DESTINATIONS Pakistan- 9th issue -Pakistan's Premier Travel & Lifestyle Magazine by DESTINATIONS

ISSUE #09

Mira Sethi A

Modern day Renaissance WOMAN

Khaadi Emporium Store The New

AN ODE TO ART, DESIGN & CULTURE

In Love with

Sarajevo Moenjodaro Exploring

Will THE REAL

ARSHAD KHAN

Please stand Up

contents.

ISSUE #09

On the cover

MIRA SETHI

p.32

modern day RENAISSANCE WOMAN A

DESTINATIONS DIARY

p. 72

A Modern Day Renaissance Woman

Lawrence Gardens - Where Nature and Heritage Bloom

Celebrating Art, Culture and Design with Khaadi

Will The Real

Mira Sethi on Khaadi

MAN ON THE SCENE

Arshad Khan

Please Stand Up?

THE

TRAILBLAZER

Shamaeel Ansari

p. 94

Will The Real Arshad Khan Please Stand Up?

SARAJEVO

p. 118

Stole my Heart

NEAR & AFAR

p. 84

26 28

SQUARE

MILE

Dream Destinations Destinations Desires

LEGENDS 62

The Man Behind The Minar Nasreddin Murat-Khan

STYLE RULES 84

My Square Mile

VISIONARY 94

The Trailblazer - Shamaeel Ansari

REFLECTIONS 104

House of Cards

LITERATI 114

The Novel Cop Omar Shahid Hamid

WANDERER 118

Sarajevo Stole My Heart

TRAVELISTA 128

How To Travel Like a Fashionista Natasha Saigol

LETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S DISH p. 150

134

From The Indus to the Clyde

HERITAGE

142

Moenjodaro Calling

STOPPING BY

THE BEATEN TRACK KILIK PASS OFF 150 Stopping by Kilik Pass

on a SNOWY EVENING

On a Snowy Evening

PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ASMA CHISHTY MANAGING EDITOR : FEATURES & COMMISSIONING EDITOR : DESIGN & LAYOUT : OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER : MEDIA SALES : KARACHI CORRESPONDENT: PUBLISHED BY :

LEGAL ADVISOR : GM MARKETING & SALES (DAEWOO) : CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER (DAEWOO) : CONTACT (SALES) :

DISTRIBUTORS: PRINTERS :

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MARIAM MUSHTAQ ZAHRA HIDAYATULLAH USMAN MUNIR ZOHAIB AKHTAR UBAID-UR-REHMAN NAEEM ULLAH YASMEEN HASHMI Daewoo Pakistan Express Bus Service Ltd. 231, Ferozepur Road, Kalma CHOWK, LAHORE, PAKISTAN +92.42.111.007.006 , +92.42.3583.5132 BASIT WAHEED WATTOO SHERIAR HASSAN USMAN HAYAT +92 334 423 4681 (NAEEM ULLAH) naeem.ullah@daewoo.com.pk +92 333 488 8203 (KHAWAJA AMMAR) khawaja.ammar@daewoo.com.pk NATIONAL NEWS AGENCY TOPICAL PRINTERS

destinations.com.pk www.destinations.com.pk

destinationspk

contributors Fifi Haroon

Summiya Usmani

Madeeha Syed

Sonya Rehman

House of Cards p.104

From Indus to Clyde p.134

Sarajevo Stole My Heart p.118

The Man Behind The Minar p.62

Fifi Haroon has been a leading journalist and media producer for over 20 years. She earned degrees in politics (Bryn Mawr), law (Cambridge University) and Media Anthropology (SOAS, London University), the last as a Chevening Scholar. She has written extensively on travel, film and pop culture for many publications and websites including The Independent and Newsweek Pakistan. Haroon works as a senior broadcast journalist and presenter for the BBC World Service in London in both Urdu and English. She has sung with Junoon and tweets to over 55,000 followers as @fifiharoon.

A food writer and cookery teacher, Sumayya Usmani grew up in Pakistan, but has found home in Glasgow. Passionate about sharing the flavours of her homeland, she is the author of two cookbooks: Summers Under The Tamarind Tree (Frances Lincoln) and Mountain Berries and Dessert Spice (Frances Lincoln, slated for release in April 2017). Sumayya also co-presents BBC Kitchen CafĂŠ weekly on BBC Radio Scotland. Her website URL is sumayyausmani.com

Madeeha Syed is a journalist, an awardwinning documentary filmmaker and radio correspondent constantly looking for excuses to travel. She hates heights but loves mountains; is a long-distance cyclist and certified one-star CMAS diver. And by the end of most trips, a broke backpacker.

Sonya Rehman is a writer/ journalist based in Lahore. A graduate of Columbia Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Graduate School of Journalism, she writes for both local and international publications. While her forte is local art and culture, she also has a keen interest in human interest pieces and stories that are often overlooked and disregarded in mainstream media.

Ahmad Altaf

Stopping By Kilik Pass p.150

editors note from the

his issue is an ode au printemps. Spring is beautiful in its possibilities and opportunities. When winter breathes its last sigh, the doors open up for new beginnings and fresh air. It is the best time to step out and explore what is in the city and around you. In the same vein, our cover story embodies this spirit and features Mira Sethi as a modern day Renaissance woman, treading her way across her hometown, Lahore as she visits some of her favorite places. She takes us to the Quaid e Azam Library on the Mall, to the historical Lawrence Gardens and finally her home library. As this month marks the 77th anniversary of Pakistan’s Resolution Day, our mission statement, ‘Travel Across Pakistan’ reigns supreme over all else. Hence we proudly present a brand that carries an open declaration of its love for Pakistan on all shop fronts both- nationwide and internationally, Khaadi. This month also marks the opening of Khaadi’s latest flagship store at Emporium Mall, Lahore. An enchanted space, it pays homage to the brand’s essential ethos of art, design and culture where elements of nature are complimented by modern features to create a truly wondrous experience. Talking of the newness of things brings us to Omar Shahid Hamid’s most recent offering, The Party Worker. Yusra Askari profiles the man who in addition to being perhaps the only writer in Pakistan penning crime thrillers in English is also SSP Intelligence, Counter Terrorism in one of the world’s most volatile metropolis- Karachi. Clean air is to spring what sunshine is to summerfundamental. It is thus that after having read a scathing review in the Guardian, Fifi Haroon decides to clear the air with Gurinder Chadha about her latest release, Viceroy’s House and talks to lead actor, Huma Qureshi about her role in the film, her Pakistani connections and her take on the events of 1947.

ASMA CHISHTY

PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

While on the topic of Resolution Day, the symbolic Minare-Pakistan warrants a special mention. Journalist Sonya Rehman uncovers the story of Nasreddin Murat-Khan, the man responsible for one of Pakistan’s most iconic monuments that goes far beyond this legacy.

Good weather is a great excuse to travel to places that are blessed with it. Journalist and travel enthusiast, Madeeha Syed makes a trip to the Balkan states and narrates an account of her visit to Sarajevo, a city she spontaneously and helplessly falls in love with. A town with a rich and vibrant multi-ethnic multi-cultural past, she learns that it is a place that two decades after the war is rebuilding on its ruins and is ready to move on. Adding a fresh name to our roster of writers is the very impressive food writer and cookery teacher, Sumayya Usmani. She begins her journey with us by reminiscing about the flavors marking her childhood in Pakistan and connects it with food from her chosen home, Scotland. She identifies tastes that blend the two nations, using the Scottish “stovies” as an adaptation of the primary Pakistani dish “aloo gosht” and shares a bespoke recipe for this original meal. What is better than the time when possibilities become opportunities and then experiences! London based Masume Hidayatallah, acting on impulse, finds herself in the heart of Sindh visiting the cradle of civilization - Moenjodaro. But a well meditated decision leads Ahmad Altaf, a trekker from the LUMS Adventure Society with his small group to successfully attempt the Kilik Pass (4820m) trek in winter. Also scaling new heights is Arshad Khan. An in-depth story behind the man popularly known as ‘Chai Wala’ who took the world of social media by storm, reveals why he is more than a mere flash in the pan. This and a whole set of other exciting tales have been curated to bring to you the best of and from Pakistanlocally and globally. Happy reading!

ZAHRA HIDAYATULLAH

FEATURES & COMMISSIONING EDITOR

MARIAM MUSHTAQ MANAGING EDITOR

NEAR & AFAR

Whether you’re craving a domestic getaway or eyeing a more exotic trip abroad, we pick out the best places to help you plan your travels.

How to get there: Malam Jabba is located at a distance of 261 km from Islamabad, roughly 7 hours by car. The ski resort can be accessed through the M-1 Motorway, via Mardan and Saidu Sharif.

Where to stay: The PTDC resort provides a comfortable stay and plenty of activities, with its chairlifts, skating rink and skiing platforms.

What to do: Located atop the might Hindu Kush range, Malam Jabba is Pakistan’s only ski resort with stunning slopes surrounded by lush green forest. The area is also home to two Buddhist stupas and six monasteries, remnants of the Swat Valley’s past as the seat of the Gandhara civilization. There are trekking trails and camping sites for those looking for outdoor adventure.

, a b b a J m a l a M Swat ully hosted n having successf io at st ll hi e th ith W ment this nal skiing tourna its first internatio ors with the wing foreign visit wo d an ry ua br Fe Jabba is its slopes, Malam majestic beauty of tourists. its share of local ready to receive

Lisbon, Portugal

e of the Portugal’s capital is on vibrant d an ic at most charism e, rop Eu n ter cities in Wes ional dit tra ing nd effortlessly ble ty. rni de mo th heritage wi

How to get there: One can opt for either Emirates or Turkish Air to make the 14-hour journey.

Where to stay: Built in 1959 by the Dictator Salazar to prove that Lisbon could do luxury as well as any other European capital, the Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon has retained its position as the city’s premier hotel. It boasts a birds-eye view of Lisbon’s unique architecture, historical artworks, a luxurious spa and acclaimed restaurants.

What to do: The most charming way to sightsee is aboard the wooden tram 28 that rumbles through the city’s most historic parts, such as Bairro Alto and the churches and castles on the cobbled hills of the Alfama and Graça neighbourhoods. A visit to Mosteiro dos Jerónimos and Torre de Belém, both UNESCO World Heritage sites, is a must as is a tour of Lisbon’s various museums.

NEAR & AFAR Our guide to what we’re currently loving.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Android lovers have been waiting anxiously to get their hands on the latest in Samsung’s Galaxy series and it seems the wait has been well worth it. The just-launched phone is the company’s sleekest and most elegant design ever, with impressive resolution and a host of exciting features, such as the iris scanner and ‘beast mode’ which delivers more power when needed. If there was ever a time to switch phones and upgrade, it’s now.

House of

Our prayers have finally been answered – Zara has come to Pakistan, albeit unofficially! The House of Zara provides you the chance to browse through the in-store collections of the high-street retail giant, pick your favourites from the comfort of your couch and then leave it to the good people behind the online service to get your preferred item and have it delivered to your doorstep in about 3 weeks. Shopping just got a whole lot more fun!

Hot Hareesa Looking to indulge in some comfort food on a night in? Hot Hareesa provides the perfect answer – the home-cooked food delivery service will bring to your doorstep piping hot hareesa, the Kashmiri speciality that has remained a perennial breakfast favourite for centuries. Hot Hareesa has recently expanded its menu to include mutton payas and kebab masala, making it the meat-lover’s go-to kitchen. Place your orders now at 0324-8451004.

Ink Factory The newly launched Ink Factory in Gulberg, Lahore provides a variety of high-end digital solutions, previously unavailable anywhere in the country. Whether it’s gold foiling that you require or acrylic printing, the Ink Factory has it all. What’s more, they work on any surface and any colour or texture that you desire, so let your imagination run wild and play the artist to create that t-shirt, mug, cushion, or poster that you’ve always wanted.

LOCO Karachi just got its very first tapas restaurant in the form of Loco, and the rave reviews are pouring in. Loco prides itself on serving ‘hot Latin food and high Karachi spirits’ and we have to say, the mix is irresistible. Feast on the red snapper and avocado ceviche, the tomato and pepper gazpacho, mushroom caps with crab meat and the seared beef amongst a host of other culinary delights – all packed with hearty, authentic flavour served in a setting that is hip and arty. Loco is located at 35C, Khayaban-e-Muslim.

DESTINATIONS DIARY

PHOTOGRAPHER : WARDROBE : JEWELLERY : HAIR & MAKE-UP : STYLING & COORD. : TRANSPORTATION :

KHAWAR RIAZ KHAADI KHAADI KHAWAR RIAZ STUDIO TEAM DESTINATIONS DAEWOO CAB

with

MIRA SETHI

modern day RENAISSANCE A

WOMAN By Zahra Hidayatullah

DESTINATIONS DIARY

ira Sethi is a talent force that defies boundaries. A former Robert L. Bartley fellow with a bachelor’s degree in English and South Asian studies from one of the best liberal arts colleges, Wellesley, she is now back home in Pakistan, making her mark as an actress and a model. In the meantime, this former assistant books editor at The Wall Street Journal continues to write short fiction which is soon to be published by publishing giants, Knopf and Bloomsbury. Here she talks about her foray into acting, her immense love for being an actor and what compelled this NY-based writer to move back to the motherland.

Having worked at The Wall Street Journal as assistant books editor in addition to being the daughter of of highly acclaimed journalists and publishers, Najam Sethi and Jugnu Mohsin, it seems your career path as heiress of a print empire was almost charted for you. When and how did you steer away towards the performing arts? I’d always wanted to act. Writing was something I could always do in my own time, but I needed a professional/institutional outlet for acting. So I moved back home and never looked back. I’m an artist; being an heiress of a print empire doesn’t interest me as a career-end. A former Robert L.Bartley fellow, you hold a bachelor’s degree from one of the leading liberal arts colleges, Wellesley College, where you studied English and South Asian studies. Like Hillary R. Clinton, you were also a Commencement Speaker at your Graduation ceremony there; the only Pakistani to have that honour. Tell us about your academic years and how they continue to help you shape your life. Giving the commencement speech at Wellesley is, to date, an achievement and a memory very dear to me. Six years down the line folks still write to me remarking how inspirational the speech is. My academic years are central to my approach in living life: they taught me rigour, discipline, but also nudged my pursuit of beauty - in writing, art, and in life.

Your debut collection of short stories in fiction has been picked up by publishing giants Knopf and Bloomsbury. Slated for a 2018 release, the book has already got the literary circuit buzzing. Are you excited? Is there a particular theme the stories are based on? Does your acting experience play a role in your writing? Thanks for the kind words. I’m hugely excited. The stories are urban tales of love and identity and aspiration. They upend, I think, entrenched notions of what it means to be Pakistani. I can’t say more at the moment, but I am very excited for my baby, my book, to make its way into the world next year. How do you manage to juggle your time between acting and writing? What is your closer to your heart? Very good question. I’d say the actor in me is the extroverted side of my personality; the writer the introvert. They buoy one another in a beautiful way. For example, my friends always joke that I’m always the first to leave a party. It’s true. I arrive, and I’m happy to be out and energized, but after a while, there is a silent, pressing need to be alone: that’s the writer in me. Acting has expanded my social horizon in an incredible way: I meet folks from all over Pakistan, I spend intense bursts of time with them (actors typically work twelve hours a day), and, most importantly, acting has led to a love affair with Urdu. I am so grateful for that.

