I wish every Pakistani a very happy independence day :).

This day brings me lots of delightful childhood memories, when we used to get together, shop around and decorate our house with flags and candles and believe me, hamaisha barish ho jati thee :(. This is happening again, monsoon downpours are right here and affecting most of the country, but still the spirit is there, kyon bhai?? So what activities you guys gonna’ have on this holiday? Just sleeping (zzZZZZZZ….) or decorating and some bhangra stuff at Mall Road?????

Hello Lahore! Let me commence with a note of appreciation for Hassan and Co. for welcoming me to the LMB team. It’s great to join the fold :)

Whilst I don’t live in Lahore per se, I do have a very strong bond with my birth place. Since leaving the great city over 8 years ago, I have made every effort to return and explore its past and present. Needless to say, my family and friends provide a constant urge (and reason) for me to return to Lahore. So for my first ever LMB post, I think its apt that I choose one of my overriding memories from my most recent visit in Dec/ Jan 2007-08. Here goes…

Having arrived days following the shocking assasination of Benazir Bhutto, I was struck by the low mood of the nation and indeed how it had negatively impacted the generally boisterous city of Lahore. The whole episode had somehow crept into the very conscience of the people and sucked out their usual optimism.

Having booked my tickets well in advance, I had been looking forward to my Pakistani adventure with ambitions to visit sights and sounds of inner Lahore and meet and greet the ‘real’ Lahoris who crossed my path…gawwalas, drivers, cooks, pan wallas, you name it. On the contrary, I found myself increasingly restricted by constant advice not to drive at night or visit public places. To top it off, the sense-defying ‘loadshedding’ crippled the city and most of my plans to be productive. It was funny how a few days of being in Lahore, my London pragmatism turned initially to frustration and later into helplessness.

Behind the glittery facade of glass offices and neon lights, there was an evident lack of the spirit of Lahore. It was as if the city had decided to disassociate itself from its inhabitants by falling into a deep slumber. Most of my ill-tempered thoughts were directed to the social and educational deprivation of the society. Having an upbringing in a household where a core focus was on high moral values and education, I was a bit disappointed that the so called educated in our society had done nothing but better themselves and line their own and friends pockets. All this at the cost of a crumbling nation whose financial and natural resources cannot sustain the rising needs of the burgeoning population. But some will argue this can be the case with most of the country so how does it relate to Lahore?

Well to answer that question, I think we need to search for the soul of Lahore. If we chart the course of the city and its majority Muslim population through history, it’s little more than a fraction of the centuries when the city stood as a melting pot of culture, religion, education and commerce. Ask any visitor to Lahore about their lasting memories of the city and chances are they would say it was its Mughal architecture, the Royal Gardens or the cross section of religious shrines. In all my life, no one has ever truly praised a post-1947 symbol. So I believe there is a message in all of this. We need to rekindle the soul of the city and transform it back to its rightful place: to be a seat of great learning, architecture, culture and religious and social tolerance. With the right focus, maybe us Lahoris can all act as a beacon of change for the rest of the country to follow.

Did that ring any bells, huh? A wild guess? On well, March 8th is celebrated across the globe as an International Women’s day. Now the question arises why there was a need to mark a whole day to revise and educate others and women themselves of their rights. Well here are a few of ‘em. Now let us know a little about how it all started and all that jazz. This is where wikipedia doesn’t have a close rival (atleast in my oh-so-humble -opinion).

This year’s theme for the IWD is ‘Investing in Women and Girls’, as announced by the United Nations. The celebrations across the globe will focus on financing for gender equality, calling for a change, and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played extraordinary roles in the history of their countries and communities. Keep reading >>>

Apart from other countries in the world, in Pakistan women’s day was celebrated with zeal.  Events were planned through out Pakistan, activists joined a conference on eliminating discrimination and violence against women, a rally and even a women’s rock-climbing competition. Last year’s competition resulted in a great success and is again expected to attract many people.

In Lahore IWD was celebrated in  full spirit by the civil society. Seminars were held, there were conferences, walks, candle light vigils and symposiums throughout the day to commemorate the struggle of women all across the globe. Read more >>>

The Pakistan Peoples Party Women Wing (PPPWW) Sindh has marked International Women’s Day, March 8, in honour of the late Benazir Bhutto, as the only female leader of a political party and the first female Prime Minister of the Muslim world. It also said 2008 is “The Year of Benazir Bhutto”. Here’s more>>>

In most countries around the world women do not have proper rights in society. And here’s when Islam accepted and protected women’s rights, that they should not be treated as slaves or animals. Here is a brief visit to  Women’s Rights in Isalm >>>
In the end March 8th is the day to talk about women, their rights and their problems.

What a magnificent December it is. First it was Eid celebrations, and now its Christmas and Quid-e-Azam Day on 25th December and added glory is that year 2008 is around the corner and most of the people are surrounded by family in this great holiday time :)

On behalf of Lahore Metroblog I wish Merry Christmas to Christian community and a wonderful, safe & blessed Holiday Season full of love, peace and joy to all of our readers. Please don’t forget to pray for global peace.

