my asia sojourn was originally intended to be a relief and travel trip built almost entirely around kashmir. of course, things didn’t happen quite as planned. we ended up spending only three days of my 12-day trip in kashmir. was i disappointed? yes. was i going to complain to my parents about staying longer in kashmir when they were both still very ill from their mideast trip? no.
on the flip side, my father encouraged me to visit the mughal sites in and around lahore, saying that there could be much to write about there. lahore has a rich and colorful history and was once the jewel of the punjab during mughal and british rule in india. rudyard kipling wrote many a verse about his love of the city. emperor shah jahan, best known as the architect of the taj mahal in agra, loved lahore so much that he spent many summer months in the area. he even created the lovely shalimar gardens, with its more than 400 fountains, summer baths and pavilions, as a retreat for the royal family. now, it’s a UNESCO heritage site, although you’d wouldn’t know that if you saw its current state.
i hadn’t visited the gardens since i was a kid. i remembered it being very green, with many poplar, peach and mango trees and flowers blooming all around. i was saddened to see that my memory hadn’t served me well. the fountains were silent. the landscaping, some of it patchy, some of it green, needed improvement although the people who i saw working the grounds when i visited were trying their best with the meager budget they had been given. one of the workers told us stories about elephant processions through the gardens during mughal days. the elephants are long gone and much of the fretwork needs to be restored. my mother and i spent half our visit to the gardens picking up discarded candy bar wrappers and water bottles. one beggar chased me down to make me stop but i told her this is the only world we had and we better band together to keep it beautiful.
this is a historical site and should be treated with much care. but considering pakistan is going through a dire financial and civil crisis and many people are poor, i guess the government doesn’t see the need in restoring the beauty of the gardens. it’s a shame because long after we’re gone, the remains of our civilization will still be around…
