Lahore Times

They look the same, they smell the same and have the ear nose ears all in the right place, and even when you touch them they feel human! I am not talking about the android robot offerings from Honda but my cousins across the border. I happened to visit Lahore, a whirlwind tour but so much fun. Yes, it is an Islamic country, different from the secular overtones that we have (sometimes questionable but largely true); there are mosques everywhere, beautiful buildings of worship with intricate architecture and amazing work.

Lahore city never sleeps, and read all about it here, it never shuts down, there is a sense of action, a spirit that lingers in every corner. If one were to roam around in the city at any hour, well people are pulsating with life and a spirit that is essentially Punjabi. Yes, we have an invisible border line dividing us drawn by some guy who had no idea how to divide a nation where people are culturally the same, eat live speak the same language. It was ironical, crossing a painted red line I was in Pakistan, the country I love to hate. Pakistan is a rival country that we want to best every cricket match. As one retired Judge Shabbar Rizvi said, the media hypes the match /contest to such an extent that it translates into the next war between the countries. What is this animosity?

Coming to this a bit later, I have my two bits on this. Lahore is an extremely manicured city (the parts where I visited) it has its colonies or societies which are lifted off Europe, landscaped by some designer, luxury personified. This portion of the population lives in a bubble of luxury competing for designer brands and giving the Japanese a run for their money over the obsession for all that is ‘phoren’. The country’s swish set is singlehandedly supporting the sales of every major designer brand and the current obsession with Tory Burch along with supporting the Belgium diamond market.

Thank God, the Lahori babes have an intuitive mindset like us Punjabis! I would hate for them to miss out on this mad rush to be identified by designer brands and the bigger rocks. It makes the heart warm just seeing the bigger bags and hands manicured with the perfect cut stone, glittering away and blinding the common folks.

However, the typical Lahori outranks us over his amazing capacity to eat! The foodie is in gastronomical heaven here. Every nook, corner, and, street has a specialty which is mouth watering. Food and its preparation and when its meant to be eaten along with its accompaniments have been perfected especially it seems at their French counterparts knees. And then the amazing cafes and coffee jaunts. A particular street which has more pot holes than any self respecting street in Punjab has the maximum number of designer places and hang out joints where the swish set is seen and heard.

I saw the best of feudal Pakistan Punjabis that are the elitist who live in a bubble of luxury from a time of the past, just that the transportation is now the favored BMW and the big mean Land Cruiser SUV. Of course, the simple servant – driver does not raise his head or his eyes, servile; his position is a different story. The difference is too great and if one looks glaring, but as they say we all are a study in contrasts. The friends I have there are typical Punjabi, with big hearts and open arms and a can- do attitude adopting to the changing agricultural scenario and keeping pace with the world. They also have an underlying radical fundamentalism for their religion, which I think, is justified in the times of Islamic- baiting done by the west. That, is a sensitive topic and not to be touched here.

Yes, the women are beautiful and I was coming to that; but we have more freedom and equality! India rocks, simply put it that. Of course, love on both sides of the border is fraught with drama as we can see!

But, yes visit Lahore to be born, too peel off layer after layer of a city that is immersed in history with architectural delights touching every major religion of the sub-continent.And , yes to shop to one's heart delight for the amazing clothes where the cuts are unbelievable.