Jahane Rumi

This piece was first published in The Friday Times 

Conversations with novelist, filmmaker, feline aficionado, and femme fatale, Feryal Ali Gauhar, as she prepares to launch her second novel

Who doesn’t know Feryal Ali Gauhar? A novel at the top of The New York Times international bestseller list, years of television appearances and a highly publicised marriage to Jamal Shah that became fodder for countless gab sessions, have caricatured and made famous her persona. Had I not known her personally, I too may have fallen for the half-imagined tales littering the drawing rooms of socialites in this land of the pure. But I have had the pleasure of Feryal’s acquaintance for years, and not a moment of our friendship has resembled the images painted by petty gossip and lazy misinformation.

  

 

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“Anwar Pasha, an architect, has sketched the architecture of Sikh-era houses to take the viewers on a journey through the architecture of the past. He has focused on Jharokas and balconies. He said he wanted to save the dying architecture of the old buildings.”

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 I finally got hold of the digital images of some lovely prints by Samar Ataullah - a graduate of the National College of Arts, Lahore.

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Saw this newsitem today - “Data Sahib’s 963rd urs concludes: Around 500,000 attend final prayers”. The news item reported that around 0.9 million visited the shrine on Saturday. The saint left this world nine centuries ago.

During my recent visit the Urs preparations were underway. I captured a few images.  First the shrine at the night-

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While the country reels under another dramatic development, someone in Lahore is busy with the spring flowers:

The background is the Punjab University’s Old Campus.

Photo credit

Zia from Islamabad writes: Read it here >>

Lahore skies must be covered with kites today.  Basant is the most loved public event. A newspaper report said:

 ”you’re either here or you’re a square - Lahore to host biggest ever Basant celebrations today..”

Tonight, So there will be fun and frolic all day long and shall continue into the early hours of the morning. There have been efforts to ban the event due to the dangers it poses to human life. But the Courts and the government relented.

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One day after the tragic bomb blast on the peace train, life goes on. The resilience of people in our part of the world is remarkable. Full entry here >>

Mayank Austen Soofi in Delhi is an interesting character. A good writer and a prolific blogger, he is also fascinated by Pakistan. One of his blogs is called Pakistan Paindabad.

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 Lady of the age

First published by The Friday Times

Mughal history ignores women of the empire, including Emperor Aurangzeb’s daughter Zeb-un-Nissa: patron of the arts, poet, and a keeper of several lovers – according to rumours. The eldest daughter, she was Aurangzeb’s close companion for several years. She was born in 1638 to Dilras Bano of the Persian Safavid dynasty. Loved by Aurangzeb, she was named carefully to reflect his station.

A favourite, she was exposed to the affairs of the Mughal court. With a sound education in the arts, languages, astronomy and sciences of the day, Zeb-un-Nissa turned into an aware and sensitive princess. She never married and kept herself occupied by poetry and a spiritual Sufi quest.

This is the irony – Aurangzeb’s daughter was an antithesis of her father’s persona and politics. Zeb-un-Nissa was both a Sufi and a gifted poet. The Divan-i-Makhfi – a major divan – is credited to her name. Given her father’s dislike for poetry, she could only be makhfi – the invisible.

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Sheraz from Islamabad has contributed this amazing account of Lahore’s eclectic past. The influence of the British rulers resulted in erection of sculptures at public places, not an uncommon practice in the colonies. Most of these relics of the past are no more. Some have been conserved while others were removed.

Sheraz writes

“The statue of Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1928), who, while leading a procession with Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya to demonstrate against the Simon Commission, faced brutal baton charge and died of fatal injuries on November 17, 1928, was somewhere in the vicinity of Kim’s Gun or zamazama - the famous cannon on the Mall, Lahore. This statue is no more there.

Another statue in this area was of Sir Ganga Ram, who gave many beautiful landmarks to the city of Lahore. What happened to this statue has been narrated by Saadat Hassan Manto, the celebrated Urdu short story writer, in one of his short stories on the frenzy of communal riots of 1947. Manto writes that an inflamed mob in Lahore, after attacking a Hindu mohalla, ‘turned to attacking the statue of Sir Ganga Ram, the Hindu philanthropist. They first pelted the statue with stones; then smothered its face with coal tar. Then a man made a garland of old shoes climbed up to put it round the neck of the statue. The police arrived and opened fire. Among the injured were the fellow with the garland of old shoes. As he fell, the mob shouted: “Let us rush him to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.”

The statue of Sir John Lawrence, the first Governor of the Punjab and later the Governor General of British India (1864-69), holding a sword in one and pen in the other hand, was in front of the Lahore High Court. This statue, created by Sir Joseph Boehme, was inaugurated sometime in 1887. On the base of this statue was inscribed ‘Will you be governed by the pen or sword?’

During 1920s, there was an agitation for the removal of this statue, which the Lahoris considered a disgrace to the Punjab. Now, this statue probably stands in Foyle College (now Foyle and Londonderry College) with a damaged sword in one hand, damaged during an agitation in Lahore. Further, one statue of Lawrence stands in Waterloo Place in central London and another in Calcutta.

The statue of Professor Alfred Woolner, professor of Sanskrit, and vice-chancellor of Punjab University (1928 and 1936) still stands in Lahore outside the University of the Punjab on the Mall, Lahore.

The statue of Queen Victoria at the Charing Cross, installed in 1902, is in the Lahore Museum now.

And finally there was a sculpture of King Edward (VII) riding a horse. This statue had been erected in front of the front of the King Edward Medical college, but it is no more there.

(Sources: Pran Nevile, Colonel H.R Goulding)”

Images have been added by me and for credits click: Lala Lajpat Rai, John Lawrence’s portrait, Lawrence Statue at Waterloo, Sir Ganga Ram, Woolner Statue, Queen Victoria’s statue Lahore muesum

Postscript: With multiple references to John Lawrence above, I think of my beloved Lawrence Gardens in Lahore

Today, I was delighted to receive and email from a Pakistani artist Mahboob Ali with a few images of his work. Mahboob Ali, is perhaps the only artist who has devoted his entire career to woodcut - an ancient technique of printmaking.

A native Lahore-ite, and a graduate of the National College of Arts, he has not gained imense recognition at home and abroad. In his own words, “this medium is very difficult, laborious and requires patience.” However, Mahboob Ali has given new dimensions to his craft by increasing the number of colours [here] used printmaking to over 50 now. He carves and paints without the use of machines.

His labour of love has popularised this medium in Pakistan now. But his real forte, in my opinion is recording the rich heritage of Lahore’s walled city, otherwise a dying space of cultural history. Old Lahore lives within his work and interacts with modernity creating a dreamy ambience. Mahboob says, “I have made the culture heritage of Lahore, as exemplified in its gates and streets, my theme. An attempt has been made to capture the dramatic effects of changing light which reflect both hope and despair at different times.”

Perhaps he best describes the impact of the Lahore moods: “The architecture, street scenes and the dramatic effect of changing light are constant source of inspiration for me… maintaining dramatic effects of light and style associated with my previous work.” Of late he has started dabbling in spiritual themes - mostly calligraphy.

   

More images on the internet can be found [here]