful past of the Walled City.

Masti Gate – no it does not have anything to do with mischief or fun or whatever you may define masti as (a mosque is called masseet in Punjabi). It is not even the actual name but is rather twisted and instead of "Masjidi," pronounced as Masti. This indicates the Mosque of Mariam Makhani. This gate is not in its full form, but there is a slight…

The Raushnai Gate was the only gate which still stands proud and splendid. It has been renovated in its true form and I believe all of us heaved a sigh of relief in seeing this gate. It has been named so because it was the gate which was always lit with bright lights as it lies between the Badshahi Mosque and Lahore Fort., therefore it was frequented by the high and mighty of those times. The part which leads into the Walled City has been closed off but the Gate itself is in a much better form than the others.

Taxali Gate also known as the Tixal (royal mint), was built during the Mughal reign but there is not a trace of the gate itself today. It is most famous for Phajjay kay Pai and people come from all over Lahore to eat here.

These 13 gates protected the Walled City and its citizens from enemies and invaders. They were the entrance and exit junctions of the famous Walled City of Lahore. Inside this congested, claustrophobic city are some of the most beautiful architectural works like Wazir Khan Mosque, Sonehri Masjid, Badshahi Masjid etc. It inspired Rudyard Kipling to write his famous novel Kim and many other such works.

They must have stood grand with all their splendor and power to protect the Walled City. The ones that remain are breaking down and do not have even the slightest of grandeur as they were meant to. The strangest thing is that these gates have become the identity of the area but have lost their own identity, presence and existence.

Our heritage has become a tragedy itself and that is how I would conclude our 8 hour trip, mostly spent clucking, to the thirteen gates of the Walled City of Lahore.