Town Talk
- First-Ever Group Miniatures Exhibition at Alhamra, The Mall till June 20. The exhibition will remain open from 9am to 6pm daily.
- Socrates Cafe: Discussion on language at Lahore Chitrkar on June 1 from 8 to 9pm.

"I was always interested in music while my mother wanted me to become an engineer. She named me after the famous railway engineer Sir Alwin Griffin. I would go to church with my mother on Sundays and specially watch the person playing the organ, secretly wishing to play the instrument someday myself. God granted my wish. At the age of 18, I started playing organ and have been at it for the last 40 years now," says Griffin James. Today, he is the only trained organist in Pakistan, according to the Bishop of Lahore, Alexander John Malik. He has played organ in the Cathedral for over 10,000 weddings, for four arch bishops and for Queen Elizabeth II in the 70s. He is also the only piano tuner in the country.

Griffin James used to take our music class in Cathedral School in the 70s. To me he looked like the Pied Piper; a thin man in "quaint attire" with "lips where smile went out and in." I remember him wearing jeans with many pockets. The moment his fingers struck piano keys the children would start moving sideways, one and all and start singing. The music he played in the morning assembly had a magical, soothing effect. Children came in queues and would settle in their allotted space. Silence fell in the hall the moment the music stopped.

"Music teacher banta hai khoon-e-jigar honay tak," he says. "Students test you and you must be able to answer them. Music is the most difficult of the fine art. One sour (wrong) note changes the whole song."

He got training from his father Salem James, a pupil of Pundit Jeevan Laal Matto whose most prominent shagird was Mohammad Rafi. Griffin James considers his father an accomplished musician in his own right.

In 1969, he won a scholarship to Trinity College of Music London from where he graduated.

At the place where now Children's Complex is situated, once stood the British High Commission office. Here examiners for piano, violin and singing would come from the Royal Associated Board of Music. "I took the exam and won a scholarship to England for training in 1979. I was sent by the Diocese of Lahore to the Royal School of Church Music in Addington to get an organist's degree," says Griffin James. The same year he did his licentiate from Trinity College, London; got his license for piano voice reproduction – "which makes you a music director".

While he was in Trinity College he came across an ad that read: 'Lata Mangeshkar wants an Asian pianist who can read music and play old Indian songs'. Three students went for the interview including Griffin. Two were Indians. "The person who was sending people to see Lata Jee, said, she doesn't give more than ten minutes to anyone. When I went to see her, I came out after three hours. I told her I was not an Indian, to which she said, "kalakar ki koi seema nahin hoti" (An artiste knows no boundary). I played three songs: Ehsan tera ho ga mujh par, Aa ja mein to kab se khari us paar and Tum na jaanay kis jahan mein kho gaye.

On 13 July 1979, Griffin James played piano for Lata Mangeshkar. The concert was compered by Nargis and Sunil Dutt. "Lata Jee wears white saree. She gave me her photograph in turquoise saree with her autograph. When she gives a photo of hers in coloured saree it is to honour that person," he says, recalling, "Lata Jee is very soft spoken and speaks and sings in such a low tone that you cannot hear her at five feet distance but the moment a mike is placed before that voice, it becomes magical."

The next year, the piano at Goethe Institut in Lahore went out of order close to Christmas. The only piano tuner in the city was old and ill then. James offered his services and put the piano in order. After spring vacations he had a call from Goethe Institut ? "This was an offer of an 18 month piano training course for church musicians and school music teachers at Stuttgart, Germany, at a time when I had just got married." Since then he has tuned many pianos at several embassies.

In 1989, Griffin James went to Bombay to see his sister who lived there. One day they went to visit his sister's friend who lived in a flat by the sea. There he was thrilled to see the famous music director Noshad who lived in the same compound and owned those flats. His sister's friend said she will introduce him to Noshad but he needed to be asked first. Griffin James not just met him, he played Noshad's compositions on his (Noshad's) very own piano. He played Suhani raat beet chuki, na janay tum kab aao gay. He also played a new song in Malyalam for him sung by Paarvati Subramanyam. Noshad gave him cuff links with sitars on them as gift, he recalls.

In the times spent with Noshad, he learnt that Muhammad Rafi was not just an exceptional singer but the most punctual person Noshad had ever known. Muhammad Rafi came to Noshad's flat to practice with him before the final recording. Once the door bell rang dot on the appointed time and Noshad asked his servant to see who was there. The servant said this fellow has been walking to and fro for half an hour here. "Rafi was a good friend of my father and sent me a very sweet letter, congratulating me on my wedding which is still with me."