DESTINATIONS DIARY

Your work-out photos are inspiring! When and how did you get into fitness training and why is it so important to you? Hah, thanks! I started working out when I was in New York. When I’m not shooting, I try and go to the gym four days a week. The energy is infectious! I love pushing myself. You are a great mimic, a talent you most probably inherited from your mother. You have imitated not only famous politicians on TV but also your own father. How does he react to that? He chuckles: “Miru, very naughty.” I guess it’s because my mother also doesn’t spare him. We’re all mimics in the family, and the coin of communication in our extended family is often humour, parody, satire. After all, we live in Pakistan: gotta keep things light in order to survive! Mira, you’re fluent in Punjabi. Many people shy away from teaching their children their regional language. How do you feel about that? I’m so grateful to my mother for speaking Punjabi with Ali and me when we were young. It’s a great asset. It boggles the mind as to why folks don’t teach their kids regional languages. To each his own, I suppose, but Punjabi brings out the desi kurri in me! You’ve been published in prestigious publications like The New York Times and The Caravan. How would you define yourself? As an actress or a writer? Is there more prestige in being one over the other? As I said earlier, I think of myself as an artist. Sarmad Khoosat both acted in and directed Manto; Adnan Malik directs television commercials but also acts for the screen. They’re not mutually exclusive. I am very lucky to be both a writer and an actor. You studied at the best colleges and had a great job with an international publication but decided to come back and live and work in Lahore, Pakistan. What is it about being home that inspires you? Everything: the food, the culture, the languages, the immersion in my career, the proximity to my parents, my home, my bed; Lahore on a thundering night, Karachi’s breeze, Lahore’s warmth, Karachi’s freedom; my friends, my grandparents, my colleagues, our collective aspirations; Pakistan’s burgeoning film industry, Pakistan’s landscape, its wounds and difficulties and being able to lend a helping hand in the healing of those wounds and difficulties. I forget who said that “intelligent criticism is in fact the highest form of patriotism.” And I think having a clear-eyed sense of this country but at the same time wanting desperately to do something beautiful and inspirational for Pakistan is what makes me want to live here. What exciting projects are you currently working on? Several! More later when the news is “official.”

“I’m so grateful to my mother for speaking Punjabi with Ali and me when we were young. It’s a great asset.”

DESTINATIONS DIARY

Behind

Scenes the

with Mira Sethi, Khawar Riaz, and Team DESTINATIONS.

DESTINATIONS DIARY

Lawrence Gardens Where Nature and Heritage Bloom

he Mall, one of Lahore’s main arteries as well as a remnant of the city’s past as an important imperial outpost, rarely sleeps. Housing grand colonial structures such as the Governor House, Aitchison College, the Lahore Museum and Charing Cross, it is not only the seat of various government offices but also a hub of commerce, culture and education that witnesses a seemingly endless stream of activity. In the midst of the commotion, however, Mall Road offers its visitors a place of splendid serenity, an oasis of natural beauty steeped in a rich history. Lawrence Gardens, renamed Jinnah’s Garden postindependence, remain one of Lahore’s most notable attractions, dating back to the mid-19th century. The wide pathways lined with majestic trees, vast green expanses and well-manicured lawns are reminiscent of a typical English garden; and the resemblance is no mere coincidence. Originally built as a botanical garden modelled on London’s Kew Gardens, the park was named after John Lawrence, who served as Governor General and Viceroy of India from 1864 to 1869. Built soon after the annexation of Punjab by the British in 1849, it reflected the might of the growing empire as exotic species of plants were collected from British colonies around the globe to be planted at the new garden in Lahore. Currently, the botanical gardens are contained within an area of 7 acres and are managed by the Government College, Lahore. The imposing structure of the Quaid-e-Azam library is one of the park’s most magnificent features and the history of the Victorian-style building is an interesting one. It started off as two halls, named Lawrence Hall and Montgomery Hall, built between 1861 and 1866. In her book titled Lahore: The Architectural Heritage, Lucy Peck writes: “The Lawrence Hall was the first of these to be built. It was used for public meetings and theatrical entertainment. Montgomery Hall was built behind it in 1866, in tribute to Sir Robert Montgomery, second Lieutenant-General of Punjab, and was significantly altered, with a new roof and floor ‘for rinking [rollerskating] and dancing’, in 1875. It was mainly used for ‘grand balls and Darbars’.”

By 1878, the two halls became the birthplace of the Lahore Gymkhana, originally founded as The Lahore & Mian Mir Institute. Aimed at providing social and recreational activities to Lahore’s elite, the club housed a ballroom and a smaller room for cocktail dances, bars, billiards and table tennis. The club had its own cricket ground within the gardens as well as tennis courts. The halls were taken over the Punjab Government in 1972, and the club shifted to its current premises on the Upper Mall. Since the 1980’s, the buildings have been in use as a reference library called Quaid-e-Azam Library, with an impressive collection of 125,000 volumes, both in English and Urdu. The Gymkhana cricket ground, still run by the club, is arguably the most picturesque cricketing venue in the country, and saw the first game being played in 1880. The Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir and his counterpart of Patiala held regular fixtures against Lahore Gymkhana, the Punjab XI and other teams here. The ground played host to Pakistan’s first unofficial test match against the West Indies in 1948. A few more unofficial matches later, Lawrence Gardens became a test venue when Pakistan took on India in 1955. New Zealand and West Indies also played a match here before the ground lost its test status due to the construction of Gaddafi Stadium. Describing the Lawrence Gardens in their early years, Peck says the area was used by the Volunteer Rifles as a range, with the targets placed against disused brick-kilns. “The brick kilns are still there, augmented by bricks collected elsewhere, piled up to make significant hills; one of them was flattened at the top for people to sit out on in the evening.” Many Lahoris have fond memories not only of these hills, but also of the magical trees that have witnessed years of history, the winding trails that have seen generations walk down the same pathways and the pristine lawns that have provided a sanctuary to anyone seeking a moment of respite – to simply sit down and take in the wonders of nature and heritage as they mingle exquisitely at this historic spot.

DESTINATIONS DIARY

Celebrating

ART culture design and

Khaadi with

By Hassan Tahir Latif

Khaadi’s flagship store at the Emporium Mall in Lahore celebrates the brand’s uniquely Pakistani identity through its meshing of elements that form the cornerstones of its philosophy – art, culture and design.

DESTINATIONS DIARY he inception of Khaadi in 1998 heralded the start of a new era of retail therapy in Pakistan – one centred on creating a holistic shopping experience for its patrons who were treated more like family than customers. Nearing twenty years of successful operations, the brand has synonymised itself with Pakistani heritage through its vibrant designs. This ethos is reflected not only in the wide range of menswear, womenswear and home and personal accessories, but is also the cornerstone of its outlets. Khaadi’s flagship store at the Emporium Mall in Lahore, its latest and largest, continues to celebrate this ideology through a unique meshing of art, culture and design. Layered in two tiers, the space represents a synergy of artists, young and old. With renowned architect Shahid Abdullah leading the architectural design process alongside sculptor Osama Khan and artist Sohail Abdullah, every detail – from the backdrop behind the cashier to the installations next to the mannequins – has been carefully curated.

creating a relaxed shopping atmosphere; instead of a cluttered space, the minimalistic design aesthetic at the Khaadi Emporium Mall store allows its patrons to really connect with the entire experience. Khaadi’s ethos has always focused on intertwining ordinary design elements with indigenous materials and motifs that highlight Pakistani heritage. Its designs exude a sense of belonging to Pakistan, creating a strong identity that is not lost amongst a sea of consumerism. For Abdullah, it was important that the store design mirror that singular identity. “Khaadi has its own aesthetic; it has set a standard. Even if a Khaadi store is placed next to international brands, it hold its ground for its uniqueness,” continues Mr. Abdullah. “Khaadi is home. Khaadi loves Pakistan. So when you walk into a store, you feel at home.” The sharp, clean-cut lines, with a hint of organised chaos, lend the space an air of easy familiarity. Without overpowering the senses, Abdullah has made remarkable use of basic building tools (brick, wood and steel) to achieve a final design that is intricately layered and timeless.

“Design doesn’t go out of style, fashion does. When you do architecture you need to ensure that it doesn’t seem seasonal and that it doesn’t die –like many fashions do.”

Detailing the concept behind the store layout, Shahid Abdullah expresses it as part of the journey he has taken together with the brand ever since its first outlet was designed. “How do you relate with Khaadi?” is the quintessential question that became his blueprint for the design. Whether it is the steel structure merging with stone and wood, or the oranges blending into greens, it is the culmination of his research into the brand’s philosophy.

“It is not the material, but what you do with it,” comments Abdullah, as he describes his choice of using heavy brickwork in the store. He believes in using ordinary materials such as brick, which is found abundantly in the Punjab region, and enhancing its importance through its marriage to wood and the interplay of natural and artificial light. This conscious decision to use ordinary materials and present them in extraordinary ways is geared towards

“Design doesn’t go out of style, fashion does,” continues Abdullah. “When you do architecture you need to ensure that it doesn’t seem seasonal and that it doesn’t die – like many fashions do.”

The architecture was carefully designed to leave space for artistic installations that would provide the subtle embellishment any store requires, but without the danger of excess. Khaadi’s commitment to promoting Pakistani heritage in all forms, especially the arts, is clearly visible through the installations around the store. Whether it is a multicoloured wall, or a tree in the middle of the store, it is all intrinsically related to what defines Pakistan’s culture. The freedom provided to the artists to express themselves and explore their artistic boundaries is what resulted in the iconic design. Both Osama Khan and Sohail Abdullah have commended the brand for allowing them to dream and create freely. Ultimately, the kaleidoscope of colours, materials and designs that greets any visitor to the Khaadi Emporium store is a testament to its years of cultivating its truly indigenous brand philosophy.

DESTINATIONS DIARY

MiraonSethi Khaadi

remember when Khaadi opened in Lahore. It was a modest little store, with its signature gunmetal hands curled over the plaque. I walked in; I browsed. I remember being struck by something: the clothes actually fit! Pret clothes were not supposed to fit. That was asking for too much. They were always large, unshapely, awkward. Khaadi’s shirts were structured, clean silhouettes of fabric that breathed, was nice to touch. This was a revelation. And a delicate little revolution, in hindsight, in pret wear in Pakistan. It’s not as if clothing boutiques didn’t exist before Khaadi came along. Khaadi stepped in and said: Here’s a nice print; and you can get a size that fits perfectly. Then Khaadi stepped in and said: Here are cotton tights in a million colours, have your pick! Then Khaadi stepped in and said: Here are some gorgeous cushions, do you fancy one? Then Khaadi stepped in and said: Oh we have sofas too, in traditional techniques that will knock the breath out of you. From bohemian to traditional to chic, Khaadi’s handwoven technique products have won the hearts of millions of women. I am one of them. These handwoven techniques provide greater employment opportunities for women in a labour-intensive economy. That women can earn their own livelihood -- however small a sum it may be -- goes a long way in promoting equality between the sexes. Recently, I collaborated with DESTINATIONS to shoot a video of my exploration of the new Khaadi store in Emporium Mall. I was struck by the scale and ambition of the brand, and the choice, in particular, to make Lahore the site of the flagship store. In the making of the store, Khaadi enlisted the best architects and artists to create a complete visual scape, an experience customers can savour and relish. There is a large tree of caramel-coloured wood; a geometric bloom of purple on another wall. It’s not that these things are only and merely beautiful: they have been created to enhance the experience of visiting and browsing. The tree, in particular, reminded me of Nasir Kazmi’s poetry, whose verse is filled with the beauties and bounties of nature: trees, birds, seasons, the stars. It is clear reading Kazmi that nature is closest to his heart, and running my fingers over the wood of what I shall call The Khaadi Tree, I was transported to a gentler, simpler era, when our relationship with nature was not adversarial, but one of harmony. One of Kazmi’s last interviews was conducted in a hospital bed in his native Lahore. At he end of the interview the poet grew wistful and requested that his salaam be paid to the trees and birds of the city. In an ever-changing global environment, Khaadi straddles the space between tradition and modernity. The brand’s “globalism” -- they have a store in London now -- harks back to traditional designs (ethnic sofas and handbags) that first made the brand stand out. This ethos is a reminder, much like the tree, of where we belong and where we must return. As you exit the store, a sign proclaims: Khaadi loves Pakistan. Looking at the profusion of Khaadi stores across Pakistani cities, it is safe to say that Pakistan -- and Pakistani women, in particular -- love Khaadi madly back.

LEGENDS

THE MAN behind the

MINAR

NASREDDIN MURAT-KHAN By Sonya Rehman

Minar-e-Pakistan, a public monument commemorating the historic Lahore Resolution, is one of Pakistanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most well-recognized landmarks. Yet little is known about the man responsible for its design and construction, a man whose story goes beyond the minar, and far beyond Pakistan. Journalist Sonya Rehman uncovers the legacy of a true visionary who is only now getting the credit that he deserves.

LEGENDS

e wasn’t ordinary, and neither was his life. Even though Nasreddin Murat-Khan is largely acknowledged as the ‘architect behind Minar-e-Pakistan,’ his story goes beyond the minar (tower), and far beyond Pakistan.

We meet at her childhood friend’s home in Lahore for tea. Meral Murat-Khan, Murat-Khan’s youngest daughter, is soft-spoken and candid as she narrates her beloved father’s journey from Daghestan, Russia, to Lahore, Pakistan. Born in Daghestan in 1904 to a father who was an Imperial Russian Army officer and a mother who died when Murat-Khan and his siblings (a brother and a younger sister) were very young, Murat-Khan and his family, Meral tells me, were deeply involved in the resistance movement to free the Caucasus from the then USSR; a movement that first began as the Caucasian War, led by Imam Shamil in the 18th century against the Tzar-controlled Russian Empire. Graduating with triple degrees in architecture, civil engineering and town planning from the Leningrad State University (now known as the Saint Petersburg State University) in 1930, Murat-Khan enjoyed a thoroughly successful career in the capacity of both a chief civil engineer and chief architect involved in a number of projects in the former USSR, such as the national theatre in the city of Derbent (for which he won first prize), a polytechnic institute for 800 students in Makhachkala (the capital city of Daghestan), a 600-bed general hospital (in Makhachkala), town planning and designing for a new township of 60,000 families in Makhachkala, a V.J. Lenin memorial and numerous other projects. However, due to his involvement in the movement, Murat-Khan had to flee Daghestan with the German retreating army for fear of his life between the years 1943-1944. “He had to leave,” Meral states. “Forty members of his family were massacred right before his eyes. He lost everything.”

