Stranger in an unstrange land

Just next to the sprawling Iqbal Park is Minto Park, where some of Pakistan’s finest cricketers — including Fazal Mahmood and Mudassar Nazar — had their first lessons in the game. From dawn to dusk, hundreds of boys of all ages can be seen playing cricket. The stumps vary from bricks, pieces of metal to proper wooden ones. Screams of ‘Catch it!’ and ‘Howzzat’ can be heard all over the park. At one corner are proper cricket nets, where young boys in their whites can be seen practising hard. It’s almost like the Shivaji Park or any other maidan in Mumbai.

In-the-loop Lahore

Beyond the old city, Lahore changes its look, but the essence remains the same. Wide roads, planned colonies, open green areas and shopping malls give this part of the city a cosmopolitan feel. It’s almost New Delhi re-visited. There’s a lot of construction going on all over the place, including the markets that house the newly developed shopping malls. The markets, most of which are open beyond midnight, are buzzing with activity. Alongside fastfood chains like Pizza Hut, McDonalds and KFC, there are food vendors selling kebabs. But the biggest chunk of the markets is occupied by shops selling pirated DVDs and VCDs. Pakistan is a haven for any film buff. One can find the latest Hollywood or Bollywood DVDs for as little as 80 Pakistani rupees. Needless to say, it’s a steal!

View from the top

The most imposing of these structures is the Lahore Fort — popularly known as the Shahi Qila — built by Akbar in 1566, when he made Lahore his capital. The Fort complex houses one of the biggest mosques in the world, the Badshahi Mosque. The open courtyard of the red sandstone structure is capable of accommodating 60,000 people at a time. Just outside the fort is the Samadhi of the founder of the Sikh empire, Maharajah Ranjit Singh. And across from Lahore fort is Iqbal Park, dominated by the impressive Minar-e-Pakistan. It’s a 60-metre high concrete structure built in 1960 to commemorate the signing of the Pakistan Resolution by the All India Muslim League on March 23, 1940. The day is now celebrated as Pakistan Day. The top of the Minar offers a stunning view of the vibrant city, with its grand Mughal monuments, congested streets, haphazard development and the people who are the very soul of the city.