July 2022
Video’s from the Heritage of Anarkali Bazaar are online at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVHFcqvNSS2pjzBX4tHcv4A
July 2022
The Heritage of Anarkali Bazaar, Lahore: a community project to manage change in an historic urban landscape
A 2020 World Monuments Watch Site
January 2022
Living Heritage Treasures of Anarkali Bazaar
We are all familiar with the tangible cultural heritage around us — the historical buildings, enclaves, monuments– and of the need to protect these for future generations. However, intangible cultural diversity encompassing traditional skills and techniques, is also essential and critical to maintaining the heritage of a place.
Anarkali Bazaar is full of living heritage and innumerable traditions from the past. These are embodied in the daily skills and practices of individual members of the bazaar community — men and women, young and old.
The Heritage of Anarkali Bazaar team identified a large number of skilled artisans and practitioners of traditional trades during the documentation and mapping in Phase 1 of the project. These are members of the bazaar community who carry with them these outstanding skills that need to be acknowledged, documented and appreciated so that they are not lost in the future .We have short listed practitioners and artisans to receive Living Heritage Treasure Certificates which we hope will become a continuing tradition.
1. Jild-Saaz (Bookbinder)
Abdul Aziz; he’s been a bookbinder since the 1950s, He has his shop in New Anarkali in a narrow lane behind the main bazaar. The oldest bookbinder in Anarkali, he is in his 80s; his shop is full of antique printing machinery which is still in use. His son works with him and will take over the shop.
2. Dhobi (Washerman)
There are few old washermen left in Dhobi Mandi in Old Anarkali, now it has mostly been taken over by jewelers. Shafeeq Sb. has been in the trade all his working life, washing piles of laundry at dhobi ghats which are now all but vanished and pressing the dry items with heavy old fashioned irons in his small shop.
3. Naayi (Barber)
The traditional barber is not just a barber but he also prepares food for social rituals and used to circumcise boys in the old days. Such barbers usually don’t have a build shop, they work on footpaths, in an unoccupied corner in the bazaar, or under a tree near or in the bazaar. Liaquat Ali is one of the last such barbers in Anarkali. He works from a footpath on the junction of Nabha and Lake Road near Jain Mandir. In the old days he’d circumcise the boys from Risala Bazaar and other places of Anarkali Bazaar. He has been a barber for more than fifty years.
4. Ghari-Saaz (Watchmaker/repairer)
Abdul Jabbar has a small stall on Mall Road at the entrance to New Anarkali, next to an old news stand. He has worked in this location for over forty years mending all kinds of watches and time pieces.
5. Baker
The current owners of Mohkam Din Bakery, Mr. Syed Mohkim Bakht Naqvi and Syed Shajar Naqvi inherited the oldest bakery of Lahore, established in 1879. They have been bakers and wedding cake maker for decades, specializing in celebration cakes and delicacies for Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Parsees, reflecting the cultural diversity of Anarkali’s past.
6. Coconut Fibre Mat maker
Kursheed Ahmed makes traditional thick mats out of coconut fibre or coir. This is a laborious craft involving weaving of rough fibres in layers on wooden frames. He works from a small shop in Old Anarkali where he sells mats by their size.
7. Old Books seller
Ahmad Javed has been a seller of old books in Anarkali Bazaar for more than 50 years. In his small cramped shop he sells Urdu and English books on all topics. He is a senior member of the once large community of book buyers and sellers based in Anarkali, a place with important literary and scholastic traditions.
At the time of writing this report the project team is preparing to print and distribute framed certificates to another group of “Living Heritage Treasures of Anarkali” who represent long and important skills associated with the history of the bazaar including: a tailor of shalvar kameez and other traditional clothing; a jeweller / goldsmith; a calligrapher; reed pen maker; a paan wala; tea shop owner; a paranda (colourful woven hair decoration) maker; maker of art screens and maker of traditional hookas.
September 2021
Anarkali Zinda Hai! / Anarkali is Alive!: artists in Anarkali Bazaar
This project aimed to approach the Anarkali Bazaar as a living organism, not just aspeople but as culture, art, history, food, architecture, sound and more. A group of professional artists interacted with this historic urban focus in an attempt to mark a continuation, a celebration and reflection of Anarkali’s pulse; its struggles, joys and wonders. A group of ten artists were invited by the project organizers and the Curator, Sehr Jalil, to join in strolling in the bazaar individually or in groups whenever they require over a period of several weeks.
