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Pak Tea House http://pakistanblogawards.com/2011/11/12/current-affairs-blog-raza-rumi-k-chishti/  and Lahore Nama http://pakistanblogawards.com/2011/11/13/culture-blog-raza-rumi/ are competing in the blog-awards. Please click the links and vote on the headline (u will see stars).

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Please vote for Lahore Nama at Pakistan blog awards

Dear friends, followers, readers and visitors.

Due to your interest and support, Lahore Nama is becoming a popular resource on Lahore and Pakistan’s culture. It has been nominated under the ‘culture’ category. Please vote for it by clicking here: Link or  copy paste this URL into your browser – http://pakistanblogawards.com/2011/11/13/culture-blog-raza-rumi/

Vote under the headline by clicking the stars..

Looking forward to your support

RR

Commanding Success – 125 Years of Aitchison College

Wow Documentary on World City LAHORE

Delhi (1938)

Classic addition

By Waqar Gillani

These days, if you enter ‘Classic Books’, one of the old book shops and a publishing house at Regal Chowk on The Mall you will find a smiling Rashid Hussain Agha, one of the proprietors of the bookstore, welcoming you with all kinds of bakery stuff ‑ cookies and ready to eat food items

Yes, the history has taken another turn. Agha family, known because of its printing of progressive writings and literature, has now added a bakery in the basement and ground floor of their four-storey book house, shifting the books to the third floor.

“We started the bakery after long deliberations and a survey of the area. We had been thinking of starting some other business along with the bookshop for the last couple of years,” fifty-one-year-old Rashid tells The News on Sunday, adding, “The reason is simple. There is decline in book business and severe decline in book selling.” He further says, “We have been facing depressing times in the last couple of years that forced us to think anew so we decided to rename Classic as bakery and books.” Click here to read complete article.

Anarkali: Books Bazaar

 

Photo Courtesy :  Shiraz Hassan

 

 

 

A short, myopic and utterly biased guide to bookstores in Lahore

By Bilal Tanweer

But first let me qualify: by ‘books’ I almost exclusively mean books of fiction and poetry—and my judgment of bookstores rests entirely on the said collections. So, go read some other column if you’re into politics. Just go away. (Also, I don’t discuss Urdu books here either; there will be another piece for that.)

Now let’s begin with the usual suspects, Ferozsons and Sang-e-Meel, which have traditionally provided shadier grounds for fiction lovers. Over the past few years, however, these two have fallen on hard times—and it seems to me, they have fallen quite deliberately and even happily. Most of their stock was imported from the UK two decades ago, or earlier. This particularly applies to Sang-e-Meel which seems to be engaged in some sort of hoarding game. The only real addition it has made to its stock in the last two decades is the plastic covers that now seal the books to protect against dust and must. Not that that’s an entirely bad thing, mind you, because in all that plastic I found Lawrence Durrell’s Antrobus Stories—a book that has been out of print for many years now. But here’s the catch: you must buy these plastic-wrapped books at jaw-dropping, eye-popping, soul-smarting prices of more than what they would cost you brand new in the UK itself. (Sang-e-Meel and Ferozsons convert the pounds into rupees at outrageous rates.) Therefore, the only comfort I usually draw from shopping at the said stores is the knowledge that even though I earn in Pakistani Rupees, I can still read in Pounds Sterling.

But no, seriously, if you’re interested in buying fiction in English, there are two bookstores to recommend. One is The Last Word, which is located on the top floor of the Hot Spot, Qaddafi Stadium. It houses a small, smart and remarkably current selection of books, and if there’s a new book to be had, you can trust it shall be served here. TLW specializes in contemporary fiction and nonfiction, and mostly makes up for its tiny size with the big intelligence of its selection. It is also the only place I know in Pakistan where you can find the latest issue of literary magazines, including the terrific The Paris Review. It gets my heart for that.

But the bookstore that gets my love and rocks my world and inspires all these clichés and more is Readings. It has a wonderful collection of both contemporary and classic fiction (although, shockingly, no books by David Foster Wallace!?), its prices are better than other bookstores, and above all, it has the culture of a real bookstore where you have baskets and cushions to collect and browse through your books at leisure, and where the shop boys do not hover about, eyeing you like you’re a book criminal. It is also probably the only bookstore in the country that has entire shelves dedicated to poetry in English, which include contemporary poets. That, ladies and gents, is enough to warrant it as the best bookstore in the country. I owe the discovery of many delightful poets to this bookstore.

