Lala Lajpat Rai, son of the soil

Salma Mahmud recalls a controversial Punjabi patriot’s life and works

Last year, on July 17, 2009, the Gulab Devi Hospital in Lahore celebrated its platinum jubilee, and recalled the establishment of the Gulab Devi Memorial Trust in 1927 by the renowned Punjabi patriot Lala Lajpat Rai. The trust was founded by Lalaji in memory of his mother Gulab Devi, who died of tuberculosis in Lahore. The building was finally completed in 1934, seven years after Lalaji’s death, and was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi. It remains today as one of the very few TB hospitals in Pakistan, providing an invaluable service to those who suffer from ‘the white scourge’, which is today curable, given the right treatment at the right time.

A great son of the Punjab

Salma Mahmud traces the career of the amazing Sir Ganga Ram, engineer, agriculturalist and philanthropist

“He won like a hero, and spent like a saint,” said the Right Honourable Baron Hailey of Shahpur, Governor of the Punjab from 1924 to 1928, and a great admirer of Sir Ganga Ram.

My flagging faith in humanity was given a much needed shot in the arm after reading a March 10 news item datelined Faisalabad, describing how the residents of the village of Gangapur in Jaranwala, have revived the horse trolley train from their village to the  nearby Buchiana station. The trolley, pulled by one horse, can accommodate up to fifteen people, and once set in motion, moves of its own volition without much straining of the horse. The three kilometre track from Gangapur village was launched in 1903 in Chak 591-GB by the founder of the village, Sir Ganga Ram, and continued until 1993, when the track was stolen.

Shaheed-e-Muhabbat

by Haroon Khalid

On the 19th of February 1958, a man in his mid-sixties jumped on the railway track near Shahdara, with the intention of killing himself. He was being watched by his young daughter, who was 5 at that time. Police recovered three letters from the corpse. The first letter stated that Zainab should look after his two daughters, the second was his will, in which he donated his entire possession to a mosque, and the last letter stated that he should be buried as a Muslim in the village of Nurpur on Burki road. Only his second wish came true.

Heer-Ranjha, Romeo-Juliet, Sassi-Panno are all stories/myths, shrouded in mystery, oblivious to the criterion of chronology, however this story of Boota and Zainab is real. The love story of Boota and Zainab has touched many hearts. Shaheed-i-Muhabbat, a Punjabi feature film made by Gurdas Maan, Muhabbat a novel by Ishrat Rahmani, another novel Zainab Jamil, and Hollywood movie The Partition are all tributes to this couple.

The Lahore Railway Station…

The Lahore Railway Station…, originally uploaded by Saad Sarfraz Sheikh.

Lahore Railway Station was literally the first purpose-built British imperial building, its foundation stone haying been laid by John Lawrence in 1859, and it cost half a million rupees to build.

JAHAN E JAHANARA

JAHAN E JAHANARA  is a cultural center for children, established in an oasis of historical trees, a bird sanctuary within a century old building, It is an island where children can acquire that essential but rare experience of their cultural heritage; it is an opportunity for them to explore their creative potential in a  systematic manner under expert guidance. At the core of Jahan e JahanAra is a comittment to revive social and artistic values to engender change.

This is a labour of love for Sheherezade Alam who is the moving force behind this new initiative. Alam studied art and design at the National College of Art Lahore. She did post graduate studies from the West Surrey College of Art and Design, UK.  Her intimacy with clay, beginning in the early 1970’s made her Pakistan’s first female studio potter, and has seen her travel and work alongside with some of the most acclaimed twentieth century potters in Europe, Asia, US, and Canada. In 2000, she established LAAL, an artists collective, whose mission is to bring cultural and heritage education to young children. The Jahan e JahanAra, Center for Traditional Arts, is an attempt to contribute/ share this passion to/ with the children of Lahore.

Temple wrought with stories

by Haroon Khalid

Lahore is ever expanding, mercilessly eating away any village or town that comes in its way. Many towns and villages like Niaz Beg, Hanjarwal, etc, which were historically well outside the city are now deemed as part of Lahore. However, even after being incorporated by the phenomenon that is Lahore, such places have managed to retain their past, culture and identity as something that is different from the city itself, and that is what makes this new city of Lahore so interesting and endearing. Whereas most of these settlements do not predate Lahore and were never historically as significant as Lahore, there was nonetheless one such locality, which is believed to have existed even before Lahore did. Its significance chronologically exceeds that of Lahore. This town is Ichhra.

In the popular culture Lahore’s origin is tied to the Hindu mythologies. There are historians who argue that before the walled city of Lahore became Lahore, Lahore actually was the locality of Ichhra. A very interesting observation is presented to substantiate the thesis. Mostly what we find in the appellations of the doors of a walled city is that the gates are named after the city which they face. The Delhi darwaza of Lahore is named so because it faces Delhi, so is the case with the Kashmiri darwaza. There has been some controversy regarding the name of the Lohari darwaza. It is argued that the Lohari darwaza points towards Ichhra. Lohari could be a primeval name of Lahore in this case, and Ichhra would be that historical city of Lahore.