While his brother was sent to Siberia (due to their entire family being blacklisted), Murat-Khan’s sister immigrated to Iran. “It was a very hard, painful time for him. I remember as a child I used to try and pester him to tell me stories of his life in Daghestan but he’d never talk about it, except he did tell me about how proud he was of his heritage. He used to say people in his village would rather commit suicide than give in – they were a very close-knit, proud community. Even if it meant an entire family destroying themselves, they would never surrender.” After escaping from Daghestan in 1944, Murat-Khan’s life changed drastically: from a thriving career in Russia, he now lived as a refugee in a camp run by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), in Berlin, Germany. But it was here, at the refugee camp – where MuratKhan worked as a camp engineer and chief architect – that he met the love of his life: Hamida Akmut, a Turkish national refugee. Half Austrian and half Pakistani, Hamida was studying to become a doctor when Vienna was invaded by Russia. While her parents were settled in Turkey, Hamida, like Khan, became a refugee, working in the camp as a nurse since she couldn’t complete her degree (given the political climate at the time). Coincidentally, both Murat-Khan and Hamida had adjoining cabins at the camp. “I think it was love at first sight. She used to say it was his voice that she fell in love with,” Meral laughs. “They wanted to get married within three weeks of meeting!” 65

LEGENDS

â&#x20AC;&#x153;He spent ten years on that project (Minar-e-Pakistan) and never charged a penny for it,â&#x20AC;? 66

Not long after, the young couple decided to migrate to Pakistan since the UNRAA camps were shutting down. Without a country to call their own, Meral states that the decision to shift to Pakistan was partly due to the fact that her mother had family in Pakistan (Hamida’s father was Pakistani). Arriving in the country in 1950, thus began a new path in Khan’s life; a path which would eventually lead him to single-handedly make one of the largest and most iconic monuments in Pakistan. “Initially it was very difficult for them to settle in,” Meral states, speaking about the early years of her parents’ move to Pakistan. “They had to start from scratch because they were coming into an environment which was completely alien to them.” But after a few years of getting their bearings, Khan began working for the Pakistan Public Works Department (PWD) for a few years before launching his very own architecture firm in 1959 by the name of Illeri N. Murat Khan & Associates.

In the eleven years of his prolific private practice, Murat-Khan designed countless residences (in Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Gujranwala), in addition to a number of town planning schemes (the WAPDA residential colony at Mangla Dam, Lahore and Multan), hospitals and clinics (the 1000-bed Nishtar Medical Hospital in Multan, a mental hospital in Mansehra for 500 patients), educational institutions (the Divisional Public High School in Faisalabad, Divisional Public High School in Lahore, an auditorium for a 700+ seating capacity at the Forman Christian College in Lahore), mosques (at the Governor’s House in Lahore, the Jamia Mosque in Mirpur), WAPDA residential flats in Lahore, a library and ladies park in Rahim Yar Khan, the Bank of America in Lahore, Fortress Stadium and Gaddafi Stadium (both in Lahore), the Municipal Office in Multan, a shopping centre in Peshawar and several others, too many to list.

“Right from the very beginning, from what I remember, there were squabbles. My father was a man of great integrity; he refused to allow any dishonesty,” says Meral

Residing in a beautiful, picturesque home on Montgomery Road (on Mall Road) in Lahore, MuratKhan, with his wife and five daughters (Pari, Zeynab, Maryam, Mesme and Meral), lived a stable and happy life.

“We always had an open house where guests came and went,” Meral reminisces fondly. “My mother was always in the kitchen concocting meals because we had visitors all the time.”

A devoted, gentle father who, Meral mentions, “had a great sense of humour,” Murat-Khan was a caring man who was utterly crazy about his girls. “We were such a mix; neither Pakistani nor European, it’s amazing my parents created that cocoon for my sisters and I,” says Meral. “Both of them had suffered, but they managed to create a home for not just us but for everyone who knew us.”

For his outstanding service to the country, President Ayub Khan honoured MuratKhan with the Tamghai-Imtiaz (Medal of Excellence) in 1963. Yet, speaking about the minar, Murat-Khan’s youngest daughter is pained. “He spent ten years on that project and never charged a penny for it,” Meral states, “He said that he was making the minar as a contribution to the country which gave him a new home.”

Invited by the government of Pakistan to submit a few preliminary designs of the minar, Murat-Khan began formally working on the monument’s construction in 1959. To be built in an area (Iqbal Park) where the historic Lahore Resolution was passed on the 23rd of March, 1940, the architect’s original design portrayed the minar without a covering. Why? To signify a young country’s infinite, promising growth. However, Meral states that her father was asked to cap the minar with a dome as the committee didn’t find the design of the dome-less structure “Islamic enough.” 67

LEGENDS

“He told them you’re stunting the growth, but they insisted on the dome,” Meral says. “Right from the very beginning, from what I remember, there were squabbles. My father was a man of great integrity; he refused to allow any dishonesty,” she says, mentioning that this irked certain committee members who then sent Murat-Khan a letter thanking him for his services, and maliciously ousting him from the project a month before the monument was to be officially inaugurated. Meral further reveals that the building committee then took over the building site without her father’s consent, disallowing him from overseeing the last few weeks of the minar’s completion, and sent him the final bill for an approval. Murat-Khan rejected the bill. The defects had to be verified, corrected and removed. Only then would he allow the final bill to be passed. But the committee didn’t budge and eventually went ahead with the launch, not having the courtesy of inviting Murat-Khan to the inauguration. “He was very heartbroken,” Meral states. In fact, so devastated was Murat-Khan that he decided to leave the country with his family for good. However, exactly one year after the completion of the minar, Murat-Khan died of a sudden heart attack. It was 1970 and Meral was only fourteenyears-old when she lost her father. “It was the final nail in the coffin,” she says, alluding to the fact that her father did indeed die of a broken heart.

In the years that followed, Meral made it her life’s mission to correct the grave misconception (in the press and online) that her father was only the architect of the minar. “He was both the architect and the engineer – I’ve been fighting to resolve this inaccuracy for fifteen years; but there’s so much misinformation out there, the facts are continuously presented inaccurately… besides, the plaque which mentions my father’s name at the base of the minar doesn’t mention anything about his background, his story.” “I don’t want any publicity for myself,” Meral says, her voice choking with emotion. “This is why I didn’t really pursue to fix it for a long time, but when you keep reading about how the engineer of the minar was someone else, it hurts immensely.” A few weeks after meeting Meral, my phone lit up with an SMS from her bearing good news: a brand new, detailed plaque on Murat-Khan was finally approved and placed on the monument thanks to a go-ahead from a man called Mian Shakeel, the Director General at the Parks & Horticulture Authority (PHA) in Lahore. In the message, Meral sounded thrilled, but more than that, her sense of relief was tangible. Finally, her father, Nasreddin Murat-Khan, an unsung national hero, would get the credit that he so rightly deserved.

Maryam Murat-Khan “I remember Papa as a perfectionist and someone who would stick to his principles; one time I failed my Urdu dictation in class and the teacher called me stupid and slapped me in front of the whole class. I went home and told Mum and Papa, and he went back to the convent school and told Mother Andrew that no one had a right to slap us. He said he didn’t slap his kids and so no one else had the right to slap them. The teacher (I can’t remember her name) never dared yell at me again. [Papa] would also play tricks on us, he tied my braids to the chair once, and I couldn’t get up. Also, when I was really young and decided to ‘help’ him by drawing all over his plans, he didn’t yell, as he understood it wasn’t deliberate bad behaviour. Also when Chippy (our squirrel) got into his detailed house plans and chewed them up, he was mad, but didn’t make us give him up as he knew we loved Chippy.”

Mesme Tomason “I used to go along with my father when he went to the fruit bazaar on Sundays. My sisters did not want to go along, especially in the summers but I loved it. I would skip along or almost run because Papa walked so fast and expected me to keep up with him. He let me pick out some of the fruit, so I picked my favourites of course. Growing up with an architect and civil engineer taught me many things. I would draw and take my drawings to Papa to give me some pointers... he would end up drawing over to make the improvements. For some kids, this may have been discouraging, but to me, it always encouraged me to do better. Papa would also take us along to building sites. While the Minar-e-Pakistan was under construction, we loved to go along and play in the piles of raw materials. I would walk up the spiral staircase that was being built a few steps at a time, and I remember one time he got very upset because I was about half way up and standing on the last step that had a sheer drop. Needless to say, I was not allowed to go up that far again until the entire staircase was completed. Papa travelled to sites away from home and frequently would bring little presents back for his ‘girls.’ One time, he brought us a cute little lamb; another time he brought home a couple of bunnies. Papa liked to try growing different kinds of vegetables and fruit. The gardener would make sure he followed direction on how to take care of them and we would have freshly picked veggies for our salads, etc. We entertained many different dignitaries and clients at home. One time he pulled a joke on a client friend of his. We had a plate of fresh radish from our garden, both red and white ones. He cut a horseradish (very spicy) and added it to the plate. We kids knew that horseradish was a creamy colour and the white radish was a little translucent white. He offered his guest some. The guest, knowing my dad’s propensity for playing jokes, asked one of us to eat one to see if it was okay. One of my sisters took a slice of white radish and finished it off. Now the client took a slice, not realizing that my dad had turned the plate so that the first thing he picked was a horse radish... poor man, his eyes teared up as he tried to finish the bite without spitting it out!”

LEGENDS

MAN ON THE SCENE

Will The Real

Arshad Khan

Please Stand Up? By Mariam Mushtaq

The blue-eyed tea vendor became an overnight sensation but little is known about the man in the photo that took social media by storm. In an exclusive editorial shoot and interview with DESTINATIONS, Arshad Khan shows a side of him thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rarely been highlighted before. PHOTOGRAPHER : WARDROBE : GROOMING : TRANSPORTATION :

RIZWAN-UL-HAQ ISMAIL FARID NABILA DAEWOO CAB

MAN ON THE SCENE

rom Oprah Winfrey to Tom Cruise, Amitabh Bachchan and Rajnikanth to our very own Sultan Rahi, the rags-to-riches stories of those who rose from humble beginnings to super stardom are a constant reminder that for all its faults, entertainment industries around the world remain great equalizers. Whether you’re a rich kid such as Paris Hilton or a small-town girl escaping abuse ala Kangana Ranaut, your social class, education and economic background don’t have to serve as barriers to your success. That brings us to the curious case of Arshad Khan in Pakistan. A few months ago, social media went into a frenzy as photos of the blue-eyed and irresistibly good looking tea-seller at a dhaba in Islamabad went viral not just in Pakistan, but in neighbouring India as well, prompting everyone from CNN and the BBC to The Guardian and The Telegraph to feature the “hot-tea”, as he was gleefully referred to by swooning fans. As modelling offers poured in, some dismissed the hype as Khan’s five minutes of fame, brought on by social media’s insatiable need to discover trending new content every day. Others spoke of “reverse sexism” in the objectification of the man. Guest appearances on morning shows did little to reveal the man behind the meme, the TV hosts resorting to typically insensitive questions and reinforcing class stereotypes about the “chai-wallah”. We were left wondering who Arshad Khan really was. Here’s the truth: Arshad Khan is no different from the millions of Pakistanis around us – humble, honest and hardworking. He’s a 17-year-old who’s had to grow up too fast. Like countless youngsters his age, he was working two jobs to make ends meet and support his parents and 18 siblings when ‘that’

photo was taken. His family hails from Mardan but moved to Islamabad where Arshad was born. His father works as a labourer loading tractors at building sites and one older brother works at a vegetable stall. He speaks measuredly, without guile and with an honesty that is as refreshing as it is endearing. The interview takes place at a rented apartment in the capital’s E-11 sector, a small and functional space that Arshad shares with his manager. His family still live in their home in a village on the outskirts of Islamabad where Arshad was born. His newfound career as a fashion model has certainly led to changes in his appearance – his moustache is trimmed neatly and his hair sports caramel highlights – but it’s unclear whether there’s been much improvement in his family’s lifestyle. “One should never forget where one comes from,” he remarks sagely at one point during the conversation. Ask him about his childhood and he’s matter-offact. “I liked to play with my friends, but childhood only lasted till I was 8 years old. After that, I started ‘mazdoori’ like my two elder brothers in order to support my family.” His brief stint at school – lasting but a day – is illustrative of why so many young children drop out of primary school in Pakistan. “I attended school for one day and after classes were over, the teacher started playing ‘pithoo gol garam’ with us. We were excited but he had one condition: no one should hit him with the ball. Obviously that was impossible and when I accidently hit him, he started beating me up. It was only a game; I was only a child. After that horrible experience, I never returned.” Arshad’s rise to fame makes him wish he had continued his education. “As I am illiterate, it gets difficult for me to remember names of people that I meet or brands that I work for,” he admits. “I must have met many famous people, actors and models and photographs, but I apologize as I don’t always remember their names.” In Arshad’s case, however, it’s not just a case of remembering names. For someone who has shouldered immense responsibilities since childhood, he says he never had the time or the opportunity to catch a movie or a drama serial as his other friends sometimes did, hence he can’t recognize the people that he’s now rubbing shoulders with. “But Shahid Afridi I know as I’ve always been his big fan,” he adds with a bashful smile.

MAN ON THE SCENE

“There are some things that are just inborn and I see that he has them, things such as catching the light or remembering a continuity shot. These past few months, he’s been making up for lost time and watching all the films and television serials he can get his hands on. The two stars who’ve made an impression on him are – no surprises here – Shahrukh Khan and Fawad Khan. He’s set to follow in the latter’s footsteps, his manager tells us, as he’s about to sign a movie project in the UK. As modelling and acting offers come pouring in, it seems Arshad Khan cannot be written off as a onehit wonder. While it may be true that there are men out there who are better looking and more ‘model material’, there is an undeniable spark here, a raw talent, that can be honed to perfection. Acclaimed hair and makeup stylist and image consultant Nabila certainly believes so. When DESTINATIONS contacted her to make over Arshad for our editorial shoot, she insisted on styling him herself, which is a rarity these days as her team of accomplished stylists usually handles work on her behalf. “I had been itching to get my hands on him,” she told us. “Working with him today, I realized he’s such a genuine sweetheart and I would really like to help groom him and give him more work. He’s such a quick learner, he’s stable and he’s extremely switched on. I am very excited for him for I can see that he definitely has the potential.” “Larkay mein kuch hai (The boy has something),” agreed photographer Rizwan-ul-Haq as the photoshoot progressed and Arshad continued to impress everyone with his instinctive reaction to the camera. Designer Ismail Farid, who had provided the wardrobe for the shoot, recalled that he had 76

initially been apprehensive about Arshad’s ability to carry off the sleek suits but felt he had been proven wrong. “There are some things that are just inborn and I see that he has them, things such as catching the light or remembering a continuity shot. Obviously he still needs a lot of grooming but given that he’s only 17, age is on his side and he can do well for himself.” All three agree, however, that given the dearth of training institutions in Pakistan, what Arshad needs is a mentor to not only groom him but also give him the right advice when it comes to picking and choosing projects. Arshad Khan had no control over his instant rise to fame; but now that he’s been catapulted into the spotlight, it’s easy to see that he’s enjoying the attention, just like any normal 17-year-old would. He might have been pushed into the entertainment industry without his volition, but he wants to make it clear that he’s staying because of his own free will. “There were rumours circulating recently that I had left the industry because my family does not like this new work but that is not true at all. I am enjoying myself immensely and my family members are happy for me. One day I’m in Lahore, the next in Karachi and then Islamabad; what’s not to like? People have given me so much love. I definitely am not quitting.” As for the dhaba where it all began, Arshad says he likes to visit it occasionally but whenever he goes, the small lanes of the bazaar get so crowded that shopkeepers can’t work. “It’s bad for business, so I’ve decided not to go any longer.” Here’s hoping he displays the same astuteness when it comes to his own career and becomes a lasting success story. If anybody deserves it, it’s him.

