Train from Pakistan, 2004: The Return
Veeresh Malik October 20, 2004
#129 Posted by tahmed32 on October 23, 2004 7:39:15 am
rsridhar #124 If you re-read what I wrote more carefully, you will see that I was referring quite explicitly only to a subset of Indian posters on chowk. This excludes all Indians not on chowk, so please dont drag poor manmohan singh into chowk.
And I have read enough from these Indian posters to understand their mindset: the hypocrisy of Jay thakeray as for years he shed crocodile tears over honor killings in Pakistan while forgetting the far greater scale of brutality against women in India (looks like he is no longer on chowk, and good riddance as far as I am concerned); the bloody mindedness of Arjun who crowed with delight at the real life misfortune of Pakistanis who were deported to Pakistan; the filth that gb wrote about Pakistani women, demonstrating the filth he grew up in; the innumerable Indians who have come and gone from chowk brimming with hatred at the ``paki jehadis`` while conveniently ignoring that there is no shortage of hindu terrorists in India; and the innumberable Indians who have proved incapable in their hatred for Pakistan to be able to even call it by its proper name.
So re-read my post and then we can talk. I dont make grand generalizations about all Indians or even about all Indians on chowk. But when I refer to cheapsters and lowlife, it is based on what they have written and thus demonstrated their mindset.
And I have read enough from these Indian posters to understand their mindset: the hypocrisy of Jay thakeray as for years he shed crocodile tears over honor killings in Pakistan while forgetting the far greater scale of brutality against women in India (looks like he is no longer on chowk, and good riddance as far as I am concerned); the bloody mindedness of Arjun who crowed with delight at the real life misfortune of Pakistanis who were deported to Pakistan; the filth that gb wrote about Pakistani women, demonstrating the filth he grew up in; the innumerable Indians who have come and gone from chowk brimming with hatred at the ``paki jehadis`` while conveniently ignoring that there is no shortage of hindu terrorists in India; and the innumberable Indians who have proved incapable in their hatred for Pakistan to be able to even call it by its proper name.
So re-read my post and then we can talk. I dont make grand generalizations about all Indians or even about all Indians on chowk. But when I refer to cheapsters and lowlife, it is based on what they have written and thus demonstrated their mindset.
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#130 Posted by tahmed32 on October 23, 2004 7:39:15 am
veeresh #119: Careful veeresh. You are spinning out of control again, and seeing Kashmir when I never mentioned even it, while ignoring what I did write.
(btw, I gave up decades ago on the Indian government being capable of doing anything remotely intelligent or even moral. I know this will hurt your patriotism, so let me hasten to assure you that I gave up on the Pakistan government too at around the same time...and I think that even if kashmir becomes independent of both these scoundrels India and Pakistan, they will merely create their own bunch of local Kashmiri scoundrels who will then proceed to screw the little guy in kashmir...and so I really do give a flying fluck on what happens in kashmir. the poor are screwed in all scenarios.) So, dont accuse me of things I never said while ignoring what I do say.
As for talking to M about democracy in Pakistan, no problem sir. Next time I am in Islamabad, I shall give him a holler and convey your message.
btw, In the meantime, maybe you want to go have a chat with Modi and tell him it is not a good thing in a democracy to burn people who dont vote for him, even if they happen to be mere low caste hindus converts to islam.
(btw, I gave up decades ago on the Indian government being capable of doing anything remotely intelligent or even moral. I know this will hurt your patriotism, so let me hasten to assure you that I gave up on the Pakistan government too at around the same time...and I think that even if kashmir becomes independent of both these scoundrels India and Pakistan, they will merely create their own bunch of local Kashmiri scoundrels who will then proceed to screw the little guy in kashmir...and so I really do give a flying fluck on what happens in kashmir. the poor are screwed in all scenarios.) So, dont accuse me of things I never said while ignoring what I do say.
As for talking to M about democracy in Pakistan, no problem sir. Next time I am in Islamabad, I shall give him a holler and convey your message.
btw, In the meantime, maybe you want to go have a chat with Modi and tell him it is not a good thing in a democracy to burn people who dont vote for him, even if they happen to be mere low caste hindus converts to islam.
#131 Posted by mohar11 on October 23, 2004 8:15:11 am
114
//...The poor in India .... face the same problems as the poor do in Pakistan every day...//
No, they don`t. Poor in India elect their own leaders (jacka$$es, is the right term). So there is a qualitative difference here. If indians are still dirt poor, they have the option of giving laloo the boot and elect somebody in who can do the job.
Come to think of it - poor, rich, it don`t matter - Indians are the biggest loosers in entire democratic world. I mean you pakis at least have some good excuses - no democracy, rampant feudalism, widespread jihad, mullahs, military, kashmir ...blah...blah [ man - you guys have tons excuses :) ]
But what excuses do the Indians have to be the poorest, even after 57 years of democracy and freedom?? I mean - what excuse can you give for keep electing Laloos, commies, gandhis, italians, modis, thackerays and all sorts of low-life scum that stink up the political landscape. None whatsover.
//...The poor in India .... face the same problems as the poor do in Pakistan every day...//
No, they don`t. Poor in India elect their own leaders (jacka$$es, is the right term). So there is a qualitative difference here. If indians are still dirt poor, they have the option of giving laloo the boot and elect somebody in who can do the job.
Come to think of it - poor, rich, it don`t matter - Indians are the biggest loosers in entire democratic world. I mean you pakis at least have some good excuses - no democracy, rampant feudalism, widespread jihad, mullahs, military, kashmir ...blah...blah [ man - you guys have tons excuses :) ]
But what excuses do the Indians have to be the poorest, even after 57 years of democracy and freedom?? I mean - what excuse can you give for keep electing Laloos, commies, gandhis, italians, modis, thackerays and all sorts of low-life scum that stink up the political landscape. None whatsover.
#132 Posted by mohar11 on October 23, 2004 8:15:11 am
114/ahmed
//..Next time a CREIP starts talking about muslim terrorists, you can post a picture of a child burnt to death by hindu terrorists in India. ...//
Exactly. You have found the holy grail, old boy. Just post a picture of a hindu terrorist .... and Jihad will be forgotten, forever swept under the giant rug............ FBI/CIA will move over to gujrat to capture hindu terrorists. .............Daisy cutters will rain down on Gandhi Nagar..........101 Airborne will be buzzing over the ``atunomous`` tribal regions around Bombay to flush out hindu terrorists from their caves ........ US Army will be fighting a vicious hindu insurgency to install democracy in the hindu world.
The entire world would be waiting with bated-breaths to see if the civilized world could succeed taming and reforming these terrorist breeding hindu country, where fiery pundits with flowing beards churn out millions of young hindus specially trained to fly planes into tall building wherever they see them.
And as for the Land of Pure, life would be back to where it was .... Jihad will be back in full action ...... Jihadis and closet-jihadis will finally get their life back to practice the most peaceful religion in the world.
If wishes were horses..... :)))
//..Next time a CREIP starts talking about muslim terrorists, you can post a picture of a child burnt to death by hindu terrorists in India. ...//
Exactly. You have found the holy grail, old boy. Just post a picture of a hindu terrorist .... and Jihad will be forgotten, forever swept under the giant rug............ FBI/CIA will move over to gujrat to capture hindu terrorists. .............Daisy cutters will rain down on Gandhi Nagar..........101 Airborne will be buzzing over the ``atunomous`` tribal regions around Bombay to flush out hindu terrorists from their caves ........ US Army will be fighting a vicious hindu insurgency to install democracy in the hindu world.
