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.

It is undeniable that the lives of the residents of the Walled City of Lahore intertwine with the heritage and culture of the city – even if they might not be aware of the memorized facts as fluently as the trained tour guides from the greater Lahore – they boast a great fountain of knowledge regarding cultural practices. There is a need for tour-guide training programs, exclusively conducted for the residents, and alternative excursions, guiding tourists through a closer to reality cultural experience.

The heritage sites of Lahore offer a wealth of potential for tourism, which presents a source of employment in varying sectors of hospitality. Tourism can lead to infrastructural developments such as an improved network of roads, public transport, water, and electricity supply, which can benefit tourists as well as residents. However, it is essential to comprehend that the Walled City is not just a hub of monumental heritage but also houses an invaluable living culture, altering inevitably with time.

Tourism ought to be rooted in the cultural practices and the lifestyle of the people. ‘Culture should be regarded as the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs’ (UNESCO 2001).