MAN ON THE SCENE

STYLE RULES

my SQUARE

MILE Bokhari Commercial

Where Chai Wallahs Meet Couture By Yasmeen Hashmi

DESTINATIONS takes you on a tour of Bokhari Commercial, fast emerging as one of Karachiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hippest new areas. Photography: Gibran A. Jamshed Hair & Make-up: Sofia K. Hasan

STYLE RULES

day spent at the up and coming Bokhari Commercial Area always holds the promise of something fun and unique. Here, grit meets glamour, as local chai dhabas sit next to couture dresses in uber-cool boutiques, chic restaurants serving delectable dishes line up next to construction sites and roadside graffiti pops up unexpectedly around corners. Here’s a pick of some of my favourite places in the area:

Lollywood Café A quiet spot during the day, this dhaba comes alive as evening falls, most of its clientele comprising of young people who come to enjoy not only the alfresco setting, but also the various types of parathas and chai on offer. I enjoy the feeling of empowerment as I sit and sip on karak chai in a public space that is normally dominated by men – #GirlsAtDhabas run the world!

Springs

Well stocked with a wide variety of groceries, meats, organic fruits and vegetables, Springs is not your typical supermarket. Here you can find everything from local brands to fresh berries and foreign cigars. I usually run in and quickly pick up fresh ingredients for salad or quality, imported snacks for a movie night at home. Additionally, the staff is super helpful and the store is just the right size – not too big, not too small. I must admit, Springs really elevates the grocery shopping experience, a quality that makes it direct competition to Agha’s and Farid’s.

Fudo I like to keep lunch light, primarily because a big meal during the day lowers my overall productivity. I also like to eat as healthy as possible so I am in constant search of the perfect lunch spot. This is the reason why Fudo appetizers are the perfect choice for me. The restaurant targets anyone on a budget looking for a satisfying, home-style Chinese food experience. With economical pricing and large portions, I highly recommend this spot to students looking for a quick, clean bite between classes and tuitions.

My lunch included a bowl of chicken corn soup, crackers and spicy, garlic prawns. The hot n’ sour soup is also a personal favourite!

STYLE RULES

Blush Spa and Salon Beauty and luxury join hands at the new Blush Spa and Salon. Designed by renowned architect Asad I. A. Khan, Blush offers a comprehensive array of services and luxury beauty rituals in a chic setting, with the additional introduction of cosmetology. The very charming owner Hina Farid, a bold and innovative businesswoman, offers consultations on all beautyrelated queries, including advice on cosmetology services: semi permanent eyebrow and lip-line tattoos, as well as lash extensions. Sit down to a relaxing pedicure or pamper yourself with a blow dry â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the luxurious and hygienic environment of Blush is sure to make you feel like a queen. I rate it 9/10!

Sania Maskatiya Since its launch in 2010, the Sania Maskatiya label has been a force to reckon with. The designer’s signature aesthetic is a balance between elegance, comfort and practicality, making the brand the perfect choice for the modern woman. As an eventhopping Karachi girl, I love Sania Maskatiya’s luxury pret line, which offers a diverse range of cuts in the form of ponchos, embellished jackets, off shoulder tops and palazzos. It’s easy to wear and fun to style. Furthermore, separates from Sania’s formal line can also be paired with ripped denim jeans, sneakers and a basic top for a cool, contemporary look.

STYLE RULES

Nadia Farooqui

Nadia Farooqui is an up and coming brand with a minimalistic aesthetic that focuses on workmanship and cuts. The NF boutique is situated right across from Sania Maskatiya and Tena Durrani – in the hub of Bokhari’s design houses. The store carries trendy casuals and pretty flowy chiffons as well as heavy formal, all within a reasonable price range.

Tena Durrani My last stop of the day was at the beautiful Tena Durrani boutique. The designer understands the cosmopolitan element of a city that thrives on innovation and creativity – her latest work which modernizes the typical ghagra-choli is worth acclaim. The sprawling space houses not only the bridal and formal lines but also a lighter luxury pret range. Take your time to browse through the extensive collections, for this is a store that calls for an unhurried, luxurious shopping experience.

Hotspots in

Bokhari Food:

• Master Juice • Chai Wala • Xander’s • Café Chatterbox • N’ecos • Arbor Café • Fudo • Lollywood Café

Fitness: •

Studio X Fitness (Gym/Detox Juice Bar/Mint Beauty Solutions)

Furniture & Lifestyle:

• Baroque Inc. • Prestige Kitchens • J. B. Saeed Hardware & Complete Home Store • Pith Home & Fashion • Yoca • Interwood • Design and Depth

Boutiques: • • • •

Zara Shahjehan Tena Durrani Nadia Farooqui Sania Maskatiya

Salons: • • • • • •

JY the Style Studio Joie Salon and Spa Bina Khan Salon Mint Beauty Solutions Saman’s Salon Blush Spa and Salon

Grocery:

• TM Mart • Springs

VISIONARY

THE

TRAILBLAZER By Yasmeen Hashmi

With a career spanning almost three decades, couturier par excellence Shamaeel Ansari has not only served as one of the pioneers of the fashion industry but also blazed a trail when it comes to translating historical influences into fashion. Her unmatchable and opulent aesthetic, in fact, pays ode to her rich lineage as a descendant of the mighty Tipu Sultan. In an exclusive for DESTINATIONS, the internationally acclaimed designer shows us around her luxurious Karachi house while presenting a retrospective of her illustrious career.

Photography: Jaffer Hasan Hair & Make-up: Faheem@Rukaiyaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Salon

VISIONARY

ool, calm, and composed – celebrated fashion designer Shamaeel Ansari recently invited me in to her secluded universe of luxury, history, and fashion. Over the past 28 years, Shamaeel has established herself as a couturier with an unmatchable and luxurious signature, her pieces an ode to various historical influences ranging from Persian to Mughal. Known to shy away from media attention, it was something of a coup to be given a private tour of her home. Located in the heart of Clifton, it pays tribute to every aspect of the designer’s persona, each accent exuding an air of opulence. It is rare to meet someone whose aura of grandeur feels as organic as that of Shamaeel. Like a true blue-blood, she naturally attracts respect and admiration and a walk along the corridors of her stately home explains why that’s so. Portraits of accomplished ancestors adorn the walls, including that of Tipu Sultan, their faces warming the private space and serving as a constant reminder of her role as heir to a diverse and rich family history. It’s no wonder that the designer has time and again stood apart in her choice to take historical inspiration and transform it into eclectic fashion. Shamaeel Ansari grew up in the fashion industry and the fashion industry grew because of her.

VISIONARY

Who were the design forces behind your home? The late Habib Fida Ali and my mother worked together to design my home. What are some of the influences that have shaped the décor of your space? My house is very me. Just like my fashion is very me. I am into Mughal art and I printed my drawing room curtains with miniature designs myself. I like rich, royal colours hence the turquoise, golds and jewel tones that you see around you. I am into Ottomaninspired pottery and crafts that you see in various locations around the house. I think my taste merges with my mother’s; she would go to art galleries such as Sotheby’s and pick up pieces for the house. Additionally, my mother is a connoisseur of carpets, so we have a great collection of Persian carpets. My home pays tribute to history – in different pieces, textures and accents. What role do your surroundings play in your life as a designer/artist? I tend to use all rooms in the house. I like to utilize all spaces and not feel restricted. For me, my home, my setting, my art, my creativity needs to coexist. My home and every corner in it is my living space. Do you have a favourite accent or decoration piece in the house? My favourite pieces in the house are my father’s painting in my bedroom. A chartered accountant by profession, my father was also an excellent painter and his style is similar to that of Chugtai. What or who has been a source of inspiration to you over the years? My mother is the person who influenced me to take up fashion. She pioneered one of the first women’s magazines in Pakistan in the 1970s called Henna Magazine. Qualified in journalism, she was the editor-in-chief and owned the publication. As a child, I grew up accustomed to the workings of a magazine – photography, editorials and modelling. In fact I remember modelling for Tee Jays because my mother used to organize fashion shows. Still, fashion was not something I was particularly inclined towards; I was very camera-shy when I was young and had a very academic nature. As a child when I would go to England for holidays, I would end up at the V&A, studying costume or the history of cultures; or I would go to the British Museum to study archaeology and Egyptology. I was always interested in antiquity, history and the anthropology of cultures.

You’ve been a pioneering force in Pakistan’s fashion industry; yet finance instead of fashion was your first profession of choice. Please elaborate on that. I was a very astute, competitive student; focused on my grades and ambitious enough to go abroad and study. I transferred to UC Berkeley from Mill’s College and chose to study business administration, eventually majoring in finance and minoring in corporate law. At that point I really did not have fashion on my mind; banking was the only thing I was really interested in. I was offered a job at Atlantic Rich Fields in California but I decided I wanted to move to Pakistan. I really wanted to come back and contribute to my country. When did a career as a designer finally seem like a viable option? Upon my return to Pakistan in the 80s, I was quite disillusioned by the environment in the banking world. I was killing time in London post-graduation when I decided to do a diploma in fashion and I was preparing a semi-collection. That’s when I was approached by the Pakistani organizers of the Imran Khan Benefit Evening at the Café Royale to showcase my diploma collection. I agreed and received a fabulous response for those seven pieces. That’s when I decided to put my passion together with my ambition. Everything just fell right into place because my heart felt its true calling. Back then, Pakistani fashion was just beginning to take shape as a proper industry. Looking back, how would you describe those times? In those times, fashion was really nowhere in Pakistan. It wasn’t even the beginning of Pakistani fashion – Mrs. Kazmi, Maheen Khan and Faiza Samee were the only notable names. I think it was quite entrepreneurial and brave of me to venture into the industry in those times. I was only 20 (I graduated early!) but I think Berkeley was an environment that really built my confidence and refined my elocution abilities; I was smart and I was a great speaker. I had a coffee morning at my house and really, there was no turning back after that! People loved my work. I think they enjoyed the energy with which I approached fashion. And because I was so passionate about history and my research was very extensive on various eras, mixed with my modern sensibility, I was able to bring in eclecticism to fashion in Pakistan. I started embroideries that were very Victorian, with a lot of pearl and mother-of-pearl work, as well as hints of zardozi. I fused eastern embroidery in a very western approach. I think that was the hallmark of my success.

VISIONARY Your fashion shows in Karachi, which you chose to hold at unique local landmarks, became the stuff of legends. What prompted you to move away from the conventional runway onto one that merged history and culture with style? My collections are inspired by history and for my first show, I wanted a location which would do justice to the clothes. I was adamant that I did not want a show in a hotel. I decided on Hindu Gymkhana, even though at that time it was a run-down site that conservationists were battling to preserve. I wanted to be the first person to actually show it the way it should be showed – beautifully lit up as a property of antiquity. I battled through getting permission from the PWD and I opened my first collection at the iconic building, just as I had envisioned. I remember walking out onto the catwalk at the age of 20, and people’s shock at seeing such a young designer! I favoured location shows; in fact I was the sole designer that did location shows to begin with. Some people kept questioning the reasoning behind fashion shows off the generic ramp, but in my defence I stated that as a creative person, I was not going to follow any standard set by the West blindly. I was thus not bound and was able to create my own hallmark, my own setting, a right that I always fought for.

People still talk about the Orient Express show at Karachi City Railway Station as being one of the most memorable fashion shows to date… For me the Orient has always been a source of pride and inspiration, whether it is the Chinese dynasties or Tzarist Russia; whether it is inspiration from places like Leningrad and Istanbul or the Ottoman Empire. I really wanted to push it to the limit, use all these inspirations and create an unparalleled show. Plus, I loved train journeys and I found old world train stations very romantic – there’s something haunting about them, an element of mystique. I thought to myself – the Orient Express goes to all these countries, so I must have my show at a train station! As a member of the Kidney Centre, I decided to use such a dynamic platform to raise funds for the cause. The audience was placed on either sides of the tracks and the ramp was handcrafted to replicate openair, old school train bogies. We also got the oldest steam engine in Pakistan shunted from Kotri Barrage; that steam engine brought the models out. It was a performance! I really lived my dream that night because I made sure every single detail was perfectly executed. I asked actress Yasmeen Ismail to add theatrical elements to the choreography. We got very lucky when we stumbled upon a young model who was actually a ballerina and she agreed to open The Tzarist Russia Collection with a ballet dance as she emerged from the train.

Favourite Travel

Destination ?