The entire world would be waiting with bated-breaths to see if the civilized world could succeed taming and reforming these terrorist breeding hindu country, where fiery pundits with flowing beards churn out millions of young hindus specially trained to fly planes into tall building wherever they see them.
And as for the Land of Pure, life would be back to where it was .... Jihad will be back in full action ...... Jihadis and closet-jihadis will finally get their life back to practice the most peaceful religion in the world.
If wishes were horses..... :)))
#133 Posted by warpster on October 23, 2004 9:04:17 am
from rediff.com
Why the world loves Indian tourists
Smita Tripathi | October 23, 2004
Remember the stereotype Japanese tourists of the 1980s? They had cameras slung over their shoulders -- Canons and Nikons, naturally -- and they clutched guidebooks like they had discovered a new religion tucked between pages on La Tour Eiffel or the Arc de Triomphe. Oh, and they also had wads of cheaply bought tourist dollars.
The world has changed beyond recognition in the last decade. The Japanese economic miracle has turned sour and as travellers the Japanese have been replaced by other races -- Eastern Europeans coming in hordes from the former Soviet Bloc countries, getting their first taste of western Europe and the United States.
There`s even the Chinese leaving their fast-growth workers paradise for a quick glimpse of how foreigners live.
Are middle-class Indians about to take their place at the back of this queue? Suddenly, Indians are getting itchy feet and looking across the kala pani to foreign shores.
And most countries (except for the UK and USA which are afraid of illegal immigration and also terrorist attacks) are going all out to attract the Indian tourist. Yes, the global Indian has finally arrived and the fact that 20 or so countries have set up tourist promotion boards in India, is proof of that.
Countries as far apart as Seychelles, Malaysia, Spain, Hong Kong, New Zealand etc are competing with each other for the Indian tourist`s time and, more importantly, money.
But why are countries going all out to attract Indians? ``They spend money,`` says Edward Chew, spokesperson of the Singapore Tourism Board. Last year, Indians were the highest spending travelling community in Singapore with an average daily spend of S$200-300.
They beat the Japanese who till the year before last were the highest spenders. Singapore recorded 309,383 arrivals from India last year of which 34 per cent were leisure travellers. However, because of Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), 2003 was a bad year for tourist traffic. In 2002, 375,000 Indians visited Singapore, which was an increase of 10.5 per cent over 2001.
The fact that Indians splurge on shopping, of course, makes them the favourites of various countries. But shopping isn`t the only thing they spend heavily on.
Says Bhupesh Kumar, marketing manager, Tourism Malaysia, ``Most Indians prefer to stay in 4 star and 5 star accommodation. This is of course good for the Malaysian economy.``
Moreover, most Indians travel with families and so the average spend goes up. Also, they are very enthusiastic when it comes to trying out new things.
Says a spokesperson of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Board, ``Indians like to try out everything even though these (submarine rides, dolphin shows etc) activities are extremely expensive.``
About 5.5 million Indians are expected to travel this year and that`s up from 4.5 million in 2002, which was a boom year for tourism. Says Ankur Bhatia, chairman, Amadeus, ``As the economy grows more and more people are likely to increase expenditure on travel.``
What`s more, the global spend on travel is 9 per cent to 10 per cent of GDP while in India the average is only 2 per cent to 3 per cent. That means it will take us another ten years to reach the global average. Countries promoting themselves in India realise this.
Countries such as New Zealand have identified India as an emerging market. Says Kiran Nambiar of the New Zealand Tourist Promotion Board, which was set up in March last year, ``India will be a very valued country in the next seven to eight years.`` Although, only around 17,000 Indians visited New Zealand last year, it was an increase of 25 per cent and Nambiar expects it to keep growing.
New Zealand has slightly different reasons for attracting the Indians. The country is trying to develop tourism in the May-June period, which is peak outbound traffic from India. By promoting tourism in the shoulder season (before summer and after winter), New Zealand ensures that there is sufficient tourist traffic throughout the year.
So how are the different countries promoting themselves? First, they are luring the travellers by offering cheap packages. Earlier this year, Tourism Malaysia tied-up with SriLankan Airlines to offer a three-night four-days package to Kuala Lumpur for only Rs 18,000.
Secondly, they are entering niche segments. Malaysia which had 145,000 Indian visitors last year and which expects the number to rise to over 200,000 this year is promoting itself in a big way as a motor sport and golf destination.
The Malaysian Grand Prix 2004 was promoted in India in a major way. Special packages were launched in association with leading travel agents, wherein the cost of entry ticket to Sepang International Circuit was included. These packages cost approximately Rs 40,000 for four days and three nights.
Tourism Malaysia has been spending heavily to make its presence felt. To promote the Malaysian Grand Prix, it co-sponsored the JK Tyre Go Karting National Championship, 2003. It also ran a popular contest with General Motors show as the ``Race to Malaysia`` contest and tied up with Tag Heuer for a consumer contest, coinciding the launch of the Formula 1 watch.
As a result of these market initiatives, nearly 2,000 Indians travelled to witness the Sepang Formula 1 live. The figure for the 2003 race was a mere 500.
Similarly, Singapore is promoting itself in four main areas: leisure, education, healthcare, and BT-MICE (conferences). ``While leisure and business tourism has been our mainstay for the last decade, Singapore offers education and healthcare opportunities that we believe should be promoted as well,`` says Chew.
The STB has been making presentations in schools in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai to promote school trips to Singapore and is also attracting Indian students for post-graduate courses.
MICE (which is basically corporate training and incentive) is an extremely fast-growing sector globally and has a growth of 10 per cent annually. Countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius, Australia, Sri Lanka and South Africa are all trying to get a slice of this pie.
The tourism boards of different countries are all hardselling their countries through presentations to corporate houses and HR consultancy firms. Says a spokesperson of Mauritius Tourism, ``MICE is good for business as the volumes are very high.``
If that`s not all, these tourism promotion boards are now concentrating on smaller towns and cities. Malaysia, for instance, is now advertising in vernacular papers in an attempt to reach the masses. Says Kumar, ``We are now spreading ourselves wide.``
Similarly, Sri Lanka which, had over 90,000 Indian visitors last year and which expects this number to go up to 150,000, is promoting itself in regional markets. Says Rajeev Nangia of the Sri Lanka Tourism Board, ``With the opening up of the skies, we are now targeting the regional markets.`` There are now nearly 90 flights to Colombo per week.
Of course, the open-sky policy has done a lot to promote outbound tourism. Competition has led to cheaper fares, which has resulted in higher tourist traffic. Also, the weakening of the dollar against the Indian rupee has made foreign holidays cheaper for Indians.
Tourism boards are resorting to all manner of attraction-getting tricks. So Australia has appointed cricketer Steve Waugh and South Africa has opted for slightly different allure with actress Mandira Bedi. The Australian Tourist Commission promoted Australia through serials such as Kyunki Kii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.
Another significant change is that where earlier all the advertising and promotions were aimed at the travel agents, in the hope that travel agents will promote a particular country, now they are aimed at the traveller directly.
