|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
City of Sin and Splendour:
writings on Lahore
Cities are like organisms, or more aptly like the human body.. And like human beings they too have a soul. This book successfully encapsules the quest to find Lahore’s soul. As a collection of writings it has a broad sweep, covering the fascinating mosaic of the city through time, space, structure and emotions. The book is broadly divided into seven parts with a collection of narratives, verses or essays pertaining to a particular facet of the city. It brings together chronicles by people who have shared a relationship with Lahore."City of Sin and Splendour is a marriage of the sacred and profane," writes Sidhwa. With a huge population of Partition-scarred still living in Punjab and other parts of India, notwithstanding the tragedy; the city evokes intense love and longing. You can take away people from Lahore, but not Lahore from their hearts. Even the second generation is soaked with knowledge of the city, passed on to them by their ancestors. My father, educated at Lahore, was a classfellow of the famous poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz. He always carried the city of youth in his heart and acquainted us with vignettes, landscapes and the ambience of Lahore. This is especially true and poignantly resonant of the people uprooted from Lahore trying to rebuild their lives in Chandigarh. Even 50 years on; odious comparisons are made of the young modern city with the historic, old capital of the erstwhile joint Punjab. No wonder writers from both sides of the border continue to mine the city for their muse.
The book beautifully opens with the translation of Allama Iqbal’s immortal poem ode to his beloved city: On the Banks of River Ravi, translated by Parizad N Sidhwa. The first section contains curtain-raising essays on Lahore’s historicity; including explaining the origin of the name Lahore from Loh-awar (awar meaning fort) the citadel of Loh son of king Rama. And Lahore too has a Delhi Gate and a Kashmiri Gate—similar to the geography of the walled city of Delhi—both built by Shah Jahan the Mughal emperor. Like all historic cities, Lahore is also a palimpsest of eras, rulers , building, marauding and then rebuilding. There is the pre-Mughal Lahore, Mughal Lahore, colonial Lahore and post-Partition city – each meshing into the other as a fusion. Fray Sebastian’s account of attending Emperor Jehangir’s banquet is insightful.The sights, sounds and etiquettes of the royal era as well as quaint descriptions of the palace intrigues are depicted. Similarly, the extract: Jewel in the Sikh Crown by Fakir Syed Aijazuddin is educative of the period of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s reign in Lahore. And then there is a city within city—reflecting its essential ethos. Saad Ashraf’s story The Postal Clerk is telling of the brutal colonial days and the poignancy of the ethnic plurality of Hindus, Muslims and Christians that knit the harmonious and multi-cultural social fabric of Lahore. Pran Nevile’s essay on the romance of the legendary and quintessential but deliciously sinful side of Lahore: Hira Mandi, the street of courtesans and whores is interesting. No wonder Sidhwa writes, "Lahore – the ancient whore, the handmaiden of dimly remembered Hindu kings, the courtesan of Mughal emperors `85" The epicurean delights of Lahore, the fabled delicacies of its food streets, passion for food of its people find a graphic description in Lahore Remembered by Sara Suleri Goodyear. Lahore remains a wounded city, traumatised by the Partition, breaking hearts, killing souls with the madness that followed. Quite expectedly the iconic Toba Tek Singh by Sadat Hasan Manto finds a resonant presence in the anthology; and also reminds its readers of the lunacy of the period. Then there is the nostalgia of Khushwant Singh, Krishan Khanna, Ved Mehta – recalling their days in the city and heart-warming accounts of their subsequent visits. No anthology of Lahore can be complete without an excerpt from Rudyard Kipling’s Kim and an account of its legendary writer. Ijaz Husain Batalvi’s Kipling’s Lahore fills this slot. The anthology stands out for its excellent selection of the essays and their structuring. One cannot help wishing that a comprehensive collection like this had some visuals. May be a hard-cover edition with illustrations will be envisaged; binding the ‘Lahoris’ on both sides of the border. Meanwhile cricket fans packing their bags for the city, would do well to carry a copy of the book! |
Bapsi Sidhwa, the editor
of the anthology, says in the introduction to the book, "for me
growing up as a child in Lahore, this metropolis with its chequered
history and historical sites was compressed into tiny pockets of
familiarity: They provided me with many of my characters." And this
is evident in the three narratives included in this volume of her books:
Ice Candy Man, The Pakistani Bride and The Crow Eaters.