These included young up and coming artists alongside well established Pakistan art figures:
Farida Batool
“Not Looking Away” black & white offset press
Suleiman Kilji
“Flaneur II” Oil on gesso on found old books
Maria Khan
“Book Bazaar Zinda Hai” Comic strip adhesive print
Sehr Jalil
“Ode to Anarkali” paint on concrete
Mohsin Shafi
“Ghunghat ohley na lukk sajna, Main mushtaq deedar de haan” film
Zara Asim
“Golden Door” Paint on old wood
Medhi Maloof
“Song written for Anarkali” Taped performance
Zara Asgher
“A Performance of Genders” mixed media on brick /concrete
Sachal Rizvi
“Bhool Bhulaiya I” pen and ink on paper
Mina Arham
“Complimentary Facades” digital prints
The aim was to broaden the methodology for making contact beyond more formal meetings with people in positions of power, to meet ‘ordinary’ but often extra-ordinary residents and workers of Anarkali and to engage on a personal level, with the spaces and places.
The artists whose work was designed for installation in public spaces of Anarkali mounted their work on walls, doors, lamp posts, building facades and the backs of rickshaws.
As the artists worked and after the installations were in place on the fabric of Anarkali, the community observed them as if in an outdoor urban gallery. They stopped walking to look and ask questions, to pick up or look closely at the work and to become part of the Anarkali is Alive! Project process.
There wa a lucky opportunity as the project developed to hold an exhibition as pandemic restrictions were temporarily loosened. So in addition to the installations by the artists in the streets of Anarkali Bazaar, an exhibition of all the artists’ work, including those not suited to firect street installation, were held at the Lake Road Gallery. This gallery is located jus south of Anarkali in a pre-Partoition mansion owned by a family with long associations with the bazaar and its locality. The exhibition opened September 7 and remained open until the evening of September 9, 2021.
The opening was attended by over one hundred enthusiastic visitors; more can be read about the show in the review by art critic and commentator Zohreen Murtaza, Of Palimpsest and Desi Flaneurs (thekarachicollective.com) in the folder “Anarkali is Alive!
“The work at the exhibition demonstrates a larger effort on the part of the artists and WMF to raise awareness about the values and revitalization of cultural heritage while reflecting on retaining the urban and historical fabric of the area. The artists of Anarkali is Alive don the role of “desi flâneurs” who, in contrast to the Parisian of the nineteenth century strolling orderly arcades and boulevards, instead navigate and confront the “orderly chaos” and incongruous modernity typical of a post-colonial society where history becomes a “stack of non-synchronous time-streams” and the various life-worlds of Anarkali come to represent a “complete interpenetration of technological and primitive modes of life. Ergo as a post-colonial nation, our cities and people have not been mere passive recipients of some homogenous colonizing European modernity but they have actively responded and produced their own ideas of modernity and tradition in response.
The works in the exhibition therefore expand on these ideas by choosing to be critical rather than merely eulogizing the patina of time or highlighting the aesthetics of urban space. Its inconsistencies and problems are equally relevant as evinced by the works that for example discuss shrinking public space for women in an area where women are ironically the major stakeholders, as consumers. As one viewed the works, the crux of the project and the nature of their production on site kept referring back to the role of people and community. To lay greater claim to the complexity of urban identity and its capacity for resilience and change, perhaps Lahorites need to start considering capacity building and the power contained within its communities.”
April 2021
This is My Anarkali: a school project with St. Francis School in Anarkali
St. Francis School was opened by the Catholic Church in 1842, making it one of the oldest Christian schools in the country and the first in Lahore. It had an excellent academic reputation until the early 1970s when it was taken over by the Punjab government. Since then the number of students and qualified teachers has declined and the historic structures have fallen into disrepair. After many years of conflict, the Church regained control of the property in 2014 but the school still suffers neglect. The student body of about 250 are from poor families living in and around Anarkali; the area is their home and they have much to say about its future and its past.
It was impossible to do any activities with the students for much of 2021 because of school closures due to Covid-19. When classes opened there were numerous restrictions regarding activities, school visits and gatherings. However, we were able to insert an “assignment” into their examination schedule — asking students to draw and write about their feelings for Anarkali Bazaar.