Istanbul is my favourite city in the world! I have been there many times and have had the pleasure of working there as well. Some of our resham embroidery fabric, which is hand produced, is bought from Istanbul. I love Istanbul because within one city, I find elements of sensuality, spirituality, visual treat, history and modern art. Just this morning, I was Whatsapping my school friends about planning a trip to Turkey. I could use a girl’s trip! 100

What is the mark of a great designer? There’s one thing I have enjoyed right from the beginning: I have always personally dealt with my client. That is why I feel that people still come to me; because I read a person and give them a piece that highlights their personality, a piece that they deserve. I do not believe in “fashion victims” – designers who jump on the trend bandwagon, irrespective of whether the trend compliments their clients’ age, appearances or attitudes (case in point: the dhoti shalwar). I enjoy that personalized element of my work. Furthermore, you can never copy a Shamaeel! In fact, they are becoming more and more difficult to replicate because they are so original. I use my mind as a blank canvas regardless of trends. At the height of your career as a designer – with international shows under your belt, having introduced the concept of ‘designer lawn’ and even launching a line of bed linen – you wrapped up your business in Pakistan and for 8 years, pursued international avenues. What prompted that decision? I don’t know if it was the right thing to do (many people say it was absolutely the wrong thing). However, I was always inspired by growth and I felt I was stagnating in this country. I now regret it because I do not know where I would have been had I stayed at that same pace in the Pakistani fashion industry, seeing how it grew after I left. But at that time I wanted to experiment with foreign markets. I wrapped up my business and went to New York. I started approaching design companies there. I must have made 70 cold calls to various companies and was asked, “So you have never exported?!” I had worked with high-end fashion garments and showcased internationally in Turkey, Italy, India, etc. but had yet to export. Until the day I finally walked into Donna Karen. I had an introduction with the bed linen side of the company. I sent them my samples of highend bed linens for Market Week and they loved it. Shed light on the struggles of working as an entrepreneur in the competitive international market. Donna Karen approved three of my products for bulk production, one of which was leather-based with domesticated animal fur on it. I bought that fur through vendors who came from Afghanistan. My first shipment left for the U.S. the day the Twin Towers came down! That was a nerve-wracking time for me. The next twist came when the mazaar where my fur was coming from was bombed and destroyed. There was no access to it. So I applied for an extension on the shipment and took our team to Peshawar. The fur that we did manage to get was of a different colour. I decided to utilize the wastage from the shams, and printed thick booklets in which I wrote a story called “From Karakorum To Karen”. I emailed Donna Karen the story and told them that I would ship the little booklets free because the product paid tribute to such rich heritage. They accepted the shipment and personally requested to meet me to develop a business relationship. From there on, I worked with the company for two years. I developed a team of Indus Valley graduates to help me with this project, becoming the first employer of IVS students. In hindsight, I have learnt that God puts you through trials in order for you to better yourself. Working internationally was great but over time it became a little overwhelming, especially with my son leaving for college, so I decided to come back to Pakistani fashion. 101

REFLECTIONS

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HOUSEof

CARDS By Fifi Haroon

Leading journalist and media producer Fifi Haroon recently met notable film director Gurinder Chadha and lead actor Huma Qureshi at the hipster Soho Hotel in London before the release of their latest film, Viceroyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s House. Based on the events of 1947 as the British colonizers prepared to leave the once mighty India, to then be divided between Muslim and Hindu majority areas as two separate countries, the movie has incited much debate amongst the previously-colonized natives after its recent release, specially amongst the Muslims of Pakistan. Here the ladies from across the border try to set the record straight as they discuss the motion picture at great length.

REFLECTIONS As a Sikh whose grandparents lived in Jhelum and Rawalpindi and migrated to India when it fell on Pakistan’s side of the border, the director acknowledges that this emotionally fraught familial history seeded her passion for making the film. But it seems this personal trajectory also determined the political diorama that is Viceroy’s House. Partition has long been a primal wound for many Indians and indeed it would seem too for the film’s British Indian director but this aching feeling of being “wronged” or unwillingly siphoned tends to overlook

film on the traumatic and bloody partition of the Indian subcontinent was never going to satisfy everybody, but equally perhaps it would be telling to see who director Gurinder Chadha’s epic saga Viceroy’s House does satisfy and whom it may be bound to upset. With a stellar cast including Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Huma Qureshi and the late Om Puri, the film has opened to cinema audiences in the UK eliciting largely favourable 3-star reviews for its epic proportions and sudsy storytelling but also an undiluted rant from writer/activist Fatima Bhutto in The Guardian, who rather scathingly termed it “a servile pantomime” from a “colonized imagination.” The vast canvas of Viceroy’s House opens on the final year of the British Raj in India. It’s 1947 and the Mountbattens, flush with the success of Burma, have arrived in Delhi to oversee the messy, cumbersome task of setting an almost 200-year-old British colony free. As they move into the Viceroy’s home with their daughter Pammy, we are also introduced to a cast of locals who cook, clean, help dress their royal masters and form the underbelly of the mansion. More revealingly, the film is also the result of a very emotional personal journey for the director, who earlier directed the extremely likeable Bend it like Beckham in 2002. From the start of her career as a filmmaker, Chadha has prided herself on bringing a “uniquely British Asian perspective” to mainstream cinema; one which she tells me she upholds in this film but without quite explaining how.

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that it led to freedom for Pakistan. Not only is the film’s narrative reductive when it posits Pakistan’s birth as behind-the-scene geopolitical deal-making between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Muhammed Ali Jinnah (played rakishly by Denzil Smith), it almost presents it as a last-minute irritant with no real roots in the soil. Chadha seems to think everything went belly up suddenly for India’s varying populations (“overnight people were ready to kill each other when they had been fine for ages,” her grandmother told her) and the empire’s “divide and rule” story we were fed in schools across the subcontinent is close to hogwash. She doesn’t openly

say partition is the Muslim League’s “fault” in her interviews but the fact remains that in the film Pakistan is presented more as stolen land rather than a country which was fought for and achieved. And Chadha, who is well-meaning enough when I interview her, reveals no real understanding of how this incorrigibly colours Viceroy’s House’s political narrative, which is heavily borrowed from Narendra Singh Sarila’s 2009 book The Shadow of the Great Game: The Untold Story of India’s Partition.

On the flip side, Viceroy’s House is undoubtedly a sumptuous film and handsomely shot; the last sigh of the British empire in undivided India skilfully brought to life in the insulated grandeur of it’s last Viceroy’s House. It is also an enjoyable upstairs-downstairs Downton Abbey of a film; with the epic television serial’s pater Hugh Bonneville playing merely a variation of the Earl of Grantham as Lord Mountbatten. Far more convincing even if exaggeratedly mannered with constantly raised shoulders is Gillian Anderson (The X Files, The Fall) as Edwina Mountbatten, the memsahib who consoles her woebegone husband “Dickie” with: “This tragedy is not of your making.” In fact if there is anyone who is presented as almost faultless in the narrative logic of Viceroy’s House it is the amicable, khakiwearing aristocratic duo who just want to do their best for this wonderful former colony as starving, bloodied migrants flood into refugee camps. Chadha completely glosses over Edwina’s documented affair with Jawaharlal Nehru and her voracious appetite for passionate extra-marital liaisons (18, by her daughter Pammy’s account) by saying it wasn’t relevant to her story. I would suggest it is actually fairly pertinent to a film that tries to unveil the hidden political navigations leading to a rather sloppy border demarcation in 1947, including forging a Pakistan oddly split into an east and west wing. But exit the bad Mountbattens we know so well and enter the do-gooder Mountbattens. To deify them to the extent this film does I feel goes well beyond the call of duty. The lack of an admission of passion upstairs is matched by true romance downstairs in the form of the most familiar trope that could be conjured up. A Muslim girl (Huma Qureshi) and a Hindu boy (Manish Dayal) find their Montague-Capulet love is split asunder as a country heaves, stutters and finally descends into carnage and chaos. I met director Gurinder Chadha and lead actor Huma Qureshi at the hipster Soho Hotel in London before the film’s release. Chadha had almost lost her voice after numerous interviews but was braving it for the cameras. Filmfare award nominated Huma Qureshi – known primarily for the two-part crime saga Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) and Desh Ishqiya (2014) – was in turn articulate, giggly, intelligent and warm. We settled down in the 70th year of Pakistan and India’s independence to discuss how we got here... 107

HUMA REFLECTIONS

QURESHI After the success of Viceroy’s House do you feel your career will now take off in a more westerly direction? That’s what everyone keeps telling me. I just did this film because I thought it was a great story that needed to be told and it’s a director I wanted to work with. Not necessarily because it’s a western film.

Thankfully my family didn’t experience the more brutal fallout of partition. My grandfather had a massive house in Nizamuddin in Delhi and when a lot of people started coming in from what is now Pakistan, he gave them a place to stay. So whole families were cramped into a room because that is what he could give them. My family’s stories from that era are more about what other people went through. Your grandfather chose to stay in India? Yes he chose to stay. But one of his sisters is married to a Pakistani and lives there. So your aunt is a Pakistani?

My grand-aunt yes. My grandfather’s sister. My father runs a restaurant in Delhi and a few years ago a man came up and said to him, I’m your cousin. He had come from Pakistan for some work and was trying to track down his family tree. And then they spoke and turned out they were cousins who had All the best to them. I think they’re doing wonderfully never spoken. He was from that branch of the family well for themselves and for the country but I can’t that we had completely lost touch with. So there really comment on how they are charting their careers. are many stories like that. My mother is a Kashmiri I can only speak for myself. I like to do films and scripts and Kashmir is quite a hotbed of discussion between I believe in. They could be in any language – I’ve done India and Pakistan so we have a lot of conversations regional films also because I thought the story was around that. My maternal family is still living in damn interesting. Kashmir, my khalas and cousins and everyone. I suppose because of Priyanka Chopra making the trek to the big time and Deepika doing xXx: Return of Xander Cage there is a trend now where Bollywood actors seems to be looking at Hollywood.

What is it about a role that draws you in? What drew you into this particular role in Viceroy’s House or drew you towards your role in Gangs of Wasseypur or any other roles you’ve done? I like to do films with a soul. And characters which have a point of view. I can think of 10,000 other things but to boil it down its important for my character to have a point of view. It could be right or it could be wrong. I could be playing a really grey or dark character but she should have a point of view. Do you have to agree with that point of view? No, as a person I may not agree with it at all. I may in fact detest it but that’s what makes it far more interesting as an actor. For example I play a sex worker in a film called Badlapur. Now I may not agree or identify with it at all but for me, for Huma as a person, it made me question a lot of things in my head. I had to really work out of my skin to play that character. Or it could be a role like Haseena from Gangs of Wasseypur where she’s married to a drug lord and she’s the daftest thing on the planet who’s just happy singing songs while her husband is butchering people. But for her, the love for her husband was supreme and that was her point of view. As an actor, it’s exciting when I genuinely get to be another person. Did anyone in your family have memories of partition that they shared with you? Or memories of what they had been told because every generation re-writes history a little bit.

Do you go to Kashmir? Very often but the last time I went there was three years ago. When my grandparents were alive we used to go there every year and spend up to a month because they were really old and couldn’t travel. We have great, amazing memories from that time. You come from a really interesting background; a grandfather who chose to stay and a mother who is a Kashmiri. So there is your whole personal history connected to partition and also the history of your character Aliya. Do you think that your inclusion in the film validates the narrative of the film or do you feel you don’t need to agree with the narrative of a film you work in? Wow! Does my inclusion validate the narrative from my side? I guess in a way it does. And I know I’ve just said to you that I don’t have to agree with the point of view of my character. However in this film I do. For me, I was not just making a film. While filming I was very much aware of the burden of history or the proof that one had to bear. For me if you take away all the political stuff, and the discussion of whether these new documents are true or not, the fact remains that this was a very human problem. Where people were asked to choose whether they wanted to stay or whether they wanted to leave their homes. It was not just a line drawn on a map or a piece of paper. It was a line drawn across people’s lives, hopes and ambitions. And it changed them forever.

“I would love to do a film with Fawad Khan!” The film’s version of why partition happened is a very contested one that will be problematic.

Of course it will. Depending on whether you’re Pakistani or Indian you will always feel that because you will have some sense of allegiance or loyalty. But it’s definitely not a film that is unsympathetic to Pakistan. A lot of films about partition do paint Pakistan in a slightly unflattering hue. I am saying at least we’ve tried not to make a jingoistic film. For me if you feel that what happened was not right, the carnage and the lives that were lost and for the madness that happened – if you just feel for that at some level, then our job as a film is done. Om Puri played your father in the film. He worked in Pakistan as well and his co-stars here like Fahad Mustafa and Mehwish Hayat were full of praise for him. Whenever I am asked to speak about him, I never make it to talking about his films because I get caught up just talking about the person he was. The first day I met him on Viceroy’s set I started calling him Abba. And he would always treat me like a daughter. I have so many wonderful stories about him. Like he’d pick up little toys for me. You know the inexpensive animal toys you find at airports. A toy horse or elephant. And I would feel so touched. I mean, who does this in today’s world? You’ve had two big films released at the same time, the other being Jolly LLB with Akshay Kumar who is much older than you. Why is it that actors can progress to any age and yet have such young heroines cast opposite them? Why is it never the other way around? It can be the other way around but see, the incidence of that is less in real life as well. I think cinema is a reflection of society. What you see in real life is what we show in films. Why hold cinema responsible for everything? If you take issue with something then let’s talk about changing it in society first and then cinema will follow suit. Okay so forget about the older actors – what if you’re offered a film with Fawad Khan? He’s hot isn’t he? I would love to do it. He’s very hot. And now I have gone on record saying it! 109

REFLECTIONS

GURINDER CHADHA How do you feel you have changed as a filmmaker from the days of Bend it like Beckham? Actually my first film was Bhaji on the Beach... Yes but I think it was Bend it like Beckham which made Gurinder Chadha a recognizable name at least in other parts of the world or in Pakistan where I saw it. I’ve made films across many genres. I made a musical called Bride and Prejudice. I made a Hollywood film Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. But this is my most ambitious film to date. I wanted to make a big historical epic in the style of a British Raj movie.

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So when people say this is a very David Leanesque film – which a lot of the reviews are saying – do you agree? Definitely. Because it is epic in that sense. I wanted to paint on that kind of large canvas a film about our history. I think what I am consistent with and throughout my career and what I relentlessly try to show is a British Asian perspective. Every film I make is British and it is Asian. Yet it is the Mountbattens who come out the cleanest in Viceroy’s House. Almost as angelic I would say. What was this need to show the Mountbattens in this righteous spotlight? I don’t think they are the only ones. I think the Mountbattens have always been blamed in India for partition and I wanted to show that actually they were used. And they didn’t leave right away. There is a lot of archive footage of Edwina Mountbatten in various refugee camps, you know getting her hands dirty and getting involved in a way no other vicerine had till that point. I equally showed Jinnah talking about his vision for Pakistan. What he feels the country will represent for him and I think that’s a great statement he makes about Pakistan being a country open to all religions and friendly to all its neighbours. That’s something you never hear about. I also show how Gandhi was sidelined but Gandhi also has responsibility because he took a vow of silence on the day that the document was signed.

