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nightlife The market that never sleeps The DHA H-Block Market remains open almost round the clock and is expanding with remarkable speed By Rubia Moghees What does this city offer that no other place can match? Is it the famous historical landmarks or the diverse cultural trends or perhaps the myriad of changing seasons? Is it the rustic charm of narrow inner city roads that people fall in love with or the mouth-watering culinary delights that one can’t simply ignore? When the city is preparing itself to sleep, it is when this market comes alive to serve the insomniacs. The 24 hours round the clock service is being provided by the relatively newly established and now flourishing ‘H’ Block Market of Defence. MOOD
STREET Town Talk
nightlife The market that never sleeps The DHA H-Block Market remains open almost round the clock and is expanding with remarkable speed By Rubia Moghees What does this city
offer that no other place can match? Is it the famous historical landmarks or
the diverse cultural trends or perhaps the myriad of changing seasons? Is it
the rustic charm of narrow inner city roads that people fall in love with or
the mouth-watering culinary delights that one can’t simply ignore? When the city is preparing
itself to sleep, it is when this market comes alive to serve the insomniacs.
The 24 hours round the clock service is being provided by the relatively
newly established and now flourishing ‘H’ Block Market of Defence. Basically, it’s not only
about the market that attracts a horde of people who visit it till the wee
hours of morning that include young people, mostly teenage boys, friends
looking for a simple and inexpensive place to hang about and families
belonging to all types of backgrounds. It’s a simple equation; a city is
lifeless without its inhabitants. Lahorites’ energy is mostly spent on
discovering food/fun joints that are not only economical but also provide
them with few hours of frolic from the mundane activities of the day. It is a
sheer joy as a bystander to watch these youngsters thronging the famous
ice-cream, paan and fresh fruit joints in and around the vicinity of the
‘H’ Block Super Market. The place has become a hub to meet up, gossip and
ramble and is usually jam-packed if the weather turns pleasant. This place has a huge
number of paan and cigarette shops that have almost doubled in the last two
years. What started off as a mere khokha has turned into a full-fledge shop
because of the burgeoning of the market. The ‘Jaidi Paan’ shop seems to
be ruling the roost with over 35 chhotas (servers) working for them and the
inclusion of ice-cream and fresh juice offering has done its bit for the
owners. As a frequent visitor of the place one gets totally overwhelmed at
the sight of servers rushing from all nooks and corners to get the orders. One talks to them and
realises how important it is for them to get the maximum clients in order to
get the daily wages. Nadeem who is an old server of the shop earns about
400-500 rupees from the tips that he deservingly receives in his 12 hour
shift. He gets his daily wage only if he brings a business of 2,500 rupees.
The 200 rupees daily salary will decline if the server brings less. Coming
from a small village near the Wagah border he switches 3 buses to reach at
his work place and spends about 200 rupees on transportation daily. “I am
only able to save 200 rupees daily to spend on the family that consists of 4
brothers and three sisters.” It is worth mentioning here
that a rough estimate of nearly 400-500 servers who provide their services in
the night time shift and toil in all types of weather are illiterate or
drop-outs from school. It is due to extreme poverty that they are forced to
work and mostly all of them mentioned their ‘majboory’ helplessness in
dealing with escalating daily life expenditures. The families are living in
hand-to mouth conditions and each household has 8-10 members which have
increased the tribulations for these people. Kashif who is only 9 years
old and is desperate to study, lives in the Kamaha village near DHA. “The
rich snobs run away without paying and that invites beating for us,” he
said. These servers are given one meal at around 2am and they start off their
duty hours at 6pm sharp that goes up till 6am in the morning. There is no
fixed income for these poor working souls who are only dependent on the tips
and wait for the Eid or some special occasion to earn a good amount. In comparison to other
markets of DHA area this one offers a huge variety of business that includes
desi, Chinese and fast food restaurants, franchises like Subway, Mc Donalds
and KFC, BBQ and Biryani outlets which are open till late. The segmented
market encompasses banks and pharmacies in the front row and then branches
out in various groups that have tailoring and lace shops in two lanes, halwa
puri and nihari shops, book stores and gift shops along with the renowned
Shezan and Gourmet bakeries that have more or less fulfilled the requirement
of the residents. The property dealing shops that were quite in number few
years ago as there was a property boom then; now have dwindled and the music
and video, clothing, mutton, vegetables and fruit shops have taken over. The place gets even more
crowded during Ramzan because of the availability of jalebis, samosas, dahi
baray and other Ramzan specialties. A cacophony of noises could be heard
during iftar hours which have led to massive traffic jams. Major brands have
opened their outlets in this market which includes CrossRoads, Textilion,
Bata, and Bareeze. Eunuchs are also found in great number and are often seen
harassing the visitors as they keep on knocking the windows of cars to get