With the holiday season round the corner, more and more Indians are making their bookings to visit foreign shores. No wonder the tourism boards are grinning.
Why the world loves Indian tourists
Smita Tripathi | October 23, 2004
Remember the stereotype Japanese tourists of the 1980s? They had cameras slung over their shoulders -- Canons and Nikons, naturally -- and they clutched guidebooks like they had discovered a new religion tucked between pages on La Tour Eiffel or the Arc de Triomphe. Oh, and they also had wads of cheaply bought tourist dollars.
The world has changed beyond recognition in the last decade. The Japanese economic miracle has turned sour and as travellers the Japanese have been replaced by other races -- Eastern Europeans coming in hordes from the former Soviet Bloc countries, getting their first taste of western Europe and the United States.
There`s even the Chinese leaving their fast-growth workers paradise for a quick glimpse of how foreigners live.
Are middle-class Indians about to take their place at the back of this queue? Suddenly, Indians are getting itchy feet and looking across the kala pani to foreign shores.
And most countries (except for the UK and USA which are afraid of illegal immigration and also terrorist attacks) are going all out to attract the Indian tourist. Yes, the global Indian has finally arrived and the fact that 20 or so countries have set up tourist promotion boards in India, is proof of that.
Countries as far apart as Seychelles, Malaysia, Spain, Hong Kong, New Zealand etc are competing with each other for the Indian tourist`s time and, more importantly, money.
But why are countries going all out to attract Indians? ``They spend money,`` says Edward Chew, spokesperson of the Singapore Tourism Board. Last year, Indians were the highest spending travelling community in Singapore with an average daily spend of S$200-300.
They beat the Japanese who till the year before last were the highest spenders. Singapore recorded 309,383 arrivals from India last year of which 34 per cent were leisure travellers. However, because of Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), 2003 was a bad year for tourist traffic. In 2002, 375,000 Indians visited Singapore, which was an increase of 10.5 per cent over 2001.
The fact that Indians splurge on shopping, of course, makes them the favourites of various countries. But shopping isn`t the only thing they spend heavily on.
Says Bhupesh Kumar, marketing manager, Tourism Malaysia, ``Most Indians prefer to stay in 4 star and 5 star accommodation. This is of course good for the Malaysian economy.``
Moreover, most Indians travel with families and so the average spend goes up. Also, they are very enthusiastic when it comes to trying out new things.
Says a spokesperson of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Board, ``Indians like to try out everything even though these (submarine rides, dolphin shows etc) activities are extremely expensive.``
About 5.5 million Indians are expected to travel this year and that`s up from 4.5 million in 2002, which was a boom year for tourism. Says Ankur Bhatia, chairman, Amadeus, ``As the economy grows more and more people are likely to increase expenditure on travel.``
What`s more, the global spend on travel is 9 per cent to 10 per cent of GDP while in India the average is only 2 per cent to 3 per cent. That means it will take us another ten years to reach the global average. Countries promoting themselves in India realise this.
Countries such as New Zealand have identified India as an emerging market. Says Kiran Nambiar of the New Zealand Tourist Promotion Board, which was set up in March last year, ``India will be a very valued country in the next seven to eight years.`` Although, only around 17,000 Indians visited New Zealand last year, it was an increase of 25 per cent and Nambiar expects it to keep growing.
New Zealand has slightly different reasons for attracting the Indians. The country is trying to develop tourism in the May-June period, which is peak outbound traffic from India. By promoting tourism in the shoulder season (before summer and after winter), New Zealand ensures that there is sufficient tourist traffic throughout the year.
So how are the different countries promoting themselves? First, they are luring the travellers by offering cheap packages. Earlier this year, Tourism Malaysia tied-up with SriLankan Airlines to offer a three-night four-days package to Kuala Lumpur for only Rs 18,000.
Secondly, they are entering niche segments. Malaysia which had 145,000 Indian visitors last year and which expects the number to rise to over 200,000 this year is promoting itself in a big way as a motor sport and golf destination.
The Malaysian Grand Prix 2004 was promoted in India in a major way. Special packages were launched in association with leading travel agents, wherein the cost of entry ticket to Sepang International Circuit was included. These packages cost approximately Rs 40,000 for four days and three nights.
Tourism Malaysia has been spending heavily to make its presence felt. To promote the Malaysian Grand Prix, it co-sponsored the JK Tyre Go Karting National Championship, 2003. It also ran a popular contest with General Motors show as the ``Race to Malaysia`` contest and tied up with Tag Heuer for a consumer contest, coinciding the launch of the Formula 1 watch.
As a result of these market initiatives, nearly 2,000 Indians travelled to witness the Sepang Formula 1 live. The figure for the 2003 race was a mere 500.
Similarly, Singapore is promoting itself in four main areas: leisure, education, healthcare, and BT-MICE (conferences). ``While leisure and business tourism has been our mainstay for the last decade, Singapore offers education and healthcare opportunities that we believe should be promoted as well,`` says Chew.
The STB has been making presentations in schools in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai to promote school trips to Singapore and is also attracting Indian students for post-graduate courses.
MICE (which is basically corporate training and incentive) is an extremely fast-growing sector globally and has a growth of 10 per cent annually. Countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius, Australia, Sri Lanka and South Africa are all trying to get a slice of this pie.
The tourism boards of different countries are all hardselling their countries through presentations to corporate houses and HR consultancy firms. Says a spokesperson of Mauritius Tourism, ``MICE is good for business as the volumes are very high.``
If that`s not all, these tourism promotion boards are now concentrating on smaller towns and cities. Malaysia, for instance, is now advertising in vernacular papers in an attempt to reach the masses. Says Kumar, ``We are now spreading ourselves wide.``
Similarly, Sri Lanka which, had over 90,000 Indian visitors last year and which expects this number to go up to 150,000, is promoting itself in regional markets. Says Rajeev Nangia of the Sri Lanka Tourism Board, ``With the opening up of the skies, we are now targeting the regional markets.`` There are now nearly 90 flights to Colombo per week.
Of course, the open-sky policy has done a lot to promote outbound tourism. Competition has led to cheaper fares, which has resulted in higher tourist traffic. Also, the weakening of the dollar against the Indian rupee has made foreign holidays cheaper for Indians.
Tourism boards are resorting to all manner of attraction-getting tricks. So Australia has appointed cricketer Steve Waugh and South Africa has opted for slightly different allure with actress Mandira Bedi. The Australian Tourist Commission promoted Australia through serials such as Kyunki Kii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.
Another significant change is that where earlier all the advertising and promotions were aimed at the travel agents, in the hope that travel agents will promote a particular country, now they are aimed at the traveller directly.
With the holiday season round the corner, more and more Indians are making their bookings to visit foreign shores. No wonder the tourism boards are grinning.
#134 Posted by kkkandk on October 23, 2004 9:04:17 am
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#135 Posted by kkkandk on October 23, 2004 9:04:17 am
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#136 Posted by tahmed32 on October 23, 2004 9:04:17 am
mohar #131 it is true, as you indicate, that hindu terrorists prey upon the poor and the defenseless within India only (with the support of elected officials, i may add), while muslim terrorists prey upon the poor and the defenseless within muslim countries as well as upon the rich and the strong outside pakistan.
