Town Talk
*Christmas at Customx on Sat, Dec 25 at 2nd Floor above Gloria Jeans Coffees DHA III, Z-Block (commercial), near Y-Block McDonalds. A fun packed event with stalls for shopping, designer clothes, scrumptious food, mouth watering desserts, fun games for adults, movie shows for kids and adults (limited free seats), and much much more. There will also be prizes and competitions. People from all cultures are welcome.

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*Christmas at Customx on Sat, Dec 25 at 2nd Floor above Gloria Jeans Coffees DHA III, Z-Block (commercial), near Y-Block McDonalds. A fun packed event with stalls for shopping, designer clothes, scrumptious food, mouth watering desserts, fun games for adults, movie shows for kids and adults (limited free seats), and much much more. There will also be prizes and competitions. People from all cultures are welcome.

*Film: Gulliver’s Travels on Dec 22 at DHA Cinema.

*’Sher Ki Baat’ is a series of fortnightly lectures given by Dr. Arfa Syeda on Wednesdays on Faiz’s poetry at Faiz Ghar. Timings: 5:00pm to 6:00pm.

*‘Story hour’ for children 5 years and above at Faiz Ghar on Fridays from 3:45pm to 5:00pm.

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If you have ever crossed the dusty scrap junkyard on Chakyan, Ferozepur road, you would know Aslam, Asloo or Asoo as he used to be called, depending on the closeness of association, age or simply the state of mind. But after many a cruel winter, and the fact that Chakyan is physically and mentally a narrow street corner — a blind alley with inhabitants who are mostly lost souls with dead-end lives, Aslam Butt has become Baba Butt, an association that, in truth, is as impersonal as his face.

Baba Butt, who owns the junkyard with his brother’s son Saim, likes to only visit the junkyard at night. "Saim does much of the work. I don’t like to get out of the house in the day, it’s cruel, you see; the day is very cruel," he says, wearing his usual attire shalwar kameez and a shawl over his head.

Baba Butt likes to smoke sometimes, mostly other people’s cigarettes, but it’s not often, mostly because of his asthma but also because his craving for nicotine, like most things in his life, has mostly diminished.

"I was a happy man once, it seems like a dream now, but I was," he says and falls silent. Baba Butt doesn’t like to delve into his personal life much. But if you’ve been around Chakyan, you would know the story, because everyone does.

Aslam Butt, in his early twenties, managed to end up as an electrician in Saudi Arabia. Life was good, perhaps not as much to shift his wife and three small sons to a better locality, but it meant that Butt’s house was one of the first to get a television and a fridge and that Butt could send his children comfortably to school. It also meant that he could help out his unemployed, older brother Shahid to set up a small samosa shop, which did fairly well.

One day, twelve years after Aslam Butt had gone to Saudi Arabia and vowed never to come back to Chakyan, an accident took place and nothing was the same again. Nobody really knows what really happened and, as these things go, everyone has a different recollection. But when Baba Butt came back to Chakyan, one thing was for sure, his right hand was gone.

Butt went into depression, not only because of the accident, but also because his three sons, the ones he thought would support him when he got old and didn’t want to work anymore, were good for nothing and had become, like so many other youngsters in Chakyan, drug addicts.

"It was heartbreaking for him," whispers Saim, as Baba Butt goes out for a leak. "He always wanted his sons to have a better life, to get out of here, but they were very ungrateful. They certainly crushed his soul."

But it was Saim, the shy little nephew with a crooked smile, who Baba Butt remembers was always much happier to see him than the toys he brought, who really helped him. "If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t want to live anymore," says Baba. He doesn’t smile when he says this, nor is there any visible sign of emotion in his voice. "Saim was a little boy when he started helping his father in running the samosa shop. When he died, he looked up to me, for a year. I lived in that wretched house, seeing my sons either stoned or drunk, mostly in the day. They didn’t even have the decency to do this when their father wept to sleep. It was just horrible. But Saim came everyday to meet me. He urged me to come out, to work and I wouldn’t. One day he just dragged me out. He had converted the samosa shop into a junkyard and he told me that we would work together. It took some time but I can never forget the look of happiness on Saim’s face when I came for the first time to work. If you ask me, I have only one son."

