Enchanted Tributes in Music and Art

Epictober 2011: Experiencing Pakistan - Post 4 of 8

Less than 48 hours since my visit to the Baadshahi Masjid in Lahore, I was making my way along a rough gravel and dirt path, which went through a stretch of grass and trees. It was late afternoon and the cool October breeze made the stroll easy. The path I was taking was a lovely little shortcut, cutting straight through a small park. If it weren’t for the traffic going by on the well-paved roads about a hundred meters to my left, the grass and trees may well have been part of a forest path. The rolling clouds filtered the sunlight to the ground at regular intervals, which made the path feel as if someone had lifted the whole slice of land from an actual forest and placed it in the middle of the city.

Amid the grass and trees, the path led on...

Islamabad, the cozy, modern, capital city lies near the foothills of Pakistan which eventually rise to meet the mighty mountains in the north. A tourist guide map I saw in the city promoted the capital as “Islamabad, the beautiful.” That part was indeed true as I walked the path up a slope and reached its end. I had taken a Daewoo bus to Islamabad the night before, and after my day at work, I made my way across that stretch of green to visit a famous landmark. After reaching the end of the path, I reached a road, and crossed it to enter another garden of trees, bushes and grass. Here, I turned right and saw the sea of green stretching about a kilometer or so before the nearest hills started. I started walking and soon, four, familiar minarets came into view above the tall trees on my left.

The guest house I was staying at happened to be in a good location, close to the major commercial area of Jinnah Super, a new Hardee’s restaurant and about a twenty minute walk from the iconic Shah Faisal Masjid. That is where I was heading to in the late afternoon. The walk led through some residential streets and a commercial area before spilling out on to the main road. It was great that the roads were flanked by large gardens on the side, as they made the stroll much pleasant.

The minarets of Shah Faisal Masjid come into view

The tips of the minarets grew taller as I crunched the dead leaves under my feet while walking forward . Eventually, the veil of trees started to part and I could see the full masjid in glimpses behind the passing trees. The grass sloped downwards and met the roadside which led to the landmark, and I followed it with my eyes up, staring at the great, white, tent-like, structure in awe. The only other time I had come here before was last April, and that was a rushed trip. This time though, I had all the time in the world. I departed from the Masjid after dusk that evening, spending that hour or so of daylight to go around the whole Masjid and relax for a bit.

The Shah Faisal Masjid, completed in 1986, succeeded the Baadshahi Masjid as the largest masjid in the world at the time. The giant masjid complex housed a library, souvenir shop and some fountains which allowed plenty to look about. Between the Asr and Maghrib prayers, the time that I had allowed me to reflect on the journey so far and what lay ahead. The time until then had surely been an experience to remember, and my gaze instinctively shifted towards the Margalla Hills. My next few destinations lay in the mountains and I could not stop wondering and planning for my weekends up there. If Islamabad was known as “the beautiful”, then surely it would only get better from here on, I wondered.

The high street of Saidpur Village; the open nala can be seen here.

Later that week, I managed to visit a few more interesting places Islamabad offered. Saidpur Village is an interesting model village made out as a tourist attraction for the urban population, who can get a feel of what village life is actually like in Pakistan. This area used to be an actual village back in the day, but was never properly urbanized. Saidpur has a neat, clean parking lot for people from the outside to enjoy Saidpur. Close to the parking lot are a few restaurants which integrate the theme of Saidpur into their dining experience, and there are also a few shops selling pottery, art and other trinkets. One can press inside the high street that leads to the actual residential colony of Saidpur. A large “nala” or waterway with flowing waste water cut through the main high street dividing it into two. Small, elegant bridges go over the nala, connecting the two halves of the high street. Perhaps it was made to add an aesthetic touch to the model village, but since it was sewage waste going through the nala, with other garbage dumped at points in between, it only added a foul stench to the high street.

Despite the smell, Saidpur was a nice place to relax and take in the sights and sounds without losing out on the urban element. My colleague and I climbed the stairs leading to one of the more interesting structures close to the high street. I had been here once before, but today it had a different feel to it. Music flowed towards us, carried by the wind as we proceeded toward an old Hindu temple. The stone steps lead to a checkered tile floor outside the temple courtyard, where the frayed, worn out tiles seemed to come to new life by the music being played. 

 

Looking around, I saw a man in shalwar kameez sitting just outside the temple, playing a sweet melody on a lute-like instrument called a rabab. The melody seemed old as time itself, the folk musician drawing on the wisdom of his ancestors, playing along to himself. The rabab, as I learnt from the musician, was an old musical instrument based in Persia and later Afghanistan. In Pakistan, it finds its cultural home in Peshawar. The music was sublime and powerful, breathing new life into the faded, colorful walls of the old Hindu temple, yet carried a sad kind of tune. The Hindu temple pre-dates the independence of the subcontinent; according to local lore, the Hindu population of Saidpur migrated to India after 1947, and the temple remained empty for years. Today, it has been preserved as a natural exhibit at Saidpur and the inner hall has many old pictures. The rabab’s music seemed to play a quiet tribute to the people who used to call Saidpur home in ages past, and seemed to call out to their last remaining treasure to come out of its forgotten gloom.