Learning pays and when you love what you do, it pays in strange ways. For Grifffin James his love for music brought much luck to him. "My wife and I went to St Paul's Cathedral in London in 2008 and the ticket was 20 pounds each. I asked the doorkeeper if we could get some discount and told him I was a cathedral organist back in my country. The gatekeeper was overawed to know that I was playing organ in cathedral for so long and gave us complimentary passes to enter St Paul's Cathedral," he shares an incident with TNS.

His life seems to be full of such pleasant surprises. In 1989, he was in Beijing for a week with his wife and two friends, on his way to Hong Kong to attend a conference. Nobody understood English at the hotel where they were staying. James suggested his friends they all make lists of things they needed and go to Hotel Holiday Inn where one of them knew of a person who worked there and request him to translate for them in Chinese so that the other hotel's staff could understand what they needed. So they went to Holiday Inn. "There was a big, impressive piano in a beautiful surrounding. I could not resist myself and started playing the piano. I felt my friends were warning me to stop but I would not. This brought many people there. When I had finished, everyone clapped and the general manager of the hotel walked up to me and said I could play piano in the evenings till I was there in the city, in lieu of that he offered me and my friends free dinner so long as we were there plus arranged for us guided tour of the city. Every day we were shown new places and landed at the Holiday Inn in the evening where I played piano and we all had loads of fun."

Griffin James got a shield from PTV for writing, composing and directing many 'Milli Naghmey' (national songs). The Ministry of Culture Punjab gave him a gold medal in January 2005 for the same at Ali Institute. As an appreciation and acknowledgement of Griffin James' honorary services to the church as an organist, the Bishop has given him a room in the rest house next to Lahore Cathedral.

His students are music teachers at many reputed schools in Lahore. But, "None came forward to learn piano tuning because it requires a lot of effort. It seems today's child is not ready to put in so much effort. Today's youth wants to instantly shine. To be a good musician requires a lot of hard work. Today's youth go around with a synthesizer which they call key board which is not appropriate. A keyboard means that each key on the piano opens a lock to a different tone – brilliant in the travel section and deep and heavy in the bass."

He suggests the government to open academies for poor children. "There is need for a conservatory of art, music and sculpture for poor talented children. If the government builds one, I will be the first person to teach such children free of cost. When people start calling you Ustad you should teach at least one child for free." Griffin James has many students who came from economically depressed backgrounds but are now well-to-do with his efforts and their hard work.

"The great singer Muhammad Rafi advised Talat Mahmood to keep both feet in one boat if he wanted to be successful, so he left acting to go on singing and was a king in this field in his own right," he says.

His favourites in western classical music are John Sebestian Bach and George Frederic Handel for organ music and Ludwig Van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amedius Mozart for piano.

Of the composers in Pakistan, some of the names he recalls as good composers are Khawaja Khurshid Anwar, Muslehuddin, Sohail Rana, Robin Ghosh and Nisar Bazmi. "Among the female singers who had authenticity, were Noor Jahan, Fareeda Khanum, Iqbal Bano and Irene Perveen. His favourite male singers are Mehdi Hassan, Sohail Rana who sang very much like Muhammad Rafi, Ahmed Rushdi, S.D John and Saleem Raza.

- First-Ever Group Miniatures Exhibition at Alhamra, The Mall till June 20. The exhibition will remain open from 9am to 6pm daily.

- Socrates Cafe: Discussion on language at Lahore Chitrkar on June 1 from 8 to 9pm.

- Exhibition: 158 selected representative miniatures of 58 artists from all over Pakistan on display at Permanent Art Gallery of the Lahore Arts Council, The Mall till June 20 from 9 am to 6 pm daily.

- BNU Degree Show till June 10 at Beaconhouse National University from12-7pm daily.

- Music: Sudh Sangeet at Alhamra Cultural Complex Hall 2, Gaddafi Stadium on Tuesday, June 9 at 5:45pm.

- Lecture/Demonstration on Tabla at Lahore Chitrkar on Saturday, June 13 at 8pm by Ustad Wajid Ali.

- Adabi Sangat: Poetry readings on Monday, June 8 at 125-F Model Town between Asr and Maghrib prayers.

- LEAF discourses in Literature on Iqbal's Javaid Nama on Thursday, June 11 at Model Town Library at 5:45pm. Keynote speaker: Dr. Khurshid Rizvi

- Weekend Cycle Ride to start at 5:45pm today from Zakir Tikka intersection. Host: Critical Mass Lahore.

renovation

Residents of the Walled City are still awaiting the launch of the Punjab government's project to preserve the heritage of the provincial metropolis. Supposedly, the Sustainable Development Walled City Lahore Project (SDWCLP) was to start in 2006, and three years on in 2009 the details are still under discussion for evolving a comprehensive strategy to begin the project.

