In the Cradle of Culture

Those who know me know that work has taken me to a two month long junket in the Punjab. After a month in Lahore, I fell in love with the city. As a Karachiite, it was particularly astonishing for me to see the level of ownership, conservation and development in Lahore. For one thing its really Green. Its beautiful, with magnificient architecture and brilliant roads. Old buildings have been conserved; and just visiting some of them takes one back to the rich history of Lahore and Pakistan. Anyone who visits Lahore ought to visit Goverment College. Its grand, just like a towering castle from history. Similar is Aitchison, which is huge and tremendously beatiful. Visiting places like the Fort and the Royal Mosque, and you come face to face with history of the sub continent. You walk on the very same floors that the Mughals walked many years ago. It makes you feel so much more in love with Pakistan. Its like discovering that we own such treasures of culture and history… and yet we do nothing to preserve and enhance it. Karachi has so many old buildings and historical monuments, but most of them are run down and derelict. The lesson is for the people of Karachi to stop believing that they are one segment of many in Karachi, and start to believe that they are collectively the owners of the city; and that everything within it belongs to them and is a reflection of them. Here is to Lahore, and Karachi… the culture and soul of Pakistan.