some alms. The night life gets busier in and around the famous Shezan
restaurant which has the largest seating capacity and consists of two dining
halls. The reasonably priced eatery which was opened few years ago has found
a selected clientele and also does quite well in the catering and arrangement
of parties and engagements. The concept of home delivery and take away has
been picked up by almost the entire food street of the market that includes
Chatkhara, Dogar, Tarka, Biryani Xpress and many other more. Started off as a tandoor;
the Dogar has branched out and now they proudly boast a chain of shops that
offer puri halwa, fruits and vegetables, salads, ice-creams and fresh fruit
juice shop with the name of La Fruita which is doing great business. “It is
only possible because they have maintained their standards of quality and
hygiene,” said Basit who regularly brings his family to one of the shops
owned by Dogar. Summing up, the market
place offers a wide array of activities which have become a norm with the
fast lives of young and happening crowd. H Block Market of Defence is gearing
its way towards becoming the next ‘Liberty’ of Lahore. I found two things
striking this week. One, posters on electricity poles on the dividers on city
roads inviting ideas that would change the fate of this nation. Second, one
million signatures for ‘Education for All’. The Punjab government has
announced its youth policy and the new thing is the advertisement placed all
over the city announcing Rs350,000 for the best idea. The ad is tilted
‘youth festival’. It would be interesting to know the ideas that reach
the government as a result of this advertisement will be announced on August
14. This has evoked a lot of excitement among youth. Still, we have not come
across the agenda of the youth festival. One thing is for sure; youth only
participation. There is no fun in being spectators but many may wonder how to
engage all the youth in activities if that is fun for them. Well, there may
be a thousand ideas and I too have one. They can be engaged in the
government’s plantation campaign. A simple one isn’t it. If the
government entrusts the youth with this job I am sure they will surprise
everyone. 14th August is a national
holiday with hardly any activity for the youth who want to have fun. Every
year bikers do antics on roads on this day. Many are reported hurt/killed.
They come out on bikes sans silencers and create a nuisance for everyone in
the absence of anything interesting in the city. They are full of energy and
there is need to channelise that energy. We need to promote creative
endeavours to create space for the youth to express themselves. All the educated segment of
society and even not so educated know that nothing is more important for a
people than education. Recently, there has been much pressure building by a
non-government organisation for ‘Education for All’. The Education
Minister says a bill has been drafted and is about to be passed but what
next. It’s good to have one
million signatures demanding ‘education for all’ but the government does
not have the money to educate all. That’s a hard fact. If people even know
basic mathematics, they would see it may not be possible in another decade in
this country. So why don’t we start contributing towards this end
practically. If the one million people who are signatories to the
‘Education for All’ campaign, contribute one thousand rupees each, they
can set a starting point for the campaign practically. Many others will join
them, I bet. I went to a missionary
school where I learnt, “The best place to find a helping hand is at the end
of your own arm,” among other things. Here is an example. Eleven years back
on Feb 18, 2001, this page carried a feature on the Mayo Hospital Musafir
Khana that was being built by Muggo Trust and work on three of the five
floors was on. When its construction started there was very little money for
it. All there was — was the will to make one which would give accommodation
to 500 attendants of patients who till then used to stay in the open area in
the hospital with hardly any washrooms there. As the construction started,
people started contributing to the cause in such high number that the Musafir
Khana is being run successfully with public money to this day. This means
people there get food for free three times a day, maintenance apart. Please don’t mistake me.
I am not trying to suggest that we take over the responsibility of educating
the nation on our shoulders. Just when we initiate and become part of
campaigns like these, why don’t we pool our resources to actually make it
happen ‑ start, I mean. Funds will come along the way. This week also
saw a faint effort for dialogue on ‘adolescents development policy
framework’. All agreed on the need to educate parents apart from other
things as children from 9-19 age group are in formative years. How to educate
parents calls for some brain-storming. But it is heartening to see people
thinking on these lines.
*Lecture on Ethics of
Disagreements on Wednesdays from July 25 to Aug 15 at Hast-o-Neest Centre for
Traditional Art and Culture. Timings: 3:00pm-4:00pm.
Maulvi Jehangir Mahmud, Founding Director, Society for Educational
Research will give the lecture for free. s *Comedy Junction: at The
Knowledge Factory (TKF) every Sunday at 7:30 pm till July 29. *Faiz Ghar Summer Cultural
School till July 13 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. *Urdu Baithak/Sing along
sessions: "Story hour" for children 5 years and above every Sunday
from 5.00 to 6.00 pm at Faiz Ghar. *Ballet Basic Course till
July 30 at The Knowledge Factory
(TKF).
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*3rd
Pentales: The Dream of Freedom at Café Bol today at 7:30 pm. 
