ANOTHER GRAND OLD MAN GONE

Dr Daniyal Nagi
The city of Lahore, grieves on the loss of another of the Lahore’s Grand Old Men.Birjees Nagi B.A.LLB was brutally murdered in his home in Johar Town on 8th Dec 2009.He was 77.Born in Amritser to Maulvi Ibrahim Nagi District & Session Judge, who had opted for Pakistan in 1947 despite lucrative offers and brother of Capt Jirjees Nagi Shaheed of 1965 war. Mr Nagi always upheld the traditions of his family,of integrity, boldness and truthfulness. Educated in Central Model School, Government College and Law College, he was a true intellectual and a true lahorite to the core. The generation of Ravians of 1950s might remember him as one of the Nagi brothers who were on the forefront in all sports and literary activities.

Lahore Bombings: Witness Audio Interview

Cross-posted from my personal blog

My cousin Usman was at ‘Moon Market’ in Iqbal Town last week when twin explosions went off. I asked him to narrate what he saw, heard and felt on that horrendous night. This interview is completely in Urdu, so I apologize if you can’t follow it. It meant a lot to me, since I was asking Usman to dig up the most troubling moments of his vibrant, youthful life so far, but I commend and salute him for being brave and recounting the events for the sake of sharing.

I’ll try doing an English transcript sometime. Excuse the slight sounds of kids playing in the back- my nieces are visiting.

AUDIO LINK: Interview with Usman Ghauri on the Moon Market Blasts

A ‘rescued’ statue on Cooco’s terrace

A ‘rescued’ statue on Cooco’s terrace, originally uploaded by Jahane Rumi.

courtesy: Beena Sarwar

Kucha Pir Shirazi, old Lahore

Kucha Pir Shirazi, old Lahore, originally uploaded by Jahane Rumi.

Once again, many thanks to Dr Daniyal Nagi

A decaying haveli in Lohari

A decaying haveli in Lohari, originally uploaded by Jahane Rumi.

Lahore Nama is grateful to Daniyal Nagi, a true Lahori for alerting us of this haveli. Raza Rumi

Save Lahore Canal – sign this petition

Please sign this petition

To:  Citizens of Lahore

As you may have heard, The Punjab government is planning to widen the road on both sides of the Lahore Canal, from Thokar Niaz Baig to Dharampura, as a so-called solution for the congestion on the canal road due to the rapidly increasing automobile population. The Punjab Chief Minister had announced that the project would begin immediately after Eid-ul-Azha, however, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took suo moto notice and effectively restrained the government from commencing work on the project on 27 November 2009. The government has not fulfilled its legal obligation of carrying out an EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment)for the project and the lack of transparency of the program is depriving the citizens of Lahore from having a say in this change.

It is the consensus of a great number of organizations and groups of concerned citizens that the Rs 3.15 billion project violates basic principles of traffic design and will not only prove ineffective in countering traffic congestion, but also lead to an outstanding number of problems related to the well-being of the public and the environment. Widened roads have historically proven to only end up attracting more traffic, and the government’s focus on providing for the car-owning citizen over the abounding majority (which requires public transport, sidewalks, public toilets, phones and drinking water) is entirely against the principles of equity. The project also means the cutting down of several thousand old trees and losing over 50 acres of the green belt, which is sure to lead to a staggering number of environmental problems including rising temperatures and carbon and toxic content, not to mention the loss of ancient species of trees and shrubs that provide shelter to a variety of birds and small animals. The historical, environmental, recreational and aesthetic value of this green space cannot be stressed enough.

We demand that our voice be heard to address these critical issues and help preserve the beauty and grandeur of our city.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Lahore tragedy strikes again – an eye witness account

I am grateful to Khurram Siddiqi for his timely and rather chilling account of what Lahore underwent this evening. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of Lahore tragedy. Raza Rumi

Today, two bombs struck Allama Iqbal Town’s ‘Moon Market’- a place that I remember from my childhood when our family used to visit Lahore- many members of which, at the time, lived close to. My cousin Usman was actually at a store in the market when the blast went off, and survived by some miracle. He came home shocked and changed from a full grown man- into a tepid young boy again; he said that he had just witnessed hell itself. I was taking a nap since I’ve been sick over the last few days- and woke to the sound of a cacophony of ambulance sirens; I now live almost across Jinnah Hospital. The bomb went off in Iqbal Town; I’ve tried to illustrate where all of this happened on the map here:
View Moon Market Blasts in a larger map

Bradlaugh Hall, Lahore

Bradlaugh Hall, Lahore, originally uploaded by Jahane Rumi.