HOWEVER: if you read my post carefully, you will see that this distinction is not important to me. People are people, whether rich or poor, white or brown. And if you deliberately target innocent people, you are a terrorist and therefore an enemy of God and of man. No ifs and buts here regardless of the ``grievance`` or excuse. The only good terrorist is a dead terrorist.
Second, if you had half a brain, you have known by now (having been on chowk long enough) that i despise muslim terrorists and their apologists as much as i despise hindu terrorists and their apologists (like you).
Third, you would also know that i couldnt care less what happens inside india, and to me an muslim indian is as alien as a hindu indian. You can go bang each others heads all you like, just keep it out of chowk. My interests are focussed on the two countries that i know and love the best, namely the one i grew up in and the one i have spent most of my life in. i bring up india for the same reason i pointed to soulat - to stick a mirror in your face when a CREIP starts getting too pretentious or venomous.
(last post. take it or leave it. i am not going to waste time having a pointless discussion with you.)
HOWEVER: if you read my post carefully, you will see that this distinction is not important to me. People are people, whether rich or poor, white or brown. And if you deliberately target innocent people, you are a terrorist and therefore an enemy of God and of man. No ifs and buts here regardless of the ``grievance`` or excuse. The only good terrorist is a dead terrorist.
Second, if you had half a brain, you have known by now (having been on chowk long enough) that i despise muslim terrorists and their apologists as much as i despise hindu terrorists and their apologists (like you).
Third, you would also know that i couldnt care less what happens inside india, and to me an muslim indian is as alien as a hindu indian. You can go bang each others heads all you like, just keep it out of chowk. My interests are focussed on the two countries that i know and love the best, namely the one i grew up in and the one i have spent most of my life in. i bring up india for the same reason i pointed to soulat - to stick a mirror in your face when a CREIP starts getting too pretentious or venomous.
(last post. take it or leave it. i am not going to waste time having a pointless discussion with you.)
#137 Posted by kkkandk on October 23, 2004 9:46:12 am
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#138 Posted by salim on October 23, 2004 10:39:20 am
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#139 Posted by Shahid on October 23, 2004 10:39:20 am
Veeresh,
May I suggest Strunk and White, The Elements of Style. Some important writing tips they touch upon:
1. Choose a suitable design and hold to it.
2. Make the paragraph the unit of composition.
3. Use the active voice.
4. Put statements in positive form.
5. Use definite, specific, concrete language.
6. Omit needless words. Omit needless words. Omit needless words.
7. Avoid a succession of loose sentences.
8. Express coordinate ideas in similar form.
9. Keep related words together.
10. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end.
11. Write with nouns and verbs.
12. Revise and rewrite.
13. Do not overwrite.
14. Do not overstate.
15. Avoid the use of qualifiers.
and so on....good luck!
#140 Posted by tahmed32 on October 23, 2004 10:39:20 am
warpster #136 So indians telling one another how great everyone thinks they are on an indian website - what else is new? from chowk it is clear that being among the last few nations on earth to be able to afford to travel abroad as tourists would be something you would find a lot of indians crowing about.
#141 Posted by tahmed32 on October 23, 2004 10:39:20 am
kkandk: Actually, Veeresh thought he was paying a fee for use of a clean toilet because he was used to this (as this sign below from a toilet near his house in india indicates). Later he realized what a mistake he had made, and being veeresh, swiftly changed the story-line to his advantage and said he had given a 100% tip.
#142 Posted by warpster on October 23, 2004 11:36:30 am
tahmed
the demographics and economic growth rates (and high domestic air fares) ensure that Indian tourists will constitute a large part of the travel and tourism market. This really has little do with biased views of some indian website. The facts are cold and hard.
#143 Posted by arjun_m on October 23, 2004 11:36:30 am
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#144 Posted by MantoLives on October 23, 2004 11:36:30 am
Some objectivity .... after Veeresh`s one sided lies...
Aakar Patel`s view of Lahore
``Lahore is paradise. It has huge gardens splashed through the middle of its roads. An enormous canal glides through the middle of a thoroughfare.
Indians will also be amazed with how much at ease the Lahauri is with his culture and how little this culture has to do with religion.
To me that culture is alien because it is Punjabi, not because it is Muslim.
To me, the groups of Sardars walking again in the streets of Lahore’s old city with the kirpans by their side and the shopkeepers at their elbow, seemed to belong there. They were Lahauris.
But for all of Pakistan’s foreign-ness, it had everything that we pride India for. It was pluralist, it was joyous, it was tolerant. In the colourful Indian crowds, clapping, shouting, shopping, Pakistans also discovered something perhaps foreign to themselves and perhaps something of themselves.
This was the greatest series ever played in the history of cricket, perhaps because it was not about cricket at all. Cricket was not the winner here; cricket was not even in the running.
With their teams in the vanguard, the legions of India and Pakistan met in an embrace half-combative, half-friendly, fully emotional.
People will cite Douglas Jardine’s Bodyline series as the defining moment of cricket, when it matured into an aggressive modern sport from being a gentleman’s leisurely pursuit.
It is a white man’s world, but if ever a series was historic, it was the one we just won.
This series was a conversation and a debate between the pluralism of modern, irreligious India and the pluralism of modern, Islamic Pakistan.
I’m not sure who won that. ``
http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00003406&channel=gulberg
Lahore, The Charmer!
By Dost Mittar
Part 1: My Pakistan Diary: A Bus Trip Like No Other
Part 2: My Pakistan Diary: Lahore Aaya Main Othay Dil Chhod Aaya!
Part 3: My Pakistan Diary: The Feudal
Part 4: My Pakistan Diary: Retracing the Conquerors` Steps
Part 5: My Pakistan Diary: A Rich Heritage Neglected
Part 6: My Pakistan Diary: Roots! A Spiritual Journey
This is a wonderful time for an Indian to be in Pakistan, especially Lahore.
The bus from Delhi reached the Faletti’s Hotel at 7 PM. Imran was there to receive us and, with the help of the picture he had emailed to us, we had no problem spotting him in the crowd. He had traveled more than five miles to transport us to the Holiday Inn, which is literally across the street from the Faletti’s. The hotel wore a merry, festive look for Basant and was decorated with festoons and lights; Panjabi songs were playing in the background to create a proper Basant atmosphere. Sorry, no generosity for Indians here! We were charged triple the normal tariff for the first two days because of the popularity of the Basant festival.
We phoned Yasser, the secular “fanatic” from chowk. Within an hour he was there with his wife and his charming young cousin. Meeting this young chowkie in person was a pleasant surprise. Unlike his chowk persona, he is very soft-spoken and respectful in real life. Soon, we were on our way to our first engagement in Lahore, a Mehndi ceremony in a leafy neighborhood. The ceremony was in a shamiana (a tent) set up for this purpose. The music was mostly songs from Bollywood films. The ceremony was not very different from similar ceremonies in India – chit-chats, followed by food served in buffet style, followed by impromptu entertainment. Women were dressed in their fine clothes and jewelery, as was appropriate for the occasion.
But a few things did surprise me. Having been to a few Pakistani parties in Ottawa, I expected men and women to be seated separately but they were freely mingling with each other. Nobody was wearing burqa, a few girls were wearing hijab but this seemed to be more a fashion than a religious statement: when people started dancing on the stage, the hijabi girls were no less vigorous in their “thumkaas and jhumkaas” than the non-hijaabi ones. Another surprising element was that the bride seemed to be not at all bashful, she was talking, smiling and giggling – very different from the image I had of a conservative Panjabi bride.