Khawaja Muhammad Ashraf, 47, who runs a small business of fireworks in the area, has his house inside Mochi Gate in the Walled City. His house is in a precarious condition. "When the government teams started surveys and brief visits of the area informing people that the Walled City is being preserved and made a model to promote better living, increase economic opportunities and tourism in late 2006, my family and I were overjoyed," he said, adding, "but after these brief visits there is no particular development yet".

However, after a three-year delay, now there are signs of consultations and meetings with traders.

The details of the SDWCLP – a project launched with the support of the World Bank's loan – according to the official documents available with TNS, the project was supposed to start in September 2006 and completed in September 2010.

The project was initiated on the basis of the pre-feasibility study in 2006, funded by the Italian Government. The report provided the basis for evolving a project of re-generation of the Walled City of Lahore. The then Punjab government was receptive to the idea and the Urban Unit, Planning & Development Department, developed the project after having a funding line from the World Bank which was already available in the Urban Development Sector through Punjab Municipal Services Improvement Project (PMSIP) under a loan agreement signed on June 5, 2006. Total cost of the project is Rs 862 million including $6 million assigned to cultural heritage activities. Agha Khan Foundation is also providing technical support to the government in this project.

The project is an initiative of the Punjab government for regeneration of the Walled City of Lahore as a historic city of immense value in terms of its cultural heritage, economic opportunities and tourism. The focus was also on the improvement of its infrastructure; complete restoration of monuments; identification of other buildings and structures of cultural worth; removing all impediments in the way of development of the Walled City as a cultural tourist area with the provision of tourist-related facilities.

The project includes improvement in urban infrastructure (including roads, streets, parks, electric power supply, water supply and sewerage) and social services (including health and education) within the Walled City of Lahore; restoration of monuments to their original glory wherever possible for display and re-use.

Recently posted director general of the SDWCLP, Orya Maqbool Jan, talking to TNS, admitted the delays. "Frankly, the project is still being studied on how to begin it. Now, we aim to start its pilot project, preserving Royal Trail, in September 2009," he said, adding, "There are many administrative and legal problems in starting this project. I give you the example of the Food Street in Gawalmandi, which was made exclusive domain giving administrative powers to local government"

Jan said that there should be a law to treat the project exclusively if the government wants to make it a monument. "The department is proposing amendments in the previous law of protecting the heritage of the Walled City and asking the government to make the Walled City area a separate administrative domain for better implementation of the project."

In the latest development, he told TNS, the department has initiated a dialogue with Dabbi Bazaar traders and provided them uniform size green canopies requesting them to remove their encroachments to widen the road, which they have accepted. The department, he disclosed, now is also providing dustbins outside houses in some areas and recruiting its own garbage collectors wearing SDWCLDP uniforms. This will separate this staff from the local government's Solid Waste Management team to create a different and exclusive impression.

Another thing that is highly required to start this project is physical segregation of the Walled City by having a comprehensive traffic plan, the DG expressed. He said there is need to create an environment for starting this project and remove bureaucratic hurdles so that the Walled City is treated like a monument.

For the project to start, administrative support is needed for implementation of the plan, removal of encroachments. Chief minister's approval in principle is required for the initiation of the institutional and legal frame work; setting up authorities that specialise in heritage sites; framing of rules for the purpose of the Ordinance planning process for shifting of general bus stand and inter city bus terminal; shifting of goods forwarding agencies and trucking stations around the Walled City; shifting of Akbari Mandi; conceptual design for open spaces and green areas; development of Minar-e-Pakistan Park and Iqbal (Minto) Park; restoration of Circular Gardens; and the restoration/development of Fort Road and the adjoining area.

A TNS visit to the Walled City shows that the existing situation is pathetic. There is lack of strict building control authority because of vulgar commercialization. Traffic and freight transportation are the major issues and highly increasing pollution is leading to decaying social fabric and bad living conditions. The scene also includes dilapidated infrastructure and poor standards of municipal service delivery.

Ashraf, supported by a number of other people of the area standing along with him, urged the government to make effective planning of this project to ensure betterment of the area and to preserve the history. "Once the city is preserved it will attract the families which have left the place due to its dilapidated structure," observed Muhammad Ayub but he also feared that it would not be an easy task without strong political will and laws. Land grabbers are active here as well, in and around the historic Mochi Gate ground where historic public processions have been held in the past.

vaqargillani@gmail.com

On the road that connects the Grand Trunk road to the Canal road, where the railway workshops are, stands a tall tomb with a dome, just a little off the road. This is the mausoleum of Ali Mardan Khan, an exquisite building in octagonal design, standing on a small plinth. A long-narrow alley leads all the way to the edifice. At the entrance there is a blue rusted board giving a brief introduction of who Ali Mardan Khan was.

