Author: Pran Nevile
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 1997
Language: English
Pages: 347
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8172232055
Description
The portrait of a city, most comprehensive and colorful ... A very accurate piece of social history. Old Lahoris will enjoy these reminiscences.
Lahore half a century ago was a much less crowded and much more relaxed city than it is today. Life flowed at even pace like the calm, steady course of the Ravi river. Communal tensions and political turmoil were a far cry, that is, until the eve of partition which shook its social fabric in the wake of the war.
These memoirs take the reader on a pilgrimage to Lahore of a bygone era of peace and plenty. The author recalls with a rare sense of realism and nostalgia events and experiences indelibly impressed on his mind: of passionate love on rooftops and tender affection in the households below.
There are encounters with some of the most unusual characters living on the periphery of society: pimps and prostitutes, master crooks, dreaded dons, drug addicts gone to seed, mystics lost to the world.
A rare treat ... Written in an eminently readable literary style, the book deserves a wide readership.
Contents
Preface
Preface to the New Edition
Foreword by Prakash Tandon
Introduction
Shopping in Anarkali
On Thandi Sarak in a Tonga
A Time for Fun and Games
Bo-Kata (There It is Cut)
Romance on the Housetop
Fazal – The Ace Pimp of Lahore
The Splendours of Hira Mandi or Tibbi
A Widower’s Dilemma
The Changing World of Women
Going to the Cinema
K L Saigal Visits Lahore
Zinda Naach Wa Gana (Live Dance and Song)
Mafia Dons, Minstrels, Malangs and Mendicants
A Miracle Medicine and Sex Manuals
Food and Drink
Cloths and Class
Students and Teachers
Passengers and Drivers
Punters, Bookies and Jockeys
Picnics and Outings
Politicians, People and the Officials
War Years
Annexure I- Songs of a Bygone Era
Annexure II – Conquerors of Lahore – An Ode
Annexure III – Government College, Lahore
Select Bibliography
Glossary