“This is my most ambitious film to date”

Why in particular did you choose these actors for these roles – Gillian Anderson and Hugh Bonneville to play the Mountbattens? I really wanted it to seem like a period film. I had never made a period film and I wanted actors that felt like they could have lived in 1947. And I think these two actors for me really sold the period aspect of the film. Particularly in Gillian’s case, I feel she really took on Edwina in her mannerisms. She walked and talked completely like her. Apart from an arched eyebrow from Lady Mountbatten there is very little reference to the grand affair that has been documented by history as the affair between Nehru and her. Why did you leave that out? Because I really didn’t think that was the story. I wanted to tell the story of why my grandmother suffered during partition, not why these two might be having an affair. I referenced it in the sense that they are obviously close and they have a close relationship but I didn’t think there was any benefit of taking that story further to the story I wanted to tell. It was more important for me to show the love story downstairs as a metaphor for the whole of India. The Edwina-Nehru affair had nothing to do with the politics of partition. But this love between a Muslim girl and a Hindu boy set against a political backdrop is a theme that has been played out time and time again. Don’t you think that was putting it a little too literally – seems a bit pat? Could be, could be. That’s your opinion. A lot of people are moved by it. It’s not a traditional love story; they’ve already split up and he’s come back to chase her. And then they’re caught up in world events. It’s emblematic of how events upstairs affect the downstairs. 111

LITERATI

TheNOVEL COP

OMAR SHAHID HAMID By Yusra Askari

Author of three crime thrillers, perhaps the only ones in English from Pakistan, and SSP Intelligence, Counter Terrorism, Karachi, Omar Shahid Hamid is someone whose words hold great significance. Yusra Askari profiles the man who, despite his best efforts to remain elusive, manages to share a rare glimpse into his life and work. After all, he is the person who promises to do his very best in order to keep Karachi safe and secure.

aving moved back last fall from a five-year sabbatical in London to assume the charge of SSP Intelligence, Counter Terrorism Department, Karachi, Omar Shahid Hamid is not yet 40 but his illustrious police career spans over a decade and a half. Omar joined the Sindh Police in 2001. Ten years in, circumstances made a compelling case for him to take time out. “I had received several threats from the Taliban. The CTD had conducted many successful operations against jihadist militants and I was advised that it was prudent to move away for a while. The shift gave me an opportunity to pursue other avenues, writing primary amongst them,” he says. Life as Omar knew it altered pace. With much free time at hand, he promptly took pen to paper. “I was reading a book (I would not say which one) that just did not impress me. I was complaining about it to my wife, so she said, ‘if you think you can do better, then just do it yourself.’ And that is how I started writing,” he explains. In 2013 came The Prisoner, Omar’s debut novel. Two years later, his next The Spinner’s Tale. Now at the start of 2017, his third book The Party Worker has hit bookstores. The similarities between his own experiences and the plot he spins in this latest release appear to be inter-woven.

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LITERATI

Twenty years ago, in the summer of 1997, July to be precise, Omar’s father Shahid Hamid, who was then serving Managing Director of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation, was murdered in cold blood; gunned down along with his driver and guard by assailants just a few streets away from his home in Karachi. Omar, who was at university at the time, believes that his father’s assassination, “in a sense”, changed him forever. “When something like that happens, it makes you grow up a lot faster than your peers and you perceive the world very differently,” he says. A long trial ensued. The hitman was identified as a member of a political outfit and was sentenced to the gallows in 2015. This was around the same time that Omar began penning The Party Worker. “My writing certainly provides a great amount of catharsis for me,” states Omar. “I think all three books, in a way, represent a kind of trilogy about Karachi. The Prisoner looks at the city through the eyes of its police, The Spinner’s Tale looks at the issue of religion and radicalization, again basing the story largely in Karachi, and The Party Worker inverts the story and looks at the city through political parties and criminals.”

Omar’s day job does come alive in his books. But a career in the police isn’t something he had always envisaged for himself. He explains: “It’s not something I always wanted to do, but I did know that I didn’t want to do a 9 to 5 job, and if there’s one thing policing isn’t, is a 9 to 5 job. I was greatly impressed by the performance of some of the police officers who were able to detect my father’s murder case, and their work, in the face of political pressure, encapsulated for me how in a country like Pakistan, the police can be a source for much good, as well as bad, and can really impact ordinary people’s lives.” Readers often wonder what percentage of Omar’s narratives are based on real life events. “I think a lot of people get carried away when reading my books, about the question of whether these events are real or not. One has to remember, these books are novels, however much they may be based on real events, or inspired by them,” he responds. 116

Work has commenced on Omar’s fourth venture. With all his previous book releases spaced two years apart, he suspects his next may take some time coming. “I fear that due to my present assignment, I won’t be able to finish that project in the same timely manner as I was able to do with my first three books. This one may have to suffer a bit of a delay,” he muses. Omar’s academics boast of a Masters in Criminal Justice Policy from the London School of Economics and a Masters in Law from University College London. But he sincerely believes that academic training cannot prepare one for the sheer unpredictability one may have to tackle in the field: “I don’t think a law degree prepares you for a career in law, much less the police. However, the one thing that you do learn to do while studying law, is to look at any issue in a forensic manner, and I think that is very useful in the police.”

Having recently returned from London to police his hometown, one of the most volatile cities in the world, his life has switched gears once again over this past year. “Moving back after five years is a huge adjustment, and then on top of that, being thrown into the kind of job that I have makes it even more dramatic. It’s not that things are new, it’s just that they take a while to readjust to.” Omar has taken on a mantle similar to that of his mentor and friend Chaudhry Aslam. ‘Chaudhry’, as he was more popularly known, was the serving SSP CID when he was killed in January 2014. He had been targeted many times prior to the fatal

shooting. Does Omar bring Aslam’s approach and advice into play when strategizing or in the field? “I don’t know about that. I think Aslam and I were very different people, even though when we worked together, for some reason the mixture seemed to work very well. But I learnt a lot from him, and I continue to learn from people I am working with even now,” he says.

Being a strong believer in kismet or destiny, as some may call it, Omar says it like it is: “I think fate has played a big role in my career – being in the right, or wrong place at the right, or wrong time. It never ceases to amaze me how things work out.”

“I think fate has played a big role in my career – being in the right, or wrong place at the right, or wrong time. It never ceases to amaze me how things work out.” says Omar

Like his writings, Omar’s work in counterterrorism allows him to define the narrative – he however, doesn’t agree: “I often like to say, that counterterrorism cops are like sewage workers, shoving a stick in the gutter to remove blockages, but unable to improve the sewage system as a whole, I hardly think that’s fashioning the narrative.”

Film adaptations, literary accolades, translations of The Party Worker from English to Italian and successes curbing terror, it all seems to be happening for Omar. Despite the challenges life has thrown at him, Omar has never played the victim. He has in fact constructively channelled his energies into being a catalyst of the change he hopes to see. Here’s to greater success, many more award-winning novels and keeping Karachi safe – good luck, SSP Hamid. 117

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SARAJEVO

Stole my Heart By Madeeha Syed

Sarajevo is a city that is rebuilding on its ruins. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a city with a rich and vibrant Roman, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian past. Twenty years after the Yugoslavian wars, Sarajevo is ready to move on.

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arajevo is so beautiful it breaks your heart. One is at a loss for how or why it evokes this kind of feeling from those that travel to it. Or how to express it. Many before me have tried. I travelled to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina through Milan, Italy. We had stopovers in both Rome, Italy and Belgrade, Serbia – there was no direct flight and one doesn’t know why. Sarajevo is a few hours’ drive from Milan at most – the distances aren’t that great in Europe. From Belgrade, we boarded an ATR aircraft – the same plane we use when going to the Northern Areas in Pakistan via Islamabad. The Dinaric Alps is a mountain range that dominates from a part of Italy and extends over Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and finally Kosovo. The range was capped with snow around the time I flew over it in February. In between you could see houses and small towns, often circling water bodies. The view from either side of the plane is nothing short of stunning. The plane ride is roughly about an hour long. Just as you are beginning your descent to Sarajevo, the Alps clear up and you can see a mediumsized city up ahead. On the outskirts I saw a white patch, which at first seemed like snow, but upon closer look I couldn’t help but gasp in shock: it was a cemetery. So large that it took up the space of several neighbourhoods. It’s a sobering sight and hints at the scale of the human tragedy that befell this beautiful valley in the ‘90s. That’s the one thing you’ll notice about Sarajevo – the war is everywhere. Driving from the airport to our Air BnB close to the old city, we would see apartment buildings with blackened sections, holes simply patched over, pockmarked walls from the bullets and such. Our host, a young 20-something, was born in the last year of the war. She pointed to the hills from where the Serbian forces launched their assault on the city. It was only until last year that she finally managed to pick up the courage and walk up to the hills that haunted her – and a lot of the other residents. “People in Sarajevo don’t really like talking about the war,” she said, understandably so. Sarajevo is a city that is rebuilding on its ruins and trying to move on.

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And that is where things start to look up. Sarajevo’s old town, Bascarsilja, is where most travellers like to go – and also, most important of all, where you will find the best food. But we’ll get to that in a bit.

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Hold your hearts and control yourselves ladies, the men of Bosnia are ridiculously handsome. What’s more, they’re all hot and halal! So are the women. It’s a bit too much at times. It’s also interesting to be in a predominantly Muslim country in Europe – there are mosques everywhere, women and girls in hijabs (veil), the call to prayer and other elements. But most of the people you see are very… for lack of a better word, white. In most of the mosques, there are two porch-like platforms on either side of the entrance. One of them is for the men to pray on and the other for women. They both do so quite openly, without the women’s section shrouded in any kind of purdah (seclusion). To be honest, no one seems to care really.

One of the most important sites to visit is the Gazi Husrev-bey Mosque in the middle of Bascarsilja. It’s the largest Ottoman mosque in Bosnia. Next to it is a madrassa – built almost exactly like a traditional nunnery – where you can watch a small video tutorial on the mosque and its founder, the Beg himself. He was a governor of Sarajevo, born in the city to a mother who was an Ottoman princess. Built in 1532 AD the mosque was the first in the world to get electricity in 1898 under the AustroHungarian Empire. The mosque is quite simple, and nearly not as beautiful as those in Turkey or elsewhere. But what was interesting was the use of technology to display prayer timings and the high-tech equipment used to broadcast the sermons and call to prayer. Often, local Bosnian tourists can also be spotted at the mosque taking selfies.

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There is a great Ottoman influence in the region and it’s all the more evident in the architecture, culture and especially the food. Much like the biryani (rich cooked in hot spices) and chicken roll of Karachi or the nihari (beef stew cooked in hot spices and bone marrow) and paey (buffalo trotters) of Lahore, Sarajevo is famous for the ćevapi or ćevapčići. The ćevapi is a meal fit for a king and a pauper and everyone in between. Almost like Bosnian fast food, the tandoor in the restaurant is kept warm, from where thick fresh naan is doled out every few minutes. That in turn is stuffed with Bosnian kebabs – a mouthwatering mix of minced beef and veal. It’s non-spicy and cooked in fat making it quite soft and juicy. There is a big dollop of fresh cream, the kind that first forms when making cheese, inside the naan as well. The plate is garnished with onions. The combination is delicious and incredibly filling. My friends and I pretty much had ćevapi for breakfast and lunch during our stay in Sarajevo. Other Balkan states will offer ćevapi in their menus but mark my words, it’s nothing like the original in Sarajevo. One other restaurant you must absolutely visit is Dveri and have their house bread, wine and steak. The bread is incredibly soft and flavourful. The steak of minced beef and veal, stuffed with their local cheese, is to die for. And according to wine aficionados, their house wine is pretty good to have as well, albeit a bit expensive – 4 euro for half a liter. It’s operated by a family – the host is a towering man in an apron. The cooks are two women relatives who work out of a tiny kitchen to prepare your meal to perfection. Be warned: if going during peak dinner-time during tourist season, be sure to make a reservation. Dveri is in demand. Sarajevo was the first European country in the world to get an electronic tram. They haven’t updated that since then. The same trams are in use, and although shabby on the outside, they seem to be functioning quite well. There’s something about the city, despite its renewal, that gives the impression that it is a place stuck in time – the 1990s. A lot of the buildings, construction and even the music played in most cafes and restaurants is somewhat reflective of that.

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Travel

Balkans

Tips

1. Although it isn’t in the Schengen zone, you can travel through the Balkan states with a multiple-entry Schengen visa. 2. You need to have entered the Balkan region from a Schengen country. 3. Instead of US dollars, it’s better to carry Euros to exchange. If you don’t have the local currency, businesses will accept Euros instead. 4. The best times to travel are between April and September. I would personally recommend spring or autumn. Winters in the Balkans are harsh and the summers are extremely hot. 5. Once inside the Balkan region, you can easily travel via bus to a variety of destinations. These countries are small. Often the only distance separating one major city of one country from the next is 50km. Yes. One of the more obvious places to visit in Sarajevo would be the spot where Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (presumptive heir to the Astro-Hungarian empire) was shot, along with his wife Sophie, by Gavrilo Princip. It was an assassination that is widely believed to have sparked World War I. It’s just a spot and something you’ll cover in a short walk.

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Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worth visiting right before sunset to watch the twinkling lights of Sarajevo come to life.

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How do you leave Sarajevo without seeing the city through its very popular viewpoint? It takes about 20 minutes to huff and puff your way up there. Along the way you pass the Martyr’s graveyard – a sprawling cemetery which contains the graves of soldiers from the Bosnian army as well as some from the Ottoman period. The walk is worth it. Also known as Kamarija, the viewpoint gives you a perfect panoramic view of Sarajevo. It’s worth visiting right before sunset to watch the twinkling lights of Sarajevo come to life. By the time it’s night, it seems as if

the stars have descended into the valley. There is a café nearby for those hoping for a quick cup of coffee, water or most importantly, a much-needed bathroom break. The point is popular with couples but even if you are single you can get lost in the sheer beauty that is Sarajevo – a city often split between the East and the West, a city that has survived much through the ages and a city that emerges from every conflict like a phoenix rising from the flames. Needless to say, Sarajevo stole my heart.

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HOW TO like

Fashionista

NATASHA SAIGOL

With over 15 years of experience across the fashion, entertainment and beauty industries in Pakistan, Natasha Saigol has served as stylist for the Lux Style Awards, worked with the country’s top designers to develop bespoke makeup looks for campaigns, and most recently, been on a panel of experts for cosmetic giant L’Oreal. In her spare time, she loves to travel the world and discover far-off places. Her recent trip to Cancun, located in southeastern Mexico in the Yucatán Peninsula, was the perfect Caribbean adventure. 129

TRAVELISTA

hy Mexico?

I was going to visit a childhood friend in Chicago. Since I had already been there before and it was over Thanksgiving, we both decided to use the holidays to see another country, one that we both hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been to before and preferably one with warmer temperatures than the snow in Chicago. Plus, the Mayan Pyramids were on my bucket list. What were your first impressions of Cancun? That it was very tiny and very tourist-friendly. There were a lots of tourists there even in November. The beaches were stunning, and it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t too loud or crazy like one would find Thailand, or Florida. It was very easy to get around; the local buses were cheap and would connect to almost every spot. There was no language problem and the locals were super helpful.

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Top things to see and do Chichen Itza, the Mayan pyramids which are amongst the new wonders of the world The Ik kil Cenote (Mexico is known for its numerous cenotes â&#x20AC;&#x201C; underground sinkholes that the Mayans considered sacred) The Xel-Ha Park with its zip-lining and natural aquariums The X-Carat Eco Archaeological Park Playa Delfines, which is a famous beach Swimming with dolphins at the Dolphinaris Jungle Tours where you get to speedboat your way through the mangroves and snorkel along the coral reef 131

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What’s the best time of the year to visit?

What did you buy?

The summer months are to be avoided; it’s way too hot to go around. March/April should also be avoided because of spring break in the States when Cancun is flooded with students. End of November was a great time because it was not too crowded and we could easily find a hotel and tour bookings. Temperatures were between 16 and 27 degrees, and sunny.

I did a bit of local shopping; I bought a handmade hammock from Vollodolid, tops with the traditional embroideries and laces, a Mayan calendar in limestone for a wall hanging, maracas to give as gifts, a pendant in anthracite (which is a black stone mined there), and a telescope of sorts which is a palm-sized, round flat piece of this same stone that the Mayans used to watch the sun and calculate the calendar.