Basant
The next day was the Valentine’s Day and the day before the Basant festival. The hotel sent us a package of gifts for the occasion, which included some candies, a yellow basanti chunni (long scarf) for me, a set of bangles for my wife and an invitation to a roof-top basant party. This was a nice gesture and made up for the somewhat inefficient hotel service and the exorbitant tariff. The hotel had laid out an elaborate brunch buffet whose highlight was basanti halwa and poories.
The Basant festival symbolises the end of winter in Panjab; a Panjabi proverb says “aaya basant, paala udant” (when basant comes, winter flees). The festival has taken a somewhat different turn in Pakistan than the original festival. The original Basant Panchami takes place on the fifth day of the month of Magh of the desi calendar. It is still the day on which it is celebrated in India and was celebrated on the 25th of Januuary in Delhi and elsewhere in India this year. But in Pakistan, the day is arbitrarily fixed each year by the Lahore municipality, usually the second weekend in February. The festival in Lahore means kite-flying, partying, fun and merrymaking: Unlike India, where it is also associated with Sarswati Puja in some parts of the country, it has no other significance in Pakistan. As far as I am aware, it is not a big festival in Sindh where a sizeable number of Hindus still live.
For us, the most memorable event of the day was unrelated to Basant. It was the luncheon get-together arranged by the Lahore chowkies. In addition to my wife and me, guests also included Nazar Hayat Khan who is from Karachi. Nazar and his lovely niece, an expatriate like ourselves, came to visit us at our hotel and joined us and Feroz, who had come to take us to The Village, the restaurant chosen for our get-together. The legendary Lahori hospitality was on full display. Before going to The Village, all of us were shooting the breeze in our hotel restaurant when a young man celebrating his engagement brought a large slice of cake for all of us.
The chowk get-together was a grand success; we were not only able to put faces to the names or, more accurately, nicks, but also able to establish instant rapport. The conversation covered all topics except those covered at chowk. The food was plentiful and could easily meet the needs of every taste bud, vegetarian and non-vegetarian, desi, oriental or western. The atmosphere was friendly and revealed chowkies to be a jovial, youthful and fun-loving bunch. We stayed at the The Village until almost everyone else had left and the place had emptied out. The party ended with gift-exchanges and picture-taking.
We had invitation to two Basant-Eve parties. We first went upstairs to the roof-top party of our hotel. A stage had been set up and elaborate arrangements had been made for food, entertainment and kite-flying. All servers, male and female, were wearing the colours of basant and many of the guests too were wearing the basanti scarfs gifted to us. We left that party just when it was beginning to warm up, to go to another invitation-only party in Gulberg, a fashionable commercial district of Lahore. The party was arranged on the roof of a large building. In the typical sub continental style, it seems that more invitations had been issued than there was room for and many people were using the same card for multiple entries. The number of people must be in thousands and there was a virtual stampede both outside and inside the party. I was somewhat unprepared for this type of party in Pakistan; men and women were jostling with each other to get inside the building and then climb up the stairs, the concept of self-discipline being alien to Panjabis.
The kite-flying was in full swing. I asked one enthusiast if he had “killed” any kites yet and he proudly answered, seven. He generously invited me to hold his dori-string for the next pecha fight. I thankfully declined the offer, which was a good thing, as the next pecha proved humiliating for the young enthusiast – his kite suffering a bo-kaata (cut by the opponent), with him left holding a limp string.
We followed the crowd to the food stalls. The food was plentiful with all types of favourite Panjabi preparations –fruits, juices, pops, corn-on-the-cob, halwas, poories, naans, kebabs and meats of all types as well as desserts, but there were fewer plates than the people chasing them. There was a pandemonium but people were still enjoying themselves. The entertainment program started before the dinner was over. It was a mujra-type set-up - chairs all around with an empty space in the middle for the dancer to perform. The dancer was a scantily-clad girl who started dancing to some popular, mostly Bollywood numbers. When she was tired, another more scantily-dressed dancer took her place. Alas, it was getting late and the ladies in the group hurried us back to our hotel, but I was told that the dances continued all through the night and the dancers’ costumes became skimpier and skimpier with each change of performer.
The next morning was the actual day fixed for Basant. On my morning walk, I could see the aftermath of last night’s ``battles``. The streets were littered with ‘dores’- the basant weapons of kite-mass-destruction; dore is a razor-sharp string fortified with “maajha” or metallic concoctions to cross swords with the opponents’ kites. Every kite that goes into the battlefield in the sky eventually falls onto the ground. Newspapers and TV channels were full of accounts of deaths due to kids falling off roofs while flying kites or chasing fallen kites or even due to electrocution as metallic strings tangled with electric wires.
While walking towards the famous Lakshami chowk, I passed by a chai-dhaaba where a few taxi drivers were having chai-naashta, their breakfast. I approached one and asked if he would be interested in taking us for a sightseeing trip of Lahore. He agreed and I asked him to pick us up from our hotel at 10 AM. The driver’s name was Anwar but he said that he was better known as ‘Lala’. I recognized Lala’s accent and asked him if he was from ‘Pindi. He was. I tried to reactivate my rustic potohari and we developed a good rapport. From then on he was our driver as well as a guide for part of the trip. Lala was very happy that the two countries were talking peace; he philosophised that there was no enmity between Indians and Pakistanis, it is only siaastdaaans -the politicians- who create problems between the two countries. I did not ask him if he included military brass among the siaastdaans.
Our first stop was the famous Lahore Fort. The construction of the Fort is generally associated with the Mughal emperor Akbar although it is said to be built on an earlier mud fort mentioned in Al Beruni’s Kitab Al-Hind. This is perhaps the oldest monument of Lahore. Lahore, an ancient city, is said to derive its name from ‘Luv’, the son of the Hindu god-king Ram of Ramayna. Not too far from Lahore is Kusur, which is said to owe its name to Ram’s other son, ‘Kush’. The Fort was closed for the rehearsal of some play to be staged there. But not to worry! The subcontinental “culture” came to our rescue. Lala found a Guide who was in cahoots with gatekeepers and who let us in through a side door for a small consideration. But the same culture also led to disappointment; the Guide did not tell us that we would only be able to see a small part of the fort, the inner part and the museum was still closed to us.
The area around Fort has many attractions of historic interest. There is the famous Badshahi Masjid built by Aurangzeb and the tomb of Allama Iqbal. But there is also the lesser known Dera Saheb commemorating the place where Maharaja Ranjit Singh was cremated. It is also a place to commemorate the martyrdom of the fifth sikh guru, Arjun Dev. The gurudwara is well kept, with daily langar/community kitchen. From its ramparts one can have a nice view of Minar-e-Pakistan. This Minar is the newest monument in Lahore where a resolution to create the state of Pakistan was passed in 1940. Although there is no monument to mark the place, these are also the grounds from where a young Jawahar Lal Nehru gave the clarion call for India’s freedom on January 26, 1930 and the day on which India now celebrates its republic.
