Lahore Diaries XI

rehan #13:

[In London I met Abdullah Hussein who has written the Great Urdu Novel, which he has translated into English. Reads wonderfully in English. I have written about it for Midday. The long interview will be bere soon enough.]

If you are still in India try and interview the highly reclusive Qurrat-ul-Ain Haider. Her Aag ka Darya - River of Fire - which like Abdullah Hussain she translated herself recently is regarded by many as the definitive `Great Urdu Novel` of the last century.

Last I heard Jagan Naath Azad, poet,researcher and lifelong Professor of Iqbaliat was at Jammu University. If you contact Gopi Chand Narang at Jamia in Dilli he would help you in locating him.

regards,

temporal

PS: When passing through London on the way back can you please get Saqi Farooqui`s email address from Abdullah Hussain?

Rehan,

I will ask my grandfather about Jagan Nath Azad on your behalf next time I see him.

I remember watching a BBC film a few years ago which I think was based on a novel by Abdullah Hussein, called ``Brothers in Trouble``. It was set in the 60`s or 70`s, about the first generation of Pakistani migrants to Britain, in the north of England. It starred Om Puri.

I will definately read some of his stuff now.

regards

Harpreet

Re : Rehan and inadvertent intimacy

Hi Rehan,

I would like to think i know you. I know you through your writings, your words, through your desire to express yourself. We both have Lahore as a common bond. Through your writings you seem to lament about how Lahore has changed, evolved. You are keen to point out the way Lahoris have changed, in their perspective, on life, on many things. You indicate the sheer hopelessness of how the elite have started utilising the farmland even beyond Lahore for making their fake, palatial ``white-houses``...you reminded us of the melodious, periodic sound of tube wells running 24 hours, you inform us of the good that is being done by some over thee, (yourself including), your writings enabled me to hear the delightful morning birds chirping away in Lahore. and the fact that i try to write sometimes, ...

These descriptions had an overpowering effect on me. Through you i am able to relate to my Lahore, the current Lahore, and i am eternally grateful to you for providing such graphic, powerful images of it.I guess, what i am trying to say is, you are right i dont know you from Adams, and that possibly does not give me the right to talk to you in a familiar manner. And yes it was very inadvertent, as i had possibly confused yourself with Rehan Ansari my old friend, through Chowk.

I would like to extend my sincerest apologies to Rehan Hassan Ansari, the writer, for not knowing him, despite having read him for the longest time on chowk.

Your raison de etre for continuing with the title of your archives, ``I love Despot`` is admittedly very noble. I dont think you are going to run out of material for that archive, any time soon.



Regards

Asim

sameerjb #13

dear sameer,

thanks for your concern... i spent ashura day in Rohri (near sukkur)... i was invited by some people of a very small but beautiful and (surprisingly) clean gooth near sukkur to attend the majlis and witness the ``baraamadgi`` of ``9 dhala`` tabout of Imam Hussain in rohri... i was told that this is 500 year old traditional (and miracleous) tabout... as i travelled in sindh from hyderabad to khairpur to larkana to rhori during moharram, i felt as if the whole of sindh is shia... i did not feel threatened in sindh at all.

Rehan,

How was your trip to London?

Did you manage to read the Michael Ondaatje interview?

regards

Harpreet

Re: Rehan Rizvi and his absence in the interact...

Rehan,

Tumhara article buhat pasand aya hai.Okay admittedly Cafe Zouk is a minor aberration in Lahore, and therefore does not merit much thought.

Mian kuch baat waat karo, koeey gup shup, koeey naey taazi khabrein.

Perhaps the title of your slots need to be changed from ``I love NS`` to something more contemporary. Koeey Pervez ``I love my dogs`` Musharaaf Sahib key barey main article nahin likha.

An american friend of mine, recently asked me about my hometown. I told him Lahore. He looked at me, and asked apologetically,..``La whore??``. I started to rectify his mistake, and well,.. stopped. The shocked expression on his face was priceless. and i muttered,..``yeah thats close enough``. Judging by the constant reminder of heeramundi whenever Lahore is mentioned, is perhaps vindication enough for the nouveau Lahore spelling... just kidding!