How would you rate the beaches in Cancun as compared to other coastal cities that you’ve been to? The beaches were just gorgeous. I had never been to the Caribbean Sea; now I now why it’s so highly recommended. They were unbelievably clean and blue. They were rough though; one couldn’t go too far into the waves like in Mauritius. But I found them to be much more attractive than the ones in Thailand and Sri Lanka. Tell us about the food and culture in the city. The food was great. I’m generally a fan of Mexican cuisine and I tried to eat at local or street restaurants and cafés. I certainly got my fill of tacos, fajitas, burritos, chimichanga, street pancakes, nachos with an assortment of dips (like bean, mango, red cheese, lentils with beef, onion and tomato) all in a platter. I also tried a Cactus Salad, which was very interesting – it tasted like a kachumar but sticky. No one does spices like the Mexicans. In fact, one of my guides told me if a Mexican tells you something is spicy, don’t eat it. There is a lot of culture everywhere. There were parades and Mariachi bands and women dancing wearing their famous Oaxaca skirts. We caught an evening cultural show at the X-Carat. It had performances from all provinces of Mexico. Even just walking around the markets or in a park or even on the beach, one can’t miss the culture.

What is your favourite memory of the trip? There were lots of laughs actually, since it was a new location for both of us and we were just guesstimating our way around. One incident I can remember was after an evening of shopping and dinner when we got onto a bus to come back home. Except no one had told us buses stopped running at 10:30pm. We kept waiting for our stop – until we reached the end of the line and the bus parked, lights switched off and everyone got off to be on their way! We kept sitting inside till the driver asked which hotel we wanted to get to, then offered to drop us there. So we had the entire bus to ourselves, like a personalized taxi. That’s never happened to me, that a public bus went out of its way just to drop me home! What should one pack when travelling to Cancun? Lots of heavy-duty sunscreen for sure. Hat, a good pair of walking shoes, a pair of shorts. These are a must. Otherwise a beach wardrobe, cotton or linen pants, and a swimsuit because that will be used at almost every park, cenote or tour. Don’t bother packing any hair tools. You hair will be wet and mostly full of sand; just wash, tie and enjoy the beach holiday hair. Lip balm and face moisturizers will be useful.

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LETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S DISH

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From the

INDUS to the CLYDE: How I found home through Pakistani flavour in Scotland By Sumayya Usmani

Food writer and cookery teacher Sumayya Usmani reminisces about the flavours marking her childhood in Pakistan and connects it with food from her chosen home, Scotland. She identifies parallels in the culture of hospitality that is paramount in both the nations as well as the tastes that link up the two, using the Scottish â&#x20AC;&#x153;stoviesâ&#x20AC;? as an adaptation of the primary Pakistani dish aloo gosht. Here she provides a bespoke recipe for this meal that celebrates both cultures of comfort food and home-cooking.

LET’S DISH

ot many would think Pakistan is comparable to Scotland, but this land of lochs and glens has slowly become my home away from home; and its flavours and produce have found a link with my homeland, Pakistan. After many years in London, I moved to Scotland only two years ago, to find a better quality of life and also for a chance to explore a country that I had always longed to travel to. It was a daunting relocation, but the Scots have a welcoming nature and it’s made it remarkably easy to settle here. That, and Scotland’s incredible produce and food. For me, flavour has always been my first connection to any place, and exploring that in a new country has helped me find my place here. Scotland is synonymous with haggis and shortbread, but Scottish cuisine is so much more than just that. It is a cuisine defined by its larder’s seasonality and outstanding quality. This has echoes with the cuisine of Pakistan: growing up I always knew the provenance of meat, I would buy ripe fresh tomatoes and okra in the summer, the fishmonger would supply that day’s catch, fresh buffalo’s milk was delivered by the farmer each morning. This direct link with food defines the way my mother, grandmothers and I cooked in Pakistan. The same connection became apparent to me in Scotland too, as it is the weather, topography and people that define the seasonal produce of this country, whether it’s the abundance of game, winter root vegetables, summer berries or the harvesting of grains such as oats and barley. I’ve begun to build my relationship with producers I have found in Scotland, as I did in Pakistan, and with these new ingredients around me, I’ve begun to substitute and experiment with classic Pakistani recipes. There is a subtle sense of familiarity in my new home based on the Scots’ love of hospitality, my growing passion for the land (which compares to the natural beauty of Pakistan), and my understanding of the many historical invasions and migrations that have marked both our cuisines and culture.

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LET’S DISH As a child, I would awaken on a Sunday morning greeted by the smokiness of fresh parathas (fried bread) being made on the tawa (flat griddle pan), my mouth watering in anticipation of breakfast. My mother made these by mixing leftover mashed spicy potato bhujia (stir-fried potato) into flour to make thick breads with generous amount of fresh coriander, green chilli, cumin and ghee. When I moved to Glasgow, I was amazed at how similar my mother’s parathas were to ‘tattie scones’ – leftover mash mixed with flour and butter, best cooked on a cast iron ‘girdle’ (as the griddle is known in Scotland).

Tattie Scones

When I first experienced the sweet intensity of Scottish raspberries, I was overwhelmed by their fragrance and flavour. A perfect way to use this fruit is cranachan (the traditional way to serve it is to allow your guests to make up their own dessert, serving each element of the dish separately). I love Hunza apricots – their aroma reminds me of an early Northern Pakistani autumn, just as raspberries do of Scottish summer. I have added rosewater and pistachios to my cranachan recipe to add a Pakistani flavour to the cream and oats.

Cranachan

Chukandar Gosht

Pakistani cuisine is meat heavy, be it mutton, goat and beef, this is either slow cooked, stir fried or barbecued with spices, or simply with animal fat and herbs, depending on locality. I have learned that in Scotland there is a similar love for slowcooked stews, sometimes with simple flavours such as juniper, bay or thyme. It’s much akin to Pakistani meat cooking, where spices are subtly ‘layered’ through, to enhance, not hide the taste of the meat. One of my favourite Pakistani dishes was my nani’s chukandar gosht (beetroot and beef curry). I have used my nani’s recipe here but adapted it with Scottish venison: I find that dark spices such as smoky black cardamom, peppercorns and star anise add a haunting flavour that’s present in many Pakistani meat dishes. This recipe celebrates the Scottish and Pakistani love for sharing singlepot meals – in Scotland it can be broth or stews, and for Pakistanis it is biryani, nihari and haleem. Scottish people thrive on never wasting leftovers, and in Pakistan meat is a luxury for those special days. In Scotland, the classic dish called ‘stovies’ which is leftover meat combined with onion and potatoes to make a stew-like dish, reminds me closely of our Punjabi aloo gosht (potato and meat curry). The recipe below of my aloo gosht stovies is a confluences of Scottish flavour and style and Pakistani cookery – a dish that celebrates both our cultures of comfort food and home-cooking. I’ve really only started to explore the crossover between these two cuisines, and how I can use new produce in my cooking. But in my journey from the Indus to the Clyde, Karachi to Glasgow, I have realised that I have found “home” through food, produce, culinary heritage and flavour – and the journey has only just begun.

Stew with Juniper

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Aloo Gosht Ingredients

stovies

50 ml vegetable oil 1 large red onion, finely chopped 1 inch ginger, grated 2 garlic cloves, minced 700 grams mutton or beef, with or without bone, cut into 5 cm pieces salt to taste Â˝ tsp turmeric 1/1 tsp fennel seeds 1 star anise 2 green cardamom 1 tsp coriander seeds, dry roasted and ground Â˝ - 1 tsp paprika Â˝ - 1 tsp red chilli powder 3-4 juniper berries, crushed 200 gram potatoes, peeled or not, cut into 2-3 inch pieces

Method Heat oil in a large heavy based saucepan, once hot add chopped onions, ginger and garlic and cook until golden brown. Add the meat and cook until sealed. Add salt and spices; you might need to add a few splashes of water to prevent the spices from burning. Turn heat to medium low, add 500 ml of water, and cover. Let this cook for 35-40 minutes or until the meat is tender. In the meantime, par boil the potatoes in a little salt, drain and add to the meat. While cooking the meat, if water dries up, add 200 ml more, and allow to cook. When potatoes are cooked, lower heat to a simmer, add the crushed juniper berries and stir. Turn off heat. Serve hot, in a bowl garnished with chopped herbs of your choice, and enjoy with crusty bread or rice. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander, mint or dill.

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HERITAGE

MOENJODARO

calling By Masume Hidayatallah

Having had her interest piqued in Moenjodaro by listening to Neil McGregorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s BBC podcast on an ancient seal discovered at the site of one of the Indus Valley civilization cities, London-based Masume Hidayatallah makes a spontaneous trip to the archaeological site. A primeval town belonging to the same era, it offers quiet respite from Karachiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s regular big city social scene and allows the writer to rediscover a time which, for the most part, remains shrouded in mystery and romance.

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oenjodaro, Sindhi for “the Mound of the Dead Men” is the modern name for the archaeological site that was rediscovered in the early 1900s as one of the world’s earliest urban settlements of the ancient Indus Valley civilization. An area that is known to have been built during the third millennium BC and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city’s name itself evokes romance and mystery in spades. Who occupied it, who or what did its inhabitants worship, what happened to its people and finally what ended life in this city, no one knows. Despite all advancements in scientific skills and studying ancient history, the place remains faceless. The opportunity to visit Moenjodaro with a group from New Delhi presented itself earlier this month via a briefly worded WhatsApp message from my Karachi host: “Do you want to join the V’s and A’s (two families visiting Karachi for the host’s wedding) on their trip to Moenjodaro, out 13th, back 14th?” At the time I was multi-tasking whilst seated at my desk overlooking the London Eye thousands of miles away – preparing for a tough negotiation meeting, reflecting on sartorial choices for the upcoming festivities and on prandial pleasures (mozzarella or hummus for lunch?). Moenjodaro visits are not a regular occurrence in life. Instead of “let me have a think about it”, an affirmative “yes” was returned via Whatsapp within five seconds. And the Facebook status was duly updated with “Moenjodaro here we come!” (In short, it read: sorry folks, unavailable for long lunches at Xanders or Patio!)

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I had never met the two Delhi families and fully trusted my host that we would get on well. We were all travelling for a common cause (fun times at a friend’s wedding with an uber-cultural trip added for good measure), we’d each known our host since about 1985: what was not to like? The reason for this unbridled enthusiasm about the trip was a fifteen-minute podcast that forms part of the History of the World in 100 Objects collection prepared in 2011 by Neil McGregor, the former director of the British Museum. The object chosen for the podcast is an ancient seal found at Harappa (another great ancient Indus city), part of the museum’s collection. Richard Rogers, a legendary British modernist architect speaks on the podcast – he refers to the Indus civilization as the ‘start of civil society’. (For history and culture enthusiasts, here’s link to the program on the BBC website: http://www.bbc. co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/about/transcripts/episode13/) I was curious about what stood behind that civil society – albeit the ancient cities are long gone and the river now receded from the area. After hearing the podcast and revisiting it frequently to hear again and again of the magic of this cradle of civilization, it was so easy to sweep away the faithless narratives of urban creatures heard over the years: “but it’s so hot and dusty”, “oh it’s just a pile of old stones”, “Karachi is so much more fun”, “Sindh is so dull” – not exactly waxing lyrical. Moenjodaro was indeed calling.

Getting there, orientation, accommodation and additional itinerary suggestions: PIA has an efficient one-hour service from Karachi to Moenjodaro, flying direct in a turbo-prop airplane. Its competent pilots and courteous, firm air stewardesses lose none of their charm on this internal hopper flight. One small niggle: there is no hot drinks service – once sorted, PIA will achieve perfection on this route. From Moenjodaro airport it is a two-minute drive to the entrance of the ancient site precinct which includes an official Government of Sindh rest house and museum. Good accommodation is available at the Sambarra Inn at Larkana – a forty-minute drive from Moenjodaro on an excellent road. A newly improved road to Sukkur allows for fast car travel from Moenjodaro, however due to traffic in and around Sukkur city this is not an appealing option for a 24-hour stay. An easier side trip from Moenjodaro is the 90-minute drive to the Bhutto family mausoleum at Ghari Khuda Bux, passing through beautiful Sindhi farmland and orchards that grow guavas, mangoes, sugar cane, vegetables and wheat.

Good accommodation is available at the Sambarra Inn at Larkana

Bhutto family mausoleum

Culinary delights: The food of the region is robust and highly representative of its geography (the Indus river fish fried with the uniquely Sindhi mix of spices including crushed coriander seed, pomegranate seed and red chilli is memorable) and of its history (barbeque lamb which remains the legacy of Sindh’s Turkic invaders). Meat and fish are cooked to perfection and relatively oil-free, vegetables are overcooked and come to the table drowning in oil and spice. The default meal prepared is meat or chicken. Lentils are the default vegetarian dish; if they make you cringe make sure the kitchen is told in advance. It’s essential to order fish the previous day or many hours in advance of the meal, especially if dining at the Moenjodaro site’s rest house. The soft chappatis use the local wheat (geyhun) and complement well the delicately spiced fish and meat dishes. Having left Larkana at dawn to get an early start around the ruins, the rest house at Moenjodaro prepared breakfast for us. Muharram Ali from Baltistan is the very talented head cook at the rest house – his breakfast included Sindhi potatoes (sliced thin, parboiled, spiced and lightly fried), Sindhi omelette and a large platter of artistically arranged fried eggs (one was not enough!) for those whose tastes favour the bland A robust (karak) tea and the sensuously grainy geyhun bread accompanied the meal. Heaven on a plate. More of heaven came our way in the form of lunch at the rest house later the same day. Indus fried fish with said unique spice mixture; chicken korma with tomatoes; spicy fish cakes, rice cooked in stock with cloves and peppercorn and that unctuous bread at well over 250 calories per piece.

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HERITAGE Must-dos & Must-sees Get a local guide – Irshad Ali Solangi (see details below) is highly recommended; a family man from Moenjodaro village who knows the local area, its environs and local food. A sunset walk around the Buddhist stupa – the walls of the ancient city as well as the stupa are bathed in a golden glow. Mosquito repellent and torch apps on smartphones will be needed as dusk descends. The Moenjodaro museum – with a breezy reception area at garden level where visitors stroll and children play in front of large maps of Pakistan and Iran, this area is a welcoming introduction to the site. The Hargreaves excavations of 1911-22 form the basis of the museum’s collection which includes utensils, jewellery, seals/trademarks and other aspects of everyday life in ancient Moenjodaro. Using innovative architecture, the lighting in the display cases derives from natural daylight from windows placed just above the visitor’s sight line. The museum’s ‘pocket’ park – the museum and its grounds offer superb people watching opportunities, busy even on weekdays with a festive holiday mood in the air, ideal for a picnic in a shady and discrete spot in the gardens. There are well-tended lawns, an avenue of flowering trees and an obelisk-type structure to commemorate the visit of ZA Bhutto and Reza Shah Pehlavi in 1976. Their images resemble Victorian daguerreotypes – faded prints of rulers who somehow identified their rule with the ancient civilizations of Persepolis and Moenjodaro. Dine at the Sambarra Inn Barbeque (outdoor) in Larkana – there is a beautiful outdoor garden for families, complete with fountains, play area and themed musical entertainment. The BBQ produces excellent grilled meat. There is also a large seating area (reclining on charpais) for single males. The entire place rocks.