From the Fort, we went to spend a few minutes in Lawrence Gardens – a really massive, well kept garden which is home to several species of plants and trees - and on to the Museum and Daata Durbar. We spent quite some time exploring the shrine and paid our homage to the great sufi, Daata Baksh Ganj. This is the place to go if one wants to meet the awaam-janata of Lahore. This is also the place where one probably sees more burqas than anywhere else in Lahore. The place was quite crowded on that Sunday afternoon but I was told that it is always crowded. The Darbar reminded me of the Haaji Ali Masjid of Mumbai but without the scenic Arabian Sea backdrop and the loud music blaring from the commercial stalls lining the approach to the Haaji Ali Masjid. There were the same large crowds of men and women (though none in saaris!), old and young, rich and poor; the same rush of faqirs and beggars, the stalls selling food and trinkets and people eager to receive the blessings of their patron Sufi saint. There seemed to be more malangs at Daata Darbar and more people seeking you out for donations to Tegs (food for the poor) without your knowing whether your donations would feed the poor or the family of the canvasser. Like the Haaji Ali shrine, the couples have to separate and enter the shrine from different directions and try to find each other in the crowd after paying homage to the Daata.
In the evening we were taken to another invitation-only basant party, this one hosted by none other than the grandson of Allama Iqbal, who is doing an admirable job of aesthetically renovating his grandfather’s old haveli, Barood Khaana, located near the famous Heera Mandi of Lahore. This was certainly a party of the elite and we got an invitation only because of Yasser’s extensive network in Lahore. The who’s who of Lahore was at the party, including the Junoon artists and Wasim Akram, the Pakistani cricket legend. Wasim was being mobbed for photographs by his fans and had just escaped the mob after great effort when he was approached to come back to pose with the guests from India, which he readily and graciously did. The keynote entertainer at the function was Zafar Abbas whose song, Chunno ki aankhon mein kitna nasha hai, is all the rage in Pakistan these days. Unlike the previous evening, this was a much better-behaved and disciplined crowd. As at last night’s party, men and women mingled freely. Both men and women were dressed in their fineries. Lahori women are perhaps the most stylishly dressed on the subcontinent. Although, there is not the same variety of costumes as in India, Lahoris have made creative use of dupattas and chaadars to create pleasing variations in fashion and styles. Despite the all-covering shalwar-kameez, they manage to look glamourous, even sexy, with clever use of the cuts of shalwar-kameez, variations in the length and girth of the kameez and shalwar, and sometimes using thin fabric. Their choice of colours and fabric is tasteful, though ostentatious. The event was being covered by the Pakistani TV channels, one of whose correspondents approached both my wife and me for our comments on the celebrations. When the food was ready, we were the first to partake of the typical Panjabi meal of sarson ka saag and Paraathas and headed out with Yasser and his family for a round of old Lahore, including the vast complex of the Mayo Hospital.
This was the end of the first phase of our Lahore visit. The second phase, towards the end of our Pakistan trip, was spent mostly in shopping and a visit to Anarkali, both old and new. Anarkali was decorated for Moharram at this time with some stalls creating ‘jhaankis’ or kiosks depicting scenes from old Lukhnow. Here, we again got a chance to see what the ‘magic’ word Indian can do in Pakitan during these days of bonhomie. We arrived to visit a newly opened chic gallery-cum-restaurant at Anarkali just when the doors were being closed, but a word from our hosts about their Indian guests got the doors opened again. The gallery was displaying the works of an artist who was present in the gallery and was being interviewed, I believe, by Indus TV. After the interview was over, the interviewer approached us for our reactions, followed by the artist himself who spent quite a few minutes chatting about his work with us.
It is customary to compare Lahore and Delhi and there are, indeed, many similarities between the two cities. The vibrant Panjabi culture of `khao-piyo-aish-karo` - eat drink and be merry - dominates both cities. Ostentatious living comes naturally to Panjabis and is as visible in the lavish parties of Lahore as of those in farm houses outside Delhi. But while the Panjabi culture dominates both cities, one cannot say the same thing about the Panjabi language. Panjabi is not the formal language of either city – it is English/Hindi in Delhi (though some road signs are in Panjabi and the language is taught in many schools) and Urdu in Lahore. And while the street language of Delhi is Hindi/Hinglish, Panjabi still rules the roost in Lahore. Urdu spoken in Lahore has a distinct Panjabi accent, even when spoken by the descendants of Mohajirs. Indeed, those Mohajirs from the land of Ghalib and Zauq would be aghast if they heard their progeny speaking Urdu like that Sialkotia, Iqbal.
Both cities are a dream come true for the connoisseurs of food. But vegetarians would have a somewhat hard time in Lahore; one is likely to find meat even in samosas, vegetables and parathas. If more Indians are to visit Pakistan, there is a good opportunity for an enterprising Lahori to start a vegetarian restaurant, even one that serves Idlis and Masala Dosas.
While Lahoris complain of traffic, one visit to Delhi will cure that complaint. There are many more cars clogging the roads of Delhi than of Lahore though Lahore seems to have a larger proportion of bigger, imported cars. Despite dozens of flyovers and many more under construction, Delhi is a driver’s nightmare. There are several roads in Delhi, especially old Delhi where the fastest mode of transportation is often by foot. Even the traffic sense of Lahori drivers is somewhat better than those of Delhi drivers. But one notices fewer women driving cars in Lahore than in Delhi. Indeed, one sees very few women, especially unescorted women, on the streets. But quality makes up for quantity.
Lahoris love life and love themselves. If it is true that puritanical Islam abhors fun and frolic, then the Mullah has met his match in the Lahori, whose motto in life is captured by the saying:
Guddi vee udaavange! [Like it or not we’ll fly kites]
Te akh vee ladaavange! [Like it or not, we’ll have fun]
Next: The Feudal
Aakar Patel`s view of Lahore
``Lahore is paradise. It has huge gardens splashed through the middle of its roads. An enormous canal glides through the middle of a thoroughfare.
Indians will also be amazed with how much at ease the Lahauri is with his culture and how little this culture has to do with religion.
To me that culture is alien because it is Punjabi, not because it is Muslim.
To me, the groups of Sardars walking again in the streets of Lahore’s old city with the kirpans by their side and the shopkeepers at their elbow, seemed to belong there. They were Lahauris.
But for all of Pakistan’s foreign-ness, it had everything that we pride India for. It was pluralist, it was joyous, it was tolerant. In the colourful Indian crowds, clapping, shouting, shopping, Pakistans also discovered something perhaps foreign to themselves and perhaps something of themselves.
This was the greatest series ever played in the history of cricket, perhaps because it was not about cricket at all. Cricket was not the winner here; cricket was not even in the running.
With their teams in the vanguard, the legions of India and Pakistan met in an embrace half-combative, half-friendly, fully emotional.
People will cite Douglas Jardine’s Bodyline series as the defining moment of cricket, when it matured into an aggressive modern sport from being a gentleman’s leisurely pursuit.
It is a white man’s world, but if ever a series was historic, it was the one we just won.
This series was a conversation and a debate between the pluralism of modern, irreligious India and the pluralism of modern, Islamic Pakistan.
I’m not sure who won that. ``
http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00003406&channel=gulberg
Lahore, The Charmer!
By Dost Mittar
Part 1: My Pakistan Diary: A Bus Trip Like No Other
Part 2: My Pakistan Diary: Lahore Aaya Main Othay Dil Chhod Aaya!