Maharajah Ranjit Singh the warrior of Lahore and Punjab

Source

Lot 121
INDIAN MINIATURE PORTRAIT (EARLY 19TH CENTURY)
SIKH MAHARAJAH RANJIT SINGH
Gouache heightened with gold on paper, farsi inscription ‘Shabah-i Maharajah Ranjit Singh Bahadur Rajah – i Lahaur o Panjab’, translated as ‘Maharajah Ranjit Singh the warrior of Lahore and Punjab

‘Loot sale’ of family jewels

First published in The News
The government of Punjab has just announced the sale of hundreds of acres of “redundant” state land in Lahore. The properties proposed to be put on the auction block include the Governor’s House, the official residences of the chief justice of the Lahore High Court, the commissioner of Lahore and the district coordination officer of Lahore.

Normally, one would have got on their feet and cheered the news of a decision taking on these relics of Colonial Imperialism now enjoyed by a select few that, in all other things but skin colour, are mirrors of our previous masters. But the reasons for this “loot sale” reveal mismanagement of such proportions that one cannot but put sentiments aside and ask: what on earth is going on?

The government has reportedly chosen to take this step because it is seriously strapped for cash. The sale of these properties are meant to fetch the government approximately Rs30 billion. Again, the windfall from the constructive use of such properties would normally earn the decision widespread approval. But remember, monuments of Colonial imperialism or not, some of these properties are masterpieces of architecture and design that deserve more than the treatment they are going to get.

Lahori jewellers create ‘world’s biggest ring’ for peace

‘Seven goldsmiths toiled for 577 days to create 50 x 57 inches ‘The Global Peace Ring’, weighing 74 kilograms,’ Amin Saleem said at a news conference at the Lahore Press Club. — Dawn

 

 

LAHORE: A group of Suha Bazaar goldsmiths on Wednesday claimed to have made the world’s biggest ring.

‘Seven goldsmiths toiled for 577 days to create 50 x 57 inches ‘The Global Peace Ring’, weighing 74 kilograms,’ Amin Saleem said at a news conference at the Lahore Press Club.

A singing Romanian gypsy falls in love with Lahore

European artist fears terrorism will shatter her dreams

* Jina Rubik says Pakistan cultural heart of subcontinent, suffering because of insecurity

By Afnan Khan

LAHORE: A European artist has found herself trapped between her passion to learn and promote music and performing arts of the subcontinent, and the current downfall of arts and culture due to terrorism in Pakistan.

Hundreds of parks now victims of PHA neglect

By Nauman Tasleem

LAHORE: The Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) is neglecting hundreds of small parks in different parts of the city.

The authority has been focusing on 600 parks, including a few main public places, while ignoring the remaining 400 situated in different localities of the city. The PHA was established in 1998 with the objective of making the city “clean and beautiful”. The authority works on the parks and grounds of housing schemes approved by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA). The PHA is neglecting a little under half of around 1,000 parks in the city, leaving most of them in an abysmal state.

Saddam hotel in old Lahore

Saddam hotel in old Lahore, originally uploaded by Jahane Rumi.

A few weeks ago when I took my friend for a tour inside the lanes of old Lahore, we spotted this little streetside ‘hotel’ or a dhaba that has been named after Saddam. The dictator is dead but his memory lives in public imagination as a symbol of resistance. Raza Rumi

Say a little a prayer for Lahore

 

By Ahmad Rafay Alam

The only thing as incredulous as the recent announcement by the Government of Punjab — it intention to construct a highway through the heart of Lahore — was the recent statement of the CEO of Fashion Pakistan Week that their glorified display of clothes was a “gesture of defiance towards the Taliban.”

Our fashion industry is as much of an industry as the Holy Roman empire was holy, Roman or an empire. Our designers are talented without doubt; but to suggest that parading scantily clad men and women down a runway behind the bunkers and barricades of a five-star hotel in Karachi is an act of defiance is, well, really stretching the limits to which the “security situation” can make a fool out of us.

