THE LIVING LIBRARIES: PAPER-PLANES AND POETRY Guided tours exclusively for tourists, mounted on traditional carriages, streaming through heritage sites, are a unique experience. Of course, the tours, aided by well-rehearsed speeches by tour guides from a history book, are informative. It is fascinating to learn where the royals devoured their meals and how the Badshahi Mosque (The Royal Mosque) has stood tall for centuries. However, it is an entirely different experience sitting under the shade of a tree, immersing in the tales imparted by the living libraries of Lahore, over a cup of tea. An aged man shares the horrors of the bloody partition riots he experienced, and with it the tale of how he met his beloved wife of sixty years: “A striking beauty stood looking out her window, our eyes met, and my heart leaped. It was as simple as that. We didn’t have mobile phones, and I couldn’t count her in public, fearing ‘tainting’ her character. I began to compose poetry for her, folding papers clumsily into planes and floating them through her window. This very window...”, He points towards a four-story building. “Eventually, her heart warmed up towards me, and I arranged for my parents to visit her family, asking her hand in marriage. We spoke for the first time after our wedding ceremony.” No organized tour can condense a culture so distinct, or capture the essence of a story so simple.
The Utopian Palimpsest
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