I woke up early this morning, got ready and walked out the hostel gate. I heard qawwali music by Nusrat playing and sure enough it was coming from the first rickshaw I saw. I hopped in and asked the driver to keep it playing and we were off. We ended up going a sort of round about way which seems to happen a lot these days. There is an incredible amount of construction all over. This leads to road closures and traffic congestion. Due to this, people use alternate routes all the time.
The rickshaw was bumping along, when smoke began to come out of the engine, which was between me and the driver. He pulled over, I stepped out and he began to examine it. I stood for a few minutes, then thanked him, paid the fare, wished him well and walked about a block to my destination; Lohari Gate. Lahore is one of the gates to the Walled City of Lahore. I have been so focused on my work, that I had not made it to my favorite part of Lahore.
I was meeting my friend Imran and a photographer friend of his for a morning photography walk. I arrived first and felt joy immediately. The place is not clean or perfect in any way, but there is a real beauty to the people and place that goes beyond cleanliness. I sat on a bench to wait for my friend.I watched people coming and going, catching conversations, and just soaking in the morning. My friend arrived with his photographer friend and we set off. Exploring the Old City is always fun, but I feel the mornings are when you really get to speak to people. People are friendly, curious and joke around a lot. Sometimes people want their picture taken, or want you to take one of someone else around as a joke. People invite you for chai or share information about buildings. It is a truly special place.
Afterwards, I head to Alhamra for their weekly puppet show. I had met a friendly member of the group earlier in the week. The hand puppets were fun. The stories were nice and it was really fantastic to see the kids get into the audience participation portions of the show. I enjoyed meeting the artists afterwards.
Alhamra Puppet Theater Lahore from Adnan Hussain on Vimeo.
(In the video, the kids are yelling "Khala", calling auntie, because the rabbit is back to eat up her vegetable garden. The rabbit is saying eat this and that vegetable, become strong etc)From there Suffi sahib took me to a nice book store called Readings. We were looking at books, when his wife called him to check on him. That’s how we found out about the blasts. We knew the general area where they had occurred, but that was all. These incidents keep happening, but the news is always horribly sad. We grabbed some food afterwards, then started driving towards Peeru’s Cafe, where they have a weekly string puppet show. As we got closer, traffic came to a halt, and vehicles were turning around. We heard there was some rioting ahead and learned some more details of what had happened.
The blast had occurred at a Church. We turned off through some unpaved side streets. We felt horrible for another set of victims of the violence gripping Pakistan. I also felt bad for my kind friend Suffi, who was out here because of me. We tried getting back to the hostel, but more roads were blocked. Suffi sahib dropped me at my cousin’s place, where I had planned to go, then he head home.It was good to see my aunt, cousins and nephews. I checked email, read details of the Taliban attack and just sat feeling helpless. I have seen the walls raised and fitted with blockades and barbed wire on buildings over the years. There is generally security at the entrance to every place you go. People are generally nice about it, and do their best to live their lives as normal. When it comes to losing loved ones in attacks, everyone has suffered too much.I see the sense of hopelessness creep in, but people keep going, not knowing what else to do. I sat down to write and my nephew dropped by. It was great to hear him share his dreams and goals. He sees the problems around him. He has grown up in this and seen nothing else, just like the students I have been teaching. Their formative years are being spent in a very difficult time for everyone in Pakistan.The issues faced by minorities and even the majority groups in Pakistan have been deeply on my mind for years and it is tough to think how best to do my part to make things better. All I know, is that I cherish the enthusiasm and desire to do things that I see in Sheryar and the students I have had the privilege to share with on this journey so far. My prayers are with all the victims of bigotry and violence, and certainly with these young people who are doing what they can to make a better life in the future.