A HIGHER LOVE

Posted by Nizam-un-Nisa Ayeda Naqvi on November 12, 2009

Not too far from where I live, in Lahore, Pakistan, is a little shrine. It is not the mausoleum of a famous poet or a Sufi saint, but the resting place of two star-crossed lovers who were denied the sanctity of marriage by their society almost five hundred years ago.

And yet this tomb is treated with the same reverence and etiquette as the shrines of any of the great mystics that dot the landscape here. In fact, if the visitors’ emotions are anything to go by, this shrine seems to have unparalleled power, for on any given day, devotees can be seen sitting in corners of the marble mausoleum, sobbing softly as they contemplate the tragic story of the beautiful Heer and the devastated Ranjha.

Lahore Coffee House

Raza Rumi (published in The Friday Times)

Before his death in July 2009, KK Aziz had accomplished one mission
that he had set for himself, i.e. to write about the Lahore Coffee
House, the glorious nursery of ideas. Luckily, despite his failing
health, Aziz finished a draft that was meant to be a shining part of
his autobiographical kaleidoscope. “The Coffee House of Lahore: A
Memoir, 1942-57” was published in 2008 and Aziz, in the opening
chapters, tells us about the genesis of his passion to document this
memorable phase of our contemporary history.

Lahori malangs shine at SAARC festival in Chandigarh

From Shahzada Irfan

CHANDIGARH, India:  A thunderous applause and endless admiration followed the dhamal performance of malangs from the shrine of sufi poet Shah Husain in Lahore, in the city’s Tagore Hall on Saturday.

The malangs, who came here to participate in the second SAARC Folklore Festival, have become an instant hit and are being requested by the organisers for repeat performances, on public’s request.

Punjab Assembly turns into a “fish market”

This has to be one of the most riveting descriptions of an Assembly session in recent memory. Brilliant stuff. Far more entertaining than TV. Wait, this should be on TV!!

From The News (http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=206968)

Punjab PA turns into fish market as Sana, Zaheer trade allegations
Friday, November 06, 2009
By Babar Dogar

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly turned into a fish market on Thursday when Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah Khan and Opposition leader Ch Zaheer traded allegations against each other’s leadership, declaring them dacoits and Qabza Mafia heads.

The parliamentarians from the PML-N and the PML-Q in the Punjab Assembly crossed all limits of decency in exposing the past corruptions of their top leadership. Law Minister Rana Sana alleged Ch Pervaiz Elahi and Ch Moonis Elahi were dacoits and Qabza Mafia heads who had illegally occupied 4,000-kanal land of Roberts Agriculture Farm, besides being involved in the Punjab Bank scam.

In retaliation, Opposition leader Ch Zaheer termed PML-N Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif dacoits and heads of Qabza Mafia who had illegally occupied 1,600-acre land in Jati Umra, Raiwind.

Rana Sana challenged Ch Zaheer to prove the allegations, or he would have to resign while Ch Zaheer informed the house that he was being threatened within and outside the assembly by the law minister.

It’s time for the October Critical Mass Lahore!!!

Join Lahore’s 11th Critical Mass Event at 10:15am this Sunday 25 October 2009 from the Fountain Square, Neela Gumbat, behind Bank Square on Mall Road, Lahore.

This Critical Mass cycling event ill see us prowling the innards of Lahore where riding a bike offers the chance to sample more of  Walled City life without picking a tab.

The thrum of the historic Walled City will lift your spirits as we catch the city-folks going about their morning ritual of Nashta.  If you’re worried about the security situation, you can stay at home at let the terrorists win.

Spinning via Anarkali Bazar we will enter the walled city from Lohari Gate and zigzag our way through the maze of Said Mitha, Paniwala Talab, Rang Mahal, Kashmiri Bazar, Chuna Mandi, Sheranwala Gate, and weave our way back from Fort Road, Red Light District, and Bhati Gate returning to Nila Gumbad via Lower Mall.

Critical Mass is about having clean cities that provide mobility and accessibility. Critical Mass is about clean transport. Critical Mass is about putting public good over private interest. Critical Mass is about making friends. Critical Mass is about reclaiming public space. Critical Mass is about showing a man or a woman on a cycle is the same as one in a ten lac car. Critical Mass is about democracy.