Haroon Khalid’s latest book is like a time capsule that not just educates readers, but also fills them with both remorse and curiosity, writes UMANG AGGARWAL

Imagining Lahore, Haroon Khalid’s fourth book in India, compares the Lahore of proverbs with the Lahore of today. Through a mix of nostalgia and the angst that comes from the madness of urban life, he imagines what Lahore must have been like in its golden days and what it might have been today had history run a different course. His keen historian’s eye helps him dig up culturally loaded anecdotes that got “partitioned” in 1947 and makes the Indian readers wonder how many more of such anecdotes must still lie buried, waiting to be dug up again.

Could you describe your first memory of Lahore as a city with a unique character? From where do most of your initial discoveries about Lahore’s past come?

Lahore is home for me. So, growing up, I could never reflect on its idiosyncrasies. It was the only normal I knew. I began experiencing a new city soon after my graduation, when I was introduced to Iqbal Qaiser. He is a local historian who has worked extensively on the history of the city. I began traveling around with him, exploring abandoned temples, gurdwaras, and other historical structures. Through him I was able to see through the rush, the overcrowded residential quarters and imagine the historicity of a locality, or its history.

One of the most astonishing discoveries for me was of a locality quite close to my home, which I used to pass on a daily basis without giving second thought to it. I learned that this is a historical village which might even predate the arrival of the Mughals. It was discoveries like these, the extraordinary stories of many ordinary localities around Lahore that led me to write this book.

Is Pakistani youth becoming more aware of how distorted stories of the past are often fed to young people in order to serve the interests of a few?

I don’t think so. Meta state narratives can be very complicated to peel though, particularly if one is not provided the right tools. I don’t think this is a problem unique to Pakistan. I see a similar pattern all over South Asia, India, Bangladesh. What makes this narrative so pervasive is its introduction to the children at a young age, through school text books, popular discourse and media.

Which traits of its illustrious past has the modern day Lahore managed to retain?

I think Lahore today is in many ways a completely new city, a post-Partition city. It is not that iconic multi-religious metropolis that made it one of the most exciting cities of British-India. But then in many ways it is still the same city. Its hard for me to pin-point exactly what those characteristics are.  I feel like it’s a cultural spirit that pervades all over the city and can be experienced in the courtyards of its Sufi shrines, its festivals, its foods, its educational institutions, and its attitudes.

Dulla Bhatti is a figure that is still remembered and celebrated in some parts of India. To find out that his grave is in Pakistan makes a 20-something Indian reader wonder how many more of such intriguing stories we have lost to the Partition. Do you have some more of such anecdotes that you could share here?

I don’t think stories are lost due to Partition. Like everything else, even the stories are partitioned. Thus they have become lost to a segment of a broader society while they remain alive in other places. From Pakistan’s perspective there are several such stories that we lost to the communalisation of history and culture. The stories of Guru Nanak, Guru Arjan, Bhagat Singh, Lala Lajpat Rai, Kartar Singh Sarabha are only few of the myriad stories that we lost. They are also the stories of Puran Bhagat, whose temple still exists in Sialkot, or the story of Parhlad Bhagat whose temple once was the central shrine in the ancient city of Multan. 

If you could have it your way, could there have been a way to modernise Lahore without compromising on its cultural identity?

Absolutely. Right now there are strict spatial divisions that divide the modern from the traditional. The traditional in this interaction often is reduced to ghettos. If it was up to me I would make the walled city of Lahore the centre of the city with Lahore flanking both sides of Ravi. I would also like to incorporate dozens of historical hamlets within the city, instead of caging them within walls as suburban communities develop around it. Within certain localities and streets there needs to be a blanket ban on the use of cars.

In news reports and travelogues, Lahore is still talked about as the cultural hub of Pakistan. Do you agree?

I think this is a title that Lahore still dearly holds onto but I don’t feel Lahore still retains that central position it once did. I think one issue has been the overall decline in cultural activities in the city. Basant was banned many years ago and concerts have become rare due to terrorist threats. The space for cultural activities has shrunk all over the country. Lahore was once the capital of the Pakistan Film Industry which played an important role in giving Lahore the title of cultural hub. In 1990s the movie industry also experienced a gradual death, thus depriving the city of its special position. In the recent years there has been a revival of the film industry but that has been more Karachi centric.

As far as show business is concerned Karachi is now the heart of the industry. Lahore was also once the hub of literary activities in the country. It was once home to writers such as Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Manto. In many ways these literary activities have survived and there are regularly meet ups and there is a resistant vernacular literary culture, however it is far from the Lahore of the 1950s and 1960s.