Walled City festival aims to revive Lahori culture

LAHORE
A Three-day festival “Jashn-e-Shahi Guzargah” organised by the Walled City Lahore Authority (WCLA) has given hope to the Lahorites that the event will revive the Lahori culture and boost tourism.
The festival was first of its kind to take place inside the Walled City and after the Basant Festival it was first time that a majority of Lahorites gathered in the Walled City to enjoy the event. The WCLA officials said the purpose was to reimage the old memories and festivities that were the colours and life of old Lahore.
The WCLA claimed that as per its calculations each day the footfall reached almost 25,000 people. This could be rated as one of the biggest festivals in Lahore. The entire Royal Trail was illuminated with more than 8,000 led lights.
Mariam Waheed, a visitor said, she was astounded to see the amazing illumination and the warmest welcome by the music band. “This was the lost rather forgotten culture of Lahore especially for people like us who live in the greater Lahore,” she said. “For the first time I have visited this area with friends and family and I see the real colour of Lahore. The beauty of the Walled City is truly depicted in this festival,” she added.
There were almost 60 arts and crafts stall ranging from furniture, jewellery, local traditional crafts, paintings, crockery, wooden products, metal products, gems and etc. All the crafts were the local products of the Walled City artisans. Almost 200 artisans were present in the festival. The Bazaar Wazir Khan was used in its original capacity as all the artisans were housed there to show their art.
Besides the arts and crafts stalls, some 50 food stalls, which included local taste food like Lassi, Hareesa, Paye and Bong, were organised where Lahorites enjoyed the Desi food.
Other than these roadside food stalls, Turkish food stalls were established on the rooftops of Shahi Hammam and Delhi Gate by renowned restaurants of the City. Interestingly, all the food stalls were run by the locals of the Walled City.
A local resident, Muhammad Jahangir, said the residents had never imagined that this kind of festival can take place in the Walled City. “I hosted the event with WCLA and my home was a welcome home for all the visitors. People enjoyed walking in the streets and listening to music and seeing street performers. I am grateful to WCLA for promoting our home and area we live in. now people surely know what the Walled City is,” he maintained.
Ajoka Theatre and Rafi Peer theatre were performing their art in the Sabeel Wali Gali and the shows were jam-packed. There were special shows for the locals of Old City and other visitors. Puppet show was one of the colourful parts of the festival. There were 100 street performers who had lost hope for their talent. Monkey show, snake charmer, tall man, magicians, jugglers, swirling darwaish, musicians, bangle sellers were seen during the festival.
The evenings were melodious with the music of folk artistes and Qawalls. Arif Lohar, Bushra Sadiq, Riaz Ali Qadri, Asif Ali Santo, Saien Ghulam Abbas, Saien Zahoor, Mulazim Hussain, Nirmal Shah, Rafaqat Ali Khan, Tabraiz Aziz Mian, Adeel Burki, Sanam Marvi and Shair Ali Mehar Ali performed in the festival. The music evenings were located at Wazir Khan Chowk.
DG WCLA Kamran Lashari said the festival was organised to promote heritage and culture of the Walled City. People were not familiar with the old city, but I have seen the footfall and now I guess the doors of the Walled City are open for all the people who wish to visit it. This festival will surely being back tourism to Lahore, he concluded.
Asif Zaheer, Director Marketing, WCLA, said the authority tried to promote local art and culture through this festival. These were the forgotten crafts which we had set up at Bazaar Wazir Khan. We plan to set up a permanent Arts and Crafts bazaar at Bazaar Wazir Khan.
This is one way of promoting the artisans and help in their economic uplift.
Tania Qureshi of WCLA said residents of Walled City participated in the festival from their heart and soul. She said holding such a big festival was a very tough task in an open space, but the local security and police helped a lot. She said the local community was involved at every level in this festival.