What do you like about Anarkali?
What do you dislike about Anarkali?
What do you think should be there, but is not there?
What would you like to remove from or add to Anarkali?
What comes to your mind when you hear the word Anarkali?
What are the most memorable things on your way to school in Anarkali, can you draw a map and draw them?
The students were provided with art kits to do the assignment. Art is not taught at St. Francis High School and for some of the children this was their first assignment to use art to express their feelings about their home. The work of 17 students was selected, along with the writings of 12. All of these are appended in the folder “This is My Anarkali”. They drew pictures of their school and other historical buildings in Anarkali, street scenes of the bazaar and, in a few cases, schematic plans of the bazaar area.
Here is a sample of five art works and several quotations (translated) from their written submissions:
I like the liveliness and the lights of Anarkali bazaar. I don’t like the encroachments in the bazaar. There is no proper car-parking in the bazaar, there should be a separate space to park cars and bikes. Whenever I hear the word “Anarkali” it brings back my childhood memories of “Chaand-Raat” when my father would take me to the bazaar on his shoulder to see the preparations of Eid and to eat sweetmeats. These memories bring me joy, even today. (M. Meraj Bhatti)
Anarkali is an ancient bazaar in South Asia — it is more than 200 years old. It is located on the Mall Road. It has been named after the Mughal-era character known as Anarkali. It came into being much before other bazaars of Lahore. Qutub-uddin Aibak’s tomb is also located in a street in the bazaar. It is Lahore’s busiest bazaar. It is always packed with people, and shops remain open until late at night. People can buy anything from here. Some people come here to shop and some people just like wandering around. There are also many hawkers in the bazaar, who sell buttons, needles, (hair) clips and other similar items. Jewelry, textiles, and clothes are mainly sold in the bazaar. The bazaar has now been divided into two parts: Old Anarkali, and the New Anarkali. Old Anarkali is known for food, while New Anarkali is known for its traditional crafts like embroidery etc. Markets like Bano Bazaar, Dhani Ram lane, and Paan Gali are in New Anarkali. (M. Zaman)
Every facility is available in the Anarkali Bazaar; dresses, food, shoes, and bags etc. I don’t like traffic congestion in the bazaar. Space for parking is not available, that is why you can see traffic everywhere. Therefore there should be parking spaces. Cras should not be allowed inside the bazaar, so that people easily do their everyday shopping. When I hear the name Anarkali, I think of shopping. The most interesting places on my way to school in Anarkali are: Neela Gunbad, King Edward Medical University, and Muqadas Maryam Bedagh church. (Mujtaba)
Although this ended up being a much smaller and more curtailed activity than originally planned, focusing on only one school, it was fortunate that the school involved was St. Francis. As an historic institution it has a special place in Anarkali, but it also reflects some other important facing the contemporary bazaar community. The school occupies a large area of land in a part of the old city where land is incredibly rare and valuable. As a result there are pressures on the Catholic Church to sell the historic space for redevelopment; they have resisted such pressure but as student numbers dwindle, the historic buildings collapse and academic standards fall it serves as a reminder of the land politics at play in Anarkali.
January 2021
Several months have passed since I posted our first blog, but despite the pandemic we have made progress and have delved further into the magic of Anarkali Bazaar. The project team has mapped and documented tea stalls, historic publishing houses, motorcycle density, historic houses, origins of street names, administrative systems, old bakeries, art supply sellers, temples and more.
And we have talked to literally hundreds of people — shoppers and shop keepers, residents, bazaar officials, newspaper distributors, mosque attendants, rotiwallas and famous artists. And more! The aim of this first documentation phase of the project has been to collect as much information as possible about the ‘Humans of Anarkali’, their homes and work places and the streets that link them, and how they perceive Anarkali Bazaar as an historic but living place.
We have done this by a combination of traditional map drawing and form filling combined with an emphasis on visual data — revolutionized by the company’s purchase of a GoPro 90 camera that is both small and mighty! We are racking up hours of footage of interviews with street sellers, Hindu worshippers, famous artists and elderly denizens of Anarkali. In addition, our student Cultural Mapping team is collecting other forms of information to elaborate a series of ‘themes’ that tell the story of the bazaar and which will form the basis for planned activities to interpret, highlight and safeguard the values of Anarkali.
