Trip to Lahore
I went for the first time in Sep 06’. Lahore appeared to be a combination of Karachi and Islamabad. I found it to be between the over commercialized hustle & bustle of Karachi and the super quiet suburbs of Islamabad.
I was staying at my step dad’s uncles house. A day after exchanging pleasantries I left our hosts and mom to venture into the city. Abassi was a friendly fellow who was overly eager to show us a good time. He was to be our driver for the trip. You would just have to ask and Abassi would have the job one. I asked Abassi to take me to all the popular tourist spots. First stop Badshai mosque. This colossal structure was built by a mogul emperor in the 17th century. The month was September and had just started Ramadan. As a traveler I was not fasting because I would make them up when I came back to Cali. The first thing I noticed about the mosque was its sheer size. The courtyard in front of the mosque was massive. Red tiles paved the entire ground. We walked towards the mosque in the merciless Lahori sun. The inside of the mosque was cool. There was a feeling of serenity as people prayed while the fans pushed around the cool air. I also found locals casually taking refuge inside.
I peered from the mosque and saw a maze of neighborhoods. Abassi said that the convolutions of alleys and houses that I was seeing was Heera Mandi (Diamond Market). Heera Mandi is a notoriously famous red light district in Pakistan. The irony was that I could see a gate which led from the Badshai mosque directly into the sordid Mandi. The average local could sin and cross the gate for immediate atonement. How convenient. I had just finished a book “Dancing Girls of Lahore” and had become acquainted with the history of the area. I took Abassi and ventured into Heera Mandi. For a foreigner like me it was pretty hard to detect that I was standing in an area whose primary business was prostitution. The tall skinny buildings and garbage strewn alleys seemed completely in place in Pakistan. At the base of the tall houses I saw the usual businesses like tailors and meat shops. Yet, I was aware that behind the walls of these tall houses, there was an entirely different type of business going on.
The next scene of attraction was Lal Qilal “The Red Fort”. There is some ambiguity when this Mogul structure was constructed. This fort is insanely huge. It’s so big that you could fit a small city inside it. Walking one end to the other could be considered a cardio activity. Abassi hid me from the admissions officer so that I wouldn’t be charged double as a foreigner. The inside of the fort was fairly nice. A lot of the structure had deteriorated. When I went the Sheesh Mahal (Glass palace) was being renovated. I suppose the fort looked better from the outside then the inside. There were so many chamabers and rooms that it was hard to distinguish what was what. I did see the king and queen’s chamber. I wish there was some type of guided tour. I let my imagination decide what was what. “Oh here is the look out post to see advancing enemies”. “Oh, this must be the courtyard where the king chilled.”
The day was coming to an end and I had completely forgotten that poor Abassi had to break fast. Even in a historic city like Lahore, I could not help but feel the American come out in me. Next stop, McDonalds.