December 2007 is the month marked by Eid-ul-Azha, Christmas, New Year and specially wedding season in Lahore, so party season is ON :) ….Lahore is sparkling, all are out flocking in to markets to get the best items. I would suggest that more and more tourist come to Lahore during this season, and i am sure they would fall in love with this city like us.

Hopefully, this end of year 2007 will bring us more peace and harmony in our lives along with the new year.

Christmas Tree@esajee’s, Gulberg

Opee few months back shared this amazing song by Tariq Tafoo with us “Lahore Lahore Aye“. I heard Tariq singing this very song couple of years back and Man it was an awesoem experience (Notably needs to bementioned that it was Abrar ul Haq’s concert :D, so u can well imagine the energy levels and punjabi interest en masse).

Lahoris DO say “Lauhr Lauhr Aye” whenever their lahori Praises get finished :-D

Try it any time with any lahori ;-)

Let’s hear it again .. before I go with Lauhr Lauhr Aye - III

So Aye Lahoriiyon, Do You have any good reasons to Love Lahore??
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And just when I think that our self-appointed pseudo-messiah can’t go any bonkers than he already has, he actually ends up proving me wrong - that too, by a mile! “I’m no dictator” is what he told BBC in an interview a few days back - who is he kidding?!? Every single order/amendment he has passed has been absolutely against the spirit of democracy and yet he claims to be a Champion of Democracy - talk about sordid egos!

It seems a new bad news is lined up for us everyday - what did we get yesterday? A ban on political debate in our colleges and universities! Why? Because students have been in the news a lot recently for the peaceful protests that they’ve been organizing against the martial law.
Read more

“Swimmin’ in half truths and it makes me wanna spit —
Instructor come separate the healthy from tha sick”

“Holes in our spirit causin’ tears and fears
One-sided stories for years and years and years
I’m inferior? Whose inferior?
Yeah, we need to check the interior
Of the system that cares about only one culture
And that
is why
We gotta take the power back”

Ah. Memories, like old flames, don’t die. Somewhere in the corner of your heart, the memory lies in wait; somewhere in the dark recesses of your mind, the old flame waits in ambush. What seems trivial now may turn out to be relevant tomorrow. What seems the world now may as well end up being the memory that you wish you never had. But it waits, lies silently in between your firing neurons and burning ambitions. Heh.

Then, old friends like Rage Against the Machine pops out of nowhere and you realize you used to be as rebellious as the kid you lament now; the relevancy of rebellion fades out as you grow older. But it waits, as if it must. Given the sordid reality of our political and social scene, a passing mention of the band RATM brought all of it back.

I am not joking in the single bit when I say that musicians/lyricists like RATM can sum up our political and social affairs in one piercing line. Add to the razor sharp lyrics the anger of rock and the reality of rap and you have yourself a friend in RATM.

A few lines that are now as relevant to us as anything.

“Your friendship is a fog that disappears when the wind redirects”

And most relevant, given how you can change history by distorting it today and that of course leads to a controlled future, at least that is what ‘they’ try:

“Who controls the past now controls the future
Who controls the present now controls the past
Who controls the past now controls the future
Who controls the present now?”

Or perhaps this:
“What we dont know keeps the contract alive and movin’
That dont gotta burn the books they just remove ‘em
While Arm warehouses fill as quick as the cells
rally around the family, with pocket full of shells”

“Raise my fist in resist!”

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If you live in a cave, here’s a little bit about RATM (Rage Against The Machine). You can check out one of their ‘very relevant’ song’s video here.

Dogs and wolves, by their very nature, have a habit of scent-marking their territories, patrolling regularly their poo-marked areas in search of food, injecting fear in non-hostile critters and such are their insecurities that even a slight sniff of intrusion turns them violent and bloodthirsty. Such have been the acts of Islami Jamiat Talaba, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, in Lahore’s Punjab University since long; threatening, harassing and even murdering those who do not subscribe to their point of views. And such were their shameless actions yesterday, which were contrary to the spirit of their recently announced Pakistan Bachao Tehrik. Perhaps. they feared being reduced to insignificance in their own sty had they let someone else lead the procession - after all, the majority of the students in PU aren’t their followers and they themselves could one day be forced out if the genuine students ever rose against them. Their bozo-e-aala Nasrullah Goraya has come up with the lamest of reasons for handing Imran Khan over to the police - and that is, they’d vowed to keep the student movement free from politics. An apolitical movement by Jamiat is as oxymoronic as Altaf Hussain delivering a telephonic sermon on Human Rights. Whatever the real reason may have been, there can be absolutely no remission for such actions.

The students of PU and other institutions will be well advised to stay away from the protest rallies of gun-totting crackpots that make up IJT.

In a most thrilling clash between the two cricketing giants, Pakistan leveled the ODI series by 1-1 with India yesterday at Chandigarh’s Mohali Cricket Stadium.

Younis Khan aiming for a shot against India in the 2nd ODI at Mohali - November 08, 2007

Younis Khan was declared star of the day with a total of 117 runs under his bat while Pakistan scored its highest ever successful chase in the ODIs by overcoming India’s grand total of 321 runs with 1 ball and 4 wickets remaining.

Looks like our team is finally gaining some form, sensibility, spirit and respect too!

Click for more pictures and match details by Cricinfo.