Baba Butt doesn’t live with his sons anymore. They say that the house is completely barren except for some beds. His sons slowly sold off everything they could get their hands on for drugs and drink. Nor does he acknowledge them when they pass by him in the streets. But when you do pass by the junkyard on Chakyan someday, know this that water is sometimes thicker than blood.

Rooms without a view

Hotel industry thrives every where on people’s desire to move to new locations for recreation and relaxation during holidays. That’s why room rents during weekends are much higher than those in week days and occupancy rate is also high. Major hotels in Lahore also experience the same trend. To keep their business running, they regularly come out with lucrative deals and discounts for prospective clients during week days and off-peak seasons.

However, quite interestingly, the situation is totally different with a segment of this industry where these trends seem reversed. Comprising extremely low-budget unrated hotels and inns, this segment offers accommodation even to the people belonging to the poorest strata of the society. Their rooms are full on week days and mostly empty on weekends and public holidays. They even rent out charpais for as low as Rs 30 to Rs 50 per night to those who are ready to sleep in the corridors or on the rooftop.

Seyad Durrani, contractor at Al-Sheikh Hotel, near Yadgar Chowk explains it to TNS that the customers of these hotels are concerned less about comfort and more about the costs. Coming from other cities, he says, they simply need a place where they can have some rest and refresh themselves before going. They also need a place to leave their belongings and move freely in the city. Durrani says a lot of customers come here in the middle of the night to appear in the courts in the morning or to visit the civil secretariat or some other government offices. As the number of witnesses in a case and relatives of the party involved is often high, these people look for accommodations like this one. The cost of accommodating all of them obviously has to be paid by the person contesting the case, he adds.

He tells TNS regular customers are offered special discounts and room service which is not available to ordinary clients. Those who come here for appearance in courts book hotel space in advance for the next date of hearing.

The rooms of such hotels, sometimes also called ‘manji’ hotels, are generally small and nominally decorated. There is a common bathroom for the guests who have to go downstairs to have food or tea at the restaurant run by the hotel owner. The hotel owner usually runs a public call office (PCO) as well from where a guest can make a call.

A visit to Lahore Railway Station and lorry adda reveals there are several small hotels situated in narrow bazaars and atop shops of all types. Some of them even lack bathrooms and the room guests have to go to the nearby hamams to take bath. However, a washroom which is still considered a necessity and not luxury even at this rate, is available for all those present inside the building at that time.

This is all one can offer for Rs 150 to Rs 200 per night, says Aslam Khan, manager of a manji hotel near Railway Station, while referring to the board stating kushada aur hawadar kamray (spacious and airy rooms). He tells TNS his clients also include small-time traders who come from other cities to buy merchandise from wholesale spots like Rang Mahal Market, Shah Alam Market, Brandreth Road etc. "They prefer to stay here as they can easily find public transport to wherever they want to go in the city," he adds.

Secondly, Aslam says the sight of these hotels is nothing less than a blessing for those embarking trains after the tiring hours’ long journeys. Devoid of energy to go around the city and find accommodation, they easily settle for these hotels, he adds.

Khan tells TNS not all his customers are poor. "I have been host to well-to-do people who would spend hours to get a nominal discount," he says. Khan cites the example of five people who are his regular customers but only one of them books a room whenever they are in Lahore. The others just dump their luggage there and take a nap one by one, he adds. "When you stop them they start quarrelling with you and threaten to lodge false complaints of theft with the police."

Khan says they used to give out charpais on rent long ago but discontinued the practice when some blind murders were committed reportedly by Hathora Group. It was believed at that time a group of assailants armed with hammers, called Hathora Group, would cudgel the brains of people sleeping out in the open. "Now all the customers have to stay inside the buildings as per directions of the police," he adds.

There are hotels in Lorry Adda, Badami Bagh, that offer charpais with basic bedding to customers at Rs 30 to Rs 40 per night. This brings extra money to hotels who had to spend little money to build extra floor(s) of their buildings. You climb to the roof of a five-marla or a ten-marla hotel and what you witness is rows of charpais lying there under the roof, often made of tin. The cost of construction in this case is far less than that of constructing and furnishing rooms and the maintenance cost is almost negligible.

