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Lahore Lore

Mobeen Ansari by Mobeen Ansari
November 1, 2013

Ghosts of lives past

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Lahore is not my city. This allows me to view it with a mixture of foreignness and belonging; as simultaneous insider and outsider – removed enough to be endlessly fascinated by it, close enough to be able to photograph it consistently. The Badshahi, Wazir Khan and Lahore Fort may be clichéd photographic pursuits but I never get enough of the new angles and insights they afford me each time.

Breakfast at 5 AM
Breakfast at 5 AM
Masjid Wazir Khan at dawn
Masjid Wazir Khan at dawn
Fluttering over history - near Badshahi Mosque
Fluttering over history – near Badshahi Mosque
Old Lahore - Ranjeet Singh's mausoleum juxtaposed against the Badshahi Mosque
Old Lahore – Ranjeet Singh’s mausoleum juxtaposed against the Badshahi Mosque

I went on my routine old Lahore photography trips around fajr time each time I drove down to Lahore from Islamabad; had been doing that for a few years, but i wanted to get into the heart of these neighbourhoods, really peek into people’s lives and capture their stories. One day I got lucky. Walking into Masjid Wazir Khan – it was my second time there – I struck up a conversation with the Imaam of the masjid, sharing with him my curiosity about the man said to have built the mosque – Ilm-ud-Din Ansari. Since I shared his surname I wondered if I also shared his lineage. The Imaam asked for my ID card, squinted at my full name and asked me to follow him deep into the neighborhood, into alleys beyond Delhi Darwaaza that I could never have discovered on my own. He knocked at a door and asked for keys, I think to different areas of the mosque; one of these keys he gave to me, of a minaret I had never expected to be allowed to climb, knowing as I did that it is ordinarily closed to all visitors.

Back at the mosque I lugged my heavy camera bag up the high Mughal-era steps. The suffocating dankness of the minaret gave way to a clear Lahori dawn that I observed from a unique vantage point. The height afforded fascinating aerial glimpses into the lives of the residents of the old city sprawled out below me.

Dilapidated history
Dilapidated history
Same crumbling yellow building. This picture taken from the ground upon the insistence of the children's mother
Same crumbling yellow building. This picture taken from the ground upon the insistence of the children’s mother
A boy looks out the window of his run-down house
A boy looks out the window of his run-down house
A woman looks out of the same window some months later. It seemed as if the residents of this building had changed. I shouted out to her if I could phpotograph her, much like I had asked the boy earlier. Just like him she nodded her assent
A woman looks out of the same window some months later. It seemed as if the residents of this building had changed. I shouted out to her if I could photograph her, much like I had asked the boy earlier. Just like him she nodded her assent
Voyeuristic glimpse from Wazir Khan minaret - a mother plays with her children  while a man tends to his sheep
Voyeuristic glimpse from Wazir Khan minaret – a mother plays with her children
while a man tends to his sheep
Pre-sunrise storytelling captured from Wazir Khan's minaret
Pre-sunrise storytelling captured from Wazir Khan’s minaret

Once every week I go to Lahore for work – meetings, shoots etc. So I had gone to Lahore for one night only for a meeting. When I got done with my work I met up with a friend from college who was also in town. Both of us had laptops and camera bags but no car. We had dinner, took a rickshaw to a cinema to watch a movie, and at midnight came out into the freezing and foggy Lahore night. We walked and rickshawed (changing six of them!) till we reached his place, warmed ourselves with some chai and set out for androon Lahore, managing to get there just before dawn. It was the morning of the 12th of Rabi-ul-Avval (the Prophet’s birthday) and the night’s lights hadn’t been turned off as yet. In the eerie twilight glow, before many people had woken up we roamed the labyrinthine alleys of androon sheher and experienced it like never before in the magical hours between sleeping and waking. Why I am so obsessed with going to these places early in the morning is because there’s no rush at that time and you can see history clearly.

Coral and fuschia fairy lights delicately illuminate a narrow alley in androon sheher
Coral and fuschia fairy lights delicately illuminate a narrow alley in androon sheher
A man sweeps his street before the start of the day
A man sweeps his street before the start of the day
More tales from the Walled City
More tales from the Walled City
My phupho (paternal aunt) who gave me the idea of capturing Lahore in the early mornings. Ironically, she is no longer a resident of the city
My phupho (paternal aunt) who gave me the idea of capturing Lahore in the early mornings. Ironically, she is no longer a resident of the city
Early morning hues merge with fairy lights for the 12 Rabi-ul-Avval holiday
Early morning hues merge with fairy lights for the 12 Rabi-ul-Avval holiday

 

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Comments 8

  1. wg cdr (r ) Ramaya balachandran says:
    10 years ago

    buildings as old as our history . stands on foundation as strong as our destiny. one day these will be replaced. so also the memories.

  2. Shayan Ansari says:
    10 years ago

    Amazing !!!! So proud of you.

  3. Rathore says:
    10 years ago

    Wonderful

  4. Yasir Hasan says:
    10 years ago

    Great job Mobeen!!! 🙂

  5. Najam says:
    10 years ago

    bohat khoob. Keep it up. Even though I am from Karachi, walled city of Lahore ki baat kuch alag se hai. Is there some effort to restore this heritage.

  6. Ilmana Fasih says:
    10 years ago

    Touching pics.

  7. Asad Jamal says:
    10 years ago

    Brilliant!

  8. M.Anwarul Haque says:
    10 years ago

    Great

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