A street in Saidpur Village

After a quick look at the temple and a photo with the folk musician, we ventured to the other end of the high street, into a nice restaurant and out into one of the actual, living streets of Saidpur. It was a small, cramped and dirty street hidden behind the fine exterior façade of Saidpur, and had many small kiryana stores, tailors and other small traders. The residents of Saidpur looked slightly annoyed by our presence, and it seemed that they did not take keenly to the idea of a “model village” at all. Slightly shocked at their expressions, I soon started to understand Saidpur from their shoes. I believe I would have found it annoying as well if they had opened a chain of high-end restaurants and shops in Saidpur for those who could afford it, while leaving the remaining place unkempt and devoid of proper sanitation for the actual population of the area.

View of Saidpur Village from high up on a hill.

We left the street and headed back to the temple’s side of the high street and ascended stairs leading to a fantastic viewpoint of Saidpur from the top of the hill. Dusk has started to fall in Islamabad, and from far below we could hear the faint melodies of the rabab envelope a beautiful view of village houses and small streets of Saidpur. We left just after the shadow of night time fell over Saidpur, the high street and restaurants illuminated by colorful lanterns giving the whole place a lively glow.

After Saidpur, we had just enough time to see the newly constructed Pakistan Monument and National Heritage Museum, both of which are dedicated to the people of Pakistan. The monument and museum are both works of art and I realized, are must-visit places for anyone in Islamabad. The National Monument seems like an uninspiring piece of work from afar, but a closer look revealed that its “petals” as they are called, are each carved from inside to exhibit some of Pakistan’s most treasured people, wonders, and memories.

Art on one of the petals of the Pakistan Monument

The monument was not that huge, but it towered above me as I went and stood right under it. A rail ran its length from the inside, fitted with labels under each petal which showed exactly what art was portrayed on each of them. I looked up to see images of Jinnah, Khyber Pass, Baadshahi Masjid and many others carved in marble. It was surprising because I had never expected such a piece of art to be put up for the public of Pakistan. Going from petal to petal, the diverse wealth and treasures of Pakistan became more apparent; the brightly lit, convex surface of the petals curving inwards made the art overwhelming. As we walked away, I looked back one more time at the Pakistan Monument. The soft lighting surrounding it, and the brightly lit interior made it a sight to behold under the clear, night sky.

Under the petals of the Pakistan Monument at night-time, Islamabad.

An exhibit portrays life in the Mughal courts of India.

Very close to the monument was the National Heritage Museum, and my colleague and I wondered whether it was worth going there or not. I decided it was worth visiting considering we had come this far and were both glad that we took the right decision. From the outside, it does not seem very appealing but once we entered, I saw that this was truly a museum that lived up to its name. Museums in Pakistan are not well maintained or appreciated, and often slip into decay over the years. However, the aesthetics, design and hard work put into this museum were clearly impressive, above the level of most museums in Pakistan.

The National Heritage Museum portrayed the history of the peoples of the sub-continent, and the birth of Pakistan in an artistic sense. As I entered, I saw two well-lit floors with a lot of embossed, cultural art on the walls. A sign directed us downstairs to the start of the tour, and as the exhibits started rolling by, they left me more and more amazed by exactly what they had accomplished. The start of the tour was synchronized with the timeline of the sub-continent, which showed models of wax and cardboard telling the story of the region as the years went by. Plaques on each exhibit gave details and the back story about each scene.

A scene from the 1857 Indian War of Independence

The scenes started with the Gandhara civilization, showing Buddhists and models of some temples followed by the early Muslim conquerors Mahmud Ghazni and Muhammad bin Qasim. Eventually, it went on through the Sikh and Hindu rules, the Mughal era, the arrival of the British and the story of the Freedom Movement. All exhibits had been executed with great care, and the idea and construction of the museum has to be the work of an artisan. The simple scenes shown from the court of the Mughals, the fear on the face of a British soldier as he is shot down from his horse by an Indian rebel, and the model of Iqbal where he is delivering his Allahabad address, all portray the small and big key moments that have defined the sub-continent through countless generations. Add to these exhibits an audio-visual room for some documentaries and an impressive auditorium playing the film “Jinnah”, and we have a full learning center which dispels myths and educates through facts the full lineage of the sub-continent, leading to Pakistan’s side of the story.

The museum, monument and Saidpur had really got me in the mood to appreciate the many things I chose to overlook about Pakistan. Although the visit to Islamabad was not engrossing in the same way as Lahore or the Jhelum excursion, it offered retreats of its own kind, artificial but meaningful experiences. And that stroll and time spent in Shah Faisal Masjid is unforgettable. It was finally time to set my sights to the mountains, and I could hardly wait.

Inside the National Heritage Museum, a model of MA Jinnah and Fatima Jinnah in a horse-drawn carriage can be seen in the foreground.