Part 3: My Pakistan Diary: The Feudal
Part 4: My Pakistan Diary: Retracing the Conquerors` Steps
Part 5: My Pakistan Diary: A Rich Heritage Neglected
Part 6: My Pakistan Diary: Roots! A Spiritual Journey
This is a wonderful time for an Indian to be in Pakistan, especially Lahore.
The bus from Delhi reached the Faletti’s Hotel at 7 PM. Imran was there to receive us and, with the help of the picture he had emailed to us, we had no problem spotting him in the crowd. He had traveled more than five miles to transport us to the Holiday Inn, which is literally across the street from the Faletti’s. The hotel wore a merry, festive look for Basant and was decorated with festoons and lights; Panjabi songs were playing in the background to create a proper Basant atmosphere. Sorry, no generosity for Indians here! We were charged triple the normal tariff for the first two days because of the popularity of the Basant festival.
We phoned Yasser, the secular “fanatic” from chowk. Within an hour he was there with his wife and his charming young cousin. Meeting this young chowkie in person was a pleasant surprise. Unlike his chowk persona, he is very soft-spoken and respectful in real life. Soon, we were on our way to our first engagement in Lahore, a Mehndi ceremony in a leafy neighborhood. The ceremony was in a shamiana (a tent) set up for this purpose. The music was mostly songs from Bollywood films. The ceremony was not very different from similar ceremonies in India – chit-chats, followed by food served in buffet style, followed by impromptu entertainment. Women were dressed in their fine clothes and jewelery, as was appropriate for the occasion.
But a few things did surprise me. Having been to a few Pakistani parties in Ottawa, I expected men and women to be seated separately but they were freely mingling with each other. Nobody was wearing burqa, a few girls were wearing hijab but this seemed to be more a fashion than a religious statement: when people started dancing on the stage, the hijabi girls were no less vigorous in their “thumkaas and jhumkaas” than the non-hijaabi ones. Another surprising element was that the bride seemed to be not at all bashful, she was talking, smiling and giggling – very different from the image I had of a conservative Panjabi bride.
Basant
The next day was the Valentine’s Day and the day before the Basant festival. The hotel sent us a package of gifts for the occasion, which included some candies, a yellow basanti chunni (long scarf) for me, a set of bangles for my wife and an invitation to a roof-top basant party. This was a nice gesture and made up for the somewhat inefficient hotel service and the exorbitant tariff. The hotel had laid out an elaborate brunch buffet whose highlight was basanti halwa and poories.
The Basant festival symbolises the end of winter in Panjab; a Panjabi proverb says “aaya basant, paala udant” (when basant comes, winter flees). The festival has taken a somewhat different turn in Pakistan than the original festival. The original Basant Panchami takes place on the fifth day of the month of Magh of the desi calendar. It is still the day on which it is celebrated in India and was celebrated on the 25th of Januuary in Delhi and elsewhere in India this year. But in Pakistan, the day is arbitrarily fixed each year by the Lahore municipality, usually the second weekend in February. The festival in Lahore means kite-flying, partying, fun and merrymaking: Unlike India, where it is also associated with Sarswati Puja in some parts of the country, it has no other significance in Pakistan. As far as I am aware, it is not a big festival in Sindh where a sizeable number of Hindus still live.
For us, the most memorable event of the day was unrelated to Basant. It was the luncheon get-together arranged by the Lahore chowkies. In addition to my wife and me, guests also included Nazar Hayat Khan who is from Karachi. Nazar and his lovely niece, an expatriate like ourselves, came to visit us at our hotel and joined us and Feroz, who had come to take us to The Village, the restaurant chosen for our get-together. The legendary Lahori hospitality was on full display. Before going to The Village, all of us were shooting the breeze in our hotel restaurant when a young man celebrating his engagement brought a large slice of cake for all of us.
The chowk get-together was a grand success; we were not only able to put faces to the names or, more accurately, nicks, but also able to establish instant rapport. The conversation covered all topics except those covered at chowk. The food was plentiful and could easily meet the needs of every taste bud, vegetarian and non-vegetarian, desi, oriental or western. The atmosphere was friendly and revealed chowkies to be a jovial, youthful and fun-loving bunch. We stayed at the The Village until almost everyone else had left and the place had emptied out. The party ended with gift-exchanges and picture-taking.
We had invitation to two Basant-Eve parties. We first went upstairs to the roof-top party of our hotel. A stage had been set up and elaborate arrangements had been made for food, entertainment and kite-flying. All servers, male and female, were wearing the colours of basant and many of the guests too were wearing the basanti scarfs gifted to us. We left that party just when it was beginning to warm up, to go to another invitation-only party in Gulberg, a fashionable commercial district of Lahore. The party was arranged on the roof of a large building. In the typical sub continental style, it seems that more invitations had been issued than there was room for and many people were using the same card for multiple entries. The number of people must be in thousands and there was a virtual stampede both outside and inside the party. I was somewhat unprepared for this type of party in Pakistan; men and women were jostling with each other to get inside the building and then climb up the stairs, the concept of self-discipline being alien to Panjabis.
The kite-flying was in full swing. I asked one enthusiast if he had “killed” any kites yet and he proudly answered, seven. He generously invited me to hold his dori-string for the next pecha fight. I thankfully declined the offer, which was a good thing, as the next pecha proved humiliating for the young enthusiast – his kite suffering a bo-kaata (cut by the opponent), with him left holding a limp string.
We followed the crowd to the food stalls. The food was plentiful with all types of favourite Panjabi preparations –fruits, juices, pops, corn-on-the-cob, halwas, poories, naans, kebabs and meats of all types as well as desserts, but there were fewer plates than the people chasing them. There was a pandemonium but people were still enjoying themselves. The entertainment program started before the dinner was over. It was a mujra-type set-up - chairs all around with an empty space in the middle for the dancer to perform. The dancer was a scantily-clad girl who started dancing to some popular, mostly Bollywood numbers. When she was tired, another more scantily-dressed dancer took her place. Alas, it was getting late and the ladies in the group hurried us back to our hotel, but I was told that the dances continued all through the night and the dancers’ costumes became skimpier and skimpier with each change of performer.
The next morning was the actual day fixed for Basant. On my morning walk, I could see the aftermath of last night’s ``battles``. The streets were littered with ‘dores’- the basant weapons of kite-mass-destruction; dore is a razor-sharp string fortified with “maajha” or metallic concoctions to cross swords with the opponents’ kites. Every kite that goes into the battlefield in the sky eventually falls onto the ground. Newspapers and TV channels were full of accounts of deaths due to kids falling off roofs while flying kites or chasing fallen kites or even due to electrocution as metallic strings tangled with electric wires.
While walking towards the famous Lakshami chowk, I passed by a chai-dhaaba where a few taxi drivers were having chai-naashta, their breakfast. I approached one and asked if he would be interested in taking us for a sightseeing trip of Lahore. He agreed and I asked him to pick us up from our hotel at 10 AM. The driver’s name was Anwar but he said that he was better known as ‘Lala’. I recognized Lala’s accent and asked him if he was from ‘Pindi. He was. I tried to reactivate my rustic potohari and we developed a good rapport. From then on he was our driver as well as a guide for part of the trip. Lala was very happy that the two countries were talking peace; he philosophised that there was no enmity between Indians and Pakistanis, it is only siaastdaaans -the politicians- who create problems between the two countries. I did not ask him if he included military brass among the siaastdaans.
