May 2008 - Posts - Mappings

May 2008 - Posts

In front of the Starving Buddha

Posted by Jyoti Malhotra at 
If Lahore is the jewel in South Asia’s crown, then the Lahore museum is a self-contained, little island located in the heart of the city’s bustling Mall Road, witness to the rise and fall of empire and ideology, not entirely a participant, but not strong enough either to have completely escaped the ravages of time. The museum is widely known, not least...

More>>

A bottle of vodka

Posted by Jyoti Malhotra at 
There was a great offer on Stolichnaya vodka bottles (buy two, get one free) at the Delhi airport Duty Free last week as I waited to take the plane to Lahore. I had heard somewhere that Pakistan forbids the import of liquor for its citizens (presumably because Islam doesn’t condone the vice), but on the other hand, several friends had taken up the state...

More>>

Lahore vs Islamabad : the Wazir Khan masjid difference

Posted by Jyoti Malhotra at 
At least in Lahore, there were auto-rickshaws everywhere. Actually, there were two sets of auto-rickshaws everywhere, the “green” ones with CNG that are allowed to move all over the city, and the other which use LPG and have to stay off the Mall Road. In Islamabad, public transport consists of truly old Maruti 800-type Suzuki cars, or mini-buses called...

More>>

Party poopers in Islamabad

Posted by Jyoti Malhotra at 
India’s abiding fascination with Pakistan is manifesting itself once again on this trip. For a start, more than 20 journalists have accompanied Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee to Islamabad, and since visas are ordinarily hard to come by, the blanket media coverage ensures that nothing is left to either chance or opportunity. On our first evening in...

More>>

Allah, Army and America : Pakistan's alphabet soup

Posted by Jyoti Malhotra at 
Pakistan may be the best-kept secret in the world, but is it also its own worst enemy? For most of its independent existence, Pakistan has been an alphabet soup of three As, Allah, the Army and America. And now there’s a fourth, one who encompasses the political order from A-Z. His name is Asif Ali Zardari, and in his capacity as Benazir Bhutto’s widower...

More>>

Circle of life on the GT Road

Posted by Jyoti Malhotra at 
The harvest is being taken up in the fields as the taxi pulls away from Lahore and plunges into the plains of Punjab. The land is as flat as a chapatti. The air is heavy with dust the colour of sandpaper, which in turn bleaches the horizon. We’re on the highway Nawaz Sharif bequeathed to the nation when he was prime minister ten years ago, building...

More>>

Yeh akhri alvida na ho...lets talkshawk ji !

Posted by Jyoti Malhotra at 
Talkshawk, says the Telenor ad campaign splashed across huge hoardings in Lahore. In Lahore, do as the Lahoris do, I figure, so I may as well take the advice literally. And so, Salaam Alaikum Farid, as the first person to post on my blog, you deserve all my attention this morning ! You sound like an NRP, Farid, a non-resident Pakistani, or perhaps you...

More>>

Time-pass with an auto-rickshawallah

Posted by Jyoti Malhotra at 
Lahore's cosmopolitan spirit is under attack. Not by malevolent mortals this time, but by a thick pall of pollution reminiscent of pre-CNG Delhi. The electricity plays hookey too, and generators, it is said, are a brisk business. During the day, the heat is oppressive, singing my silver earrings against my skin. So when will the rains come, I ask...

More>>

"Begum Nawazish Ali": Bringing the house down

Posted by Jyoti Malhotra at 
India may pride itself on its free, frank and fearless TV, sometimes even making the news look like it belongs to the underside of a girlie magazine, or, so ably experimenting with the wholly unique Jack-the-Ripper-meets-his-mother genre. But there’s nothing you see in India that even remotely compares with ‘Begum Nawazish Ali,’ a Saturday night show...

More>>

Waking up in Lahore: The idea of Pakistan

Posted by Jyoti Malhotra at 
The idea of waking up in Lahore is something you’ve held onto for most of your life, a small little secret, tightly guarded, only to be shared with the few who breathe the same unspoken dream. Half of you even hopes this will never come true. Oh to wake up in Lahore and walk through Anarkali bazaar, gorge yourself on the austere lines of Aurangzeb’s...

More>>