The Old Weblog

The Pakistanis don’t like the Sikhs. They feel that Maharaja Ranjit Singh who ruled over Punjab from Lahore after the Mughals and before the Britishers, took away all the artifacts and riches of Lahore. Incidentally, the mausoleum of Maharaja Ranjit Singh is also in Lahore where his ashes have been kept alongwith ashes of his four wives and seven concubines who performed sati on his death.

Just across the fort is the Badhshahi Mosque which is supposed to be the biggest in the world. This was built by Aurangzeb. On the way to fort was also the Minar-e-Pakistan. This is the place where Mohd. Ali Jinha declared the formation of the Muslim state in 1940. Incidentally, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee also went there to extend our hands of friendship for the first time. Nawaz Sharif was the Prime Minister at that time and I believe Mussraff Sahib who was the chief of the Army staff refused to attend the function so that he would not have to salute Mr. Vajpayee.

The area around the fort was quite dirty just like our old Delhi may be worse. There was the famous Lahori Tongas still in operation alongwith Autos/ Tempos/Mini Buses. I wanted to buy Peshawari Sandles, therefore, we went looking around for some specialized shops. We found some shops near the Railway station, which is somewhat like the New Delhi Railway Station. The original Peshawari sandals have the sole made from Truck tyres.