A flight to Pakistan: Old world charm in a modernising State

The Pakistan government, we were told, has a plan to renovate several Hindu temples and Buddhist sites, which over the years have fallen into disrepair.'
'The aim is to create a pilgrimage circuit to attract visitors from all over the subcontinent.'

Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran explores the sights and flavours of Lahore and Islamabad on a recent visit.

IMAGE: Islamabad's Seventh Avenue. Photograph: Kind courtesy: Maria Ly/Wikipedia Commons

A mishmash of old-world charm and elegant, gated neighbourhoods, along with traces of its shared cultural heritage with India, makes Lahore one of the subcontinent's most interesting cities.

During a recent visit to Pakistan, I saw facets of the country that I had missed on earlier visits as India's foreign secretary more than a decade ago. Islamabad retains its air of officialdom and India-Pakistan encounters inevitably carry the flavour of affinity laced with antipathy.

The capital city retains its geometric and uncluttered elegance, with the expanding chaos of adjacent Rawalpindi kept successfully at bay for the time being. The Serena Hotel remains the upmarket watering hole for the city’s elite and rich foreigners, but it is now heavily fortified, as are other important landmarks in the city.

Perhaps the recent terrorist attack at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda has led to heightened anxiety. But an evening spent at the city's most popular restaurant, the Monal in the Margalla hills, spread out like a vast terrace overlooking the bright lights of the capital, had an air of relaxed celebration. Entire families, young and old, were busy tucking into vast quantities of food, taking pictures with their smartphones or iPads, and engaged in animated conversations.

Charcoal braziers kept the winter cold at bay. There was loud pop music playing in the background, so conversations had to be a few decibels louder. If there were hijabs and burqas in evidence, so were open hairstyles and the ubiquitous denims. This was a fun-loving crowd, enjoying an evening in the hills.

To get to Lahore, our next stop, we drove along the Islamabad-Lahore motorway, Nawaz Sharif's gift to the nation during his earlier incarnation as the country's prime minister. This is genuinely an express highway, its 375-kilometre stretch uninterrupted by crossings.

No three-wheelers, bullock carts or horse carts are permitted on it, and it is well policed. One can drive safely at high speeds.

The countryside that we traversed seemed sparsely populated and no new settlements have come up near the highway itself. This would appear strange in India, where a new highway is soon surrounded by densely populated settlements, which require yet another bypass.

IMAGE: The pond of the Katas Raj temple.

Halfway to Lahore, we took a detour to Choa Saidan Shah, where the ancient Hindu temples of Katas Raj are located. This is an enormous complex of temples, with a history stretching back to the sixth century, but embellished with legends of a more distant past. There were originally seven temples here, known as Satghara, but only three survived.

The main temple complex opens onto an emerald pool. The tank is believed to have been formed by the tears Lord Shiva shed when his consort, Sati, died, after she jumped into the sacrificial fire at a yajna being conducted by her father, Daksha.

The name 'Katas Raj' comes from the Sanskrit term for 'tears.' It is said that the Pushkar lake in Rajasthan -- also considered sacred -- is the other place where Shiva's tears fell. This was obviously a Saivite site, but there is also a temple dedicated to Lord Rama and another to Hanuman. The entire complex has been carefully renovated. The pool has been cleaned.

On Shivaratri, we are told, Hindu devotees from across Pakistan come to pray and bathe in the pool, which is also said to have curative qualities. 

We had a most enthusiastic Pakistani guide who showed us the various temples with a great sense of pride. He treated us to a Sufi Punjabi song, which he sang with genuine feeling, the theme being the oneness of humanity and the power of love and compassion -- values common to all faiths.

On one side of the pool is a small alcove that houses an ancient Shivalinga, which, according to legend, was fashioned by Lord Krishna during the four years that the Pandavas spent in the area during their exile. There are no other images in any of the temples.

The Pakistan government, we were told, has a plan to renovate several Hindu temples and Buddhist sites, which over the years have fallen into disrepair. The aim is to create a pilgrimage circuit to attract visitors from all over the subcontinent.

Lahore is easily one of the most interesting cities, not only in Pakistan, but in the entire subcontinent. It has an air of cosmopolitanism that is missing in Islamabad. It has a multi-layered history and a rich and varied heritage.

There are parts of the city that hark back to the Mughal empire, with echoes of Delhi. Other quarters testify to its significance as an important centre during British colonial rule.

Its colonial architecture along the famous Mall Road is well preserved and remarkable. Before Partition, Lahore had a sizeable Hindu population and some places bearing Hindu place names have been retained.

This is a city of contrasts. The old city is a mishmash of old and decrepit dwellings and crowded alleyways. And, there are neighbourhoods with elegant houses, spacious gardens and high walls and well-guarded entrance gates.

I had the privilege of spending an evening in one such residence, where my soft-spoken host showed me what amounted to a gallery of rare Indian miniatures, contemporary paintings and artwork from across the subcontinent and beyond. The food and drinks were of the best quality and the ambience was warm and relaxed, even though the conversation sometimes veered towards the more unpleasant aspects of India-Pakistan relations.

A visit to the shrine of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh, a 12th-century teacher from Ghazni who is renowned in the subcontinent as a Sufi saint, was memorable. The area around the mazaarhas been expanded and spruced up, but the tomb of the pir is in a more modest building.

There is an air of piety and whispered silence as large throngs of devotees quietly pay their respects, receiving garlands of red roses as blessings. It is more tranquil here than Ajmer Sharif.