Source: http://columndump.tumblr.com/post/12725438279/a-short-myopic-and-utterly-biased-guide-to-bookstores

Stories of sex-workers in Heera Mandi, Lahore and beyond

Posted by Raza Rumi

A TV journalist prepared this bold documentary for a news channel but it was never aired for obvious reasons – electronic media remains conservative about taboo subjects. The documentary provides great insights into the way women live, work and identify themselves as sex-workers in Lahore’s oldest red-light district known as Heera Mandi (Diamond Market) ironically next to the great Badshahi mosque. Coverage of Multan in the later parts is also interesting.

The narrator obviously has his biases – the usual refrain of middle class Muslims of the subcontinent – but he tries hard to remain neutral and investigative. There is a good dose of Mujras inserted into the series for the viewers; and tit bits of the Hollywood/Bollywood melodrama on the oppressed ‘tawaif’ (prostitute). Whilst tragedies bring these women to the sex-trade, not all of them lament their lives. If anything, Mirza Ruswa’s Umrao Jan (way back in the nineteenth century) was pretty comfortable and empowered by her profession. Similarly, one of the interviewees says: “money is the father, mother and everything for tawaifs”. The head of Kanjar biradri says that girls are taught to be ‘men’, earning ‘horses’ fooling their clients! Not to be missed.

My favourite is the ‘client’ who confesses how intoxicating it is to be “in love” with a sex worker. One gets tired of ‘using’ a wife all the time he says. Wish this documentary had been aired.

The language of these videos is Urdu so it might not be accessible to all the visitors here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyRYGczqsQo&feature=related

Lawrence and Montgomery Halls in Lahore

he Lawrence and Montgomery Halls in Lahore as photographed by James Craddock in the 1860s. The caption states “Two large Halls for public meetings built by subscription in honour of Sir John (now Lord) Lawrence and Sir Robert Montgomery. The latter is almost the finest room in India & is used for all the state durbars and Senate meetings, etc. The great ball to the Duke of Edinburgh was in this Hall.” Sir John Lawrence was first Chief Commissioner and Lt. Governor of the Punjab (1853-59) and went on to become Viceroy of India. Robert Montgomery was second Lt. Governor of the Punjab (1859-65). Sir Lawrence played a crucial role during the First War of Independence in 1857 by assuring the supply of troops from Punjab to Delhi. The neoclassical look of the halls was meant to inspire awe in the locals and reaffirm colonial authority after the war. The halls are now being used as the Quaid e Azam Library.
Photo Credit:  http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta2/tft/article.php?issue=20111104&page=30

Sikh Yatrees at Wagha Station, Lahore

LAHORE: Over 2,900 Sikh Yatrees from India and thousands of others from all over the world including America, Canada , UK, Europe, and from parts of Sindh have reached Nankana Sahib to participate in the celebrations which will continue till November 11.

Photo by : Daily Express.

 

Aitchison College, Lahore

Aitchison College, Lahore, originally uploaded by Jahane Rumi.

Lahore’s famous and premier school. Once a preserve of the elites, it is finally opening up. The buildings are beautiful: mixing Gothic with Indian styles.
The building above is called the “Old building” – the first one constructed to cater for the ‘chiefs’ and their progeny. A true architectural gem.

All set for the sacrifice – a sheep on a motor bike

A Pakistani man holds a sheep on a motor bike after buying it in an animal market in Lahore on November 6, 2011. Eid, the festival of sacrifice, is

Delhi Darwaza, Lahore

Delhi Darwaza, Lahore, originally uploaded by Jahane Rumi.

One of the several gates of Old Lahore also known as the walled city. This picture was taken when I took a few friends to the Shahi Hamaam. RR

Photo: A year ago when Asma Jahangir won the bar election

Asad J with the winners, originally uploaded by Jahane Rumi.

Captured immediately after her victory. That was an amazing moment. Asad Jamal (centre) was an active member of her campaign. A year later, her group has won the elections to Supreme Court bar Association indicating that she remains the most independent lawyer of the country.

Dus Sharabiya: ‘The Song Of Lahore’

 

Artist: Faisal Rana ft. Deep Singh
Song: Dus Sharabiya

Dus Sharabiya is international collaboration between Pakistani artist Faisal Rana and Indian artist Deep Singh. Dus Sharabiya is about Lahore, even we would call Dus Sharabiya, ‘The Song Of Lahore’

Download from here

Govt. Islamia College, Railway Road, Lahore

 

 

 

Govt. Islamia College Railway Road Lahore was founded in 1892 by the Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam, the oldest of the three colleges was one of the focal points for the Pakistan Movement. The founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, visited this college to address and confer with its students. Graduates and students of this college are referred to as “Habibians” after the name of the college’s oldest and central building.

Photo by: Shiraz Hassan