Dear Diary, It was strong evening time of 6th October when I headed towards Delhi Gate, Lahore. It was my third day in exploration of Lahore and Lahore tour.
My friend booked me a ride from Uber so that I could go to Delhi Gate. The sun was shining quite brightly and evening was about to fall. Along with all these things, there was a state of lockdown across the city. But still I couldn't get rid of the thirst for tourism in my heart.
As the exit and entrance gates of the city were being blocked with containers, there was a lot of difficulty in passing the traffic. Moreover, Delhi Gate is located on the edge of the city, so even reaching there was like a challenge for me.
Even in that troubled hour I was enjoying every single thing because I knew that these moments would not come to me again.
The biker brother was very nice and took many shortcuts to reach my destination. In these shortcuts we passed through the old and narrow streets of the city. After walking through the narrow streets, we found that the traffic of the city is passing through these streets. The traffic was jammed in these streets and only pedestrians could hardly walk.
I asked my biker brother to drop me off at an alley because I knew I could get there quickly on foot instead of being stuck in traffic for hours.
Bike brother told me that Delhi Gate is within walking distance from here. I started walking and at the same time my eyes were on the historical buildings around. These buildings included historical houses, historical and old markets and neighborhoods.
I was passing through the bazaar and looking at the shirts lying on the racks when suddenly I saw an old giant building made of red bricks. Seeing that building I thought in my heart that it might be a palace.
But I can't just listen to my heart and believe it completely. To find out the real name of the building, I asked the people wandering around about the building and one of them replied that it is Kotwali Police station.
I was strangely happy and curious to hear that the given name of the Mughal era is still in use.On further research, i found that the present building was commissioned in 1850.
Since it was a police station, it was obvious that I couldn't go inside it without any reason, but I could see it from the outside. Moreover my main destination was Delhi Gate and I asked the way, someone told me that the first building you will see as soon as you cross the road is Delhi Gate.
While standing across the road, I saw the board of Delhi Gate. This board was placed right in the middle of the road, so I took a picture of it as I was going.
Delhi Gate is one of the 13 historical gates of Lahore which is in good condition while many other gates have been lost in the desert of history and few are standing on the ground with their remains. Only six gates are surviving.
These gates were built around the city for security purposes. This Delhi Gate is Royal trail because Badshah( kings) used to pass through these passages with their army and people.
Delhi Gate is facing the city of Delhi in India. That is why this gate is called Delhi Gate and it was the entrance to Lahore city. Before 2015, the condition of this gate was very bad.In 2015 The Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan undertook the task of renovating Delhi Gate, Markets, Mosques and other historical buildings within Delhi Gate.
This is the Delhi Gate which witnessed the revolt of Muslim Hindus and Sikhs of Pakistan and India. This is same Delhi Gate through which many kings, many war caravans and many common people passed.
Many people from history including kings and rulers have damaged this gate a lot. King Akbar built this gate and there was a police post in this gate, but when the British came to this region, they destroyed and destructed this gate after the 1857 mutiny.
History remains and it remains alive for centuries.
We are living in the 21st century. No matter how much our ways of living have changed, but their roots are somehow connected with our past, that's why we can never forget our history because the pages of history teaches us many lessons.
As soon as I entered this gate, I felt like I had entered the past. But believe me, there was a lot of noise from motorcycles and people passing by, which diverted my attention somewhere.
This gate has been made so beautiful by the hard work of government that the eyes of the visitor are stunned for a long time.In listening, this door is just a door, but in reality it is no less than a historical building.
There is a big board on one side of Delhi Gate which has written about the history of Delhi Gate and the efforts made to renovate Delhi Gate. To tell you the truth, I didn't have enough time to stand there. But I took a picture of it so I could read the words on it later.
Inside Delhi Gate there is a modern shop which looks like a very old shop but the items kept inside it are very unique and cultural.
There is a wooden sofa outside this shop where of course people sit and take pictures. Since my mobile doesn't take clear pictures, I didn't bother to take my own picture. Moreover, I went there alone and I I didn't want to ask a passer-by to take a picture of me. But in my heart I was thinking that if I came here at night, it would be more fun in the lights.
Historical and cultural things are my soul and wherever I see such things I forget even if I am hungry or thirsty. Something like that happened to me in this adventure. I got so lost in the world of culture and colors that I forgot I was tired.
The name of this shop is Craft Ghar and before entering this shop I was thinking that the shopkeeper might not allow me to enter and take pictures. Can I enter and can I take pictures?I asked. The shopkeeper smiled and said that this shop is for everyone and you can take things here and take pictures of them.
The shopkeeper was a student of my age who seemed to be busy sitting on the laptop. On the other hand I was busy taking pictures with my mobile. I took some pictures and after that I tried to have a conversation with him.
I was thinking that maybe all these things are made by this student himself but after talking to him I came to know that all these things are made by different artisans. Moreover, all the things are handmade.
This student told me that he is a 12th class student and this shop is actually a government shop. Moreover, the government has hired him.
I further asked him how all those artists send their stuff to you and he told me that all those artistes are registered with the government and that's how they keep all their stuff in our shop. The artist gets 90 percent of the sales and 10 percent goes to the government.
I was also curious about his education. I asked him that if you run a shop here all day, how do you study?In response to this question, he told me that in fact his brother run this shop and whenever he is free from his studies, he sits in the shop.
Since all these things are made by hand, therefore their prices are also a little high. Of course, those who appreciate the beauty buy these things and they know their value very well.
One of the paintings in this shop attracted me the most and that painting is of a man and a woman sitting in the desert. Of course these two are lovers of each other.
Everything inside the shop was nothing short of a masterpiece and was successful in keeping me in awe.
Looking at the intricate work on everything, it was evident that the maker had crafted and carved things with great beauty and heart.
Believe me, I never wanted to go out of this shop and if I had more money, I might have bought some of these things, but I also had very little money. It brought many memories with me.
After exiting from Delhi Gate, my eyes fell on Sabeel Wali Gali, which I had always seen in my Instagram and Facebook feeds. Suddenly, my heart told me to enter this Sabeel wali Gali and I couldn't stop my steps.
The meaning of Sabeel in Urdu is to give free water and sharbat(drink) to the people who are passing by.
Since there are houses here, I thought that it might not be appropriate to go to this street, but then I asked a person walking there if I can enter this street? In response,he told me that this street is for tourism and anyone can go and see۔
As soon as I entered the street, everything changed and I was very happy to see that the street is decorated with different things and plants. This street shows the relationship of humans with nature,with plants and trees.
This street takes you back to the old days when people's houses were made of small wooden doors and simple bricks. But now life has taken a very artificial turn where people cannot live without showing off.
Now these doors are locked because the government has taken this initiative and if people were living here, of course there would have been piles of garbage, but I was happy to see that there was no garbage anywhere.
After leaving the street, when I came out to the bazaar, the bazaar was bustling with people busy with their own lives and lost in the noise of the present. It seemed that I am living in a transitional phase and came out of time machine.
Believe me, after looking at these historical things, I feel like I went to old times by sitting in time machine. Ahhh, now, I am back.
See you next 🌺
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