A Love Affair with Lahore

you forgot to mention RESHMA ji ,if east punjab is having PURAN SHAH KOTI,then pakistan is having a gem like RESHMA.

Thank you very much for an article that makes my coming trip to Pakistan more than merely something to look forward to. My wife`s family came to India from Lahore and my mother`s from Karachi, where, indeed, she was born and where she lived with her parents well after Partition, coming to India only in the late 1950s to join university there and marry my father.

I hope to visit both my mother`s as well as my wife`s ancestral homes and try to locate friends of my maternal grandfather who are still alive - I have received more than a little help from a leading columnist in one of your newspapers in this regard. Hopefully, after I return to the US, I shall be able to post here about my voyage of discovery through a country that my maternal ancestors came from.

Thanks and best wishes!

Bina,

This was interesting. Somehow, I did not see any love anywhere in this excerpt. I did see ``fascination`` with the subject of Lahore. I guess we all have a different way of expressing love.

Thank you Kulhari ji - I have heard that definition before. It suits me just fine because I play the flute (the Western classical one, though, not the Indian bansari - although I would die to find someone who could teach me how to play that) and piano and I have always loved music.

Personally, I`m not so hung up about Muslim/Hindu/Western names and the distinctions for religious groups. I think that if a name is beautiful and has a good meaning, it is perfectly appropriate for anybody to use. There are plenty of Muslims with Western, Hindu, or even Japanese names for that matter! And I`m sure vice versa.

So delhiwala when you said my name is Iranian not Hindu, I disagree. My name can be Iranian, or Hindu, or indeed Pakistani. I`m perfectly happy with any interpretation. As long as you like me for me and not because of my name!

And I am not from Lahore... the entire article, in fact, is about the rivalry between Karachi and Lahore, but I only posted the most inoffensive (!) parts of the essay because I didn`t want another fight on FP.

Cheers to all of you, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and whateva - you are all my sister and brothers anyway!

kulhareeji,

been also hass a gourd ..its a snake-charmers flute

#34, Dillidost {``Thirdly, Hindus do use Muslim First Names(sometimes) but hardly any Muslim does the converse. ...But I have never seen any Muslim with Hindu first names, ``Bina Shah`` was the first exception.``}

Dillidost,
I disagree with you. There are some Hindu names, mostly female ones, that Muslims use - Kiran, Neelam, Mina, Phool, Simi, and some others.
The only male Hindu names that I have heard being used by Muslims are Raja and Suraj. But in UP, many Muslims use common Hindu nicknames (male and female), such as Kaala, Bhoora, Pappu, Abban, Mitthan, Dhakkan, ChuTTan, Paro, GuRya, Paree, Chabban, Ranjan, Raajan, Lakhan, and Rani.

All right, since you asked...

Bina is a Persian word meaning ``vision``.
Shah is a Persian word meaning ``king``

I`m also informally known as Binafshe, which is Persian for ``pansy`` (the flower)

Satisfied?

Re: # 36
Bina Ji.

Bina is also a North Indian Musical Instrument (not to be confused with Veena). Veena is a string instrument with two (sometimes just one) big Gourds (or voice boxes) attached to either end – looks like a Sitar with two balls attached at either end.

Bina is Bansuri, usually made of hardwood (Bamboo Bansuris are most popular). While I tell you about Bansuri, it will be a sin not to mention Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia.

So Bina, your parents gave you a very musical name. It is a beautiful name.

Okee-dokee and Thanks for clarifying!

So your name is an Iranian name not Hindu, you could have just said that before.

Are you from Lahore?

My Nani was the first Woman Inspector General for Girls Schools before 1947, she was from Lahore and Sialkot.

If I get a VISA someday, I will definitely want to see Lahore. There used to be a Chinese Restaurant near the old Airport that my Nani`s brother used to run. I wonder what happened to it????

Cafe Zouk`s turned into the Crow-Eaters Gallery?


Roz, yaar, we went to Crow Eater`s gallery after our shopping trip to Anarkali. Remember, we had that awesome Murree lemonade with Kabab Paranthey? I think that place is different from Cafe Zouk`s though coz we drove past that as well.

Bina,

Cafe Zouk`s turned into the Crow-Eaters Gallery?

Those who have never visited Lahore often fail to understand whats so special about this city. Why it is so sentimentalised by Lahoris and non Lahoris alike who have had the good fortune of having been here. I dont know the answer myself. All I can do is repeat what one said at Chowk somewhere before: ``Lahore is a love affair... it has nothing to do with reason``.

It is certainly my first love nothwithstanding its modernisation....which only adds another dimension to its charm.

thanks! got it :)

Amrita, do try Penguin India`s Web site. I bet you could order it from there

Bina, this made me want to read the book all the more ... i checked amazon and its still not available. sigh.

# 21, yes we called it nehri.
# 22, motia is jasmine flower