This alley leading to the edifice was covered with plantations and infested with snakes till about a decade ago. This passage was impassable and those who sometimes dared to do the unthinkable did on their own risk. However, after the media took up the issue, it was cleaned up and is even used by motorcyclists.

A little before the mausoleum of Ali Mardan Khan, the passage turns left, leading into the tomb of Sheikh Hamid Kari, also an old building.

There is one central dome, with small ones on each edge. Some remnants of the splendid tile work are still visible on the tomb. On the plinth, next to the entrance into the building is a small pool, roughly 7x5 feet and 3 feet deep. It is made of small bricks and has steps to lead into the reservoir. There is another similar pool nearby.

This mausoleum is visible from afar because of its grand size, as a result of which on public holidays, people throng the place in good number. As has happened at so many other places, the people visiting the mausoleum have started treating the mausoleum as sacred, taking their shoes off before entering it.

Under the arches at the main entrance are highly elaborate frescoes depicting floral patterns. The extraordinary thing about them is that no pattern is repeated. Muqarnas, a honey-comb structure, associated with Muslim buildings, is found in profusion throughout the complex.

The grave of Ali Mardan Khan is in the basement where it is accompanied by two other graves, one of his mother and another of some relative. It is conjectured that it might be one of his sons. The ceiling of the basement is structured into muqarnas and floral frescoes. Like stairs that are leading to the basement, there are stairs that lead to the terrace. From here one gets a good view of the surrounding area.

This part of the complex is in a better condition compared to the mausoleum. The tiles here, similar to the ones found at Dai Anga's mausoleum, are rich in bright colours. It is amazing that they have managed to retain their splendour, even after so many years. During its zenith, this building must have served as the epitome of Mughal art and architecture in South Asia. From the inside this complex is in a similar state as the previous building.

The Department of Archaeology, instead of renovating the building, has found a convenient way to keep the people silent about this building -- they have barred all photography of this complex.

Nawab Ali Mardan Khan was originally an inhabitant of Iran, which is clearly visible from the art at the complex. His father's name was Ameer Zada Ganj Ali Khan, who was the Governor of Qandahar, representing the Persian monarch in the early 17th century. After his death, his seat was bestowed to his son, offending a lot of people. His adversaries were powerful people who poisoned the King against him who ordered the death of the governor. Upon finding this out Ali Mardan Khan sent a message to Shah Jahan, the Mughal Emperor through Syed Khan, his Governor in Kabul, requesting him to save his life. In return he promised to give the province of Qandahar to the Mughal regent. Shah Jahan immediately took the opportunity and sent him gifts. In 1637, Qandahar became part of the Mughal dynasty.

In 1638, Mardan Khan handed over Qandahar to the other representatives of the King and left for Lahore where he was greeted by the King amidst a lot of celebration. Soon the King gave him 6000 infantry and 6000 cavalry and made him the Governor of Kashmir. In 1639 the King added 7000 infantry and 700 cavalry to his force, and made him the Amir-ul-Umrah first, and then the Governor of Punjab. Ali Mardan Khan had four sons, also made governors and ministers.

Shah Jahan in 1647 sent Prince Aurangzeb on an expedition to Balkh and Badakshan, where Ali Mardan Khan was made to accompany him. Aurangzeb was highly impressed by his valour, and praised him a lot, when they returned to the capital. Towards the end of the King's tenure, the Governor fell ill, with some stomach problem. The Emperor decided to send him to Kashmir to recuperate, however on the way, on April 17, 1657, Ali Mardan Khan passed away.

Perhaps the greatest quality of this multi-talented man was his engineering skills. Many buildings are attributed to him, but it is in the field of canals that his contributions are innumerable. He established the canal system in Kabul and Kashmir. The canal flowing in between the two cities of Delhi and Ahsar is also attributed to him. Similarly, the canal between the Royal Fort and the city of Delhi was also designed by him. He took out a canal from Ravi, near Madhupur and brought it to the Shalimar Garden. He also summoned a few gardens whose ruins are still present in Kashmir, Peshawar and Kabul. The tomb where he is interred with his mother and another relative was also designed by him. It had a lovely entrance.

During the tenure of Ranjit Singh, this edifice was granted to Gurdit Singh, a colonel in the Royal Army, by the Regal. He blocked the main entrance and started living in the complex. The main entrance remains blocked till date. After Gurdit Singh, Sardar Gulab Singh Bhuvandia, another loyal of Ranjit Singh filled this building up with ammunition which remained here for a long time and took toll over the building. Finally in 1884, the British summoned Kanahiya Lal Hindi to renovate whatever existed of the complex. Parts of the buildings, which were in bad state, were razed and their bricks sold to other contractors. Now this building falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Archaeology.

In 1943, the British established the railway system and this edifice fell right in the middle. Tall walls of workshops were raised all around the edifice, though still not able to hide this building.