Arab Hotel, Lahore
From the Blog All Things Pakistan: From K.K. Aziz's Coffee House: Arab Hotel, Lahore - Adil Najam “> This installment of excerpts from K.K. Aziz's The Coffee House of Lahore (read book review by Raza Rumi, here ) presents a portion of his profile of the Arab Hotel, Lahore. An institution of old Lahore, now long gone. A fascinating glimpse into the Lahore that was. Another fascinating description of Lahore's hostelleries is provided by A. Hamid in this fascinating account . For ease of reading, as before, we will not indent the selected excerpt as quoted text; everything beyond these lines is in K.K. Aziz's words (as are the two paragraphs above). From K.K. Aziz's The Coffee House of Lahore (pages 15-16): No description of the cultural life of Lahore can be complete without mentioning the Arab Hotel. Once the old-fashioned baithaks (sitting rooms of the orient) had gone out f use, the literati wanted a pace where they could meet, eat and talk. For those 'orientalists' of the 1920s the Mall was too Westernized, distant and costly. By chance they started patronizing a small, unclean restaurant on Railway Road, opposite the gate of the Islamia College. A clean-shaven but dirty Arab from Kuwait, known as Bhai Aboud, ran the shop and was happy to serve kebabs and tea to his intelligentsia even on doubtful credit. Soon the 'club' grew in numbers and in the quality of its customers. Chiragh Hasan Hasrat is said to have been the pioneer, and he brought in his friends and colleagues. Gradually it had a glittering membership: Abdul Majeed Salik, Ghulam Rasul Mihr, Akhtar Shirani, Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj, Professor Bokhari, Maulana Salahuddin, Husain Mir Kashmiri, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Khizr Tamimi, Ashiq Batalvi, Hafeez Jullundheri, Abdul Majeed Bhatti, Madan Gopal Mittal, Sahir Ludhianvi, Abdullah Butt, Hameed Nasim, Zaheer Kashmiri, Shad Amritsari, Davinder Sathiarthi, Bari Alig, and others. On the upper floor was the workshop of the famous calligrapher, Pir Abdul Hameed, who inscribed the Quran for the Taj Company. Slowly as Lahore became more modern, comfortable and moderate-priced, places opened on the Mall, the Arab Hotel group shifted to the West End. The diaspora began in the late 1940s, and was complete in the 1960s with Bhai Aboud's growing interest in women and speculation. In 1965 or 1966 he died and the 'club' vanished. For a quarter of a century the Arab Hotel was a sparkling intellectual tavern, the equal of the best in the 18th century London. When and if a proper chronicle of the cultural history of Lahore is written the finest chapter will be on this 'hotel.' In about 1946 most of the Arab Hotel group shifted to the Nagina Bakery in Nila Gumbad and stayed there for a decade. But its coherence and strength was sapped by the proximity of the Coffee House , the Tea House and the Cheney's Lunch Home . Today both the men and the places have completely disappeared. The Arab Hotel is an unidentifiable spot, the Coffee House was closed down and nobody seems to know when, and the Tea House has vanished and its traditional clientele has moved to other places. Thus, not only has Lahore's culture disappeared from view but its original landmarks have been obliterated. Progress is a terrible thing. Also see: – K.K. Aziz (1927-2009): History Shall Miss Him – Books: K.K. Aziz's The Coffee House of Lahore – From K.K. Aziz's Coffee House: Lahore as it Used To Be - From K.K. Aziz's Coffee House: Visiting a 4-Anna Film Stall at Bhati Gate with Zaheer Kashmiri . Read Full Post
Semi-liberal OR Semi-extremist?
From the Blog Little Things: Semi-liberal OR Semi-extremist? - The first few weeks of the second decade of the 21st century have already witnessed three momentous events that will impact on global geopolitics in the next few years. These are: The Jan 4 shooting of secular Pakistani politician Salmaan Taseer by his own Muslim fundamentalist bodyguard; the Jan 8 shooting of congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords by the right-wing extremist Jared Loughner in the US, and the Jan 4 fatal self-immolation of 26-year-old fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi that led to regime change in Tunisia. The Loughner shooting is a blowback from the nationalistic jingoism that has pervaded public rhetoric in the US in recent years. Overly obsessed with chasing ”Islamic terrorists” as the primary source of its security concerns, the United States has paid the price of ignoring its own home-grown terrorists. Similarly, the killing in Pakistan has exposed the influence of religious ideologies on the common man. When easily misguided people, regardless of their caste, colour or creed, become victims of incitement, be it via Fox News or internet websites or extremist groups, the end result is the same. But it is the Tunisian revolution that will trigger the most far-reaching change … real change that people everywhere can believe in. Bouazizi’s suicide plunged both the Arab world and Western countries that supported the Tunisian dictator into a state of shock. According to a Gulf News Commentary: ”Colonialism and imperialism may have ended for much of the world in the last century of the last millennium. However, it still remains a reality in much of the Muslim world. Even though our colonial masters have departed, their legacy, policies and clout remain in some form or the other in this part of the world, ruling by proxy." In fact, in many places, the common man has lost not only his physical resources for survival but also is losing his all hopes for future amidst all this furore over extremism and liberalism. The frustration and hopelessness is taking toll on his strength to think positively and this is shown in end result of changing the histories of nations in a blink of an eye. Times are changing at the fastest ever pace The times are changing at an unimaginable pace that the media goes off into a paroxysm of soul-searching about what happened, how and why it happened, the speed at which it happened, and the most critical question: Where will it happen next? The example of Tunisia has taught us that now, we do not need expertise of some intellectuals to forecast the future of a country. Any insignificant incident may bring about a massive revolution within days, thanks to fast communication between common people and activists. In Pakistan, there seems the rise of a new large segment in our society —> Semi-Liberals or they may be called Semi-extremists (Neither Rightists nor Leftists) .. They are coming out in the open media and expressing their concerns about their image of being Muslims & Pakistanis being manipulated and projected in the most unwarranted ways. Not long before a decade, hardly a few knew what it meant to be a nationalist / communist / socialist / extremist / moderate . Today, there you can find ample amount of definitions for all such terms everywhere. In today's world of free media and freedom of expression, young minds are choosing and adopting the opinions and philosophies of their choice, whichever they seem to fit in. This flood of information and awareness needs to be filtered, as it is only giving rise to a new generation of ideologies and opinions, for which we seem to be not yet ready. Its high time, our leaders, intellectuals, thinkers, opinion-makers took up the challenge to pool this flow of information in the best interest of our nation and the world at large. . Read Full Post
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