In 1947, partition ripped through the heart of the original Indian Punjab state, with the new border slicing between Punjab’s two major cities – Amritsar in present day India and Lahore in Pakistan. It was clear that Punjab contained all the ingredients for an epic disaster and the resulting bloodshed was worse than anticipated.
Massive immigration of population took place, with the Muslims fleeing northwards to Pakistan and the Hindus and Sikhs rushing down the south to India; the trains crammed with Muslims were intercepted by the Hindus and killed, while the Hindus and Sikhs suffered the same gruesome fate at the hands of Muslims as well.
By the time the Punjab state chaos had subsided, more than 10 million has changed sides, the most in present day migration. It was estimated about half a million of people did not make it.
Although Lahore is not the capital of Pakistan (Islamabad is), it won hands down as the cultural and artistic hub of the country.
Stayed at the Regale’s Internet Inn, the most popular choice of accommodation in Lahore. There were no rooms but just dormitories available. The Inn is okay with the friendly owners to make up for what it was lacking in.
The dormitory
Coming from India, was feeling rather meat and food-deprived after going 'vegetarian' for almost a month. I was estatic when we heard from Chen that there were really good barbeque stuff around the town and so... We went to Gowal Mandi, aka Food Street in Lahore and all the roasted chicken and kebabs we could find were all at our mercy that evening. hahahaha. I sound like some food deprived meat eating cannibal here uh. But a girl gotta do what she have to do and it was eat! Little did i know Lahore would be the first and last town in Pakistan where we could really get decent food.
And we experienced real hospitality the first day we were there.
A man invited us to his shop for chai (tea) while we were on the streets and even offer to buy us food. Then he began asking why we came to Pakistan despite all the bad media coverage by the press and started going on about how good Pakistan and Islam really is. And then finally when we were leaving the shop, we were stopped by a young group of men again and they offered to buy us chai again, and also paan (leaf wrapping some spices). Didi i mention that it was really obvious that we were foreignes because basically there no tourists at all which was realy great because i really did enjoyed the non-touristy feel of Pakistan. And so, we attracted attention everywhere we go or whatever it was we were doing and that included just sipping tea at the local teahouse.
Later that night with some of the travelers at the guesthouse, we had had the opportunity to see and experience Sufism, an ancient practice that coaxes the person performing it into a frenzied state. The person in question will sway and whirl vigorously, shaking their heads as they gather the momentum while at the same time, beating the drums to a highly synchronised tune. And you probably won't get to see it just by wondering the streets yourself. Our driver had to get contacts and drove us to a few places before we actually found one in action.
Lets just say its was the most amazing yet surreal experience that i ever had.
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| First sufism was for this baby |
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| This man is deaf but could play the drum perfectly by sensing the vibration of the sound through his belly |
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| The man starts spinning at a really fast speed just after a few rounds |
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| We were welcomed like royalty, with flowers and front row seats. The whole works :) |
The auto-rickshaw driver drove us around the towns into the backstreets and poked his head into every corner searching for one. Luckily for us, we found two Sufism respectively; one was for a family’s baby birthday celebration while the other for some family occasion. At both celebrations, the crowd was ecstatic to see tourist visiting their private celebration. The hosts treated us like royalty and the rest of the people who were present couldnt stop snapping pictures and videos of us, especially me, well because there were no females present at all. At the first one, all the females were made to hide behind a sheet of curtain while the whole performance was going on, god knows what they were there for when they couldnt even see a thing. At the 2nd one, there were no females present at all it was actually intimidating. Mar and me were the only ones.
At first it was kind of head dizzy fun, with everyone pushing against us, trying to get a glimpse of us and even to dance with us. But then, things started getting albeit too messy too chaotic, and there came the shoutings and men with guns and rifles actually started appearing to control the crowd. Then i think our balls shrunk a little, if i had them ;)
At the second sufism we attended, we were all seated on the stage instead of the front row. The stage! Imagine that. Whoever watch a performance from the stage??? We were all put onstage with some other people, apparently theVIPs. Reckon the host family was trying to show off that their celebration was visited by foreigners.
For the next 2 days, we visited some other places in Lahore too.
Badshadi Mosque, which can hold up to 100, 000 people. There was a room that housed the hair of Prophet Mohammed too . Though it was less than 1cm long.
Landa bazaar, where all stuffs sold here are used stuff.
Lahore musuem. It was quite impressive, considering many of the artifacts on display are dated back to the stone age. Its not surprising as it is near the root of the Indus civilisation.
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| The Lahore Museum |
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The famous Fasting Buddha
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| Streets of Lahore |
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Landa Bazzar
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