As a group we agreed to do more rather than less, a more restful 24-hour itinerary could include the site early in the morning, followed by lunch, followed by the museum and its grounds during the afternoon and a short 2km car journey to the Indus in the evening. Our overseas guests saw Pakistan at its best: excellent service, food, communication and transport links, a clean environment and most of all the spectacular warmth and hospitality of Sindh to all its visitors. I returned to London with a deep sense of nostalgia and an increased fondness for the land of my

forefather. As I type this story here in the warm evening sunshine in Embankment Gardens, I am surrounded by tulips about to flower and office workers enjoying a relaxing moment in an oasis of calm in the middle of a busy European city. There is also a view of the top of an ancient carved obelisk transported from Egypt to London by the Victorians. I’m enjoying some raw sugar cane that travelled back with me to London. The legacy of Moenjodaro is all around us: in the peace-loving people of Sindh, in the adventurous cooks of Baltistan and in the public parks of big cities around the world –whereever there is a civil society, there is a Moenjodaro. Our local guide and culinary expert was: Irshad Ali Solangi, Tourist Guide and Transport, Food Facilitator: irshadalisolangi056@gmail.com Further reading and listening: Moenjodaro Heritage of Mankind, Ihsan H Nadiem – purchased from Liberty Bookshop (may have to be requested) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohenjo-daro Podcast on the Indus Seal in the British Museum’s collection: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/ RRbS0YxzQQa88y_xkV1ADg

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HERITAGE

Dine at the Sambarra Inn Barbeque (outdoor) in Larkana. The BBQ produces excellent grilled meat.

Sambarra Inn

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OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

Kilik Pass: First successful student expedition in the winter

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STOPPING BY

KILIKon PASS a

SNOWY EVENING By Ahmad Altaf

Ahmad Altaf is a senior-year student at LUMS and a member of the LUMS Adventure Society. This winter, him and two other members from the LUMS Adventure Society, along with an acquaintance, became the first ever students to successfully attempt the Kilik Pass (4820m) trek in the winters. A natural mountain pass (now a fenced border) between Pakistan and China, the Kilik Pass has significant roots in the old Silk Route and related trading activity. These inspiring trek enthusiasts achieved the feat in four days and in temperatures that went as low as -30 degrees celsius. They were aided in their journey by their guide, Basharat and porter, Ali. This is the diary Ahmad kept during his groundbreaking trek.

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK Day 1 – 2:45 AM Here starts my journey to the Kilik Pass. Well, it started nearly twelve hours ago. I’ve been in one bus after another since then. Currently making a pit stop. These journeys take awfully long. And it’s awfully cold. -2 degrees celsius and a blistering wind – but its eerily beautiful! The night sky is clear and the moon is in full bloom and doing a great job of illuminating the snow on the hills. I am travelling with Mujtaba Aizaz, an acquaintance from the trekker’s meet-up 2016. Mubariz and Khokar (colleagues from the LUMS Adventure Society) are waiting for us at Karimabad. As my fingers turn numb from all the writing and lack of warm gloves on-hand, I can only think about the tough task that lies ahead and the lure of achievement that led me here. We can be the first student expedition to trek to the pass (4820m) in the winters!

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Day 2 – 9:40 PM I write this from a semi-comfortable position on the bed of our favourite, Room 101, Hilltop Hotel, Karimabad. It’s -10 degrees but at least I have a blanket for company and a frozen pack of Oreos. The thermostat is broken though! The atmosphere is a bit apprehensive; our planning is a bit flimsy – we are not entirely sure about water availability on the trek and the amount of food that we will require. The tension is perhaps a corollary of the fact that we barely know of people who have attempted Kilik Pass, let alone in the winter season. Personally, I am more than a little scared – a bit excited but perhaps more scared. I wonder why I left the pleasantness of Karachi for the prickly cold of Hunza. Perhaps a combination of my ego and a desire to achieve something significant before I graduate. Whether achievement is directly correlated to being brutally battered by the vengeful cold, I am yet to find out. The journey begins tomorrow at 7 am. For now, I think I’ll enjoy the heater – while it lasts.

Day 3 – 6:00 PM It’s hard to write legibly when your hands are so numb – the worst has not started yet of course. Night is about to fall on us and it’ll only get colder. We are huddled in our sleeping bags inside an abandoned barracks next to the Kalam Darchi (KD) Fort, with a small fire going, courtesy of our guide/porter, Ali. We set off at 7:30 am from our hotel as we headed towards Sost. Off we went, winding through the Karakoram Highway (KKH), past a partially frozen Attabad Lake and the magnificent Passu Cones. We reached Sost at noon. That’s where we met Band-e-Ali (Ali bhai), our current porter and an old acquaintance/guide from a previous trip, whose cheeriness belies his years

and Basharat, a local from the Misgar village, who was to be our main guide. It was cold – very cold. We hired a local van here. Just past the first check-post towards Khunjerab on the KKH, a road winds left and back into the mountain valley which leads to Misgar, a tiny hamlet that saw its first settlers around 1864. The river here was a brilliant green and the whole scene was so serene. The mountains offered protection from the harsh winds. We stopped for some refreshments and then drove off for around 7 km on a now unmetalled road to KD Fort. I am now settled in my sleeping bag, although an acute pain in my upper back is becoming troublesome. The drive today has aided in calming my nerves and I’m hopeful of a successful trekking expedition.

A barren Karimabad - view from the Hilltop Hotel

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

The Kalam Darchi (KD) Fort

Trek Day 1 – 9:30 PM Writing this from a hut in Murkushi – trekked 14 km today to get here. The snow-capped peaks to our left, extending towards Sad Buldi and Kilik, are illuminated brilliantly by a starlit sky. We started our trek at 8:30 am – the trek was largely plain, around 600 meters of ascent over the entire distance. The Pamir topology came into full view – tall majestic mountains. We trudged along the almost frozen Kilik river and across a variety of terrains including rock, plains and some loose ice over the river. We made our first stop at Arbab Gul, a small spring one hour from our campsite. Our next main stop was at Lup Jungle. One could tell it would be incredibly beautiful in the summer.

Sad Buldi in the morning a view of our humble hut

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The trek was long but our spirits high and the area with its indigenous wildlife and close proximity to China made the entire range absolutely fascinating. We were greeted by two herders, Essa and Gul, at Murkushi. They are here to tend to their yaks up till Sad Buldi. Basharat bhai convinced them to go up to Kilik with us. Spent the next few hours in their cozy hut, next to a fire. Had saag (mustard leaves cooked in spices), potatoes, daal and custard for dinner. After a great chat with the two herders and our guides, including CPEC discussions, we retreated to our hut. We are to go to Sad Buldi tomorrow – 12 km of trekking and 600 meters of ascent. Into the valley towards our left. Quality huts are sparse up there, our guide tells us and the wind is fierce. I fear that tonight will be our last comfortable night – relatively at least. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Winding path from Murkushi to Sad Buldi - 12:30 pm, - 22 degrees

Trek Day 2 – 4:30 PM We’ve made it to Sad Buldi! It’s even colder, as expected. There are no sticks or firewood available here. The hut is quite flimsy too. Our hosts get a fire going with some dried dung instead. We set off from Murkushi at 8:30 am. Sad Buldi was 12 km away and 600 meters greater in elevation. But the ascent was not gradual – short, steep inclines took their toll on all of us as we inched along at snail’s pace. The steep ascents gave way to flat plains, full of lateral moraine, often covered with loose, dangerous, cracking ice. I almost fell into a crevasse but got out just in time. All along, the Kilik river flowed by our side; stayed rather, since it was frozen. We passed an area called Shep Shep and then crossed Sisgil where most of us were able to spot markhors through binoculars. Cheetah, leopard, yak and wolf tracks were also present in abundance along our route. There was spring water available just before Shireen Maidan so we stopped for chai. I finally got some water which I promptly gulped down. The long break only served to make us more lethargic. I was losing energy fast and fearing the worst. Mujtaba wasn’t much better off. We were crossing the 4000 meter mark now – the possibility of contracting altitude sickness increasing as we gained height.

We reached Shireen Maidan at 1:00 pm. What a beautiful sight! A flat, expansive plain, with yellowed grass and craggy, ice-covered Pamir Mountains in the surroundings. We took a few photos, posing nonchalantly in the direction of Sad Buldi. The plains gave way to a frozen river where we had to negotiate our way across with extreme care. But Sad Buldi never came. I crossed the remaining plains extremely slowly and was then confronted by what was perhaps the final ascent. Mustering my remaining reserves of energy, I forced my way across and got to Sad Buldi with the leading pack. It’s a beautiful campsite – but it will be extremely cold tonight. -26 degrees if the weather forecast is anything to go by. But Kilik is just 6 km away – we can already catch a glimpse of the mountains that form a natural border with China. The smell of makeshift biryani wafts through the cold air, the smoke visible – and delicious. Tomorrow’s ascent will form the culmination of our journey (hopefully!)

The smell of makeshift biryani wafts through the cold air, the smoke visible – and delicious. 155

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

Near Shireen Maidan

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There was spring water available just before Shireen Maidan so we stopped for chai.

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OFF THE BEATEN TRACK Trek Day 3 - 9:25 PM They told me it was folly – everyone I asked. “Winter trek?” they would say; some would laugh, others would tell me that it was not the best idea. But the adventurous spirit in us made us want to brave the frightening winds of the Pamirs in the winters, while the locals themselves huddled around fires in the refuge of their homes. None of us slept particularly well the night before. The fire did little to repel the intense cold of Sad Buldi. Despite being huddled together with 5 people, my teeth chattered uncontrollably and I woke up to a stiff neck. We had little time to waste. Kilik beckoned and then we had to make our way back to Murkushi. No one wanted to stay at Sad Buldi for another night! We left there at 8 am. The ascent started straight away followed by a never ending ledge of slippery ice. We maneuvered our way across carefully. One wrong step and you would fall down flat onto the frozen river, some 50 feet below. The wind was relentless. Mamoon’s (my friend) balaclava proved to be a life-saver. We trudged along. The snow levels increased rapidly. Pretty soon, it was close to calf height – every step forward required a ton of energy. The sun was out too – its reflection on the snow created a sharp glare…and it was cold! Really cold. After the 2nd ascent, with Kilik nowhere in sight, we began to feel a little drained. All of us stopped to pant every five minutes. I was at the very end

Snow and nothing else, enroute Kilik Pass

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of the pack, my head was hurting and most of me wanted to turn back. My boots were frozen, my socks were full of snow. But a combination of foolhardiness, pride and false sense of self-belief kept me going. It took us 3 hours to navigate through approximately 6 kilometers of snow to finally reach Kilik Pass. A fascinating sight, no doubt. A vast expanse of snow, surrounded by a multitude of peaks – a barbed wire fence was evident just 100 meters from where we stood, marking the Chinese border. We were at 4820 meters and speaking to the clouds. We were also the first students to successfully attempt this pass in the winter! We took a few photos – then had 2 chocolate bars I had bought from Sost for this very occasion four days ago. Then we headed back. Upon reaching Sad Buldi, we gobbled down some food, but mainly water and then hastily descended towards Murkushi, some 14 km away at 3:30 pm. We sped off, motivated to get one step closer to Karimabad. Despite the fast pace, we were still 3 km away when dusk set in. We trekked carefully under the clear, star-lit sky, aided by a single flashlight. Trekking in monochrome was tranquil. We reached Murkushi at 7 pm. All of us collapsed inside the hut. Essa and Fauji chacha got a nice fire going and prepared dinner. We had a delicious meal of mutton, saag and potatoes. Tomorrow is the final day. I am already looking forward to a nice bed and French fries at Hilltop! All that separates us is a final 14 km stretch to KD Fort and a drive back to Karimabad.

Our guide Basharat having some fun

Trek Day 4 – 7:00 PM I can finally breathe a sigh of warm relief under the quilts of the Hilltop Hotel. However, I cannot quite write without stuttering fingers. The cold, it seems is ingrained within us. The others in the group agree. 3 of my fingers are turning blue. And it’s not much warmer here either - minus 11 degrees celsius. But there’s a plate of club sandwich and fries to my side and a television in front of me so I can’t really complain. The day started off on a jubilant note. We had gotten our best, most comfortable sleep in days, in that warm Murkushi hut. So we woke up late, around 8 am. Had a grand breakfast of saag, parathas and cheese. Ali and Mujtaba left for Misgar around 8:45 am – they had left to get a van for us and bring it down to KD Fort. The rest of us left half an hour later. We sped off, motivated to get back, trekking quickly, with headphones in ears and following the lead in silent unison.

Lup Jungle and a frozen Kilik River

We only stopped for two small breaks; one at Lup Jungle and the other at Arbab Bul. Therefore, we made it to KD Fort in good time – in almost 4 hours. To our dismay, the van was not there. Only a small note, left by Mujtaba that told us to get to Misgar. Tired and frustrated, we made the 7 km journey to Misgar, on the unforgiving, turbulent jeep track that curved up and down the whole time. Fresh landslides near Arbab Bul had already proven to be a bane in our lives as we had to navigate through endless rock, gravel and moraine. By the time I saw the Misgar boundary, my feet were numb but I didn’t care nor did I stop. And right at the very last junction, I saw the van hurtling towards us. We picked up the rest of the group that was behind us and got to Misgar. Basharat bhai and other locals offered us chai after which we took off. We dropped Essa and Fauji chacha at Misgar bazaar and Ali at Sost, amidst hugs and farewells. What followed was a silent ride to Karimabad, now just the four of us. Three hours later, at 6:30 pm, we were greeted by Javed bhai at the Hilltop gate. And that marked the end of this journey. For now it is time for a long overdue rest, good food and drink – and then it’s off to Rattu tomorrow!

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KARACHI

Alfalah Premier Lounge

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PARTING SHOT

Art Dubai, an international art fair with roots in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, was held from the 15th to the 18th of March and in its 11th year, saw participation from 93 galleries from across 44 countries. Internationally acclaimed artist and artistic director of the Lahore Biennale Rashid Rana not only represented Pakistan at the 3-day fair, but also put up a solo show, Scatter In Time, featuring new works from his Transliterations series, at Leila Heller Gallery.

Rashid and Aroosa Rana at the Leila Heller Gallery, where Scatter in Time is on display till the 22nd of April. Want to be featured on this page ? Send us your pictures exploring the beauty of Pakistan through Instagram(@destinationspk) or Facebook(destinations.com.pk).

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