A visit to Badami Bagh revealed there are around 30 sarais (inns) in the area named after their owners. For example there is Umar Khan Sarai, Master Muhammad Sagheer Sarai, Haji Allah Bakhsh Sarai and so on. Umar Khan tells TNS these sarais offer beddings in large halls to regular customers like drivers, vendors, labourers, passengers who miss their buses etc. He refutes perceptions that people can secure place here without properly identifying themselves. "Their identity is checked thoroughly before allowing them to stay here. And our people do regular rounds here all through the night to detect suspicious activity and people," he adds.

"Mian Sabahuddin was an ardent activist of the Pakistan Movement," says Mian Yousaf Salahuddin while remembering his uncle. "At that time he was quite young and he actively participated in all programmes of the Pakistan Muslim League. He had friends of all kinds and discussed all issues freely, but he never tolerated even a single word against Pakistan, which showed his true love for his country."

We hardly find a Lahori who is not familiar with the haveli of Mian Salahuddin, popularly known as Mian Salli, for its cultural activities. Mian Sabahuddin alias Mian Sabbih was the son of Mian Ameer-ud-din, the first mayor of Lahore, younger brother of Mian Salahuddin, son-in-law of Allama Iqbal belonged to this haveli. Mian Sabbih upheld the traditional hospitality of Lahorites and imbued the city with cultural life. Situated in the Walled City on a street which leads to a side gate of Badshahi Masjid and links the road to Lahore Fort, the haveli has been an attractive venue for kite lovers, who throng the place to catch a glimpse of Indian and Pakistani celebrities on a basant night, with traditional fervour and festivities. Not quite in the remote past, every man had access to the haveli and enjoyed cultural programmes there. It was a meeting point of a galaxy of intellectuals like MD Taseer, Pir Altaf Mohiuuddin, M Aslam, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Hafiz Mian Muhammad, Sufi Tabassum, Munir Niazi and Tajammul Hussain.

"He possessed a generous heart and was known for his traditional hospitality and kept open door for ordinary people who came to his haveli to enjoy different cultural shows held on seasonal festivals," says Babar Hussain, son of Tajammul Hussain, the closest friend of Mian Sabahuddin.

Tajammul Hussain, former finance secretary, ambassador to Malaysia and a writer, is considered to be the best friend of late Mian Sabbih. His daughter says, "When my father’s elder brother Altaf Gohar died in Islamabad, we asked our father to come to Karachi. But he preferred to stay in Lahore near Mian Sabbih rather than in Karachi with his children".

TNS visited Tajammul Hussain’s house whose door opens in the lawn of his friend Mian Sabbih’s, to know about his friend. Besides his family members, there were other people too in the house who had come to express their condolences. Sitting on a chair in a room whose walls were covered with bookshelves, a beautiful scenery and photographs of his friends and family members, Tajammul looked too depressed to say a word. Eventually, his daughter and son had to speak on his behalf.

"Mian Sabbih graduated from Government College, Lahore. He and Tajammul Hussain went to college together. Besides Tajammul Hussain, Pir Altaf Mohiuddin alias Pir Tafi, M Aslam, Zulqarnain, Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, Khawaja Afzal and Aftab were among Mian Sabbih’s friends. They would hold regular meetings at the haveli, Pak Tea House, Coffee House, Avari and Shezan".

About the haveli, they said Sabbih’s forefathers had purchased it from the commander of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Lahore’s main buildings such as Lahore Railway Station and High Court were constructed under the supervision of Mian Karimuddin, grandfather of Mian Sabbih.

Commenting on the friendship between Mian Sabbih and Tajammul Hussain, they said Mian Sabbih shifted to Gulberg residence from his Walled City haveli in 1964. They read newspapers together, watched TV and had tea together as they used to do at Government College. Tajammul Hussain and Mian Sabbih held meetings daily which started at about 5 pm and lasted till 10 to 11pm. After the burial of Mian Sabbih, all his family members came to the house of Tajammul Hussain to console him which shows their friendship was very strong. Mian Sabbih lived his life with nobility, dignity and honour.

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