Let us have some more Lahore articles soon.On an even lighter note,..Waapis aa jaao, tumhe kuch nahin kaha jaeey ga.

Asim

Zehra #9:

Thanks for the explanation.

Satyavadi

satyavadi...thats my face part of the piece..those lines in the end...it perfectly catches the ignorant curiousity of pakistanis in regard to indians.

rehan`s pieces usually have that, now trademark, good punch line..

rizvi.

Very well written. the last one had a lot to say about lahoris. I too have a heard a lot about lahore.it`s history and it`s culture.

Nice reading more about it.

Scout :re 4



Nice way of informing us of your age.

(take it easy..just joking... :) )

until next time,

pullu

Very well written. the last one had a lot to say about lahoris. I too have a heard a lot about lahore.it`s history and it`s culture.

Nice reading more about it.

Scout :re 4



Nice way of informing us of your age.

(take it easy..just joking... :) )

until next time,

pullu

sehr gut

hope your column for us turns out just as fine.

regards

aakar patel

NIce piece, as usual, by Rehan.

Didnt quite understand, `` He says to Lahoris: there is nothing like basant in Delhi. Lahoris return the compliment: do you go to mandir every day in Delhi, they ask him.`` Any care to explain?

scout #4:

``I was in Lahore for three days during the summer of `93.`` ``Liberty market was interesting. I saw the most beautiful man I`d ever seen in my seventeen year old life there.``

I was there in the summer of 93 and was mostly in Liberty market. Was I the person you saw and still remember? :)

Just kidding! BTW Its good to see you writing things other than on Kashmir and India.

Satyavadi

Great writing. I was in Lahore for three days during the summer of `93. My cousins and I had spent all our money in Islamabad, so we didn`t have enough money for a fancy hotel. We had to settle for something called the Ambassador?

I still don`t know what part of Lahore that was in. We had some great mango lassi there though.

Liberty market was interesting. I saw the most beautiful man I`d ever seen in my seventeen year old life there.

Your description of Lahore makes me want to go there again.

Do you think we could have, like, photographs along with this?

Good One..as always I liked your piece..

was tired working on a college assignment..your piece provided the much needed relief and relaxation.:)

cheers.

Taimur.

Re: Cafe Zouk and Lahore

Dear Rehan,

Great memoirs. The reason i like to read your rather insightful pieces is (besides the insight and the descriptive, seemingly effortless, flowing language) because of your uncanny ability to include familiar landmarks from my Lahore(well not the ones about Heeramundi etrc, obviously ). It has been agood 5 years since i last visited Lahore. Yes i too was taken to the Cafe Zouk, by my wife`s relative to show me , an out of town person, that Lahore has moved on, and that it has become almost as hip as Karachi, or London`s west End. Ear drum Shattering techno pop from the patented BOSE Acoustimass system, the petty painted faces of the rich and upwardly mobile,the swish of Ball`s leather jackets, the whiff of 5th Avenue intermingling with sweat the plethora of Pajeros, and landcruisers outside, almost knocking over a garland makers thaila,the myriads of ringing mobile phones, the green coloured daiquiris, the over-spiced (not to mention overpriced) food, the pretentious waiters, and people throwing up right at the entrance to Cafe Zouk. People trying desperately to look suave, and to speak in the Queens accent. Girls having hard time keeping their breasts safely tucked inside their nonexistent bra`s. Call me old fashioned i was revolted by it all. And the worst thing is i had to agree with them, reluctantly, not wanting to tell them that i missed the life we used to have there before these symbols of opulence, prosperity and institutionalised waywardness opened up to cater to the whims of the priveleged classes in Lahore.

That i wanted to come back to Lahore to get away from ``conspicuous`` globalisation, and wanted to go visit Lawrence Gardens (Now they call it something else). or go for a walk by the canal, at night, without the thought of some foreign women almost being raped by the canal, by a bunch of semi-clad men from the Islamic republic of Pakistan. You know little things like that.

Kep writing. liberty market,..The chinese restaurants, the ferozepur road, the Mall, the main market.. all these words have a nice familiar ring to it, as opposed to Cafe Zouk. I guess we are being globalised. and that means generally good, right Urstruly.

A Lahore wallah,

Asim