Our historic building team has inventoried almost 100 structures ranging from Mughal to Art Deco and have carried out condition assessments of some of the most notable. At the same time, all the greenery and green spots in the area have also been catalogued and a typology of surviving plant life of Anarkali has been prepared. In the future we plan to incorporate greening of communal areas into our project planning.
In the next phase of the Heritage of Anarkali project we had proposed to use a variety of school and community-based art activities to raise awareness in the community of the heritage and its values. However, limitations posed by the covoid-19 pandemic mean that we are now rethinking our plans and trying to come up with innovative but socially distanced options! In my next blog hopefully I will be able to tell you all about them…..
Before finishing I would like to recognize the members of our fabulous team, both members of Rogers Kolachi Khan & Associates and our friends and colleagues who have joined in various capacities: Dr. Amin Khan of GCU Lahore, (greening); Sultan Ali of RKK (Oral History, video and photography);Mawra Tehreem, NCA (Anarkali administration and street names); Sehr Jalil, RKK and NCA (Artists and Anarkali); Conservation Architect Zuneira Batool and Conservation Engineer Dr. GM Baloch both of RKK (Historical Buildings and Environmental survey); Dr. Rustam Khan of RKK (Stakeholder consultation); Ashafaq Ahmad and Tajjamal Abas of RKK (Base map drawing); our cultural mapping team of Mahnoor, Sadia, Abdul Samad and Kamran; and me Dr. Ayesha Rogers valiently holding it all together!
November 2020
The living heritage of Anarkali Baazar is the source of resilience which has allowed this community to maintain its life-ways and historic built environment in the face of change over the centuries. Today, however, the people of Anarkali bazaar are confronted daily with increasing and incremental pressures for change in their traditional environment, sense of place and community. They worry that their community based resilience may no longer be enough to sustain the way of life they value so highly.
The Heritage of Anarkali Bazaar project is an initiative of Rogers Kolachi Khan & Associates, a heritage consultancy based in Lahore, Pakistan, with the World Monuments Fund. This project was project will offer residents and bazaar merchants the opportunity to voice their concerns and priorities to sympathetic ears. Pressures on this traditional way of urban life are increasing in the face of globalization, failed governance and a growing emphasis on heritage as tourism. There is therefore a critical need to listen to their voices and investigate complex traditional communities, like Anarkali Bazaar, to see how resilience functions and how it can be nurtured and supported as a tool for managing change in historic cities in Pakistan. Based on this deeper understanding, the project aims to work with the stakeholders to identify and develop further plans for heritage-based actions they feel would tangibly strengthen the resilience and social capital of Anarkali.
We are adopting a methodology, based on the Power of the Small — small initiatives which will in time catalyse long-term change. The methodology draws from the discussion of ‘organic’ civic engagement tools as part of the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach (Smith in Van Oers and Bandarin 2012) where sustainability must be grounded within the community. Current approaches are what Smith calls ‘utopian’ in that they define how the future should be in a place and then move towards it, hopefully with local support. The alternative ‘organic’ approach begins by understanding the past interactions between nature, culture, memory and imagination; it requires “defining the present and then choosing interventions that strengthen its positives and weaken its negatives” (Smith 2012).
The project in Anarkali has been designed specifically to develop and test a practical model for engaging, in the most direct and meaningful way possible, with local communities living in Pakistan’s many historic urban areas. It is a response to prevailing approaches based on development models that seek stakeholder buy-in to proposals defined and imported by agencies and heritage organizations. The project comprises small scale, phased actions carried out by local actors to validate the heritage of these communities in their own eyes, a first step towards wider acceptance and formal recognition by the wider community.
We are building on previous work done by the project team; Anarkali Bazaar has been used as a locale for training university art and cultural heritage students in field research to identify the values of Anarkali, making contact with stakeholders and preliminary cultural mapping. This project provides an opportunity to build on these connections to develop our understanding of what ‘heritage’ is of value to the people who live, work and shop in Anarkali. We want to provide the community of Anarkali with an opportunity to express and act on their concerns and priorities with a team of artists and heritage students interacting with local voices inside the Anarkali space. We feel that this approach will result in a step forward in our overall aim to understand how resilience and social capital function and how they can be nurtured and supported as tools for managing change in historic cities in Pakistan.