Our first stop was the famous Lahore Fort. The construction of the Fort is generally associated with the Mughal emperor Akbar although it is said to be built on an earlier mud fort mentioned in Al Beruni’s Kitab Al-Hind. This is perhaps the oldest monument of Lahore. Lahore, an ancient city, is said to derive its name from ‘Luv’, the son of the Hindu god-king Ram of Ramayna. Not too far from Lahore is Kusur, which is said to owe its name to Ram’s other son, ‘Kush’. The Fort was closed for the rehearsal of some play to be staged there. But not to worry! The subcontinental “culture” came to our rescue. Lala found a Guide who was in cahoots with gatekeepers and who let us in through a side door for a small consideration. But the same culture also led to disappointment; the Guide did not tell us that we would only be able to see a small part of the fort, the inner part and the museum was still closed to us.
The area around Fort has many attractions of historic interest. There is the famous Badshahi Masjid built by Aurangzeb and the tomb of Allama Iqbal. But there is also the lesser known Dera Saheb commemorating the place where Maharaja Ranjit Singh was cremated. It is also a place to commemorate the martyrdom of the fifth sikh guru, Arjun Dev. The gurudwara is well kept, with daily langar/community kitchen. From its ramparts one can have a nice view of Minar-e-Pakistan. This Minar is the newest monument in Lahore where a resolution to create the state of Pakistan was passed in 1940. Although there is no monument to mark the place, these are also the grounds from where a young Jawahar Lal Nehru gave the clarion call for India’s freedom on January 26, 1930 and the day on which India now celebrates its republic.
From the Fort, we went to spend a few minutes in Lawrence Gardens – a really massive, well kept garden which is home to several species of plants and trees - and on to the Museum and Daata Durbar. We spent quite some time exploring the shrine and paid our homage to the great sufi, Daata Baksh Ganj. This is the place to go if one wants to meet the awaam-janata of Lahore. This is also the place where one probably sees more burqas than anywhere else in Lahore. The place was quite crowded on that Sunday afternoon but I was told that it is always crowded. The Darbar reminded me of the Haaji Ali Masjid of Mumbai but without the scenic Arabian Sea backdrop and the loud music blaring from the commercial stalls lining the approach to the Haaji Ali Masjid. There were the same large crowds of men and women (though none in saaris!), old and young, rich and poor; the same rush of faqirs and beggars, the stalls selling food and trinkets and people eager to receive the blessings of their patron Sufi saint. There seemed to be more malangs at Daata Darbar and more people seeking you out for donations to Tegs (food for the poor) without your knowing whether your donations would feed the poor or the family of the canvasser. Like the Haaji Ali shrine, the couples have to separate and enter the shrine from different directions and try to find each other in the crowd after paying homage to the Daata.
In the evening we were taken to another invitation-only basant party, this one hosted by none other than the grandson of Allama Iqbal, who is doing an admirable job of aesthetically renovating his grandfather’s old haveli, Barood Khaana, located near the famous Heera Mandi of Lahore. This was certainly a party of the elite and we got an invitation only because of Yasser’s extensive network in Lahore. The who’s who of Lahore was at the party, including the Junoon artists and Wasim Akram, the Pakistani cricket legend. Wasim was being mobbed for photographs by his fans and had just escaped the mob after great effort when he was approached to come back to pose with the guests from India, which he readily and graciously did. The keynote entertainer at the function was Zafar Abbas whose song, Chunno ki aankhon mein kitna nasha hai, is all the rage in Pakistan these days. Unlike the previous evening, this was a much better-behaved and disciplined crowd. As at last night’s party, men and women mingled freely. Both men and women were dressed in their fineries. Lahori women are perhaps the most stylishly dressed on the subcontinent. Although, there is not the same variety of costumes as in India, Lahoris have made creative use of dupattas and chaadars to create pleasing variations in fashion and styles. Despite the all-covering shalwar-kameez, they manage to look glamourous, even sexy, with clever use of the cuts of shalwar-kameez, variations in the length and girth of the kameez and shalwar, and sometimes using thin fabric. Their choice of colours and fabric is tasteful, though ostentatious. The event was being covered by the Pakistani TV channels, one of whose correspondents approached both my wife and me for our comments on the celebrations. When the food was ready, we were the first to partake of the typical Panjabi meal of sarson ka saag and Paraathas and headed out with Yasser and his family for a round of old Lahore, including the vast complex of the Mayo Hospital.
This was the end of the first phase of our Lahore visit. The second phase, towards the end of our Pakistan trip, was spent mostly in shopping and a visit to Anarkali, both old and new. Anarkali was decorated for Moharram at this time with some stalls creating ‘jhaankis’ or kiosks depicting scenes from old Lukhnow. Here, we again got a chance to see what the ‘magic’ word Indian can do in Pakitan during these days of bonhomie. We arrived to visit a newly opened chic gallery-cum-restaurant at Anarkali just when the doors were being closed, but a word from our hosts about their Indian guests got the doors opened again. The gallery was displaying the works of an artist who was present in the gallery and was being interviewed, I believe, by Indus TV. After the interview was over, the interviewer approached us for our reactions, followed by the artist himself who spent quite a few minutes chatting about his work with us.
It is customary to compare Lahore and Delhi and there are, indeed, many similarities between the two cities. The vibrant Panjabi culture of `khao-piyo-aish-karo` - eat drink and be merry - dominates both cities. Ostentatious living comes naturally to Panjabis and is as visible in the lavish parties of Lahore as of those in farm houses outside Delhi. But while the Panjabi culture dominates both cities, one cannot say the same thing about the Panjabi language. Panjabi is not the formal language of either city – it is English/Hindi in Delhi (though some road signs are in Panjabi and the language is taught in many schools) and Urdu in Lahore. And while the street language of Delhi is Hindi/Hinglish, Panjabi still rules the roost in Lahore. Urdu spoken in Lahore has a distinct Panjabi accent, even when spoken by the descendants of Mohajirs. Indeed, those Mohajirs from the land of Ghalib and Zauq would be aghast if they heard their progeny speaking Urdu like that Sialkotia, Iqbal.
Both cities are a dream come true for the connoisseurs of food. But vegetarians would have a somewhat hard time in Lahore; one is likely to find meat even in samosas, vegetables and parathas. If more Indians are to visit Pakistan, there is a good opportunity for an enterprising Lahori to start a vegetarian restaurant, even one that serves Idlis and Masala Dosas.
While Lahoris complain of traffic, one visit to Delhi will cure that complaint. There are many more cars clogging the roads of Delhi than of Lahore though Lahore seems to have a larger proportion of bigger, imported cars. Despite dozens of flyovers and many more under construction, Delhi is a driver’s nightmare. There are several roads in Delhi, especially old Delhi where the fastest mode of transportation is often by foot. Even the traffic sense of Lahori drivers is somewhat better than those of Delhi drivers. But one notices fewer women driving cars in Lahore than in Delhi. Indeed, one sees very few women, especially unescorted women, on the streets. But quality makes up for quantity.
Lahoris love life and love themselves. If it is true that puritanical Islam abhors fun and frolic, then the Mullah has met his match in the Lahori, whose motto in life is captured by the saying:
Guddi vee udaavange! [Like it or not we’ll fly kites]
Te akh vee ladaavange! [Like it or not, we’ll have fun]
Next: The Feudal
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