Mosque under construction

In Lahore, Batul and I wandered around a mosque construction site. After a few minutes, a guard approached us and asked if we were looking for a bathroom.  I said that I had never seen a mosque under construction before and thought it was neat... could I stick around?  He had reservations about this...  not because of the safety of poking around on a construction site, but because my head was uncovered.  So he asked me to put on my dupatta (head covering), and then he was fine with my presence.

Wagah border ceremony

The Wagah village, a point on the India-Pakistan border in between Lahore and Amritsar, has been the site of an elaborate flag-lowering ceremony since 1959.  Its been written about extensively, posted on you tube... and seeing it in person lived up to my expectations: it was spirited, comic, somewhat ridiculous, very interesting.

The most noticeable thing was the display of the soldiers... their exaggerated marches and posturing reminicsent of roosters.  Despite their mirror-image marching side-by-side, the Indian and Pakistani soldiers didn't really interact with each other.  No handshakes or anything... just stomping and chest-puffing within two feet of each other, while ignoring each other.  Though they had obviously worked together to choreograph the routine.  Our hosts in Lahore said that if you go during non-ceremony hours, you can see the Indian Border Security Force guys and the Pakistani Rangers sitting around having tea together and stuff.  And in general, in recent years, the border has been a symbol of the possibility of amity... there is trade (since 2005), and business conducted between the two border offices.

Besides that, I was struck (but not surprised) by the content of the cheers.  There were 3 common ones, one secular, two religious:

• Pakistan Zindabad! (long live Pakistan)
• Nara-e-Takbir!  Allah-hu-Akbar!  (The greatest slogan!  God is great!)
• Pakistan ka matlab kya?  La ilaha illalah.  (What does Pakistan mean?  There is no God but Allah)

Not sure what was being said on the Indian side, but my guess is there was more "Jai Hind" than religious anything.  

Also noteworthy, but not surprising: men and women on the Pakistan side were in separate sections.  Except in the VIP sections... if you're rich and/or connected, then mixing genders is ok.  The Indian crowd was much larger than the Pakistani crowd-- I'm told they have actual programming, like dances and stuff.  On both sides, the atmosphere was like a party, very happy and loud.  Pictures here.

Lahore: first impressions of the old city

The big cities I've visisted in South Asia-- Bombay, Calcutta, Karachi-- are striking for their crowds, bustle, vibrance, pollution.  Lahore feels similar, if on a smaller scale.  But the sense of history here is palpable, in a way I haven't experienced yet.  I imagine Dehli might feel this way too.  

 This part of the city we visited was layered with the evidence of several ages.  It was the old city, with the huge Mughal-era Badshahi masjid and the old red light district, which was the center of Lahore's famed courtesan and cultural scene.  There was the architecture of palaces and courtyards of the Mughal and Sikh kings of the centuries before British rule.  Overlayed on that, the footprint of the British, and their own ornate and lasting buildings.  And some of the same areas now house small shoemakers' shops and factories, manufacturing soles and leather shapes.  These dusty shops are within the elegant, dilapidated structures built by Lahore's previous rulers.  Greasy industry layered on old riches.  There's an active movement to preserve the old structures, which are quickly being destroyed to make room for new development.

We accidentally wandered into a covered courtyard, which we thought was a private space but was actually a public area.  A resident told us it used to be the Diwan-e-Aam (courtyard for the commoners) of Raja Dehant Singh.  After partition, once the old rulers left, migrants settled their households within the courtyard, transforming it from a king's space to a normal living area.

transportation strike in Karachi

The headline in the metro section of the paper today said something like Transportation Strike Paralyzes City.

Its true that the public transportation system was not operating, and there were no city buses on the streets.  But it really didn't feel like the streets were any less crowded.  In addition to a bazillion cars, motorcycles, scooters, donkey carts, etc, there were plenty of private buses out on the street.  And the rickshaws didn't seem to be on strike either.  

I went to saddar, the downtown shopping district, and on some other errands.  For me, it was a normal day.  My uncle says the strike did make a difference, since lots of people use city buses.  So maybe I didn't notice because I can get around Karachi in a private car.  (If so, that applies to millions of other people with private transport too).  Or maybe this is an example of political strife that is overblown by the media.  To me, that seems to be at least part of the explanation.

The transportation strike was a protest against natural gas rationing-- most buses and cars run on compressed natural gas (CNG), and although they can also use liquid gasoline, that is a lot more expensive.  But there's a shortage of CNG, so about its not sold on some days of the week.

PPP makes sure everyone remembers Benazir

On Benazir Bhutto's death anniversary, here is a sampling of the billboards that the PPP has plastered all over Karachi:

Update on Sunday, January 1, 2012 at 1:33PM by Rameez

Went to Quaid-e-Azam's memorial today, and there were PPP flags flying on all four sides, all around the gardens.  One of the guards pointed out to me that there were, in fact, much smaller Pakistani flags underneath, further down on the flag poles.  It makes sense... nothing is above politics here... but at a national monument, such an obvious display from the ruling party feels quite heavy-handed.