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n 1864, the British, the new rulers of the Punjab, decided to hold an exhibition of the arts and crafts of northern India (practically the present-day Pakistan). For this purpose, a large hall was built on The Mall, Lahore.
It had the character of a military barrack. Back in the pre-electricity days, the hall was well ventilated with natural climatic features. The craftsmen worked on the spot. They were later given permanent employment. Thus, an arts and crafts school and a museum were conceived at this freshly built exhibition hall.
The criterion for employment at that school was a skill in the craft. The lecturers were from academia. (The practice has continued to this day at the National College of Arts.) The stretch of the road in front of it was called the Exhibition Road. Its area was 17 kanals and 10 marlas. The horizontal stretch included a verandah on all sides. The front elevation had a central entrance hall and big halls on the sides. Oral history and written records show that many functions were held here, including the international touring circus.
The roof of the hall was wooden, with double slants. It was covered with specially manufactured terracotta tiles. There were several lanterns, or openings for light and air. Industrial iron girders from England supported the heavy beams.
This grew into a historic district when the Central Museum of Lahore, Arts School and municipal buildings were built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s silver jubilee. Hence, they came to be known as the Jubilee Buildings.
All these buildings faced the north to utilise daylight. These were the earliest structures to have used bricks with British measurements i.e., 9x4.5x3 inches. In the exhibition hall, however, bricks from Mughal and Sikh periods were used.
In April 1904, Lahore witnessed a major earthquake due to which many buildings including the Railway Station, the Freemason’s Hall and the western wall of this exhibition hall were damaged. It was repaired using the British bricks in the damaged sections and turned into a market named after HP Tollinton, a British bureaucrat. It became the first super market of Lahore, catering to the needs of the rich.
Tollinton Market soon became a favourite watering hole for students from nearby colleges and universities, for lawyers and for those visiting the Anarkali Bazaar. The market was divided into various sections — the one for vegetables and fruits was on the eastern side; another for fish and mutton on the western side. For beef, a secluded hall space was created so as not to hurt the feelings of those who did not eat beef for religious or other reasons.
Facing the north, at the central entrance were burger shops. You could also buy hunter beef there. Also, milkshakes could be had in choice flavours. Tangier’s Milk Bar could be seen written on the chipped floor outside the Capri restaurant.
On the northeastern side, there was a newspaper shop where you could read or purchase some of the world’s best dailies and monthlies such as Life, Time and Lail-o-Nihar.
Next to it was a firearms shop that had bullets of various calibre on display. The outer verandah had buckets filled with sand and umbrella like fire-extinguishers.
When the hall was converted into a market and shops were allotted to the traders, all sold different items. Within Old Anarkali area no mutton, vegetables or even general merchandise could be sold. Thus, many present-day department stores began at the Tollinton.
On its frontthere was a service area where delivery vehicles would be parked without hindering the flow of traffic outside. There were several cast-iron lamp-posts — like the ones that have survived at the Lawrence Gardens. There were even concrete parking blocks for bicycles.
On the back, one saw a sign that said, “Chains for Dogs” (because dogs can be unruly when they smell protein). It reminded me of the image of a ‘sad’ dog I had once spotted outside a supermarket in Rome “Non può entrare” (Italian for ‘Cannot enter’).
The southern side of Tollinton was a vast, open area where poultry and pet bird shops had come up. When the likes of broiler and shaver chicken shops appeared and started selling internal organs, the market began to stink.
Further down south, a piece of land was occupied by the Irrigation Department where residential quarters had been built.
Over the years, many people had set sights on this prime land. To get it vacated, the idea of building a new ‘Tollinton’ in Shadman was floated. Even those selling chicken were promised a shop there. As a result, 100-odd claimants of shops reared their heads.
These shops were being offered on easy installments. Haji Fazal Karim, a fifth-generation merchant of Tollinton, opted to pay in cash to avoid any interest. All those who had paid a single installment got the possession of shops at the new market, while Haji sahib had to face 20 years of litigation.
DROP CAP
The original Tollinton Market was ‘vacated’ in the dead of the night. The shopkeepers struggled to remove precious merchandise. The building, thus emptied, was allowed to decay.
During the cold nights, drug addicts would pull the finest of wooden beams to light ‘bonfires.’ Even the century-old banyan tree was threatened.
An 11-or-so storied high-rise was planned. The Lahore Conservation Society and other citizens raised alarm. It could compromise the security of the Central Museum of Lahore, which has more Ghandharan and Indus Valley collections than any other museum in Pakistan (thanks to the policy of the British to showcase any excavated finds at the nearest museum).
Earlier, a Buddha statue was stolen by someone who had been hiding in the Museum and managed to escape one night. This scribe appealed to the then president of Pakistan, Farooq Leghari, who ordered an inquiry. I also published a calendar, titled Save Tollinton, with press clippings at the back of each page. The developers insisted on building the plaza instead. When the bank they had applied for, for a huge loan, asked for ownership papers of this property, it turned out that neither the municipal corporation nor the Lahore Improvement Trust or the LDA had any property rights to it. To boot, its khasra number is 420.
In all probability, it is military land.
Tollinton Market was eventually SAVED. As a consequence, this scribe was denied many an opportunity in his professional life, but all that was a very small price to pay.
In 1997, Tollinton was somewhat restored and given over to the Lahore Museum. The preliminary restoration work was supervised by Prof Sajjad Kausar. Under the brilliant directorship of Mrs Nahid Rizvi, this scribe was asked to display the Old Lahore paintings. In 2004, for the first time since 1864, an art exhibition was held at Tollinton.
Mrs Rizvi wanted to bring out the bronze-cast seated statue of Queen Victoria and place it at the central bay of Tollinton.
A long retired civil servant had plans to set up small shops in order to accommodate the vendors from Anarkali. Some pigeon-hole specimens are a mockery of the ‘bright idea.’
The idea of a Heritage Museum, too, did not work out. The descendants of a family owning a museum inside the Walled City also had designs on it. After much deliberation, it was handed over to what had been the Mayo School of Arts (the National College of Arts). Today, it is regularly used as an exhibition hall, much to the satisfaction of art lovers.
Sadly, all bureaucrats seem to have the same mindset. A parking plaza is now said to have been planned, behind the Tollinton. Anyone with even a basic knowledge of town planning or traffic engineering will laugh at it. But, remember, we are talking about a 17-kanal, 10-marla place; for some it’s a goldmine.
On a more serious note, nations don’t value their heritage sites in terms of money. The city of Lahore has already been bifurcated by the Orange Line Train which shall be pulled down one day like the Berlin Wall, as Mustansir Hussain Tarrar would have you believe.
Dr Ajaz Anwar is a painter, a founding member of Lahore Conservation Society and Punjab Artists Association, and a former director of the NCA Art Gallery. He can be reached at ajazartbrain.net.pk